Sitting in a small dark room, not a terribly small room, but no larger than a roomy interrogation room, a man sits alone in a comfortable, pleather chair. His eyes are glued to the glow of the several screens in front of him, as the cold white luminance gazes back at him. He is editing. The painstaking hours are perhaps the most crucial to the filmmaking process, and there is, of course, a deadline. To some, this is a life sentence of torture and unspeakable harm. To others, this is life. Not just life, but a good life. This is an editor. This week’s Featured FearMaker has made his way into the film industry as an editor and has since won awards for his work. This is FearMaker Damien LeVeck
A horror fan from a young age, Damien knew he wanted to work in film since he was twelve years old. He produced short films throughout his high school career. One of them, From Cows to Cavalry, a dramedy about the civil war, he crowd-funded, long before the days of Kickstarter, by going door to door in his hometown, asking businesses and individuals to contribute to his production budget.
He began his career editing an award-winning feature documentary, Corso – The Last Beat about the famed beat poet Gregory Corso. Damien has since segued into writing, directing, and producing his own rapidly-growing slate of scripted and unscripted projects. Some of his editing and producing credits include work for ABC Family, Fox, VH1, SyFy, MTV, TBS, OWN, TruTV, The Weather Channel, Oxygen, and TVGN.
While his works span multiple genres, it is horror that always calls back to Damien. In particular, it’s the exorcism sub-genre that really grabs his attention. He believes that in our desensitized culture, this is the one genre that still really scares people. “The fear of the unseen, and the fear of an immaterial, spiritual entity that tries to kill you is not only terrifying but a grim reminder of our own mortality that conjures up questions about the afterlife.” What happens after you die and how we, as human beings, should protect ourselves from the spirit realm is one of Damien’s favorite subjects, and he strives to address it in some way in all of his films.
In his latest project, Damien LeVeck tells a dark tale about exorcism, greed, and the internet with his award-winning short film The Cleansing Hour. Written by Aaron Horwitz and directed by LeVeck, the film stars Sam Jaeger as a priest looking for fame as he attempts an exorcism live on the internet. He, of course, plans to stage the event, but when supernatural forces take over, he must actually save the life of the possessed actress as millions of viewers watch from all around the world. The short film also stars Heather Morris as Heather and Neil Grayston
There is little doubt that Damien LeVeck has worked extremely hard to get to where he is. He works carefully and meticulously on his scripts before shooting to ensure the best possible story, and that always pays off. We are excited to see what the future holds for Damien, we know he has a couple scripts in the works, and we will do our best to keep you informed. In the meantime, head over to his website to learn more and check out his other works.
