Slayer release “Pride In Prejudice” as the final chapter in the “Repentless” Video Trilogy

AND THEN THERE WERE THREE…

SLAYER’S “PRIDE IN PREJUDICE”

COMPLETES THE BRUTAL
REPENTLESS VIDEO TRILOGY

LOS ANGELES, CA – Tuesday, September 6, 2016 — A convicted prisoner on death row…a cookie-cutter, white-bread family unit putting up the Christmas decorations… two worlds, lightness and darkness colliding…white supremacists…ruthless murders…Slayer’s “Pride in Prejudice” music video.

Directed by BJ McDonnell

Produced by Felissa Rose

Edited by Ed Marx and Andrea Porter

Director of Photography – Eric Leach

Tony Gardner/Alterian FX for Special FX Makeup

Jason Trost (“Hatchet III”) – Wyatt

Danny Trejo (“Machete,” “From Dusk Til Dawn”)

Bill Moseley – the Dad (“House of 1000 Corpses,” “The Devil’s Rejects”)

Caroline Williams – the Mom (“Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens”, “Hatchett III”)

Richard Speight, Jr. – returning as the ultimate Bad Guy (“CSI,” “Jericho,” “Supernatural”)

Filmed during the winter of 2016 in the mountains of Wrightwood, CA

“I’m particularly excited about this third video,” said McDonnell, “because we played with stylistic differences with the trilogy. Where one video plays like an action film, this third one is more of a dramatic piece. The final story takes us into a world that is especially sinister in tone, with the dark and the light colliding. The conclusion is visually cinematic and harsh, with Slayer conducting us through it all with ‘Pride In Prejudice.'”

“It was a pleasure working with BJ on this project,” said Slayer’s Kerry King. “Slayer is notorious for letting the artist be the artist, the producer be the producer, and the director be the director, etc. By doing this we get a completely unique perspective that never really strays far from our own. Get ready for video three. It’s my favorite!!”

*****

SLAYER AND THE “REPENTLESS” VIDEO TRILOGY

With the premiere of “Pride in Prejudice,” Slayer completes the Repentless music video trilogy.

The first video, “Repentless,” was released 9/11/15 and has accumulated more than 9.8 million views to date. It introduced us to Wyatt, the eyepatched rebel inmate (Jason Trost/”Hatchet III”), and a host of nefarious prisoners played by some of today’s most iconic horror film actors including Danny Trejo/”Machete,” “From Dusk Till Dawn”, Tony Moran/”Halloween’s” Michael Myers, “American Poltergeist,” Derek Mears/”Predators,” “Friday the 13th,” Tyler Mane/”Halloween,” Sean Whalen/”Men In Black,” “Halloween II,” and Vernon Wells/”Mad Max 2,” “Commando,” “Weird Science.” “Repentless” was shot at the Sybil Brand Institute in East Los Angeles and has Slayer performing the song in the prison yard while a riot breaks out, blood flowing in abundance, inmates and prison guards brutally slaughtered.

From the very first frame, “You Against You,” the gore, the violence, the carnage begins and just never ends. While the second video in the trilogy, it is the prequel to “Repentless,” telling the story of the circumstances that led to Wyatt’s erroneous arrest and imprisonment. Slayer’s performance for “You Against You” was shot at a graveyard of jets, airliners and helicopters in California’s Mojave Desert.

“You Against You” premiered 3/16/16 and has accumulated more than 4.8 million YouTube views.

The “Repentless” video trilogy was conceived and directed by BJ McDonnell who directed the 2013 horror film “Hatchett III.” His rich resume as a motion picture cameraman includes “Jack Reacher,” “Tomorrowland” and “The Interview,” and just wrapped filming for the upcoming “Annabelle 2.”

In September 2015, Slayer released Repentless, the band’s 12th studio album, the first without founding member Jeff Hanneman and first with producer Terry Date, to widespread rave reviews and the highest chart debut of the band’s career. The band – Tom Araya/vocals & bass, Kerry King/guitars, Paul Bostaph/drums and Exodus/Slayer touring guitarist Gary Holt – has toured near-non-stop since the album’s release, and heads out on the road starting September 9 with a seven-week North American trek with Anthrax and Death Angel. This fall, Dark Horse Comics will publish a three-issue comic book series based on McDonnell’s original concept for the “Repentless” video trilogy and written by Jon Schnepp. In addition, October will see the release of Slayer’s “Cradle To Grave” BMX Bikes/Subrosa four-bike collection. Comprised of the Slayer Balance, Slayer 20, Slayer 26 and the Slayer Urban Terrain Bike, all are intended for BMX riders to “use and abuse.”

