Jac Has To Deliver The Goods.
One week, that’s all Jac has to deliver the goods. Amy waits patiently. Little issues like the title, credits, and so on. Ah and some more work on the sound. Amy had a lot to say in how the credits should look and sent some more ideas for the sound tracks to Jac for his consideration and he liked them… so more work. But JUSTINE is nearly, nearly done in Jac’s side. After the 24th it will be up to Amy. Once Jac sends the project Amy’s way, it will be completely done, other than the color correction. That’s how the project is looking now. After the 24th we’ll all be going into heavy work, there will be little time for much. Really. Amy will take over two films, I will be engaged in some of Jac’s work, which deal with the day to day issues like going after people, attorneys, meetings and so on. We’re, after all, engaged in developing future projects and we have to get things done. Someone has to look after the store in their absence.
We still have the PRE JUSTINE RELEASE SALE! Get our movies with a 30% discount if you buy two or more! This is a good time to get one or more of our gorgeous movies. Some jewels like The Via Crucis of Camille – Crux 4 & 5 for less than 12 bucks!
I just want to add something to the discussion about why an actress has to be stripped completely nude for an execution or whipping scene. Amy said that the public whipping and execution in Dead But Dreaming was based on historical records.One huge aspect of public executions was to humiliate the victim as much as possible, as it was another way to make the person suffer.
Scott
Yes, as I mentioned before, the Whipping in Dead But Dreaming is based in historical records. There’s an statue in La Paz of the heroine, whose name escapes me, who was executed by the Spaniards. Four sides of the base of the statue show a sort of Stations of the Cross style graphic description of what the famous lady went through. One of the images is of the beautiful lady, naked, riding a donkey while a soldier is whipping her. Not too long ago a newspaper published in its Sunday edition and in the section dedicated to school children and in comic form, the story of this lady, one of the pictures is of her, naked, covered with bloody whip marks, being led to her execution, which was by hanging. Jac was actually considering having Amy ride a donkey before her strangulation scene. However Amy didn’t think it would be healthy for her to sit on a donkey, all naked. In addition, it was kind of hard to get a donkey brought to the middle of the city for that purpose, although we did have a goat in Maleficarum.
The Romans crucified their victims completely nude, not only to humiliate them, but add more suffering, such as sun burn.
Scott
The sunburn issue. Yes, it came up during the shooting of JUSTINE. They day selected for the crucifixion scene happened to be a very sunny day and in the altitude a sunny day means that the heat of the sun is really, really high and it certainly burns. So, there they were, Rodin’s victims, all bloodied, most of their skin exposed to the merciless rays of the midday sun and they were up there, on their crosses, for a very long time. The parts of their bodies not protected by blood were turning almost purple. It took weeks, maybe months for those sunburn marks, uneven, of course, to go away. Bea still reminds Jac that she had to be wearing tops to cover her arms for months because they looked very, very weird, like she had some stripes, uneven stripes. She could not wear sexy tops for a very, very long time.
It certainly is more realistic to see an actress nude for an execution or whipping scene mainstream TV or film scenes were the actress is whipped, but her back isn’t even bared. Plus after the whipping or other torture, her makeup is still perfect and not a hair on her head is out of place. Also, Amy includes full nudity in her films, because Jac and Amy are also trying to sell as many copies of their films as possible and most normal guys, like to see woman nude and as long as Amy and the other actresses in her movies are willing to do full nudity, and it helps sell films, go and add it.
Scott
Full nudity and torture in one movie can be a double edge sword. Sure, it may sell more copies in the less public arena, like this wonderful site, but it may be limited to how far it can go in more “mainstream” places like movie houses, film festivals, television and so on, where the big, really big bucks are. We were fortunate that films like Maleficarum, Dead But Dreaming, Barbazul, Olalla were out there, playing to big crowds in Multiplexes. It was surprising, of course. It was even more surprising that some of them ended up in Festivals, like Olalla in the Feratum Film Festival in Mexico, Or Maleficarum in the Film Festival in Sucre, or Barbazul in Las Vegas. Then again, even Krik Krak had full nudity and torture, and it was a documentary! It went to big festivals, like Cannes and Telluride. I guess it works for us. BTW, a couple of days ago we were contacted from people at another festival, they want Sirwiñakuy.
Plus, it probably helps the budget for the movies, you don’t need as many costumes for the movie and that saves money. I’m sure many of us that have bought Amy’s movies in the past have bought them because there is nudity.
