I’ve talked a little about the sequel to Manos and now it’s
time to really start talking. We are
ready to get to work with a talented team of creative entrepreneurs and indie
filmmakers and get this movie made.
Jackey Neyman Jones
(producer, lead actor) - My dad was The Master and I was little Debbie in
"Manos: The Hands of Fate.” I live
in the Great Northwest as a professional artist, art instructor and author of
"Growing Up With Manos: The Hands of Fate" which is to be released
soon. I have been a special guest at
numerous events like The El Paso Classic Film Festival, Hollywood Independent
Film Festival, and Seattle’s Crypticon and have appeared in several film and
theatrical projects including “Manos The Rise of Torgo”, “The Curse of Pelican
Bay”(post production) and “She Run” (in production)
Tonjia Atomic (director) - Tonjia is an award-winning
filmmaker, actress, musician, jeweler, and freelance writer. Her films range
from the dark and disturbing to the light and comedic. She is best known for
the films "Plain Devil," "Hobo with a Trash Can," and
"Walking to Linas." Her writing has been featured in several online
and print magazines. She's in the bands Duet To-It, Huh-Uh, and Filthy Issue.
Her music has been featured in several films including "Bikini
Gorilla" and "Scarewaves."
Steve Foley (writer/editor) - Steve, owner of Foley Video
Productions, Inc. based in Tallahassee, FL, spent 17 years in broadcast
television production before starting his own company in 1995. His recent
film-related projects include post and effects on several short films and he is
currently putting the finishing touches on a low budget horror anthology
feature. In addition, Steve is working with the stars of cult film "Alien
Factor" to produce DVD extras for the upcoming Blu-ray release.
Joe Sherlock (Director of Photography) - Joe is an
award-winning filmmaker and a veteran of over 30 feature and anthology films.
Joe’s extensive body of work includes "Drifter," "Bloodsucking
Redneck Vampires" and "Twisted Fates," which have been screened
across North America. His work as director of photography includes "Dead
Ink," "The Evilmaker" and "Platoon of the Dead." Cult
movie expert Joe Bob Briggs comments, "Drive-In Academy Award nominations
for Joe Sherlock, the writer/director/composer/editor, for doing things the
drive-in way."
Rachel Jackson is our behind the scenes everything from
crafting the Kickstarter to marketing and sage advice. She and her Manos puppets will be making an
appearance in the film as well.
MANOS Returns is a tongue-in-cheek return to Valley Lodge.
It follows a group of young would-be filmmakers who learn their favorite movie,
“MANOS: The Hands of Fate,” is based on a true story. They set out to visit the
site of the events that inspired the original and of course they find more than
they bargained for.
Thanks to Mystery Science Theater 3000, MANOS has become a
pop culture phenomenon, gaining more and more fans as time goes on. We think
it’s high time we found out what became of everyone at Valley Lodge, so we want
to film MANOS Returns this summer, release it on DVD and have it ready to
screen in time for MANOS’s 50th anniversary on November 15th.
There have been a number of Manos inspired projects through
the years. Some fizzled out, a few other
completed the goal, and others are still in progress. Several have been very successful. Ones such as Manos Hands of Felt by Rachel
Jackson, the HD Blu-ray of the Manos Restoration by Ben Solovey, distributed by
Synapse and the Manos game by FreakZone Games for iPhone. Manos Hands of Felt and the Restoration both
launched Kickstarter campaigns to fund their projects and both far exceeded
expectations. Such is the love of
Manos. And let’s not forget the ones who
made Manos known to the world to begin with.
Mystery Science Theater 3000, headed by Joel Hodgson (did I mention he
wrote the foreword to my soon to be published Manos book?). The November Kickstarter campaign to bring
back MST3k quickly set records when the MST3K campaign became one of the top 10
most funded Kickstarter campaigns ever, closing near 6 million dollars .
So…. We’re not asking for nearly that much. We don’t need that much. Seriously.
In addition to the people already willing to help us with
their time and resources, we know we can make a bare bones version of MANOS
Returns for $24,000 (20,000 after the Kickstarter fees and reward fulfillment).
For $55,000, we can make the dream movie
we envisioned when we started talking about this project.
We’ve committed to this project and thanks to fan support
we’ve already filmed The Master, my dad Tom Neyman in his part. And we’ve got everything lined up to get
Nicki Mathis, the vocalist on the original soundtrack, into the studio to
re-record “Forgetting You” for our soundtrack as soon as the
Kickstarter has ended.
The Kickstarter goes live January 30th. That’s the day that
Mystery Science Theatre 3000 first brought MANOS back from oblivion in 1993, so
we thought it was the perfect day to launch MANOS Returns. As soon as we
launch, www.MANOSReturns.com will take you directly to our Kickstarter page.
Please consider backing us on that first day; the faster we gain backers out of
the gate, the more successful we’ll be.
If you can’t spare any money right now, but still want to
help us get back to Valley Lodge, spreading the word about this campaign is a
huge way you can show your support. Please share our Kickstarter far and wide.
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Use the hashtag #MANOSReturns to bring the
word of MANOS to all!
And thank you, as always, for your awesome support.
