As I'm doing with SLIME CITY MASSACRE, auteur and SFX maestro Brett Piper is chronicling the progress of his new film, MUCKMAN, starring Anju McIntyre (formerly known as A.J. Khan) and Alison Whitney (BACTERIUM). MUCKMAN is a creature feature in the tradition of such bog boogeymen as SWAMP THING and MAN-THING. As befits any low budget effort, what goes on behind the scenes can be as entertaining as the final product. We don't do this for the money, folks--we do it because we love making monster movies. As Brett says of this warts and all depiction of the problems he's aleady ecoountered, "We may yet save some unwary would-be filmmaker from suffering our fate..."

Well, let's just say the shoot could be going better. The first day we got off to the usual rocky start, what with people showing up late and the confusion typical of your shake-down day. Then the next day one of the actors decided he wasn't going to sign his contract until his lawyer looked it over and made it clear that until he signed the contract he was free to walk off the picture any time he felt like it, so I told him in that case if he didn't sign the contract I would replace him. This caused a stalemate which lasted almost all day while I shot around him and another actor who happened to be his brother. We finally got it straightened out. Then his brother called me tonight and said he quit because - get this - he wasn't having as much fun as he thought he would. So we're out two character and we're scheduled to shoot again this weekend. Oh yeah, and it's the last weekend one of the actresses will be available because she's getting married in a few months. Go figure.

Aside from that it was he usual grind. Anju and Alison were a pleasure to work with, as usual, and Mark Polonia and Bob Dennis (who starred in THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED) were hysterical as a couple of inbred rednecks.

Unfortunately, we never got around to shooting the Muckman himself. We had planned to use him Sunday evening but I'd neglected to factor in the long drive back to Manhattan for some of our cast. I didn't want anyone trying to drive half asleep so we knocked off early so they could leave at a decent hour. Those are the difficulties of shooting in the middle of nowhere (not to mention trying to shoot feature film in six non-consecutive days for almost no money!). We should be back at it next week, but we'll see.

The amazing thing about this account is that Brett will find a way to make an entertaining movie despite these seemingly insurmountable challenges.

Coming soon: first photos of the Muckman!