Slaughter Disc
Encyclopedia
Slaughter Disc is a hybrid, feature-length, independent film that blurs the lines between mainstream horror
and adult
films. The movies stars Caroline Pierce, Robert Williams, Jewels Mackenzie, Travis Lee and Albin Kinsey. It was written and directed
by David Quitmeyer and released in 2005 by Steel Web Studios. An edited version of the film was released towards the end of 2006 by Scarlet Entertainment.
. As his addiction causes him to lose both his girlfriend and his job, he encounters a mysterious DVD featuring Andromeda Strange. Mike is drawn deeper and deeper into her dark and gory performances, until he finally sees her in a scene having sex with and then brutally murdering his friend. By the film's end, we learn Mike himself had died long ago while watching the movie, and his soul joins the others enslaved by Andromeda Strange.
" was used to make the subject matter of porn addiction easier for audiences to accept. Two weeks of actual filming was spread across three months in an effort to work around the individual real-life schedules of the cast & crew.
David Quitmeyer not only wrote the story and screenplay, but he is also the film's director, producer, casting agent, set designer, film editor, main camera man, publicist, location scout, wardrobe consultant, special effects artists, and even made two cameo appearances in the film . In doing this, David was free to spend more money on the actual production of the movie rather than on crew salaries. It also allowed him to capture the look and feel of the movie as he had envisioned it from the beginning.
Peter Gorritz of the Goth band The Last Dance was hired to compose a dark and moody score for the film. Peter composed the music based on a rough cut of the movie over a two-month period. David and Peter communicated by email 99% of the time and swapped video and music files through email. Peter was encouraged to reach deep down and use all of his musical experience and influences while composing the score for the movie.
While low budget in nature, Slaughter Disc utilizes a number of sophisticated modern special effects including the use of blue-screens, CGI and makeup prosthetics. Four different types of blood were used, including one created with water-based personal lubricant. The lubricant based blood was used to prevent the female performers from developing yeast infections during some of the story's more intimate scenes.
Makeup artist Catherine Crump was recruited to develop the effects and styles for the film's female anti-hero, Andromeda Strange. For the story's climactic ending, Catherine developed a secret blend of lotions and sprays to create the glow-in-the-dark effects that the script called for. Makeup assistant Ashley Rees donated her time to the project and helped Catherine with the application and blending of latex makeup appliances.
Subliminal imagery such as photos of actual decayed corpses and video of cemeteries are overlaid throughout the film's more horrific moments. Rather than spray blood everywhere, realistic gore was used based on the filmmaker's own experiences working in the emergency room of a regional trauma center.
As a child, Quitmeyer was a huge fan of television horror anthologies such as Tales from the Darkside
, The Twilight Zone
, Monsters, and his absolute favorite, Tales from the Crypt
. Other early influences in his life were the literary works of Edgar Allan Poe
, H. P. Lovecraft
, Stephen King
and Clive Barker
. "Stephen King was my idol growing up," admits Quitmeyer. "He is a simple family guy, yet he has a fantastic imagination that has entertained millions of people over the years."
Slaughter Disc is based on Quitmeyer's original short story "The Tape", which was written over 15 years ago - long before movies such as The Ring and White Noise existed. In the original story a college student receives a transparent VCR tape in the mail. Each time it is viewed, a new horrific sex act is played out on screen. Eventually friends and family of the viewer are gruesomely murdered and a mysterious woman known as the Bride of Death performs deviant sexual acts with the mutilated corpses.
"The Tape" was re-written to further explore the supernatural realms of modern technology. Cell phones, DVDs and the World Wide Web were not around when the story was originally written. David also stripped out most of the gore and sex in order to make the story more acceptable to audiences as well as to allow the movie to be filmed on a shoestring budget. "I basically cut out all of the effects that I knew I couldn't do myself", states Quitmeyer. "If worse came to worse I knew I could hold the camera in one hand and the blood tubing in the other."
Quitmeyer wanted to not only push the envelope of sex and gore in shoestring budget filmmaking but to also follow in the tradition of great horror films by educating audiences about addiction at the same time.
"There is a moral to almost every horror story out there", explains Quitmeyer. "Whether it's don't play with God's plans, don't make fun of people or don't swim alone, there is also something to be learned. I've never seen a movie focus on the growing problem of sex addiction, so I thought it would be an interesting subject to explore from a supernatural perspective. The sad truth is that too much of anything will kill you."
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
and adult
Pornographic movie
Pornographic films are motion pictures with the purpose of promoting sexual arousal in the viewer, often featuring depictions of sexual activity. They are sold and rented out on DVD, shown through Internet and special channels and pay-per-view on cable and satellite, and in adult...
films. The movies stars Caroline Pierce, Robert Williams, Jewels Mackenzie, Travis Lee and Albin Kinsey. It was written and directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by David Quitmeyer and released in 2005 by Steel Web Studios. An edited version of the film was released towards the end of 2006 by Scarlet Entertainment.
Plot summary
The film focuses on Mike, a 20-something guy who is addicted to pornPornography addiction
Pornography addiction, or more broadly overuse of pornography, is excessive pornography use that interferes with daily life.There is no diagnosis of pornography addiction in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , and as with the broader proposed diagnosis of sexual...
