THE WHY OF MY LIFE

I'm going to do something a little different in this post. The Thanksgiving holiday has made me uncharacteristically sentimental... and patriotic. 

My good friend Beauregard Freidkin told me that if I want people to find and embrace my universe of characters and creations, they are going to have to know who I am. This is hard for me. I'm a private person. I like to stay behind the scenes. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. I am the great and powerful Oz."

I once read a proverb that said, "If a person knows the why of his life, he will understand why he has done all the things he has done and all the things he is doing." Okay, I just made that up. But that doesn't make the truth of the thing any less.

Why? Why have I done the things I have done in my life?

First, I will have to give you a little background on me. ONE: I am African American (more on that in a minute). TWO: I was born in one of the most dangerous ghettos in Brooklyn. In this age of gentrification, you might be saying Brooklyn's not dangerous. But believe me, the Brooklyn I knew was ultra-violent with vast wastelands of debris. Most of the World War II movies you'll see from the 70s and 80s where tanks are rolling through bombed out areas of Europe, were filmed in Brooklyn or the Bronx.

I was also born in 1962, when American was segrated and Black Americans did not have civil rights. The 1960s was the landmark battlefield decade where full civil rights was finally achieved (at least on paper in 1968). It may seem odd now, but my friends and I considered ourselves revolutionaries and rebels, born in the cracks of the American dream, fighting against the system (the man). My older sister knew members of the Black Panther Party. My parents marched with King.

As a child I suffered from chronic insomnia. Up most nights, I was introduced to the late show on TV. That's where I discovered cinema: Humphrey Bogart, Orson Wells, Hitchcock, Cagney. This planted the first seed in my head regarding Hollywood. 

I also grew up in a world of comic book superheroes and Hong Kong martial arts films. Ahh... now we are starting to get to the why. The overriding themes in comic books and martial arts films is that the hero achieves empowerment through powers or intense training. Another seed is planted.

My insomnia is finally cured when I discovered gymnastics. This was my empowerment. My superpower, my martial arts. For high school, I was zoned to take the public bus to the Jewish and Italian part of town. At age fifteen, lost in a new school, I accidentally opened up a door to the gym during gymnastics practice. And that was it. I was hooked. I worked out at school and traveled to every open workout gym in the five boroughs from the Flatbush YMCA to Roberto Clemente State Park in the South Bronx. For two bucks, I got to work out on broken down equipment without benefit of a coach.

I was also heavily into acrobatic Break Dancing during the birth of Hip Hop in NYC. Our dance battles were something straight out of a Kung Fu movie.

But gymnastics was my true love.

That's when people started telling me I can't. I was fifteen starting a very difficult sport. And it may seem funny now, but I swore I was going to the Olympics. By the time I graduated high school, I realized I wasn't going to make the Olympics. My high school coach got me an offer for a half scholarship to a college gymnastics team, but I turned it down. If I couldn't be the best, I didn't want to do it. So, I put away my grips and went to Brooklyn College. 

But after a few months, I started getting the itch again. I began training harder than ever. It was around that time that a friend of mine told me he was going up to a gymnastics camp in Pennsylvania for a week. I decided to go with him. Up there, I was recruited as a parallel bar specialist for a college gymnastics team. The owner of the camp International Gymnastics was also coach of the local college gymnastics team at East Stroudsburg University. I got to train up there the whole summer. Then I started school there. I never went back home, except to visit.

This was also the summer of 1980. That was the year the president of the United States boycotted the Olympics in Moscow. The Olympic team landed at my coaches camp. I trained alongside of Olympic gymnasts and Olympic coaches. For a club gymnast from Brooklyn to all of a sudden be training with the top gymnasts in the world was like something out of a Rocky movie.

I didn't become an Olympian. But my gymnastics reached a high level of personal achievement and got me a university education.

