Witch's Jawbone

This is one of those props I wanted to make as soon as I heard about it. I recall hearing about it a long time ago, before I made props and it just never resurfaced as an prop idea before until recently.

What makes this piece a little more creepy or weird than say a random Cthulhu statue, is that this is a real thing. It's something you could actually find - perhaps it wouldn't look exactly like this though.

The story behind it is that back when people used to hunt witches and do all manner of ridiculous, superstitious things, when a witch was killed - presumably when there was still a corpse, so probably through drowning - in order to prevent her (or I suppose him) from returning from the dead, spikes were driven through the body. There have been actual skeletons found with iron spikes driven into the bones. I thought this was just too bizarre to ignore, so I set upon creating a Witch's Jawbone.

I elaborated on the real version by supposing that if the iron spikes were to prevent the witch from returning from the dead, that they somehow locked her (or, still could be his) powers away inside their bones unable to escape or be used after death. So these Witch's Jawbones became a black market kind of item, used by either apprentice witches, wizards, warlocks and anyone dabbling in dark magic in their practices as a source of magic to enhance their own or as a magic catalyst in alchemy or supernatural devices.

I just happened to have a jawbone from a medical skeleton, so I cleaned up the seams as best I could, moulded that and cast it in clay so I could, rather than sculpt it from nothing, sculpt the damage and whatnot from the spikes and speed up the process a little bit. I was attempting to have this done last minute for a local Horror Festival, but I wasn't able to.

The sculpt turned out great. I was originally supposed to get a small supply of old blacksmithed nails, the squared off kind, but that never happened although I did get my hands on one. So I moulded and cast those in clay, altering each of the seven nails I'd use accordingly. I moulded and cast them in resin - which wasn't the best idea as they came out somewhat fragile, making this not a great idea for a limited run. I'd like the piece to be sturdy, not something you can't even handle without fear of breaking it.

But I kept going, and with very little time and even less supplies, I attempted to mould the jawbone. I did a miserable job of it and ran out of silicone halfway through so the mould itself was pitiful and probably wouldn't hold up to more than one casting. It didn't.

I managed to cast it and get it cleaned up, got the nails into the more or less right spots on the jawbone and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but I'll definitely be using real nails I think if I try this for a limited run. How limited will depend on how many nails I can get my hands on, I don't want to order online as it'll just jack the price up on the final piece big time, so I'm on the hunt locally for a batch of nails all produced together, I don't want random sizes, it just makes fitting them too much effort in the end and again would drive the cost up.

But I have a copy for myself for now and it sits on the shelf with all the other random stuff I've made over the years. This is definitely a display piece though that I'd really like to attempt a small, limited run of, boxed up just like this as well so it's something that has a little more of a completely finished display piece for wherever or even as set decoration for a movie or tv show.

UPDATE: if you made it this far and actually read everything - first off, congratulations - and secondly, I've sourced some real antique nails, possibly even iron, so I will within the next month be doing a very limited run of only 5 of these, case included as well. No idea of the pricing at this point though.

Casting Call for Moonshine of the Damned

Some might be aware I'm shooting a web series on Prince Edward Island this summer, called Moonshine of the Damned, a third and final entry into the Bimbo Zombie Killers! series.

I'm still working on the script and as of today just made some major changes to really bring up the weird factor of the whole series. I'll admit Zombie related TV shows, movies and web series are all becoming a little too common - however Moonshine of the Damned is far from a typical Zombie story. I can't go into too much detail without spoiling some major parts of the series, but I can say, yes, this is a web series about Zombies. The basic story is a group of girls go camping in the deep woods and discover a small war between rather sinister rednecks and the undead, who the rednecks are inadvertently creating by testing their "foul" moonshine on unsuspecting trespassers in their woods. And that's a very small part of the overall plot.

There's been some changes in the last two weeks or so and I need to cast some new parts and recast some old, here's a basic list. We're shooting on weekends for the most part, starting in June and going until we're done (no later than September), so if that works for you, keep reading.

