The first is Midnight Syndicate‘s latest CD Carnival Arcane. Midnight Syndicate has a great reputation for music related to the Halloween season, and they try to top themselves each year. With this year’s offering we find their fourteenth studio album that takes on a dark carnival theme. As the CD’s cover describes:

The train smoke drifting through the pale moon light signals the arrival of the Lancaster Rigby Carnival. In a forest clearing, these mesonoxian visitors await your arrival. Stroll along the midway and behold wonders both fantastic and macabre from every corner of the globe. And be sure to ride their one of a kind carousel for an experience you’ll never ever forget.

This CD includes 25 tracks that blends historical realism with fantastic elements, and which features involved sound design combining music with voice and sound effects. Carnival Arcane is available at the Midnight Syndicate website, as well as iTunes and Amazon.com.

Another media offering that will help put you in the mood for the Halloween season is the DVD titled The Dreadful Hallowgreen Special. It features heirs to the television monster hosts of years past featuring contemporary web horror personalities Doctor Gangrene, Penny Dreadful (both Rondo Award winners), and includes special guest Count Gore De Vol. The DVD cover provides the film’s synopsis:

Sorcery threatens to destroy Halloween as pumpkins turn pink while goblins and ghouls begin acting loveable! To the rescue – infamous Doctor Gangrene and Penny Dreadful, assisted by her werewolf sidekick, Garou, combine science, magic and horrifying humor to save their beloved holiday!

This DVD is fun to watch, especially during the Halloween season, and includes an extended cut with footage that was not seen when the program was first broadcast. It also includes a trailer, shorts, bloopers, and outtakes. Pick up your copy at Amazon.com.

TheoFantastique: You recently set up a deal with Hot Topic stores for a release of your DEAD MATTER DVD. This seems like a perfect partnership. How did this come about, and what can people anticipate on this DVD?

Ed Douglas: Midnight Syndicate has been working with Hot Topic for the past eleven years so they were the perfect retail partner to team up with on The Dead Matter DVD. The cool thing is that Hot Topic is going to be selling a deluxe 3-disc set of The Dead Matter at all of their stores for the price of a regular DVD (for a limited time). This 3-disc set includes the DVD, the soundtrack CD from Midnight Syndicate, and a 13th Anniversary Midnight Syndicate greatest hits type CD called “Halloween Music Collection.”

As far as extras go, we’ve really loaded the DVD up pretty well. Not only do you have the requisite gag reels and commentary with the director and producers but we’ve also added two Midnight Syndicate music videos and Eternal Legacy’s “The Dead Matter” music video. We are also featuring the three finalists from the Midnight Syndicate Video Contest we ran earlier this year – some really creative home-grown short films set to our music. Lastly we have this cool feature called Maximum Dead Matter. It’s a feature-length behind-the-scenes program. You watch the movie in one window while in other windows you see footage of us filming those scenes, interviews, location trivia, concept art, and stuff like that. I think it’s really interesting for fellow filmmakers and enthusiasts who are interested in seeing exactly how we made our little indie horror film. We have a 0:40 second trailer from Maximum Dead Matter on YouTube if you’d like to see what I’m talking about.

TheoFantastique: You also produced a horror film, The Dead Matter. What is the story behind this, and how can fans catch clips if not a copy of the whole film?

Ed Douglas: Before I started Midnight Syndicate, I made an earlier version of The Dead Matter movie for about $2000. The goal of me and my partners was to get the experience and put ourselves in a position to remake the movie someday with an actual budget. After we released the original version I started Midnight Syndicate. As Midnight Syndicate grew in popularity with the haunted houses, gothic music fans, roleplaying gamer, and Halloween folks we began to get approached by a lot of indie filmmakers, TV producers, and game companies looking to license our music in their productions. It culminated in 2006, when Robert Kurtzman moved to Ohio (near to me) and approached us to score his film, The Rage. When I visited the set of The Rage and saw how Bob and his producing partner Gary Jones ran their sets, I knew they would be the perfect partners for The Dead Matter remake I had envisioned ten years earlier. I pitched the idea to Bob, he enjoyed the script and the rest is history.

The Dead Matter tells the story of a grief-stricken young woman who is desperate to contact her deceased brother. She comes into possession of an ancient relic that can raise and control “dead matter.” Her dark obsession leads her down a nasty path which includes two warring vampires (Andrew Divoff and Tom Savini) that want the relic and a vampire hunter (Jason Carter) who wants to destroy it. Classic horror themes with some modern twists and a touch of humor. It’s a fun movie.

Hot Topic stores will have The Dead Matter DVD this Friday, July 30th. Until then you can catch the trailer at www.TheDeadMatter.com. On the 30th you will also be able to order the DVD online through the Midnight Syndicate website (www.MidnightSyndicate.com), Amazon, and Hot Topic.

TheoFantastique: I was pleased to learn recently about your first music video. What was the inspiration for a move from producing quality horror and Halloween music to creating a video to accompany it?