Afterwards, when I wanted to move to Los Angeles and become a stuntman, people started telling me I couldn't. I did! Me and my gymnastics buddies from Brooklyn had been doing acrobatic martial arts fight scenes for fun ever since I could remember. But I never thought I would get paid to do the exact same thing for motion pictures. I had been tricking and free running decades before either existed.  

I even began coordinating and second unit directing, when I realized it was time to segue into my true passion and become a writer (I was a literary major and journalism minor in college).

As a writer here in Hollywood, I have had a lot of doors slammed in my face despite the fact I have the talent to be here. I'm not connected. I don't fit the stereotype of what a writer should look like. I'm not a bullshit artist. And I don't kiss ass.

Gatekeepers have kept me from reaching the audience I know is out there for my creations. 

But a new world is opening up here on the Internet. A world where artists can bypass gatekeepers and go straight to the audience, who will decide if they like them or not.

This is now my world. When I was watching the late show back in the 70s, there were few Black faces. And in 2013 American films, not all that much has changed.

My creations will speak to diverse demographics.

I reached much farther than my humble beginnings. In my neighborhood, you were a success if you didn't end up in jail and had a job. I have outlived most people I grew up with in that world. Many are dead, in prison, or so strung out on drugs they look like something out of "The Walking Dead."

But me... I'm still standing. And I have a hell of a lot of creating to do.

American is a flawed place. There is no promise of success. But there is the possibility. America is a land of possibilities. For everyone! Some just have to work harder than others.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! 

Me

Carlton Kenneth Holder

  

TIMELINE NUMBER FOUR

A filmmaker set out to make a film. Strange things happened.

September 28th

The day before shooting begins. Everyone arrived from Los Angeles pretty much on time: the three actors and the director of photography. We got everyone situated in the house we rented for them and brought them dinner. We had also stocked the refrigerator there, so everyone was happy. Even our actor playing the Demon Jeremy, who was a vegan.

That night we took our cast and local crew to the Strawberry Lodge, our main location. for a walk through to discuss where we would be shooting particular scenes at in the house.

We even pre-lit the upstairs den where we would be shooting our first scene tomorrow between Grace and her sister Katie.

The house took on a much more ominous appearance at night, which everyone commented on. The animal heads on the wall almost seemed like they were looking at us.

We decided to get some exterior shots of the house at night as well. I had bought a cheap jib arm from Promax for our HD camera. We put the camera on the jib, weighted it down and took a shot where the camera rises slowly from behind a fence, revealing the house in all its horrible glory.

A redneck neighbor walked over from about a mile away. So much for being low-key. He was a nice enough fellow. I told him what the movie was about. "You know, Satanic worship in the woods of a rural community. Made up stuff." He repeated my words: "Made up stuff."

As we were wrapping up, a couple of bikers started riding by. Now, these weren't yuppie weekend warrior LA bikers. These were real deal outlaw bikers. Nazi helmets, long beards, tattoos. One was belligerent as he asked us what we were doing. I patiently answered his questions. A few moments later, they drove off in a swirl of dirt. I noticed a tattoo of the Devil on one of the biker's arms as they left. This wasn't the cute little devil tattoo a coed might get one drunken evening in Cabo. This tattoo was a very serious and sober depiction of Satan.

The hick neighbor bid us goodbye as he left. Behind me I heard him echo, "Satanic worship... Made up stuff." 

It was late, so we all decided to spend the night at the house. In retrospect, that didn't turn out to be such a good idea.

TO BE CONTINUED

Grace finds the album.

Images courtesy of "The Black Album"

UPCOMING

Hi gang,

I've been a little remiss lately in my postings. I had a meeting last week at Lionsgate and a meeting this week at A&E. Next week, I plan to spend entirely in front of the computer. Promise! I will not leave my post (get it).

UP AHEAD:

Tomorrow I'll post some more timeline from the filming of THE BLACK ALBUM (we are getting to some of the more bizarre events of the shoot).

