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You have a movie upcoming with the wonderful title Vaginal Holocaust.
How did you come up with the title in the first place, and how does the
film relate to it?
That
came up more a joke at first. We had just finished Erection and I
was working on preproduction for He and the joke was that I was
writing all of these male films and people would start
thinking I was in the closet. Haha! Then I said that
I would make a vagina flick just to let everyone know how hetero I am
and in doing so it was born. We got hit up by a distributor to make an
exploitation movie that same day and it just started to fall together.
So
I had the title first and I had two word docs open on my computer
writing He and Vag at the same time. Half my crew was doing
preproduction on He while the other half was doing preproduction
on Vag. The only concept I had was a chick
running down the stairs like Linda Blair in Exorcist, crotch first
with a pussy full of teeth. Then it just went from there. It’s kinda
like a cross between I Spit on your Grave and some flick where a
vagina eats people. I guess you can say that flick Teeth, but more
so if Roger Corman [Roger
Corman bio - click here] made it or something, if that makes any sense.
With a title like Vaginal Holocaust,
how explicit willl the film be in terms of sex and violence?
It’s
not that the film is explicit in sex but there are a lot of sexual
situations. I am more of a fan of nudity. I love how in the 70's you
could do full frontal and it was considered artistic - you do it now and
it means your film might get an X rating. I think that has to do with
the lack of pubic hair women are willing to run around with. I think
pubic hair is sexy in an artistic kinda of way. More actresses should
grow their hair out. In terms of violence, it’s pretty fucking
violent. There is a lot of blood. I told our FX people to watch Machine
Girl and Tokyo Gore Police, rig some shit up and meet me on set.
From
the plot outline alone, Vaginal Holocaust sounds like a sexually
offensive hommage to 1950's creature features. Is there any truth in that
assumption?
Yes
and no. It does definitely have that silliness on the one sheet and with
the tag line it has right now. I’m just a huge sucker for that kind of
marketing. I think it’s so much fun and I think people like to have
fun especially right now with the way things are going. However, it is
also filled with gritty, grainy violence and sexual images that harken
back to Deliverance,
Last House on the Left and films
of that nature. What were your main inspirations to shoot a film
about a devouring pussy? To
not shoot a film about a devouring penis - and I think the shock value of
the title is just a lot of fun for me. It was really hard getting my
wife and my crew to take me seriously. I’m like, "guys, this is
going to be great! It’s called Vaginal Holocaust!" it took a
while for everyone to get on board. Once they saw the script it was
like, "yeah, this could totally work." How did you handle your rather unique
moviemonster special effects-wise? We
had Emma Jacobs who did some stuff on the new My Bloody Valentine-3D flick and Ian who did the Sloppy Jose in
Poultrygeist. They
just built some small props and appliances. It looks cool, but I don't
want to give too much away.
Elissa Dowling |
Elissa Dowling, who plays
the lead in Vaginal Holocaust, is in almost all of your movies [Elissa
Dowling interview - click here]. A
few words about her? Elissa
is a work horse. I try to make a movie every month and she has the same
work ethic as I do. I have to constantly be creating or else my brain
boils. She's the same way with her acting. My wife loves her to death
and on our sets, it’s really a family atmosphere so if you as an actor
are accepted, it’s like Freaks and we will keep putting you to
work. What can you tell us about the rest of
your principal cast? Natasha
Talonz just got finished doing Black Devil Doll. I just think she
was perfect for this role as the girl whose vagina goes on a murderous
revenge streak. I had always wanted to work with Elske McCain [Elske
McCain interview - click here] so this
was a fun project to start that collaboration on. Sean Cain [Sean
Cain interview - click here] got the part
when he came and did his part for He. We shot He right after
Christmas and shot Vag at the beginning of February. Jordan Lawson
was supposed to play Corey but he had scheduling conflicts at the last
minute and Sean recommended Shane Ryan [Shane
Ryan interview - click here], who learned his lines in about a
day or two, so he showed up and really turned it on. Matty Thunders is
someone I have worked with on a couple other films of mine and I’m
lucky that no one has seen his films yet, because once they do, I don't
know if I’m going to be able to afford him. Nathaniel Branch was
great, a total geek, which I love. We were up in the mountains for
almost a week shooting that. It was like a bunch of friends just