Slayer Official Website

 

Spero’s Jesse Hofstee talks about new EP “Pride”

Jesse Hofstee is the guitarist and vocalist for the band Spero. Based out of San Diego, CA Spero plays a blend of rock, folk and blues and have been compared to the Black Keys and Jack White. The groups newest EP titled “Pride” is set for a mid November release and Media Mikes had the chance to speak with Jesse recently about the group and their new release.

Adam Lawton: Can you tell us a little bit about the formation of the band?
Jesse Hofstee: I think everything started in or around 2011. I had known Hillary Laughery the keyboard player from high school and had just gotten out of another band I was in while in college. I wasn’t really playing at the time but would jam and work on some songs. Hillary and I got together to play some songs and we connected almost instantly. We spent the whole summer just playing and writing songs. We would play for 8 hours at a time. Things just went together really easy. After that we decided we were going to try and make it and set out to put a band together. I got Nick Hankins to come play bass and then Ryan Malette to play drums. I had actually played in a heavy metal band with both of them in high school.

AL: How would you describe the band’s sound as it is quite unique?
JH: We have elements of blues, rock and roll and at time indie rock. It’s really just a mix of blues and rock. Some of our songs have more blues elements while others are more rock. We sort of cross a number genres but I think if I had to pick one to put us in it would be more of the blues/rock genre.

AL: Can you tell us about the bands new EP?
JH: For most of the songs it’s either I or Hillary writing the foundation or structure of the songs. We then work on them as a band and change things around as we want everyone input and style to be a part of the process. One of the first songs we did for this EP was the title track “Pride”. I think that song was sort of a theme over the others that were written. It’s about taking pride in your work and who you are while not giving up. That’s really the overlying theme on the EP. I wrote 4 of the songs and Hillary wrote 2. We really were refining our sound as we went along and were happy with how things went. The release has a lot of variety and doesn’t really stick us into a specific genre.

AL: How would you describe the progression from your previous release to where you are now?
JH: With the last album we were still sort of figuring out what we wanted to do. We sort of just went straight through with things on that record. With the new EP we were able to expand more and spend more time on each of the tracks. Some of the songs came quickly while other took a little longer. We did some demoing and then sent them over to a producer. We wanted a more complete release and push things a bit further this time.

AL: What was it about doing an EP that was more appealing rather than doing another full length album?
JH: Where we are at right now we are still just trying to get our sound out to new people. I felt we had a handful of songs that went together well and followed the same theme. I wanted to get new music out there and wasn’t really concerned with doing a full length. We are still trying to attract new people and I think giving people a full album can be a bit overwhelming. With an EP it’s a little easier to digest and it’s a less expensive process.

AL: What are the bands current tour plans?
JH: We are hoping to do another coastal tour once the EP is out. We did a run of shows up the west coast a little bit ago and that went really well so we definitely want to do something like that again. We are looking to find a team to help get us out to more people as its hard to focus on both that and the writing aspect of things.
 

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Blu-ray Review “The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride”

Directed by: Darrell Rooney, Rob LaDuca
Starring: Neve Campbell, Jason Marsden, Jennifer Lien, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Suzanne Pleshette, Robert Guillaume, Andy Dick,
Moira Kelly
Distributed by: Walt Disney Pictures
MPAA Rating: G
Release date: March 6, 2012
Running time: 81 minutes

Film Score: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Let’s start with the fact that “The Lion King” is a very hard act to follow. “Simba’s Pride” came during a time when Disney was popping out a direct to video sequel on many of the films in their library. Quality-wise it is really lacking and does not pack the same magic that its predecessor had. This film focuses on Simba and Nala’s newborn daughter Kiara and follows her as she grows up. She meets the heir of Scar, Kovu and the two befriend each other. This creates a feud between Kovu’s mother Zira and Simba. Overall if you are looking for more “Lion King”, I would highly recommend “The Lion King 1 1/2”, it has great heart but also is very witty and funny.

