Johnny Dickie Day *

* (Halloween countdown post #6/restored/expanded)

 

‘Johnny Dickie is an extremely avid (and super-cool) VHS collector who not only runs his own website called Video Vendetta which is dedicated to showcasing and reviewing some of the grooviest and most obscure VHS flicks known to the Videovore, he’s also just completed two full-length feature films with oa third now in post-production, all written, directed and edited by Johnny himself. But you wanna know what’s even more groovy? Johnny’s done all of this before his 17th birthday, even though he’s quick to dismiss his age as a factor.

‘We first met Johnny Dickie about a decade ago, when he was six years old and regularly running a path of wild, hilarious destruction after school at Molly’s Books in the Italian Market. (His mom, Molly Russakoff, owns the place, and it’s still great — in fact, better than ever.) Even back then, it was easy to see that Johnny was a gifted kid, whipping up an endless series of drawings and jokes and clearly inspired by the energy of the Market.

‘So there’s not too much that’s surprising that, at 16, Johnny now has an IMDB entry that rivals that of many actor/directors three times his age. But Dickie isn’t on some corny child-star trip, oh no; since the age of 12, he’s been making his own homemade horror movies with pretty much whatever equipment is immediately available to him. As such, to enter the cinematic world of Johnny Dickie is to experience a place in the imagination where VHS is a viable option and the goopy grape-jelly fake blood flows like wine.

‘And because there’s a community for everyone online these days, Dickie’s films have found an audience — in this case, a devout underground of splatter-obsessed, videotape-collecting horror obsessives. His last big feature, Johnny Dickie’s Slaughter Tales was released on DVD and VHS via Libra Verde Media. And of his newest, City of the Dream Demons, about a night-terror’d kid’s 16th birthday gone horribly awry.

‘Dickie’s films are not technically spectacular. You won’t walk away wishing for an Oscar nod. You will walk away with a shit eating grin on your face. Those films are made by a horror fan. Specifically by a fan of the SOV sub genre that came out of the video store boom of the eighties/nineties. The acting is bad in all of the right ways. It has that hyper real, while being over the top feel. It almost was reminiscent of early John Waters, with long dialogues, over expression, and rapid eye movement.

‘Dickie is an avid collector of VHS tapes, and everything about his films harkens back to that mid-to-late-eighties heyday when horror films ruled the rental roost (mostly due to low budgets and high demand for any kind of content). The flicks are shot on video, and look like they’re trying to replicate those early shot-on-VHS efforts. Pretty much all of the effects are practical, including some stop-motion work, and the actors (besides Dickie) are all pretty much the kind of amateur performers one expects in these kinds of low-budget flicks.

‘Dickie’s films play like an adolescent take on Fellini’s 8 1/2, autobiographical mind-fucks of boredom, repressed violence, gallows humor and sublimated lust, filtered through Raimi, Henenlotter and Cronenberg. Making the most of his infinitesimal budgets, these sharply-paced and fluently-edited films always have a wonderfully confident and charming performance from its adolescent auteur, who also designed the films’ oozing array of practical effects. It’s impossible not to be utterly endeared to this film from start to finish.’ — collaged

 

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Stills

 

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Further

Johnny Dickie @ IMDB
Johnny Dickie @ instagram
Johnny Dickie @ Letterboxd
I Was a Teenage Videovore
Johnny Dickie’s Video Vendetta tumblr
Johnny Dickie’s youtube channel
Johnny Dickie @ Facebook
Podcast: Creep Show Radio – The Revenge of Johnny Dickie!
‘Johnny Dickie Needs Your Help!’
‘BLOOD ON A BUDGET HAS FOUR HEADS’
Johnny Dickie interviewed @ Daily Grindhouse

 

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Extras

24HMM: The Reboot: Johnny Dickie – Unmasked

‘The Door Is Open’ composed by Johnny Dickie

Johnny Dickie reviews ‘Murder Weapon’ (1989)

Johnny Dickie reviews ‘Violent Sh*t’ (1987)

 

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Interview
from Lunch Meat VHS

 

You just celebrated your 15th birthday, right? How was it? Get anything good?!

Johnny Dickie: Yes, I did! I had a lot of fun! I was sick for some of it, but I got to spend a lot of time with my family and friends. My mother made me maybe the best gift I have ever received: huge handmade VHS shelves in my room! I was running out of storage space before, and now all of my collection is displayed in my room. It is really a great sight to see, especially when it’s the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning.

