News and Notes from William Hopkins, Indie Filmmaker in NYC

Monday, May 5, 2014

The Rotting Zombie Reviews DEMON RESURRECTION

Daniel Simmonds, resident critic at The Rotting Zombie website recently gave DEMON RESURRECTION 8 out of 10 stars, saying: "this is a film that knows exactly what it is and it falls into its genre comfortably." He notes the film's small budget, but says it's "surprisingly good looking with some decent acting and great effects used, and some delightful scenes of gruesome violence."

Finally, he says: "Demon Resurrection does what it sets out to do and does it well... A great throwback to when horror films were more about being a thrill ride rather than just trying to be mean, dark and depressing."

You can read the full review here: http://therottingzombie.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/demon-resurrection-2008-horror-film.html

On Facebook, the Rotting Zombie can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Rotting-Zombie/110810072271803

Thanks, Daniel!

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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UPDATE 11/18/2017: The newly remastered version of DEMON RESURRECTION in 1080 HD & Widescreen is now available at http://dresurrection.vhx.tv

Or stream it on Amazon (Prime members watch for free): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MZXWKBT

Also available on...

Vimeo-on-Demand: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/102966

and on Pantaflix: https://www.pantaflix.com/en/movie/Demon-Resurrection-watch-online-pm741064

Grimm Reviewz on DEMON RESURRECTION

DEMON RESURRECTION receives a respectable 3 out of 5 stars from reviewer Drew Van Ess. Writing on his Grimm Reviewz website, Drew says that DEMON RESURRECTION, even with its flaws, is "an indie achievement.." and "gives the genre a big high five. It's a low-budget B-movie that doesn't let up."

You can read the whole review here:

http://grimmreviewz.blogspot.com/2014/04/demon-resurrection-screener-review.html

Grimm Reviewz can be found on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/GrimmReviewz

Thanks Drew!

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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Horror 101 Reviews DEMON RESURRECTION

In his recent review of DEMON RESURRECTION on his Horror 101 blog, Arron Christensen has some criticisms of the film, especially its first half. But he's won over by the second half. Once the rollercoaster starts flying down the tracks, Arron says, "this sucker don’t stop, with plenty of eviscerations, lacerations, and latex creations on hand for the film’s target audience." He notes there are "more than a few surprises in the order by which the victims messily bite the dust…" but "even more enjoyable than the arterial sprays and ropey intestines strewn about… are Hopkins’ lovingly crafted, show-stealing zombie creatures… In these end times of undead fatigue, it’s a bona-fide treat to see something other than regular ol’ grue-slathered humans shambling after their prey. Rubber monster lovers, this is your kinda poison."
The full review can be read here:

http://horror101withdrac.blogspot.com/2014/04/demon-resurrection-2008-dvd-review.html

Horror 101 can be found on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/horror101withdrac2

By the way, I should mention Aaron's Rondo Award-nominated book, HIDDEN HORROR: A Celebration of 101 Underrated and Overlooked Fright Films, is available now at Amazon.com: http://amzn.com/0991127900

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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DEMON RESURRECTION reviewed on The Bi-Weekly Trainwreck Podcast

My thanks to Mikey OJ who recently gave DEMON RESURRECTION a great review on episode 6 of The Bi-Weekly Trainwreck podcast. Mikey cited the film's "fucking great" acting, which he felt was particularly impressive given the film's tiny budget. He goes on to say the film is "one of the better independent films I've seen in a long time… I fucking loved it. I recommend everybody check it out."

The Bi-Weekly Trainwreck, hosted by Mikey and Irish Kev, is a podcast of irreverent, politically incorrect humor and commentary and is probably raunchy and profane enough to be considered NSFW. You can listen to an excerpt, which includes the entire DEMON RESURRECTION review, here:

http://youtu.be/XEyXfcaeDbs.

Episode 6 of The Bi-Weekly Trainwreck can be heard in its entirety here:

http://grug.tv/2014/04/30/episode-06-strip-mining-with-spaghetti-man

The Facebook page for the show is here: https://www.facebook.com/biweeklytrainwreck

Thanks again to Mikey and Kev for helping to get the word out about DEMON RESURRECTION. It's greatly appreciated.

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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Monday, April 14, 2014

DEMON RESURRECTION is "a wild, trippy, B-movie, low-budget, cheesy wonderment..."

In his review of DEMON RESURRECTION, Abraham Phillips, resident critic at abucketofcorn.com, gives the film a very enthusiastic thumbs-up. Mr. Phillips obviously knows horror movies and his extensive knowledge makes his positive review that much more gratifying. I'm sure everyone involved with the film will be very happy. I know I am. Some excerpts:

"A horror film that I truly have fallen in love with… zombies, witchcraft, skeletons, cults, boobs… amazing makeup and special effects… pure candy to the film buff and horror lover… a wild, trippy, B-movie, low-budget, cheesy wonderment… a great low-budget, drive-in, b-horror movie."

