Halloween 2009

I was Sweeny Todd for Halloween this year. It seemed appropriate that I portray a serial killer. At the first party I met up with my niece, Amanda who was Mrs. Lovett, so we had a great conversation about how to make pies of people. Who would of known that a friend of Sweeny's would be at the party, Hannibal Lector.

The second party was a blast where Sweny found more victims to relieve his blood lust.

My kind of town

Chicago has been showing me some love. Below are new reviews of Holmes and Fish.

Horror Yearbook - SHU-IZMZ - Horror Society

Keep an ear open for John appearing on SHUIZMZ Radio soon.

John with Kelsey Zukowski from HorrorYearbook.com and Horrormoviefans.com.
2009 Chicago Horror Film Festival

October 09 update

The Chicago Horror Film Festival was held at the Portage theater this last weekend, Sept. 25 thru 27 and was a fantastic event. The program listed me as"John Borowski Presents...", which is awesome as a friend of mine once told me that I should distribute other filmmaker's dvd's as "John Borowski Presents", I guess it's a nod to Hitchcock. At the fest, I unveiled the new dvd artwork for H.H. Holmes (now includes the awards won on the bottom 1/4 of the cover art.) as well as autographed DVD's and was on stage to screen trailers, discuss Panzram and also had a Q&A with Mr. Willy, the fest's host. I encourage more people to check out the Portage Theater as they screen many classic films in 35mm, like the classic "The Bat" which is screening soon. http://www.portagetheater.org/


Since moving back to Chicago from Los Angeles, I have attended several festivals here in Chicago. It is so great to be welcomed back to my home town. In future blogs I will discuss bot the highs and lows of living in LA. I actually miss some aspects of it now, Amoeba music being the number one thing I miss- there are now music stores in Chicago! Since the closing of Tower and Virgin, there is only Best Buy. I am on the search for smaller music stores which sell vinyl and used cd's/dvd's. I know Evanston has some music stores.

Panzram is moving forward. Panzram's case is the most research heavy film I had done so far. I have a mountain of paperwork. Panzram fascinates me more than any other subject as there is no one label that can define him.Every time I work on the film, I am discovering new aspects of Panzram's personality. The next steps are to shoot in Minnesota and record John DiMaggio's voice.

Marc Levits' has chosen me to author the DVD for his excellent film, Feast of the Assumption: The Otero Family Murders. More info here: http://feastoftheassumption.unsubfilms.com/

This month, I will be interviewing the owners of a house on the property where H.H. Holmes murdered Howard Pitezel for inclusion in a Holmes special edition DVD.

Apple makes it impossible for indies to get their work on itunes.

It really sucks that we can edit with their software but not have our films distributed through their itunes store.

http://cinematech.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-get-your-indie-film-on-itunes.html

Check out Createspace for the best distribution outlet for indie filmmakers through Amazon.com.

Download Serial Killers

January, 2009 marks the first time ever that I have entered the digital download phase of distribution of H.H. Holmes and Albert Fish. Amazon.com has opened amazing opportunities for independent filmmakers by allowing filmmakers to rent and sell their films online via digital downloads. For $1.99 you can rent the films and view for up to 7 days. For $9.99 you can download and own the films.

Here are the links: H.H. Holmes - Albert Fish


These are the only legal downloads of these films which I have personally authorized. Purchasing the digital downloads from Amazon and purchasing the DVD's from the official sites are the only methods I approve for viewing and purchasing these films.

I also recommend any independent filmmaker who wishes to distribute their films get in contact with Amazon and pursue these same distribution methods. I author DVD's if you need these services. The great aspect of downloads and print/view on demand is that the filmmaker authors a DVD then incurs to further out-of-pocket costs. The filmmaker receives a profit which can be verified online, there are no hiden fees or marketing fees, which is a huge problem with the traditional distribution process.

These methods of distribution are the future of independent filmmaking.