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Bold textGeno McGahee

Geno McGahee (Born August 10th, 1974) is an American filmmaker, director, screenwriter and producer. McGahee owns ScaredStiffReviews.com and is the Managing Editor for RingsideReport.com and NewzBreaker.com. He has been featured on IFC, Fangoria, MTV, FOX News, and various other publications. He lives in Western Massachusetts and is the owner of XPosse Productions. He is married and the father of two.

The Early Years

He began filming at the age of 12, creating horror skits ranging from slasher themes to alien invasions. In 1995, McGahee filmed a safety movie at Roy Rogers, his employer at the time, called “NIGHTMARE ON THE MASS PIKE,” featuring McGahee in the role of an escaped lunatic obsessed with safety, willing to kill anyone that doesn’t work as they should.

In 1996, McGahee filmed “AN EVIL AWAKENING,” a 45-minute ad-libbed slasher film featuring a ridiculous plot and hilariously bad acting and production value. Despite its shortcomings, the film found success locally with copies of the film floating around and people showing interest. Other ad-libbed skits at the times ranged from whodunits like “GO BANG DICK: THE MOVIE” and “ALIEN’S BIG WHITE ASS,” but in 2001, things would change and XPosse Productions was officially born.

Micro-Budget Slashers & Monsters

Initially set to be a sequel to the 1996 “AN EVIL AWAKENING”, McGahee began filming, but this time it was not ad-libbed. After the first day of shooting, the decision was made to forget the idea of a sequel and making a full length horror film as its own entity. EVIL AWAKENING was filmed in the summer of 2001, with many of the characters returning from the original 1996 entry. Although it was not officially a sequel, the film did reference it often. When it was released on DVD, both the 1996 and 2001 films were included.

In 2003, McGahee attempted to make a step forward with “RISE OF THE SCARECROWS,” a monster movie with a more complex plot than EVIL AWAKENING. Unfortunately, the movie was plagued with unreliable actors that didn’t learn the lines, leading to many revisions of the script and many changes that hurt the storyline. The film would not be completed until 2006 and it was enough to convince McGahee to leave film and not return, but that would change in 2008.

The Boxing Show & Live Boxing

In 2004, McGahee would start covering the sport of boxing as a journalist, leading to a job the following year at RingsideReport.com. In 2005, McGahee would do a video interview with Micky Ward, followed by video interviews with Jose Antonio Rivera and Sean Fitzgerald. In 2006, McGahee would write, direct and produce “THE BOXING SHOW”, a talk show with various segments, including comedic sketches featuring pugilists. It showed McGahee’s comedic writing ability and proved incredibly popular. THE BOXING SHOW ran one season with six episodes before McGahee opted to refocus on film production. That same year, he also took over as the Managing Editor at RSR a post, he holds still.

McGahee covered live events, directing and doing the commentary for local fight cards, including Butterbean versus Joe Siciliano on March 9, 2007.

Distribution & A New Chapter

Tempe Entertainment would pick up both EVIL AWAKENING and RISE OF THE SCARECROWS for distribution in 2008, bringing the micro-budget horror films into the mom and pop shops, Netflix and Amazon.com, and it was the sign for McGahee to return to film. He would film SCARY TALES in 2008, an anthology featuring five tales. It was shot quickly in the summer, but would never be released as McGahee began filming another movie called “FAMILY SECRET.”

The production level was stepped up dramatically, new actors were brought in, and the most complex, difficult, and time-consuming production was launched. XPosse Productions with Webhead Entertainment (Alex Pierpaoli) joined forces to produce a whodunit slasher, featuring an old lady killer (Granny Killer) taking out members of the lead character’s family. The schedule was grueling, starting in May of 2009 and ending in late October of 2009, with the average shooting day being 14 hours. In the end, the production cost $14,000 to produce and would take 8 months to edit before having its premiere in Wallingford, Connecticut to a packed house. A follow up showing in Monson, Massachusetts, would bring another mob of people, curious to see what the local filmmaker and his crew could produce. A deal was struck with Tempe Entertainment to distribute FAMILY SECRET and it was released on March 22, 2011.

MADMAN MARZ – Classic Slasher Returns

In 2010, the 1982 classic slasher “MADMAN” was re-released in a 30th anniversary DVD set. Part of the set was a documentary that featured McGahee speaking of his love of the film and the impact it had on his film career. EVIL AWAKENING was has a lot of MADMAN influence and the 1982 gem was one of McGahee’s favorite slasher entries.

