“Ridiculously fun to watch.”
Fangoria Magazine

“The energy and enthusiasm of Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste.“
Cold Fusion Video Reviews

“Funniest sci-fi film in years.”
SFX Magazine

“Criminally unseen 1997 and quite frankly, mind-spankingly hilarious.”
The Film Fiend

“A movie that midnight screenings were invented for.”
Skullring

“Wonderfully engaging, thoroughly hilarious end of the world nuttiness.”
DVDTalk

“5.5 out of 10. Fuck you.”
IMDb

Bleak Backstory

I wrote and directed Bleak Future right out of university, based on an idea I had in 1989 while not paying attention in biology class because fuck biology. I was hoping to shoot on 16mm, on an Arri-S, but just couldn’t scrounge up the cash, even working two jobs and going to school full time. Then suddenly I was down for two months with mono, during which Co-Producer Marc Campos said, “Why not shoot on Super 8 you god damn asshole? It looks fucking cool. Fuck god damn.” (paraphrasing)

So Producer/Co-Writer Steve Darancette joined and we found a Super 8 camera in the classifieds and started doing camera tests as we assembled the cast out of people we found living under bridges, such as Frank Kowal III and Wendie Newcomb.

We started rolling cartridges of sound-striped Kodachrome super 8 film in the Mojave Desert in June of 1995, shooting on weekends through the fall of 1996. For more details on our production and all its trials and tribulations, watch the DVD’s behind-the-scenes featurettes or feel free to read the novelization by Alan Dean Foster.

We edited the film over three or so months on a D/Vision offline editing pc with 9 ENTIRE GIGABYTES of harddrive space. Our editor was Rich Madallo at Rad Productions in Los Feliz on Hillhurst, who introduced us to Cheech’s Pizza across the street and we ended up putting Cheech’s kids through college.

The premiere was on a stormy December night in 1996 at the Laemlle Monica 3 in Santa Monica.

Bleak VHS (UK)

Soon after the premiere, we got seen in Fangoria Magazine (thanks Michael Gingold), then landed distribution on VHS in the UK on a punk rock label called ScreenEdge, and then Film Threat wanted to distribute the film on VHS but that fizzled due to youthful impatience. Then Troma reached out and wanted it too and sent me a big fat contract, but they wanted the right to recut it however the fuck they wanted plus all underlying rights and also wanted me to send in my spleen, so I said nope and explained that I needed my spleen.

Bleak DVD

In 2005, I went back to the desert for a day with Campos and Bones (King Malice), and a small crew and cast and grabbed a couple missing shots for the DVD release, recut the film a skosh, and re-recorded the dialogue with all the original cast except one son of a bitch who we replaced with a turnip, that son of a bitch. I did a self-release of the DVD in 2006, then in 2007, the film had a second release with slightly different packaging and disc art via a slimy distributor who kept selling it after our contract ended and if I were an angry person, I’d say something like, “I hope that assclown chokes on dry fertilizer” but I’m not an angry person so I hope he is well and that at least his pets love him.

The DVD^* includes two commentaries (one with the cast, and one with the crew) and over 55 minutes of bonus video, deleted scenes and shots, outtakes, over 500 photos, production details and sketches, trailer, cast/crew biographies, interactive map, wallpapers, and the complete soundtrack, plus hidden features like Femme’s Drinking Game. ^{*DVDs were little plastic coasters you put movies on so people could watch them without having to subscribe to some cunty streaming service.}

The DVD is no longer available but try Amazon maybe? Or eBay? Maybe I’ll do a custom run one of these days but alas, life is growing short.

Bleak Cameras

Bleak Trailer

Bleak Media

MJ Simpson
Letterboxd
Ain’t It Cool News
DVD Talk
Cinematic Diversions
IMDb Bleak Future
World Gone Wild by D. Moore

Bleak Credits

DIRECTOR / ORIGINAL SCORE / CAMERA / EDITOR
BRIAN S. O'MALLEY

PRODUCER 
STEVEN DARANCETTE

CO-PRODUCER
MARC CAMPOS

WRITERS
BRIAN S. O'MALLEY & STEVEN DARANCETTE

SPECIAL MAKEUP EFFECTS CREATOR
TRAVIS RINDAHL

COSTUMES
KELLY JERSKI

1st ASSISTANT CAMERA
MARC CAMPOS

2nd ASSISTANT CAMERA
STEVEN A. KOWAL

1st ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
STEVEN DARANCETTE

SCRIPT SUPERVISOR
PHYLLIS MCDONALD

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER
MARC CAMPOS

LOCATION SCOUT
MARC CAMPOS

ORIGINAL EDITOR
RICHARD MADDALO

DOCUMENTARY SOUND DESIGN
CHRIS DANIELS 

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS
SCOTT MICHAEL BIER
RON EDENS, JR.
JOE RAMIREZ

EXPLOSIVES COORDINATOR
MIKE MCGUINNESS

FUNDRAISERS
DALE WHITEHOUSE
MARLA WHITEHOUSE

PRE-PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
RICH MOORE	

SPANISH SUBTITLES
ANDRES OLALLA

FRENCH SUBTITLES
BRICE HAUSER-KAUFFMANN



CAST

SLANGMAN
FRANK KOWAL III

ATLATL / McDOUGAL
BRAD ROCKHOLD

FEMME
WENDIE NEWCOMB

DOCTOR OBVIOUS
ROB CUNNINGHAM

BROTHER ALFONZE
STEVEN A. KOWAL

HORUSA
DARLENE DOLAN

THE MALATHION MAN
TOM JOHNSON

KING MALICE
BONES

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR
CHRIS DANIELS

TERRIBLE MUTANT
WAYNE SHORT

WRETCH #1
TONY STRAY

WRETCH #2
PHYLLIS MCDONALD

SKULL PEDDLER
DALE FOUNTAIN

CHAMBERLAIN
RON EDENS, JR.