After the first of the year, I will be releasing my second novel:

SPOOK

Confessions of  a Psychic Spy

All you Cold War spy buffs should get a kick out of it. This series will be tied to some of the greatest historical events of the 60, 70s, and 80s and will feature the most unusual twist EVER in a spy novel.

Also next week, I will finally dive back into the unfinished movie and will start releasing full scenes from the scariest movie you'll never see out into the Internet. I'm a little bit apprehensive about this. The last time I played around with the footage my powerbook crashed and the transmission went out on my car... while I was driving.

After we gorge ourselves on turkey next week and thoughts start to turn towards Christmas... and in keeping with my HORROR THROUGH THE HALLOWDAYS theme... I will begin to explore the dark origins of  ole' Noel.

See ya then. Or... in the final words of the Comedian in THE WATCHMEN, "Mother... forgive me..."

Grace Lynn compelled by Mathaluh

Images courtesy of The Black Album

INTERVIEW WITH A FREAK KING

By Beauregard Freidkin
(Freidkin is a journalist self-described as equal parts Fox Mulder and Hunter S. Thompson, although some say Van Wilder. He will be the host of upcoming radio talk show "The Midnite Review," where he will discuss unexplained phenomenon and play loud rock music)

BF, "I'm here with my guest and colleague Carlton Kenneth Holder. Formerly a journalist, Carlton traveled to Belfast to interview the IRA, Central Mexico to write about the drug trade and the Netherlands to research the World War II bombings of Belgium by the infamous Nazi Vengeance rockets. Carlton is also a Hollywood screenwriter and has had more than ten scripts he has written hit the big screen."

CKH, "More like the video store shelves." (laughter)

BF, "We are here to discuss Carlton's first novel "THE BLACK ALBUM: A Hollywood Horror Story," a thriller based on true events. The story follows a filmmaker and his starlet as they try to make a movie that is by all accounts cursed. First off, Carlton, how much of this is true and how much is fiction?"

CKH, "I see. You're going to put me on the spot right at the beginning. Well... first and foremost, my goal with the novel was to entertain. But... if I had to give you a percentile, I'd say seventy percent of the events in the story did occur. And, you'd be surprised. Some of the things most people will think I made up, actually happened."

BF, "The werewolves?"

CKH, "Yup. At the very least, they suffered from clinical Lycanthropy. Although the rapid growth of hair on their bodies was a physical manifestation. So, you tell me."

BF, "I find that amazing. In the novel's prologue you even included me having a fictional interview with the novel's hero J.D. Loveless. Are you J.D. Loveless?"

CKH, "I guess I am, more or less."

BF, "And you actually filmed a movie called "The Black Album" in California, up in Lake Arrowhead and the surrounding mountain townships?"

CKH, "Yes."

BF, "Is the film cursed as you alluded in the novel?"

CKH, "Sounds kind of silly when you say it out-loud like that, in the light of day. (pause) I will go on record to say this, things happened during the filming that I can't explain... there was a cult presence in those mountains... and events did occur that were beyond the scope of what we perceive as normal."

BF, "In other words, the paranormal. (pause) One of the things that surprised me was that the book also had a romantic element between the filmmaker and his starlet Charlotte Rae. Would you care to address that?"

CKH, "No comment." (laughter)

BF, "I loved all the references and nods to classic horror movies of the past. Was that intentional from the outset?"

CKH, "I grew up watching Carpenter and Romero, reading King. I have a great reverence for fantastic fiction, as I like to call it. I wanted the book to have a very pop culture feel to it."

BF, "I know you had completed a rough cut of the movie before you abandoned the project. Do you have any plans to finish "The Black Album" now and release it?"

CKH, "Some things are best left unfinished. I have not been back to those mountains since. (beat) No. I do not have any plans to finish the movie."

BF, "I thoroughly enjoyed the book and recommend it to others, especially those interested in horror, suspense, and the supernatural."

CKH, "Thank you, Beauregard. It means a lot coming from a man of your background."

