Attack of the Morningside Monster
Feature Film
Directed by Chris Ethridge
Written by Jayson Palmer
DP Byran Redding
Blue Dusk Productions
Principal Photography: 12/2012 - 06/2013
Post-production: 07/2013 - 12/2013
Premiere: 01/20/2014
VOD Distribution: 10/14/2014 (where to watch...)
DVD Distribution: 01/20/2015 (buy at Amazon.com...)
Synopsis
The town of Morningside has always been a quiet place; a safe place where no one locks their doors. Then, one day, the body of Ryan O'Malley was discovered in the woods. Now a desperate search has begun, as Sheriff Tom Haulk (Robert Pralgo) and Deputy Klara Austin (Tiffany Shepis) race to find the killer before the entire town falls victim to a monster.
I play two-bit hoodlum Johnny Eckman in this. Four days on set including some serious fight and trauma scenes. I spent again as much time off-set for the special effects prep work.
Selected Cast
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Nicholas Brendon 
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Tiffany Shepis 
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Robert Pralgo 
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Catherine Taber 
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April 2015
Watch it now on Hulu
January 2015
After a year of film festivals, handsome DVDs are available on January 20th, the one-year anniversary of the premiere.
November 2014
One of the final festival screenings is at the New Orleans Comic and Horror Film Festival, part of the New Orleans Comic Expo. Saturday, November 22nd at 10:00pm.
October 2014
After a great nine-month-long run of festivals screenings, the film is going to be released VOD, via Gravitas, on 14 October 2014, through many channels. DVD released is expect 20 January 2015 through Apprehensive Films.
September 2014
Knoxville Film Fest, Friday September 12th, 8:30 PM. Several cast and crew members will be in attendance to answer your questions at the Q&A following the screening. Many thanks to the KFF programmers for including us in the lineup this year.
The Scareacon Film Festival, which is part of the Scare-a-con convention, is September 12-14. Our film has been nominated for Best Feature, Director Chris Ethridge, Actor Nicholas Brendon, Actress Tiffany Shepis, Music Jeremy Frank and FX Tracie Dailey & Cynthia Michel.
August 2014
Three screeningings this month: Action On Film International Film Festival, run by the inimitable Del Weston! August 28th at 9:30pm. The festival runs August 22-30, in gorgeous Monrovia, CA, just outside of L.A. Closer to home, we screened at the Gwinnette International Film Festival August 1st.
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Best of all, at Fright Night Film Fest in Louisville the movie was awarded, in the category of dramatic horror, WINNER Best Drama !
July 2014
Screening in Miami at the Super Geek Film Festival as part of FLORIDA SUPERCON during the week of July 3-6th. This is our first screening in Florida!
April 2014
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March 2014
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February 2014
Atlanta "Days of the Dead" will include me in a screening on Saturday, Feb 8th at 6pm. Q&A after with Chris Etheridge and Jayson Palmer.
January 2014
The world premiere was January 14, 2014 at The Plaza Theatre in Atlanta. People got to see me on the big screen playing a asshole who gets the crap (and kidneys) beat out him. Packed house followed by Q&A with stars Nicholas Brendon (Criminal Minds, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Robert Pralgo (The Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf, The Blindside) along with the writer, director, and producers. It's off to festivals now followed by video-on-demand distribution.
Pre-premiere tech check at the Plaza theatre below with me, Kris Nelson, and Robert Pralgo on the left, Matt Kabus on the right.
August 2013
I went to DragonCon for the first time in my life. A little scary because I'm not a cos-player, but I love Sci Fi and the con had a track on film making. Had a great time. I made a point of saying hi to Nick who was there signing autographs.
July 2013
First complete cut of the film was finished this month. Work on the score continues.
June 2013
Back on set for two days this month. June 8th I'm back with Kris Nelson for some dialog and we film our characters' encounter with the Monster. I have a bit of fight choreography as my character gets beat-up. Then at the end of the month, I have a a couple pages of dialog. Then I, and the movie, is wrapped. It will be almost 7 months after my first day on set.
April 2013
I had a cold overnight shoot this month to pickup about 6 pages with Robert Pralgo, Matt Kabus, and Kris Nelson. I wrapped around 4 am, during the height of the Lyrid meteor shower. Meanwhile, the rough-cut is about 50 minutes long now.
March 2013
Back on set for one day of FX shots, with Jayson Palmer.
February 2013
I am trying to loose weight before I'm back on set without a shirt. After holiday binge eating, payback is a bitch.
January 2013
A short teaser-trailer is released. If you watch without blinking, you can see me show off my quixotic skills at playing perfectly still and absolutely dead. Something like 70% of the script is now filmed.
December 2012
Nine-day shooting schedule this month for principal photography, including some messy, messy, messy, corpse discoveries with me. Here's director Chris Ethridge's cameo in the film. It was so much fun teasing him to break character during this scene; nothing quite like hearing a song from a corpse to get you giddy.
November 2012
Nicholas Brendon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Criminal Minds") and Amber Chaney ("The Hunger Games," "The Walking Dead") have joined the cast. Read the press release at Marketwatch.com
The Morningside police department, played by:
Ray Lloyd,
Matt Kabus,
Tiffany Shepis, and
Robert Pralgo
October 2012
Pre-production effects work...
September 2012
Pre-production location scouting.
August 2012
"Independent film company Blue Dusk Productions announces the September production of the horror-thriller feature film "The Morningside Monster," to be lensed in the greater Atlanta area. Director Chris Ethridge and writer Jayson Palmer, the dynamic team behind the 2011 award-winning adaptation of Stephen King's classic short story "Survivor Type", have returned with a powerful original tale of brotherhood, right versus wrong, and the true roots of evil...
...The story unfolds around the discovery of a brutally murdered corpse in the woods of the otherwise-peaceful small town of Morningside, NJ. As the bodies pile up, Sheriff Tom Haulk and his deputy, Klara Austin, embark on a desperate race against time to catch the killer, pitting them against friends, enemies and even each other. "The film melds the frights and scares of the modern horror film with an emotionally gritty human story" and it's a fantastic whodunnit!" says Ethridge."
