Three Awards at The Florence Film Awards!

 

AF Episode 3: "The Video"

 

Sci-Fi Pulse called this episode "hilarious" in its review yesterday. 

Now you can see it for yourself!  Episode 3 of Abnormal Fixation: "The Video."

Sci-Fi Pulse Reviews AF Episode 3: "The Video"

In advance of tomorrow's Abnormal Fixation episode, "The Video," Raissa Devereux at Sci-Fi Pulse has posted a review of the episode.  

She writes:

"The comedy is even more hilarious, and the tragedy is even more heartbreaking. Muir underpins the tonal extremes with incredible world-building. For the comedy, viewers get an incredible sequence tied to Alyssa’s back up plan.That isn’t all, though. We also get an ever more earnest story behind an app Elvis has used to cope with separation. For the tragedy, viewers confront the titular video. For this, Muir employs a sobering mix of history, mythology, and body horror...

...Muir and Alicia Martin absolutely sell the comedy and history between Elvis and Season. However, the grounded, harrowing turn by Pauline Mae Allera as Chesa centers the story....

...Abnormal Fixation, Episode 3: “The Video” is wonderfully layered entertainment. So far, Muir has given his audience a whole-hearted class on less is more film making."

Read the full-review here!

AF: Meet Chesa (Pauline Allera)

Tomorrow on Abnormal Fixation's third episode, "The Video," Elvis, Season, Bleeder and the team investigate a disturbing video, from a mysterious young woman named "Chesa." 

In that "dark web" video, Chesa reveals a harrowing tale, and drops an important clue involving the mystery of the Woodpyre Mill Phantom.

In real life, Chesa is played by the amazing Pauline Allera, a talented graphic artist, and storyteller, who you will be hearing much more from, I'm certain, in the future. 

I first met Pauline during the pandemic, when she was a remote student (on Zoom!) in my Public Speaking class  I learned of her amazing artwork in class, and I was so glad when she took on the role of Chesa for our indie show.

Last spring, when we started prepping AF, Pauline really did amazing character work for Chesa. She constructed a back story for the character, granting her new depth and motivation. Much of that detail now ends up on screen. It's so good. 

After intense rehearsals, Pauline shot her material for the episode first, before the rest of the cast in principal production, and she set the bar high.  When we filmed the other cast members reacting to Chesa's video, they were actually watching Pauline's footage!

I can't wait for you to see Pauline and meet Chesa tomorrow, in "The Video."

AF: The Team! 100K and rising!

A humbled and grateful hank you to all the viewers who are discovering, watching, and re-watching our silly rockumentary web series.  

The second episode "The Team," is over 120K views at this time!  (It's a record for our channel!)

JKM Talking AF on The EasterPod

I'm appearing on the newest edition of The EasterPod, hosted by Corey Easterday, who portrays "The Professor" on Abnormal Fixation.  

Corey and I talk horror, my writing/creative career, and of course, the making of the show itself. It was an honor to spend this time with Corey.

Give it a listen when you can!

Soon...

 

Sci-Fi Pulse Reviews AF (Abnormal Fixation) Episode 2: "The Team"

Sci-Fi Pulse reviewed episode 2 of Abnormal Fixation, "The Team," this morning, and it's the kind of review that writers really cherish getting, I must admit. I know I have cherished writing them too.

I'm certainly not the first critic or writer or filmmaker in history to note the connection between comedy and horror, or to note how something funny can come from something dark. Or how we laugh because of, sometimes, the absolute absurdity of our existence.

And stylistically, there's a true, undeniable connection between the form of the "found footage" horror movie and the "mockumentary" comedy.  

There's an absolute tether between those two formalistic concepts. On one end of the spectrum we laugh. And on the other end, we scream.

So it's especially nice to get a review that gazes at how the themes of our indie, grassroots web series are underscored in the creative equation: in the arc, the storytelling, the performances, and so on.

Reviewer Raissa Devereux writes:

"Enabling is the theme that unites all the characters. Muir crafts dialogue and sight gags that reinforce the theme. Moreover, he ensures that the dialogue and sight gags foreshadow their character arcs..."

She terms the episode "visceral" and notes the social commentary on "out of control capitalism," which is, indeed,  part of the equation of this set of stories.  

The Woodpyre Mill Phantom, of course, is a real life reflection of what was happening in mills in NC a hundred years ago, in the 1920s. 

The long hours ("the Stretch out" is NOT an invention, it's real), child labor, and more are all things that one might have hoped would be consigned to history.  Five years ago I would have thought it impossible to a see a return of the age of the robber baron, but current events have made this episode, the Phantom himself, and AF, all the more timely and relevant.

You can read the whole review of "The Team" at Sci-Fi Pulse!

And Episode 2 "The Team" has dropped!  Let me know what you think of the show (and the series so far...)

Meet "The Professor" (Corey Easterday)

Episode 2 of Abnormal Fixation drops tomorrow!

But in the meantime, I want to introduce you to one of the show's incredible cast-members, Corey Easterday.

Corey portrays the series' mysterious Edward Snowden-esque character, "The Professor," and he brings a deadpan, off-kilter delivery to the secretive, unusual character and friend of Elvis Bragg, as you will soon see. 

When not appearing in Abnormal Fixation, Corey is not only a successful stand-up comedian here in Charlotte, NC, but the host of the popular local podcast The EasterPod. 

I love working with the talented Corey and sharing scenes with him, and I can't wait for you to meet The Professor tomorrow, in "The Team."

AF Reels!

(AF) Abnormal Fixation Episode 1: "The Contest"