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The titular protagonist (pictured left, and played by GUTTERBALLS’ Nathan Dashwood; see more exclusive pics below) is so named due to the horrifying manner in which he was birthed: with a wire coat hanger. Horribly disfigured as a result, he cuts a bloody path of revenge until he gets to the one who brought him into this world.

A Fango set visit finds writer (with Patrick Coble) and director Nicholson taking a break from his other job as a makeup FX artist (most recently on the Sci Fi channel’s TROGLODYTE), but this is anything but a rest. Working with a much shorter shooting schedule than his previous movies (also including LIVE FEED), multiple locations, a heavy emphasis on prosthetic makeup and a January 2009 festival entry deadline, this is marathon filmmaking at its finest. And of course, he also has to live up to the bar he set with his last bloodfest.

“The fans, they expect more and more all the time,” Nicholson tells Fango. “They’re like, ‘How are you going to top the gore in GUTTERBALLS?’ ”

Just the concept of HANGER alone is enough to offend some people, and if you’re familiar with Plotdigger’s previous offerings, you know they aren’t going to hold back. LIVE FEED and GUTTERBALLS offered death machines, torture devices and improvised weaponry. HANGER gives the onscreen killers new ways of dispatching their foes, using not only your standard guns and knives, but also bizarre methods involving colostomy bags (full, of course) and feminine hygiene products (used, of course). But most of all, this is giving Nicholson a chance to experiment with heavy prosthetics, done somewhat in the vein of those seen in SIN CITY.

“It’s my dream come true to do all these character creations that I haven’t really had a chance to do before,” Nicholson says. “This has been my chance to design some amazing makeups.” And it has required almost all of the male actors to spend several hours a day in the makeup chair, having facial prosthetics applied that range from Hanger’s horrible disfigurement to aged visages (the film takes place over the course of many years) to true transformations that leave them unrecognizable.

The ensemble includes many familiar Plotdigger faces, including several from GUTTERBALLS (also including Dan Ellis, Wade Gibb and Candice Lewald), as well as a few familiar faces for horror fans, namely Fango Radio’s own Debbie Rochon and Troma founder Lloyd Kaufman. Working with such icons was truly a blast for Nicholson.

“It was exciting for me to work with someone who’s been in over 150 movies, such as Debbie,” he says. “She brought a whole new element of star quality to the project, and that really helped us out and brought the other actors to the A-game.”

Plotdigger is currently busy in postproduction, getting HANGER ready for its premiere at the Berlin Film Market (presented by its German distributor Cult Movies) in February. See more pics here and the movie’s MySpace page here, and stay tuned for more coverage!