Preview of Review on Fishcomcollective.com

Hello everyone! Well, we're still going through the process of working out the Sales Agent deal. It has been so long at this point that I've actually been able to not constantly freak-out about it. That said, it appears as though the whole sha-bang is about to get settled, so I hope to have more news by the end of this week! In the meantime, here's a fresh new review, written by Kristopher Upjohn, that is about to be posted on the film/music/art site called FishComCollective.net:

Despite some rather horrific elements, "Bloodshed" really ends up being a horror film that functions less on gore and visuals and more on what you don't see. Much like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, there's a lot of brutal and mutilatory (is that a word?) stuff afoot but much of it is offscreen. You get to see just enough of the grue to get the mind reeling.

I'm not going to dive too heavily into the story because there's more than one way I could launch a spoiler rocket. But the story involves some town kids and a couple of brothers that live out in a house out of town. The older brother is a bit of a pariah in town and suffers the flying-about of all sorts of ugly rumors about his family (most notably, his mother or grandma - I don't remember which). His brother is adult as well, but isn't all there. His older brother has spent his whole life taking care of him and is very protective.

Needless to say, creepy shit starts happening and the truth is immediately apparent. Twists and secrets don't really wait until the end of the movie but they aren't expositioned out for you right off the bat either.

Good acting and an attempt to differentiate one youngster from another that is moderately better than the Friday the 13th's group-of-partying-stereotypes-get-offed mode of populating a horror film. The movie also strives to deal with brutal, ugly material but in a way that doesn't rely on its graphic visual presentation to move things forward.

"Bloodshed" - again, much like Texas Chainsaw Massacre - is a very respectable effort and is mostly a success, even if it is a tad slow. (I realize now that millions of pissed off TCM fans are going to do bad, painful things to my body. I at least hope they film it.)

Review by Matthew Rowan-Maw of DerangedPictures.com

"We hit the bar for doubles and a couple of tequilas before heading back to the auditorium for the premier screening of Jim McMahon's BLOODSHED. McMahon's movie opens up like every other teen horror movie: two teens larking around in the woods playing pranks on the local sheriff and getting electric shocks for their troubles - this caused a laugh with the audience. Then there are the compulsory teen girls who work in the local coffee shop, one of whom drops her clothes with more regularity than a tube train to Kings Cross. But things begin to look up as we are introduced to two brothers, Frankie and Donnie - who live out of town in seclusion at the edge of the forest - who are both harbouring a family secret. Frankie looks after his remedial brother and together they keep away from the community unless they are selling jam or having their chainsaw fixed. Events really start to take a turn when Donnie is caught watching the teen couple having sex in their car. The macho teen freaks out, despite being okay about his mate watching the free sex show, and beats Donnie to a pulp leaving him screaming out for his older brother whilst lying bleeding on the floor. Older brother Frankie comes to his aid - axe in hand. They have to protect their secret, even if it means despatching a teen or two.

Jim McMahon sites The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as an influence and it shows. It also has a touch of The Last House On The Left to it. Filmed in a timeless town and remote cabin locations, he creates a raw grizzly movie that descends into a blood soaked frenzy by the end of its 81-minute running time. With fantastic performances by both the David Hess like Edward Ice Mrozek and Christopher Childs and a slap in the face ending, it's sure to gain cult status and deserves to be tracked down and seen. A Q&A follows the movie and we learn of the difficulties of shooting an independent horror movie on a severely limited budget. The DERANGED crew really liked Jim, his cast, crew and his movie, and we wish them well and every success in the future."

Matt and his rowdy gang run the site www.derangedpictures.com, where you can read all about the Dead by Dawn Horror Film Festival, as well as other rants, reviews and news of kick-ass independent horror projects!

Updates from A Scotsman

So, things are still going through the lawyer stage with the Domestic Distributor. I feel a bit like a third wheel now, but I guess that's how it's done. Hoping to have things finished up here this week, but the last time I said that... well, here we are, still! Basically, now that I've found a great, wonderful person to rep my film domestically, I now have to trudge through the very unpleasant task of working out the contract with our lawyers. It's not fun. (Oh, hey, I recently got my first lawyer!)

On to fun things! I just received a letter from a buddy of mine in Edinburgh. He was one of the bartenders at the Filmhouse who poured my brain into and out of a pint glass more than twice! (Hmmmm, along with Katherine, probably five or seven times. Wait, how many days were we there? It's all a blur...) On several occasions, we found ourselves staggering around the city at 5am, desperately trying to find somewhere that would let us drink. As luck would have it, there's ALWAYS a place to drink in Edinburgh! Anyway, he sent this great email, immediately after the G8 summit:

Hey Man,

Scotland has just experienced quite a lot recently - the shit hit the fan a few times in Edinburgh with the G8.  Anarcists got beaten with truncheons, but they kind of deserved it: if your gona carry machettes, metal poles, bats and throw rocks, you're gonna get a beaten.  We also had the best fuckin concert and demonstration for the end of poverty in Africa in the world at Murrayfield, however it has all been over-shadowed, but hopefully not forgotten, by these terrorist attacks in London? Man shit is happening over here.

So we still going to Amsterdam? let me know my man and tell me your news!

Steve

Yes, Steve, don't worry, I'm hooked into Amsterdam. Now, the only question is WHEN?

Well everyone, thanks for your support, and keep it tuned here. I'm trying to keep things interesting, and have been better about updating the page. Again, feel free to post comments, preferrably when inappropriate. See ya!

-Jim