Two years ago, future award winning director of "Jerry and Tom", Shane May had written a short play for an event in which all of the action had to happen in or around a car. Unfortunately his play was not selected for the event. However, the script was far too good to just throw away so Shane decided to make a short film out of it for the Happy Penguin Film Festival.

In the fall of 1999 we got out our little Sony digital cameras, went out into the countryside and started shooting. This became Vertigo's first film, known as "A Silent Afternoon". The story is the second story in a trilogy. The first story was called "An Evening At Joey's" which was the first play Vertigo preformed. It was shown at the 1999 Happy Penguin Film Festival. A little bit of Vertigo trivia for you trivia buffs.

Anyway, "A Silent Afternoon" is the story of two thugs, Miles and Eddie, played by "Jerry and Tom" cast members Rick Dahl and Gary Keast, who run out of gas in the middle of nowhere. To complicate matters they have a dead body in the trunk of the car. Steven J. Kinney co-stars as a man whose life has recently taken a turn for the worse. With tension mounting all three characters eventually encounter one another during the surprising climax. Shane May, Andy Walerak, and Charron McLeod also make appearances.

"A Silent Afternoon" was such a rewarding experience that it inspired us to start looking at other ideas for movies.

After shooting of "A Silent Afternoon" Rick and Shane challenged each other to write a short play to be preformed at the 1999 Happy Penguin Film Festival. Shane wrote the aforementioned "An Evening At Joey's", and Rick wrote a little show called "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of". Although the show was never preformed as a live show we thought it would be a waste not to do something with this wonderful script.

So in the summer of 2000 the cameras started rolling again. Rick was able to get his stars Deb Hill Fuehrer and Shane May to spend some beautiful summer days in a dark warehouse, which was known as "The LoVEuGLY", from dawn to dusk. Rick was also able to sign Ray Bills on as a production manager and between the two of them the days went by quickly.

"The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" is the story of a woman whose time is about to run out unless she can reveal the whereabouts of a suitcase filled with the stuff that dreams are made of. Unfortunately, she threw the suitcase out a window of her apartment into a passing truck. Now she must outwit her kidnapper and escape before it's too late. This psychological thriller was director Rick Dahl's first of hopefully many films to come.

Throughout the time between "A Silent Afternoon" and the present Shane May and Andy Walerak have been working on a series of films known as "Revelation X". The first was a trailer shown at the 1999 Happy Penguin Film Festival. It became a preview of what was to soon to come. It starred Ted St. Mane, Shane May, and Andy Walerak as a group of hunters searching for a demon, played by Micheal Dennis Johnson.

Then in the summer of 2000 the Vertigo crew and about fifteen zombies went back to the dark warehouse, strangely named "The LoVEuGLY", where Rick had shot his film and began shooting "Revelation X: In The Head". Ted St. Mane, Shane May, and Andy Walerak reprized their roles as the hunters of evil once more. Eric Donaldson joined the cast as "the camera man". Did I mention there were about fifteen zombies?! It took them about three hours to all get into the wonderful makeup created by Missy Hayes.

Anyway the story takes place through the camera of an aspiring filmmaker who happens to stumble into a battle between the hunters and a horde of zombies. Guns, swords, crossbolts, fists, blood, vomit... everything you could ask for in a five minute movie.

With "Revelation X: In The Head" completed it was time to move on to the last Vertigo film shot. Yes, you guessed it, another "Revelation X" film. This time from the mind of Shane May. Shane decided that he wanted to do a Christmas special with lots of holiday spirit, so he wrote a little tale about carolers and loved ones and guys with Santa Claus hats hunting down a vampire in a preschool. Thus it was born, "Revelation X: Home For The Holidays".

Ted St. Mane and Andy Walerak once again put on the long coats and Steven J. Kinney accepted the mantle of Cain as our trio went out to hunt down evil once more. Aaron Rocklyn played our vampire, Sydney, whose only wish was to spend one more Christmas with his ailing daughter. Add some special effects make-up by Mindy and Christy Mauskemo. Throw in a rotating roster of carolers led by Scot Schwark and you've got a Christmas to remember.

Well I hope you enjoyed this little look back at Vertigo Pictures. What is in store for the future? Good question. Shane is currently working on a golf script to shoot this year and Andy has a new "Revelation X" script completed as well as a few other "Revelation X" scripts in the works. The future is looking good. Hmmm, now if we could only stop being so outstanding at these theatre festivals...

Look for more information about upcoming film projects here as well as some stories from the films mentioned on this page in the coming weeks. Who knows, maybe you too can be on the big screen.