Nightscape Premiere & Screenings

New York City Horror Film Festival: 

Nightscape will be one of only eight new features in competition at the New York City Horror Film Festival, the largest genre festival in the U.S. The film will show at the historic Tribeca Theater on Friday, November 9th at 7:45 p.m.

Oregon Screenings Scheduled: 

Nightscape will make its local debut at The Venetian Theater in Hillsboro, Oregon on Friday, November 16, with showings at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. It will also screen as a benefit for education advocacy organization, Stand for Children, on Friday, December 14, at 9:30 p.m. at the recently renovated Hollywood Theatre in Portland.

World Premiere: 

Nightscape made its world premiere at the Montreal Comiccon Horrorfest on September 14.

Official Trailer: 

Watch the Official Nightscape Trailer

Experience the Many Dimensions of Nightscape

As diligent (and patient) readers of this blog know, the film will be supported by a series of ancillary products. The most immediate releases inlcude an original novel, a video game and the film's soundtrack. I'll go into greater depth on each of these endeavors as their street dates near. In the meantime, here's a brief overview:

Nightscape: The Dreams of Devils

This original novel has its origins in the first unproduced Nightscape-related screenplay I wrote. The book concerns three high school seniors who gain unwanted paranormal powers. They have to uncover the source and purpose of these powers in order to prevent the collapse of earthly reality. The book features two characters from the film, though in decidedly different guises. What makes it possible for one of those characters to appear is revealed in a climactic twist.

Despite the ages of the book's main characters, it's not a young adult (YA) novel. It's a work of literary horror intended for a mature audience. The question at the heart of the book is: What does it mean to be human?  It’s darkly philosophical in the tradition of H.P. Lovecraft and shouldn't be confused with standard paperback horror. The main protoganist, Case, is a 16-year-old math prodigy with a particular fascination with the mathematics around infinity. His mathematical obsession is intimately tied to the nature of the story's supernatural threat.

The book includes a bonus short story, "Auto-da-Fé, American-style," which serves as a direct prequel to the film. It will be available on October 9th in both print and eBook editions from Amazon and other retailers.

Nightscape: Phantom Fast Racing

In this free iOS action-driving game, your goal is to outrace a nefarious phantom car through a series of rural burgs in a tricked out El Camino. The phantom car slows your progress by transforming hapless bystanders into tentacled monsters. You can evade or destroy these creatures using a variety of power ups, including a nitro boost, a spike drop, a demon-killing pistol, and a flamethrower. Your pursuit is further hampered by the ever-dogged police. With three difficulty settings and 15 levels, the game offers 16-bit-style fun for casual and hardcore gamers alike. Look for it starting September 25th on iTunes.

Nightscape: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Composer John Morgan Askew outdid himself on the film's spaghetti western meets retro-80s score. He's scored a number of indie films, notably, Calvin Marshall (2011), and worked uncredited on HBO's Deadwood. While I'm not above bias here, I think this soundtrack represents his best work yet.

John had this to say about the experience of making it: “[David] Edwards created a unique world for his film Nightscape so the score needed to not only support this in sound and feel but also needed to be an additional, tweaked, layer to the setting and the story. In the end, a very industrial palate was developed by recording percussive car sounds for drums, 8-cylinder engine idles for drones and, by good luck, some random chain scrapes and tool squeaks from a machine shop became key melodic tones throughout.  These created sounds with a blatant hat-tip to Tangerine Dream and Wendy / Walter Carlos made for some pretty weird score!”

The soundtrack consists of 20 tracks and clocks in at nearly 60 minutes. In addition to the original score, the soundtrack includes the garage rock song, “Save Yourself (Cuz No One Else Will).” This track, performed by Monster-Sized Monsters (fronted by the film’s lead actress Emily Galash), ties directly into the prequel short story included in the book. The soundtrack also contains the catchy Casio-inspired theme from the iOS video game.

The soundtrack will be available in both MP3 and limited edition CD formats via a number of online retailers, notably, Amazon, CD Baby, Google Marketplace and iTunes. The suggested MSRP is $9.99 for the digital version and $11.99 for the CD. I anticipate pre-orders will be available starting September 18th.

Pretty exciting lineup of tie-ins, eh? Look for our ads in upcoming issues of Rue Morgue, Shock Cinema, Scream and Screem (yes, two separate genre mags with nearly identical titles) and help spread the word. The Leviathan is heading your way...

Breaking the Silence

The Leviathan is finally headed your way ...

I apologize to faithful followers of Nightscape for my prolonged inactivity on this blog. These last months have been a test of patience for me, too, while I've struggled to coordinate the work necessary to finish the picture. I'll leave the trevails of post-production to another post (or several). The news that counts is this: I'm proud to announce the world premiere of Nightscape at the Montreal Comiccon Horrorfest. Nightscape was one of 15 films selected by the festival as part of its initial feature film lineup. The festival, which runs from September 14^th through the 16^th in Montreal, Quebec, will showcase a total of 30 features from around the globe.

(A curious aside: As it happens, one of the guests of honor at the Montreal Comiccon is Gunnar Hansen, famous for playing the cannibal Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Early in Nightscape's production, I signed a pay or play agreement with Mr. Hansen's management team for him to cameo. Unfortunately, the film's final budget precluded us from becoming a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) signatory, so Mr. Hansen was compelled to drop out. Much to my relief, he did so gracefully and without holding me to the entirety of the financial penalty he could've demanded. I hope to thank him for his generosity in person.)

 I’m pleased to bring Nightscape to a large, enthusiastic genre audience at the Montreal Comiccon Horrorfest. After nearly two years of work, I’m anxious to know how it plays. It’s not a paint-by-numbers horror film. It’s a smart supernatural thriller that relies more on character and atmosphere than gimmicky jump scares.

 There's still much to be done before we master the film. We're still shy a few digital effects shots. And we continue to refine the sound mix and color. But it's safe to anticipate a master by the end of the month. At the same time, I'm prepping the release of an original tie-in novel, an action-driving iOS game, the film's spaghetti western/retro-80s soundtrack, and an original radio play/podcast. Yes, these next few months will see a veritable onslaught of Nightscape swag!

Now that the silence has been broken with a big huzzah, you can expect regular (well, at least weekly) posts on the film's festival run as well as my other Nightscape-related ventures. Thanks for sticking with me. Here's where it gets good...