Since you’re so young, most people wouldn’t expect you to be into VHS. Was it the format you had around you growing up or… ?

JD: I have actually not received a whole lot of interest in my age recently. I think most people can talk to me as just another collector, not someone trying to jump on a bandwagon. I had grown up around a lot of VHS and have very fond memories of looking at the gory DVD covers in the horror section of my now closed local TLA video store. I think the aspect of VHS collecting for me came in when I found out there were so many movies not available on DVD. I was very fond of VHS, but my family had moved on to DVD, so getting back into using them was very easy for me. There is a warmth I get from putting a VHS tape into my VCR and sitting down to watch. I don’t get that feeling from watching a DVD; something seems amiss… where are the scan lines!?!?! Why does it go back to the menu when the movie is finished!?! The cover and packaging differences between more modern formats and VHS should go without saying, but I have always found it much nicer to hold a VHS in my hand than say, a Blu- Ray or just looking at a file saved on my computer. It’s a different feel entirely, and I find it very easy to compare the VHS vs. DIGITAL FORMATS debate to the FILM vs. VIDEO debate in how they both have different looks and feels to them.

What were some of the first movies you remember seeing that totally blew you away or just made you think, “Man, I love this stuff!”?

JD: The first one that comes to mind is John Carpenter’s Body Bags. It was the first VHS I ever had to seek out. Since the first time I saw the movie I have been influenced. The film can be credited as the main inspiration for Slaughter Tales. Besides Body Bags, Unmasked Part 25 has made a very big impression on me and has become my favorite film of all time since I first watched it nearly two years ago. The whole SOV style of film making has really affected me; I still consider the films of Tim Ritter and Joel Wynkoop to be greatly under looked.

You’re really active in the VHS community. What do you think of the collector community as a whole? By that I mean, what’s the vibe you get from all the different personalities?

JD: I love all of the different people in the community of collectors! Pretty much all of them are very nice and all have very different senses of humor. I have rarely run into another collector that I have disagreed with, but when I have, it usually isn’t pleasant. Most people don’t mention my age when we are trading or talking, and when it does come up, it never gets in the way. It’s a great community and I am very proud and happy to be a part of it.

You’ve just completed your first full-length feature film SLAUGHTER TALES. What inspired you to take on such a huge project?

JD: Slaughter Tales actually started off as a proof of concept to see if I could make a short anthology, maybe around forty minutes long. After the original stories I already had for the film [were] destroyed when my first computer crashed (The best thing a filmmaker can do is back up their work), I had to restart. I was still aiming for about fifty minutes, but I just kept working on it till I was happy with each story. The last story of the film ended up being around a half hour. I’m really happy with how it turned out, because it was never meant to be a full length feature film; it just ended up that way, so there is no filler. I am really happy with the finished product, even though it ended up being more than two times as long as I originally intended it to be.

Could you tell a little bit about the process of making it: the writing, shooting, etc.?

JD: I had no script for Slaughter Tales, just a bunch of ideas and props. Most weekends I would invite my friend Joey over, pull out the camera and start pouring the blood. All the animation on the devil slugs was done in about a day. All of the explosions in the film were all done with models, a spray can of sun screen, and a candle. No digital effects were used. I edited the film in order, usually the same night as shooting [for a particular] story] was finished. I would get the blood wiped off the walls and sit down to start the editing. I have tried using scripts in the past, but I cannot write one successfully. I think the way the film was shot gives the finished product a very sincere feel.

What do your parents think about you making movies like this?

JD: My parents are very supportive of my film making! I know that horror or VHS is not their thing, but they support me to the point of letting me cover them in blood and make up. My mother and step-father both make appearances in Slaughter Tales. I still have half of my family asking me for copies. News really spreads in my family.

What’s in the future for you, Johnny? Do you plan on making any more movies? Any other cool projects? You recently did a toy commercial, right? Think you’ll want to further your education about film, maybe?

JD: Right now, I’m working on a new feature with my friends. I can’t say too much right now, but it’s going to be a labor of love, especially in the effects department. All I can say right now is it will put a new spin on the vampire genre. The toy commercial I did was for the film Blood Slaughter Massacre. It was a lot of fun to shoot and it was cool seeing how another group of low budget filmmakers work. It was shot the weekend of the Monster Mania Convention in Cherry Hill New Jersey. I actually shot the post ending credit footage [for Slaughter Tales] that weekend with some good friends, and some hack named Josh Schafer. Joking, of course!