BF, "You're welcome, Carlton."

FOR MORE INFO, SEE MY WEBSITE: http://brooklynapachepress.com/

THE BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DQ3FFX0

Images courtesy of "The Black Album"

RANDOM EXCERPTS

A filmmaker set out to make a film. Strange things happened.

Here are some random quotes and lines from "THE BLACK ALBUM: A Hollywood Horror Story."

It had been a very long time since Loveless could remember seeing anyone hitchhiking, at least not anyone who wasn't an aged hippie relic from a long dead peace movement or a crack whore looking for a totally different type of ride.  

What was it about rural area teenagers and Satanic worship that went hand in hand so wonderfully? The cities had street gangs, extended families. The woods had Satan, the ultimate father figure, who would never disappoint because he so blatantly embraced evil, chaos, and perversion.

The little girl looked lost. Her face was sad, sad for Henry. The lost girl was pale, like a corpse. Or a ghost.

"Are you lost?" Henry asked.

"Aren't we all?" the lost girl answered.

"None of this is real. You're not real."

"I used to be."

"Used to be?"

"Why'd you bring him back?" the lost girl asked hopelessly through bloodless lips.

Henry felt the possession. He felt his soul slipping away. If he couldn't have his body, nobody would. The boy put the gun to his head and lifted his mournful and repentant face heavenward. "Fight the Devil!" The muzzle flash lit up the night. The gunshot had a ghastly echo.

The evil crawled back down into Hell.

At least for another year.

Henry possessed by the Demon Jeremy

Image courtesy of "The Black Album"

Hope you enjoyed the excerpts.

Yours Truly,

Carlton Kenneth Holder

PAGAN THANKSGIVING

In keeping with my HORROR THROUGH THE HALLOWDAYS theme, I will explore the dark side of Thanksgiving. We all know Halloween replaced the pagan festival ALL HALLOWS EVE, which was celebrated in Europe. But Thanksgiving is an American holiday, founded in America. It can't have any pagan roots. 

Or can it.

As the story goes, the small band of pilgrims of Plymouth Colony braved the perilous North Atlantic in a quest for religious freedom. They landed in America during a particularly harsh winter. Only 55 of the 102 colonists survived until Spring. The pilgrims had a celebration to thank God for their survival. That celebration eventually became the annual Thanksgiving holiday.

However, for hundreds of years in England, there was an autumn feast called HARVEST HOME derived from the Druid harvest feast. The Druids, by the way, were the most openly Satanic in their form of worship.

Harvest Home and Thanksgiving are strikingly similar. Hmm...

                                                    A zombie version of Thanksgiving

                                                 Images courtesy of "The Black Album"

Yours Truly,

Carlton Kenneth Holder

TIMELINE: FROM MOVIE TO NOVEL

A Filmmaker set out to make a horror movie. Strange things happened.

September 17th

Through an ad we placed in the local newspaper, we've cast most of the smaller roles. These are mostly inexperienced actors, but they fit the characters we've cast them as.

September 18th

We've been receiving weird phone calls. When we answer, the person on the other end hangs up. We know there is a person on the other end because we can hear breathing.

While out later that night picking up groceries, the fog became so thick, Sharlene couldn't drive. She pulled off to the side and let me take over.  I couldn't see three feet in front of me. I'm going to have o invest in fog lights.

September 21st

The Los Angeles casting went great. We posted our ad in Backstage West. We were casting for the heroine's sister Kaitlyn, the love interest Darryl, and for the role of the antagonist: the DEMON JEREMY. We were very happy with our choices. The actor playing our demon rocker once played Charlie Manson in an NBC MOW about the Beach Boys.

