JD’s 10 Personal Favourite Christmas Films

by JD Stanley 0 Comments
JD’s 10 Personal Favourite Christmas Films

Christmas films?  I know, I know.  For no other reason than it’s that time of year and we love watching films of any kind, I was thinking about my own favourite Christmas films.

A lot of my personal faves aren’t what regular people would consider your traditional Christmas films in the realm of “It’s a Wonderful Life”, etc.  But then again, my tastes are eclectic on a good day and major holidays tend to show up the weird in me, so the list runs from horror to action to family genres all mixed up together.

So, in no particular order and heavily from my favourites since I’m writing the list (ha!), here are my 10 favourite Christmas films OR more correctly, films-I-like-to-watch-at-holiday-time-because-while-they’re-not-really-about-Christmas-they-happen-to-take-place-at-that-time-of-year-and-the-setting-makes-me-want-to-watch-them.

 (1) Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010, Finland) In the depths of the Korvatunturi mountains, 486 metres deep, lies the closest ever guarded secret of Christmas. The time has come to dig it up! This Christmas everyone will believe in Santa Claus.
 
 (2) Die Hard (1988) John McClane, officer of the NYPD, tries to save his wife Holly Gennaro and several others that were taken hostage by German terrorist Hans Gruber during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.
 
 (3) Black Christmas (1974) During their Christmas break, a group of sorority girls are stalked by a stranger.
 
 (4) A Christmas Story (1983) In the 1940s, a young boy named Ralphie attempts to convince his parents, his teacher, and Santa that a Red Ryder B.B. gun really is the perfect Christmas gift.
 
 (5) The Santa Clause (1994) When a man inadvertently kills Santa on Christmas Eve, he finds himself magically recruited to take his place.
 
 (6) Lethal Weapon (1987) A veteran policeman, Murtaugh, is partnered with a younger, suicidal officer, Riggs. They both have one thing in common: hating working in pairs. Now they must learn to work with one another to stop a gang of drug smugglers.
 
 (7) Edward Scissorhands (1990) A gentle man, with scissors for hands, is brought into a new community after living in isolation.
 
 (8) The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, but his attempts to bring Christmas to his home cause confusion.
 
 (9) Gremlins (1984) A boy inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town.

This last film made it onto the list as a last second addition with Sam Willison’s explanation of “only in that it’s bonkers”.  Not quite sure what that means, but she loves it and it’s a messed-up story, so the judges have allowed it.

(10) Santa Claus (1959)
With the aid of Merlin, Santa Claus must defeat the evil machinations of the devil Pitch to ruin Xmas.

 

 

 

Happy holidays everyone!

Fundraising – Shop Bony Fiddle, help indie film

Shop ’til you drop… your camera

In having a look at the fundraising for indie film we started a few weeks ago, we decided it wasn’t easy enough for anyone to shop.  Personally, I love to shop online and I hate when it requires a lot of digging for links and clicking around – super annoying.  We figured the least we could do is present what we have to offer as we roll out the campaigns in a no-nonsense way.

So we created a Bony Fiddle Represent store.  Seemed like the easiest way to go at that. (*BF Represent store closed Dec 2023)

Bony Fiddle T-shirt - fundraising, support horror indie filmBony Fiddle T-shirt - fundraising, support sci-fi indie film

 

As each subsequent campaign is created over the coming weeks, we’ll add them to the store.  Once we get through all the genres, they’ll be some further film-related offerings (still working on those) which we’ll also add to the store for you, so they’ll be easy to find later.

Shop the Bony Fiddle Represent Store today and help us fund some awesome indie film productions.  They’re waiting on our help.

Shirts are created and shipped at the conclusion of each fundraising round (7 days each) and remember, we can’t print until the orders are in.  Hit the link today and reserve your order for a great tee.

You can feel great knowing that your contribution will help the indie film community.  Shop for you or a friend.  These high quality shirts last through the wash, feature the Bony Fiddle logo, and make good gifts for anyone who supports the arts.

 

Fundraising – Campaign 2 in support of Sci-Fi Indie Film

The collective of sci-fi fans unite!

