AfterBirth
Running Time: 40min.
Release Date: Oct. 2008

"The Only Proof That She Ever Existed At All"

Cast and Crew:
Melissa Monson as Lucretia S.
Larry Laverty as Dr. William Andreas Glore
Scarlet Salem as The Submissive
Robert Monson as Jim
Miss Nicole as The Ghost Blood
Barbara Wright as The Latimer

Written and Directed by Robert Monson
Makeup by Lindsey Ritland
Sound Design by Robert Monson

AfterBirth is the story of Lucretia S. and her attempt to destroy her creator and nemesis, The Latimer. The events here take place sequentially just before "The ReBirth of Lucretia" but that is the only connection this film has with its predecessor. AfterBirth is twice as long and much more clear about its point. Adding to that, it is also roughly a thousand times more explicit. Profanity, hardcore drug use and abundant nudity are all on display here, along with a scene-stealing performance by veteran actor, Larry Laverty as the shady Dr. William Andreas Glore. This time around, Lucretia is in charge, employing her ghost and a submissive girl named Violet to hold her cameras while she performs her newest plan to destroy herself: to end her curse, and her life, by removing Latimer's horrible gift, an undead vesper bat, from its bond around her vagina. The task isn't quite as straight forward as it would appear: she also needs the help of Dr. Glore, with whom she exchanges her life's story and the promise of the only proof she ever lived at all for his hospital's entire supply of morphine. All of it.

Read the entire original script here.
"I can't do this. This would not be good for my career."
- Actress who bailed out of production 3 days before shooting after finally reading the script she had already agreed to.

Watch the trailer by clicking on the television set below:

Director Blog:
"For AfterBirth, I wanted to just go all out and let every idea breathe. I remember talking to Melissa about it right after we finished ReBirth and said, I want to do the next one just fucking crazy, totally art-fague. I'm going to write like we're never going to film it anyway, so who cares. I included a full-on Dr. Glore, pages of constant dialogue, half naked girls everywhere and one very important scene involving Lucretia's bat being cut off of her body and a river of black blood emptying out of her vagina underneath. To top this off, we were going to build all the sets out of the placards from ReBirth and only use full size VHS camcorders to capture all the footage. And I wouldn't be running any of the cameras during the entire process.
We achieved roughly 80% of that, maybe 90% depending on what angle you look at it from. I did end up with a camera in my hands for a good deal of the film, only because we needed to add in an active assistant to offset the demeanor of Dr. Glore. I literally became Jim while Larry was doing his thing. His abilities are contagious and believe this or not, the entire dialogue between Dr. Glore and Jim that holds the film together was done on the first (and only) take." - Robert Monson

AfterBirth Promo Photos
Click on a thumbnail below to see the full size version

Lucretia Blog:
"This film wasn't supposed to happen. After the bumpy road that was ReBirth, I was soured on playing Lucretia and Robert was tired of going to the trouble of directing me as such. But we couldn't resist one more all-out effort. We had learned some valuable things from our previous shooting so some things came a lot easier this time around. We made a set on our property which cut out so many of the problems - it's a lot easier to let yourself go when you know there is a hot shower waiting a couple hundred feet away. We worked with some amazing talent on this film - I loved all my co-stars and they were all so willing to help and come together to make this work, even with our non-budget. I didn't have a lot of trouble slipping back into my Lucretia skin - by now I've known her for 7 years and I like her a lot. I think I've even come to understand why she does what she does and I respect her for it. The art-fague sequence with the bat removal could have been stressful and horrible but instead it moved smoothly and organically. It took us over two hours but I only thought we had filmed for something like 20 minutes...that could have been the moonshine. In the end, we have the most comprehensive and cohesive Lucretia film to date and I can't wait to see what the future holds for her."
- Melissa Monson

To Order your copy of AfterBirth:
We are currently taking orders for AfterBirth on DVD. You can order a copy directly from LiveBoulevard Design by sending your request to robert@liveboulevard.com and a check or money order for $15.00 (US) to the following address:

LiveBoulevard Design
1431 270th Street
Madrid, IA 50156

As a special bonus, all copies ordered directly will be signed by both Lucretia herself and the film's director, Robert Monson.

