On the Road with the Dead Gentlemen

GenCon SoCal 2005 Photo Gallery

Okay, so the Con has been over for a few days now, but I’m not gonna let you down. Here’s the final update on the happenings of GenCon SoCal 2005.

Saturday picked up quite a bit. We were busy most of the day. Additionally, Jay Leno’s crew came out and got some footage for his “Jay Walking” bit. Apparently, the Dead Gentlemen are not interesting enough to be on the show. So just to make a statement, four of us with our new fancy Dead Gentlemen Convention Shirts, stood in the background feigning being engaged in a conversation directly in line of the camera where they were shooting, our logo obviously visible. Can’t say if we were in focus or not, but hey, at least we tried. Oh, and pardon my long run-on and redundant sentence.

As some of you many know, there are a couple of other “gamers” movies coming out soon. Two of these new movies “Gamers: The Movie” by writer/director Christopher Folino, and from Scotland, “Gamerz”, produced by Pure Magic Films, were screened at the convention. Sadly but understandably, the Scottish filmmakers were unable to attend the con, but thankfully were able to get it screened. The folks from “Gamers: The Movie” however, had a booth and led their promotions with many fliers, and free Monster energy drinks. Though I personally think that it’s a bad idea to crank up gamers who are already high on sugar and caffeine with a radioactive drink that makes your heart explode if you have more than three of them, but the Dead Gentlemen were grateful since our booth was nearby and took full advantage of the free pick-me-ups. Unfortunately, Ben Dobyns got his hands on a can. Ever experienced a moment when time seemed to have stopped? We at the booth froze in terror as Ben took a sip. Somehow, Steve Wolbrecht snapped out of the surprise round and launched towards the can in Ben’s hand. Ben managed another sip. That’s two. Well there were five con-goers between Stevie and Ben. The acrobatics Steve performed reminded us all of our shoot in the north Cascade mountains on “Dead Camper Lake”, but this time only one fan was maimed in the five steps it took to get to Ben. By that time, Ben had just finished his THIRD sip! He began changing color, developing heat vision and displaying claws. Stevie, in slow motion, finally came to the Anaheim’s rescue from the terror that would have followed by a Ben cranked up on a radioactive energy drink, more aptly described as liquid speed. No one is really sure what happened in those few moments as the feeling finally returned to the rest of our limbs, but Ben was in restraints, and Stevie… well, I’d rather not talk about that. Our thanks and prayers go out to you Stevie; we hope it will grow back. Sadly, DesertPuma finished off Ben’s drink and his heart exploded. We’re hoping to his transplant was successful.

Back to the topic of these other “gamers” movies. I’m not going to spend much time writing to you about what these movies are about. Check out the websites and they’re trailers for that. What I will tell you is what I thought of the films. I’ll start with “Gamers: the movie”.

First, a message to the filmmakers: Ben and I apologize for not being able to stay to give our feedback. We were on a tight schedule and had another obligation immediately following your screening, but we’re glad we got to go see your film.

“Gamers: the movie” has some impressive talent on the screen and some funny bits. It’s a mockumentary style film documenting a group of gamers who have been playing DND (Demon, Nymphs, and Dragons) for 23 years. The humor in the film reminded me of the rude and crude styles such as the Scary Movie films, and the direct-to-video National Lampoons movies. There were some hilarious bits in the film to be sure, but the humor style is lost on me. To each their own. My favorite part of the film? I liked some of the setups, like taking a picture of the dork in an embarrassing situation and then using it against him in later gags. Sounds old, but it was cleverly done. My least favorite? Homosexual Clown Porn. Nuff said. If I could recommend anything to be cut from the film, it’s that. If found it not just offensive, but gross. However, stay tuned to Dead Gentlemen to see how we would execute a homosexual fellatio joke in an offensive and damning way. I also found the KKK robe gag, which torments an African American little person, was also too much on the embarrassing and offensive funny. Again, not my kind of humor. I’ve refused to see movies like “There’s Something About Mary” for the same reason. Embarrassing situational humor isn’t my bag. But there is an audience for that, and I say go for it. It’s all about finding your audience, and that’s what I want to address next on this film:

