WANNA PLAY? : Holly visits the Play Pals Toy factory in search of a Good Guy. 

(Originally posted October 2013) In dual honor of the re- launch of TrueHorror.net and the release of Curse of Chucky, I am excited to present a brand new photo set featuring one of my favorite people to collaborate with, Holly. This photo set is inspired by the Good Guy Doll factory seen in Child’s Play 2. A great deal of enthusiasm, care, and effort was put into creating these colorful new images and I hope it shows in the final product.

In addition to these new photos we also have our first ever behind the scenes video, detailing the process behind this latest project.

It's no secret that I love movie posters or "one sheets" as they are commonly referred to. Horror fans such as myself love them, and I always enjoy trying my hand at creating them, whether it be for existing films or non existing films. I love to tell a story or sell someone on the idea of checking out a film, so I am always ready to work on a new one when inspiration strikes.

When brainstorming new ideas for shoots with Krystal, we discussed the idea of doing a new movie poster themed shoot. We weren't sure exactly what to build it around, just that we knew we wanted to do it. It wasn't till we noticed a shirt she had that the idea came to fruition. It was simply an orange t-shirt that read "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" that eventually got the wheels turning. The idea evolved into an 80's style monster-themed one sheet for a made-up horror film simply titled "Lurk."

Companion Piece Theater Marquee Image

Once we settled on the idea that our creature feature would be of the monster under the bed variety. It was on to figuring out how to accomplish this shoot and what we wanted it to look like. The checklist we came up with was basically "creepy, sexy, and fun," and from there on out we put it together little by little.

Lurk Theater Banner

I knew from working on two previous projects with Krystal that we have a good chemistry. We wanted it to be faithful to old 80s movie and VHS cover imagery. So we went with the sexy actress in unknowing peril route that was so prevalent in the art those days. Krystal did a great job of looking the part and giving the shots just what we needed. Every time we do a shoot she gets more and more comfortable in front of the camera and is truly one of my favorite people to collaborate with. These photos speak for themselves when it comes to her presence. As for the monster, as in all great monster flicks, it's all about what you don't see. So I opted to only show the hands to hint at the creature and glowing red eyes peeking out from the shadows below the bed. I wanted to leave the rest of it up to the imagination and feel it turned out very effective.

Lurk One Sheet (Main)

Overall I feel these are some of our strongest images to date. They turned out better than I could have imagined. Krystal looks fantastic, the monster turned out really cool, and the whole image satisfies our initial checklist of creepy, sexy, and fun. I hope you guys enjoy this shoot because we put plenty of love into it!

Lurk Alternate One Sheet 

Lurk  VHS advertisement (Village Voice quote version)

Krystal shows off her very own LURK One Sheet.

Lurk VHS Advertisement (Tagline Version)

We are excited to offer our newest exclusive products now available to purchase in our web store!

First off we have our TrueHorror.net Post Card sets featuring all original photography depicting horrors most iconic tools of the trade. The set features nine 4 x 6 post cards and is priced at 10.00 plus shipping.

Imogen shows off her TrueHorror.net post cards.

True

Horror.net Button Set: Series 2

Following our first series of popular sold out TrueHorror.net buttons, comes our second series featuring our TrueHorror.net slogan button, a vintage styled Chucky button and a mysterious silhouette of one of our favorite horror babes. These are available now in limited quantities.

TrueHorror.net Button Set: Series 2

Also we have our original Silent Hill print, a collaboration between TrueHorror.net and illustrator Cole Roberts, which features everyone's favorite Silent Hill mascot Robbie The Rabbit. Here we have a blood spattered Robbie urging everyone to come visit the haunted town's infamous Lakeside Amusement park. This print is available in extremely limited quantities and once it's gone will not be reprinted. The print is sized at 19 x 13 and priced at 12.00.

Good Guy prints now available in our store!

Go to the TrueHorror.net Web Store!

Throughout the years, Silent Hill has been one of my favorite horror franchises. Since the moment I played the first game, I was hooked. I loved the overall horror experience the games provided. With every sequel that followed I became more and more obsessed with every aspect of the games, from the design aesthetic to the music. The movies are a bit of a mixed bag-- the first one does a solid job capturing the look and feel of the games while treating the material with respect, but never manages to fully capture that feeling of isolation and dread that is so important to the games. The second film is a complete mess and is full of wasted potential by bastardizing the 3rd games story (my personal favorite).

For all my interest and fandom of the Silent Hill lore, I never got around to doing any Silent Hill themed projects. This shoot concept went through many stages of planning and different iterations until it got where it now stands. The main concept of the shoot revolves around the poster for the Silent Hill Lakeside Amusement Park created by myself and an illustrator buddy of mine Cole Roberts (check his instagram account @lifeofcole to check his other fantastic work). The poster features the fictional amusement parks genuinely creepy mascot “Robbie the Rabbit” in a blood splattered, deteriorated advertisement which I had professionally printed for use in this shoot. I knew I wanted to plaster the posters on a wall and make it appear as if this shoot was taking place IN Silent Hill itself. After various concepts, I settled in on the idea of the model acting as if she was lost in Silent Hill. 

