LATEST PROJECTS
LES BÊTES
SYNOPSIS: A mysterious rabbit with a set of magic keys summons a host of strange creatures to entertain a wicked king and his decadent court in this stop-motion-animated, dark fantasy. Check out the trailer, here: https://filmfreeway.com/LesBetes
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This short began its life as a "pandemic lockdown project" that was conceived as a zero-budget, entirely recycled film in the style of a 1930's Ladislas Starevich animation. The film was conceived, written, shot, cut, animated, and directed by Michael Granberry, a stop-motion-animator and fellow filmmaker Lito met while helping produce the multi-award-winning documentary, Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy. A 3-time Emmy award-winning director, Granberry's work can be seen in such films as the Oscar-winning Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, Henry Selick's Wendell & Wild, Charlie Kaufman's Oscar-nominated Anomalisa, Tales of Halloween, and numerous other feature films, documentaries, TV shows, web series and music videos, including the aforementioned Never Sleep Again, which featured his stop-motion animations in the main and chapter titles as well as interstitials.
After their collaboration on Never Sleep Again, the two worked together again when Granberry directed Lito in the short, Demon Garden. Michael approached Lito to score this fantastical tale after becoming enchanted with Velasco's work on Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser, which Granberry used as musical inspiration while working on this project. The resulting score is one of Lito's most ambitious works yet, featuring tracks that utilize over 150 orchestral instruments as well as choir, electronica, synthesizers, and more.
The film is currently in the midst of its festival run and has already received quite the impressive collection of selections, accolades, and awards: including "Best Stop-Motion Film" from the Animation Studio Festival, "Best Short" from the ParaCinema Film Festival, as well as "Best Stop-Motion Film", the "William Shatner Indie Auteur Award", and the "Judy Lawrence Memorial Award" from FantaSci Short Film Festival. Further, Lito's music for the film has earned him the esteemed "Best Soundtrack" Award from the Hallucinea Film Festival.
JUNE 16, 2025 UPDATE!
Today, it was announced that "Les Bêtes" won the Jury Award at this past weekend's 2025 Annecy International Animated Film Festival (which is widely recognized as the world's leading event for animation) in France (where it was the only film from the United States selected to screen at the event). Further, the film was also selected as the Vimeo Staff Pick and, because of this, is now available to watch on the website.
Both Granberry and Velasco were overwhelmed by the honors and send eternal thanks to everyone who made the accolades possible.
MAY 27, 2025 UPDATE!
As their film nears the end of its festival run, Michael Granberry and Lito were beyond ecstatic to recently learn that "Les Bêtes" won "Best Animated Short" at the 2025 American Documentary and Animation Film Festival, which means their film is now eligible for the 2026 Academy Awards. The incredible honor left them speechless and filled with unending gratitude to every person who voted for their film.
And in somewhat-related news, Lito's music for the film was just selected as "Best Original Score" at the 2025 Cyprus Horror Society Film Festival. This is now the now the fourth international, eighth overall, recognition of this type for the score. Further, Lito was informed that it's the FIRST time the Festival has chosen a score for an animated film for this particular accolade.
FEBRUARY 18th, 2025 UPDATE!
On February 15th, Lito's score for "Les Bêtes" was awarded "Best Movie Music" by the Paris Strange Film Festival - in Paris, France. Further, his music also earned "Best Score" at the Love Your Shorts Film Festival in Sanford, Florida. These awards mark the sixth and seventh honor of this sort for Lito's work on the film, with the Paris recognition being the third international award.
As exciting as this news was, today brought what some might consider an even more remarkable bit of news when director Michael Granberry contacted Lito to notify him that their film has been nominated, along with only three other films, for the Grand Jury Prize of Best Animation Short at the prestigious, Oscar-qualifying Slamdance Film Festival, which takes place this week in Los Angeles.
Those wishing to see the film as well as the Q&A featuring Lito and director Granberry can attend one of two screenings taking place at the Festival at the end of this week: 2:30pm on Friday, February 21st, and 4pm on Saturday the 22nd. Ticket info can be found at the following link: https://slamdance2025.eventive.org/schedule
JANUARY 6th, 2025 UPDATE!
The team behind "Les Bêtes" were thrilled by the news that the short has been selected to screen at both the 2025 American Documentary and Animation Film Festival, which takes place March 27th through 31st in Palm Springs, California, as well as the Slamdance Film Festival, which takes place February 20th through 26th in Los Angeles.
NOVEMBER 4th UPDATE!
The wonderful judges at the 2024 Unrestricted View Horror Film Festival in London have awarded Lito's music with the accolade of "Best Score". This is the fifth time the score has received this honor, and the second time the award has been internationally bestowed.
OCTOBER 26th UPDATE!
Lito's work has received two more awards: "Best Music Score Award" from the Magic of Horror Genre Festival and "Best Soundtrack/Score Audio Award", from the 2024 Animaze Montreal International Animation Festival. This marks the third and fourth time Lito's music for the film has been honored and the first time the award has come from an International film festival.
AUGUST 21st UPDATE!
This Saturday, August 24th, "Les Bêtes" will be shown at an event celebrating the life and legacy of the legendary filmmaker, Wes Craven. Lito will be introducing and taking part in a Q&A session about his film. Lito has also been asked to talk about his experiences with Wes, whom he had the pleasure of working with several times, and explain the importance of the influence the horror maestro had had on Lito's life. Find more info about the event via their Facebook Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/785507823757749/?ref=newsfeed
AUGUST 5th, 2024 UPDATE!