“Gamers: The Movie” does more to demean and humiliate real gamers than it does to validate them and promote role-playing games. If the goal was to make a film for real gamers, the type of film that makes them laugh at themselves in situations they can identify with, I think the filmmakers were partially successful. The film is funny, but it’s demeaning. You don’t really ever identify with any of the characters personally. You’re only meant to laugh at them and make fun of them. It perpetuates the taboo about role-playing games; that only social losers and the psycho cultists play role-playing games. The good news for the filmmakers is, that their film is not a failure. I think there is definitely an audience for this film. It is definitely well done, they’ve got name actors, and again, it’s funny. I’m not sure about the title either. While I understand the obvious reason for the title, I’m not convinced it represents the film. Not to mention it’s on the opposite side of the spectrum of humor than our Gamers films, and confusing our film for theirs, or vice versa, would be unfortunate. “Dorks: the movie” or “DorkQuest” or something else might be more appropriate. So if real gamers aren’t the audience for “Gamers: the movie”, who are? I would start with market research of audiences for the original “Scary Movie”, some of the National Lampoons movies, and even just your local sports bar. I really think the audience for this film is the kind of people who make fun of role-playing gamers.

But what of the other movie I mentioned, “Gamerz”? It was fabulous; a real film about real gamers. The folks over at Pure Magic Films definitely made something purely magical. To save you from my shoddy paraphrasing, I’ll quote their website to tell you what the film’s about:

“GAMERZ is a new full length comedy movie from Scotland – an engaging love triangle with a strong twist of fantasy!

The tale is set in the strange, tormented world of a group of kids who are deeply into fantasy roleplaying games (such as Dungeons and Dragons, or Tunnels and Trolls). The hero is Ralph [Ross Finbow], the Game Keeper, a geeky genius who builds imaginary worlds. But he has a fatal weakness for Marlyn [Danielle Stewart], the sexy goth girl who thinks she’s an elf - and he’s not alone…”

Written and Directed by Robbie Fraser, the film is well crafted, beautifully shot, with solid and honest actors. As an American with Scottish ancestry, I can tell you that I was doubly infatuated with the film, both because it’s about gaming, and that it’s about gaming in Scotland! And if that weren’t enough, the film is set around the University of Glasgow, the very university I studied at in the fall of 1999, while the rest of the Dead Gents were showing Demon Hunters to our very first audience. Hell, in a few shots of the film I even recognized the street I lived on. The flat, I mean. I didn’t live on the street.

Anyway, the film does look at what happens when you take role-playing games too seriously. We see what happens when people try to make their fantasy world become reality, but I won’t give away the ending. The twist is gratifying.
Also, the way they did the fantasy world is pretty cool. It’s a visual style that still lets you use your imagination to fill in the blanks for what’s happening. High marks in my book.

My main criticism: There are a couple of scenes that take place in a university classroom, where a girl is taking an interest in Ralph. There’s some noticeable set up for something that never pays off. I was interested to see what was going to happen, but we never see her again after Ralph shrugs her off for Marlyn. But hey, I can’t blame Ralph either, Marlyn’s hot!

“Gamerz” is definitely a comedy, but it’s not roll on the floor funny. It has a kind of “feel-good” feeling at the end, that leaves you with a sense of endearment for the characters. That is success in my eyes, when gamers can identify with the characters in the movie, and come away feeling good about themselves. I can’t wait to own a copy of this film.

Incidentally, rumor has it that they have zombie movie in the works. What a coincidence! So do we! Could these two powers unite? Stay tuned.

Okay, enough about all that. Wanna know something cool? Dean Haglund, the guy who played “Langley”, one of the Lone Gunmen, from The X-Files. Gave him one of our SHIRT shirts and the next day he came to the Con wearing it! He did a live improv performance of an X-Files episode, which was very funny. We bought one, and his chill pak, the next day. Chill pak? It’s this cooling pak that you set your laptop on that keeps it running faster, cuz it’s cooler. Cool, huh? http://www.chillpak.com/ I can tell you that it really works.

The biggest news concerning Dorkness Rising is that we handed off the Hi-Def tapes to our editor in L.A., so the Hi-Def edit (or online edit) can now begin. No, that doesn’t mean it’s online anywhere for you to see. I know you don’t believe me, but we are arguable as anxious to see it as you are!

Okay folks, that’s it on my end for GenCon SoCal. Stay tuned to On the Road with the Dead Gentlemen as Emily and I head down to Texas for the weekend to attend CAGE CON. Dead Gentlemen in Texas. Wow. Nuff said there.