So I’ll start this post off with some great news: Madison County has an official release date, and that day is MAY 8, 2012.  Image Entertainment will be releasing the movie, and I couldn’t be more excited that everyone will finally have a chance to see it.  You can pre-order it here: Madison County.  (And check out those glowing user reviews!) It will also be available in other formats, TBA.

Madison has also had some great final nods on the fest circuit and in the press.  It picked up the audience award at the Little Rock Film Festival’s genre arm, The Little Rock Horror Picture Show, which is So Cool, and it gave the film’s “home state” (Arkansas) a chance to see the movie.  MC also received it’s most recent solid review over at Bloody Disgusting:

Bloody Disgusting Horror

I’m hoping to announce my involvement in another feature soon, which is developing very quickly. More to come on that.

What else… Earlier this month, I was fortunate to book a great commercial job up in San Francisco and Marin County (my favorite place, ever), and it was one of the best gigs I’ve booked in a while.  It was the kind of easy-breezy, fun dream gig that comes along once in a blue moon, and I can’t thank everyone who was involved in making it happen enough. You know who you are.  And, I can’t wait for everyone to see it! Wish I could say more about it right now!

Let’s see, what else?? Oh, I’ve knocked out my first couple of races this year, and completed my first triathlon this past weekend.  Didn’t do half bad either.  I also helped Screamfest put together a great 2012 year kick off mixer at Formosa Cafe, which went down like gangbusters.  It’s a great and overwhelmingly happy experience to see everyone I enjoy working with, and talking to, in one room.  Drunk.

With all of these things going on, it makes me realize how lucky I am to know and work with such talented, dedicated, and creative people.  To all of you, I say humbly and with much appreciation, Thank You.

But now it’s 2012, and it’s time to look forward, set goals, and kick ass again… only, this time, bigger ass.  Yeah, that’s right. Bigger ass.  I’ve started the year off with a project I’m very excited about, but I don’t think I can say too much about it just yet.  I’ve had the fortune of working on it with some very talented people I admire, and I hope we all get to see more of each other soon as this was only kind of a “test day.”  I also have a couple of other things kicking around, and I can’t wait to share them with everyone… could I be more vague? No.

Here’s a little pic of me in front of a green screen from the shoot:

A little projected green screen action... no big deal.

UPDATE: I wanted to add another piece of good news to this post. Madison County will be screening in Arkansas, the state where we shot it!  It will be opening the Little Rock Horror Picture Show, part of the Little Rock Film Festival! Info can be found here:

Little Rock Horror Picture Show OPENING NIGHT FILM

Two weeks ago, Madison County, which finished production a little over a year ago, had its World Premiere at the 2011 Screamfest Horror Film Festival.  It was exhilarating to see this little slasher movie, fueled by creative hunger and passion by a small group of people in Arkansas, was now being shown on a screen at Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California.  I say “little”, but it played BIG.

The premiere sold out, people had to be turned away, but an encore was granted to the film a couple of days later.  It played like gangbusters in both screenings.  People jumped, screamed, and laughed at all the right moments, and some unexpected ones.  To watch it with the cast and crew, surrounded by friends and family, in a packed theater, was an incomparable, ‘cloud 9′ experience.  I am lucky to be in the movie, and to have worked with the talented cast and crew involved.  And to be in a feature that screened at Screamfest was an honor.  It was a fun week of enjoying some solid movies (and events) with the smart and talented filmmakers who made the films.  Congrats to everyone involved in the festival.  It looks like it will lead to some new opportunities for all of us in the future.

AND, a special treat for Halloween: the new official poster art for Madison County by Tom “Dude Designs” Hodge, who did the posters for Jason Eisener’s Hobo with a Shotgun and Ti West’s The Innkeepers, is here.  Tom’s work is iconographic, retro, and memorable, much like a modern genre-oriented Drew Struzan. Here it is:

Also, a trailer emerged a few days ago for the feature film I did in Colorado, Kessler’s Lab.  I wanted to share that as well (see below).  The movie’s in post-production at this moment, but we look forward to seeing the whole thing before long!