Ed Douglas: We wanted to do something special to celebrate Midnight Syndicate’s 13th Anniversary. We had ten CDs out but never a music video and we thought it was about time we did. My friend David “House” Greathouse (who did special FX makeup on our movie, and recently released a documentary entitled, Legion of Terror) was the perfect director for the project. He’s done a lot of great music videos for the heavy metal band Mushroomhead and really understands the Midnight Syndicate mythos. He really delivered a great visual treat.

TheoFantastique: Are there any plans to perhaps take the musical performance live on the road, like a Halloween version of Manheim Steamroller? And what about the possibility of creating dramatic stories combined with music and sound effects in connection with horror and Halloween like a generation of us listened to as we grew up in previous generations?

Ed Douglas: Yes we are talking seriously about doing that in early 2011 and might even have some announcements regarding that soon. The old radio dramas were a big part of my inspiration for Midnight Syndicate (the integration of sounds and soundscape with the music). I’d definitely like to explore something like what you are talking about. To close your eyes and be taken away to a world in your own imagination – that’s what we’re all about.

TheoFantastique: Ed, your new release is great, and a perfect way for fans of horror and Halloween to get into the spirit early. Thanks again for letting us know about the new release and for giving us an insider’s view.

TheoFantastique is a supporter of independent film, particularly in the form of indie horror. Midnight Syndicate Films makes its contribution to this art form with The Dead Matter. The press release for the film reports that post-production was completed at the end of April. “‘I am absolutely thrilled with how the movie came out,” says Edward Douglas, the film’s director, composer, and sound editor. ‘I think it’s exactly what fans would expect from a Midnight Syndicate movie. Classic horror themes…very atmospheric, very creepy…and loaded with twists and turns that really pull you into the dark world we try to create on all our discs. It’s definitely a fun ride for fans who enjoy a good story and an old-school edge to their horror films.’”

The press release also discusses the film’s plot: “The movie tells the story of a girl named Gretchen who’s desire to reconnect with her dead brother draws her into the supernatural world of vampirism and the living dead. Drenched in the dark and shadowy music of Midnight Syndicate and inspired by EC Comics, Creepshow, and Hammer Films, this mix of classic horror and modern twists promises to deliver for fans of the genre.”

Ed Douglas also responded to a few questions about the film in a brief interview:

TheoFantastique: The Dead Matter has a long history before reaching its present form with the upcoming release. How did you move from horror and Halloween music to independent horror filmmaking?
 
Edward Douglas: Before forming Midnight Syndicate, I studied film and theatre. My first major project was the original The Dead Matter (1996). Back then we had about $2,000 and had to borrow a Super-VHS camera and mics from our school, John Carroll University just to shoot it. We knew that we were going to be limited by our technical specs but we did the best we could with what we had in order to put ourselves in a position to remake it later with an actual budget.  As a midwest filmmaker trying to make a movie out here, Sam Raimi and George Romero were two of my greatest inspirations (Sam Raimi had a slightly similar path with Evil Dead). We released The Dead Matter in 1996 but it would take another ten years before we would be in a position to do it again. The success of Midnight Syndicate put us in contact with a lot of people in the entertainment industry, most notably, FX legend Robert Kurtzman (producer of From Dusk Till Dawn, and co-founder of KNB FX) who contacted us to score his drive-in thriller The Rage in 2006. After he was done shooting that film we approached him about The Dead Matter. He liked the project and signed on. We ended up co-producing the film with him, his company Precinct 13, and producer, Gary Jones (Boogeyman 3, and Xena).

TheoFantastique: The Dead Matter is described as a combination of “classic horror themes with modern twists.” What are you trying to accomplish with this synthesis?
 
Edward Douglas: Just as is the case with Midnight Syndicate, most of my influences come from the classic horror movies. That comes through in our music and it definitely comes through in The Dead Matter. The throwback feel of this film is also helped along by the look of it and the fact that both myself and the DP, Alex Esber are inspired by Hammer Films, Mario Bava, and 70s/80s horror cinema. We’re dealing with classic horror themes in the vampire and zombie and we respect a lot of the established “rules” which gives the movie and story an old-school feel. The fun comes though when we take those conventions and turn them on their side for a bit (the “modern twists”). It makes for an unpredictable movie that keeps you guessing and entertained. I think what I was trying to accomplish was to create a movie that respects the older vampire and zombie films that inspired us while still touching on new ground to mix it up for all of us that have watched those movies a thousand times over and still love them.

TheoFantastique: How can interested viewers see The Dead Matter? And do you have any plans to try to get it into next year’s Slamdance Film Festival perhaps?
 
Edward Douglas: We just began talks with distributors and will also be submitting it to festivals. I hope to have more information within the next few months.  

If the film is anywhere near the caliber of the 2008 CD by Midnight Syndicate, titled The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates, which was a collection of music inspired by the movie, then horror fans can expect plenty of frights from the film. For further information visit the film’s website.