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Your new movie The
13th Friday - in a few words, what is it about?
When a female refugee discovers an ancient demonic device that
opens the gateway to another realm, she unleashes a dark entity that poses
as her daughter. After many failed attempts to have the church explain the
creation of her worst nightmares, she learns that the house is cursed by
an enraged spirit that died on Friday the 13th. And now a group of thrill-seeking friends unknowingly unleash its wrath and damn their souls. What
were your sources of inspiration when writing The
13th Friday? Whenever Khu the COO of Pikchure Zero
Entertainment and I sit down we bring in the other members of the
company, Deanna Grace Congo and David Cazares and Lisa May, and discuss what films
we are looking to create. And we discovered this true story about the
Mexican army and this refugee woman who stumbled upon this cursed house.
There are still bullet markings from the war on the outside of the house.
We just couldn’t pass up an opportunity to create a great story around
that. This idea that a woman made a deal with the devil and her
descendants are nowhere to be found. Had thriller/horror written all over
it. Of all the key characters in The
13th Friday, not all of whom are good guys by definition, who
could you identify with the most, actually, and why? And who the least?
Lisa
May does a phenomenal job of leading the film and I loved her performance
and then to see Khu take on this investigative role, those two were my
favorite. I loved however Johnny Llane’s performance. He had just gotten
over a personal matter with his family and to see him pull out that
performance as Robert Thurmond was inspiring. He had to play a father who
has lost his son as a part of these heinous acts committed by the cast. I
could identify the least with Jeff Moore’s character Terry, because he
was such a bad ass! I hope to one day be able to just exude that much
cool. Victoria Valdez’s character was the role that dealt with a family
member being compromised and her neglecting her responsibilities as a
daughter. That was crazy because I am such a mama’s boy I would have
stayed home the entire movie J What
can you tell us about The
13th Friday's approach to horror? I think it was
more fun. It was jump scary as hell. We wanted the audience to just sit
back and have fun and not try and pick apart every little scene. There
are some great moments. Mayra Rodriguez , who is amazing, enters the house
first and she sort of sets the tone for the audience. She really helps
sell the tone and we follow that with a phenomenal performance from Deanna
Grace Congo who explains why they are doing what they are doing to these
people. So at it’s core The
13th Friday is about remorse and situational
survival. What would you do if you had to kill someone in order to
survive? How would you know if you didn’t that you would be spared?
You just have
to talk about the makeup of your ghost mother and the cave dwellers for a
bit, and to what extent were you involved in the process of its creation?
Nissa Nightmare and Heather D’Anne were very integral in the creation
process. Nissa has developed quite the eye for creating SFX and it was
insane to watch her make full body suits in the time frame to which she
did. Add in the famed Heather D’Anne and you have a great dynamic of
wonderful talent. They nailed it. The idea behind the effects of the film
was to create this world where practical effects were in the false world
the killers created and the CGI was in the real world to show a
juxtaposition to them going crazy.
What
can you tell us about your overall directorial approach to your story at
hand? I met up with Jaymie Gill and Melissa Vega to discuss
character development. It was important that the movie that is
predominately led by women, didn’t come off as a lot of damsels in
distress. They provided me with a great backdrop for the mood and dialogue
of the film. Kristina Rev helped with bringing the style of the characters
wardrobe to life. So together we were able to hammer out how the scenes
moved and what I needed to do to make sure the cast was having as much fun
as we wanted the audience to have! Do talk about your key cast, and why exactly these
people?
J.D. Ellis and Jose Zuniga and Reagan Dopp (Eve) and
Antonio Villareal and Lisa May and David Cazares and so many more, they
all work their asses off to be the best at their craft. Khu is not only
drop dead gorgeous but extremely talented behind and in front of the
camera and produces all of our films. So the films we do allow us at Pikchure Zero
Entertainment to surround ourselves with talented thespians!
Viviana Ozuna played the title character and she kills it as the estranged
mother who sets her child ablaze. To have a group of actors willing to go
to dark places to fill the screen for the audience is really key for me in
order to tell the thrilling stories we tell. I am so grateful for their
energy. A few words about the shoot as such, and the
on-set atmosphere? We had to try and find a way to
tell a scary story but also not have it drag in tone and pacing. The
challenge was keeping the scenes vibrant and also trying to create a very
disjointed color pallete. We achieved this by always have two key lights
in every scene and no fill. Lots of color but not contrasting tones. Given
that the sets were haunted, it was easy to get the cast and crew creeped
out! Toluca Ranch and Laborde House are famous for their folklore.
Anything you can tell us about
audience and critical reception of The
13th Friday? We premiered the movie in theaters and
it was a packed house. What has been great is that audiences have told us
that the film never lets up. The practical and visual effects add to the
beautifully lensed film Khu crafted with her cinematography. It has been
exciting to be a part of another Uncork’d Entertainment distributed
film!
Any future projects you'd like to
share?
Almost
Amazing is available now:
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/
B075X2WC2K/
I
am working closely with Torrei Hart and my manager Shaun Cairo on a
television episodic. I will be co-producing a film called Conundrum:
Secret Amongst Friends alongside Shakir Entertainment.
The
Elf just came out on all digital platforms:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/the-elf/id1297246409
It
will be in Redbox November 28, 2017 alongside Alien Reign of Man
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B074794M9X/
Buy The
13th Friday here:
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B075MRLQH3/ Your/your movie's website, Facebook, whatever
else?
Khu: @ stageakhu (Instagram)
Justin Price: @ pikchurezero (Instagram)
Deanna Grace Congo: @ dcongo (Instagram)
Buy The
Elf here:
Direct TV: https://www.directv.com/movies/The-Elf-RGo3c2dMRUlNODFaQlIva1lpZjkyZz09
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/the-elf/id1297246409
Vudu: https://www.vudu.com/movies/#!content/904959/The-Elf
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B076HYT6XL/
Redbox: https://www.redbox.com/movies/the-elf
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Anything else you're dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask?
I am the number 1 indie film
producer as of this quarter and that’s exciting news. No one has
produced and directed five titles in a calendar year that have reached
domestic and international distribution. What an accomplishment and
blessing. I am so grateful for my team, Khu and Deanna Grace Congo and
David Cazares and Lisa May and Johnny Llanes and J.D. Ellis and Amy Jo
Guthrie and Melissa Vega. My phenomenal management Shaun Cairo for the
opportunity to direct the upcoming horror\thriller S.O.H.N.: The Rise of
Achak starring Luca Oriel. I am in the middle of production on a film
tentatively titled Pharoahs and another creature film called Dawnseeker!
We are in post-production on a Brittany Daniels Goodwin directed film
called If You’re Gone starring Desiree Ross and Masey Mclain. We
are creating a television episodic called Reapers with Cameron White set
to come on board and produce. Thanks for the interview!
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