Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet & Five Other Movies You Should Watch This Halloween

Right now, you probably don’t know the name Frank Sabatella.  This is a shame.  Frank is a cool guy.  He’s funny, clever, a talented artist, and you; the Debonair reader should really know is that he’s a top-notch film writer, producer, and director.  If you’re into classically styled slasher flicks, that is.

Frank Sabatella wrote, produced, and directed Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet.  Long Island, 1978: A young girl named Mary Mattock gruesomely murders her family with a hatchet and is locked away for life in Long Island’s notorious Kings Park Psychiatric Center. Ten years later Mary escapes from the asylum, leaving a grizzly wake of bodies and blood. Gunned down by the police, Mary meets her own demise outside the sanitarium walls. This incident gave birth to the legend of Mary Hatchet’s walking ghost and the mischievous night named in honor of her death, BLOOD NIGHT!

Stemming from the real life Long Island legend of Mary Hatchet, “Blood Night” tells the tale of a group of teenagers enjoying their annual Blood Night festivities, when they come face to face with the reality of this haunting legend. One by one the teens begin to disappear and meet their fates. As the body count rises, so do the unanswered questions about their missing friends and the secrets of Mary’s horrifying past. Is there more to this legend than the vengeful ghost of Mary Hatchet and if so who will survive to tell the terrifying tale?

Fueled by intense and energetic performances from Nate Dushku, horror movie legends Bill Moseley & Danielle Harris, and Samantha Facchi as Mary Hatchet, audiences are in for a non-stop splatter fest filled with sex, guts, and heads that roll! Blood Night puts a neck-breaking spin on the gory and gut wrenching slasher pieces from the legendary decade of 1980’s horror!  Blood Night will be released on DVD October 30, and will be available through Amazon.com and other retailers.
While Frank and Debonair Magazine both think you should pre-order the DVD and watch it as part of your Halloween festivities, Frank also recommends 5 additional movies he feels you MUST watch, plus some other thoughts on the horror movie genre:
1.    Jennifer’s Body – it has a cool, 80’s throwback feel to it. It looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.   I’d let Megan Fox eat me.
2.    Drag Me to Hell – Sam Raimi’s latest is PG13, but it was gory, it was disgusting, it was funny, it was scary – it was like the perfect mix of chills and thrills and spills.
3.    Creepshow – This is a throwback.  It’s an anthology.  There’s five unique tales in it, and each one is a little scary and funny – great Stephen King stories done in the fashion of the old Tales from the Crypt comics, and directed by George Romero.  Ted Danson, Leslie Neilson, Ed Harris – great actors in it too!
4.    Trick or Treat – Another anthology.  Coming out in theaters limited in September, and on DVD in October.  Looks awesome!  Seems to really embody the Halloween feeling.
5.    Cabin Fever – Eli Roth’s first movie before Hostel.  Brought back the wide-release rated R horror movie.  Coming out of bad horror from the 90’s – it was low budget, scary, gory, funny, good production value, great dialog, the entire soundtrack from The Last House of the Left – it just kicked ass!

While most of may get to see Blood Night on the small screen only, the grass roots promotion by the small, independent distribution house Chaos Squared makes it feel like a big budget flick.  In fact, Blood Manor a haunted house located on 27th Street between 10th & 11th in Manhattan has an entire room dedicated to the film starring Mary Hatchet.  The use of MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites also help it along.  To see it on a bigger screen you’ll have to catch it at one of many film festivals in places like Sacramento, Erie, and Orlando among others.

Frank’s next project after Blood Night?  He isn’t sure.  After putting two years of his heart and soul into this project it’s hard for him to imagine doing anything else.  He’s writing two stories which he hopes to turn into movies.  Frank also bottles his own red wine, and enjoys cooking at home.  He was even kind enough to share with us one recipe which he calls Silence of the Lamb Chops.  Could a side career in the culinary arts be in Frank’s future?  “Probably not,” he says.  That is something he’ll keep for himself.