Their son was obsessed with horror movies. After his death, they're taking up the torch.

Megan Kelley
06.22.16

When Kyle Cerilli was a kid, he was mildly obsessed with everything horror.

Nothing too scary, but anything kid-friendly with a monster — "Goosebumps," "E.T.," "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" — was right up his alley. In fact, he loved the horror genre so much that before long, he started writing movie scripts himself.

"That's what he really enjoyed doing," Kyle's dad, Vin, remembers. "So that's what his focus became: writing and film."

Kyle with his parents. All images via Vin Cerilli, used with permission.

When Kyle was 6, he received a frightening diagnosis: muscular dystrophy.

Muscular dystrophy is a progressive disease that would, over the course of his life, strip Kyle of the freedom to walk, talk, run, and play; to laugh, hug, eat — and even breathe.

With Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Kyle's physical functions declined throughout his childhood. By age 12, he was using a wheelchair. Despite his muscle-debilitating disease, Kyle never gave up. "Kyle was just the same as any other kid," explains Vin. "His wants, his needs, his desires, everything growing up was the same as any other kid."

So as any passionate person would do, Kyle continued to pursue his dream of filmmaking. Over the years, he worked at a movie theater, started a production company with his friends (aptly named Morbidly Amusing Productions), and attended Rhode Island College for degrees in both creative writing and film.

Kyle working on the set of a film.

Enter "Slimebuck," the last script Kyle was working on when he passed away at age 30 in 2014.

In classic kid-friendly horror fashion, "Slimebuck" is the story of a boy who finds an alien in his home while his parents are away. It’s "E.T." meets "Home Alone," complete with mad-scientist burglars and a very real puppet monster (at Kyle's insistence, nothing is computer-generated).

A still image from "Slimebuck," featuring a drawing of the alien.

"At the end there, it became very difficult," recalls Vin, noting that Kyle typed most of the script with one finger because he had lost all other strength in his body. "Kyle passed away on April 7, 2014. At that point, he was bedridden and couldn't move for himself any longer, but even that day he was still tweaking his script. Talk about dedication and strength and will. He's the strongest person I've ever known."

After Kyle died, his parents were determined to see "Slimebuck" through to completion.

They picked up where Kyle left off, teamed up with Kyle’s friend, director Tom DeNucci, and just over a year later released the completed 20-minute short film.

"A movie is a movie, but this story is about Kyle getting to have the last word — not muscular dystrophy," Vin says.

Vin and his wife, Annette, are doing everything they can to ensure Kyle's dream of a feature-length film is fulfilled, even with Kyle not here to finish it himself.

"That's what this is all about," stresses Vin, "building awareness of the movie, Kyle's story, and muscular dystrophy."

Vin hopes that his efforts to raise awareness of muscular dystrophy will help other families affected by the disease.

"If it's accepted by everyone a little more," he says, "then the child who's affected is going to feel a little more comfortable."

Of course, Vin also dreams of a time when there will be better therapies for muscular dystrophy and maybe even, one day, a cure.

In telling Kyle’s story, Vin also hopes to share the urgent need for treatments and cures for diseases like Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Although higher standards of care have allowed patients like Kyle to live into their late 20s to early 30s, the disease is still 100% fatal.


If you're a fan of family-friendly horror, be sure to check out the "Slimebuck" short film and website. The crew is also working on a documentary about Kyle.

And check out this video for more on Kyle and "Slimebuck":

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Florida city forecloses on man's home after fining him $30,000 for not mowing his lawn.

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Should a man lose his home because the grass in his yard grew higher than 10 inches? The city of Dunedin, Florida seems to think so.

According to the Institute of Justice, which is representing Jim Ficken, he had a very good reason for not mowing his lawn – and tried to rectify the situation as best he could.

In 2014, Jim's mom became ill and he visited her often in South Carolina to help her out. When he was away, his grass grew too long and he was cited by a code office; he cut the grass and wasn't fined.

France has started forcing supermarkets to donate food instead of throwing it away.

But several years later, this one infraction would come back to haunt him after he left to take care of him's mom's affairs after she died. The arrangements he made to have his grass cut fell through (his friend who he asked to help him out passed away unexpectedly) and that set off a chain reaction that may result in him losing his home.

The 69-year-old retiree now faces a $29,833.50 fine plus interest. Watch the video to find out just what Jim is having to deal with.

Mow Your Lawn or Lose Your House! www.youtube.com

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Cities

Michelle Obama named 'most admired woman in the world,' because of course she is.

The world can't get enough Michelle.

Jimmy Kimmel Live/YouTube

The world officially loves Michelle Obama.

The former first lady has overtaken the number one spot in a poll of the world's most admired women. Conducted by online research firm YouGov, the study uses international polling tools to survey people in countries around the world about who they most admire.

