ChinaShop Film curator and Patron Saint of Indie Filmmaker Counseling Chris Gore was in Las Vegas and Los Angeles recently for a signing of his latest opus, Chris Gore’s Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide. In addition to the autographing, Gore lived up to his reputation as an advice hound, doling out a dozen different ways he could think of to help the aspiring filmmakers who were there to seek out the film festivals. If they didn’t confess their secret projects, he became a sort of benevolent Torquemada, and had ways to make you talk — even if you didn’t want to.

After all, Gore was once an aspiring somewhat unsure-of-himself director too before he founded Film Threat and made My Big Fat Independent Movie– and knew that sometimes the only way to succeed is to get advice, whether you want it or not. He’d listen to your problem, and offer a specific solution (or at least his best guess). And most importantly: rejection? Learn it. Know it. LIVE it. Take a veritable bath in it. You’ll get it a lot, especially as an aspiring film-maker.

Among the highlights: Learning that Red and Reservoir Dogs star Lawrence Tierney, who played the notorious Jersey City Tube Bar owner and name-0bsessed old man, respectively (“You’re Mr. Pink! Be thankful you’re not Mr. Yellow!”), could be quite a handful on the set of Gore’s cult film Red. “He was a great actor, but you never knew when he was going to go off,” recalled Gore of working with Tierney. With no place to live during the making of the film, Tierney slept on the floor of the Film Threat offices — and from the sounds of things, exhibited behavior that still makes Steve McQueen and Colin Farrell look like sissy boys. Gore also had plenty of inspiring words to give hopefuls, with plenty of examples of different outlets for ways to express yourself — some directors and actors have taken to the Internet, like Felicia Day, star of Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along and her own The Guild series. Of course, there is the veritable bible of festival/filmmaking survival and easy way to get in touch with Gore at www.chrisgore.com. In the meantime, here’s a retrospective of some of Gore’s greatest hits on ChinaShop:

The Best and Worst Movie Deaths of All Time

Transformers 2: Bay Curious?

What Stays in Vegas

Words by Jeff Nau

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The beautiful Bob Suicide (of Suicide Girl fame) and ChinaShop staple, Chris Gore got a little over-zealous while in vegas. And while there was a vast amount of drinking, eating, and Elvis involved, amongst the bad ideas, came a brilliant set of tantilizing photos. Ah, you have to love a weekend in Vegas well spent.

Although the marriage was short lived, the photos (god bless em) will live on forever.

Morning after photos by Dustin Downing.

A snap shot from the Suicide Girl set, shot by Zoetica Ebb. Check out the whole Suicide Girl set here. (Membership Required)

Dinner at NOVE’ Italiano at The Palms

Limo Ride to The Graceland Chapel

The Ceremony

Ceremony photos by Keith Miles

Zombies may have existed in film before George Romero’s horror milestone from 1968, Night of the Living Dead.  But the affable Pittsburgh filmmaker must be credited with creating the undead rules we all know so well.

• One, zombies devour the flesh of the living.
• Two, a zombie bite will turn a normal into a zombie quickly.
• And three, the only way to “kill” a zombie is to inflict major head trauma, preferably with a shotgun blast to the head.  Well, a blunt instrument will work, but a shotgun blast is perhaps the coolest way since the result is an exploding head!

These three rules are consistent both in and outside the Romero-verse of zombie movies where the undead walk the earth.  Sure, other filmmakers have taken license with the rules such as 28 Days Later which introduced us to the infected that run really fast.  Some may have seen recently deceased that could compete in the 50 yard dash as sacrilege, but it served to only advance both the genre and our love of those stupid flesh-eating corpses.  No matter how many new rules have been added to zombie lore via films, books, graphic novels like the amazing Walking Dead or videogames like Left 4 Dead, those three rules have always remained the same.

There seems to be no shortage of love for these poor undead creatures.  So to expand your horizons, here are some lesser-known zombie movies each worth boarding up the windows and locking yourself indoors to watch.

Dead Set Trailer – 4DVD – The most amazing videos are a click away

1. Dead Set
This zombie outbreak takes place in the U.K. on the set of the popular reality show Big Brother.  The undead can be seen on the rise during disturbing news reports about “unrest and riots” spreading across the country.  After the production crew is nearly wiped out, all that remains are the ignorant and drama prone contestants from the Big Brother show. This five-episode mini-series from the BBC has yet to make it to the U.S., but it is perhaps the best use of a zombie apocalypse to make social commentary in decades.  So, if there were an Oscar for the Best use of zombie apocalypse to make social commentary, then Dead Set would be the clear winner.

2. Braindead (aka Dead Alive)
One of Peter Jackson’s earlier films is not only influenced by Romero’s zombies, but Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead series.  In addition to a creepy overly affectionate mother, this bloody flick combines comedy and horror in truly gruesome ways.  Perhaps the greatest innovation here is the creative use of gardening tools to off the undead.  Yes, you will believe a lawn mower can be used for more than grinding mulch.

3. American Zombie
This mockumentary by filmmaker Grace Lee, takes a comedic approach in dealing with the social issues created by Americans who deny zombies basic, um, “human” rights.  The film is not too heavy-handed and provides a perfect way to explore anti-immigration sentiments in the United States… but with y’know, zombies instead of Mexicans.

4. Fido
An idyllic 1950s suburbia could only be destroyed by a zombie invasion… unless those zombies become delightful household pets.  Unfortunately these pets do have their bite.

5. Tokyo Zombie
Two wrestling numbnuts somehow survive a zombie outbreak in Tokyo through their sheer stupidity.  Okay, one is bitten by a zombie with no teeth and somehow thinks he has become a zombie, even though he has not. Then after Tokyo is quarantined, entertainment is provided by wrestlers who take on zombies, which is lucky for these numbnuts whose wrestling skills save the two of them.  Based on a bizarre Japanese comic book, the zombie kills in this must be seen to be believed.

By Chris Gore

http://www.breakingupwards.com/

CHRIS GORE is a writer and a television personality who has built a solid reputation as a hilariously outspoken voice in the film world.

As a teenager, Chris founded the brutally honest magazine Film Threat, which began as a fanzine he created as a college student in Detroit.  He has appeared as a film expert on MSNBC, E!, CNN, Reelz Channel and has also hosted shows on FX, Starz, IFC and currently on G4TV’s “Attack of the Show” where his weekly movie review segment DVDuesday is among the most popular.

Chris is also an author having written “The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made” (St. Martin’s Press) and “The Complete DVD Book” (Michael Wiese Publications).  His book “The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide” (Random House) is considered the bible of the industry and required reading for many college film programs with a 4th edition is due in late 2009.

He recently ventured into indie filmmaking having co-written and produced the feature comedy “My Big Fat Independent Movie” (Anchor Bay DVD) which toured 40 film festivals worldwide and can be seen on Showtime and the Sundance Channel.

Chris considers himself a movie geek who was lucky enough to forge a career working as a full-fledged “Nerdlebrity.”

Links
http://www.filmthreat.com/
http://www.chrisgore.com
http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/hosts/chris-gore.html
http://www.myspace.com/thatchrisgore
Or on Facebook, just look up Chris Gore.

Welcome to the ChinaShop Chris. You break it, you bought it!