The latest news from THE VAMPIRES OF BLOODY ISLAND.
The funniest vamp-flick to hit DVD in bloody ages!FEBRUARY 2010
Hi. You asked us to keep you informed of all that's happening with our vampire comedy feature film "The Vampires of Bloody Island".
I can't believe it's only been two weeks since we last wrote to you. So much has happened in that short time. Namely... (fanfare please!)...
The Vampires of Bloody Island is now out and on sale across Britain, Europe and Australia!
I KNOW!!!!! We can't quite believe it ourselves! Despite it being the driving force in our lives which we've been obsessing over for six long years!
So anyway, let's back-track a little to when we last wrote to you, a mere 16 days ago!
We were just about to head off to our cast and crew screening and DVD launch party!
(Imagine your screen doing a wibbly-wobbly edit as we fade into the past. The caption appears - "16 days ago")
It had taken a bit of organising. A London venue for a party with a bar and a decent cinema screen isn't the easiest thing to find, especially on a budget! London cinemas are very expensive to hire, and most won't let you take drinks in.
We'd had a place lined up for a month, so Pamela and I had spent a few days sending out invitations to our cast, crew and contacts inviting them all to come and watch the film, have some drinks and proudly take home their very own shrinkwrapped and beautifully packaged DVD of The Vampires of Bloody Island, hot off the press as it were.
Three days before the launch party, disaster struck! Or to be less dramatic about it, 'Bloody Annoyance' struck!
The venue decided they wouldn't open for a week. They were worried about the snow!
Now cast your mind back two weeks. Yes, there was the remainder of snow around, but London was a functioning and bustling city. The snowman in our garden was melting to oblivion and the collective inhabitants of Britain were sighing a deep relief that all that nasty snow business was finally over.
We were dumbstruck!
We had the embarrassment of having to email all our guests and cancel the screening that our cast and crew had been waiting several years for! This really hurt! We felt we'd let them down. But we vowed to find a reliable venue and reorganise the event as soon as we possibly could.
Suggestions came pouring in from our cast and crew. Everyone was excited beyond belief that The Vampires of Bloody Island was finally coming out on DVD and they weren't going to miss out on a bloody good premiere and party! I spent two days running around London meeting the managers of bars, cinemas, hotels and conference halls. And then, on a suggestion from a vampire in our cast, I found the perfect place!
Invites were sent out again and arrangements were re-made. Then on Tuesday the 21st Jan, only a week later than originally intended, the event of our lives took place!
In the delightfully Gothic dungeons of The Minories at The Tower of London, the thrilled and excited cast and crew of The Vampires of Bloody Island met up again and mingled amongst the crowd for a special screening of 'The Vampires of Bloody Island' and a party to celebrate the UK, Europe and Australia launch of the film on DVD.
Wow! What a night! It was incredible to see so many of our cast and crew again after so long! Many have moved on to great things within the film industry and are now working with the sort of Hollywood names that'd make a reader of Heat magazine crumble! Pamela and I spent the night rushing around trying to have a good chat with everybody, but in the constraints of one short night we were merely able to scratch the surface!
On the stroke of eight, we all headed down to the lower dungeon and took our seats for the screening, the first time that most of our cast and crew had seen the film. There was an incredible feeling of anticipation in the cavernous room as the lights slowly dimmed and our Weird World of Wibbell logo was projected onto the giant screen above us...
For the next hour and three quarters Pamela and I sat in our seats at the back, hanging on to every gasp, every laugh, every reaction the audience made. Amongst this eager audience were the people who had shot and acted in the film. Their opinion meant the world to us. Sitting quietly at the back, no one could see the tears of joy in our eyes or how tightly we were gripping each others hand every time the audience reacted to the characters, the story, the laughs and the scares that we, and so many with us, had spent six years of our lives crafting in the script, in the shoot and finally in the edit! After an eternity of joy, the big red bloody letters "THE END" splattered up on the screen with an almighty squelch and the audience burst into an echoing thunder of applause. The end credits rolled and everyone suddenly hushed again, excited to see their names projected on the cinema screen. And then came the applause again, bigger, louder, longer than before!
Giddy with excitement, Pamela and I stepped out in front of our wonderful audience and said... Hell, I have no idea what we said! I think we thanked a lot of people. It was all a blur! As indeed was the rest of the night. We had autographs to sign, box loads of DVDs to sell, photo sessions to orchestrate, and all while still trying our best to give each and every cast, crew and guest the quality conversation time we felt they all deserved.
From the comments and feedback we received on the night and over the next few days, it's obvious that there's a real feeling of pride from the cast and crew. The consensus is that The Vampires of Bloody Island is everything it should be, a witty, funny, and incredibly entertaining British vampire comedy, and one that like all good comedies, you'll want to watch again and again and again!
Phew!
Then 6 days later, on Monday the 25th of January, The Vampires of Bloody Island went on commercial release throughout the UK, Europe and Australia!
Pardon me for saying so, but we're shitting bricks here!
We've sold over 300 DVDs on pre-release, which by all accounts is an exceedingly high number for a low budget independent film with no major star names. But now comes panic and sheer blind terror. Can we keep it up, or was that it?
My Facebook entries for the last week pretty much sum up how life is right now:
"Pamela's just bought me a stack of DVDs to sign and I've got to email a load of competition winners. I got three hours sleep last night and I'll be lucky to find the bed tonight under piles of press releases. So knackered I think I'm losing it!!!"
"Woohoo! We've just had a double page spread in the February issue of Mensa Magazine!"
"I can't believe how many people want their DVDs signed. Must be they want to copy our signatures on legal and financial documents. I'll wake up in the morning and find my signature on an agreement to give my kidneys to medical research!"
"We've had a mention on a Japanese website. Anybody out there who can read Japanese? What are they saying about us? Good or bad?"
"Woah! www.vampireshop.co.uk has asked us for more DVDs to stock. They're the first shop so far to re-order. May there be many more!"
And while all this madness is going on, now we have another major challenge. We have to crack America! But a lot more about THAT next time.
As for now, you'll no doubt want to see the pictures of the European DVD launch party, so we've stuck them up on-line for you.
And for those of you who wish to buy the film, you're in good number. It's hard to know what's happening in the shops as yet, but we've now sold over 400 DVDs of The Vampires of Bloody Island just off our website alone! That's really, really incredible!
Thank you SO much for joining us on this roller coaster of a ride!
We hope you enjoy the film.
Allin Kempthorne & Pamela Kempthorne
Knackered, happy and bewildered!
Here's that link to the photos of the launch party. Go feel the excitement!
www.wibbell.co.uk/launchparty.html--------------------------------------------
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE TRAILER NOW.
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Wherever it is you spend your time on the web we would absolutely LOVE it if you were to talk about us! We really need you to spread the word about "The Vampires of Bloody Island". We'd be delighted if you could give us a mention, a link back to here, a link to the trailer at www.bloodyisland.co.uk , a recommendation, anything. Just please, please, please help us get the word out. We'd really appreciate the time you spend. Thank you so much! It's people like you that make the world a nicer place!!
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