All this is on a volunteer basis, we just do this for the experience and for fun.

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ANGEL - one of the lead bimbos of the series. A bit of an idiot obsessed with stories of a backwoods circus/freakshow. Looking for someone mid-twenties and someone who's not afraid to get bloody and messy. Should only be 3-4 days shooting involved, plus another one for redubbing all their dialog.

Costume and hair will reflect the ditzy simplistic nature of the character. Possibly pigtails and bright clothes. And you will be dying horribly.

There are some large monologues for this character, so someone who's good at memorizing lines would really be an asset.

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The MINION - female, looking for someone tall and thin. There's no dialog, but this will possibly involve some serious makeup and will be needed for several scenes as a silent, but integral character.

Costume will be decided upon casting, but will be darker simple attire, could possibly be rather strange looking depending.

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The ZOMBIE EATER - male. Looking for someone large and imposing, doesn't have to be exactly muscular, but not overweight either - height is important, 6'2" and over would be best. Minor speaking roles, possibly a very physical acting role, as well as messy.

Costume will be very simple "redneck" attire, a shirt and overalls if possible.

This part isn't full written yet, so I can't exactly give a time frame needed.

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As well, ZOMBIES. We still need a few zombies. I'm casting the Zombie roles much like the others, rather than simply put a call out to see who shows up, you'll be put in a specific zombie role and your shoot will be schedule well in advance.

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We need reliable people who are willing to make a commitment to the project, if one person decides not to show up to a shoot without any notification, we have to cancel it for the day and that's just not fair for many of the people involved with are scheduling around work and family. This works both ways as well, should I have to cancel for any reason, I'll be trying to give as much notice as possible, however in the event of emergencies and weather - we'll do the best we can.

Again, this is being done on PEI, this summer from June to Sept, shooting on weekends and is on a volunteer basis. No major acting experience necessary, but of course if definitely an asset - you can email me with a current photos, and if you have an experience, even a resume at casting@themonkeyrodeo.com. I can also give you more information about the roles if you want, I'm keeping certain details quiet so there's no spoilers.

Also, I thought should whoever be reading this never have seen either of the previous two Bimbos Zombie Killers! short movies, here you go:

Moonshine of the Damned Update #1

I'll start labeling these with numbers, just because it makes sense since I plan on doing more.

For starters, I'm officially changing the name from Bimbo Zombie Killers! Moonshine of the Damned to simply Moonshine of the Damned. Not only to simplfy it, but as a reference to the naming scheme of Evil Dead - so it's a vague reference, but one nonetheless. It went from Evil Dead, to Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn, and of course, Army of Darkness, so I'm doing the same thing.

And I've been giving some thought to a poster - not that I really need one, or ever do really, but it's part of the process that I enjoy. This time around instead of doing a photo of the girls or something like that, I'm actually going to paint it - not digitally, but regular old, acrylic on canvas, paint. I'll be using this design:

And this will be, sort of, yet another reference, this time to the movie House, which featured a painted, slightly stylized zombie hand ringing a doorbell. I'll be scanning the painting and digitally touching it up a bit, but that's it.

This painting will also be the prize I'll be giving away for the funding campaign. Not sure of the size yet, but I'll be picking up the canvas next week and start working on it.

Speaking of the funding campaign, I'll be launching the 2nd phase of it next week - more about that then.

Finally have the first draft of the script, it's a little rough but it's all there. Casting is pretty much sewn up for all the new parts. So far the zombie casting process is going pretty well, not fantastic, although I haven't really been pushing it too hard just yet. I've broken up the zombie parts as actual roles that are being cast, rather than just making a random call for extras and hoping for the best.

And I've been working away trying to get a more accurate gauge on the FX budgets now that I know the needs of the script. That will be going on for the next couple weeks, finding out all the little bits I wrote and now have to create somehow. Should be fun.

That's it so far, we'll see how next week goes.