. As his addiction causes him to lose both his girlfriend and his job, he encounters a mysterious DVD featuring Andromeda Strange. Mike is drawn deeper and deeper into her dark and gory performances, until he finally sees her in a scene having sex with and then brutally murdering his friend. By the film's end, we learn Mike himself had died long ago while watching the movie, and his soul joins the others enslaved by Andromeda Strange.
About the Film
Slaughter Disc was filmed under a budget of $10,000 in MiniDV format. The film was purposefully captured with "guerilla" filmmaking techniques, including hand-held cameras, low lighting, and un-focused frames. The feel of a "B-MovieB movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
" was used to make the subject matter of porn addiction easier for audiences to accept. Two weeks of actual filming was spread across three months in an effort to work around the individual real-life schedules of the cast & crew.
David Quitmeyer not only wrote the story and screenplay, but he is also the film's director, producer, casting agent, set designer, film editor, main camera man, publicist, location scout, wardrobe consultant, special effects artists, and even made two cameo appearances in the film . In doing this, David was free to spend more money on the actual production of the movie rather than on crew salaries. It also allowed him to capture the look and feel of the movie as he had envisioned it from the beginning.
Peter Gorritz of the Goth band The Last Dance was hired to compose a dark and moody score for the film. Peter composed the music based on a rough cut of the movie over a two-month period. David and Peter communicated by email 99% of the time and swapped video and music files through email. Peter was encouraged to reach deep down and use all of his musical experience and influences while composing the score for the movie.
While low budget in nature, Slaughter Disc utilizes a number of sophisticated modern special effects including the use of blue-screens, CGI and makeup prosthetics. Four different types of blood were used, including one created with water-based personal lubricant. The lubricant based blood was used to prevent the female performers from developing yeast infections during some of the story's more intimate scenes.
Makeup artist Catherine Crump was recruited to develop the effects and styles for the film's female anti-hero, Andromeda Strange. For the story's climactic ending, Catherine developed a secret blend of lotions and sprays to create the glow-in-the-dark effects that the script called for. Makeup assistant Ashley Rees donated her time to the project and helped Catherine with the application and blending of latex makeup appliances.
Subliminal imagery such as photos of actual decayed corpses and video of cemeteries are overlaid throughout the film's more horrific moments. Rather than spray blood everywhere, realistic gore was used based on the filmmaker's own experiences working in the emergency room of a regional trauma center.
The Film's Inspiration
Mixing the genres of Horror and Erotica is certainly nothing new. Whether you look at the seductive lore of the succubus in early religious texts or the voluptuous curves of horror hostess Elvira, Mistress of the Dark on late night TV, one thing is apparent: sex and horror are perfect bedfellows.As a child, Quitmeyer was a huge fan of television horror anthologies such as Tales from the Darkside
Tales from the Darkside
Tales from the Darkside is an anthology horror TV series produced by George A. Romero; it originally aired from 1983 to 1988. Similar to Amazing Stories, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, The Outer Limits, and Tales From The Crypt, each episode was an individual short story that ended with a plot...
, The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
, Monsters, and his absolute favorite, Tales from the Crypt
Tales from the Crypt (TV series)
Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO...
. Other early influences in his life were the literary works of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
, H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
, Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
and Clive Barker
Clive Barker
Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...
. "Stephen King was my idol growing up," admits Quitmeyer. "He is a simple family guy, yet he has a fantastic imagination that has entertained millions of people over the years."
Slaughter Disc is based on Quitmeyer's original short story "The Tape", which was written over 15 years ago - long before movies such as The Ring and White Noise existed. In the original story a college student receives a transparent VCR tape in the mail. Each time it is viewed, a new horrific sex act is played out on screen. Eventually friends and family of the viewer are gruesomely murdered and a mysterious woman known as the Bride of Death performs deviant sexual acts with the mutilated corpses.
"The Tape" was re-written to further explore the supernatural realms of modern technology. Cell phones, DVDs and the World Wide Web were not around when the story was originally written. David also stripped out most of the gore and sex in order to make the story more acceptable to audiences as well as to allow the movie to be filmed on a shoestring budget. "I basically cut out all of the effects that I knew I couldn't do myself", states Quitmeyer. "If worse came to worse I knew I could hold the camera in one hand and the blood tubing in the other."
Quitmeyer wanted to not only push the envelope of sex and gore in shoestring budget filmmaking but to also follow in the tradition of great horror films by educating audiences about addiction at the same time.
"There is a moral to almost every horror story out there", explains Quitmeyer. "Whether it's don't play with God's plans, don't make fun of people or don't swim alone, there is also something to be learned. I've never seen a movie focus on the growing problem of sex addiction, so I thought it would be an interesting subject to explore from a supernatural perspective. The sad truth is that too much of anything will kill you."
External links
- Official Slaughter Disc website
- Steel Web Studios - The film's production company
- PJG Music - Peter Gorritz, the film's Composer
- Slaughter Disc review - A review of Slaughter Disc in Swedish