September 24th

We placed an ad for a music composer. I wanted someone on the mountain so I wouldn't have to schlep back and forth to LA to edit scenes to music. Disappointingly, we only received two submissions: one from a music student down the mountain in San Bernardino (I immediately rejected that one) and one from a man named Jerry up on the mountain. We arranged to meet Jerry at his house. He lived in Crestline, but it was off the beaten path. It was in the boondocks, if you're familiar with that expression. Sharlene came with me. She nervously joked that we were in Ed Gein country. I didn't disagree with her. The house was rambling and rundown. Jerry was one of the most bizarre individuals I had ever met. His wife Angel was even stranger. While we were there, she placed a kitten's head in her mouth. I thought for sure she was going to bite it off. Thankfully - and to Sharlene's major relief - she didn't. Jerry was strange, but his music was brilliant. What the hell was he doing on this mountain? Jerry maintained that he suffered form the disease of Lycanthropy (the werewolf curse), which he had unintentionally passed to Angel through sexual intercourse. Who know the werewolf curse was an STD?  Despite this, we not only hired him as the music composer for the film, but also its special FX artist. According to Jerry, he helped with SFX for some of the PHANTASM movies (I loved those crazy cult films). On the way out, we met his landlord Della, a heavyset Native American woman and her thuggish brothers. They had the feel of grifter gypsies. Della gave Sharlene and I each a bracelet made with wolfsbane.

Our house sat at the bottom of a hill. We have to take a long flight of wooden stairs down the side of the hill to get to our house. Behind us is nothing but thick forest. That night, we were kept awake by a chorus of coyotes on a nearby hill, baying at the moon. There must have been thirty of them.

TO BE CONTINUED

   "Every horror film needs a clown."

Image courtesy of "The Black Album"

The scariest movie you'll never see

EXCERPT FROM NOVEL

A filmmaker set out to make a horror movie. Strange things happened.

I promise to continue the timeline from the making of the movie Thursday. Tomorrow I have a meeting at Lionsgate regarding a TV project I created, that I have to prepare for today. Wish me luck.

In the meantime, here is a pivotal moment in the book, where the filmmaker J.D. Loveless and his actress Charlotte Rae are in LA screening an unfinished version of the movie for an independent movie distributor named Bob and his young wife and business partner Shatari.

Check out what happens.

EXCERPT:

When the movie reached the crucial point where Charlotte's character played the record backwards and the unholy lyrics began to issue forth with an otherworldly echo effect, Shatari's nose began to bleed.

"Oh," the Hindu woman said in mild surprise as she cupped the blood that was running out of her nose. Seconds later, it began to gush out.

"Shatari? Shatari, are you alright?" Bob was alarmed.

The woman was nodding as she got up and rushed out to a nearby restroom. Bob excused himself and went off after her. The technician pressed pause on the movie. Loveless, Charlotte, and the tech sat there uncomfortably. They heard muffled sounds of arguing. Two minutes later, Bob came back into the room.

"Her nose just won't stop bleeding. She's losing a lot of blood. I'm going to take her to the emergency room."

"Jesus! Has anything like this ever happened before?" Loveless asked as he got up.

"Never." Bob seemed weirded out.

"Is there anything we can do?" Charlotte asked with genuine concern.

"No. No. We're gonna have to postpone seeing the rest of the movie."

Shatari came back into the room. She had a white towel to her nose. The towel was a sopping crimson. In her eyes was a look, a look of accusation when she looked at Loveless and Charlotte. She said something in Hindi that no one else in the room understood. The Hindu culture was very old. As old as any. They had a history with magic, the supernatural.

"Don't worry. We can come back. You can look at the movie later." Loveless smiled.

Shatari's eyes flashed. In them was loathing and hatred. The Hindu woman tried to bury these feelings, but she couldn't. While Loveless had missed it, the actress had not. Charlotte saw the emotions. There would be no deal with these distributors. The woman was spooked and her husband was going to do whatever his trophy wife said.

Images courtesy of "The Black Album"

The scariest movie you'll never see

Hope you enjoyed the excerpt.

Yours Truly,

Carlton Kenneth Holder

WAS THE MOVIE CURSED?

