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New Blood: Filmmaker RJ Hannigan
By John Marrone
May 4, 2006, 14:16

One of the first people that I met while covering the New York City Horror Film Festival in 2005 was filmmaker and director, RJ Hannigan  - and cohort, director of photography Frank Sabatella.  Both young men in their early 20's and from Long Island, we were all sitting at the bar knocking back and collecting as many bottles of complimentary Amstel Lights as we could, before they ran out and were left with nasty fruit beers.  RJ was there at Don Hills opening night party to celebrate, see his opening promo for the festival, and later be on-hand as his short, Stephen King's Suffer the Little Children "The Bathroom Scene", was shown in competition.  And although no award was won that week, further exposure to his works showed that RJ Hannigan is a particularly sharp craftsman of filmmaking.  Considering the miniscule budgets he's been working with, the early inklings of his work show great skill and promise for more financially backed endeavors. 

RJ is currently working on VH1's Celebrity Eye Candy out of a home studio in Astoria, Long Island where he runs his own motion graphics shop called Flipswitch.  With his early beginnings rooted in the horror/sci-fi genre, I thought it'd be a keen idea to take a look at someone who'll surely be working bigger and better things in the years to come.  His new horror short film, about some 80's kids who get bloody revenge on their abusive older brother, is called Death's Sickle, and its going to start shooting this June.  HoH will be there to get an inside look.

I had a chance to review much of RJ Hannigan's material to date, and you can too.  Each of these titles are available to watch at his official website which you can access at the bottom of this page.  Here are my brief reviews for three shorts that you can catch there, plus some information on his upcoming horror film, Death's Sickle.

STEPHEN KING'S:  SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN "The Bathroom Scene" - Fans of the master will recognize this title from the Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection.  It is the story of an old-school teacher who one day comes face to face with the most rotten child of them all - smiles on the outsides, evil incarnate within - soon discovering that there's more than one of them in her own classroom.  And now that old Miss Sidley has discovered the sinister truth beneath the surface, its either her or the children...  The story by Stephen King is a dark one that feeds off peoples weakness for creepy, evil kids.  As a whole (which includes the story's merciless ending), its a brutal horror piece.  Hannigan's short takes on only the bathroom scene in particular.  Now while it was shot well, the first time I saw it, I didn't feel for who the lady was, I didn't have a sense of what was building up, so I felt detached, like I had walked in on a film halfway through.  Efforts at tension seemed overkill.  Then I read King's short story and went back to watch it all again.  It made a lot more sense and matched, for the most part, what I had imagined while reading the book.  Hannigan's success here is in the reflection of this particular segment in the story - unfortunately, for those who haven't read the book, it may leave you a little unsatisfied.  Otherwise, its a "decent" video segment bringing to life what King fans have only before seen in text.  Hannigan's muscle is in his comedy-edged horror and special effects ladened entertainment.  Which brings me to...

THE 2005 NYC HORROR FILM FESTIVAL ID - This sweet little promo piece was used to open the 2005 NYCHFF, and is a sharply composed, amusing quickie rich with the splatter of blood and the screams of another sexy victim.  Probably his best balance of editing and special effects.  Ah, the mad doctor and the chainsaw...  In this, blood thirsty fans can get a nice sip of red - and fans of T-shirt contests can get an eyefull with the pause button.  Lots to get out of this 30 second short.  This one is a perfect example of how Hannigan's unique style of filmmaking makes its mark with comicbook like flair, and doesn't fall short where CGIless filmmakers would have been handcuffed.

THEY CAME FOR IT! - A dimwit decides he needs the last available PageTurner 2000 in this sci-fi comedy - as do a race of armless aliens who've arrived on earth.  Many will die, and soon jerkoff finds himself captive upon one of their spaceships.  This is one of those shorts that appealed to the 1950's sci-fi fan in me - the days of black and white visitors from Mars, or levatating giant eyeballs.  Campy and Bradbury at the same time, its a comical little cinematic cross between midtown-anywhere Long Island and invaders from hey-day space.  Not for anyone hardcore, more for those with a sense of humor.  When this doofus presents the PageTurner 2000 over to the armless aliens and starts dancing around the podium - I wondered what kind of drugs Hannigan was on when he came up with this idea.  But then after the credits, Hannigan points out that this was made over the summer of 2005 on a $300 dollar budget.  Excellent point - the premise is silly and the effort random - but its amusing and watchable, better than most larger efforts Ive seen in the amateur market (superior by far with special effects), and when you realize what kind of budget it was created on - your respect for the man increases tenfold.

DEATH'S SICKLE (coming soon) - This is where it starts to get interesting.  With all the potential energy Hannigan has in his repertoire, he approches his largest film project to date - a story of two children oppressed under their abusive legal guardian, older brother Charlie, who treats them like unwanted slaves.  Young preteen Carra is boiling over with pain and frustration, as she and her little brother are constantly abused.  Luckily for them, Death is about to do their vengeful dirty-work.  No longer content to the confines of video-game exsistence, one particular Death character decides to escape its enslaved world.  Perhaps its the will of Satan himself - perhaps its that combined with the white-hot hatred in the children's bowels - that brought him to this address, under the will of this handheld controller...  Carra's not concerned why.  She just knows Charlie's gonna pay.  Oh yeah.... he's gonna pay.  Hannigan even went so far as to recreate some Nintendo graphics for this movie - and judging from the script (which he graciously allowed HoH to read) - seeing the interaction between 80's video game world and a bloody horror battle for righteousness sounds awesome and is something I'm anticipating seeing.  RJ Hannigan and crew are preapring to start shooting early this summer, and HouseofHorrors has been invited to the set.  Keep it right here and we'll keep you updated on this new, exciting short horror film.

OFFICIAL WEBPAGE - where you can watch each of these shorts yourself (quicktime)

For more insight into this bright up-and-coming director, watch for our exclusive interview with RJ Hannigan to be posted this weekend...