Read the whole review here: https://abucketofcorn.blogspot.com/2017/11/drive-in-cinema-demon-resurrection-2008.html?m=1

Thanks Abraham!

abucketofcorn.com reviews DEMON RESURRECTION

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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Thursday, April 10, 2014

More Praise for DEMON RESURRECTION…

Hot on the heels of two other recent positive reviews comes this particularly enthusiastic notice from Maynard Morrissey on HorrorMovieDiary.net

Maynard praises the film's "cool synth music which is very moody, very atmospheric," as well as "the awesome make-up effects," "tight editing," and the "excellent performance" by lead actress, Alexis Golightly, who he notes, is "super-hot."

He goes on to say, DEMON RESURRECTION is "90 minutes of top-notch, old-school, indie-horror awesomeness," a quote which, rest assured, will soon find a prominent place in all our promotional material for the film : )

Thanks, Maynard!

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

*************************************
UPDATE 11/18/2017: The newly remastered version of DEMON RESURRECTION in 1080 HD & Widescreen is now available at http://dresurrection.vhx.tv

 Or stream it on Amazon (Prime members watch for free): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MZXWKBT  

Also available on...  

Vimeo-on-Demand: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/102966  

and on Pantaflix: https://www.pantaflix.com/en/movie/Demon-Resurrection-watch-online-pm741064

Another Solid DEMON RESURRECTION Review

Bill Adcock at RadiationScarredReviews.com was good enough to take a look at our film recently and made some very positive comments about it...

Bill says DEMON RESURRECTION has "some twists that even took a jaded old cinephile like me by surprise... The zombies are some of my favorites of recent years... An ambitious film that shoots for the moon in a way that too many indie productions don’t nowadays... it held my attention a lot tighter then many big-budget Hollywood productions have recently."

You can read the full review here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140717064010/http://www.radiationscarredreviews.com/?p=1746

Thanks, Bill : )

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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Thursday, April 3, 2014

[Re]search My Trash Reviews DEMON RESURRECTION

I've been aware of Mike Haberfelner's (Re)search My Trash website for some years now and I've always read it with great interest, impressed by Mike's writing, his insight and his enthusiasm for genre films. So it's a special pleasure to see the great review of DEMON RESURRECTION that Mike recently posted on the site. Some excerpts:

"Demon Resurrection is a properly scary supernatural shocker very much in the tradition of Lucio Fulci's best zombie/demon-movies... though to be quite exact, Demon Resurrection does not come across as a boring hommage movie but a rather fresh effort to give its audiences a good scare or two, backed by a decent cast and nice practical effects work... genre fans with a touch of nostalgia will surely appreciate it."

Check out the full review here:

http://www.searchmytrash.com/movies/demonresurrection%282008%29.shtml

Thanks, Mike!

[Re]Search My Trash Reviews DEMON RESURRECTION

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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DEMON RESURRECTION: Behind the Scenes

This thirty minute documentary on the making of DEMON RESURRECTION, which was the longest of the supplements included on the 2010 Special Edition DVD, gives a comprehensive look at the making of the film, starting from the first day of auditions and continuing through to the last day of the shoot. It also features interviews with many members of the cast, including Bashir Solebo, Laurie Miller, Eli Kranski and Alexis Golightly, all looking their movie star best, without all the mud, blood and glop that adorned them throughout most of the film…

http://youtu.be/7YZb_54782w

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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My Interview for the DEMON RESURRECTION Special Edition DVD...

Continuing my series of posts in advance of the tenth anniversary of the production of DEMON RESURRECTION, here's the on-camera interview I did for the film's Special Edition DVD in 2010.

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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Sunday, February 16, 2014

Ed Wheeler joins me on the DEMON RESURRECTION DVD audio commentary

Bashir Solebo and Ed Wheeler shooting DEMON RESURRECTION

Ed Wheeler and a bloodied Bashir Solebo on location.

Caroline Adams and Ed Wheeler in DEMON RESURRECTION

Ed and Caroline Adams, intrepid archaeologists.

I've always found it difficult to record audio commentary tracks by myself, so I was fortunate to be able to persuade my friend and DEMON RESURRECTION co-producer, Ed Wheeler, to join me in creating the track for the original DVD release of DEMON RESURRECTION.

In addition to his brief appearance as an archaeologist at the beginning of the film, Ed was a key member of the DEMON RESURRECTION production crew, joining Frank and me months before the shoot to assist in casting, location scouting and the preparation of props and costumes. In addition, Ed and Laurie Miller (our film's Dr. Kate), were kept busy planning out the film's fairly elaborate stunts, a number of which they performed themselves.