Someone asked me an interesting question the other day: Did I really believe the movie was cursed?

I mean... it made a good scary novel. But did I really believe "The Black Album" was a cursed film. And I mean like "Poltergeist" cursed!

I've been thinking about that question ever since. I mean I am an avid horror fan. My addiction is so deep that after watching the latest episode of "The Walking Dead" last night, I had nightmares about fighting in the zombie apocalypse and actually enjoyed my dreams (I was racking up quite the body count).

I'm sure somewhere deep down in the DNA of any male still packing even an ounce of testosterone, is the desire for a zombie apocalypse. Come on, you know it's true. Endless killing of the living dead!

Still? Do I believe in this stuff? I love horror films. But do I believe in them? More importantly, do I believe that my film was cursed.

"Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Amityville Horror," "The Excorist," "Hills Have Eyes," "The Serpent and the Rainbow" and "The Mothman Prophecies" were supposed to be based on true stories. Some more, some less.

I know - as I have said before - there was an occult presence on that mountain. Something in the backwoods and something having to do with the drug-fueled teen populace. There were death threats. There were bizarre incidences. There was even a death. 

Unlike the novel though, in real life the filmmaker and his actress didn't stick around for the blizzard that hit the mountain. The grand finale. We narrowly escaped. I had just received a pretty decent size writer residual, so we road out the storm in Temecula, in - of all places - Pechanga Resort & Casino. Hell, I even won a few bucks.

We never really returned to the mountain. We came back quietly, packed up our stuff and got the hell out of there for good!

Do I believe the film was cursed? Weird incidents plagued me until I decided not to finish the film. 

When I stopped, it stopped. 

What do you think?

Yours Truly,

Carlton Kenneth Holder

                                          Teen kills himself to escape demonic possession

                                                     Courtesy of "The Black Album"

                                                  The scariest movie you'll never see!

NOW AVAILABLE AT BARNES & NOBLE

Amazon just let me know that the paperback version of my book is now available through Barnes & Noble.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-black-album-carlton-kenneth-holder/1117208777?ean=9781492805120

As well as through Amazon in paperback and ebook versions.

http://www.amazon.com/THE-BLACK-ALBUM-Hollywood-Horror/dp/1492805122/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

It's nice to know that my fledgling publishing company BROOKLYN APACHE PRESS, a company dedicated to creating brands in the realms of horror, science fiction, fantasy, and adventure for a racially and culturally diverse audience that more accurately reflects the ethnic complexion of America, has partnerships with trendsetting companies like Kindle and Createspace.

Thank you Amazon!

Yours Truly,

Carlton Kenneth Holder

TRUE LIFE BRUSHES WITH HORROR

Yesterday a friend told me about a dream that segued into a true life horror incident. Being an avid horror fan and having recently launched my own publishing company BROOKLYN APACHE PRESS, dedicated to releasing brands in the realms of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, I came up with an idea:

SEND ME YOUR TRUE LIFE BRUSHES WITH HORROR OR THE FANTASTIC FOR POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENT INTO STORIES, NOVELS OR MORE!

You can have a hand in creative development and we would share any financial profits equally.

So, if you have anything... a UFO encounter... a chilling ghost story... a seance gone horribly horribly wrong... send your event my way and let's talk.

PLEASE LEAVE STORIES OR CONCEPTS AS A COMMENT WITH CONTACT INFO! THANK YOU!

Yours Truly,

Carlton Kenneth Holder

                                                                A gallery of ghouls

TIMELINE CONTINUED: FROM MOVIE TO NOVEL

Five years ago a filmmaker set out to make a film.

Bad things happened.

The movie was never finished.

Many believe the film to be cursed.

The filmmaker wrote a book about his exploits. This is the timeline.

August 28th

I finished the screenplay to my companion's relief. I was working on it day and night, pretty much to the exclusion of all else. It's funny how this mountain has inspired me. At an elevation of over 5,000 feet, it is practically a world unto it's own. 