I want to get into film school down the road, but for now I will continue to make features. Age has never stopped me, and if any other young filmmakers are reading this, don’t let your age stop you. I am still in high school and I am already having a full length feature released. Don’t let the business side get in your way either, because if it’s not your thing, it will suck the fun out of it for you. All ways shoot the movie, draw that picture, perform that song or whatever; [do it] for yourself. If you are happy with your final product, it was a success. Just don’t kill anyone.

 

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Films

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Johnny Dickie Slaughter Tales (2012)
‘The directorial debut of 15-year old horror sensation Johnny Dickie, Slaughter Tales is a loving tribute to the no-budget horror video revolution of the 1980s. Johnny Dickie also stars, and the movie was made on a budget of $65. A teenager steals a mysterious VHS tape and finds himself tormented by the spirits that are trapped inside the tape and the horrible film within. Ignoring all warnings, he pops the tape in. What follows is a 90-minute fever dream horror anthology, where each story is worse than the last. But is this teen living out the worst story of them all? Slaughter Tales is more than a bad movie, it is a video nightmare you can’t escape!’ — collaged

Trailer 1

Trailer 2

Mrparka Reviews “Slaughter Tales” (w/ clips)

 

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Johnny Dickie The Hateful Dead (2012)
‘The first official teaser trailer the newest splatter vampire film from Johnny Dickie (Slaughter Tales, 2012)! Shooting starts soon, and more info will be released as production movies on! Other vampires suck, this one maims..’ — JD

Trailer

 

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Johnny Dickie Clampires and Other Stereotapes (2013)
‘3 friends sit down to watch a film titled Vampires and other Stereotypes, but when they put the tape into the VCR, they are sent to hell and stalked by a horrific vampire clamshell case, a Clampire! The only way out is for the trio to watch the movie once and for all!’ — JD


Trailer

 

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Jack Mulvanerty Creeps: A Tale of Murder and Mayhem (2013)
‘I recently learned (rather recently) that Johnny Dickie held many roles in the new flick Creeps: A Tale of Murder and Mayhem by 15 year old director Jack Mulvanerty. When I found this out I had to see it and lucky for me the film just wrapped. Dickie hooked me up with a link to the online screener and for that I thank you and Mulvanerty so much! This film was fucking amazing. Plain and simple. The film blew my expectations out of the water then dick punched it repeatedly. This film was just that damn good. The acting, sadly, was really bad. The entire cast shows charisma but lacks the experience necessary to make the scenes and dialogue flow better. Finally, those looking for blood and on screen kills will find more than enough in this flick here.’ — Horror Society

Trailer

Teaser trailer

Watch & Review: Creeps: A Tale Of Murder And Mayhem, by Jack Mulvanerty

 

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Johnny Dickie City of the Dream Demons (2013)
‘Over the last 15 years I have seen so many filmmakers grow with each passing film. Some grow for the better while others take on a completely different style altogether ignoring the cries of their fans. However, that is not Dickie at all. Dickie grew tremendously from his first film, Slaughter Tales, to this one while keeping his style the same. Honestly, this S.O.V. look he gives his films is actually a breathe of fresh air when it comes to indie horror in general. The acting in this one is what you would expect when you think about a film starring teenagers with no real acting experiences other than acting in their own film. Most of the scenes consist of awkward dialogue and forced acting. Though the cast does show a lot of inexperience they still have heart and drive. With more experience the entire cast would be a force to reckon with.’ — Horror Society

Official trailer

Teaser trailer

deadbydawn93 Reviews: City Of The Dream Demons

 

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Dan M. Kinem Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector (2013)
‘ADJUST YOUR TRACKING: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE VHS COLLECTOR is a documentary and celebration of a format that is far from dead. VHS may not be at Best Buy, your Mom and Pop video store may be shuttered, but the passion for VHS is contagious and very much alive. “I realized how important VHS still is and how many people out there still love and collect it,” said Kinem. “We wanted to make a movie that oozed with this passion and informed people that VHS is more than just a cheap paperweight, it’s an important piece of film history that needs to be archived.” Featuring teen horror film auteur/sensation Johnny Dickie who is also one of the film’s Execute Producers.’ — collaged

Behind the scenes: This Ain’t Adjust Your Tracking

Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector screening & swap

 