So I think Frank would agree with me when I say that DEMON RESURRECTION wouldn't be the film it is without Ed's enormous contribution. And given the extent of his participation, he was particularly well-suited to join me in this discussion of the film and its production...

The Burden (2013) Edjo Wheeler

By the way, in addition to Ed Wheeler's many other skills and abilities, he's also a talented sculptor and his excellent work can be seen on his recently launched website:

http://www.edjowheeler.com

and on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/EdjoWheeler

I definitely recommend you check out his work.

Buy the DEMON RESURRECTION DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

DEMON RESURRECTION on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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Thursday, February 6, 2014

Unused Opening Crawl for DEMON RESURRECTION

As I was completing the editing of DEMON RESURRECTION and the film began to take on its final shape, I briefly considered the inclusion of this opening crawl.

My thinking was that such an introduction would not only be in keeping with the film's retro feel, but would help provide additional background information about the "witches" whose remains are such an important part of the story. It would also offer a possible explanation as to why those witches, once reanimated, display such a preference for the evisceration of their victims, rather than the eating of them, which is the custom of most movie zombies.

In the end though, in the interest of keeping the film's running time down as much as possible, I decided against using it, and so this crawl never got chance to crawl. Until now...

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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Friday, January 3, 2014

How Much is That Zombie in the Window?

If you're shopping for copies of the Special Edition DVD of DEMON RESURRECTION on Amazon.com, you have a choice. You can buy it from the producers of the film, Feature Resources Inc, for $12.99, plus shipping. Or you can buy it from one of several other sellers offering the disk, including one who's selling it for $117.35, and another who has it priced to go at a mere $3,710.99, plus shipping...

"Why pay less?"

"Buy now and get this lovely tie absolutely free!"

Now, as the writer and director of the film, probably no one has a higher regard for it than I do, but even I think that three thousand is a little much. (And no free shipping?)

I assume what's going on here is similar to the incident described in this article on digitaltrends.com, where automatic pricing algorithms used by competing Amazon sellers ran the price for a genetics textbook up over twenty million dollars. The DEMON RESURRECTION DVD hasn't gotten up into that lofty price range yet, but we're off to a promising start.

On the other hand, as seller pricing on Amazon.com can apparently fluctuate pretty wildly, the nice price currently being offered by the good people at "X-Clusive Store" of New Jersey could begin to drop at any time. So if you're absolutely intent on spending $3,710.99 for a copy of the DEMON RESURRECTION DVD, you should probably act now.

Or better yet, send the three grand to me. I'm pretty sure I can get you two copies for that money.

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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Caroline Adams on DEMON RESURRECTION - A 10th Anniversary Flashback

There's a limit to how much you can fit onto a DVD, even a Special Edition one. And so this interview with the lovely and talented Caroline Adams, which couldn't be squeezed onto the DEMON RESURRECTION Special Edition disc when it was released in 2010, has remained unseen till now.

Caroline on a dig in 2006.

Caroline, who makes a brief appearance in DEMON RESURRECTION as Kim, one of two archaeologists who come to a grisly end, also donned mask and robe to play one of the film's horde of resurrected dead.

Continuing my series of special posts to mark the ten year anniversary of the production of DEMON RESURRECTION, here's Caroline chatting with yours truly in 2006, looking back on the making of the film and describing the ups and downs of being a "lead demon."

Incidentally, for all those filmmakers who, after watching this, decide they must have Caroline as the star of their next film, I regret to report that in the years since this interview was done, Ms. Adams left show business for a career in medicine. I suppose she might be lured back for the right role, but it would probably have to be something that doesn't involve wearing a rubber mask.

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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Frank Cilla on DEMON RESURRECTION - A 10th Anniversary Flashback

In September of 2014, it will be a full ten years since DEMON RESURRECTION went into production, and in preparation for this anniversary, producer Frank Cilla and I will be stepping up our efforts to promote the film and get it out to a wider audience. I'll also be posting online selections from the trove of promotional and supplementary material we prepared for the film back when it was originally released.


Producer Cilla in the DEMON RESURRECTION Creature Workshop in 2004

Some of this stuff has, until now, only been available on the Special Edition DVD, so it'll be new to those who have only seen our film via online streaming. But there's also quite a bit of material in our vaults that hasn't been seen by anyone yet, and I'll be putting it all up online in the coming weeks and months, on this blog and on the film's Facebook page. With that to look forward to, now we all have something to live for.

First up, the man himself, producer Frank Cilla, describing the challenges and rewards of low budget horror filmmaking in a short originally created for the 2010 Special Edition DVD. The video also includes behind the scenes footage featuring the rest of the DEMON RESURRECTION cast and crew, including a brief glimpse or two of yours truly...