camping. Christene Eaton is a really dear friend of Nikki and I, so
having her there was awesome and her boyfriend Ryan was one of the
locals so it was just camping with your buddies. McCoy,
well, I can't talk to you about McCoy. (You’ll understand when you see
it.) When and where will the film be available? We
are going to do a short theater run as a midnight double feature with Caged Lesbos A-Go-Go. There are a lot of companies that are
interested in putting Vag out, but we will see, but hopefully this
year sometime. Besides
Vaginal Holocaust, you have also made quite a number of other films
in the last few years (or are currently working on them) that I'd like to
talk about: What can you tell us about Caged Lesbos-a-Go-Go? Caged
we shot in between the shooting days of Orgy of Blood. We shot it
on the Monday after the L.A. Fangoria convention, so that's how I was
able to get Monique Dupree and Elske out here since they were here for
the con. We shot the entire thing at Tom Devlin's 1313FX studio using
old sets and props that he had. It was shot in one day and it looks like
an old Jack Hill women in prison flick crossed with old school land of
the lost. It was so much fun. It kept me sane during the Orgy of
Blood shoot which was a big budget shoot. It felt good to get back to
my roots and do a 1,000 mile an hour shoot fest. Great cast too. We also
had Elina Madison, Ariauna Albright, Elissa, Sean Cain, Shane Ryan,
Matty, and the awesome Lloyd Troma Kaufman playing president
Obama. A lifelong dream of mine was fulfilled by getting to do a movie
with him. I have a 12 minute scene with him where we are playing chess.
It’s awesome! A
few words about Orgy of Blood?
Orgy
is the biggest thing I’ve done so far. It was the most expensive,
biggest cast, biggest story in terms of scope, and we shot on location in
the Hollywood Hills most the time. We got to shoot one night at Club
Hell that was packed with people. It was crazy. It was my first time
shooting on the 4k Red. Orgy is going to be huge. Working with
actors like Domiziano Arcangeli [Domiziano
Arcangeli interview - click here] and Randal Malone, it’s just crazy. I
don't know how to describe the feeling I have when thinking about it. I
am blessed beyond words to have the opportunity to write and direct for
such great actors. The cast is amazing. It’s visually stunning. It’s
a lot like The Hunger and Eyes Wide Shut in that regard. It
will be huge.
What about the
provocatively titled Erection?
Erection
is about a guy who is in love with this girl and his first date with her is his last because of
an unexplained
event that gives him penis problems. It’s not a funny film. It’s not
really a horror film in today’s sense of horror. It is just a totally
disturbing drama about being at the wrong place at the wrong time
and never really knowing why. It’s a love story. Fucked up people
can fall in love and have a story too. It’s not just for the normal
people. Murderers can fall in love, rapists can fall in love.
That's kinda what the flick is about.
Then there's of course
also He?
He is about a marriage that kinda lost its way. It’s about a couple who
have grown so far apart that they almost don’t know who the other
person is anymore. It’s like if you were to wake up one day and see
some person in your house, and you know that you are supposed to be nice
to this person but you don’t know why. Both the husband (played by me)
and the wife (played by Ariauna Albright) can’t really tell what is
real and what isn’t anymore and they just kinda melt. It’s a fun
movie.
A few words about Creep Creepersin's
Creepshow?
Creepshow
is an obvious play on words that horror fans would know. But it is a
collection of all the shorts and videos I did before really getting into
features. There are a couple exceptions to that. It has a web series
that we did that is pretty close to my favorite thing that I have done
so far, called Decomposing Jack which stars Matt Turek. I just
love it. It is totally the movie I would make over and over again if
given the opportunity.
Another great title is O.C.Babes and the
Slasher of Zombietown. What can you tell us about that one?
Well,
this one, actually hit stores everywhere today, so I’m pretty geeked
about this one right now. It was my first feature film that I did when I
moved back to California from Oregon. And it is the film that really
broke me into the scene. It’s about people getting trapped in a bar
when a zombie outbreak happens outside but they are trapped in the bar
with this serial killer that has been on a rampage.
So it’s like, is
it safer inside or outside? I used a lot of footage from Night of the
Living Dead for laughs and it is totally fun. Speaking
of great titles: What about Awesome Girl Gang Street Fighters: Bad
Bitch Brawl? This
is a film that we haven’t made yet. We were supposed to shoot this in
June, but a bunch of other projects with confirmed budgets came along, so
this is on hold. But what it is is my throw back to the great Pinky
films from 70’s Japan. I hope we can do it in spring.
