David Leslie

Performance artist and UT art professor David Leslie (whose New York performance, in which viewers were offered $1,000 to knock out the artist, was mentioned in the Feb. 23 "News of the Weird") is known ­ for obvious reasons ­ as the Impact Addict. A former UT sculpture student who later moved to New York and switched to performance art, Leslie has been called by The New York Times the "Evel Knievel of performance art." Celebrated indie actor/filmmaker Larry Fessenden (Bad Habits) filmed some of Leslie's shows. Four short videos are compiled here in a sampler of performance artist and thrill-seeker Leslie's death-defying feats in the streets and clubs of Manhattan. Included: "Impact Addict," "Chinatown," "Mismatch," and "Kung Fu Fighting."

THE ROCKET MOVIE takes you back to that hot summer night when David Leslie attempted to launch himself over a mountain of watermelons on a Soho street before a crowd of 2,000 dazzled spectators. The story unfolds with the narration of veteran Hollywood stunt coordinator Gary Zeller (DAWN OF THE DEAD, RAGTIME, SCANNERS), who "put his reputation on the line" to collaborate with the Impact Addict. Filmmaker Larry Fessenden brings to this stunning documentary all the passion and drama of that spectacular night: As James Brown look-alike Jack Dingas pumps the crowd with an American anthem, our Rocket Man climbs aboard his bastard craft and bids farewell to the woman he loves—only to end that night in a near fatal fiery crash.

Produced for Glass Eye Pix as part of their 2008 Creepy Christmas Online Film Festival, in which each short was inspired by the inhabitants of a Christmas diorama advent calendar. Each filmmaker was assigned a specific date and given the props that were used in that window to use in their short. This is the nineteenth film in the series.

Produced for Glass Eye Pix as part of their 2008 Creepy Christmas Online Film Festival, in which each short was inspired by the inhabitants of a Christmas diorama advent calendar. Each filmmaker was assigned a specific date and given the props that were used in that window to use in their short. This is the twenty-first film in the series.