UPDATED: Read “Death Walks the Streets” the Truth Uncovered!
“Few people can say that they have the drive that fuels the Death Walks the Streets Team. This is a story about a group of filmmakers risking it all to blaze their own path, and make an independent film franchise on a studio-style scale. A franchise made for film fans, by film fans.” – Death Walks the Streets Official Website
I would like to think that I am fair and impartial, but it has been brought to my attention that there is something ugly brewing. Horror Yearbook was designed as a place to recognize lost or unknown horror films floating in a sea of commercial shit and support true independent artists as a way to keep real horror alive. Unfortunately, not everyone in the horror community feels the same way. During this current Horror trend, there are major studios making much money off the little people. A certain “Silent” film springs to mind in using tactics to promote themselves for free while taking money away from the Everyman, and receiving millions in the process, off of a film not worthy of theater showings. Well, if studios haven’t already sunk low enough, How would you feel about studios pretending to be independent filmmakers to further scam the masses?
DEATH WALKS THE STREETS director James Zahn would have you believe this is an independent film made on a “shoestring budget”, but I believe this is to be dishonest. They have SAG cast and crew working for them, so I am assuming this is a SAG production. Oh and their production company Baby Galigo Studios is also SAG. Zahn has also stated that he received a deal from Lionsgate, but wanted to “remain independent” and rejected it. Lionsgate is considered an independent studio itself, so what he really meant was he did not want to receive any backing from a studio at all. I find it hard to believe that Zahn could afford to finance this out of his own pocket with his partner “working day and night to finance the film”. But wait…
This is the first feature film Zahn has ever written, produced, and directed and yet he was supposedly given full reign on this “independent” feature. That is pretty funny considering Zahn’s Co-Producer Daniel Heffner worked on the entire SAW series, his 1st AD Charles Leslie worked on THE GRUDGE 2, his Production Designer Gregory Hill is Art Director for “Law & Order”, and his Extras Casting Director Jonathan Kinnas casted for THE AMITYVILLE HORROR. Wow, I guess Zhan really got lucky in the friend department since all of his friends helping, presumably for free on this low budget film, just happen to be in Hollywood with major film and television experience.
And if they are not receiving any financial backing, How can they announce a planned Trilogy and prequel comic for a film that hasn’t even seen the light of day? There is also reason to believe that Zahn is receiving backing from various sources such as Spike TV and the Hot Topic retail store. DWTS was nominated for the “Most Anticipated Film” at the 2006 Spike TV Scream Awards, the same user choice award presented by Hot Topic. Spike TV’s promotional partner Hot Topic featured in-store displays to promote online voting for the Spike TV’s SCREAM AWARDS 2006. The youth-oriented retail clothing outlet also featured entry boxes in more than 700 stores for a “fly-away” contest to attend the awards show taping.
Spike TV is a division of MTV Networks that seems dead set on killing cool. As if MTV hasn’t disposed of good music with their trashy music videos and their soul extinguishing reality shows, Spike TV seems determined to lead the horror industry down the same ill-fated path. Coincidentally, Zhan had a cable access show entitled “ZTV”, kinda like MTV, which he followed up with a VJ reality show. But when the DWTS production team was contacted in regards to their questionable financing and possible sponsors, they were unable to be reached for comment.
Hell, I am beginning to wonder if this highly anticipated movie actually exists. Normally, independent filmmakers upload multiple trailers onto their MySpace pages and cover their page with photos from shoots. But has anyone ever seen a still shot taken from the DWTS movie set? Can you find any footage online? How about just a single trailer? Nope. But I did see plenty of “fans” aka “Death Walkers” plastered all over their MySpace Page wearing DWTS merchandise. Huh. I wonder how that works exactly. So do they actually pay models to pose as “fans” for a movie that doesn’t exist? Or did they really con all of those people into rallying for a movie that doesn’t exist? Either way, I’m not buying it. The sad part is that someone else is.
This seems like a huge publicity stunt for attention seeking whores. There are also rumors swirling that Zahn tried to cancel his February 2007 Fangoria convention panel because they tried to separate one of his actors that starred in ANGEL and give him his own personal panel. Wait a minute. An independent filmmaker is getting graced with attention from the largest horror publication and he is refusing it? And this huge horror publication is giving attention to a movie no one can confirm exists? Well, it would be no surprise to anyone even remotely paying attention that Fangoria gets paid by studios to feature their films, so that could very well be what happened in this case.
And the DWTS Abaddon Concept Art was even featured at Dread Central. Oh, but that’s not all. According to JoBlo.com, Dread Central got an exclusive deal with the DWTS team to get the behind-the-scenes coverage, pictures, podcasts, and Zahn’s production blog. An entire section of the Dread Central site will be solely dedicated to DWTS. It should also be mentioned that Dread Central gets paid for advertisements and this sounds like the biggest ad ever.
[Editor's Note: In Dread Central's defense I think this is when they were part of the Horror Channel, but I also have no idea what I am talking about.]
So why are heavy hitters like Fangoria and Dread Central supporting this fake independent film? I can give you three guesses, but you only need one to say, “Money”. This completely defeats the purpose of indie filmmakers trying to break into the business. Universities and Nonprofit Organizations are dedicated to helping the less fortunate filmmakers achieve their goals and this scam makes me sick. DWTS is touted as a fan film “for film fans, by film fans”. But when I think of a fan film, I picture young filmmakers making Batman Versus Alien in their backyard, and then uploading it to YouTube.
Which brings to the expensive merchandise. How do they afford hoodies? I know multiple indie artists and they are lucky if they can make cheap $10 t-shirts with a lame logo on it. Even Troma Entertainment, which has been in business for over 30 years, is struggling to put out their POULTRYGEIST merchandise. The truth is, I would feel more proud paying a poor filmmaker $10 and wearing their t-shirt than forking over my hard earned cash for a $49.99 hooded sweatshirt to promote this movie.
Death really does walk the streets and you can see it at your local theater. I didn’t get paid to write this and I am proud. Can the other horror sites and publications say the same?
- Molly Celaschi
Read the “fake fan” reply here.