"Les Bêtes" screened at the L.A. Underground Film Forum in July, where it was honored with the awards for Best Underground Short, Best Genre film, Best Picture and Best Score. This is now the second time Lito's work on the film has been presented with this accolade.
Later that same month, the short also screened at the Midsummer Scream Film Festival, presented by Horror Buzz. There, it was honored with The Audience Award for the “Drawn to Horror” screening block as well as the Jack-O-Lantern Award, which is presented by the festival jury to the film that best exemplifies the spirit of Halloween itself!
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CRAWFORD
SYNOPSIS: An aging Joan Crawford, desperate to revive her career, accepts a role in a horror film while wrestling with fading glories, professional jealousies, and ghosts from her past.
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This heartbreaking look at one of Hollywood's most legendary and tragic figures, offered Lito the fifth opportunity to collaborate with Texas-based writer/director, Dakota Thomas. Naturally, Lito jumped at the chance, especially since this film gave him the chance to compose distinct music in a completely different sort of setting than any project he'd ever worked on previously.
The resulting score features tracks written in the sweeping, grandiose style of "old Hollywood" as well as more intimate and tender tracks intended to support and amplify this compassionate look at the lead character of Joan Crawford (Elizabeth Elise Gonzalez in a tour de force performance).
FINAL GIRLS' BLOODBATH
SYNOPSIS: A casting director brings two D-list actresses, polar opposites in just about every way and both notorious for solely playing the "final girl", in for an audition for the role of a lifetime: the lead role in a slasher film starring horror legend, William Whitlock. But, what starts off as a simple casting process soon becomes an actual life-or-death battle when their audition takes a dark turn.
The two women fight to live up to their renowned titles and their real-life survival skills are put to the test when they discover the studio doors are locked and the audition is not exactly what it seems. Life imitates art in this dark comedy horror short about pressure, audition anxiety, and the very harsh realities of Hollywood's casting processes. After all, in the end- there can only be one true "final girl".
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This blood-soaked tale stars one of Lito's frequent collaborators, Ashley Mary Nunes (who also wrote and directed), as well as Lito and his wife, Jennifer (who were producers along with Ashley and others), and rounding out the cast is Lindsey Lemke. Additionally, the "throwback" slasher score was composed by Lito. The film is currently thriving in its festival run, where it's received many accolades and awards! The hoped-for plan is: once the film is finished with the festival circuit, it will be offered around the world via streaming (the producers are currently investigating looking into that option)!
DECEMBER 15th L.A. PREMIERE/SCREENING
On Sunday, December 15th, the short film Final Girls' Bloodbath will finally have its L.A.-area premiere as the "opener" for a rare, big-screen showing of the 2015 fan-favorite, holiday-horror feature film, All Through the House. Both films feature the acting talents of Lito.
The event begins at 7:30pm at the Frida Cinema, located at 305 E. 4th Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701. Cast and crew from each film (including Lito, Jennifer Velasco, Ashley Mary Nunes, Todd Nunes, and Stephen Readmond) will attend for Q&A and autographs!
The cast and crew are looking forward to meeting people and hope to see many friendly faces, so get your tickets now at the following link: https://thefridacinema.org/movies/all-through-the-house-short-film-final-girls-bloodbath-presented-by-horrorbuzz/
In the meantime, you can check out the film's trailer below!
DEVIL'S DEN
SYNOPSIS: Clint, a bounty hunter, is saved by Marshal Slim, a grizzled cowboy who demonstrates how to slay a zombie.
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Written, produced, and directed by accomplished makeup-effects artist, David Woodruff, this film was Lito's first foray into the genre of Westerns. Making the project even more unique and fascinating in its challenges is the fact that the film also happens to be a tale of horror, executive produced by Ron Chaney, great-grandson of Lon Chaney and grandson of the legendary Lon Chaney, Jr.
AUGUST 5th, 2024 UPDATE!
The film is currently making its festival circuit run and has piled up a number of awards and laurels along the way, including an award from the Sci-Fi Horror & Action Film Festival for Excellence in Scoring for Lito's music.
The film was also recently awarded with "Best Western" at the Los Angeles Movie and Music Video Awards.
HALLOWEEN II: THE GAME
SYNOPSIS: This all-new commercial for the game literally places the action on that same infamous night in 1978 - the night when HE came home. Slotting directly into the events of the 1981 sequel, Michael Myers, has just entered the Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, mindlessly stalking characters both new and familiar as he seeks to eliminate any possible obstacles between him and Laurie Strode. Will anyone survive this initial rampage of terror in the hospital?
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Written and directed by Matt Russell, the ad not only features music composed by Lito, but also his performance as the infamous fictional serial killer himself: Michael Myers / "The Shape". The MasiMedia production has been received warmly by horror fans and was created both in partnership with Fright Rags and in association with Universal Pictures Studios. Watch the entire ad below!
The legendary horror publication, Fangoria magazine, covered the creation of the ad in an online article that can be read at the following link: https://www.fangoria.com/stop-the-killer-and-fright-rags-are-bringing-halloween-ii-the-game-to-life/
MAY 21st, 2024 UPDATE!
The cast and crew of the trailer were just informed that they won a Gold People's Telly Award for their efforts and finished piece!
Halloween II: The Game music score, composed by Lito, is now available for only $4! To purchase now, click one of the links below or scan the QR code!
