10-17-09
It has been one year exactly since the last news installment. Sorry hauntlings. The "day job" has been killing me, heh. I'm in the St Louis area again, preparing for a much more amped-up series of Haunted Tours of Belleville, Illinois. There'll be more news coverage, and word of mouth has already been spreading. Admission at Lincoln Theater (on Main St) is $20 adults, $12 kids ages 5-12. Prices include popcorn and soda.
Tours will run approximately 45 minutes. Get there early, as these tours will sell out fast!
SCHEDULE:
Oct 23: 6pm, 7:30pm (at 9pm I play a solo acoustic live music show at Castletown Gheoghan, no cover!)
Oct 24: 6pm, 7:30pm, and 9pm if necessary.
Oct 30: 6pm, 7:30pm, and 9pm if necessary.
Oct 31: 6pm, 7:30pm, and 9pm if necessary.
10-17-08
Ok. My haunt streak is intact. I WILL be doing the haunted walk-through tour of Belleville after all (as well as showing Mill Ave Inc, starting Delmar Inc, being Best Man at my dad's wedding, and several other things. Or maybe I'm just using these as an excuse to get back to a place that has Fall!).
As many of you know, I am not directing this year's Doomtown, nor will I be Beetlejuice (Just tonight I had to tell the dad of some kids asking where Beetlejuice was that he wouldn't be there this year...it was very sad; in other circumstances, it would have been a bit of a heartbreak).
But I DID do Beetlejuice at my friends' haunt Night of the Living Dead last night.
So even while I wasn't producing or directing, my haunt streak is intact, esp. considering what I do for the haunted walkthrough next Saturday, Oct 25th--contact me directly for those of you in the St Louis area.
11-05-07
My sincere apologies for not having posted any news since this Halloween season began. Not only have I been so damned busy with Doomtown '07, but something got screwed up on the server and I lost all this site's files. Fixed now, quite after the fact of course. I will in the next few days post some of the pics of Doomtown taken by Newspapers and photographers. And, time permitting, will write a more comprehensive review of the things that transpired the past few months.
12-23-06
Some pics from the Rawhide Doomtown '06 haunt are up. Finally. Thanks for being patient; I only tonight got the DVD, hehe. Thanks Rob Jensen at Rawhide, and Hawke Taylore, who shot and edited the DVD from which I grabbed stills...
10-05-06
Since I'd planned on being in production of Dark West at this time, I opted to not produce a haunt--not in Vermont, not anywhere. BUT. Since the movie production was pushed back, I entered the fray of established Phoenix haunts. After being courted by several big ones and some negotiation, I chose Rawhide's Doomtown. I'll be directing, supplying props and other resources. So. My streak of running haunts remains intact. See ya'll at Rawhide. I'd also check out The Nest in Queen Creek, and up the road from that, Alien Extreme on Power Road. Both crews are awesome, and I've seen some of the scares they have planned. I highly recommend both...after checking out my Doomtown, of course ;)
5-8-05
TONS of news. Our next haunt will be in Vermont this year. I've never been to VT, and have always wanted to see a Vermont autumn. So the plan is Gary Bennett and I will be meeting my old friend Dave Allen in early October to begin construction. I'll also be doing the scorework for our next movie The Dark West with Guns and Roses' Richard Fortus in NY. Will also be showing Dante's around the area, hitting the NY, Montreal, and other film festivals. Stay tuned! I'll most likely add a link to The Dark West's page in the next few days. Meantime, you can visit http://groups.myspace.com/westernhorror Keep the haunt alive! nico1-24-05
The past week or so I've seen a lot more traffic than usual on this site. My first assumption for this is that there's a bunch of Magalia players checking it out. My second is that maybe for some odd reason, I'm getting more overflow from Dante's? Third, and hopefully the right one, is that there's simply a lot more people that love all things Halloween as much as I do (hence the reason for this site)!Whoever you are, feel free to send me a message! I love hearing from old friends and strangers alike. n@dantesarizona.com
As for my current Halloweenish projects: still searching for the right artist to finish the Poof's First Halloween kids book. Also I'm in preproduction for the Western Horror film I've been working on since 2000. The script is about half way finished, and I'm writing up the investor/distribution business plan. Funding should come easier since I've got Dante's Arizona under my belt, the hooplah that resulted from it, and because I've got some BIG names attached to it.