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Johnny Dickie The Robot Ninja (2013)
‘He’s not batman…. He’s not superman….. He is The Robot Ninja…. AND HE KICKS ASS! A short film inspired by the 1989 action movie of the same name.” This is something you can get behind. Remember when we reviewed Slaughter Tales, the Johnny Dickie SOV classic anthology horror flick made on no budget whatsoever but beloved by many in the horror community including myself because it embodies everything we love about our genre? Well he has a new short up and I demand you enjoy it. Part action. Part horror. Part Exterminator. Part comedy. Part VHS Collection display that had me jealous.’ — Doc Terror

the entire film

 

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Johnny Dickie music video for ‘Misery Date’ by Local Cretin (2013)
‘Official music video for Local Cretin by Misery Date. Directed by Johnny Dickie.’

the entire video

 

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Joshua Bruce Burn in Hell (2014)
‘In a small town, gruesome killings have been plaguing the townspeople. Bodies are found torn apart and eaten. The authorities have no leads. After the death of his best friend, a young high-school football player, Brad, seeks out the help of local priest Father Damian, who is slaughtered by the killer before disclosing any information of the killings. The killer, revealed as the demon Beelzebub, sets out on a vicious killing spree to consume a steady supply of human blood in order to maintain a physical form. Brad recruits metal-head/stoner kid D.O. to assist him in his hunt for Beelzebub. Guided by the deranged, one-eyed demon hunting priest Father Lewis, the trio set out to rid their town of the evil demon, eventually leading them straight to hell. The film stars Johnny Dickie, Kenny Geiger, Joshua Bruce, Ken Brotis, Zack Sabat, Dylan McLarnon.’ — collaged

Trailer 1

Trailer 2

 

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Johnny Dickie Fatal Birthday (2015)
‘Written, shot and directed by Johnny Dickie. Joe Ankenbrand as The Dad. Molly Russakoff as The Mom. Johnny Dickie as The Son. Music Written and Composed by Steve Sessions (Zombie Pirates, Dead Clowns)’

the entire film

 

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Johnny Dickie The Reel American Tragedy (2015)
‘Two dimwitted brothers with aspirations of becoming low budget filmmakers set out to make their new masterpiece. Things quickly fall apart for the duo as broken equipment, on-set accidents, a tone-deaf composer and interpersonal drama plague their production at every turn. A semi-autobiographical mockumentary detailing the struggles and lunacy behind the scenes of no-budget filmmaking.’ — Eraserhood

Trailer

 

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Undead Video (2017)
‘Fatal Birthday has a vengeful corpse return from the dead, The Reel American Tragedy has a low budget film director struggle to make a movie, and Dependency has a world on the edge of collapse as two drug dealers try to survive.’ — IMDb

 

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Johnny Dickie Keith Loves Ava (2020)
‘Keith Loves Ava is a video diary/found footage style film that takes you into the mind of the titular Keith. An awkward, probably autistic loner, Keith, who lives on his own at his parents expense is making a documentary about the town he lives in. But the focus is more so on himself. He brings you to places that he thinks are important in the town, he talks about his own background, he doesn’t have friends or even acquaintances really, so he tries to interview stranges. One of these strangers turns out to be Ava. The clerk at a local bookstore, Ava is about as normal as a girl can get. And unfortunately for Ava, Keith becomes infatuated with her immediately upon meeting her. He interviews her for his film, and then asks for a follow up interview. Upon meeting with her for the follow up, Keith learns that she has a boyfriend and it’s all down hill from here. Keith begins to unravel, murderously. He confronts Ava’s boyfriend’s best-friend, resulting in his death. The climax sees Keith tying both Ava and her boyfriend up and torturing them to death. The end.’ — Christopher Parasite

