The Visitor (2011)

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©2011 FUSCO FAMILY FILMS

Night Hunter: Hunter Of The Night (2011)

When I was my son's age my favorite TV show was Sid and Marty Krofft's Land of the Lost. I now have the entire series on DVD and introduced the show to my kids (for a while it was the only show Chloe ever wanted to watch). In 2009 they remade Land of the Lost as a movie, starring Will Ferrell, and they began selling Sleestak masks. I, of course, bought one.

My Sleestak head now sits on a shelf in my basement staring at me while I work. Through some sort of mind control it commanded me to make a Fusco Family Film with it. My mind was week so I succumbed to it's demand.

My son, Casey, plays the Night Hunter. The Night Hunter hunts at night – hence the name – protecting civilization from the Night Creatures. It's like the song says…"The freaks come out at night". Only these freaks are not out to party…more like a dinner party.

To play the part of the Night Creatures I got Kim's cousin Michael. (I once shot a music video with him in 2004.) With a little editing trickery I gave the allusion that there are many Night Creatures. That's another similarity between Night Hunter and Land of the Lost. Did you know you'll never see more than three Sleestaks in any given scene from Land of the Lost? That's because the Krofft brothers only made three costumes – presumably for budgetary reasons. Now you know.

So say your prayers, let the sands of sleep embrace you and dream those pleasant dreams, because rest assured, the Night Hunter will not rest until mankind is off the menu.

©2011 FUSCO FAMILY FILMS

TEAM 12.2: The Double Double-Cross of the Dorchester Diamond (2011)

When I finished the first TEAM 12 movie (here) I had lots of people tell me I should make a sequel. I told them they were all nuts because doing it again might very well give me a heart attack – the process of directing 12 kids within a limited time frame is very stressful. Well a year went by and here I am premiering the sequel. Time heals all wounds. Obviously I love doing this stuff or I wouldn't be doing it.

We shot TEAM 12.2 on July 10th, exactly a year to the day we filmed the first TEAM 12 (Elaine – Fifi Von Vixen – brought that to my attention). Again, it was stressful wrangling the kids. Forget about continuity between shots, the order in which the kids are standing changes from scene to scene. But they were all into reprising their roles and I believe they had fun, even though the script I wrote was overly ambitious for a days shoot. I tend to do that.

There are a few surprises in this episode. Among them, you'll find out how Drop Kick and Death From Below got their names and we introduce a new villain. I hope you all enjoy it. I already have an idea for TEAM 12.3. Yes, I'm a glutton for punishment.

©2011 A FUSCO FAMILY (& FRIENDS) FILM

"That Old American Flag" (2011)

Happy Flag Day everyone! To celebrate this joyous occasion, children's music artist Billy Kelly and I made a very special video. It also stars my son, Casey, playing the role of a young Billy. So that makes it a Fusco Family Film, too!

This is the third video I shot for Billy (the other two can be seen here). When Billy sent me an advance copy of his new CD – The Family Garden – to see if any songs jumped out at me for a possible video, "That Old American Flag" was one of two. Maybe we'll get around to shooting the other one. We'll see.

In "That Old American Flag", Billy sings about the day he helped his dad plant a flag pole in front of his house, when he was a boy. I figured for the video we'll just recreate the memory and mimic the lyrics. Since a third of the song takes place in 1976, Billy had two roles to play: his dad in the flashback scenes and modern day Billy in the present day scenes. Billy's real-life dad would then play himself in the present day scenes and Billy's sister, Colleen, would also have two roles: playing Billy's mom and herself. For the role of young Billy I enlisted my son, Casey, because a.) I've worked with him before so I knew I could direct him, and b.) he was cheap – he got paid in wrestling action figures.

