New Jersey Filmmaker sets bar high with the first “Fan Film of the Week”

Better late than never, but I finally have my first “Fan Film of the Week.” And, it’s setting the bar pretty high for the rest of them.

Coming all the way from New Jersey is the short film, Halloween Season. The film was written and directed by 28-year-old independent filmmaker Chris R. Notarile of Blinky Productions, Inc.

Halloween Season follows a very simple plot format but that is what I feel makes the film work so well. There is nothing complicated about it that could possibly take focus off the cinematography and style Notarile uses.

Photo courtesy of Chris R. Notarile and Blinky Productions, Inc.

The film tells the story of a young woman, Julie, that is stalked by Michael Myers after she and her boyfriend Bill purchase their Halloween costumes from a local shop. Myers spots the couple, follows them to Julie’s house and waits for the perfect time to strike.

While this story seems very simple, that is what I love about it. There are no fancy bells and whistles watering down what Notarile is trying to do. That was, in my opinion, what was wrong with the seven sequels that ruined the franchise. Michael Myers was given too much of a story and it ruined the feel of the first movie.

Season is not like that. This is just a straight Halloween fan-film that goes back to the greasy roots that made the first film great.

Before Michael Myers was a disturbed, long-haired redneck boy with a thing for his mom, he was just a man in a mask; a psycho that broke out of the looney bin, grabbed a knife and decided to go “trick or treating” in his old neighborhood. That is what I remember about Carpenter’s film and that is what I liked the most about Notarile’s vision.

Photo courtesy of Chris R. Notarile and Blinky Productions, Inc.

Notarile was able to not only make a good, high-quality short, but he also made a genuinely good horror film. It is only just over fifteen minutes long, but it uses every single second to establish the type of plot and suspense that is necessary for any film to be cohesive.

To me, this movie proves that a budget in the millions is not needed to make a good horror movie. All it takes is passion, knowledge, a vision and the necessary resources to bring that vision to life.

Notarile said Halloween Season took a couple of hours over the course of two days to shoot and it was filmed entirely in his home state of New Jersey.

“We shot the pumpking patch opening on Monday and the rest of the movie on that Friday,” Notarile said.

The film stars Magdalena Crujeiras as Julie, Chase Coleman as Bill and Kevin Lennon as the iconic Michael Myers.

Notarile said Crujeiras was a last minute casting decision that ended up paying off in the end.

Photo courtesy of Chris R. Notarile and Blinky Productions, Inc.

“Magdalena is a sweet heart,” Notarile said. “She was the last person cast for this project… There were some scheduling complications with someone else who I orignally wrote the part for and she couldn’t make it. So, I combed the internet and found Magdalena and she was gracious enough to come out, read for the part and ultimately do it.”

While Crujeiras was a new addition to the film, both Coleman and Lennon have previous experience working with Notarile and have developed a friendship with him.

Coleman said he has worked with Notarile before and is currently on board to star in one of the director’s upcoming projects. Speaking of his experience with Notarile, Coleman said he enjoys working him because of his passion and his openness to new ideas.

“Chris is a very talented film maker. He has a vision and is always focused on getting what he sees when making a film,” Coleman said. “Although, through that, he is still open to an actor’s point-of- view and how he or she sees a character and what that character wants.”

Because Notarile writes roles with certain actors in mind, he said he approached Coleman for the role of Bill because he knew the actor was a fan of the Halloween series.

Photo courtesy of Chris R. Notarile and Blinky Productions, Inc.

“Chase is awesome. I’ve known him for about a year now and he is a closet comic geek,” said Notarile. “So when I asked him if he wanted to get killed by Michael Myers, he was all for it.”

Coleman, a professional actor for five years, said his favorite moment in filming was working with Crujeiras during the scene inside of the costume shop.

“She’s a great actress and really fun to play off of when experimenting with the different scenes,” Coleman said.

Notarile’s initial popularity on the Internet is credited to a fan-film he posted on his website in 2005; it was called Friday the 31st (Michael vs Jason). He said once he posted the short on his site, he knew that he had a shot at success.

“I loaded Friday the 31st onto my website and within a few hours, my site crashed due to exceeded bandwidth,” Notarile said. “I was immediately forced to upgrade my site and I ended up putting all my videos on YouTube as a sort of ‘safety.’ It was then I knew I was onto something.”

Since then, Notarile said he has written, produced and directed close to 150 films.

Photo courtesy of Chris R. Notarile and Blinky Productions, Inc.

Notarile plans on filming a second installment in the Halloween Season series, but he said it will not be released on until it is closer to Halloween.

“I do plan to make a second chapter to Halloween Season,” Notarile said. “It will just be a new story in the time line, set a year later. And I won’t start filming until the actual season is upon us, so you will have to wait until October to see it.”