Watch the trailer here

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** jay, Hi. You should be able to find a pdf of his work pretty easily. He’s very prolific. Definitely what I was angling for with ‘Swarm’, trying to do that and keep some semblance of a narrative at the same time. Tricky. Thank you. I’m glimpsed Peach-Fuzz. Yeah, simple but effective. Take pix. The reading is on the 2nd, and it’s going to be live streamed on the Poetry Project’s youtube channel. Here’s where it will appear. Thanks for wanting to partake in it. I’ll do my best. ** Dominik, Hi!!! I’ll keep records of haunt explorations as best I can. Well, I’m starting off with the haunts that were in my SoCal haunted attractions post of a week or so ago, and there are probably new entries by now. Yeah, I can’t wait. Um, that would rather disconcerting: the hands as feet discovery, I mean. Any foot fetishists out there must be having nightmares right about now. Love making the effect of a cup of coffee last at least three hours longer than it does, G. ** _Black_Acrylic, I think the techno comparison is very good. Reading without being able to think clearly is a victory in my book. ** Misanthrope, If they make organic kamikaze outfits, I might just do that. I haven’t been to NYC since before Covid, so, yeah, pretty cool. You guys decimate midtown, and Zac and I will decimate the Lower East Side (our hotel’s locale). ** kier, Hi, k! I probably did a post on ‘Blood Electric’, I can’t remember. It had a blurb from David Bowie of all people. Ah, well, more time to prepare for your studio visitor, whatever that entails. I’m the worst at writing applications. Hence my lifelong almost complete failure to get any grants whatsoever, or at least ones that I personally had to apply for. Surely they’ll wake the fuck up and give you your long deserved just rewards. Claude Francois, haha. Yikes, he scares me. So your French is already a lot better than mine. I am so sad and pathetic. I really am. Hm, lamp body, I don’t know. I think maybe lamp base? I’m not even sure. The ceramics class sounds awesome! You were productive yesterday, invisible hats off. Me? I planned meetings with some friends for today and Sunday. I tried to find a venue for the cast & crew screening, still with no luck. I tried to figure out what to read at my reading, but I haven’t quite yet. I wandered in the rain a bit. Mostly film stuff. Not a lot of spectacularity. Did your today stand out from the rest of your week in any way, shape, or form? Big love, me. ** Tyler Ookami, Cool. I actually published that McCarthy covered Weissman book through my old imprint, Little House on the Bowery, but I’m not totally sure if it’s still in print. You can bet I will be doing a search for Lost River of the Pharaohs within minutes of launching this post/p.s. combo. Thank you. I know of Nobuko Hori, but not about her music. Thank you again! You’re being a real day saver today. ** nat, Siratori-speak is hard to do. I’ve tried. Understandable why you miss that. Haunts are kind of expensive to make. We learned that with our new film about a haunt. We thought we could just make one ourselves easily with cheap stuff and paint, but it cost weirdly a lot to build, and it wasn’t even a real haunt, just disconnected bits and pieces. 8 pm is when I start thinking it’s almost time to go to bed. ** Malik, Hey! I do want to play ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’. I guess I’m the same, i.e. hunting online for games rather than starting up my Switch. Same with films. I’ve lost almost all interest in seeing the new supposedly artsy, stylish but thoroughly conventionally thought out and built festival-anointed films that everybody gets so very briefly hot and bothered about. I love road trips. Maybe Harpers Ferry would be a nice destination to drive to from some urban wherever. Gotcha, that’s always hard: reading the brand new or the not so brand new. Luckily for me I don’t have anything new that’s readable aloud. I mean, if it’s an impetus to make brand new work, that might be the decision maker? ** Lucas, I didn’t notice until you mentioned it, and then I thought back and thought, ‘Huh, yeah, those cadences’. The Cycle books were extremely thought out in advance on a structural level, but I left myself free to use those structures to do whatever I wanted inside those structures at the time I wrote the novels, so they’re a weird combination of meticulously planned with tons of rules and regulations and, at the same time, kind of spontaneous and intuitive in terms of what they’re about. One of the principles of the Cycle is that the five books are single body, and that the damage that body receives from the physical violence and emotional/psychological abuse and drug effects and so on in the narrative has to be represented in the novels’ form and style and structure as they progress, so the novels increasingly gave me less and less to work with. So ‘Period’ would have been very skeletal and broken whatever it was going to be about. If that makes any sense? Thank you for asking! My yesterday was okay. I mean, it seems like avoiding that person is the best idea? Unless you think you might have some kind of catharsis or enlightenment by seeing him? All the luck possible with the exam, yikes, and enjoy your friends mainly. ** HaRpEr, Oops. But you’ll make it work, I’m sure. Habit, right, the good old friend. Ziggy Stardust, cool. Is there an existing shitty Bowie or Glam costume you could … improve and doll up or distress without too much trouble? Hm. How was the experimental literature beginning? ** Justin D, Here too. The rain. And rain and rain. I’m still liking it. Yeah. ‘The Shining’, hard to top that. I think the only recent ‘horror’ movie I really really liked was ‘Skinamarink’, which most people hated, I think. Like I told jay, the reading will be streamed if you want to watch from afar. Here. Plus you’d get to see the great Derek McCormack to boot. ** Okay. I decided to go rather way back in time and restore and expand today’s post about the former 15 year old wiz kid horror filmmaker Johnny Dickie for your Halloween enjoyment. He’s in his mid-twenties now, but he’s still making horrors. See you tomorrow.