Hannah Neurotica's HOTLINE starring Shannon Lark

"Phone Sex? Suicide? The wires are crossing. What number did you dial?"

Coming this February, in 2012's Women In Horror month world wide celebration, the debut film by Hannah Neurotica (founder of Women In Horror month and Ax Wound Zine) starring the sensational femme fatale Shannon Lark (Chainsaw Mafia, Viscera Film Festival Co-Founder). Poster art by the very talented Miki Hickel.

Join the facebook group RIGHT HERE.

I cannot fucking wait to see this. It's gonna be one hell of a Women In Horror month celebration.

Bloody Best!
Jen and Sylv

Shannon Lark

"The love of exploiting everything terrible in life makes me excited to get up in the morning. It turns the horror into love and beauty, the negative into sheer positive." ~Shannon Lark

If you look at the woman above and see only a beautiful vision spattered in blood comfortably cradling a chainsaw, you haven't even begun to scratch the surface of the exquisite creature that is Shannon Lark. It is with great honor that I bring her to the attention of those of you who already know and adore her and to introduce her to those of you who are a little late to the horror scene.



Shannon caught world wide attention as the first ever Fangoria Magazine Spooksmodel. A vision that effortlessly combines beauty with strength and power, she is so much more than a pretty face. Shannon has been a reigning champion for gender equality and advancement of the female role in horror cinema, standing at the forefront of the evolving genre of cinematic horror with her tireless contributions. A talented writer, dancer, director, producer, editor, actress, and professional Scream Queen, Shannon Lark is the Co-Director/Founder of the Viscera Film Festival (along with the sensational Heidi Martinuzzi), Founder/Adviser and former CEO of The ChainSaw Mafia.

Let me speak for a moment about the incredible Viscera Film Festival. Among the films, played a stunning piece titled "LIPSTICK". It was provocative, sexually charged, and with moments of mutilation that had even the most hardened of gore hounds shifting uncomfortably in their seats. I remember thinking, "oh my God. Who is that woman?" The film, a collaboration between Shannon and the very gifted Stacie Ponder, told the tale of a woman who had been so severely mentally abused and damaged that she believed she was good for only for sex. The result was a series of sexual mutilations and self loathing with a climactic moment so shocking, that even yours truly crossed her legs and had to force herself to keep watching. The film is a must see.

Seeing a stage performance of ROMEO AND JULIET at a young age, Shannon's destiny was set. No, not with that mushy, lovey, dovey bullshit. We're talking BLOOD, boys and grrls. She got a taste for the red stuff and the rest is pretty much history. It is nothing short of an esteemed honor and pleasure to know miss Lark. She conducts herself with incredible professionalism. A combination of brilliance, business savvy, talent, grace, professionalism, strength, and, of course, beauty, Shannon Lark perfectly embodies what brings more and more women into this business. That feeling we all had as little girls staring at the heroines of cinematic past with child like awe saying, "I want to be her."

~Jen

Happy Women In Horror Recognition Month!

It's February 1st and that means it's now officially WOMEN IN HORROR MONTH!! The month is brain child of feminist, horror writer, and all 'round badass bitch, Hannah Neurotica of Ax Wound Zine.

The month is filled with women in horror being recognized and celebrated with special events, articles, podcasts, radio shows, interviews, film festivals, and charitable events. To find out about these events, check out them out HERE. Nothing near you? Well, why don't you do something yourself? Start an event and spread the word!

How else can you take part ANY time in February ANYWHERE in the world? You can give blood! We Twisted Twins started the Women In Horror Massive Blood Drive in celebration of Women In Horror. You can't really think "horror" without thinking "blood" and it's a way we can be strong like the heroines of horror that first make little girls say, "I wanna be her!" and give back. Every TWO seconds someone needs blood and there is no substitute.

This year, we joined forces with some very amazingly talented Women (and gentlemen supporters) of Horror...

THE SCARLET ENDING

Our music is an original song by the Scarlet Ending. The Scarlet Ending is a six piece Indie band from Syracuse, New York. The group is fronted by identical twin sisters Kayleigh Goldsworthy (Vocals, Guitar, Violin) and Kaleena Goldsworthy (Vocals, Piano, Accordion, Pennywhistle, Melodica, Ukulele), with Jon Tedd (Guitar, Vocals), Jess Hafner (Cello, Synthesizer), and Aaron Garritillo (Bass Guitar). Loosely defined as indie rock, The Scarlet Ending offers a blend of pop with cabaret, the grit of dive bar rock with the charms of three part harmony. Treat yourselves to a little listen of their wonderful music HERE.

