Anti-Hero Pictures

Jared Balog, Albany NY - From the moment  Jared laid eyes on a television screen he was influenced by the height of  80’s horror and slasher films. Christmas and Thanksgiving were holidays that fell by the way-side when compared to the sacred night of Halloween, which was his favorite time of year. This was due to in large part of such movies as "Friday the 13th”, “Halloween” and “Nightmare on Elm street” were being aired around the clock.  Death, blood and gore was an extremely poignant element to film that resonated so strongly within him that he began to study the craft of special effects make-up, reading books from Tom Savini, studying videos of molds and sculpture design, and taking a brief understudy course with legendary special effects artist Dick Smith.  Jared immensely enjoyed art courses in High School; it was a place where he could let his ever-erupting creativity flow through, paintings, drawings, sculptures, and even digital art mediums such as Photoshop.  To this day Jared draws incessantly, even if it’s just a small five minute sketch of creature designs, practical effects scenes for future films or flutters and splatters of horrific blood bath scenes.  

Senior year of High School, Jared and close friend Tom Meppen began experimenting with a series of small film vignettes, with topics ranging from samurai duals to comedic portrayals of characters dealing with life in their environment.  These short films never really saw a beginning, middle or end.  However, while older brother Zachary was nearing sound engineering school graduation and focusing on a final project, a timely opportunity surfaced. Jared and Tom hastily fabricated a short story and filmed an eight minute zombie movie that Zach would then use as the nucleus for his final project.  This short was the turning point for Jared from special effects artist to director and story teller.  The obfuscation had cleared and Jared knew that this was the only thing he wanted to do for the rest of his life.  He has never turned back.

The short zombie film proved to Jared that he could create something interesting and compelling to watch.  One of his best tools was his unique talent for creating beautifully designed zombies and inventing practical effects that “looked real.”  When it came time for a death scene, Jared never came up short in creating the illusion of horrific reality steeped in a glorious blood bath of carnage.  Jared’s unparalleled talent for carnage and gore has been sought out by dozens of local filmmakers because he harbors a skill difficult to find outside of Hollywood.   Jared took his love of zombie movies one step further and decided to create a short that could be viewed by a larger audience.  “Dead Residence” was the birth of Jared’s brand of horror that would receive him some local notoriety and land him one of  twenty coveted slots in the 2007 Ed Wood Film Festival, in Albany N.Y., beating out over a hundred film submissions worldwide.

In the summer of 2009, Jared founded Anti-Hero Pictures while finishing his latest mystery/slasher/horror short “Neighborhood Watch."  This film was a major stepping stone in carving out his style and brand of horror by meticulously casting every role to fit the characters perfectly.  Furthermore, focusing on not only the classic death scenes but paying attention to the small details of production techniques such as, self made dolly and track, lighting, and emphasizing the importance of getting the scene right to serve the movie best.

Jared never ignores sound design and music; he contributes to creating sound effects and musical ideas as well as having an extremely focused vision and knowing exactly what he wants.  Jared says that, “Film is the pinnacle form of creativity, encompassing so many art forms into one project, acting, sound design, special effects, music, writing and storytelling… it’s the ultimate art form.”