The Devil’s Carnival

What’s that? You’ve been dying for another musical from the guys who brought you Repo! The Genetic Opera? You’re in luck! The Devil’s Carnival is sweeping the nation – quite literally, actually – and SuperJew got a chance to attend the Richmond, VA premiere.



Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of The Devil’s Carnival. It’s basically been spread by word of mouth, and taken completely out of context, it honestly doesn’t sound all that impressive: this guy and his friend wrote and shot an indie musical based on Aesop’s Fables but as set in a carnival run by Lucifer himself, filmed it in a week, and are driving across the country to promote it. Honestly, sounds a bit crazy, doesn’t it?

But let’s take a moment and think of just who we’re talking about here – Darren Lynn Bousman and Terrance Zdunich, right off the bat. Don’t know who they are? That’s cool – maybe you’ve heard of that gorror-porn franchise, Saw? Yeah, DLB directed several of those films. But more importantly, he and Zdunich had written a series of short skits which grew into the cult classic horror-musical Repo! The Genetic Opera. After several years of relative silence, DLB and Zdunich return triumphant with The Devil’s Carnival, which is, in a similar theme, a kind of horror-musical which is essentially comprised of three different stories, told by several songs per story.

I’m going to go ahead and break in here and say that there are going to be minor spoilers for the film throughout the rest of this article, but I promise anything truly able to ruin the experience will be flagged as such.

TDC is a relatively short film, clocking in probably right around 45 minutes if I had to guess. It has very little spoken dialogue, basically comprised entirely of songs to tell the story. Which is awesome, by the way – they got a bunch of folks from Repo! to come back and lend their vocal talents, but the new additions are even more startling and awesome – namely, Emilie Autumn and Ivan Moody of Five Finger Death Punch. I’ll admit, I’d never heard anything from either of them. I didn’t really have a goth phase in highschool (as I have been told that EA is required listening for such a phase), and nor had I really had time to deal with newer heavy metal bands as of late, so I was rather pleased when those two had songs. Likewise, their songs and those of the rest of the cast seem to demonstrate the evolution in writing style these guys have had since their days of Repo! – it has a much more mature sound to it, and they do some very cool things. Likewise, the story itself is rather interesting, as it deals with three people who have been brought to the carnival and who are, effectively, put on show for their one major fault as they work through it (or don’t, and are punished). It’s a very interesting way to present Aesops, and these guys pull it off quite well. About the only problem with the actual movie itself is the fact that it feels like it just kinda stops halfway – which is interesting, given that at the premiere Zdunich said that he’s got Part II already written. Apparently, they intend this to be at least a trilogy – which strikes me as kind of lame, given that I’d much prefer all of it at once in one cohesive plot as opposed to waiting the probably seven years it’ll take them to raise the funds to do this in its entirety.

That being said, there’s one majorly cool thing about all of this, and it is the real reason I’m writing this – it’s nice to review movies and such, but really, that’s just kind of fluff. No, the awesome thing came from the Q&A session after the showing. Right near the end of it, one girl gets up and asks DLB and Zdunich (paraphrased) why they would decide to go and use their own money to fund a movie like this, given that it’s the first thing they tell you NOT to do when trying to make a movie, and in reality, it sounds pretty nuts. Bousman responded with one of the most inspirational responses I’ve heard in a long time: He said he did it because he wanted to. When he was doing the Saw franchise, he said he just didn’t feel fulfilled, and when he pitched Repo!, all he got was blank stares. But Repo! got made, and it was a hit! He mentioned the joy he got from seeing people cosplay their favorite characters, because that’s not something you could get with the Saw films. It was that Rocky Horror vibe, and it was awesome! But unfortunately, in order to get Repo! made, they’d sold the rights to it, and had no way to get them back. That meant that none of the things they wanted to do, “comic books, sequels, hell, even just fixing the shitty subtitles on the DVD” could be done. So instead of going back to the grind, he said screw it – he had a big enough following with the Repo! Army, he’d do it again, and this time it would be a Carny Army. Because in doing this, he fulfilled a life dream – he made something that people care about. And then he did it again. He thanked everyone for their continued support, and concluded with “So do I think you should put your own money into a project, no matter how crazy it is? Yes, I absolutely do.”