CJ WALLIS

The video is directed, shot, cut, and choreographed by CJ Wallis of FortyFPS Productions. CJ is a director, writer, film maker, composer, musician, producer and one of the many men that are strong supporters of women in horror. We will also be working together on AMERICAN MARY. He supported us Twisted Twins before we even began calling ourselves the Twisted Twins and it has been an honor and a pleasure to be able to collaborate with not only a gifted artist, but a great friend.

SHANNON LARK

Shannon Lark is the living personification of the best qualities of a woman in horror: brilliance, beauty, strength, fearlessness, and that "I wanna be her" je ne sais pas. Widely known for her role as the first ever Fangoria Magazine Spooksmodel Shannon continues to pave the way for women in the evolving genre of cinematic horror. She is a director, writer, dancer, actress, and professional Scream Queen. Along with fellow femme fatale Heidi Martinuzzi (of the wicked awesome FanGirlTastic), she heads the first ever women only horror film festival, Viscera Film Festival, an annual event showcasing horror cinema as exclusively created by women. Her anthem of “Bring your daughter to the slaughter” is the siren song to the male dominion within commercial horror cinema. Shannon runs The Chainsaw Mafia (a website for reviews, news, and articles as well as for networking writers, filmmakers, and various artists within the horror genre) a production company focused on horror film and splatter theater.

MAUDE MICHAUD

Maude Michaud is a beautifully gifted fellow Canadian director, film maker, director of photography, writer, and photographer. Even though she is a huge horror fan, she loves to explore a variety of genres in the films she directs, which results in an eclectic body of work including: horror dramas, slightly surreal quirky tales, and explorations of unconventional relationships. Over the years, she independently wrote, directed and produced over 15 short films and video projects, both personal projects and commissioned works. Her work has screened as part of the Young Cuts Festival (Montreal & Toronto), the Wreck-Beach Film Festival (Barrie, Ontario), the Short Film Corner during the Cannes Film Festival (Cannes, France), the Montreal Fetish Film Festival and the International Teen Movie Festival in Toronto.

MARICHELLE DAYWALT

Marichelle Daywalt is one of the incredible female film makers we met during last years Viscera Film Festival. Her twisted and disturbing short film, MOCKINGBIRD, was among the top films of the festival and a personal favorite of ours. She has recently worked with Scream Queen extraordinaire, Tara Cardinal on her latest short, The Many Doors of Albert Whale which we are just dying to see.
Also, as an independent consultant for Arbonne.com, for the month of February, 15% of all orders placed at Arbonne.com using her referral ID #18707479 (or by phone with her directly) will be donated to the Red Cross!

BRENDA AND ELISABETH FIES

Brenda and Elisabeth Fies are a pair of sister film making and festival heading femme fatales. They are the co-creators and festival heads of the incredible monthly sensational film festival, BLEEDFEST. Directing, producing, writing, and acting are just a few of their many talents. They are a powerful voice for women in horror and a force to be reckoned with. It is an absolute honor to be able to call these ladies friends.

JENNIFER COOPER

Jennifer Cooper is an amazing writer and artist. She has been a huge supporter of Women in Horror. She worked along side of the wonderful Nia Edwards-Behi on the Ghouls On Film Festival of 2010 that marked the VERY first festival in the world to show our demented first born child, DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK. This year she will be bringing DHIAT at LONG last to Scotland at her gore~geous festival cheekily named JENNIFER'S BODIES.

Also featured in the video are your trulys, the Twisted Twins, co-creators of the WiH Massive Blood Drive and story/concept creators for this video, alongside the talented Sierra Pitkin (who many of you will recognize from JUNO and most recently recognize from RUNAWAY).

And who is captivating creature making a very special appearance? Well, that's our Mary. Yes, in this WiH Massive Blood Drive PSA we feature all the talents of these artists AND reveals the actress that will be taking the title role of our highly anticipating up coming film, AMERICAN MARY.

That's right. Happy Women In Horror month!! Let's start this mother fucker off with a BANG!!

Bloody Soaked Best!
Jen and Sylv

Starting Women In Horror Recognition Month off with a Bang!

This year we'll be doing our part to start Women In Horror recognition month off with a bang! For any late comers to the party, Women In Horror month is February, with world wide celebrations, film festivals, and special events!!

How will we be celebrating this year? Just with a little PSA for our MASSIVE BLOOD DRIVE. It happens all month long, world wide, wherever you are, whenever you can. Just donate blood. That's all. It's that easy. Send us proof via photos and video, and you'll be rewarded. Last year, we began getting behind this very worthy cause in celebration of WiH month and this year we are happy to be continuing this proud tradition with a new WiH Blood Drive video with very special appearances from incredible women in horror.

