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"SICKCOM" IN THE NEWS September 9, 2003
August 29, 2003
August 7, 2003 SHOUT! FACTORY SET TO RELEASE ALL-NEW Burbank, California. "Unprotected," a brand-new compilation of 19 animated shorts from the infamous Spike & Mike';s Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation, will be released for the first time on DVD by Shout! Factory September 2nd. The release of the DVD will coincide with the publication of "Outlaw Animation: Cutting-Edge Cartoons from the Spike & Mike Festivals," being published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., as well as the Fall 2003 Spike & Mike Film Festival Tour Dates. Included on "Unprotected" are short films by famous animators Craig MacCracken, Pete Metzger and Tony Millionaire, amongst others. "Spike and Mike's Festival is a fun and irreverent one-of-a-kind festival." --George Lucas "I owe my entire career to the festival. They are a shining beacon of hope in the fog of Hollywood for all beginning animators to show their work to the outside world." -- Andrew Stanton, PIXAR Animation, Director of "Finding Nemo" "Unprotected" is the second in a series of titles from Spike & Mike to be released by Shout! Factory, the first and only company just "sick and twisted enough" to bring these titles to the retail consumer. In fact, Shout! Factory will be culling through the entire Sick & Twisted catalogue of over twenty-plus years of footage to bring additional titles to DVD, including a minimum of four new titles from upcoming festivals. Featuring over an hour and twenty minutes of films that both explore and push the boundaries of animation as an art form, the "Unprotected" compilation will be available to the consumer for the first time at retail and showcases the work of over 21 noted animators. The release of the DVD will be promoted at all of the 2003 Spike & Mike Film Festival dates nationwide with displays and screenings of the DVD trailer. E-mail blasts, postcards and posters will be sent to targeted fans and retailers across the country along with a cross-country college campus promotional campaign as well as servicings to major morning disc jockeys such as Howard Stern and Kevin & Bean. ""Spike and Mike';s Festival gives audiences the ONLY opportunity to view the wonderful art form of the animated short film." --John Lasseter, PIXAR Animation, Director of "Toy Story" The Sick & Twisted traveling cartoon festival is an offshoot of the Spike & Mike Animation Festival, which began as filler at rock concerts twenty-five years ago and remains the leading venue for cutting edge cartoons. Supported year after year by tens of thousands of devoted fans around the world, Sick & Twisted is now a part of the Cannes, Anneccy and Sundance Film Festivals and continues to fill arenas nationwide, offering new and upcoming animators a place to showcase their films (as a sidebar it is interesting to note that The Sick & Twisted Festival "toured" with the rock band Korn on a recent cross-country swing). The original show, now referred to as the Classic, was the brainchild of college friends Craig "Spike" Decker and Mike Gribble (Gribble died of pancreatic cancer in 1994), who started their notorious career by illegally showing movies in their house located off-campus and charging admission for the screenings and the wild parties that usually followed. ""Nearly every hit-breeding animator in the business was either launched or given early exposure through Spike and Mike." --Los Angeles Times The Spike & Mike Animation Festivals have helped to launch the careers of now-famous animators such as Matt Stone and Trey Parker ("South Park"), Nick Park and Peter Lord of Aardman ("Creature Comforts," "Chicken Run"), Craig McCracken ("The Powerpuff Girls"), Mike Judge ("Beavis and Butthead"), Pete Ducter ("Monsters, Inc."), Andrew Stanton ("Finding Nemo") and John Lasseter ("Toy Story," "Monsters Inc."), just to name a few. A complete list of the shorts contained on "Unprotected" is attached below. Shout! Factory is a multi-platform integrated entertainment company that was started by Richard Foos co-founder of Rhino Records, Bob Emmer former Warner Music Group and Rhino executive and Garson Foos former Rhino executive. It focuses on audio music catalog development and music-related home video/DVD projects and television properties. Conceived as a broad-based retro pop culture and entertainment label, Shout! Factory video and DVD projects range from live music and music documentary programs to offbeat special interest titles ranging from animation to sports content. www.shoutfactory.com Animated short films contained on "Unprotected": 1. No Neck Joe (4:33) Craig McCracken; Tennis Anyone?, The Hickey, Ultimate Death Match, Girlfriends 2. Sickcom (5:21) Robert Steven Rhine 3. Coco the Junkie Pimp: Revenge of the Junkie Pimp (6:05) Pete Metzger and Michael Comas 4. Maakies: A Hungry Sailor (1:22) Tony Millionaire 5. Maakies: A Battle at Sea (1:02) Tony Millionaire 6. Fast Driver (4:00) Nick Gibbons 7. Home Honey, I';m Higher: What You Should Know About Drugs (5:00) Dan Dudley 8. Swing Sluts (6:35) Brett Johnson 9. Tongue Twister (2:20) Sean Scott 10. Gack Gack (6:13) Hochschule fur Film und Fernsehen "Konrad Wolf" 11. Five Fucking Fables (7:00) Signe Baumane 12. Teach Me (:55) Karl Wills 13. Stickgirl (3:15) Bruce Simpson 14. Ninjews (5:21) Josh Bass 15. Beyond Grandpa II (4:00) Breehn John Burns and Jason Johnson 16. Peepshow (1:17) Debbie Bruce and Natalie Repp 17. Hangnail (1:50) Shane Acker 18. Lupo the Butcher (3:11) Marv Newland 19. Heavy (5:10) Kellie McGregor Title: Spike & Mike';s Sick & Twisted: Unprotected DVD 30275 Running Time: Approx. 80 Min. Price: $19.98 For interviews, review copies and additional questions please contact Alisse Kingsley/Rachel Dierks at Muse Media, (818) 506-7905, e-mail AlissetheMuse@aol.com. July 15, 2003 SICKCOM will premiere as part of the Spike and Mike Twisted Festival of Animation at COMIC-CON 2003 San Diego on Friday July 18th, 10:30 p.m. Room 6B and Saturday July 19th, 10:00 p.m. Room 6A. July 13, 2003 To check out the Animation World News article about Sickcom, click here. July 9, 2003 Author and comic book writer Robert Steven Rhine ("My Brain Escapes Me," "Selected Readings From Satan's Powder Room") and partner artist Frank Forte ("Li'L Pimp," "Vampire Verses") have sold their animated pilot SICKCOM to Spike & Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation. SICKCOM, an animated comedy about a serial killer's home life, was written and directed by R.S. Rhine and animated in flash by Frank Forte at their FrankenRhine Studios. The pilot episode, "Meet The Beaters," which skewers the traditional TV situation comedy, will tour with Spike & Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation at theaters across the country and on DVD. The infamous Spike & Mike helped to launch such successful series as: "South Park" and "Beavis and Butthead." Also, the second comic book in R.S. Rhine's 'humorrorific' Satan anthology, "Chicken Soup From Satan"#1 (featuring work by Steven Mannion (DC's Big Book series, Gotham Nights), will be served up in comic book stores this July, published by Forte's Asylum Press. The first issue in the 'Satan' series, "Selected Readings From Satan's Powder Room," featured artwork by John Cassaday ("Planetary," "Captain America"). FrankenRhine and Asylum Press will again be exhibitors at San Diego Comic-Con 2003. Aug. 21, 2002 "Robert Steven Rhine and Frank Forte formed FRANKENRHINE
PRODUCTIONS in "It was the end of life as we know it."
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