Scott
Well, before the clothes go off, they have to look nice. Maleficarum is an example of the power of period costumes. They look nice, realistic to the period they portray and it’s actually very cool to see those fancy clothes taken off. But only two characters loose their clothing in that incredibly sexy movie, the rest are full dressed and they have to look good. Yes? No savings there. In fact, there’s more expense. All that body make up, both before and after a good whipping, all the work it takes to carry out a torture scene, all the props to hold the ladies in place. All of that costs a lot of money. And then, there are the actresses themselves. They must be well taken care of. Torture has a big cost.
If we were to compare the past productions, most of the Red Feline productions, where only two people worked doing everything in front and behind the camera, either Jac and Carmen or Jac and Amy or Jac and Vero, and in some cases Jac and Carmen and Vero, where expenses were kept to a bare minimum, and the time it took to make those films ranged from one day to a couple of weeks, to our new productions were the costs can go as high as 20,000 in cash or more, and where we have big crews, large cast, costumes, locations, props and then we see how far they go, both in reaching an audience and making money, the new movies fare a lot better. There’s only one film from the old times that had an incredible outreach; the first one: Red Feline on the Cross. But those days were different. A VHS of that film was priced at 70 dollars and it sold well for a very long time.
Those were the days before digital production made it easier for films to be produced, reproduced, delivered, pirated … and it was also before 9/11 when a lot of things changed forever. The world never really recover from that terrifying event. Another film that fares well in today’s market is Agent X. Of all the films of the digital period of Red Feline, Agent X is the one that sells the best; however, it does not get anywhere near where Maleficarum or Le Marquis de la Croix are getting even as I type this. Our big production films cost a lot to make and they take a lot of effort but they definitely go a lot farther and keep on going.
Some good fans comment or suggest that we should return back to those less demanding days, but they were not really less demanding as far as the work is concerned. The work took its toll on the ONLY two people working on those movies; and as elaborate and as good as those projects were, the results were never up to the level of an amazing production like Maleficarum. There was a time when some of the production values began to get higher. Costumes, locations and props were getting more complex and pretty. It was during the shooting of AristoCrux that Jac began to think that he should increase the production values to his films but it did not happen until there were some extra funds to do Maleficarum.
If Jac were to consider smaller productions, where there are only two actors, he would go the way of Le Marquis de la Croix and not Agent X. Le Marquis had a crew, Agent X didn’t. The good part of Agent X, or Fantom is that those movies are very personal and intimate productions, which means that Jac and Amy did whatever they felt like doing and didn’t have to worry about a crew freaking out or anything if suddenly they were overwhelmed by what they were doing and decided to just… well… you know… Well.
In the other hand, Jac is considering having a studio set for quick movies like Agent X, with all kinds of props. All he would need are willing participants to go at it over and over again. He has some props like the wheel and the roasting apparatus, and a pillory, and crosses, and racks.and so on tons of chains, many whips, and so on. He has a lot of what he needs. There’s the space too, the dungeon, that he could keep for a couple of hundred a month. He has all the means to produce whatever comes to his mind. However, not too many ladies are volunteering to be tortured as many times as he might want to have the pleasure to do. Someone said that we could turn out one production per week, or something like that, which is not exactly as easy as it seems. Not where we are, at least. Maybe in Estonia.
And then, a four part review/analysis of Dead But Dreaminga ppears and Jac realizes that he has to go on doing what he’s doing because it is working out. This four part review appeared very recently and it is very impressive because the writer gives a lot of clues and background information for what’s in the film. If you didn’t see Dead But Dreaming you should not read it, it contains a lot of SPOILERS. But for those who did see it, it’s very good reading. I quote:
I happened across producer/director/actress Amy Hesketh’s work and decided to give one of her recent films, Dead But Dreaming, a go. Amy is a ground breaker, portraying the archetypal innocent victim with an honest, understated talent for eroticizing her peril. I don’t use a rating system for the films I review, but if I did this movie would be a five-star winner. It’s that good. SPOILER ALERT: If you rather not know what happens in this film, stop now and go play on twitter!
Read the first part here:
https://3hattergrindhouse.com/2016/05/11/dead-but-dreaming-part-1-blood-and-desire/
In another part the writer notes:
Speaking of crucifixion, there are three, one for each female vampire. Finally, the central male vampire, Asa (played by Avila) encompasses three distinct roles. He is the tribal leader in prehistoric times and the visitor who will suck the blood of the slave Aphrodisia while she is on the cross.
https://3hattergrindhouse.com/2016/05/11/dead-but-dreaming-part-1-blood-and-desire/
That’s it for now! I will return with more news about the release of JUSTINE!
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