This week we’ve launched round 2 in our series of Represent fundraising campaigns in support of indie films by genre.  The focus this time is on sci-fi! You can find the Represent fundraising campaign here:  Support Sci-Fi Indie Film  (*BF Represent store closed Dec 2023)

Bony Fiddle T-shirt - fundraising, support sci-fi indie film, green Bony Fiddle T-shirt - fundraising, support sci-fi indie film, orange

This is why we’re fundraising…

Over time, we just keep stumbling across the most amazing, well-written, fabulous, insightful, quirky, cheeky, ghoulish, bloody, disgusting independent film productions from teams of extremely talented individuals from all over the world.  And we love it as much as we hate it, because we just can’t help enough of them.  So many of these guys should already be making big-budget films or have been signed-on to produce a Netflix or major network t.v. series, but their work isn’t getting seen.  The underlying problem?  They’re being held back by lack of funding.  We believe these artists deserve the opportunity to take their shot and we’re going to help them do it.

About this fundraising campaign

For our second Represent fundraising campaign, the focus is in support of another genre Blair and I cut our teeth on – sci-fi.  As a kid, I stewed myself in reading Isaac Asimov, H.G. Wells and Arthur C. Clarke, watched Star Trek from the time it launched on television in 1966 and saw Star Wars debut at the drive-in in 1977 and it blew my mind.  As I pursued writing, the entire first half of my career was focussed on sci-fi and I dreamed of being the next Asimov.  Blair has been an X-Files and Aliens fanatic I’m pretty sure since birth (we’re not even sure he’s quite human to be honest), has written sci-fi short stories and screenplays for years and can’t hold back the aliens that continually creep into his prop-making.

Won’t you help us support these independent film productions waiting to be made?  Profits from the sale of all tees go directly into our fundraising pool to support more solid and deserving independent productions.

Shirts will be created and shipped at the conclusion of each fundraising round and we can’t print until the orders are in, so there’s no time to lose!  Hit the link today and get your order in for a great tee and know that your contribution will help the indie film community.

All the shirts in the series feature the Bony Fiddle logo and the target genre.  As we go along, once the initial campaigns run for a couple of weeks, we’ll work to add more colours and some different styles for a bit of variety.  After the initial fundraising for each genre, we also hope to run them in perpetuity in the background.  If you love them, you’ll be able to come back to create more orders whenever you like and know all your contributions will continue to help out some great crews who need our support to get their productions off the ground.

 

Fundraising – in support of Horror Indie Film

Fundraising – in support of Horror Indie Film

Fundraising – in support of Horror Indie Film

Listen up horror fans!

Today we’re launching the first of a series of Represent fundraising campaigns in support of indie film by genre.  Say what?  Yup, you heard us.

You can find the Represent fundraising campaign here:  Support Horror Indie Film (*BF Represent store closed Dec 2023)

Bony Fiddle T-shirt - fundraising, support horror indie film

Here’s the fundraising deal…

We keep stumbling across the most amazing, well-written, fabulous, quirky, cheeky, ghoulish, bloody, disgusting independent film productions from teams of extremely talented individuals from all over the world and we just can’t help enough of them.  We’re talking crews who should have already hit the big time, but they’re being held back by lack of funding.  It’s just not fair.  These artists deserve the opportunity to take their shot and we aim to help them do it.

For our first Represent fundraising campaign, we’re starting off in support of horror film – a genre near and dear to our cold, undead hearts.  We love it and we know you do, too.  Won’t you help us support these films waiting to be made?  Profits from the sale of all tees will go into our fundraising pool to support more solid and deserving independent productions.
Shirts will be created and shipped at the conclusion of the fundraising campaign and we can’t print until the orders are in, so there’s no time to lose!  Hit the link today and get your order in for a great tee and know that your contribution will help the indie film community.

Support Horror Indie Film Today!

All the shirts in the series will feature the Bony Fiddle logo and the target genre.  As we go along, once the initial campaigns run for a couple of weeks, we’ll work to add more colours and some different styles for a bit of variety.  After the initial fundraising for each genre, we also hope to run them in perpetuity in the background.  If you love them, you’ll be able to come back and create more orders whenever you like knowing all your contributions will continue to help out some great crews who need our support to get their productions off the ground.

Limited Edition Concept T-Shirts by Bony Fiddle

Limited Edition Concept T-Shirts by Bony Fiddle

Get yours today and support indie film!

Help us test new designs and pick up some cool shirts while you’re at it all while supporting the indie film community.  We’re always looking for new things to offer and we figured the best way to find out what you want is to just ask.