Mirkala was up for the task of playing the tortured soul trapped in the haunted town. She was a joy to work with and did a great job emoting on all levels. It’s always great when the model believes in the project and gives her all, and Mirkala did that from the very start. These initial photos of her sitting against the wall seemingly giving up on trying to find her way turned out exactly as I envisioned it, which was a great overall sign for the shoot. We were able to take advantage of our location and shoot a completely different scene that expanded on the concept of being lost in Silent Hill. The interior location of the shoot was a perfect setup to what I’ll refer to as the “exploration/revelation shots” where we were able to recreate the moody dark hallways that are so prevalent in the game. Special thanks to Mirkala’s good friend, Karla, for playing the part of one of Silent Hill's infamous nurses. Because of her we created a shot I have wanted to do for a long time. 

While the shoot concept started out different in concept and went through a few variations before landing on the final concept, I am thrilled with the outcome. The exterior shot with the poster covered walls did pose a dilemma as far as being faithful to the source material and made me question adding a layer of fog that the game is famous for or to keep it clear to better see the photo. In the end, I think we struck a good balance with the two pulled back shots having the fog whereas the close up benefits greatly from removing the fog layer and keeping the contrast and shadows to highlight her frightened expression. 

We put in a lot of time, effort, and sweat into shoot and hope it shows in the final product. Enjoy!

As an added bonus I've included a free downloadable mix of choice tracks compiled from the various Silent Hill soundtracks. Just click the link below to download and listen!

Download the Silent Hill Mix

I often find myself going back through the hundreds of photos I shoot to look them over with fresh eyes. 

I love to come back to them and see if something clicks that didn’t on the first round of edits. Usually I know exactly what I am going for; however, on my “Movie Night” shoot with my friend and frequent collaborator Holly, I was pressed for time as I had to schedule it right before a trip. She looked fantastic and did a great job as usual and the layout, props, etc. were all to my liking as well, but the lighting was a different story. I took what I had and worked on editing it as best I could and was happy with the results. People who saw the pics enjoyed them and the vibrant purple/pink tones in the background made the image pop but, without a deadline, I was able to mess around with the photos more and everything came together the other night. 

The new alterations I made clicked and grabbed the feel I was originally wanted. The original photos are bright, colorful, and fun, which serve as a nice contrast to the grim subject matter of the shoot. On the flip side, these new edits feel more in line with my original vision which is mostly left open to viewer interpretation of how this scene came to be. 

In the end I enjoy all the versions of these shots for varying reasons and just illustrates how little tweaks here and there can change the entire feel of an image.

It’s no secret that I'm a huge “Child’s Play” fan. I wanted to do something new inspired by the films and, after discussing ideas with Krystal (who is one of my new favorite people to collaborate with), we decided to do a shoot inspired by the breakfast scene from the original movie. For those who aren’t aware, in the film 6-year-old Andy Barclay makes his mother breakfast in bed. It’s one of the cutest scenes you will see in a horror film and it helps show audiences what a great bond the two have. The best part of it is that Andy isn’t very adept at making breakfast just yet, but he tries his best by preparing a messy tray featuring an overflowing bowl of Good Guy cereal that's saturated with heaps of spooned-on sugar and way too much milk, severely burnt wheat toast topped with a giant spoonful of country crock margarine, and a glass of dripping orange juice all nicely mixed together at the bottom of the tray. While making the breakfast, Andy is of course watching his favorite “Good Guys” cartoon, which spawned the infamous doll.

So what Krystal and I have done is a shoot inspired by this scene. She enjoys the very same breakfast Andy made for his mother, right down to the Good Guy cereal! Of Course her morning wouldn’t be complete without watching her favorite cartoon, “Good Guys,” which she has on VHS ready to go on the table. To compliment all of the Good Guy goodies, we have a special guest joining her for breakfast, too! 

 

I was really excited about doing these photos. We thought they would be fun to set up and shoot and it turns out we were right. I think she looks great in the outfit we picked out and it works perfectly with the retro feel we were going with. Part of the fun in putting these photos together is adding the details that keep things as movie-accurate as possible. It’s even more fun adding my own made-up details to things such as the cereal box and the VHS tape (look closely). I also included two “advertisements” for the products you see in the photos, such as the Good Guys cereal and VHS.

Special thanks to Mirkala who helped out a great deal on this shoot! We hope you enjoy this photo set as much as we enjoyed creating it; It really was a labor of love that shows through in the end product! Hope you all enjoy your breakfasts and have a GOOD Morning!

Good Guys Breakfast Cereal promotional material by TrueHorror.net

Good Guys volume 1 VHS promotional material by TrueHorror.net

Happy Horror-Days everyone! While we here at TrueHorror.net are faithful Halloween loyalists, we could not overlook Christmas and all the joy it brings even the most devoted Horror fans. So, Krystal and I dreamed up a "Red Christmas" for this photo set to spread the joy (or dread) of the season among the masses. For her first time shooting, she did a great job, as she was very enthusiastic and helpful. l am looking forward to seeing what we create next because I was extremely happy with how these shots turned out. 

Hope you all have a bloody yet merry Christmas!