Blood, Boobs & Beast

John Kinhart, Steve's old filmmaking cohort and sometimes commenter on this blog, sent me an announcement the other day to inform me of the completion of his new documentary "Blood, Boobs & Beast".

Blood, Boobs and Beast tells the compelling story of Don Dohler, whose movies have been called everything from oddly brilliant to some of the worst films of all time. Despite his critics, Dohler has gotten all 9 of his sci-fi and horror films distributed internationally, as well as TV syndication for his first film, The Alien Factor . Dohler has also inspired artists and filmmakers such as Robert Crumb (Fritz the Cat), J.J. Abrams (Creator of TV show Lost ) and Art Speigelman ( Maus ) with his underground comix character ProJunior, and his DIY filmmaking magazine, Cinemagic.

Mild-mannered and unassuming, Dohler started making wholesome sci-fi films in the Baltimore area in 1976, but recently began including nudity and gore in his movies to please distributors. At age 59 he's just finished his most gratuitous movie to date and it's selling well, yet Dohler feels "sick of the exploitative stuff" and is considering giving up the Blood, Boobs and Beast formula. However, Dohler's recent partner Joe Ripple disagrees and views these components as essential to gaining distribution. Since the pair's filmmaking philosophies have begun to differ, it's possible that their current film could be their last.

Shot and edited over two and a half years, Blood, Boobs and Beast provides a fresh and humorous look at low-budget filmmaking through the unassuming eyes of Don Dohler. With revealing interviews and beautiful cinematography, Blood, Boobs and Beast is a touching portrait of Dohler's career, his family, and his struggle to just make a good movie.

I've actually seen it and it's fascinating and well put together. When Steve and I went out to film in Washington D.C. late last year, John was kind enough to let us crash at his place and show us a rough cut of "Blood, Boobs & Beast".

He asked Steve and I for notes and we argued about the structure of the film for hours over beers on the street and had great fun doing so. John also took that time to urinate on a building. I'm pretty sure Steve did, too. Or that might have been the night before on the Discovery Channel building... I don't remember.

Like I said, we were drinking.

Anyhow, it's a good film and the very least you can do it check out the trailer.