Here’s your chance to let us know – check it out!  (*BF Fabrily store is closed)

Limited Edition Concept T-Shirts – available now! And while you’re looking good, know that you’re supporting the indie film community with your t-shirt purchase. so it’s guilt-free! We have a lot of productions coming up that we’ll be lending our hands to and you can help make those happen.

You can’t get these in stores

these are Bony Fiddle originals

Each one of these Limited Edition Concept T-Shirts is designed by our own Blair Mueller and Sam Willison for your amusement and wearing pleasure.

 

Campaigns are running 10 days only per design, so don’t delay. Popular designs will be re-run for anyone who’s interested and may have missed the first run.

*****Visit the T-Shirt order form to choose your size*****

We’re working on a variety of new shirt designs in several of our (and your) favourite themes like zombies and vampires. Check back often for the latest designs to come off the Bony Fiddle drawing board.

Head on over to the Bony Fiddle t-shirt campaigns with our friends at Fabrily (*BF Fabrily store is closed) and don’t miss your chance to pick yourself up one of our limited edition concept t-shirts today!

Support indie film!

Bony Fiddle Development – Film, SFX, Theatre Merge

by Blair Mueller


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With this season’s stage shows now complete, we’ll continue forward with our development plans to solidify all our individual areas of interest. Most important, this includes focus on the film side – the beating heart of Bony Fiddle. Right now, the separate elements are sort of loosely associated by sheer will power and some gaffer tape. Time to roll up the sleeves and get back at it!
Our next appearance will be at the Toronto Zombie Walk and Halloween Parade where Bony Fiddle is a featured Krewe in the parade. We’ll be walking in style as the Addams Family – being a “family business” ourselves, we thought it appropriate. We’re all partial to the TO Zombie Walk, Halloween and the Addams Family, so what’s not to love, right? You can see us live (undead?) and in person on Saturday October 25, 2014. The parade is always a tonne of fun, so make some time to come check it out.
Our first two stage shows were two very different birds, but that’s the way we roll. We’ll continue to explore our versatility and on the theatre side in future, we’ll be bringing another very different story to the stage. Although it’s going to take quite a bit of work before we get close to making this one a reality, what we envision for a larger theatre production is one part drama, one part romance, a dash of horror, with large side order of… werewolf.
Yeah, that’s right. I said werewolf.

Terminator SFX


Could be the film background or love of SFX that’s driving us to tackle this challenge just so we can prove to ourselves we could do it, but seems like an awesome idea. We’re on a mission to do what no theatre production has done before (at least that we know about and trust me, we’ve looked!). We want to have a real live transformation from man to beast on stage, right before the audiences’ eyes. Seriously. I can see it in my head. No camera tricks, no sneakiness, just pure mechanics and SFX to the max. I know it can be done, we just have to figure it out.
Our amazing make-up team Sean George, Eleanor MacVeigh, and Eden Kontrimas are very excited to dive in and tackle this huge challenge and bring this beast to life. Get out your clay and sculpting tools, because for this, it’s go big or go home! We’ll be meeting about it next week to see what it would take. Going to be a few years in the making I think, but we’ll keep working on it in the background.
camera
At our core we’re film makers, so lots of film development on the horizon going into the 2015 season and beyond. Our long-neglected YouTube channel will get some love and you’ll see fresh videos coming your way. So much goes on behind the scenes that’s out of your view, so we thought it would be cool to let you in on some of that, so you can see what we’re doing in the spaces between shows. Be sure to bookmark the Bony Fiddle YouTube channel and stay tuned.
aliens-28981_1280
We’re already talking about a web series and while we’re not sure where that will end up, I have a strong feeling this will be in the sci-fi genre. I’m sure Sean will be thrilled. Can you just hear this conversation? “Okay, so Sean add this to your to-do list – aliens, alien technology props, figure out another language to paint on everything that would have text and maybe can you whip up a space ship?” Just kidding. I really have no idea where that’s going at this point, but starting to narrow it down. We’ll let you know!
And of course, you know I love special effects, props and FX make-up for film myself from my FX channel, so according to plan, we’ll be rolling that into the Bony Fiddle company proper going into next year. Along with a website and blog overhaul, by the end of it, you’ll be able to find everything all in one place.
Stick around and see what happens!

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