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Kevin VanHook is a film-maker who began his career in storytelling as a comic book artist and writer. In comics, he is best known for his work on Bloodshot from Valiant Comics, which sold nearly 750,000 copies of its debut issue. He also wrote the Flash Gordon Sunday Comic Strip for King Features In the early 1990's.
In 1998, he began filming, "Frost: Portrait of a Vampire" while founding the visual effects company, "VanHook Studios." Frost was completed in 2001 and released on DVD in 2003, where it became the 18th highest grossing DVD premiere that year.
In 2002, VanHook Studios merged with Film Roman, the animation company best known for animating The Simpsons TV series. During his stint as a visual effects artist and supervisor, Kevin has worked on such films as Miss Congeniality, Hart's War, Daredevil, I,Robot and many others, as well as the TV series Law & Order and Xena.
Film Roman was acquired by IDT, an international telephone company expanding into entertainment in 2003. After IDT acquired Anchor Bay Entertainment, a leading DVD distributor, Kevin created a new film for IDT, "The Fallen Ones," starring Casper Van Dien and Robert Wagner. This was followed by, "Voodoo Moon," an action-horror film packed with genre stars like Charisma Carpenter, Jeffrey Combs and Dee Wallace. Soon afterward, a deal was struck between IDT Entertainment and the SCI FI Channel for a slate of films to be written and directed by Kevin.
In 2006, IDT Entertainment acquired by Starz Media. Kevin continues to work as a Vice President at Starz on work ranging from visual effects to developing new entertainment for film and television.
He is currently in post-production on an original documentary he directed, “Fantastic Flesh: The Story of Make-Up EFX” for Starz' premium cable channel—set to premiere October 28, 2008.
October 2008 will also see the release of Kevin's return to comic books with the highly-anticipated, “Superman and Batman vs Vampires and Werewolves” mini-series from DC Comics.
Kevin VanHook's films have each been a departure from the last. From "Frost: Portrait of a Vampire" (originally entitled, "A Killing Frost") to his latest film, "Death Row" AKA "Haunted Prison," the films have explored a myriad of themes ranging from friendship and betrayal to a life's love lost and the universal battle between good and evil.
Always straining at the budgetary constraints and often winning that battle, with the finished product belying the financing behind the film, Kevin is a storyteller with a vision. With each successive film, his skills have consistently grown. The intense action sequences in Slayer are head and shoulders above Frost. The almost palpable mood of Death Row grows from experiments in Voodoo Moon and his short film, " Personal Demons ."
And yet....even from the beginning, there's a likeability to them all. Sincerity flows through even the low-budget Frost. All of Kevin's characters speak with unique voices that come from the heart and mind of a man whose over-riding goal is to entertain...and tell stories.
Kevin VanHook's films
Kevin has had a diverse career, beginning as a comic book writer/artist to forming his own visual effects company and ultimately writing, directing and editing his own feature films.
Update in the NEWS section!
NEW! An Interview on Comic Collector Live.com
NEW! A WARRIOR'S DEATH!
Check out: Kevin's son Cameron's college Directing project on YouTUBE
Check out: Kevin's son Corwin's videogame BLOG
Check out: An insight to Kevin's comic book career!
Check out: An interview on Newsarama.com
Current projects:"Sands of Oblivion", directed by David Flores and produced by Kevin and his partner Karen Bailey and starring Morena Baccarin, Victor Webster and Adam Baldwin along with Oscar ® winner George Kennedy, as well as the comics and films Kevin has worked on in the past. Best of all, you'll see a hint of some of the exciting things coming up! Haunte
d Prison (Death Row) Trailer is also on youtube.com Voodoo Moon DVD released October 3rd, 2006 from Anchor Bay Entertainment Slayer DVD released November 21st, 2006 from Anchor Bay Entertainment Death Row released March 6th, 2007 from Starz Home Entertainment Links to people, places and things that I think are particularly cool...
Biography for Kevin VanHook
Date of Birth: 24 June 1965 , Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Spouse: Carol VanHook; (2 June 1983 - present) 2 children
Trivia
Father of actor Cameron VanHook . Father of Corwin VanHook, video game designer.
Filmography: Visual Effects , Director , Writer , Editor , Producer , Actor , Art Department , Stunts , Animation Department , Thanks , Self
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