In the men's category, Bill Gates took the top spot, followed by Barack Obama and Jackie Chan.

In the women's category, Michelle Obama came first, followed by Oprah Winfrey and Angelina Jolie. Obama pushed Jolie out of the number one spot she claimed last year.

Unsurprising, really, because what's not to love about Michelle Obama? She is smart, kind, funny, accomplished, a great dancer, a devoted wife and mother, and an all-around, genuinely good person.

She has remained dignified and strong in the face of rabid masses of so-called Americans who spent eight years and beyond insisting that she's a man disguised as a woman. She's endured non-stop racist memes and terrifying threats to her family. She has received far more than her fair share of cruelty, and always takes the high road. She's the one who coined, "When they go low, we go high," after all.

She came from humble beginnings and remains down to earth despite becoming a familiar face around the world. She's not much older than me, but I still want to be like Michelle Obama when I grow up.

Her memoir, Becoming, may end up being the best-selling memoir of all time, having already sold 10 million copies—a clear sign that people can't get enough Michelle, because there's no such thing as too much Michelle.

Don't like Michelle Obama? Don't care. Those of us who love her will fly our MO flags high and without apology, paying no mind to folks with cold, dead hearts who don't know a gem of a human being when they see one. There is nothing any hater can say or do to make us admire this undeniably admirable woman any less.

When it seems like the world has lost its mind—which is how it feels most days these days—I'm just going to keep coming back to this study as evidence that hope for humanity is not lost.

Here. Enjoy some real-life Michelle on Jimmy Kimmel. (GAH. WHY IS SHE SO CUTE AND AWESOME. I can't even handle it.)

Michelle & Barack Obama are Boring Now www.youtube.com

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France has started forcing supermarkets to donate food instead of throwing it away.

via EarthFix / Flickr

What will future generations never believe that we tolerated in 2019?

Dolphin and orca captivity, for sure. They'll probably shake their heads at how people died because they couldn't afford healthcare. And, they'll be completely mystified at the amount of food some people waste while others go starving.

According to Biological Diversity, "An estimated 40 percent of the food produced in the United States is wasted every year, costing households, businesses and farms about $218 billion annually."

There are so many things wrong with this.

First of all it's a waste of money for the households who throw out good food. Second, it's a waste of all of the resources that went into growing the food, including the animals who gave their lives for the meal. Third, there's something very wrong with throwing out food when one in eight Americans struggle with hunger.

Supermarkets are just as guilty of this unnecessary waste as consumers. About 10% of all food waste are supermarket products thrown out before they've reached their expiration date.

Three years ago, France took big steps to combat food waste by making a law that bans grocery stores from throwing away edible food.According to the new ordinance, stores can be fined for up to $4,500 for each infraction.

Previously, the French threw out 7.1 million tons of food. Sixty-seven percent of which was tossed by consumers, 15% by restaurants, and 11% by grocery stores.

This has created a network of over 5,000 charities that accept the food from supermarkets and donate them to charity. The law also struck down agreements between supermarkets and manufacturers that prohibited the stores from donating food to charities.

"There was one food manufacturer that was not authorized to donate the sandwiches it made for a particular supermarket brand. But now, we get 30,000 sandwiches a month from them — sandwiches that used to be thrown away," Jacques Bailet, head of the French network of food banks known as Banques Alimentaires, told NPR.

It's expected that similar laws may spread through Europe, but people are a lot less confident at it happening in the United States. The USDA believes that the biggest barrier to such a program would be cost to the charities and or supermarkets.

"The logistics of getting safe, wholesome, edible food from anywhere to people that can use it is really difficult," the organization said according to Gizmodo. "If you're having to set up a really expensive system to recover marginal amounts of food, that's not good for anybody."

Plus, the idea may seem a little too "socialist" for the average American's appetite.

"The French version is quite socialist, but I would say in a great way because you're providing a way where they [supermarkets] have to do the beneficial things not only for the environment, but from an ethical standpoint of getting healthy food to those who need it and minimizing some of the harmful greenhouse gas emissions that come when food ends up in a landfill," Jonathan Bloom, the author of American Wasteland, told NPR.

However, just because something may be socialist doesn't mean it's wrong. The greater wrong is the insane waste of money, damage to the environment, and devastation caused by hunger that can easily be avoided.

Planet

Single dad asks his daughters for fashion advice before a date and strangers on social media responded with some helpful suggestions.

The world is dark and full of terrors, but every once in a while it graces us with something to warm our icy-cold hearts. And that is what we have today, with a single dad who went viral on Twitter after his daughter posted the photos he sent her when trying to pick out and outfit for his date. You love to see it.




After seeing these heartwarming pics, people on Twitter started suggesting this adorable man date their moms. It was essentially a mom and date matchmaking frenzy.

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