YOU Can Win a SOCKET DVD from FANGORIA.COM!!!

Our favorite horror film website, Fangoria.com is giving away 10 SOCKET dvds!!!

To enter, just go here and type in your name and contact information (be sure to complete all fields). The deadline for entries is April 2, 2008.

Good luck!

INSTINCT gives SOCKET a "gleefully naughty" 3 star review!

The gleefully naughty INSTINCT magazine has reviewed SOCKET in the March 2008 issue (featuring their first look at fresh fashion for spring!) Beige is back! Who knew? Check it out - on newsstands now!

See SOCKET in SAN DIEGO!

SOCKET will be screening on Monday April 14 at 7:20PM as part of FilmOut San Diego's "Thriller/Camp Night". Many cast and crew members will be on hand to celebrate.

Also screening as part of the fest: Darren Stein's COLOR ME OLSEN and Michael Simon's GAY ZOMBIE (both Saturday April 12 • 2:15 pm as part of BOY'S SHORTS); Rob Williams' BACK SOON starring Matthew Montgomery (Sunday, April 13th • 4:15 pm), Jaymes Thompson's THE GAY BED & BREAKFAST OF TERROR featuring lots of SOCKET folks including Derek Long (Monday, April 14th • 9:30 pm) and other great features and shorts.

Check it all out here.

SOCKET in FANGORIA Print Edition

Run to a newsstand near you to pick up FANGORIA # 271 - featuring a full-page article on SOCKET!

Zorro vs. The Christmas Train

Our dog Zorro (seen in SOCKET along with our other adopted rescue Buck) is OBSESSED with the train under our Christmas tree, so much so that he gets upset when the train derails. Enjoy this short sample of Zorro's obsession.

Friends of Velvet Candy : Mary Edwards

On a recent trip to New York City, we were happily reunited (and it felt so good) with our old friend MARY EDWARDS. The fabulous Ms. Edwards is a composer, arranger, songwriter and performer whose performances have been described as "...sensual, sonic architecture..." (Corinne Drewery of Swing Out Sister!!!) and "...songs evocative of 1960s cinematic soundtracks combined with the gorgeous intimacy of the 1970s singer-songwriter era..." (Time Out Magazine).

Mary's debut cd, A SMILE IN THE MIND (available for sale on her website) is a gorgeous example of what music SHOULD sound like. As others may have implied, if Carole King and Burt Bacharach ever had a love child, then Mary Edwards just might have been the result! Check her out here: Mary Edwards Sound/Architecture

The SCREENING PARTY Trailer

Unfortunately had to be removed from YouTube due to music clearance issues.
I hope everyone who got to see it did enjoy it.

SOCKET wins 2nd Place Juried Prize in Indianapolis!!!

The Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival honors two films with the AT&T Pioneers: Best of Festival Awards. The field was narrowed down to five contenders by the film selection committee and then those five were presented to a panel of judges for a final decision. The winning films were a announced at the Premiere Party Event!

Congratulations to Director Sean Abley for winning the AT&T Pioneers second place with SOCKET!!!

Chicago Sun-Times covers SOCKET

Lesbian, gay fest will plug in to 'Socket'

November 4, 2007
BY MISHA DAVENPORT

It's hard to say what is more shocking about "Socket" -- the film's sci-fi/horror plot or that it's even being featured in Reeling 2007: The 26th annual Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival.

It's not that there isn't a Chicago connection with the film. Sean Abley, who wrote, directed and has a small part, is one of the founding members of the Factory Theater.

"He's definitely exploring new territory," says Brenda Webb, founder of Reeling, which begins Thursday at Landmark Century and runs through Nov. 18 at assorted theaters. "I know it won't necessarily be everyone's cup of tea."

"What can I say? I'm a big horror movie fan and an even bigger fan of [director] David Cronenberg," Abley says sheepishly with a laugh.

Cronenberg is best known for the 1986 remake of "The Fly" as well as "Crash," "eXistenZ" and "Scanners." He is credited with popularizing the film genre known as "body horror."

Abley's 2007 feature pays homage to Cronenberg in plot, tone and visual imagery. The film's plot centers on Bill Matthews (Derek Long), a gay surgeon who falls in with a group of people who all survived being struck by lightning and now purposely juice themselves with electric current.

"Horror for me isn't something that's coming at me, but rather what's inside me," Abley says. "There is something creepy about people doing something horrible to their bodies on purpose."

While some will see the lead character's descent into addiction as a metaphor for crystal methamphetamine usage at gay circuit parties, Abley says that wasn't the case. "On some level, it is a story about addiction. They try it, they like it, they continue to use it," he says. "But this was really about how Cronenberg incorporates science with the biological. That was more a jumping off point for me than circuit parties."

Abley first began to develop the idea for what would eventually become his film while still living in Chicago about 10 years ago.

"I kept seeing sockets coming out of human flesh and people plugging themselves in," he says.

When his career stalled in Hollywood, Abley dug up the outline for "Shocker" and wrote the screenplay.

"I took it to my agent, and he didn't want to send it out," he says. "He was worried I would be branded a gay writer. This coming from a gay agent."

There was a subtle, institutionalized homophobia in the industry, he says. "I was writing for a lot of children's TV and animation. While there is no lack of gay writers in television or film in Hollywood, there was a lack of gay shows or films."

Abley received a lot of offers for the script, but all of them were contingent on him making the characters straight.

"This was before 'Brokeback Mountain' broke everything open, and I don't really know why I was so stubborn," he says.

The film sat in a desk drawer for another few years before Abley finally took it back out and decided to produce and direct it himself. "I kept thinking about everything we were able to accomplish at the Factory Theater and figured if we could write and produce plays there, I should be able to make films."

Abley shot the film in nine days with a $100,000 budget. It has played other spots on the gay film festival circuit, where it has polarized audiences.

"The film is the sort of film you either love or hate," he says. "It's been criticized because the characters' sexuality isn't a plot point and because the two main characters aren't always likable. That makes it different than 90 percent of the gay films out there, and I don't mind that."