So what should you, the readers of the Red Shirt Crew, be taking from this? Well, one, The Devil’s Carnival is an awesome movie, and you should at the very least go buy the soundtrack on iTunes or from their website so you can listen to it, and if there’s a showing coming to a city near you, move your tuchus and  get a ticket. But two, what The Devil’s Carnival represents is the triumph of will of a small band of people, doing what they love at the expense of a stable, cozy life. If you’ve been on the fence about doing something you truly enjoy and you think will truly give you fulfillment, maybe it’s about time you did it, and screw the consequences.

Super Jew, awaaaaaaay~!

First Sidewinder Footage

Ready for an update on Sidewinder 2: Ecstasy of Gold?

Junior Varsity here with the latest scoop, as well as the first video footage from the upcoming sequel to Sidewinder. Find out more after the break…

So it’s been awhile since we heard something from the Sidewinder front. They’re currently in post-production and sometimes that can be mind-numbingly slow. But this new bit of fun is a good indicator that they’re on track.

Embedded below is a production reel, full of hilarious bloopers and shenanigans. It’s not really a trailer, so it doesn’t give away much about the story, but it’s fun to see some of the characters we know and love (and many characters we don’t know yet) doing silly things.

Also, at the end of the reel, a title said Sidewinder Part 1 coming Summer 2012. That’s a new and crucial detail. Is Ecstasy of Gold being split into two parts? Apparently. The plot seemed complex enough to merit two parts, so that’s fine with me. I’m just wondering how they will flow together, where the break will be, and when we’ll get to see part two.

We should have some trailers and more footage soon for your exclusive enjoyment here on the Network. Keep hope alive. More Sidewinder is on the way.

That’s the scoop! This is Junior Varsity, signing out.

Spread the Word: Truequest

Kickstarter projects have changed the way the internet works. Now, projects can start from nothing and be made into a reality through crowd funding. In the premiere of this new segment, Spread the Word, MaristPlayBoy discovers a card game that fell through Kickstarter’s cracks, but is more than worth your time attention.
I admittedly spend WAY too much time on the internet. When I’m not scouring twitter looking for potential interviewees for the Red Shirt Crew Podcasts (be patient; we’re working on it), devouring everything Escapist Magazine has to offer (Pub Club and proud), or immersing myself in the massive wall of videos that is That Guy with the Glasses (a site I frequent so much that certain friends actually groan aloud when they realize I’m about to bring it up again), I’m trying to find the next thing to occupy my time.

One of my newest hobbies is scouring Kickstarter or Indiegogo looking for projects that seem appealing, but haven’t quite hit the public consciousness yet. For those of you who haven’t been paying attention to this Kickstarter craze, you really should. It’s nothing short of amazing what people have been able to fund through this site, especially where games are concerned.

Of course, all the sites I frequent regularly already extensively cover the big name stuff that ends up making more money than I’ll probably ever see, so that’s never all that interesting. There have been some great projects that we’ve recommended to you guys that were rather big, but to me, I’ve always enjoyed looking at the smaller projects and seeing what they had to offer.

Enter: Truequest, the card game. Full disclosure: the game’s creator, Jim Pranger, is the father of Chris Pranger, who you should all know from No Right Answer, Toy TMA, and his Media Sandwich podcast, and who is also a good friend of the blog. He first told me about his dad’s Kickstarter, and part of me did feel inclined to write about it if only to try to do a good thing for a good person. I mean, listen to the podcast they did together. How can you not want that guy to succeed? Still, I can assure you I wouldn’t give this game the glowing recommendation I’m about to give it if it wasn’t a truly great game on its own merit. And trust me, it’s a great game.

Truequest is a card game meant for 2-10 players (I was going to make a joke here about having a team of imaginary friends play the game with you instead, but Chris beat me to the punchline by a good 2 and a half years) for kids in that late elementary to early high school age that hopes to teach kids about historical figures while still being a whole bunch of fun to play. Each deck contains 50 quester cards, 10 quest cards, and 10 change history cards. Players start with five cards in their hand, with the rest staying in the ‘History Book’ (the deck). The goal of the game is to use your questers, which are historical figures ranging from Abraham Lincoln to Plato to Mother Theresa, to complete quests, which give you points. 100 points means a victory for the good guys, though the total point score needed for victory can be adjusted to make the game longer or shorter as you wish (reason #357 I love card games: flexible rules are flexible).

