Author: Francis Lalonde

I'm an avid film fan, though more oriented toward older films (1930s to 1970s). My favorite genre is Comedy, though I also enjoy Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror films (and hybrid mixes). I also recently have become an avid photographer (and videographer to a lesser extent), mostly nature landscapes, though I'll also take pics (and videos) of buildings, events, and live performances. I dabble writing (very short) screenplays, and have been lucky enough to have had a few actually filmed (By Michael Welborn). Michael Welborn has also cast me in a few of his films (mostly as an extra). Darkhaus films has also cast me to help refilm a few scenes in one of their productions.

FIREPOWER (2002) – 15 Year Anniversary

Posted on by Francis Lalonde

This is an ambitious Sci-Fi short film (about 29 minutes) by Hatz Off Filmz (Nic White), a 13 Dead Eskimos production.

Note: though apparently filmed in a 4:3 aspect ratio, the version I watched has the sides ‘padded’ to a widescreen size. I personally don’t like when videos are presented in that manner, finding it distracting. I feel it’d be better if the sides were blacked out (a letterbox style).

Right from the get-go (following a few seconds of silence, with an image of the number “13” – I’m assuming the logo of 13 Dead Eskimos productions), the driving music (Metal version of Ring of Fire) and unique display of credits (I really love how they ‘arrive’ onscreen from various directions, rather that the standard, boring scroll, fade-in/out, etc. of many films) already succeeds in grabbing attention.

Two friends (Nic and Joe) are heading home from a camping trip. They notice something that’s been ejected by a spacecraft – a green meteor – and take it home.

“Dude! We found it!”

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Under the Radar

Posted on by Francis Lalonde

On Halloween, 2017, CinemaSlice‘s Michael Welborn released a short film clip paying homage to the 1940 film The Devil Bat (starring Bela Lugosi) – also called The Devil Bat. I asked an old college friend (an avid film fan, and a classmate in Andrew Jefchak‘s Literature and Motion Pictures class at Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, Michigan) for his input on the film before I wrote this.

Talking with Welborn, he mentioned that his intention was to cover what he felt was the main scene(s) in the original film – explaining the short length (a little over three minutes) of this project. He also had some ideas he’d like to try for an expanded homage – though to my knowledge those are still in the concept stage.

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One For the Show, Two For the Money

Posted on by Francis Lalonde

This will be a review of the CinemaSlice Short Film Double Feature, covering two short film releases by Michael Welborn: Sleep / Humans

The first entry is “SLEEP“

A horror film with a mix of humor and sadism. I feel this film is a lot longer than it needs to be. The opening itself running a slightly-past-tolerable 2 minutes, plus. I’m not sure if the background images really do much for setting up the story itself (rather, justifying the amount of time spent on them). It’s possible there’s some key element among them, but after a couple of viewings it still eludes me – other than establishing a medical-theme. The one nice thing though is the opening soundtrack (by AVZTN), which has a special creepiness to it – the classic haunting sounds do produce a chilling effect, causing uneasiness in the viewer (or at least to me).

The first shot is a close-up of an anesthesiologist (played by Michael Welborn), explaining to a patient who he is and what his duties are suppose to be. We then see the patient (Mr. Covington, played by Brandon Guiles). We quickly learn this is suppose to be an appendectomy. However the bedside manner of the physician is disturbing Covington a bit.

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