Adam Green (filmmaker)

Background

Green was born and raised in Holliston, Massachusetts. After graduating from high school in 1993, he left for New York to study film and television production at Hofstra University graduating in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science degree. After studies, Green worked in Boston making local commercials for Time Warner Cable, where he met his future collaborator Will Barratt. In 1998, together they founded production company ArieScope Pictures and the following year made their first feature-length film – semi-biographic comedy Coffee & Donuts (see subsection). Encouraged by friends and success in small film festivals, in 2000, Green packed his belongings and drove out to Hollywood. However, the film did not receive much attention and for a few years the new filmmaker was struggling with urban life and career. He worked as DJ at the Rainbow Bar & Grill, while also undertaking various supporting roles in media industry. Green describes experience: "The next three years saw loads of struggle and disappointment as I did every odd job I could score in Hollywood and waited for something to pan out with C&D." During that period upcoming director wrote the original installment of what would become Hatchet franchise and met his future wife Rileah Vanderbilt.

Feature film and television career

Steadily working within a small group of friend-actors, Green self-produced most of his 2000s projects. By 2013, he had released two seasons of television sitcom Holliston together with seven theatrical feature films, including horror Hatchet (2006) and thriller Frozen (2010). Consequently, director became a member of the Splat Pack, – group of filmmakers, who brought back gore and splatter, containing Eli Roth, Alexandre Aja, Neil Marshall, Rob Zombie, Greg McLean, Darren Lynn Bousman, and James Wan.

Coffee & Donuts

Coffee & Donuts (2000)^unpublished is a semi-biographic lighthearted romantic comedy about two friends, Adam and Steve, who strive to launch their morning radio program of the small town, while Adam concurrently struggles to overcome breakup. Green made the feature film for only $400 using equipment from the cable advertising facility, that he was working for at the time, and employing volunteers for everything from cast to crew. Creator starred in the lead role, while other parts were played by Steven C. DeWitt Jr., Katie Bove and Jeff Davison. This amateur production has not been widely released.

In 2003, Touchstone Pictures bought Coffee & Donuts, employed Green as a writer and remade film to a sitcom for UPN. The pilot episode, being produced by Tom Shadyac's Shady Acres, was rejected and for the next five years copyrights remained with Touchstone. After regaining rights, in 2009, upcoming director tried selling idea to another TV network on better terms. However, sitcom got canceled again. Eventually, the original concept was completely re-developed, re-titled Holliston and released by FEARnet (see subsection). Later in career, Green has expressed his wish to independently distribute the original film, but also referred to unreasonable price of soundtrack copyrights.

Hatchet

Hatchet (2006) is the first feature of Green's somewhat successful franchise. The horror comedy, tributes old-school American slashers, and follows a group of tourists, who take a swamp boat ride and wind up pursued by the ghost of local legend Victor Crowley. Theatrically released on September 7, 2007, film was relatively well received by some critics and earned a minor horror cult following, resulting in two sequels for 2010 and 2013.

Spiral

Spiral (2007) is Joel David Moore's and JD Boreing's thriller, which Green co-directed. Story follows an isolated telemarketer (Moore), who befriends new co-worker and then struggles with troubling past feelings, threatening his personal dignity. Critics hailed Spiral as "nothing short of brilliant" and "the closest thing you'll get to Hitchcock in this day and age". Film won Gold Vision Award at the 2008 Santa Barbara Film Festival.

Unmade Aquaman film

Green was commisioned to write a screenplay for an animated Aquaman film, which was ultimately not produced by Warners Bros.

Grace

Grace (2009) is Paul Solet's dramatic thriller, which was produced by Green (ArieScope Pictures), who discovered the project during Hatchet's festival tour. Story presents a woman, who loses her baby in the womb, but still carries it to term only to find out, that the baby has returned to life and can only survive on human blood. Starring Jordan Ladd, Grace premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009 and was released in theatres and on DVD later that year.