Questers have four skills (Age, Brains, Charm, and Daring) that are given values based on their historical competence in each area. For example, Moses has 10 Age and 10 Charm points for his wisdom and charismatic leadership, but only 2 Brain points (he did get them lost in a desert for forty years) and 3 Daring points (in the Biblical tale, God’s responsible for all that confidence he has with the Pharaoh, so Moses himself isn’t really that daring). A lot of attention has been put into matching characters’ trait scores with their historical background which, as a history buff myself, is a really nice touch that I think goes a long way towards getting kids to actually go to the computer and Wikipedia these historical figures at the very least. I mean, if I didn’t know who these people were at all, I’d definitely try to figure out what the pretty girl in battle armor did to earn ten points of charm and daring.

Time to put it into action. Let’s say I wanted to Win the World Series. Winning the World series is a quest that’s worth 30 points, requires a sufficiently Charming leader (baseball fans know how important charisma is in the dugout during crunch time) and needs some Age (veteran leadership is key) and Charm to complete. Since I already pointed out how Moses is perfect for these two stats, I’m going to use him as my leader (what a great draw I had, huh?). Over the next few turns, I’ll try to draw other questers that can aid me in completing this task. I’ll take Mother Theresa as a third base coach (8 Age points and 9 Charm points), Joan of Arc as a shortstop (2 Age points and 10 Charm points) and Marie Curie as the pitching coach (6 Age points and 7 Charm points). With their powers combined, I have more than enough Charm and Age points to complete the quest, and I’ll gain my thirty points.

However, something tells me my enemies aren’t going to just let me sit back and finish my quest with ease. Each quester has a bonus skill that can either help them on their quest or hinder the other players’ quests if they are made a quest leader. Moses’ B.C. questing bonus doesn’t help since baseball is very much a product of the 20th century, but one of my opponents could have a leader that decreases the age or charm scores of my questers, which would make it harder for me to achieve my goal. Strategy, as with any good card game, is the key.

The Change History cards are the true game changers, however. If an opponent plays one of these, the effects take place immediately and can disrupt the entire game. Mount Vesuvius’s eruption, for example, would send all my questers back to the History Book. These kinds of massive setbacks can really turn the table on your opponents, and they add a nice level of strategy.

The best aspects of this game, however, are the versatility that it brings. Want to expose younger children to this game that won’t necessarily get the deeper strategy of it? Remove the change history cards and forget about the extra quester skills. Looking for a more War-style game? Divide the questers into equal piles, then flip cards over naming an attribute. Highest at that attribute wins (There’s something so satisfying about Mark Twain defeating Alexander the great, at least to me).

My personal favorite aspect of the game is its versatility. Already included in the deck are a few blank joker cards that you can use to create your own characters for the game (why yes, I would like to add Harry Dresden and Captain Kirk as important historical figures), but his planned scope is far greater. In his Kickstarter video, Jim Pranger discusses creating tons of different card sets for different fields of knowledge, like a deck specifically for American history, or perhaps animals from the rainforest. The possibilities are really endless here, and I think that sets this product apart from other card games. If TrueQuest ever comes to fruition, there’s a good chance it can become a great learning tool for the future for kids while still being fun.

Sadly, as I mentioned earlier, the Kickstarter fell through the cracks and failed to raise enough money to meet its mark. That said, it’s far from dead. If you click here, you can see the game’s web page, which provides a nice contact form. I encourage all of you to go to the site, check it out, and, if this is something you feel is a worthwhile project, take the time to contact him and see what you can do to contribute to the cause. Truequest is definitely a game worth your time and attention, and as someone who heavily supports attempts like this to make learning fun, I definitely hope to see this game in stores one day. I know I’m looking forward to seeing Genghis Kahn work with Elvis and Queen Elizabeth to win the Civil War.