And we also have a little extra treat in store for everyone. We'll have an appearance by... (wait for it) the actress who will be taking the title role in our upcoming film, AMERICAN MARY. Yes, on February 1st via our site, you will not only have an amazing new Blood Drive video featuring some incredible ladies with original music from the Scarlet Ending, (if that's not enough for you!) you will also meet our Mary. And this, boy and grrls, is going to be some very big fucking news.

Horror Community prepare to go bat shit crazy.

Stay Tuned...

1/2/2011

Right here.

Theron Neel gets a peek at American Mary

We love Theron Neel. Not only has this very talented gentleman been a long time supporter of this Twisted Twosome and our DEAD HOOKER, but he is an incredibly gifted writer, articulate, intelligent, and well spoken. He launched a FULL WEEK of Soska sisters goodness for us filled with interviews, reviews, and things both wicked and awesome.


If you're a stranger to his site, naughty, naughty. Go rectify that little inequity and treat yourself to some good old fashioned brilliance here.

He has recently begun writing for the insatiable FANGIRLTASTIC site, the sexy new site and name for PRETTY SCARY. It's run by the gore~geous and gifted Heidi Martinuzzi who also heads up the Viscera Film Festival with the lovely femme fatale Shannon Lark. They are, by the by, currently seeking submissions for the 2011 fest and you can submit your film here.


But I digress... I'll leave that to Holden Caulfield and get back to creamy juicy center of this blog...

Being a close personal friend as well as someone we respect in this business, we couldn't help but give Theron a sneak peek at the AMERICAN MARY teaser (being officially released THIS SATURDAY on our site!!) and a little insider info. What did we say when we unsealed our wicked lips? Well, you'll just have to give it a read to see....

Check out Theron's FULL ARTICLE here!!



It's almost AMERICAN MARY time, boys and grrls!! This Christmas, we're catering to the naughty AND the nice. Something wicked this way comes...

Look forward to hearing from you all this Saturday!

XO,
Jen

Viscera 2011 Submissions Open

VISCERA
Definition: The large internal organs of the body collectively, particularly those within the abdominal cavity.

Last year was our first time at the Viscera Film Festival. Did you miss it? Catch up here, Charlie, then come back and join us for the new news. A very huge and humble thank you to Shannon Lark, Heidi Martinuzzi, and Elisabeth Fies for inviting us to the event and screening our hooker. Never heard of the Viscera Film Festival before? Well, it's time you begun...

"Viscera specifically focuses on women gaining self confidence, knowledge, and growth through the creation of horror films.

This process is to achieve equality in the film industry, not domination.

Specializing in short horror films made by the female gender, the Viscera Film Festival hosts an annual bloody carpet event in Los Angeles for the selected Filmmakers, Special Celebrity Guests, and a live audience. Each Filmmaker receives a hand crafted Viscera Statue, along with promotional materials and the option to be distributed on the next Viscera DVD Compilation. Throughout the year, Viscera is continuously working to get the Viscera films screened and promoted all over the world."

We had a fucking blast, met lots of rad horror film makers and horror community folks, there were some bloody wonderful, funny, disturbing, smart, scary, sexy, graphic, and all completely rad films showcased there.



There is a huge focus on community and with ladies, lets face it - most of the time we're encouraged to rip out each other's throats, but what if we joined forces and ripped out throats together? That's the beauty of Viscera. Simply incredible. Submit today (before February 28th, 2011) and you'll be damn proud that you did. The site has been uber vamped, take a stroll through the amazing, then become a part of it!


xo
~Sylv

Twisted Twins Love Viscera Film Fest

fem·i·nism [fem-uh-niz-uhm]
the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.*

*sometimes it means we (male and female feminists) need to fuck some shit up. Artistically - that's where the Viscera Film Festival comes in.

"Viscera: A collective of soft internal organs in the body, particularly those within the abdominal cavity.

The Viscera Project was created by women to facilitate the advancement of females reaching for more powerful roles within the horror genre. Now, more than ever, women are running their own horror production companies and directing, producing, writing, branching out into cinematography and even creating special FX.

The mission of the VISCERA Film Festival is to give recognition through participating sponsors, awards, and distribution for today's female horror filmmakers making a difference in the genre."

We, Jen, CJ, and myself, had the incredible honor of being invited as guests to the festival by festival heads and mistresses of horror, Heidi Martinuzzi and Shannon Lark. Hell, they even asked us to bring our trailer for 'Dead Hooker in a Trunk' to screen at the festival. The following day, the feature length Hooker would be screened at Viscera's sister festival, Bleedfest - we were invited by the incredibly talented and darkly humored Elisabeth Fies (but we will give her her proper props in a following Bleedfest post).