Frozen

Frozen (2010) is Green's low-budget thriller, starring Kevin Zegers, Emma Bell and Shawn Ashmore. Film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released in North American theaters on February 5, 2010. Metacritic rated it 45/100 based on 16 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reported a 62% approval rating and an average score of 5.9/10; the site's critical consensus reads: "Writer/director Adam Green has the beginnings of an inventive, frightening yarn in Frozen, but neither the script nor the cast are quite strong enough to truly do it justice." On the other hand, some critics were pleased with results. Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times writes: "A minimalist setup delivers maximum fright in [this] nifty little chiller that balances its cold terrain with an unexpectedly warm heart." And Rex Reed presents more impressions in his sensationalist New York Observer article: "I was left so paralyzed with terror by this movie that I chewed a whole pencil in half watching it."

Hatchet II

Hatchet II (2010) is trilogy's sequel, starring Kane Hodder and Danielle Harris. Green eagerly promoted his film by pre-advertising (Anchor Bay, MySpace), in press (Creation Entertainment, Comic-Con, Frozen events) and with credits (Adam Green's Hatchet II). Filmed in the beginning of the year, sequel premiered at the London FrightFest Film Festival 2010. Theatrical release made headlines, when distributor Dark Sky agreed with AMC Theatres to bypass MPAA ratings' board and on 1 October 2010 released unrated Hatchet II, which got revoked within hours. Officially reported reason by AMC was poor performance, but Green has alluded to controversy with MPAA. Metacritic rated the film 49/100 based on 11 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reports a 36% approval rating and an average score of 4.2/10 based on 33 reviews; the site's consensus reads: "Funnier and more gleefully gory than most slasher sequels, Hatchet II aims for so-bad-it's-good territory, but can't quite hack it."

Chillerama: "Anne Frankenstein"

Green wrote and directed segment "The Diary of Anne Frankenstein" as part of the 2011 comedy/horror anthology Chillerama, which consists of four short films by four different filmmakers. The parody "Anne Frankenstein" is shot in black&white and made entirely in German to look and feel like a lost 1940's foreign film. While Green cast authentic German speaking actors for all roles, the lead role of Adolf Hitler is portrayed by Joel David Moore, who does not know how to speak German and purposely fakes his way through the film by using a combination of gibberish and random words thrown to him by Green, such as "Boba Fett", "OshKosh B'Gosh" and "Goldie Hawn". Kane Hodder portrays the film's hero Meshugannah - a Hassidic Jewish take on the classic Frankenstein Monster, who ultimately turns against his master and kills him.

Holliston

Based on Green's life and largely adapted from his romantic comedy Coffee & Donuts, sitcom Holliston follows the lives of Adam (played by Green) and Joe (played by a fellow genre director and real-life best friend, Joe Lynch) - two aspiring horror filmmakers - living in the small town of Holliston, Massachusetts. Together they work at a local cable advertising station and struggle with fledgling careers, making ends meet and dealing with the opposite sex. The ensemble cast includes Laura Ortiz (who plays Laura, Joe's girlfriend), Corri English (who plays Corri, Adam's ex-girlfriend and the greatest heartbreak of his life), Dee Snider (who plays Lance Rockett, Adam and Joe's cross dressing boss, still stuck in the 80's, who is the lead singer for a Van Halen cover band), and GWAR frontman Dave Brockie (who played Oderus, Adam's imaginary alien friend who lives in his closet).

Holliston was the first original series for FEARnet. Green wrote and directed the six episodes comprising season one of this show, mixing comedy, horror, romance, and described by the network as "Big Bang Theory meets Evil Dead 2". The first season was filmed in September–October 2011 and produced by ArieScope Pictures. Series was advertised in the January 13, 2012 issue of Entertainment Weekly and launched on the FEARnet network on April 3, 2012, with a second season formally announced after two episodes. Guest stars include Seth Green, John Landis, Kane Hodder, Brian Posehn, Ray Wise, Deanna Pappas, Derek Mears, Colton Dunn, Danielle Harris, Nick Ballard, Parry Shen, Magda Apanowicz, and Tony Todd. In interviews Green has described Holliston as his "most passionate of passion projects" and explained that the show took him over 13 years to bring to fruition.

