Day Three - Demon Lover Diary

    Not a horror movie per se, but Demon Lover Diary is a fascinating documentary chronicling the making of an independent horror film in the 1970s. The film follows a young filmmaker hired by his friend to direct a low-budget horror film in Michigan, but the clash of ego and power over the process trumps talent and know-how shutting the picture down. The movie being filmed is a splatter movie called Demon Lover which, to my knowledge, was never finished, but was partly financed from insurance money procured by one of the producers who cut off a finger or two for the payout. It's a fascinating journey for anyone interested in making independent films. This can be viewed as a cautionary tale of what not to do when shooting your own picture. Don't, for instance, borrow guns from Ted Nugent and use real ammo. Just a helpful hint to be picked up from watching these douche-nozzles work. In fact, don't ever work for a producer who tells you that he knows Ted Nugent and we can shoot at his house when he gets home from hunting, and he'll let us use his guns. Actually, just steer clear of The Nuge all together because nothing good has ever resulted from that association. The filmmaker and his partner, who is shooting the documentary, eventually flee the scene and seem genuinely afraid that the producers are following them. It's an intimate, low-key doc that gives us an inside look into something we don't often see in the polished, studio-produced making-of press kits. Horror fans should seek it out.