My Western didn't reach much audience on DVD at Blockbuster and Walmart. New ai software gives it a second life! If you like Westerns, here is your sneak peek into Vengeance Trail. You can help us finance more Westerns!

You probably didn't get a chance to see Vengeance Trail the first time round. If you like period-accurate Westerns, you're going to love this classic tale of good vs. evil! Nominated for the 2006 Golden Boot Awards "Best of the West." Al Frisch of Hollywood Guns and Props has all the props, costumes, screenplays, and even some horses and standing sets, to make many new Westerns. For you fans!

*** HINT: Click on Perks above to purchase. ***

Once upon a time, I helped make a really great Western movie that sold to Blockbuster and Walmart. Remember Blockbuster?

Here's an update to get you more excited:

Most independent movies don't make a profit, which is a simple reality with a complicated response. Vengeance Trail wasn't profitable on its first round, but that doesn't mean it can't find future audiences as a library movie. We made mistakes, but Vengeance Trail started out as a student film with low financial risk. We didn’t have movie stars and we had some technical issues that made it difficult to attract distributors back in 2006. We also didn't shoot on film, nor on a digital camera resolution that would have 'future proofed' the movie. We just didn’t sell enough DVDs to make the investors their money back, despite touring America's cowboy and Single Action Shooting Society (SASS) Competitions. Ultimately, the financiers wrote off their losses years ago. This fact has bugged me for 15 years, until new technology came out to solve almost all the technical issues. Now, it's time to raise awareness and find a new audience, for Vengeance Trail and more Westerns to come!

Here’s what I did. I borrowed an old DV deck and rescanned all 35 hours of footage. That’s 70 Mini DV tapes. Then I cut those 70 clips into all the camera takes from set, thousands, and started matching them to the trailer. I couldn’t find all the footage, so I substituted shots.

Then I used ai software by Topaz Labs to convert the footage from 480i to 1080p. Check out this Vengeance Trail Up-res Comparison.

I couldn’t separate the music from the dialogue and effects because we lost those assets, so I improvised. I hired a Sound Enrichment person, Benny DeRose of Go Big Audio, with his above-normal ears and proprietary software, to do magic with our sound track. In fact, Benny audio sweetened the whole movie already.

And I got new titles designed from a friend. Then I paid for a new poster by James Burns.

Here’s the new and improved trailer. Well, it's now a year old, and I'll tell you why in a second. A slightly more violent version is Vengeance Trail 2022 trailer (red band). We also need a new trailer that focuses on the story elements more than the gun play.

What do you think? Are you excited yet? I think Vengeance Trail is a really great movie, with heart and soul and amazing shoot-em-ups.

I’ve been working on digitally enhancing the feature film in my spare time, but it’s taking me forever. I’ve been at this for three years, all during Covid, but as you can see, the trailer is already (suddenly?) a year old. It’s time to hire some people and get this movie finished and out to the public. To finish, I'll need some money for marketing, sound sweetening, editing, color correction - let's start with $1000 to prime the pump. See the Campaign Goals for next goals and stretch goals. $10K to sweeten the sound on the whole movie, and $10K to hire an editor to finish matching the ai enhanced footage to the whole movie and do some color correction, but let's make those Stretch Goals and focus on a smaller goal to prime the pump - $5000 to pay some bills and start some marketing.

I’ll pay myself last. I've already fixed 100+ little sound artifacts and video glitches that I noticed with my fine toothed comb. Vengeance Trail is getting really improved from the already polished job the first time round.

1st Campaign GOAL: $5000 for Marketing and Friends & Neighbors Screening (scheduled for June 9 - stay tuned for audience reactions).

The first $5000 will help us prime the pump; to start spreading the word with some Facebook and Google ads and a Press Release. And, I'll be hosting a screening party at my house in Memphis on June 9 to test some improvements with friends and neighbors, and get reactions to show you.

Future Campaigns and Stretch Goals:

• edit a new trailer to showcase the dramatic tension
• match conform needed scenes with ai enhanced footage
• color correct the entire movie, since I've returned to the raw footage
• certain dialogue replacement using ai voice cloning.
• correct two overexposed scenes.
• integrate new logos into movie.
• complete Closed Captioning and subtitles.
• plan a virtual screening with filmmaker Q&A.
• throw theatrical screening parties in more cities.

I’m not much of a fan of crowdfunding, and asking friends and family for favors already got old, but maybe if y’all like what you’ve seen so far you’d be willing to wait a few months and buy a rental in advance. And invite your friends. Here’s the plan.

Vengeance Trail will rent for $3.99 this Fall, but I will Pre-Rent it to you for 25% off, or $2.99 if you pay now. The movie will sell for $11.99 this Fall, but I will Pre-Sell it to you for 25% off, or $8.99, plus add your name to the credits in a Special Thanks section.

Toward the end of the Summer, I’ll be planning Red Carpet Theatrical Screenings in Memphis, TN and Los Angeles, CA and any other cities that get enough Pre-Sales requests, because we have to fill each theater right up. There will be Q&A with various cast and crew and these events will be live streamed.

And there will be merch to purch, such as the original DVD that includes a documentary about the vintage Hollywood guns used in Vengeance Trail, "Star Guns of Western Films," starring Buck Taylor, while supplies last. And t-shirts and mugs, too.

Behind the Scenes (BTS) 

I will also be posting interviews with some of the cast and crew, and mini-documentaries of the stunts and the horses.

Release Waterfall.

The timeline of how a movie releases is called the waterfall, which is all the windows of income sources balanced with the marketing spend per window. Typically, a movie premieres in the theater with a huge marketing campaign of about half the budget of the movie. , then goes to Video on Demand (Transactional, Subscription or Ad supported VOD), then to free streaming channels such as YouTube. Here's the plan for Vengeance Trail, which could all change if the popularity gets noticed.

• June, 2023, friends and neighbors screening at my house to get some valuable early feedback, and get me enthused.
• June and July - finish the movie to the highest quality possible with the source material. Start advertising.
• End of summer 2023, plan at least 2 theatrical, one day screenings in Los Angeles and Memphis. 
• Early Fall, start selling and renting directly using Vimeo on Demand. This is when you get your 25% discounted Pre-Sale pass.
• Late Fall, submit the movie to FilmHub to make available worldwide.

If this all sounds good to you, pick a Reward to sign up now.

So now you can see that I don't quit. Help me make my investors whole. Then, let's make more Westerns

*** And if you sign up a friend, let me know and I'll send you a free digital poster, autographed by some of the cast and crew. ***

Thanks, Ian

P.S. Hollywood Guns and Props / Al Frisch is the owner of Vengeance Trail and provided the historical advisement, props, guns, costumes and some horses and sets for the movie. Hollywood Guns and Props / Al Frisch is producing a sequel to "Star Guns of Western Films" that I will announce soon, in addition to plans to release a digital version of the original.

P.S.S. TripleDare Films was the production company for Vengeance Trail.

P.S.S.S. Eyre Films is supervising the re-release of Veneance Trail. Eyre Films develops feature films in the genres of Western, Action, Thriller, Horror, and Physical Comedy.

(c)2023 Hollywood Guns and Props.