Reflecting in the Creek

I was texting with the 3 piece that is We Massacre's Hive.

He was comparing the latest footage to Creekers and how that one pushed the bar and it made me think of something that I decided to try and think through here on the blog to see if anyone else is feeling this....

Creekers was filmed in 2016 and released in 2017 at Tampa Bay Screams. It was a funny story according to Triple H, who was there watching, because the place saw a surge of our loyalists for the opening screener at the film festival as the place joined us for the debut of Creekers which kicked off the night and also introduced us to the larger audience of the other filmmakers in the Tampa Bay scene.

The previous year at TBS '16, I had competed as a blue belt against a black belt on short notice during the event, which was a new experience and put a different kind of pressure on me. Someone informed me about a local match that was available, so I took it and returned to finish the event. We were advancing Rock Bottom Creek and building momentum for Creekers to be filmed the following weekend. I limped back into the event without missing a beat. We sold several hundred copies of RBC to fans of local filmmakers and formed a new friendship with Dustin "One Take" Hubbard, also known as Father Goose, our Herbert West at We Massacre. By '17, we demonstrated that our support base rivaled the fans of local artists.

In 2012 we made RBC, Rock Bottom Creek, and that film was very raw and expensive for us being amateurs. But if we were backyard wrestlers or a band, this was us selling it all to buy our ring and rental place, or our instruments and van. All this shit privately funded and often with some motherfucker with a bereft look on his face listening to why we were selling our most valued items to fund a live action film being produced in the vein of a Dungeons and Dragons game with a Director being the Dungeon Master. That's what this because. Kids call it a Sandbox with gaming now but that's what the fuck was up.

Now looking at the body of work I find it to be a cool map with, peaks and valleys not meaning shitty times versus glorious times, because some of the best times a young man can have is find inside of a valley. What I mean is The Climb that is RBC also feels like a peak itself. I also put it as a jewel in our Simarillion style headgear but not a limit to three or to say it is a high point or some standard Mt. Rushmore limitation feature.

Peaks-wise, reflecting out loud, RBC, Creekers, King James, and F'76 are highs but right now watching the new shit we're working on it feel old school because we have the new wave of talent we've been building up, or grooming in your sick world, and we blend that with brand new faces and some tired faces you've seen in all our shit over the years. We're steady building and bringing and that is what we we're doing then and doing all along.

When we starting filming, the Ace was chatting with Mr. Deece, and the Ace turned to his cousin, and from then it was on. Our friendship was the bases for the old-school feel that was in Rock Bottom Creek. We combined a storied friendship with a new found-friend from the video store. That built a foundation that has drawn in a lot of badass artists over the years guys that other places saw as talented too but for whatever reason, didn't seem to want to focus on them as much as we did.

Peter Girard is the first guy that comes to mind with that and we started filming with him on the set of Lefty Lucy in like 2018. We have since shared some scenes together that linked us the way Undertaker feels linked to Mick Foley or Steve Young connecting with Jerry Rice, or some other duo that it takes two to make something last forever,. like Swayze in Dirty Dancing. That dude turns up the fucking juice and I think he probably would be a black belt in Jiu Jitsu if he were still with us. That dude can fucking move, man. That is how authentic I think Pete is as an actor. He and his brother got to break bread with Anthony Perkins, who is one of my all times, my gran introduced me to Psycho when I was little and that series and Norman Bates captivated my imagination. Pete is special to us and to many and that is why we love having him a part of us and Ryan tributed Pete in our film Fistswings '76 as Pete's performance in King James is one of Ryan's favorite performances.

The other is the guy Pete turned us on to. Brooks Bailey. Brooks is another old school cat and he held an audience full of peoples attention for 90 minutes in with our AMC theatre debut Please Do Not Disturb in 2021 when shit was still tight in rules and social distancing. All the while none of that noise effected us at We Massacre. Our sets have always been fresh and the solidest of crews holding it down and keeping it real as shit. AMC liked it sooooo much they hired us on and some of us still work there to this very day, and some of us can't get out of their Robin Hood self-image that they get canned for handing out hot-dogs with two weiners stuffed in the buns (what I call the double dog and it also has historic precedence) or an extra inch or two of cinnamon at the bottom of your tray or realllllllllllly hooking someone up with a meat-lovers pizza by adding pepperonis from other pizzas to create cheese pizzas, often hooking up a dude with a corn if he looked like he was struggling on a date, setting up kids with larger helpings of ICEE's than the price would allow, not using the jigger to ....well that is about enough. That's just how I get down though. I love hooking someone up with an experience. It's tough to throw away food as it is, it is tough to rip people off especially movie-goers, especially chicken, that was alive. I didn't think that way at first but I wasn't really in that situation other than when I worked at Denny's and got yelled at for saving the scraps for an old man who was hiding behind the dumpster. I never gave a fuck about hooking someone up. Same goes for when I delivered pizza for a short-time. Sometimes, if I knew you were stale, you got hooked up with a ranch sauce instead of a cinnamon cup for your dipping styxx. If you don't like it take it up with Chuck Palinuk. People go to the film for an experience. I'm there to match that energy. Not everyone is there for superior customer service. Some folks don't give a shit. You think when Waylon Jennings sidled up to the bar he wanted a lot of chit chat and a shit-eating grin from the bar keeper. However when you get good at reading a room or a customer you can meet each one with a personal experience that lasts longer than that bug-eating ice queen playing actress in the ad gives you explaining to you why you go to the movies and talking to you like she's giving you a quick peak behind the queef-curtain.

Some dudes want to be treated with some resistance. Like when a dude comes up big timing you, how you react and what he does shows his date what kinda guy he is. She isn't leaving with me (yet) so if she sees you treating me like a knave and you can't sustain the rejoinder then it's gonna be like a ride home from the wedding you guys attended knowing you still haven't considered popping the question yet and she's icing you about it, subconsciously, of course.

This is what I see in Brooks too. A slick fucking fox, a man after my own heart. I didn't say just like me. He is for We Massacre what Val Kilmer is to Batman and Tombstone and Willow, and he is also HBK before he realized Jesus whips ass but when he was the guy carrying the WWE when Bret Hart wasn't around and was busy filming Lonesome Dove and receiving heat from Stone Cold.

Brooks carries scenes like a dude with a camera in a briefcase. He and Dustin were a two man act in Please Do Not Disturb.

He also is a hell of a props maker. Most people would not know this or realize this so I am glad he is part of our Dungeon.

This one is shaping up nicely, and it iz zertainly, zomething different than what you're uzed to. This one is shaping up to be a different piece of work. We've always tried to keep it real, old-school, and fresh at the same time and this one is going to be what you are looking for when you go to see something. You aren't there to be see a reed blown by the wind, you're going to see what the fuck is going on.

When it comes to making people ask what the fuck is this...that is why I always compare our films to Drayton's Chili from Tejas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Some times we add new people into the mix, sometimes there some older flavors you recognize, but it is always new, it's always fresh, and it's always made with some of your friends and family.

The Saw is Family.

Written by: P. Esfore