Our next feature, "Romance Road Killers" is kicking into gear. We currently have 100 or so photos, poster explorations and screen captures up, as well as opportunities for anybody that would like to get their name in the film (we know that's a long-shot, but it's a shot!).

And a very special thanks to Jo Blo's Arrow in the Head who says the movie "has one of the coolest sites for an indie in pre-production that I've seen. It grabs your attention, is easy to navigate, and gives you the info you want without a lot of useless bells and whistles."

Filming is scheduled to begin late February 2006, but the filmmakers already did some test shoots in September and November 2005, in which case we just finished some trailers/montage sequences that we're going to send in to Studentfilms.com, hopefully this week.

For now you can check out the official site;
http://alteregocinema.com/Features/ROMANCEROADKILLERS.html

The film is loosely based on the Charles Starkweather/Caril Ann Fugate killing spree of 1958 in Nebraska (a 19 year old boy who took his 14 year girlfriend on a violent road trip - whether she actually contributed to any of the murders or was a hostage remains a mystery). This film has been updated to 1999, following Jacob Stahl, 19, and Isabelle Cassmen, 14, on a killing spree along the coasts of California. The backgrounds of the characters have been changed to explore an unusual case of child abuse, molestation, foster care and social workers, involving true incidents from the lives of filmmakers Shane Ryan and Emily Wryn (who, at 16 years old, looks to break the record as youngest female director for a feature film).

That's all for now.
Michael-Brian
Alter Ego Cinema
http://www.alteregocinema.com

didnt they make natural born killers like fifteen years ago?

Yeah I think so.

They sure did. But wasn't that part of a script that was origianlly "True Romance" that was inpsired heavily by the 1973 film "Badlands" (they even used the same music) which was inspired by the 1958 Starkweather murders, which is what this film is based on.

If you looked at the website on the About Film page all this info is up. Many films have been inspired by this event and they've all been hits, either theatrically or by picking up cult status (the only one that hasn't, ironically, is "Starkweather" which was actually supposed to be a true portrayal of the crimes, not just an inspiration).

Our film, though, focuses heavily on the negative effects of foster care and social services (when things that are supposed to help children actually turn against them), which the filmmakers are basing on their life.

The old saying is that there's only like 7 stories to tell, right? It just depends how you tell 'em. Starkweather has been told through "Badlands," "Kalifornia," "Wild at Heart," "Murder in the Heartland," "True Romance, "NBK," "Starkweather," etc, etc. So basically when Oliver Stone made "NBK" he was making something that had been done to death, since most of those movies were from 1990-1993 and the 1970's, but "NBK" is considered a masterpiece by a lot of people, because he told this over-done story in a new way.

That's what we're hoping with our film.

Thanks for checking it out.

Mike-B

Hmmm, sounds like everyone of ur other films, just another exploitation pic made as an excuse to film floundering violence and sex scenes. Good luck all the same.

Hmm. I don't recall "Isolation," "Check Yourself," "The Cleansing," "Love Last Captured," "Poison Cure," or "Yesterday" having any nudity and hardly any violence. That's 6 out of 8 films we have on this site, so I'd hardly say that's all of our films being exploitative.

Anyways, to turn the attention back on the original topic, as I've mentioned this story focuses heavily on the negative affects that foster care and social services can have on children, as told through the eyes of the writers/directors who experienced what they're writing first hand. The killing spree is just what everything evolves around, which is based on the couple that created the term "spree killers."

I'd hardly say there's anything in this film that's exploitative, just a reflection of real-life incidents. I won't argue that we've had a couple exploitative films, but I'd say less onyl about 6 or 7 out of our 35-40 fils our exploitation films, this surely not being one of them.