You have also shot your own version of Frankenstein. What's your approach
to this age-old horror myth?
Frankenstein
was my first feature and it isn’t like Frankenstein
at all.
It’s about a guy with no social skills who sits in a room with a tiny
TV and watches old horror movies all the time with his friend who
happens to be his pet rat, Frankenstein. He finally gets the idea of how
to make friends from watching his movies and taking advice from
his rat. Chaos ensues. With Sexual Violence in
Cinema you leave the feature film realm to make a documentary about, I
guess, sexual violence in cinema. What can you tell us about that film of
yours and the subject in general? I
did a film called Peeping Blog that was a real time flick
about a guy who has a blog site and posts videos of himself stalking
girls and doing them in. I was trying to do something really low budget.
It was an experiment for me in filmmaking. Ariauna Albright and Elissa
Dowling are in it too. I played the Peeper and we made this movie in one
day with no crew, all pretty much one take. It totally fucked me up in
the head. It was so disturbing it made me ill. Elissa
freaked out about it later also. It was just too real. So that got me
thinking about all of these actresses and filmmakers out there who do
this kinda stuff every day. I wanted to see if this
was something that was traumatic for them, or if it was something where
through real life situations that they have been through, if it is
therapeutic to partake in these films. And then in doing the
documentary, all new problems arose and the doc took a different turn.
Once it is completely cut, I think it will be a very interesting piece. Any films of yours I've forgotten that you'd like to
talk about? I
have three books out actually. Not films. So it doesn’t go with the
exact question. But, I have three books out The Legend of Cartwayne
Twain which is a book that is like Dr. Seuss for adults. Then I have
Blood Lust Romance and its sequel Blood Lust Revenge that
are about home invasion robberies and sex and violence and shit like
that. They’re super cool. Hopefully I will be able to film them
someday. Any future projects?
Why
yes. This month we are shooting a film called The Brothers
Cannibal which is a dark comedy that stars Matt Turek, Buz
“Danger” Wallick, Phoebe Dollar and Domiziano Arcangeli [Domiziano
Arcangeli interview - click here] which is
going to be just fantastic. It’s very Coen Brothers. It’s just
about constantly being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the
wrong people.
Then
in August we are doing something very ambitious. We are making a trilogy
called Final Girl which is about a crazed filmmaker, The Director
Pasquale, who after years of hiding, comes back with his opus. Which is
a film he wants to make called Red Machete Blue. He needs the
perfect final girl to make his masterpiece complete. So the first film
is called Final Girl, then we will do Red Machete Blue: Final
Girl 2, and then Final Girl: FINAL!. It stars a slew of Creeper
Crew alumni including Domiziano Arcangeli as The Director Pasquale,
Chandler Maness (Orgy of Blood) [Chandler
Maness interview - click here], Elina Madison (Caged
Lesbos), Phoebe Dollar, Elissa Dowling [Elissa
Dowling interview - click here], Matt Turek, Mandy Schafer,
Devanny Pinn [Devanny Pinn
interview - click here] and also a lot of people that I haven’t worked with. But
that is going to be fun just making that many movies at the same time.
It is gonna rock. Many of your films
seem to be deliberately placed in the trash-horror and -sci-fi realm. Why
is that?
I
just like exploitation titles, but I also love terrifying, psychological
horror. I don’t think that my films are trash horror but I want
people to think that they are - if that makes any sense. I like feeling
like I am taking people for a ride from the get go. I like people to
never know what to expect. Apart from writing and directing your films, you also
act in them as well as in films by other directors. What can you tell us
about your acting career, and a few films by others you're in you'd like to
mention?
Well,
I started acting in my own films for two reasons. One, it was one less
person that I had to pay and two, I didn’t want to have a day job
anymore. So I thought if I was at least acting, I could get paid, build
my resume, and get real world experience by learning how sets work and
the nuts and bolts of filmmaking from other great directors.
