Hello, all.

I'm a long-time horror fan and new member of this site. I grew up on classics like "The Shining" and was a teen during the horror boom of the '80s.

I've been a professional writer for most of my adult life, in venues ranging from PC/console/online games to script doctoring to short stories to newspaper work. I spent several years as a newpaper sports editor and film critic, but when that industry hit the skids a few years back, I had the option of jumping from one sinking ship to another one or trying something different. Right around that time, my father died of cancer, which was a serious kick in the pants for me. I adopted the slogan: "Death is coming; get your shit done now."

I've always wanted to make movies, so I switched gears and started chasing the dream. I went to school to learn video editing and worked as an actor, crew and/or stuntman on a half dozen feature films in the two years after leaving the paper. Last fall, I decided to make one of my own. I've been writing scripts for decades, but I've never had a story demand to be told like "The Wrong House".

For nearly a decade, my wife and I had been developing a pair of characters... husband/wife serial killers who truly believe themselves to be agents of karma. When our home was robbed in March 2008, to deal with the stress we started developing a story. The base premise: What would those characters do if it was their house that had been robbed? From there, the story really took off. By the time I finished the first outline, there was no question that I'd be shooting this film... with my wife and I as the killers.

I recruited Andy Davis of Emptyhouse Film as my co-director and Director of Photography. I'd worked with Andy on three previous films and he's an accomplished director with six features, including the zombie flick "2" which Fangoria really liked ("Smart, dark and bold"). Andy never works on other peoples' movies, but he fell in love with the story and signed on.

Our next big find was FX artist Eric Anderson, who is the MacGyver of horror. His amazing work really upped the brutality of the film, as we were able to show much of the gore instead of cutting around it as independent films often do.

I used to box and dabbled in fight choreography back in the day, so we put all that to use in "The Wrong House". Every actor was warned right out of the gate that it would be an extremely physical shoot and that everyone would be walking away exhausted and bruised. We recruited actors who fully embraced the physicality and the result is an extremely intense and brutal film. Waterboarding, hardcore stunts, LSD torture scenes... the film pulls no punches. I broke three ribs on the final day of the shoot. The impacts look real because they are real.

"The Wrong House" is in the final few weeks of editing and we're planning an August premiere in Maine. From day one, this project has again and again wildly exceeded my expectations... and I had unreasonably high expectations coming in. I can't wait to share this film with the horror public. Soon... very soon.

The trailer is on my profile, or the full HD version is available at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EULa6CW6zdw

Well met, fellow horror freaks.

Peace,

Shawn French

Writer/co-director/serial killer

"The Wrong House"

www.thewronghousemovie.com

wow just watched your trailer for 'the wrong house', it looks wicked!!

hope i get to watch it here in the uk some day!

hi! wow the trailer does look good.welcome to the forums.

Welcome and I will check out the trailer

Great to have a filmmaker involved in the discussions on this site.

My house has never been robbed but I do remember the anger I felt when my car was broken into. I was ready to go mess somebody up.

This looks great, we need more warning stories!

Good to have you onboard. 

Howdeeeeeee.

Thanks for the welcomes, all. You folks have carved out a sweet little niche on the Intertubes.

Quick update for any boxing fans...

"The Wrong House" features an extremely memorable cameo by middleweight boxing contender Jason "The Hammer" LeHoullier, who I got to know while covering his fights for my old paper and Saddoboxing.com. On Saturday, Jay (20-1-1) is fighting Julio Cezar Chavez, Jr. (39-0-1) on pay-per-view.

Chavez is younger, quicker and the favorite, but he's run out of gas in his past three fights and struggled in the later rounds. Jason is a solid body puncher, which I'm hoping will contribute to Chavez gassing again.

Jay is fighting him in Mexico and the general rule going back to Chavez Sr. is that the only way to win a decision over a Chavez in Mexico is to kill him... and even then you could lose a split decision.

A good showing by Jason will set him up to fight Vernon Forrest, who he was supposed to fight earlier this year (Forrest broke ribs training).

We're certainly pulling for Jay in this, the biggest fight of his career. Woohoo!

Starting vacation tomorrow... 9 straight days to work on the movie. Sweeeeet. At this point, I'm just putting the finishing touches on the outdoor audio, color correction and tweaking the FX a bit.