A Remake & Controversy

In the summer of 2010, McGahee would reshoot SCARY TALES. There was a complete re-write of the screenplay and the film featured mostly different actors from the initial film. The film was shot in five weekends and would be the first film in the XPosse catalog to feature CGI and an official musical score. It proved to be a step up from the other films and a step in the right direction. SCARY TALES would win the HORROR-ON-SEA Film Festival in the UK.

In 2011, SICKLE would be produced. After writing a zombie film, McGahee elected to make his monster movie instead. SICKLE brought the grim reaper to the screen and featured the twists and turns that FAMILY SECRET had provided, but in a smoother and softer package. The movie has proven to get the most attention out of any of the McGahee films and he believes that the film lives up to the hype and expectations. The release of both SCARY TALES and SICKLE are expected in late 2013 or early 2014.

2012 would bring McGahee’s most controversial film, a 17-minute movie called “LONE GUNMAN.” The film surrounded a school shooting manufactured by the government and promoted by the media, but exposed by two journalists that would later encounter the darker side of the machine that runs the world. It would place as a “runner up” in the Alex Jones INFOWARS.COM Operation Paul Revere Film Festival, making the initial cut but failing to make the finals.

Directing a Drama

In 2012, McGahee was hired by MilkMan Productions to direct the drama “THE COWBOY AND THE TAVERN.” It would be the first time that McGahee would direct something that he did not write or produce and proved to be a new experience across the board. The film would survive some stumbling blocks along the way, but would be filmed, completed and edited with a release date to be determined.

Shriekfest Film Festival & HEAD HUNTER

McGahee’s HEAD HUNTER screenplay would place in the semi-finals of the Shriekfest Film Festival in California. The screenplay overcame over 700 other submissions to take its spot before being eliminated.

HORROR TALK with Gruesome Hertzogg & Geno McGahee

In 2013, McGahee appeared on the first episode of Gruesome Hertzogg’s HORROR TALK as a guest. He was then asked to become a co-host and has been doing a weekly show with horror personalities to talk about the genre and the films of the past, present and future. The show became incredibly popular and is continually doing large numbers both in listens and in downloads.

Body of Work

Films EVIL AWAKENING (2001) – Directed/Written/Produced RISE OF THE SCARECROWS (2004) – Directed/Written/Produced BELIEVING MAN CAN SEE: MIKE TYSON (2004) – Co-Written SCARY TALES (2008) – Directed/Written/Produced FAMILY SECRET (2009) - Directed/Written/Produced SCARY TALES –remake- (2010) – Directed/Written/Produced SICKLE (2011) – Directed/Written/Produced COWBOY AND THE TAVERN (2012) – Directed LONE GUNMAN (2013) - Directed/Written/Produced Video Interviews: MICKY WARD/JEFF FRAZA INTERVIEW (9/2005) – Directed/Written/Produced JOSE ANTONIO RIVERA INTERVIEW (7/2006) – Directed/Written/Produced SEAN “FITZY” FITZGERALD INTERVIEW (8/2006) – Directed/Written/Produced Live Boxing Events JOE SICILIANO – JAMAINE WARNER FIGHT CARD (6/2006) – Directed/Produced BUTTERBEAN – JOE SICILIANO FIGHT CARD (3/9/2007) – Directed/Produced The Boxing Show EPISODE 1 (8/2006) – Directed/Written/Produced EPISODE 2 (9/2006) - Directed/Written/Produced EPISODE 3 (11/2006) – Directed/Written/Produced EPISODE 4 (2/2007) – Directed/Written/Produced EPISODE 5 (4/2007) – Directed/Written/Produced EPISODE 6 (5/2007) – Directed/Written/Produced

THE HORROR SHOW with Gruesome Hertzogg & Geno McGahee

EPISODE 1 (4/28/2013) – Guest EPISODE 2 (5/6/2013) – Co-Host/Co-Director EPISODE 3 (5/12/2013) – Co-Host/Co-Director EPISODE 4 (5/17/2013) – Co-Host/Co-Director EPISODE 5 (5/19/2013) – Co-Host/Co-Director EPISODE 6 (5/24/2013) – Co-Host/Co-Director EPISODE 7 (6/30/2013) – Co-Host/Co-Director EPISODE 8 (7/16/2013) – Co-Host/Co-Director EPISODE 9 (7/17/2013) – Co-Host/Co-Director

Appearances

MADMAN Documentary (2010) Rock 102 WMAS 94.7