From the smell of freshly popped popcorn to the carbonated fizzing of a soda pop filled cup, certain movies just had to be seen in the cinema and those movies imprinted on me, changing the course of my life. Let's go back to 1986. My Father was a big fan of "Alien" and with the sequel "Aliens" opening up in the theater, he had to be there and more importantly, he was taking me to see it!



But it was a crap shoot. Would I get in? We had tried and failed to get into "Conan the Barbarian" a few years earlier. My Father fought with the manager, insisting that I had seen far worse, including "Halloween" and "Parasite 3D". But the reality was, I wasn't going to be admitted to see "Conan", even with my Dad taking me. This put a damper on going to see anything for quite some time, that is until "Aliens" opened. And we were there, ready to fight for what was right. With no fuss what so ever, we bought tickets and waited in line. For the next two hours, we sat eyes peeled, jaws on the floor, captivated by the awesomeness that is "Aliens". It wasn't just another movie. It was a full on assault of the senses. Eager to capture another mind-blowing cinematic event, we soon sat riveted to the screen, watching a man named Seth Brundle work his magic between two telepods. The ensuing transformation make-up effects, further enhanced by Howard Shore's pulsating score, twisted our brains like licorice. Too think that both James Cameron and David Cronenberg were Canadian was just added coolness. Having lived in both Georgia and Oregon for the previous 4 years, moving back to Canada in 1986 was perfect timing. My interests in both movies and monsters was growing. Fast forward to 1991, standing in a long line after buying tickets to "Terminator 2".



The hype was glorious and the buzz was deafening. The packed house cheered as Arnie kicked ass and a strange new thing called CGI shifted shapes onscreen in the form of the T-1000, in a realism that left me speechless and dumbfounded. Moving on to 1994, Dinosaurs walked the Earth with Steven Spielberg unleashing "Jurassic Park". A movie so well done and perfect, too this day, many years later, it looks just as great. The T-Rex appearing onscreen via Stan Winston's golden touch was another "holy shit" moment. The same "holy shit" that I felt when the tornado called "Twister" ripped a man from a cellar in front of his terrified family. The earth shaking, ear pounding theatrical experience of all of these movies is something that I will always remember and is very hard too recapture. The closest I've come is seeing "The Dark Knight" opening up in the Imax theater, the opening shots blowing my mind. Then of course, the gazillion dollar earning madness that is called "Avator". While watching that James Cameron epic, for a moment, I was a teenager again grinning ear to ear, for a moment I had gone back in time.

With this being my first blog, I want to share with you what a film-maker such as myself deals with on a daily basis. The movies I write and direct are adult cartoons. The content is dark and comedic. Adults are put into situations where they maim and murder. I don`t discriminate and the gender of the adults is not important. I`m an equal opportunity offender or so I've been called.

Writing and directing these low-brow exploitation movies is fun part, the fall out after wards is the not so fun part. Putting anything out for public consumption is not for the thin-skinned. My work is scrutinized and ridiculed. I've learned to accept this. It`s the reality of being a film-maker and I`m completely cool with that.

My movies are geared towards the extreme crowd. The synopsis on the back of the DVD case is very specific. I like to warn people what to expect. The artwork and even titles themselves are like big red flags waving in your face screaming bloody murder. The viewer is given a chance to get on board. They are certainly not forced to press play. Within a minute into the movie, the viewer is given a chance to get off at the next stop by pressing the stop and eject buttons.

My movies are like demented car crashes. The characters always steer themselves into disaster and all that`s left is depraved carnage and spent bodily fluids. And as with a car crash, the majority of people usually slow down and capture the goriness in all its detail. The majority of the viewers that watch my movies know what their getting into. It`s the minority of the viewers that scream rape, labeling me a misogynist and/or a homophobe, that need to look in the mirror and ask why they watched the movie in the first place. Let me ask this minority a question.

Why put yourself in harm’s way? And why resort to name-calling and insults just because you feel guilty for exposing yourself to such filth? I certainly don’t need to be lectured on human values. Anyone who truly knows me knows that I make fictional movies that don’t reflect my own personal beliefs. I write fiction and film fictional acts with willing participants. The content of my movies is subjective.

The audience can and will form their own opinions on its artistic merit. I am certainly not a mean spirited person. The characters I create may be but they’re not a reflection of me. If you don’t want to expose yourself to subjective content, don’t watch my movies. It’s cut and dry. It’s called the right to choose.

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