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Your new movie Theresa
& Allison - in a few words, what is it about?
After
a one night stand turns disastrous, Theresa (Arielle Hope [Arielle
Hope interview - click here]) finds herself
drawn into a world of vampiric savagery, all the while tempted by the
beautiful and immortal Allison (Sarah Schoofs [Sarah
Schoofs interview - click here]).
How did the project come together in the first place?
I knew writer/producer Charles D. Lincoln [Charles
D. Lincoln interview - click here] through the indie horror world. His dad played one of the killers in Wes Craven's Last House on the
Left. Charles had written this brutal, uncompromising low budget horror
feature and was seeking a director who wouldn't compromise or be afraid of the
graphic nudity and gore. My short film The Minions,
a nocturnal tale about witches and madness, had that gritty yet beautiful
visual style Charles was seeking, so we made a deal and off we ran.
What can you tell us about Theresa
& Allison's writer/producer Charles D. Lincoln, and what was
your collaboration like?
Charles is a depraved New York character. He has no censor and
tends to unnerve some people. He's a hustler, and his pirate-like take-no-prisoners attitude is what wills projects like this into existence.
His madness and my discipline made us an unlikely pairing; we couldn't be
more different. But we both cared about this film and wanted it to
be unique, grotesque, daring and sincere.
With Theresa
& Allison being a vampire movie, is that a genre at all dear
to you, and some of your genre favourites? While I love
vampire films like Abel Ferrara's The Addiction and Larry
Fessenden's Habit, I thought of this more like a William (Maniac) Lustig
sleazefest love letter to the underbelly of New York. The cast is almost
entirely female, playing characters who aren't just supporting the male
lead. That also appealed to me. Actress Sarah Schoofs
[Sarah Schoofs interview -
click here] was
reminded of the rogue's gallery of female killers singing the Cell Block
Tango in Chicago.
Arielle Hope |
Do talk
about Theresa &
Allison's approach to vampires, and what do you think makes Theresa
& Allison stand out of the crowd of vampire flicks being
produced? Vampires in this story are predatory animals with
lethal addictions. In this film, they are unapologetically venal and
scummy. They don't sparkle and the sex is far from romantic; it is
immediate and dangerous. A few words about Theresa
& Allison's take on horror in general? Instead
of being scary it's more about dread, anticipating how bad things will get
and how low our characters will go. Since Theresa has a conscience,
there's an inherent tension as we follow her dark night of the soul. That
said, Charles wrote some witty nasty dialogue, and his humor makes us able
to bear the extremities Theresa
& Allison puts the
viewer through. What
can you tell us about your directorial approach to your story at hand? Director
of photography Christopher Bye and I pushed the weirdness and alienation
as far as we could go. We went for daring camera angles and extreme
lens choices. It's a bizarre nighttime Alice in Wonderland style, but
the Brooklyn locations kept us grounded and real. Do
talk about your key cast, and why exactly these people?
We
went through a long audition process for every role. The exception
was Sarah Schoofs [Sarah
Schoofs interview - click here], a wonderful actress who has appeared in many genre
films including Gut, Meme and
Phobia. As
soon as she walked into the room she claimed the role as her own, bringing
a cat's playfulness and selfishness to Allison.
Sarah Schoofs |
Theresa
was harder to cast, but eventually Arielle Hope [Arielle
Hope interview - click here] surprised us with her
vulnerability disguised by a wise ass smirk. She's damaged goods,
and aroused our sympathy. Sarah, nobody's fool, was far more
experienced than Arielle, which she used to her advantage in their scenes
together. I confess I teased Arielle incessantly to keep her on her
toes.
A
few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
It
was a never-ending shoot staggered over time, in freezing cold conditions
and rat-trap apartments. Theresa
& Allison was
made in pain and terror, with the budget always threatening to collapse,
but luckily the cast and crew were gung-ho, fighting to the finish.
The
$64-question of course, where can Theresa
& Allison be seen? We're submitting to genre
festivals now. Anything you can tell us
about audience and critical reception of Theresa
& Allison yet?
Charles
thinks the two hour cut says everything he wanted to say; I wish we were
pared down to a lean mean 90 minutes. I'm reminded of the different
cuts of Dawn of the Dead by George Romero (longer) and
Dario Argento (shorter). Ultimately the theatrical cut of Romero's
classic was in-between those visions. The movie belongs to the
audience now and they'll tell us if they like it or hate it, so we shall
see.
Any future projects you'd
like to share?
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We're in development on a monster movie
feature based on the proof-of-concept short film Slapface, and
this month I'm directing a grisly horror short called Perfect for
actress-producer Ashley Tyler who so memorably played the alleyway victim
in Theresa
& Allison. That project involves body
parts and is more Mary Shelley than Bram Stoker. I'm looking forward
to that nasty piece of work. Your/your movie's website, Facebook,
whatever else?
http://kippfilms.com/main.html
https://www.facebook.com/theresaandallison
https://twitter.com/theresanallison
Thanks for the
interview!
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