Will talk more about this, probably on its on page here on this site... thanks again for visiting!
nico h12-09-05
Got the pics uploaded from the Magalia Murders. Check it, hauntlings...11-25-05
Oops, I did it again: Found myself starting up a haunted house with limited resources, manpower, organization, and time. But I pulled it off, thanks to my good friend Gary Bennett, Spike from Terra Quest, and a bunch of locals and new friends I made in Magalia, California (near Chico, in the Sierra Nevadas). More info coming soon in the Magalia link...9-20-05
No way another four months have passed since a news update. This is becoming alarming.5-2-05
I'm hunting down Victorian houses, abandoned churches and schools, and other buildings all over the country to build a year-round haunted house! What are YOU doing for your Halloween spirit?1-21-05
Another holiday season has passed. Does that mean I'm not thinking about all things haunted, and this coming Halloween? Of course not. After some misconceptions and miscommunications regarding the Poof Halloween kids' book, I'm re-engaging Poof. We're hoping to have the illustrations done by the end of March so as to debut the book by Halloween 2005, as the publishing companies we're courting require generally up to six months printing time.11-01-04
The creature was conceived in August 2003, nourished in its amniotic sac all throughout the first half of 2004, and popped out of its host on October 20, 2004. It opened its eyes, weary from being jostled the previous three days and nights, on Friday, October 22, 2004. Only a few were watching. Most left early, or were turned away because it looked so ugly. On the next day, Saturday, most of its torrid grey extra skin and fluids had been wiped clean. Some of the people who said they'd be there to help with the birth and raising of this child actually did show up.On Monday, as the Good Doctor kept his vigil over the sleeping creature, certain powerful, religio-political entities spewed false, terrorific news to him and millions of others that children should not attend the birth and raising of the Good Doctor's child, nor anything similar. The masses were commanded not to indulge in the beauty of the other half of light; no celebrating of the changing of seasons. They were told that terrorists would poison children's candy, and other horrific political lies.
All through this, the creature child rested, content, until Friday, October 29, when it was awoken to show its promising glory. A few outsiders attended, along with a few of the Good Doctor's close friends, but, as written above, most shied away. A few small children ran aimlessly (despite the Doctor's orders to stay put, and only when necessary, to run aimfully) throughout the town, but helped when they could settle down and focus for a few minutes at a time. The Doctor looked on patiently, benignly. The nursery was bedlam, a mirrorry, cobwebbed attic of the Doctor's tortured, frantic, earnest and honest but malunderstood past. But this was the time of rebirth. Redemption. A time to eat.
Saturday, the eve of the millenia-old, brightly, gaily colored celebration of The Change, saw a few more outsiders. They were mystified at the beauty of the creature child. There were other creature children about the Valley, but this one they realized was created out of love, not out of money. Yet, as the child and its father looked on, it became apparent that people were falling for what was being demanded of them by the shadowy kings who controlled the world of one-way modes of communication. Had the creature been born ten years earlier, thousands of celebrants would have attended.
Sunday, October 31, the most joyful, most important, most life-affirming day to many across the land, saw a few score of revelers. These revelers had spent the entire day flitting from town to town, creature to creature, and having finally seen this fantastic creature child, rejoiced, but it echoed hollowly in the sadness caused by the masses' fear, complacency, excuses ("I would have loved to have seen this marvel you speak of, but alas, I must work on the morrow" and "...but the cost of travel is too high; it would cost over a gallon of fuel to attend!") and worst of all, the masses' deep, unknown-but-felt sentiment that they had killed their own child within themselves, letting the child drown as they drifted down the grey current of "adulthood."
Some gave all; a few gave more than that, and some gave none, opting only to take. The creature closed its eyes.
The next morning, the Good Doctor began to write to all the friends and visitors who'd attended the birth of the creature child, thanking them for all they had given to see that the child's birth would go as safely and beautifully as possible. With a great sense of accomplishment (how many create children out of love, and then have the luxury of a few dear, compassionate midwives?), and eternal gratitude for the few good gifts bestowed upon the creature child, he let out a sigh. The love he had witnessed from the few was good, but not nearly enough as would have been expected from an entire town, which is required to raise a healthy, pure child.
And so while child stirred fitfully in its sleep, the Good Doctor began planning to move to a place where the weather may not be as fair, but where the masses hopefully would be. It did not matter anymore to the Good Doctor that he had been scoffed at while he was fighting to ensure that this uniquely wondrous child was borne and celebrated; nor did it matter to him that people realized he'd became jaded beyond return when all the energies and efforts put into the child were taken for granted. For he had given everything away, except his knowing that what mattered was that beauty prevail.
10-24-04
Finally I have a few spare moments to update this site. As I hope you can imagine, I've been non-stop the past few weeks trying to get this monster living. And, with the help of Deon Allen, Sean Nungary, Marlee Wertin, Chris Moore, Jose Yanez, Jason Ryan, Miguel Manzano, Jacob Schoose, Cowboy James, Tam and Dave, Lana Kane, Bob Berne, Randy Cook and all the volunteers at STACK, and several merchants, staffmembers, and friends at Goldfield, I can say it is aliiiiiiive!Friday night was tough. Ran into a LOT of technical problems (ya'd think I'd be used to that being an indie filmmaker, but nooooo!). What made Friday so much tougher was that, of the seven people who said they'd help me set up Thursday night, only one, my dear friend and artist extraordinaire, Deon Allen, came through. 'Twas a late, grueling night of setting up, and as we headed into the wee hours of Friday morning, we had done everything we could, without building anything that would obstruct the "normal" mine tours they do throughout the day. So it added that much pressure to get it done in between tours (running every ten minutes or so!). So we really couldn't get a good start until about 4pm Friday--two hours before we were slated to start the Haunted Mine Tours!