After suffering the loss of cast member Dave Brockie who died tragically on March 23, 2014 from a reported drug overdose and after the dissolving of the show's home television network FEARnet just a few weeks later in the April 2014 Time Warner / Comcast merger, "Holliston" went on an indefinite hiatus as Green and his cast/crew mourned the loss of their friend and castmate. However, in July 2015, Entertainment Weekly announced that "Holliston" would indeed return with a third season. The series will now be carried by GeekNation, the digital network where "Holliston's" Adam Green and Joe Lynch host their popular podcast "The Movie Crypt" which was originally designed to be a spin-off and companion piece to "Holliston." Production is slated to begin on Season 3 at the end of 2016 when all rights to the existing seasons will have reverted to Green's ArieScope Pictures and when the cast's various production schedules will next line up at the same time. With the move to GeekNation, "Holliston" will be available to watch worldwide for the very first time.

Hatchet III

Hatchet III (2013) is the third feature of Green's franchise, directed by BJ McDonnell and starring Kane Hodder, Danielle Harris, Derek Mears. Production began in April 2012, and the film was released in United States theaters and VOD on June 14, 2013. In press announcements creator passionately assured fans, disappointed about substitute director, to personally oversee all development. Though Green has clearly stated that Hatchet III is meant to be the end of story and that he always had set out to make a trilogy, he has also speculated that this is only the ending to his story of Marybeth and Victor Crowley and that fans could potentially see more Hatchet films in the future with a different storyline, different characters, and (possibly) different storytellers behind the camera. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 55% approval rating based on 22 reviews, and Metacritic rated it 25/100 based on eight reviews. As part of Green's three-day fundraiser to benefit victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, all three films were shown in Hatchet Marathon on May 30, 2013, and filmmaker made a donation to One Fund Boston.

The Movie Crypt podcast

Green and Joe Lynch's free weekly filmmaker interview and film commentary podcast launched on GeekNation in May 2013. The name references creators' sitcom Holliston, along with other inside jokes in the content. The talk show was recommended by Entertainment Weekly under the headline "20 podcasts you need to hear in 2015" (January 9, 2015; print issue #1345) and used as curriculum in film schools such as UCLA and Emerson. As of April 2015 the podcast is reported to have over 500,000 weekly listeners worldwide. Past guests' list includes Seth Green, Slash, Jordan Peele, Neil Marshall, Mick Garris, Tom Holland, Sid Haig, Kane Hodder, Bear McCreary, Danielle Harris, James Gunn, Mike Dougherty, Todd Farmer, Dave Brockie, Don Coscarelli, Stuart Gordan, Rachael Leigh Cook, Brian Slagel, Tony Todd, Bill Moseley and Chris Columbus.

Digging Up the Marrow

Green's undercover project - Digging Up the Marrow - described as a reality based dark fantasy about monsters, was made in a collaboration between Green and popular urban artist Alex Pardee. Production began in 2010 and was fully completed in 2014. In the documentary style movie Green plays himself; Will Barratt, loyal Green's collaborator since 1997, is cameraman; and actor Ray Wise portrays Detective William Dekker, an eccentric and mysterious man who contacts Green with the claim that, monsters not only exist, but he knows where to find them.

After an unofficial preview of a work-in-progress cut in 2013 at Harry Knowles's annual Butt-Numb-A-Thon, the final version of Digging Up The Marrow premiered at FrightFest in London on August 23, 2014. The film was released in US cinemas and VOD on February 20, 2015, and on DVD and Blu-ray March 24, 2015. Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 53% of 15 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 5.7/10. Metacritic rated it 45/100 based on eight reviews.

Adam Green's Scary Sleepover

Internet series created and produced by Green and directed by Sean Becker - Adam Green's Scary Sleepover was launched on March 6, 2015. On the show, Green hosts various icons from the horror genre for a slumber party at his ArieScope Pictures Studio in Hollywood. While dressed in their pajamas, playing board games, eating junk food, watching movies, laying on the floor in sleeping bags and doing the very things that children would do at a sleepover, Green gets these horror heavyweights to open up honestly about what exactly scares them in their real lives. Guests for the first season's 14 episodes included Kane Hodder, Tiffany Shepis, Danielle Harris, Sid Haig, Derek Mears, Laura Ortiz, Emma Bell, Bill Moseley, Darren Lynn Bousman, Zach Galligan, Jeffrey Reddick, and Tom Holland. The second season premiered on January 6, 2016 and included 14 more episodes featuring such iconic guests as Slash, Tony Todd, Dee Snider, Joe Lynch, Felissa Rose, Brea Grant, Lucky McKee, Ti West, Clare Kramer, Todd Farmer, Kristina Klebe, and Neil Marshall. A third season will premiere in 2017.

