B.S. NEWS
January - April, 2004

SOON TO BE A FEATURE FILM - CURRENTLY IN PRE-PRODUCTION

BLOOD SHOT
LATEST HEADLINES

April 17th-18th, 2004

      - AWARDS -

Blood Shot wins
BEST INDIE / B-MOVIE of 2003 at the
2003 Internet Horror Awards on February 5th, 2004.

Blood Shot wins 3 awards on Dec. 6th, 2003 at the Saints & Sinners IV Festival in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Best Actor: Michael Bailey Smith
Best Cinematography: Marie Chao
Best Sound: Dietrich Johnston

Blood Shot and Michael Bailey Smith won two awards at Fright-Fest in Gainesville, Georgia on October 13th. Best Actor in a Short Film, and Best Actor in a Comedy Horror Short.

Blood Shot won it's second award at Dragon*Con 2003 on September 1st, in the largest horror, science fiction and fantasy film festival in North America.

Our first award was a Remi Award from WorldFest 2003, announced in May, 2003.

FILM FESTIVALS

Although we will continue to send the film out to festivals that request it, we are no longer actively pushing the festival angle now that our ultimate goal has been achieved.

We are focusing our energy and resources on the new feature film, which is turning out to be such an amazing victory; it is exceeding our wildest hopes and dreams for this project.

The new feature is going to blow people away. This web site will become the new site for the feature length movie...

THE WAR ON
TERROR

I'M NEXT?!

Usama Bin Laden learns that the 4th Infantry Division is on it's way back to Afghanistan now that they've caught Saddam.

LOOK WHO GOT BEAT WITH THE UGLY STICK!

Kids, let this be a lesson for ya. Prostitution just doesn't pay.

As he crawled out of his hole, Saddam is reported to have said, "My name is Saddam Hussein. I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate." Yeah, he's used to saying that.

No takers from the 4th Infantry Division.

      
There's no telling what he's had in his mouth...

NO PROFIT IN "SEXY"

Saddam made more money as a prostitute looking like a homeless bum. His loyalist troops thought he looked too much like a woman, and they were not attracted to him "that way."

- REVIEWS -

"I can't believe what I just saw, but I want to see more of it!" This review by Bok Choy Caterpillar from eFilmCritic.com is tremendous, and is repeated below in it's entirety for your reading pleasure. Or you can click on the link and go read it on eFilmCritic.com for yourself...

Here's a little blurb from aXis Magazine about the Saints & Sinners Festival. "It rocked. It was awesome." But wait, there's more...

Horror Bob of The Horror Review is obviously a genius. He says, "Blood Shot is possibly one of the best short films I've seen this year." Later, he says, "Overall this film was great, I just wish it was a feature film..." Thanks, Horror Bob! (We're working on that last part...)

The Jekyll & Hyde Review Team Corpse at Horror-Web broke it down and gave Blood Shot some very nice compliments. They too wanted "MORE MORE MORE!" We hear ya...and thank you for the review!

Daniel Wible of Film Threat gave Blood Shot a fantastic review! Lot's of details, but that's part of what makes it so fun to read. Imagine how much more fun it would be to SEE... They didn't spoil the ending - of the *story* - but it's a great read. Thanks to Daniel Wible for the review! "Wickedly Funny... Impossible not to laugh." "It's funny and terrorist's die, what more do you want?" Visit FilmThreat.com to read the review.

Eric Campos, also of Film Threat says, "Just trust me when I say it’s loud, angry and fucking awesome!" He saw it at Fright-Fest and his re-cap is here.

CineGeek reviewed Blood Shot. "Blood Shot is a balls to the wall action comedy that kicks you right where it hurts and makes you like it."

Check out the September, 2003 BS News page for more reviews from The São Paulo International Short Film Festival and comments from the OC Weekly.

Here is the brilliant review from eFilmCritic.com repeated in it's entirety:

From the program, I wasn’t really too interested in watching this movie. I’m not a huge fan of action films, let alone action films with a vampire as the lead character. Within about ten seconds, I was sucked in to Blood Shot, and there remained until the closing credits.

Michael Bailey Smith plays a large, angry vampire. Not just any large, angry vampire, but one who works with the CIA to assassinate terrorists. Smith not only shines in this role, he owns it. I even asked a friend during the movie, “Hey, is this guy famous?” I thought maybe I didn’t recognize him with the character makeup…he was just that good.

Darrin Reed and Deke Anderson were also great in their roles, as a cop and the CIA Director of the Vampire Division, respectively. Reed reminded me of Bruce Willis in the Die Hard series, the guy who is not too bright but really determined to do his job. Anderson was hilariously sober during his portrayal of the CIA Director, and made the lines work even more.

The story goes that the cop is after the vampire, who he thinks is a murderer. He soon finds out that the vampire is actually on his side, and is already on a mission to stop a terrorist cell in LA.

The gore factor heats up here tremendously, but is mixed in with more laughs and terrific stunts. The cinematography of Marie Chao was beautiful, but always adding to the film and never a distraction.

The film was shot on 35 mm, and after checking the website, I found that this was actually a student thesis film. That just about knocked me off my chair. I’ve seen student films. I’ve seen GOOD student films. This one puts every one I’ve ever seen to shame.

Also from the website, I found that Blood Shot is currently in pre-production to become a feature length movie. Well, there went my only complaint. This version is 21 minutes, and it felt more like five or six. The only time I was disappointed was when the credits started to roll.

Blood Shot has been scoring big on its tour of the festivals, including awards for best film, best actor, best cinematography, and best sound. The only surprise to me is that there’s no accompanying “best director” award to go along with them.

Dietrich Johnston knows what he’s doing, and throws off the bell curve for many aspiring filmmakers. But, if you don’t get a chance to see Blood Shot at any festivals, don’t worry, you’ll see plenty more of Johnston in the future.

- Bok Choy Caterpillar

Internet Movie Database
Check out Blood Shot on imdb.com.

Updated: Thursday, March 18th, 2004

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