Movies
‘Perkins’ 14′ Hits Theaters in January With Horrorfest
We learned this morning that After Dark Films’ Perkins’ 14 is currently in post productionin NYC. The film is the first feature film to be developed entirely over the Internet. Produced by After Dark Films, and Massify in association with FanLib, PERKINS’ 14 will be distributed in theatres nationwide (January 2009) as part of the third After Dark Horrorfest. Singer’s film “Dark Ride” was one of the more successful features released theatrically during year one of Horrorfest. Read on for more details.
Directed by award winning filmmaker Craig Singer (Dark Ride, Dead Dogs Lie, A Good Night to Die), with a screenplay by Lane Shadgett (Luna Park, All Lost Souls), PERKINS’ 14 was developed online at Ma ssify.com. Writers were invited to upload story pitches, and actors submitted audition videos. The site’s community members then voted on their favorite story and on which actors they thought deserved to be cast in the four main roles.
The winning idea, submitted by Jeremy Donaldson, follows Robert Perkins, who at age six, becomes mentally unstable when his parents are brutally murdered inside their home. His psychosis has him living the rest of his life convinced that the killers will return in the future to kill him as well. At age 34, Perkins kidnaps 14 people from his hometown of Stone Cove and brainwashes them, creating a unified team of psycho killers.
Shot on location in Romania, PERKINS’ 14 features Shayla Beesley, Katherine Pawlak (“Lonelygirl15”), Josh Davidson, and Trey Farley (Bend It Like Beckham). Former Misfits frontman Michale Graves’ song “Blackbird,” is featured in the film. Graves also acts in it, playing the love interest of lead actress Shayla Beesley’s character.
The film joins BUTTERFLY: REVELATION, FAITHLESS and THE BROKEN
Movies
‘Backrooms’ Director Kane Parsons Is No Fan of Generative AI: “Defeats the Purpose Entirely for Me”
There has been a lot of talk recently about filmmakers embracing generative AI as part of the filmmaking process, from Darren Aronofsky to Martin Scorsese. But what about filmmakers that are against the use of Gen AI for creative pursuits? You can count 20-year-old Backrooms director Kane Parsons among that group, which should give you some hope for the future.
In a new chat with The Australian, the self-taught young filmmaker makes it crystal clear that he won’t be using generative AI in any of his upcoming filmmaking projects.
“I think I’m in the same boat as most well-adjusted people,” Parsons tells the outlet. “If I could snap my fingers and make generative AI disappear forever, I probably would. Creatively, I get no enjoyment from using those tools. It defeats the purpose entirely for me.”
“What interests me more is interrogating it artistically,” Parsons notes. “We already live in a world where you walk outside and there are billboards and signs that are obvious AI slop. That’s become part of our visual reality. To me, generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot.”
He explains, “I’m interested in using that iconography in art – not using AI to make the art itself, but examining what it represents. I definitely want to explore it further in future projects.”
Kane Parsons also notes during the interview with The Australian, “… there’s so much at stake and so many genuinely harmful consequences already happening.”
Backrooms marks young prodigy Kane Parsons’ feature directorial debut, and it’s based on his own series of YouTube videos that were brought to life using Blender, the open-source 3D computer graphics software suite. So it’s no surprise that Parsons, who has hand-made his filmmaking career up to this point, isn’t buying into the hoopla around Generative AI.
His debut feature is the #1 movie in the world, so perhaps he’s onto something.
What’s next from Kane Parsons, you ask? Stay tuned…
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