See, you have to understand that I have absolutely no formal
training in filmmaking. My film school was a love for the medium,
watching as many director commentaries as I could and reading books
about how to make movies. In doing that, I came up
with my own method that has turned our production company into a very
hard working, movie making machine. I had made close to ten features and
a ton of shorts and music videos before ever setting foot on what I
called at the time a real movie set. What I
have learned is that no two directors do anything alike. My first acting
gig was in a short film called Strangers that was for the Chiller
Channel which is owned by NBC/Universal. I got to play the Stalker which
was a dream come true growing up with Jason and Friday the 13th
films and it was so fucking fun I just had to do more. I have a small
cameo in Shane Ryan’s Amateur Porn Star Killer 3D [Shane
Ryan interview - click here] that we shot
while we were shooting Vaginal Holocaust which was fun. Then I was
in Paul Hough’s The Human Race whose executive producer is
John Hough who did the original Witch Mountain movies and
Dirty Mary
Crazy Larry and Twins of Evil and stuff like that so it’s
cool to be a part of that kind of thing. I just love making movies.
What got you into making movies in the first
place?
I have always loved film and I have always been in bands doing the music
thing. Well, when I was in the Creep Creepersin Film School, one of the
books that I made myself read was, What They Don’t Teach You in Film
School. In that book was a passage that basically stated, “when you go
to a book store and head over to the magazines, which magazines do you
pick up and read? Whatever that magazine is about, that’s what you
should be doing with your life to be happy.” And I was blown away. I
never read Rolling Stone or Spin or anything like that. It was always
Famous Monsters of Filmland, Fangoria, Rue Morgue, Scarlet
Street, and
Cult Films. Things like that. So it was a total shock to my system. It
made me feel like I had been wasting my life. That made me think of an
interview I did right before Faster Creepersin Kill Kill came out in
where I said, that “all singers in horror rock bands are just
frustrated horror directors who don’t know how to get their movies
made.” I was right, at least for me.
The Science Fiction Originals |
The
other thing that got me to make films was watching a movie called Funny
Games. They remade it over here. Still good, but I like the other one
better. Anyway, it was the first film that I ever saw that I felt
victimized as viewer. And I thought that I could do that to people, if I
can make them feel the way I feel right now, filmmaking would be very
satisfying.
Besides making films, you are a musician and the frontman
of rockbands Creepersin and The Sci-Fi Originals. A few
words about your music?
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Creepersin |
I love playing music and recording music. But touring is really hard on
me. I have a family and I love being around them, but Creepersin is
where all of this started. I don’t know if I would be making movies
today without that band. SFO was something my wife and I started after
being stuck in a house sick all weekend watching really bad movies on
the Sci-Fi Channel. Directing, writing, acting, making
music ... which one do you enjoy the most? Writing
and directing. Hands down. It is the most fulfilling thing that I have
ever done besides being a husband and a father.
Nikki Wall
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In both your movies
and your music, your wife Nikki Wall is a constant collaborator. Would you
like to talk about her for a bit? She
is my life. We have been together off and on since we were 13 years old.
She’s my best friend. We are around each other every day, all day so
her getting involved with everything I do is something that is just
right. There is actually a documentary being shot on her right now
called Brides of Horror. I’m really proud of her. She also keeps me
from making really bad decisions on set, like firing people or cutting
things out of a script. She completes me. That sounds silly but it is
100% true. Your website, MySpace,
whatever else?
www.Creepersin.com
www.Facebook.com/creepcreepersin
www.Twitter.com/Creepersin
www.Myspace.com/creepcreepersin
Your main influences as a director?
David
Lynch, Hitchcock, Takashi Miike, Ed Wood [Ed
Wood bio - click here], Roger Corman [Roger
Corman bio - click here], Lloyd Kaufman,
Stanley Kubrick.
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Some
of your favourite films? Anything
by Lynch is a given. Other than that, Lifeboat, Rope and Psycho by Hitchcock. Other than those two directors I would have
to say Funny Games, Visitor Q, all the 70’s blaxploitation
and women in prison flicks. Of course there’s also Cabinet of Dr.
Calagari and all the old Universal horror
movies. Then there are the
AIP/Vincent Price/Corman/Poe flicks and the original Texas
Chainsaw Massacre. This list
won’t stop if you let me keep going so I’ll leave it there for now. And of course films you really
deplored? Until
I win Oscars, I’m not allowed to talk bad about other people’s
films. And even then I probably shouldn’t. Anything else you are dying to mention that
I've just forgotten to ask? Go
buy O.C. Babes and the Slasher of Zombietown!!! Thanks for the interview! Thank
you. That was a really good one. You did your homework. Good job.
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