We'll be holding our premiere on Sept. 20 at the Cinemagic theater in Westbrook, Maine. It's the best theater in the state and the only place I seriously considered as a venue.

For thirty years, I've dreamed of sitting in a theater in that moment when the lights go down... just before a movie of mine begins. In just a few weeks, it will become a reality.

I had a blast watching previous films I've worked on. But this will be a completely different experience. I poured 18 months into this project, from the first day of writing to the day of the premiere.

Last weekend, the wife and I sat down to watch my most recent cut of the film. We've watched previous cuts, but this was the first time the film was nearly done... where I could actually watch the movie instead of obsessing over how much work was left to do. We nailed it. I can't wait to screen this thing.

18 months ago, I wrote in my notebook: The Wrong House. Choose your enemies carefully. That was all I had. A title and logline. Now it's a nearly completed HD horror film... and one that I love a whole, whole lot. Surreal. Completely surreal.

I think we are all excited! I am.

After spending the past week of vacation locked up in my cave editing, I've now essentially finished "The Wrong House." By this weekend, I should have the last couple pieces I'm waiting on (the LSD sequence and the score for the final fight scene). Then I plug those in with a couple minor touch-ups and this movie is ready to launch.

Our premiere is locked in for Sept. 20 and momentum is really starting to build around here. A local radio station will be giving away tickets daily in the week leading up to the premiere and today an area magazine confirmed they'll be attending to do a write-up/review. We also have at least one TV interview upcoming and we're talking with a few other news outlets. Fun stuff.

Rather than standard tickets, we did up a batch of two-sided color 4x6 cards. One side is our main poster; the other has their ticket number and info about the premiere. Should be a cool keepsake for folks.

Not sure if any of you are in the vacinity of Portland, Maine, but tickets are on sale for $5 at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79348

26 days and counting... tick tock.

Check out this story about "The Wrong House" premiere at Fatally-Yours.com

http://www.fatally-yours.com/news/“the-wrong-house”-theatrical-premiere-on-september-20th/

19 days and counting.

Very cool.

Great write up,

I look forward to hearing about your Premiere. Unfortunately I am on the other side of the country and will not be able to attend.

I completed "The Wrong House" this morning. It's done, locked and ready to roll.

Working on promo stuff tomorrow, newspaper interviews Monday and I test it on the big screen next weekend. Should receive posters and another round of lobby cards in Tuesday's mail. Everything is coming together so quickly now. Way too much fun.

We launch in 15 days. Tick tock.

Congratulations Dude--looks great to me--good luck

Thanks, Pumpboy. It's been a long road to get this close to launching. My wife and I sat down Sunday night to watch the finished cut. Real, real happy with it.

Yesterday was my first day off in nearly a year that I didn't have a huge pile of movie work to do. Newspaper interview in the morning and some online PR stuff, but by mid-afternoon I didn't have any work left to do. It's weird to suddenly have my life back.

Your life may be about to change completely!

Our latest press release, which I'll be sending to all the Maine media tonight... premiere is in 10 days.

LOCAL BOXER FIGHTS ON PAY-PER-VIEW SATURDAY; MAKES FILM DEBUT SEPT. 20 AT WESTBROOK’S CINEMAGIC THEATER

The Portland Boxing Club’s professional middleweight contender Jason “The Hammer” LeHoullier (20-1-1) travels south of the border to take on Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (39-0-1) in the main event of Saturday’s “Latin Fury 11” pay-per-view event in Mexico.

Then it’s back to Maine in time to catch his film debut in the Maine-made horror movie “The Wrong House,” which premieres Sept. 20 at 6:30 p.m. at Cinemagic in Westbrook.

“The Wrong House” is a stunt-heavy HD horror flick written by Shawn French of Wisdumb Production and co-directed by French and Andy Davis (“2” “I’m Sorry”) of Emptyhouse Film.

“Jason is such an intense, scary-looking guy that I just knew I had to use him in our film. He’s a beast,” said French, who used to cover LeHoullier’s fights for the Windham Independent and Saddoboxing.com.

“I wrote the part specifically for him and was psyched when timing worked out and he signed on,” French said. “He has a small, but pivotal role and he brought such incredible raw energy to his performance. Our audience won’t soon forget The Hammer’s film debut.”

