Macabre...ish Cults, Classics & Horrors

Lowell Dean started making movies as a kid and so getting an education in film was a natural progression, he went into the film program at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan after returning from Calgary. He was so serious about filmmaking, he’d make three feature films before he went to film school. And the first film he was proud to actually let anyone watch was a zombie film called Doomed. It was the first film that wasn’t just done with friends with no money, he funded it and it had a screening.

Lowell went from making $500 short films to his first publicly released feature, 13 Eerie, which cost millions to make. The story of how he got to direct 13 Eerie is a great story because he started on the crew as the Assistant Director but things happened and he got a bout of good luck. After being tossed in the deep end of his first feature, it was tough but he learned a lot. Thankfully. Because just one year after 13 Eerie was complete, he started writing Wolf Cop.

It did make him question if he even wanted to make films though. And so Lowell and some industry friends made a concept trailer for Wolf Cop. The plan was to raise what money they could and make it, in a year. As luck would have it, Lowell entered the Canadian Cinecoup Film Competition and won! This was in 2013 and part of the prize was the film would be released in major movie theaters, the next year.

Lowell talks about the potential of a Wolf Cop franchise and how hard it was to make a sequel.

We talk about his film Dark Match, Die Alone and what he’s up to at the moment. Plus the heartbreak and loneliness of writing, the highs of directing films he cares about and the grind of the time in between movies. He tells us what the dream project would be, here’s a hint, it’s a sci fi trilogy. And finally, Lowell gives fledgling filmmakers advice at the end.

All of Lowell Dean’s films are streaming now, go watch them! And for all the media collectors most of his films have a physical release. Support indie film, Fam!

Find everything Macabre…ish related at https://macabreish.com

Find Lowell Dean:

https://www.instagram.com/lolofilm?igsh=NTl6dmVrdWJwYWl2

Twitter: https://x.com/lolofilm

And find us:

Carlos Ibarra on IG https://www.instagram.com/jekyl6669 and
https://www.fillintheblanksproductions.ca/

Christopher Thompson on IG https://www.instagram.com/theauthor__

Kimberly at http://www.macabreish.com and IG https://www.instagram.com/macabre_ish?utm_source=qr and Tiktok @macabre_ish.
https://linktr.ee/macabre_ish

Youtube playlist:

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNblhfc6MVBMUe65EA-lWSzG_joW27ZSf

Joe Miale wanted to make movies since he was a kid and since it was important for him to learn and understand the process of filmmaking, he went to film school in NYU. He worked for 15 years in editing and making celebrity PSAs (You may remember them!) featuring Rhianna, The Jonas Brothers, Martin Sheen, just to name a few. Then he got a break when a production company was interested in one of his sci fi action concepts, and that was how Revolt came to be. And Joe had some of the best minds in the business to help with the creation of his aliens, including Cole Wertz and if you've seen Star Wars, Dune, Transformers or any other popular sci fi film from the last 20 years, you've seen and like his work. Even Revolt's soundtrack was designed and created by a veteran, Bear McCreary and you have to hear how the soundtrack was created for this film,
Joe not only wrote and directed Revolt, his film's distributor, Vertical Entertainment, let him design the poster! There is more on the horizon, sci fi and horror (follow him on IG for updates) and if you are a fledgling filmmaker or just a fan of film follow him for his really outstanding takes and breakdowns of his scene inspirations, script writing etc.
Check out Revolt, it is streaming and on physical media. Support indie films and all the great people who make them!

joemiale.com
And look for him on IG @joemiale
And find us:

Kimberly at http://www.macabreish.com and IG and Tiktok @macabre_ish. https://linktr.ee/macabre_ish

Carlos Ibarra on IG @jekyl6669 and
https://www.fillintheblanksproductions.ca/

Christopher Thompson on IG @theauthor__

Youtube playlist:

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNblhfc6MVBMUe65EA-lWSzG_joW27ZSf

Gene Dolders’ love of cinema began as a bonding activity with his Mom (though he ran out of the theater a couple of times!) and during the era of the video nasties, his brother acquired a copy of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and that, to this day, is one of his favorite films, including Nightmare City by Umberto Lenzi. He started writing scripts very young and by 15, he had the format down. Originally Gene wanted to be a special effects artist but amended that because he couldn’t draw or model clay, so he pivoted to camera work.

 Unable to get into film school, Gene headed to  college and with help from his multi media instructor, he landed his first job at a video production company. There he worked as a camera man and editor. After a while, because of his love of Asian cinema, he move to Hong Kong for a year and taught English and the year in Hong Kong turned into a decade of moving around Asia. There he did some camera and post production work while still teaching English. It wasn’t until 2016 that he returned to England.

He started his company Barbra Green Digital in 2018. And while his full time job is cinematographer, he started with a few short films and then he was ready for his first feature, The Blade Cuts Deeper, co-written by him and his friend Alex (AJ Ballard). The film was made over a week with a lot of favors, some good location deals and a low 5 figure budget. 

Gene talks about submitting his film to festivals and tells the story about how he got distribution.  He also talks about working on Blood Stream as the director of photography and also having his own segment. So keep an eye out for that anthology!

Carlos, Gene and I were in fan mode toward the end talking about documentaries such as Mancunian Man and horror movies such as Shelby Oaks, The Dark and the Wicked and Predator Badlands. We also talked about indie filmmakers taking chances and the guerrilla marketing of the 80s and 90s and how it helped build horror fandom and film success.

This is another fun one and if you haven’t yet, support indie filmmakers and watch The Blade Cuts Deeper! And maybe leave a review.

