The premiere! Awesome!

Or, as my inner child put it so eloquently, moviemunkeeyay!

The premiere for "Dead Hunt" was Saturday night, and more than 100 people were at the first show.

And the movie was great. The experience was even greater.

For one thing, it was great seeing everybody again - everyone from the cast and crew made it! Every single one. And I think I got them all to sign my poster! (It wasn't nearly as awkward as I'd feared, since everybody was going around signing each other's stuff.)

And second, the movie just rocked. I hadn't seen the whole thing, only about the first half of the edit, without all the bells and whistles like computer effects and music and so on. It was really terrific. Tight, tense, funny where it should be, sad or scary where it should be. Exciting. A great little B-movie.

Joe Ripple, the (co-)director, gave me a nice introduction (among other people), too. It was a nice little ego boost, made even nicer because my parents were sitting right there with me to share it. Funny how that matters more as I get older - I used to love the cheers in drama, just because it made me psyched. But by the time I gave my speech at graduation, it mattered almost as much that they were there to hear people cheer. I didn't think they'd like the movie, but I felt like they deserved to be there to share the experience. They're the ones who always encouraged me and paid for school so I could study screenwriting instead of something more lucrative, and who believed in me from Day 1.

And the effects, while excellent, didn't gross them out too much. That was clutch.

Yes, I took my parents to a horror movie. Hey, they wanted to go. I warned them. But they really had a good time and were really proud of me, and that may have been most exciting of all.

Well, seeing my name on screen (sole screenwriting credit!) may have been the most exciting. But one of the two.

My buddy Ed liked it, too. He went along and we hung out all weekend. We were college roommates and writers/journalists together so it was nice to share the experience with him. (Hopefully I didn't make him too jealous. He's writing a script right now.)

And it was really, really great to see the movie with an audience. I mean, maybe every straight-to-DVD movie gets a premiere, I don't know. But it was just great to hear the audience react - even if they laughed a couple of times when they weren't supposed to. There were lots of gasps and yells and a few cheers and whistles and stuff. Everybody in the cast and crew seemed to feel the same way, really dig it. And I got lots of compliments on my writing. That was nice. I'm glad I could do the cast and crew's talents justice and justify the risk Timewarp took on me.

It was really a great time. One of the greatest nights of my life. What a perfect cap to the whole experience. I told somebody, if the movie had stunk I still wouldn't have traded the experience for anything, but the fact that it's really great is really the perfect ending. Beginning. Whatever.

And yeah, I got excited about things. Pretty much the second the lights went out and the film started. I'm probably still high on the experience. I know, I'm a goof. Deal.

So thank you to everyone out there associated with Timewarp Films, particularly Joe Ripple and Don Dohler, of course. And everyone associated with "Dead Hunt." Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I can't say it enough. The whole adventure has been one of the greatest of my life. I'll never forget it, no matter how long I live or whatever else I do.

And remember, my faithful readers, when the movie hits DVD later this year (hopehopehope), I expect you all to buy a copy! If you're nice to me, I'll even autograph 'em!