Over the mountain's edge, I can see the pollution down below. What we had been breathing. 

The kids here look like they are straight out of the 70s. Long hair, band patches. An acceptable mode of transportation on the mountain for its teen populace is hitchhking. 

September 3rd

Sharlene finally read the script. She loved it. I wrote the lead role for her. She is a very good actress and has a great business mind. By the time she finished the script, she had already figured out many of the smaller cast roles and possible locations for us to shoot at on the mountain for free or very cheap.

September 10th

I found my director of photography: Matt Fore. He can shoot both artistically and quickly. We are going to have to bring him up from LA. We are also going to cast three of our main roles there, so we will have to house four people throughout the shoot.

September 13th

Sharlene and I check out the house we are going to use as the main location. She negotiated a great deal for it. It is huge and scary. The house is like something right out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It has a real creep factor. Mounted animal heads hang on the walls. The floors are cherry red wood. There is an upstairs and a downstairs with six bedrooms. 

While doing test shooting with Sharlene's two teen daughters and a few of their friends who are playing small roles in our film, the kids reported seeing the ghost of a little boy. I searched the house but found no one. On a back porch - one of the places the teens said they had seen the little boy - I found a marijuana joint. I didn't tell Sharlene.

TO BE CONTINUED

                                                        The possession of Grace Lynn

MORE HORROR THROUGH THE HALLOWDAYS

Five years ago a filmmaker set out to make a film.

Bad things happened.

The movie was never finished.

Many believe the film to be cursed.

The filmmaker wrote a book about his exploits.

HORROR THROUGH THE HALLOWDAYS

No. I did not flunk English in school. Hallowdays is my play on words. It's also the central concept for my horror through the holidays campaign. From Halloween through Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas and New Years, I will promote the novel thus.

Because, as many people don't know, Halloween is not just some dumb holiday made up so kids could dress up in costumes and run around begging for candy. 

Halloween used to be All Hallows Eve.

You see, when the Catholic Church wanted to convert the people away from the pagan religions they had grown up with, they changed the meaning of All Hallows' Eve (as well as many other pagan holidays).

In its earlier incantation, All Hallows' Eve consisted of harvest festivals and celebrations of the dead. It was a night when the doorway to our world was believed to be opened to ghosts and demons. People would dress their children up in costumes to confuse the spirits, so they wouldn't steal their children and take them back with them to the land of the dead.

Cool, huh. 

But Halloween is past and it's now time for turkey and drumsticks. Later, I'll explore the dark side of the Thanksgiving holiday (because everything has a dark side).

Below is my GIF to you from the unfinished film.

                                                   Grace stalked by the Demon Jeremy

                                                                 Disemboweled

                                                    Resurrection of the Demon Jeremy

TIMELINE: FROM MOVIE TO NOVEL

FIVE YEARS AGO, A FILMMAKER SET OUT TO MAKE A FILM. THIS WAS THE TIMELINE:

August 3rd

Been racking my brain for weeks,trying to think of the right concept for a horror film. Yes, I finally decided that I want to do a horror film. Sharlene, my significant other, tells me I am trying too hard.

We recently moved from Los Angeles to the Lake Arrowhead Mountains. I have noticed that Arrowhead is the well-to-do area of the mountain. But the surrounding mountain townships are inhabited by poor people. At over 5,000 feet elevation, this place is a world all its own... inhabited by thick fog, woods, and coyotes. A main staple of this world is the lumber industry.

August 14th

Overheard local teens talking about an urban legend. Don't go in for urban legends much myself, but this one sounds intriguing. It plays into the old myths of back-masking (hidden backwards Satanic lyrics in Rock songs) and teen Devil worshippers using the backwoods as high altar to their rock, drug, and sex-fueled Black Masses.