There were many talented gentlemen and ladies at the event, some fab celebrities (OMFG Amber Benson was a presenter and Hooker followed the trailer for her new film, 'Drones'). There were a lot of hip, edgy, and creative projects shown and lots of wicked folks - but here are some that really stood out that we would like to share:

'Mockingbird', a Viscera Film Fest Winner, directed by Marichelle Daywalt. We met Marichelle at the 'Mistresses of Horror Gathering' the night before the festival. She knows horror. She knows it well. She's one of those rare personalities that never makes you feel dumb despite the fact she knows her shit inside and out. As you may have guessed, she's also a completely wonderful human being. Her husband and sometimes collaborator, Drew Daywalt, is fucking awesome too. They're that cool couple you just want to hang with for hours. In related news, we (not being from LA) could not find our car and she kindly drove around in circles for at least half an hour while we muttered helpful things like: "I think that is was on 3rd or was it 4th." "It definitely had a sign near the parking lot entrance."



'Side Effect' directed by Liz Adams. This gem won the Audience Award at Viscera and it was well deserved. You know how sometimes you watch something and you think of something utterly disgusting and horrific that could happen but probably won't because the film maker isn't ballsy enough? Liz doesn't have that problem. The groan from the audience during the big reveal of her film said it all.



'Legend of the Red Reaper' starring Tara Cardinal. You know what I love other than badass actresses who do their own stunts and kick major ass? Beautiful and talented redhead actresses who do their own stunts and kick major ass. Too often you have stunt performers doing even the running for lazy-ass actors, so when you see the lead of a film getting bruised and bloodied to make something memorable, you tend to be impressed. With her passion and skill for stuntwork, I think we found ourselves a new shitkicker.



'Song of the Shattered' starring Devanny Pinn. Do you like horror? What about ladies covered in blood driven to the edge of sanity? Then have I got something fun for you. We were fortunate enough to catch the extended trailer for this flick and it was awesome - intercut between a very sweet scene, drinking what I assume was cocoa and completely gruesome, bloody insanity. Looks like a very good one.



When 'Women in Horror' month had its blood drive, Tara and her scream queen partner in crime, Devanny Pinn, took it upon themselves to collect blood from the citizens of sunny California. And, boys and girls, they collected gallons. They are also two of nicest, most hard working, and completely fun to hang out with chicks on the planet. But their trailers are dead giveaways for that.


'We Will Bury You' is a comic about a zombie outbreak in the 1920s written by Brea Grant (Heroes, Battle Planet, Rob Zombie's Halloween 2) and her brother Zane Grant. It's awesome. If you like comics like Preacher, you'll love it. Very graphic but done in a dark humor kind of way. Very dark or maybe I just laugh at things that no one else does. She did a great introduction to the 'scary' portion of films at the festival and the killed it with her comic. Also, she came out to Bleedfest to check out Hooker. After she watched it, she came over and told us that she dug it. We really dig her, too! And in total six degrees of Kevin Bacon, Rikki Gagne (who plays Junkie in Hooker) has been Brea's stunt double before. I know that has nothing to do with Kevin Bacon.


Speaking of bacon, 'Dead Hooker in a Trunk' brought home some bacon -- in the form of a Viscera Award! It was a huge honor. They were also filming a documentary on the festival as we were there, so I believe there will be more videos and pictures in the future. It was really cool to hang out with so many horror folks and get our 'girl power' on. It was also cool to see so many guys at the event getting their feminism on. It was one of our first big festivals of that sort and it was sensationally orchestrated. Heidi and Shannon are hard working ladies.

Their shorts - 'Wretched' and 'Lipstick' were beyond hardcore. These ladies go places in their art that most film makers would shy away from because of the extreme content. It is so refreshing to see how fucked up and haunting their projects are. When you can see the audience squirm in their seats, you know a good job has been done. Thank you so humbly and kindly for having us at your event. It will always be a very special memory and we hope to be invited again.






Thank you for all the ladies and gents who came out to support 'Dead Hooker in a Trunk' and indie film making. It was sweet getting to meet y'all and chat y'all up! If you have now heard about Hooker, but still haven't had the chance to check it out - hit us up (use the 'contact' option on the webpage). We are still diligently working to have it screened everywhere and anywhere. News just in today that we will be having an upcoming screening in Brazil - details to be posted soon.

xo
~Jen and Sylv