Update: Interview with us in Icons of Fright - FRIGHT INTERVIEW – Director Eric England Ace Marrero Matt Mercer Talk MADISON COUNTY : Icons of Fright

Thank you to everyone who’s supported the film, and followed its progress over the last year.  It’s finally here!  Awesome! Get your tickets! Madison County    BUY TICKETS

Press:

http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/47390/madison-county-premiere-screamfest-la

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=21108

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/26412

The last three days have been jam-packed with the fast-paced, invigorating production schedule of the new thriller on which I’m working, a feature film titled Kessler’s Lab.  It’s a sci-fi psychological thriller involving clones, drugs, and other fun sci fi stuff.  Oh yeah, the good stuff.  We will continue to shoot for a couple more weeks, and production mostly takes place within the walls of a creepy but inspiring abandoned hospital.  It’s VERY old.  Just poking around between takes in this place, you get a sense of mortality: One is accosted with the dusty technological and medical relics of days gone by, aspects that really add to the visual atmosphere being captured by our great Director of Photography, Patrick McGinley.  Also, we are shooting mainly in what was once the youth tuberculosis ward… yeesh.  It’s dark, it’s dusty, and the building makes a continuous symphony of eerie sounds- creaking, clanging, and groaning- that make it very easy to dial in performance in the environment.  It’s the real deal.

I’m also fortunate to be acting alongside some talented people, cast and crew alike, and I look forward to sharing more about this movie in the coming weeks.  I’m slowly adding more details about the film here: Kessler’s Lab.

Also, The Poisoning, the road trip thriller I did last winter, received some solid press this week from great horror sites.  Sweet!  Big THANK YOU to Bloody-Disgusting, Dread Central, Fangoria, and Arrow in the Head for the coverage!  Here are the links to the articles:

AITH | Trailer, poster and stills for indie horror effort The Poisoning

‘THE POISONING’ reminds us why traveling with friends is so fun

Another Road Trip Goes Awry in The Poisoning

BD Horror News – ‘The Poisoning’a Road Trip From Hell

A couple of new announcements this week:  I acted in some national spots last December with a great team, and we’re all reuniting to do a new spot tomorrow that will continue the campaign.  The last experience was fantastic, one of the best commercial experiences I’ve had, and I’m very happy to be doing another one.

Also, the road trip horror film I did earlier this year, The Poisoning, now has official poster art and an official trailer to boot!  Scroll down to check them out, along with the new press release.

Press release: First Official Trailer and Art for Indie Road Trip Thriller THE POISONING

Also, in other good news of the past week, I’ve officially signed on to play the lead in the indie sci-fi psychological thriller Kessler’s Lab, a feature film which shoots in Colorado next month.  I’m pretty excited because it shoots at a badass creepy location (also very close to an area where I used to live off and on as a teenager) in Colorado Springs, and it’s a really interesting story exploring scientific morality, and what it means to be human.  I can’t say too much about it yet, but the plot of Kessler involves illegal drug testing, cloning, and death… if I had a nickel for every… wait, I used that already.

More on the film, now in pre-production, can be found here:  Kessler’s Lab

Choice Cuts 28: The Team Behind the Slasher Film Madison County

Also, the first footage is up from the indie thriller The Poisoning, which I did last January.  Here it is!

Suicide Strip is sort of a love letter to low budget B-horror of the 80′s, the sort that Roger Corman would have released through New World Pictures, plus I threw a little John Carpenter in for good measure.  However, the style of the trailer is sort of influenced by a blend of the trailers for Alien (1979), Long Weekend (1978), Madman (1981) and… I guess Maniac Cop… just because there’s a crazy cop in it.  I’m sure there are myriad other subconscious influences, but those were ones I had in mind when I wrote it and then cut it.

Although my trailer didn’t make the final top five, Jason Eisener, Rob Cotterill, and John Davies (the team behind the movie Hobo with a Shotgun) selected Suicide Strip as a Top Submission Pick out of hundreds of submissions, and put it in their gallery here:

Hobo with a Shotgun - Gallery

THANK YOU to the Hobo team for recognizing Suicide Strip!  And, if anyone hasn’t seen Hobo with a Shotgun yet, see it!  It’s available on iTunes and Video on Demand in the US, and it’s incredible.  And Rutger Hauer kicks ass.

You can also watch my trailer right here:

I’m planning on adding a page to my projects section to talk a little more about Suicide Strip and the process behind making it.

Outside of the trailer, I’ve been auditioning a lot, and I have landed another role in a feature!  I can’t talk too much about it yet, but I will disclose more very soon!!  I’m also “on avail” for a commercial that shoots this week… I should know by Monday if it’s officially mine or not.  All in all, good stuff!!