Screenshots
Click on a thumbnail below to see the full size image

SPECIAL GIVEAWAY!!!! Want to be a part of this film? To compliment the conditions under which this AfterBirth was conceived and the birth of STRANGEFATE429.com, I am offering everyone these print-ready fliers for you to staple to every goddamn piece of publicly accessible wood you can find, bolted down or otherwise! Telephone poles and shitholes, dog houses and winnebagos, this is the only proper way to advertise a film like this. Films like this are rockstars and not for everyone. They need to be right in your face, looking at you, saturating you. People will either love it or hate it. Show your true support and download one of these files and start squeezing the stapler.

PRACTICAL SIZE - 8"x10" Copy Machine Paper
FULL SIZE CONCERT FLIER - 11"x17"

Don't wait! Be one of the first 100 people to send me a photo of you beside one of these posters that you just bolted up, along with your address and I'll send you a copy of
The ReBirth of Lucretia: Some Girls Never Die Special Edition DVD

For more information on these Cast and Crew members, please visit them here:

Larry Laverty - myspace.com/larrylaverty
Scarlet Salem - scarletsalem.net
Miss Nicole - missnicole.com

Director Blog Redux: Kicking the Dog:
"Even here, in the landscape swirling with dust so thick that corn and beans and meth just seem to wash up on the side of the road.  Even here where cars can be so rusted their very molecular elements can change their physical properties.  And even here where you could scream until you drown in your blood and no trees will fall nor will anyone ever hear you.

Here you can still find the irony.  The artist vs. the art.  And the dog.

In 2007, my film "The ReBirth of Lucretia" was awarded a gold eddy award at the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival.  After the awards were presented, I was given a private critique of my film by the panel of judges.  This was a very enlightening experience, as it evolved into 30 min of positive feedback on virtually every aspect of the film.  Some even said it was their favorite of the year.  (I took special pride at this, given my film was up against "The Bride Wore Blood" which was funded by MTV.) 

They were all asking what I had planned next and after some hesitation, I let them know of an idea for a follow up Lucretia film that was much more mature than "ReBirth" and much more extreme.  They beamed with excitement at the announcement and said, "If you make that film and it's too crazy, we will make up a genre just for it next year."

That was a huge motivator for me.  I left the session feeling recharged, confident that I now could create the film I needed to make.  In the fall of 2007, I did just that and the result was "AfterBirth".  I rushed production and put life on hold while I devoted every second to finishing the film by their Jan.25th, 2008 due date for entry into this year's festival.  I finished it on Thursday, the 24th and sent it in right on deadline.  The pressure made me focus the whole way through and in the end, really helped me produce what I think is a far superior film to "ReBirth" in every way.

Now, today they made their decision.  They announced that 88 films were entered and that 40 of them made the list of finalists and will be shown at the festival.

"AfterBirth" was not one of them.

So now I'm completely put out.  I'm down off my enlightenment and completely quiet.  I can't figure out what went wrong.  They knew what to expect, and by all accounts the film is exactly as I described it to them last year.  Yet, it fell behind 40 other films for even a showing?  Something doesn't add up...?

Unless you factor in the Dog.

The Dog, in this case is the art of film.  I left myself completely uncensored on this project.  I refused to limit myself within my original scope and I let everything that needed to happen just happen.  The film is mature, I won't deny that.  There's profanity, full-frontal nudity, vaginal closeups, mutilation and torture violence.  On top of this, the film is of my own genre, announced by Lucretia herself at the beginning of the film, as 'Art-Fague'.

Art-Fague.  No Boundaries.  Art as art.

In 2008, it's still too much for Iowa.

So as disappointed as I am, I can't help but feel a little pride in knowing I've done what the artist is meant to do.  I pushed the envelope.  I made them uncomfortable.  My dog shit in their yard and that is an award all by itself."
- Robert Monson

All information contained on this page
© 2008 LiveBoulevard Design unless otherwise noted.
For more information, please send an email to
robert@liveboulevard.com