“The Wrong House” trailer is online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EULa6CW6zdw

Tickets are $5 and can be purchased in advance at www.thewronghousemovie.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR PRESS PASSES TO THE PREMIERE, CONTACT WRITER/CO-DIRECTOR SHAWN FRENCH at thewronghouse@gmail.com

Six days and counting until the premiere...

Our local radio promos launched over the weekend and they'll be giving away tickets all this week. Six newspaper stories come out this week, tickets are really starting to move (we'll be at or near our 360-seat capacity) and tonight I burn the theatrical DVD, which I'll test on the big screen Thursday morning.

As I was writing this, just got a call from the Portland Press Herald, the biggest daily paper in the state. Had a great talk with their reporter and we'll have a story from them this week as well. I'll post links as some of these stories go live.

This week is entirely too much fun. Woohoo!

The latest story about our premiere on Sunday.

http://www.keepmecurrent.com/news/article_431cf8e2-a2d8-11de-bf62-001cc4c03286.html

You guys look happy in the picture.

The Premiere is just around the corner!

Yeah, we're real psyched about Sunday. It's been a long time coming.

Tomorrow AM we do a sound test in the theater, so I'll get to see it on the big screen. And there are a bunch of employees there that want to see it, but are working that night. So I may be doing a small advance screening after hours Friday or Saturday night. Fun stuff.

good luck for prem i hope all goes well! i'm hoping that one day i'll get to see it!

I've got my fingers crossed that everything goes without a hitch!!

let us all know how it goes!!

Thanks, Cazza.

Tested it on the big screen yesterday. Love it a whole lot. Cannot wait until tomorrow.

The latest story about the film, this one from the biggest daily paper in the state.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=284316&ac=PHnws

34 hours until we launch. Tick tock...

How was the premiere?

I'll be writing up more detailed thoughts on the premiere in the next day or so, but the short answer is...

It was beyond belief. Nearly 300 people and they were hugely into the film. Applause after the big horror FX, laughs at all the dark humor and a lengthy standing O for the cast/crew after. We spent about an hour signing posters and such after the show. Just an incredible night.

Stories about our film have since been picked up by Fark.com and http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/yb/135531797

So even before we hit the festivals, we're starting to reach a national audience.

Sounds damn good!

Hey Man, been very busy with a new position and a truckload of new responsibilities. I wanted to here how the screenings have been going. Early reviews were very good, have you been able to get into more circuits or festivals?

Yeah, reception has been extremely positive. Made a few more tweaks following the premiere and just finished up the press kit. I'll start sending screeners out to critics/festivals on Monday. Next week, I'll work on setting up another local screening or two. We've had a whole lot of people asking for another showing.

For the first time since I started this project 19 months ago, I'm finally feeling rested. I'm glad I ran things the way I did, because as deeply personal a film as this is, I really needed to get it exactly the way my wife and I envisioned it. But next time around I'll go with a bigger team and spread around the workload a bit. It's really way too much work to do solo and I ran myself into the ground pretty hard toward the end.

Now I'm back to feeling like my old self and I'm psyched for the next phase. I've also been fielding the "what's next?" question a whole lot lately. The two leading candidates for a spring/summer production are 1) a short comedy called "Escape From Jesus Island", which I wrote years ago and love a whole, whole lot. And 2) an extremely dark horror film whose title I'm still keeping under wraps because I'm stunned it hasn't been used yet (felt the same about the title "The Wrong House"). I will say that it's the most horrific story idea that's ever hit me and it's been haunting me for 5-6 years now.

The Wrong House, is seriously the wrong house to break into.

Last weekend, I filmed the music video for Damien Zygote's song "Chaos Theory." It's our end-credit music for "The Wrong House" and we shot the video at the same house we filmed the movie. The video follows Damien breaking into and exploring the home of the serial killers Susan and Steve (both cameo). I'll cut in lots of footage from the movie. Still early into the edit, but it's really coming together well. I've attached a few stills below.

I shot one previous music video for Damien, for his song "Ragamuffin" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koSqC9go3Zo). Damien co-directed and edited that one. Fun stuff.

I just released a new music video for Damien Zygote's "Chaos Theory," which is our end-credit song for "The Wrong House." We shot the video at the same locations as the film and it features Damien exploring the home of our movie's killers, Susan and Steve.

We'll be releasing "The Wrong House" on DVD this spring. Check out the "Chaos Theory" video at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl8afkk9Z-I