Find us:

Kimberly at http://www.macabreish.com and IG and Tiktok @macabre_ish. https://linktr.ee/macabre_ish

Carlos Ibarra on IG @jekyl6669 and
 https://www.fillintheblanksproductions.ca/ 

Gene Dolders:

https://bgdigital.org

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8969674/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

Director Jason Horton has a life long love of film and he and his Mom bonded over them. Instead of sports, he was into cinema. He’s from Indiana and he had a rough start, he did substances, joined a band and dropped out of school. But Jason eventually regrouped, got his GED and after getting an offshore job at 24, with his brother, he saved up enough for college. Jason went to the University of New Orleans, he wanted to be a lawyer but changed his mind after checking out the film scene and seeing the opportunity, he joined the undergrad film program, instead.

After graduating in 2003, Jason directed his debut feature, Rise of the Undead. He and a friend pooled their money and made it happen. He got a distributor and while they didn’t make any money, Rise of the Undead, did make it on to the shelves of Blockbuster. This was the era of Katrina and so Jason moved from New Orleans to LA. He hoped that opportunities would be plentiful and that because he directed a movie and it was in Blockbuster, he would be a shoo-in but no, it was hard. He was back to working at Starbucks again. 

After a while, he did get something in the film industry, his first gig there was as a behind the scenes videographer. And through those connections came opportunities. Jason’s next project was an anthology called Edges of Darkness. It also made it to Blockbuster with a huge dvd release, it did better than the first one. But once again, Jason didn’t see much in the way of profit on it. He was still working full time at Starbucks. 

It wasn’t until around 2012 when Monsters in the Woods was released that he finally quit Starbucks for good. He was instead, directing, editing, doing camera work etc. for other people. It still wasn’t a lot but it was industry work.

After a while, Jason started directing documentaries just as the movie business started taking a turn and the movie on demand (MOD) model was no longer as lucrative as it once was. Movies that were once making 6 figures on Amazon, were now lucky to make, five. So for 4 or 5 years, all he made were documentaries.

He’d outgrown the micro budget film model and wanted to get back to narrative filmmaking and so he found crowdfunding. His first campaign made $80,000 for a film called Craving. The experience was so good that he did it again for A Hard Place. The next one, he collaborated with the Mahal’s to fund his monster movie, The Apex Predators Club. 

Jason talks about what has made his career, building community through the work and returning to conventions. And then he talks his most ambitious project yet, The Apex Predators Club. It’ll be out next year, 2026, keep an eye out!!

To find J. Horton’s filmography:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1862032/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

J. Horton's youtube:

https://m.youtube.com/@JHorton

And find me, Kimberly:

 http://www.macabreish.com and IG and Tiktok @macabre_ish. https://linktr.ee/macabre_ish

Part 2
After Dead Season, Adam and Enzo, started making cartoons (Oishi High School Battle) and it was one of the biggest shows on youtube, at the time, with billions of views. And it ran for 3 seasons for Smosh. Then they got the band back together for Yeti 2! When it was time to start work on Decade of the Dead, it was rough and expensive from the beginning with a quarter of the budget going to cøvid protocols. Adam co-directed Decade of the Dead with Fairai Branscombe Richmond, in the jungle, in 100 degree heat, wearing essentially, hazmat suits. And it was miserable. 

Decade of the Dead took 8 years from start to finish, it began as a Dead Season series and evolved into a sequel. One of the potential options for a location was at the facility of a Hawaiian cult but that fell through and so they settled on Oahu, then people started getting sick. Including their Producer who was so ill he was put on a respirator and then production was canceled. So in the mean time, Adam went back to writing and made a short in honor of a disabled friend he lost. And his producer, Brian Spicer (Briscoe County Jr.), he made 3 movies and when it was time to film Decade of the Dead again, he doubled the funding and gave Adam access to his equipment house.

And as awesome the extra infusion of funding was, Adam couldn’t be away from his kids and quit the production. He was supposed to be replaced by his co-director Fairai, who’s native to the island. Unfortunately, they would lose their funding if Adam quit so he had to gut it out. 

Adam and Fairai shared the movie, two A units shooting in tandem, everyone pounded out the production, essentially two movies, one action, one horror, made at the same time. Adam barely slept or ate for a month and a half. It was brutal but they made it happen. A point of pride is all of the FX were practical, all of the explosions etc. is real. 

To add to the already grueling production was extortion and if they didn’t have a native Hawaiian on their crew, it would’ve been worse than they got. Oh and a tropical storm blew in while they were filming on the water. It was all bad. 

Ok, not all bad. Some of Decade of the Dead has sets from movies you’ve seen and will probably recognize because they were abandoned and used by other productions, including this one. 

While waiting to make his next film, Adam is  making a retro video game based on Yeti A Love Story, an adventure game and nod to Monkey Island, a full circle moment. And since his day job is in visual fx and animation, he’s right at home.

So many of Adam’s friends who were in his indie low budget Yeti films, are pretty successful right now and you’ve likely seen their shows. From Joe Mande (Hacks, Parks & Recreation) to Adam Malamut (Universal Basic Guys) all started in the Yeti films and at least some of them, want to make more.

Decade of the Dead is full of easter eggs so keep an eye out while you’re watching (now on Tubi) and while you’re there, check out the prequel, Dead Season and Yeti: A Love Story if you are a fan of low budget, adult  horror. 

Adam mentions a long list of names, movies and series, find them on my website in the linktree below. Thanks so much for supporting indie film and this podcast! 

Find Macabre…ish Cults, Classics & Horrors Podcast wherever there are podcasts. 

https://linktr.ee/macabre_ish

Find Adam Deyoe:

https://pro.imdb.com/mobile/name/nm1951858/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

And find us:

Carlos Ibarra on IG @jekyl6669 and
 https://www.fillintheblanksproductions.ca/ 

Kimberly