But Saturday handed us redemption. The Mine turned out smoother and down right scarier than anticipated. We finally had all our actor ducks in a row, and even with the normal occurence of key players having to drop out at the last minute, I can say with a lot of pride, that we pulled it off. Thanks guys. You know who you are.
See ya'll this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!
10-20-04
We just finished our first day of setup. Set up the graveyard and bodies to be hanging about, hehehe. I want to thank Sean, Jay, and Miguel for helping.As I was bouncing about in the tunnels tonight, it really started hitting me just how scary this Haunted Mine is going to be. The nature of the Mine makes it eerie enough, but when I'm through with it, with all my moviemaking gadgets, sound, actors, and props, I have to say there's nothing that's gonna touch this. "And we all...haunt...on!"
10-19-04
Ok. Lots of developments. We opted to not go the Boys and Girls Club route. Also, the haunted train that I'd been salivating over will not be running--the cost would kill us. But if we have reason to believe we could afford it in the final stretch toward Halloween, we'll see if we can resurrect it. For those of you who know me, you know I'm all about ghost trains, and will try hard to get it running.On a more positive note, I was told that Uncle Alice (Cooper) himself said that the Goldfield Haunted Town was the best haunt attraction in the Valley. How's that for a plug?
We've been running around like amped up idiots the past week, and have most of the loose ends nailed down, but we'd still like to get a few more volunteers to help with acting and technical aspects running the Haunted Mine, among other things. We'd also like some volunteers to help canvas flyers. Please email me (n@dantesarizona.com) asap if you can help. Friends of volunteers get 1/2 off admission to the Haunted Mine!
10-04-04
We still need actors for any or all of the five nights the Haunted Town will be running. Please email n@dantesarizona.com if you or someone you know would be interested. As this is a charity event, it would be voulnteer work, but all cast and crew will be fed my yummy pumpkin soup, hot dogs, hamburgers, and, you know, campfire food. Bring your own damned s'mores, though, as I will have nothing to do with them, heh.09-15-04
Wow. Another three months have passed since the last news update. Unbelievable. Well, now this will be updated a lot more frequently since Halloween is next month and all...The Goldfield Haunted Town is going along marvelously well, thanks to Jason Parker nailing down the business ends. We've now got Boys and Girls Club involved, who'll be offering advertising via all the Valley papers, as well as volunteers to help man the operation.
What's funny is that last year when I came up with the idea and bounced it off Goldfield Mayor Bob Schoose, I was thinking maybe a hundred people would show up. Total. Now it looks like it'll be that just on the first nights. So, now that this thing is picking up momentum, we're still in need of actors, especially those that would like to ham it up by leading tours through the haunted mine, robbing the ghost train, etc. But we also need people in costume to be just sort of milling about, doubling as security and watchdogs to make sure A/V equipment and props don't walk away.
We're working on getting produce permits so we can have hot dog and hamburger roasts, as well as my soon to be famous pumpkin soup! We'll also most likely be selling pumpkins. We also plan on debuting my Halloween kids' book "Poof's First Halloween," as well as selling spooky trinkets from local artists such as Deon Allen.
As the saying goes, "Too much fun!" But is there really such a thing as too much of this good thing? Anyway. Spread the word, my hauntlings.
06-12-04
I'll be haunting Goldfield Ghost Town this Halloween. I've got quite a few props, lights, and other things that I've aquired during my filmmaking endeavors, but I'm still in need of more, and in need of personnel to man the operation. Please email me n@dantesarizona.com to let me know how you can help.There will be a haunted train ride, mine tunnel, big campfire around which old timers will spin haunted tales, and many other goodies. If you're one of the relatively few who've been to a Goldfield haunting in the past, you know how cool it was before they stopped running it in 2001. This year's resurrected run will be even better, with my warped little mind calling the shots, mwaahaaaahaaaaaaaaa. Hell, I've been on Ebay the past few months buying animal skeletons, LED's, motorized components, and lots of decayed fabric, just to give you an idea of what this event will be like! No cliche Freddy Kruegers or Jasons from me ;)
05-07-04
Ok. Well, it was on. Had to put Halloween on hold the past few months while I worked on the movie (http://www.dantesarizona.com), got the soundtrack finished, and other business.But I should have more time to devote to this site.
03-03-04
It's on. Oh yeah, it's on.