I decide I'm going to incorporate elements of this urban legend into my screenplay. Sharlene and I have invested money in a high definition camera, sound equipment and a lighting package. We agreed that if I could come up with a story that could be shot extremely cheap, using our available resources, we would make a film.

August 17th

I wake up around 3:30am. A name has come to me. MATHALUH. Out of thin air. That is what the fictitious band in my movie will be called. I am too excited to go back to bed. More ideas hit me. I begin writing the prologue. The screenplay has officially begun.

TO BE CONTINUED

Grace Lynn, under the Hell Board's power, is told to play the record backwards.

THE NURSERY RHYMES THAT STILL HAUNT MY DREAMS

These are lyrics from Mathaluh song "Dark Ballad" played backwards:

"Follow us to the old altar... the master awaits... (unintelligible)...

follow us to the stained altar... the burning kingdom awaits...

(unintelligible) Sad Satan... lord Satan... slayer... slay her...

Mountain nursery rhyme:

"Five members who could not be tamed, sold their souls

for fortune and fame. Formed their spell-circle in 

Satan's name, in the pit of Hell they burn by flame."

Another nursery rhyme:

"Play it backwards, summon him back. The Demon Jeremy will attack. 

Through the soul or through the flesh, the front man eternal will not rest.

One night only to find your sin, one soul out, another soul in."

Old saying:

"Mathaluh lives!"

You tell me what this all means.

Yours truly,

Carlton Kenneth Holder

FIVE YEARS AGO A FILMMAKER SET OUT TO MAKE A MOVIE...

Five years ago, in the Arrowhead Mountains and the surrounding mountain townships of Crestline, Twin Peaks, Running Springs and Rimforest, a filmmaker set out to make a micro-budget horror film about the Urban legend of Mathaluh, a band who was said to have released a bootleg record laced with backwards Satanic lyrics. The movie shoot was plagued by bizarre and unusual disturbances, until the film was abandoned altogether. 

Some people say the film is cursed.

Others say members of that mountain community, involved in Black Masses in those backwoods, didn't want to see the film finished.

I don't know which is true.

Here are some images from the uncompleted movie.

                                          The Hell Board that summons the Demon Jeremy

                                                 The Demon Jeremy: Front Man Eternal

                                            Actress Sharlene Nova as heroine Grace Lynn

                                            "You should have stayed in LA, Grace. Shit like

                                             this only happens in small towns."

                                                              The bride of Jeremy

HORROR THROUGH THE HALLOWDAYS

Halloween is over. But it will not be forgotten. We have entered into a season of Holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years.

Admittedly, Halloween is my favorite holiday because I grew up in a world of comic books, horror movies, and science fiction novels. Simply put, I grew up in a world of the fantastic that existed outside the gray windows of the poverty-stricken Brooklyn ghetto I grew up in. I saw farther than the cracked cement walls of my environment. I saw star ships, spirits, aliens, mutants. I saw the truly fantastic. Even if it was only in my imagination. My imagination saved me and ultimately set me free.

It should come as no surprise that years later, I became a writer. First writing independent films, now writing novels.

This is my first blog. In addition to my occasional random musings, I will include a timeline of my pursuits in this endeavor of first making the movie, then writing the novel.

This is the story of the making of a horror movie about an urban legend that is becoming an urban legend. Some believe that the movie is cursed.

In any event, it is a movie that will never be shown.

                                                              Photo from the movie

I have recounted these ill-fated events in a novel. The novel is inspired by true events, meaning that I sought first and foremost to entertain you.

However, more of this story may be true than you think. Friends who have read the book think that some things that actually happened were fictional.

This is a very bizarre story indeed. It takes place in and around the Arrowhead Mountains in places like Crestline, Running Springs, Rimforest and Twin Peaks. It includes a cast of characters right out of an Ed Wood movie.

When you're bored or lonely or depressed, come visit me here. Maybe I can put a smile on your face while I'm scaring the bejesus out of you.

                                                 Photo from movie of the Demon Jeremy