Your upcoming movie is called
Horno. For starters, could you explain
what that expression actually means?
Horno is the
type of horror film I make. It is a hybrid of three things I love, tits,
ass and blood. It’s not porno but it has sexual elements so some people
consider it porn, yet underneath it’s a horror film, but not 100%. Some
people have said my previous films
The Hood Has Eyez and Revenge
of La Llorona are NOT true horror films, it's exploitation and smut.
They are all of those things. They’re like a transsexual.
Bearing that in mind, what's the movie actually about? Horno
is about
an amateur porn director who is given the chance to direct a low-budget
horror movie about killer zombies, but his dreams of fame and fortune soon
become a nightmare when REAL zombies crash his film shoot. How
explicit is Horno
going to be, concerning both sex and gore? It’ll be as explicit
as The Hood Has Eyez if not more. I wanted to push the limits a
little more with this film while also poking fun at some people’s
reactions to the type of films I make, including what a low-budget
filmmaker has to go through as well as how some actors react to low-budget
horror. There will be blood. As far as on screen penetration, I promised
some of the female talent I wouldn’t dispense that information. All I
can say is it teeters on that thin line between porn and horror.
As
a director, which aspect of the film did you prefer, horror or porn? Both. I think they are
like Siamese twins. They need each other to survive.
You can’t cut one part off without killing the other, except in rare
instances. I enjoy filming sex and sexual acts even if they are staged. In fact I think that’s harder because you have to make it
believable and sell it to the audience. I also like to film blood and guts
– push the limits of things. Fucking with people’s heads isn’t as
easy as it looks. It’s like trying to make them laugh. Either they’ll
get your joke or they won’t. You have one shot. Same goes for porn,
either you get them off or you don’t. I think horror is on a tier one
step above porn, because for so many years it wasn’t considered real
cinema. Once the powers that be figured out there was a built in
audience who fiend for this stuff like crack cocaine and there is a lot of
money to be made, only then did they jump on it. Still ‘tho, some people
still wince when I say I make horror films for a living. Have
you ever thought about making an all-out porn movie? Yes. I plan to
eventually venture into that. I love porno and I consider it legitimate
cinema. I enjoy watching eroticism and people’s fantasies coming to life
on screen. Pornography acts on impulses we all have in our minds, except
they capture the images and bring them to life. There are some things in
porn that you can get away with that you never could in mainstream cinema,
however. I’m not just talking about the fuckin’ either. Some of the
shit they say on camera is absolutely hilarious, but you suspend your
disbelief and just roll with it, because you are trying to get aroused and
get-off. You’re not hung up on what location the film is shot in, if
it’s 35mm or digital, and if Angelina Jolie is the lead or not. You
watch it solely based on the theme of the film and what’s on the box
cover. Horror is one of the few genres that will allow a filmmaker to get
away with that too. Since there is a world of people who like organic
horror films they will give a movie a chance if the box cover looks
kick-ass and/or the synopsis peaks their interest. It’s not so much
about name actors. As a matter of fact, any true horror fan will tell you
that most of the time when Hollywood puts a big name actor in a horror
film it tends to suck. It ruins something. I also like the intimacy of how
adult films are shot. It’s usually you and a camera, maybe a make-up
person, craft service and the actors. It’s very do-it-yourself,
hands-on, independent type fare, just how I like it.
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How
difficult was it to get actors and especially actresses to be in your
horror-porn and did you use actual porn talent? I’d be lying if I
said Horno was anywhere near being a porn film or the type of
horror/porn project I eventually would like to do. This film’s a spoof
of those two genres, but the way some potential actresses reacted to the
script would have made you think that there is on screen penetration in
3-D, up close and personal! This film is poking fun at people’s
perception of some of my films as trashy and pornographic, so
it only made me laugh even harder when a few actors, especially actresses
didn’t get it and thought it was porno. It just goes to show you that
the minute a woman or a man takes off his or her clothes it’s considered
porn in some people’s minds, but that’s farthest from the truth. Most
horror has naked chicks in it for a reason, it's part of the recipe. It
sells a film. It’s like baking a cake and leaving the eggs out, it just
wouldn’t be right. I hate horror films where no one gets naked and
I’ve discovered so do most audiences and fans. They feel jilted if they
take a gamble on an unknown movie without any name actors or big name
director and there isn’t anything special to separate the independent
film from the typical Hollywood fare, where you pretty much know what
you’re getting. That’s what being into independent films is all about,
it’s about doing and seeing shit you normally wouldn’t in the
safe, pristine world of Hollywood. It’s about freeing up that red
tape. That’s part of the fun. It’s really hard to sell an independent
film, but if you give them nudity and attempt to entertain them in a
unique and different way that is completely out of the box, you might
succeed. In the end if people don’t like your movie they can say, “at
least there were tits.” I wish I would have used actual porn talent for
some of the roles. I think they would have understood the acting part of
the project more than some of the potential actresses we turned away, who
claim they want to act full time. The people we found were great however,
and once they understood the script they loosened up, because it’s not
porn. If I don’t eventually make a porn film because of my love for it,
I’ll just do it to shut people the fuck up. Every time I run into people
and I tell them I make films for a living the first thing they ask is,
“what do you make…Porno?” Just once I would love to be like, “fuck
yes, that’s what I do! I make hardcore pornography!”