The Blu-ray presentation is impressive with a sharp colors in the video and an DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. Like the recently released “The Lion King 1 1/2”, it feels like what it is a direct-to-video film but the high-def transfer looks good overall. Also like “The Lion King 1 1/2”, the special features are all presented in DVD quality. I find that very disappointing and a bit of a let down from Disney. The only high-def feature is a short called “Timon & Pumbaa’s Insectapedia”.

The standard definition features are “One By One”, which is really cool animated short, which would have looks great in HD. “Timon & Pumbaa: Find Out Why” is a Q&A featuring science trivia. “Proud of Simba’s Pride” is a brief typical behind-the-scenes featurette. There is also a music video for “Love Will Find a Way,” performed by Kenny Lattimore and Heather Headley. Lastly there is a feature with Timon & Pumbaa called “Discover Blu-ray 3D”. Overall disappointing features for a less than stellar release.

Interview with Mark Deklin

Photo Credit to Geoff Moore

Mark Deklin recently appeared in Fox’s briefly aired new show “Lone Star”, where he played Trammell Thatcher. Mark also appear in films for the SyFy’s network “Riverworld”, which aired this past Spring. Movie Mikes had a chance to talk with Mark about his new show and his movies.

Click here to purchase Mark’s movies

Mike Gencarelli: Are you excited about the new show “Lone Star”?
Mark Deklin: Very very excited. It is a cool concept with a great hook. It has a great cast of characters. It has a smart script and a great creative team. From the ground up with the pilot, we had Marc Webb directing. He did “500 Days of Summer” and he is rebooting the “Spider-Man” franchise. Eric Steelberg was the cinematographer, he did “Up in the Air” recently. It was a great team from the beginning and a great tone was set. We have had some really wonderful guest directors come in and guest cast so far, it is really good stuff.

MG: Tell us about your character Trammell Thatcher?
MD: My character Trammell Thatcher is great. Everyone that is not from Texas always goes what kind of name is Trammel, anyone from Texas doesn’t think twice. There is a real like guy, a Texas developer, named Trammell Crow back in the 40’s. He is a Texas legend. He is one of those larger than life, grab it by the balls and build it kind of guys. That is where the name Trammell comes from. The lead in the show James Wolk’s character Bob is a cheater and a con man, but somehow he is our protagonist. I play his brother-in-law. He has two wife’s, one in Midland, Texas and one in Houston. The one in Houston is involved in this rich oil dynasty. Jon Voight is the patriarch in the family. I am the eldest son. I seem to be the only person who is on to Bob’s plans. I am a torn in his side. By default, I become the antagonist the way the show is setup. But I am not a bad guy.  Even though, I am also not the nicest guy in town. He is very protective of his family and he smells as rat. He is going to get to the bottom of it. Non of the characters are going to be black and white. Everyone is going to be in this moral gray area.

MG: Are you psyched to be in the leading role and play the son of Jon Voight?
MD: Yeah, it was absolutely thrilling. It is cool how it has evolved for me. It is now cool in a different way than it was at first. At first he was the legend Jon Voight but he just happens to be one of the sweetest people I have ever known. He and I hit it off from the very beginning. We have this wonderful friendship now and I am just proud to say that we have become buddies.

MG: Tell us about “Riverworld” that you did for SyFy?
MD: When I first read the script I was in LOVE with it. I was really excited about doing this project. We were a week into production and they slashed our budget from $20 million to $6 million. It was insane. They were doing massive rewrites. Stuart Gillard, the director, did the best he could do with the shit that was thrown at him. Ultimately what we came up with wasn’t as good as the original script but we made due. We all loved it and had a great time working on it.

MG: Do you think we will see a follow-up anytime soon?
MD: I wish there would be. I know we all of us including Stuart, Tahmoh (Penikett) and Peter Wingfield would all really want that project to take off. Stuart would send me an email every now and then and say “I still have my hopes up”. That is great but to tell you the truth at this point, I do not think anything more will come of it.

MG: What is your dream project to work on?
MD: John and I get to ride horses in “Lone Star”. I have been riding since I was a kid. Jon said to me the other day, “We should do a Western together”. I have to put that on my list. That would definitely be a dream project to do.  A western with Jon Voight?…Hell Yeah!

Click here to purchase Mark’s movies