Luckily for me, and the production, Billy's parents never got around to remodeling the basement – perfect for a flashback scenario. And when I needed an authentic '70s car for a scene, my cousin Joe came through with his 1970 Chevy Nova. (Too bad I didn't need a shot of the exterior...it's sweet.) I think you can see in the video we had a lot of fun shooting "That Old American Flag". We even got the rest of Billy's family to join in and my friend Kevin's whole family, too. Special thanks to everyone who made this video happen, especially Billy and his dad.

USA! USA!!

Visit TheBillyKellyShow.com for more Billy Kelly info.

©2011 FUSCO FAMILY FILMS

Abominable (2011)

Here's the first FFF production of 2011. A real quickie. Took all of 3 minutes to shoot. A little longer to edit.

©2011 FUSCO FAMILY FILMS

TALKIN' WITH TED (2010)

I'm a huge fan of Sesame Street and one of my favorite skits was when a Muppet (Kermit, Grover, etc.) would talk one on one with a kid. Ever since I got my own Muppet Whatnot from FAO Schwarz in 2009, I wanted to do my own twisted version with my kids. I finally got around to doing it this past summer (above).

Here's some outtakes (below)...

"Ted on Dolphins" (TALKIN' WITH TED outtake)

"Ted on Curious George" (TALKIN' WITH TED outtake)

"Ted on Recreation" (TALKIN' WITH TED outtake)

"Ted on Bluetooth Headsets" (TALKIN' WITH TED outtake)

Jim Henson is rolling in his grave.

©2010 FUSCO FAMILY FILMS

TEAM 12: The Krazy Kidnap Kaper (2010)

I had gotten some positive feedback from family and friends on the last two Fusco Family Films – YOUNG DRACULA and THE SQUIRE, THE MAIDEN AND THE DRAGON. So when I decided to have a summer barbecue with some old friends I thought it would be fun to make a movie with them and their kids.

Of course I wrote an overly ambitious script, not taking into account that I'd have less time to shoot than my usual productions. Plus, I added 15 more actors than my usual productions – 10 of those being KIDS! Needless to say, attention spans were short and directional skills were limited...and that's just the PARENTS! (((rimshot))) But seriously folks...this meant shooting in a more "run and gun" approach so the end product is a little rough around the edges.

And here's a little fun fact: All the kidnappers in this movie also starred in one of my first movies, NUDE AND DISMEMBERED...20 years ago!

©2010 FUSCO FAMILY (& FRIENDS) FILMS

The Squire, The Maiden and The Dragon (2010)

In the middle of filming YOUNG DRACULA, Casey pitched me another idea for a movie – and I mean literally between takes. This time he wanted to play a knight that fights a dragon. I told him "We'll see"...meaning..."I'm not sure I can pull that off". But after some thought I figured I could just green screen the dragon. I'd done a little green screening on the video I shot for Billy Kelly (posted here), so I was semi-confident it would work – emphasis on "semi". Here's what we came up with.

©2010 FUSCO FAMILY FILMS

Young Dracula (2010)

Casey had so much fun making our "Sabotage" video that he came to me with a new idea…to make a Dracula movie! Beyond knowing he wanted to play Dracula he didn't know what the story should be so he put me in charge of script development. Of course I had to put my stamp on it. This is what we came up with.

©2010 Fusco Family Films

Beastie Boy - "Sabotage" (2009)

When Casey showed interest in the "70's Detective" costume at the Halloween store I was thrilled. That night I grabbed my Beastie Boys Video Anthology off the shelf and showed him the "Sabotage" video. He loved it and we watched it again and again. This secured his decision on being a 70's cop for Halloween. But the costume store only sold adult sizes so we made our own – it was easy enough. Since he was so jazzed on the video and his new costume we decided to make our own "Sabotage" video. My apologies to the Beastie Boys.

The Swinging Life of Casey Joe Fusco (2005)

Here's the very first Fusco Family Film, made before I even thought about starting Fusco Family Films. We recorded it on September 4th, 2005, when Casey was just 45 days old. It would be another four years before we'd make a second.