What's your opinion about porn
stars crossing over into the mainstream movie world, people like Traci
Lords, Jenna Jameson, Sasha Grey and of course Ron Jeremy, and why do you
think do they often use horror as a launch pad?
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I think it’s great.
It should happen more. Those people you mentioned understand business and
they typically have a firm grip on reality. They know the age old
secret…sex sells. And to make a name and separate yourself from the
competition and get attention, you have to do something other people
aren’t willing to. The easiest and cheapest special effect in film is
nudity. And it is still the most effective. Just about every major
Hollywood actor has at some point done nudity or taken on a risky
role to sell a film and more importantly get attention. There is a reason
some people in film, especially horror films, rise to the top and get a
name quicker and more securely than the ones who try to play it safe
and be glamorous. People like Tiffany Shepis, Misty Mundae [Misty
Mundae bio - click here], Monique
Dupree, and numerous other actors have risen to notoriety and have
eventually worked on big Hollywood sets, like some of the names you
mentioned. Their names are known. Horror is the perfect launching pad,
because again, for so long it was that film tier directly above porn. They
decided to make themselves stand out in a crowded field. That’s not to
say those ladies are not talented, they are very talented and they can
act, but what good is acting if no one is watching your films, or no one
is casting you in films. This is a tuff game and if you don’t do
something to stand out from the rest then you’ll fall to the wayside.
There’s already a million starry eyed girls who don’t do nudity and
who want to make it big and respect their bodies. So you can just
about pick any one of them and it’ll do. They’re a dime a dozen. They
don’t do this and they don’t do that, etc., etc. Fair enough. But the
actress who does do nudity will get the part. I have seen this in
Independent films as well as big Hollywood films. You have to have a
really big name to be able to sell a film and not take your clothes off.
And most of the people with the big names who no longer do nudity did do
it earlier in their career. I guarantee you that if you go anywhere and
take your clothes off you will get attention. Once you get that attention
it’s on you what you do with it. Some people will shy away and believe
it was the biggest mistake of their lives and never do it again, others
will embrace what follows. Again, it's business, and we as filmmaker’s
aren’t in this for ourselves, we’re in it to entertain and sell a
film. At the end of the day a lot of people might hate me for having said
this stuff but it’s the truth…sex sells. No one can argue with that. Relating
directly to my last question: Do you think horror an porn have much in
common? Yes. As I stated
earlier, I don’t believe you can have one without the other. People
forget that during the late 60’s, early 70’s, the big Hollywood films
weren’t making money anymore, and during the 80’s it was just as grim.
There is only one thing that saved many companies from going under…the
b-movie. Drive-in theater fare in the 60’s and 70’s and then the
straight-to-video boom of the 80’s saved Hollywood to a point. All these
films were packed with nudity and debauchery – things you could never
get away with today in theaters. But it sold. And most of them were horror
films. That’s where we saw the birth of the scream queen. She ran, she
screamed, got bloody then topless. We had a movie. A lot of the directors
we love and respect today were making a name for themselves back then,
making what was at the time considered smut to some people. Some folks
today would still consider it smut, but it gave them a launching pad.
Horror has always had a pseudo pornographic element to it. Some people
just exploit it more than others. Films like Coffy and
Foxy Brown made Pam
Grier a star and a lot of money…and it wasn’t the plots always selling
these movies. It was the tits and ass. She had talent, but to get people
in those seats to see that talent, you had to lure them in with something.
Now Pam Grier is on network TV and doing big Hollywood features, and is an
icon. I know Grier starred
mostly in blaxploitation films, but you get my point. Look at horror
talents like Barbara Crampton, Ingrid Pitt, and Barbara Steele to name a
few more. While not the
most usual blend, the horror/porn hybrid does have a little bit of a
tradition, dating back to films like Ed Wood's Necromania (1971) or Joe
D'Amato's Porno Holocaust
(1980). Have you watched any of the other, older
hybrid movies, and what's your opinion about the state of the subgenre so
far? I am a big fan of Joe
D’Amato’s films [Joe D'Amato
bio - click here]! I love Emanuelle In America. See, people who
know horror know stuff like this. People who consider horror the latest
Hollywood remake would be shocked by a film like Emanuelle In America
and not understand how anyone would watch something like it let
alone distribute it. But Joe D’Amato made a career off of stuff like Emanuelle In America. And that’s one of his tamer films in my
opinion. The scene where the woman gives the horse a hand job alone would
startle most folks today who only like Hollywood horror. I love
exploitation films, b-movies, and horror/porn hybrids. That’s my shit.