Horrified

Internet series, created and directed by Adam Green and Sean Becker - Horrified was launched on July 17, 2015. Artists from all sides of the entertainment industry share their most horrifying personal stories in this confessional-style series hosted by Corri English (HOLLISTON). From mortifying embarrassments, to comical moments of humility, to truly terrifying real life encounters, the series is presented in an old-time black and white Twilight Zone style format with English as the "Rod Serling" host that sets up each week's true story. Guests for the first season's 22 episodes include Rachael Leigh Cook, Jeff Lewis, Mathew Waters, Jordan Ladd, Will Barratt, Amrapali Ambegaokar, Bear McCreary, Parry Shen, Joe Lynch, Trevor Snarr, Sarah Elbert, Tyler Mane, Jason Charles Miller, Kerri Kasem, Zack Ward, Ed Marx, Craig Borden, Brea Grant, Joel Murray, Milo Ventimiglia, and Ed Ackerman. A second season will premiere on January 25, 2017 including stories from Michael Rosenbaum, Laura Ortiz, Rudy Sarzo, Darren Lynn Bousman, Derek Mears, Sid Haig, Kelly Vrooman, Kristina Klebe, Roxanne Benjamin, Sean Becker, Marisha Ray, Matthew Mercer, Ace Von Johnson, Mike Mendez, Dave Parker, Alejandro Brugues, Colton Dunn, Casey Hempel, Arwen, Jan-Michael Losada, Joe Knetter, and Steve Barton .

Victor Crowley

Victor Crowley (2017) is the fourth feature in Green's Hatchet franchise. Written and directed by Green, the film was produced in secret over 2015 and 2016 with Green unveiling the finished film as a complete surprise during a "10th Anniversary Event" for Hatchet at the Arclight Hollywood where it received two standing ovations on August 22, 2017. The film immediately premiered in London that Saturday (August 26, 2017) as part of UK FrightFest where it received yet another standing ovation, marking only the second time a film has ever received a standing ovation at FrightFest in the festival's 18 year history. Green will be taking the film on a theatrical world tour throughout the Fall of 2017 before the film's proper theatrical and VOD release at the end of the year. The film stars Kane Hodder, Parry Shen, Laura Ortiz, Brian Quinn, Dave Sheridan, Felissa Rose, Tiffany Shepis, and many more.

Killer Pizza

Green's latest feature, Killer Pizza is an action adventure film being produced by 1492 Pictures. Based on Greg Taylor's children book of the same title, story follows sixteen-year-old Toby McGill, who gets a summer job at a mysterious Cape Cod pizza parlor only to discover that the restaurant is actually a front for a top secret monster hunting organization. Recruited into a band of heroic misfits, Toby spends his summer battling horrifying monsters and trying to save the world from imminent destruction at the hands of a mythical and deadly monster prophecy.

Haddonfield

In 1998 Green formed the hard rock and metal band "Haddonfield" which he fronted as the lead singer. A large regional draw in the Boston area, the band was put on the back burner for several years when Green's film career took off and relocated him to Los Angeles in the 2000's. On July 24, 2017 it was announced that Green had made "Haddonfield" fully active once again and that the band had signed with "Megadeth" bassist David Ellefson's EMP Label Group who would be putting out the band's debut record "Ghosts Of Salem" in conjunction with Green's own imprint label ArieScope Records. The debut album is set to release digitally worldwide on September 15, 2017 with a limited edition vinyl version arriving on October 13, 2017. "Haddonfield" is set to perform at the annual "Rock And Shock" horror and music convention in Worcester, MA on October 14, 2017 along with "Ministry," Superjoint Ritual," "Devil Driver," and "Motionless In White."

Discography