‘Hatchet Jack’ slasher accepted in national fright film festival

By Debra Minor Wilson
Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT September 10, 2008 11:37 pm

— “Hatchet Jack” has been good to Eddie Mahalick so far.
Produced by Dead Drunk Cinema, the locally produced and filmed horror flick was one of about 60 scary films shown at the Fright Night Film Fest Aug. 15-17 in Louisville, Ky.
The weekend was “a great networking tool,” Mahalick said. He attended seminars on marketing, screen writing and directing, and made connections with other writers, directors, producers, distributors and actors.
An awards ceremony capped the festival. “HJ” didn’t win anything, but that’s OK.
“It was a great honor just to be accepted into the festival. We will get a wreath we can place on our product to show we’re an official selection of the Fright Night Film Fest. They received thousands of submissions and chose only 60.”
“We actually met some actors from other films and built a base for networking for the future.
“It’s tough to cast in this area because there’s not a huge amount of acting talent near here. That’s the one thing we had the most trouble with. It took a long time to find actors. They came from different places ... Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Youngstown.”
“Hatchet Jack” has a simple plot, he said.
“Four kids from Pittsburgh travel to Rivesville in search of the hideout of an infamous serial killer. And unfortunately, they find it.”
Ninety-nine percent of the film was shot in and around Rivesville, he added.
“The scenery was beautiful. We wanted to showcase the state without the stereotypical films that make fun of the people in West Virginia. Ours was actually the opposite.”
Life isn’t over for “Hatchet Jack” yet.
“We’re going to continue submitting the film to festivals.,” he said. “We completed it in January 2008, so we have all of 2008 and 2009 to submit for most of these festivals.”
Mahalick is already planning to shoot his next film spring or summer of 2009.
“It’s a toss-up. We have two different types of stories. We paid for this film ourselves, about $10,000 to shoot the whole thing. And that puts a tremendous strain on your pocketbook,” he said with a rueful laugh.
“I’m itching to issue another film, for sure. I’m proud of ‘Hatchet Jack,’ but I’m ready to let the hatchet be buried, so to speak. It’s time to move on to something else.
“We’re in the middle of developing something at the moment that’s more a psychological thriller than a straight-up slasher film.”
One idea is a period piece set in 1860 to be shot in Bedford, Pa. The other is a docudrama about a murder that took place in Marion County in 1975 and would “definitely be filmed in the state,” he said.
“It’s whichever one we can afford to cast. That’s what it will come down to. The period piece will have to have costumes and an area that appears to be in 1860. If we can, we really want to do that one.
“We haven’t decided which one to do. We can only afford to do one.”
“Hatchet Jack” fans, don’t lose heart.
“I haven’t left slashers behind,” Mahalick said. “They’re fun. I think at some point I’ll return to them. I left ‘Hatchet Jack’ open-ended so it can have a prequel or a sequel.
“I want to visit different genres. It’s still a learning process. This was my first major feature film.”
Mahalick directed, produced and acted in the film. Lee Wittle was editor and director of photography. Justin Sago was producer and screenwriter.
For more information about “Hatchet Jack,” visit myspace.com/hatchetjackmovie.
“The biggest thing I learned was you have to be patient and continue making films. Each one you make, try to make it better than the last one.”
E-mail Debra Minor Wilson at dwilson@timeswv.com.

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