Some of my favorite movies fall into those categories. Films like, Goodbye Uncle
Tom, The Story of Joanna, Salo: The 120 Days of Sodom. I like a lot of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s films as well,
Holy Mountain, El Topo.Of Course John Waters stuff, Pink
Flamingos, Female Trouble, Desperate Living. Virginie Despentes’
Baise-moi was the shit. Gun in the asshole, can’t beat that.
Lately there have been a few filmmakers who have truly impressed me in the
horror/porn genre. My buddy and fellow filmmaker Shane Ryan [Shane
Ryan interview - click here] gets made
props for Amateur Porn Star Killer
and Amateur Porn
Star Killer 2, especially part 2. He
made me proud. There was everything in that film…blow jobs, on screen
penetration, violation, and a decent story. Another film I recently
enjoyed was Dawna of The Dead. That blew my socks away. That film
was heavier on the porn than on the horror. It had everything from double
penetration to facials, girl on girl stuff, you name it. I just wish there
had been more story in that film, but in the end at least there were tits.
I also have to give mad credit to John Cameron Mitchell for making Shortbus.
When I see a movie like that - that received theatrical
distribution, premiered at Cannes Film Festival and is a hardcore
fuckin’ porn film at its core, it makes me ask myself why haven’t I
made an adult feature? A guy cums in his own mouth in that movie and
you see it on screen. I’m not necessarily into men jizzing into their
own mouths, but films like Shortbus give me hope for the genre.
Do you watch porn in your private life, and what's your
favourite kind of porn/what are your favourite porn movies? Hell yes. I love gonzo
porn. I don’t like the VCA, Vivid, story driven porn. The scripts
usually suck and so does the acting. If the scripts were better and the
girls were less porn star looking then maybe I could dig those.
That’s why I would like to do one, but more hardcore with a better
script. I know how to write scripts and I could bring something unique to
the table that is lacking in some of those films. That’s why 70’s porn
was so much better. The stories were good and the acting was decent. When
you got around to the sex it was that much better. Adult films like The
Story of Joanna are actual films with big production value, but they
don’t skimp on the hardcore sex scenes. Now in the digital age, I like
the straight up meat and potatoes stuff. Some of my favorite gonzo films
would have to be the Little White Chicks and Big Black Monster Dicks-series as well as the
Chillin' with Jake Steed's Freaks Whoes
& Flows-series. Miscreants, starring Stephanie Swift, one of
my favorite porn stars ever, Hot Latin Pussy Adventures, any number
in the series, and the Slap Happy-series. And
- to not only cover the porn angle of Horno
- were there any zombie movies
that particularly influenced your film, and your all-time favourite zombie
flicks? Porno Holocaust
was a big influence as a matter of fact, so was Braindead and I Drink Your
Blood. Some of my favorite zombie pictures would have
to be the original Dawn of the
Dead, Return of the Living
Dead, Braindead, as mentioned, Undead,
Black Sheep, Phantasm and 28 Weeks Later. I have to clarify though that
Horno is not really a zombie film in the classic sense, there are
creatures or ghouls if you want to call them that – that are turned into
flesh eating beings after smoking methamphetamine’s, but that’s where
the similarities end. This film isn’t about a city that’s overrun with
scores of the undead, it’s about a porn set that’s overrun with a
few crank heads The film's website/mySpace/whatever else? To find out info visit
the films official website: http://www.cinemathreat.com/horno
The MySpace page is: http://www.myspace.com/cinemathreat.
When
will Horno be coming out? Mid June 2009. We have already been talking about your previous films
at some length at a prior occasion [click
here]. Is there anything you want to add
about any of them you forgot to mention in our last
interview?
The Hood Has Eyez
is now available for download at Filmbaby.com and Bside.com for
those who don’t want to wait for the DVD in the mail. And we are
currently working out a deal with Ryko Distribution which will make The Hood Has Eyez
available on NetFlix.com and Blockbuster.com for rent as well as
available in major retail DVD chains worldwide like Walmart, Suncoast,
Bestbuy, etc. Leaving
the past behind for the moment: Any future projects you'd like to talk
about? We are busy chiseling
away at the script for The Hood Has Eyez 2: Urban Nightmare, which
is set to begin shooting in late 2009. We plan to take the
rape/revenge/torture genre to a whole other level. It’ll be more brutal
than the first and we plan to have on screen penetration. It will not be
all shock and awe, however there will be a very deep story involved. Anything else you are dying to tell us that I have just
forgotten to ask? Watch more independent
horror movies. You just might learn something. Oh, and visit our blog
sometimes if you’re bored and want to enlighten yourself: http://madmoviemakers.blogspot.com/. Thanks for the interview.
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