VOICE OF THE CHAMBERLAIN
TRAVIS RINDAHL

HAREM GIRLS
KELLY JERSKI
PHYLLIS MCDONALD
DARLENE DOLAN
ROB CUNNINGHAM

TOOTHBRUSH MOUTH
JOHN RAUSCH

1st SPEARED
JEFF WILTSE

2nd SPEARED
ROBIN MCDONALD

3rd SPEARED
JASON MCDONALD

PINK PANTYHAT
CHRIS PULLIAM

TOUK GIRL
SARAH COUSINS

MR. CLEAN
ROBERT COUCH

HOPPER
STEVEN A. KOWAL

FOUR THUGS
JASON EDENS
RON EDENS, JR.
TONY STRAY
FRANK KOWAL III

VOICE OF IRK THE NOMAD
BRAD ROCKHOLD

IRK THE NOMAD
MORTY PRICE

SHITHEAD THE NOMAD
BONES

NOMAD #3
SARAH BATTERSBY

NOMAD #4
STEVEN A. KOWAL

POET
ERIC LEWIS	

ONE-EYED MUTANT
ELTON HOLLON

VOICE OF ONE-EYED MUTANT
TRAVIS RINDAHL

GRINNING MUTANT
ROBIN MCDONALD

VOICE OF GRINNING MUTANT
STEVEN A. KOWAL

BARTENDER
TRAVIS RINDAHL

LIP MUTANT
KARIN ANDERSON

LAUGHING MORPH MUTANT
ROB CUNNINGHAM

CALAMITYVILLE AUDIENCE
JACQUELINE PENN
MATT BURTNER
JASON MCDONALD
STEVEN A. KOWAL
PHYLLIS MCDONALD
			
LIBRARY SMILEY
MARC CAMPOS
							
MARVINA HANSEN
MICHELLE CAMPOS

BOB ROCK
STEVE FRANKLIN

FRENCH REPORTER
ALEX BOLING

KICKING KID
CHRISTOPHER DARANCETTE

POTATO SACK MAN
LEWIS VAN STEIN

SAND SWIMMERS
KELLY JERSKI
CHUY TWOHEY

BROTHER ALFONZE
STEVEN A. KOWAL				
ANNA THE BICYCLE MUTANT
ERIC LEWIS

MOHAWK MUTANT
JOHN AVENETTI

VOICE OF THE PINK PANTS MUTANT	
FRANK KOWAL III

PINK PANTS MUTANT
PABLO AKA

WOMAN, FRENCH WOMAN
PHYLLIS MCDONALD

EXECUTIONER MUTANT
STEVEN A. KOWAL
		
KILL HIM ALIVE!
C.W. SISK

GUTTED & FLIPPED
ELTON HOLLON

STOMACH SLASHED
JOE RAMIREZ			     

INJURED OFFSCREEN
DALE WHITEHOUSE

SCOTSMEN
MIKE MALDONADO
CHRIS HEDLEY
ERIC LEWIS
DEBRA SISK
ROBERT COUCH     
GENE GARAFALO
CORY EARL
JOHN COOGAN
PENN K. WILLIAMS

VOICE OF THE SOURCE
WENDIE BRODERSEN

THE ALIEN
MARC CAMPOS

THE VICTIM
JENNIFER LEWIS


45 SECONDS OF FLAVUH
WRITTEN BY MIKE SIMPSON & ANDY KOWATCH
PERFORMED BY THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR BAND
©1996 MIKE SIMPSON & ANDY KOWATCH

JUAN’S SONG and AIN'T GOIN' OUT
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY KNUCKLEBUTT
©1996 CUT-OUT RECORDS


SPECIAL THANKS TO

FRED ARMITAGE AND VISUAL IMPACT PHOTOGRAPHY
BOYDEN & YOUNGBLUTT ADVERTISING & MARKETING	
HELENE KOWAL				
MR. & MRS. DARANCETTE
MR. & MRS. CAMPOS
MARTY CAREY AND CARL FOR THE STICKERS
EDDIE CASTRO FOR CASINO NIGHT
BOB ALMANZAR FOR THE LIBRARY
PAT SKINNER FOR THE HAREM COSTUMES
MICHAEL BRODERSEN
YALE LABS
BURMAN INDUSTRIES
ALLEN CALLACI AND REFRIGERATOR
AOL FOR THE GOLDEN DISC
SKIP OF THE WYNONA RIDERS
PHYLLIS AT THE BUN BOY MOTEL, BAKER, CA.
BRISTOL "DRY" LAKE BED
MECHACHRIST
THE NEVADA STATE POLICE FOR NOT SHOOTING
MJ SIMPSON AND SFX MAGAZINE
MICHAEL GINGOLD AND FANGORIA MAGAZINE
CHRIS GORE AND FILM THREAT VIDEO
DOOM MAGAZINE, GERMANY
COLD FUSION VIDEO REVIEWS
JEFFREY J. ORGILL
ROGER M. MAYER
TOM AND SHERRY JOHNSON
CALEB GRODSKY
DANIEL MCNAMARA

SHOT ON SUPER 8 SOUND FILM
ON LOCATION IN THE MOJAVE DESERT CALIFORNIA USA