Hot Picks

- Ready for My Close Up 2019

- Talk of the Dead 2016

- Tower Rats 2020

- Script of the Dead 2024

- The Bell Affair 2023

- Easter Bloody Easter 2024

- Velma 2022

- Everwinter Night 2023

- Main Character Energy 2023

- Stupid Games 2024

- Bittertooth 2023

- 4 Minutes of Terror: Night Slasher 2024

- Apart 2024

- The Abandoned 2006

- Becky 2024

- The Evil Fairy Queen 2024

- The Black Guelph 2022

- Followers 2024

- Silence of the Prey 2024

- Battle for the Western Front 2024

- Beware the Boogeyman 2024

- Subject 101 2022

- Driftwood 2023

- The Legend of Lake Hollow 2024

- Black Mass 2023

- Skinwalkers: American Werewolves 2 2023

- The Manifestation 2024

- Spirit Riser 2024

- Garden of Souls 2019

- It's a Wonderful Slice 2024

- Caleb & Sarah 2024

- The Thousand Steps 2020

- The Desiring 2021

- When a Stranger Knocks 2024

- Quint-essentially Irish 2024

- Son of Gacy 2024

- Saltville 2024

- The True Story of the Christ's Return 2024

- Whenever I'm Alone with You 2023

- Jurassic Triangle 2024

- Midnight Peepshow 2022

- Offworld: Alien Planet 2024

- The Swiss Conspiracy 1976

- Sex-Positive 2024

- Here for Blood 2022

- All Over Again 2024

- The Color Yellow 2023

- Des Töchterleins Leid 2024

- I Am a Channel 2024

- The Hermits 2023

- Murdaritaville 2024

- Inheritance 2024

- The Devil's Partner 1960

- First Impressions Can Kill 2017

- A Killer Conversation 2014

- Star Crash 1979

- Strangler of the Swamp 1946

An Interview with Stuart Simpson, Director of Demons|Among|Us and Dark Psychosis

by Mike Haberfelner

September 2008

Quick Links

Abbott & Costello

The Addams Family

Alice in Wonderland

Arsène Lupin

Batman

Bigfoot

Black Emanuelle

Bomba the Jungle Boy

Bowery Boys

Bulldog Drummond

Captain America

Charlie Chan

Cinderella

Deerslayer

Dick Tracy

Dr. Mabuse

Dr. Orloff

Doctor Who

Dracula

Edgar Wallace made in Germany

Elizabeth Bathory

Emmanuelle

Fantomas

Flash Gordon

Frankenstein

Frankie & Annette Beach Party movies

Freddy Krueger

Fu Manchu

Fuzzy

Gamera

Godzilla

Hercules

El Hombre Lobo

Incredible Hulk

Jack the Ripper

James Bond

Jekyll and Hyde

Jerry Cotton

Jungle Jim

Justine

Kekko Kamen

King Kong

Laurel and Hardy

Lemmy Caution

Lobo

Lone Wolf and Cub

Lupin III

Maciste

Marx Brothers

Miss Marple

Mr. Moto

Mister Wong

Mothra

The Munsters

Nick Carter

OSS 117

Phantom of the Opera

Philip Marlowe

Philo Vance

Quatermass

Robin Hood

The Saint

Santa Claus

El Santo

Schoolgirl Report

The Shadow

Sherlock Holmes

Spider-Man

Star Trek

Sukeban Deka

Superman

Tarzan

Three Mesquiteers

Three Musketeers

Three Stooges

Three Supermen

Winnetou

Wizard of Oz

Wolf Man

Wonder Woman

Yojimbo

Zatoichi

Zorro

You are currently working on the movie The Dark Psychosis. Care to tell us what this movie is about?

 

Sure. The film starts with a bunch of bored country youths who dare each other to go to an old woman’s home in the woods, whom they believe to be a witch. When they find her living in an old trailer in the forest they are warned to leave or risk their sanity. She tells them she has found a portal to another dimension, The Dark Psychosis - A place so terrible and haunting, that it will rot your brains and destroy your soul. The youth run back into the night except for one. The oldest of the group waits patiently for the old woman to leave and quietly enters the trailer. Inside he finds old television sets piled on top of each other, glowing from an unknown source. Suddenly the largest of the TVs begins to pull the young man towards it and he is thrown into its void. Enter the Dark Psychosis, a rollercoaster of 6 original and strange stories of horror and the bizarre.

 

How come you decided to do an anthology movie?

 

Well I like making short films. After finishing my first feature, Demons|Among|Us, I was keen to doing something quick and with no pressure, just for the hell of it. My SPFX man, Nick Kocsis and I loved playing with gore so much in the feature we thought it would be great to just do a full on nonstop gorefest of a short film….and Sickie was born. Funnily enough it got a better reaction from some people than the feature did. So we did another one, Greedy Guts, this time with a more comedic edge but still gorey and with a strange storyline I wrote while in Amsterdam (enough said). Both shorts won Best Film in different short film festivals here in Australia. So an idea began in my mind as a way to bring a bunch of stories together. I wanted to do something in the vain of the old Twilight Zone shows of the 60’s, but of course with horror, kinda like the Creepshow films but even more extreme and crazy. Something mental.

 

The film is something of a horror/sci-fi/comedy hybrid, right? Why this combination, and do you put an emphasis on any of these elements?

 

These are my favourite subjects. I love science fiction and I love horror. Both walk a fine line of what can be perceived real and what is fantasy. I think the horror genre allows so much room to move as far as story telling goes. You can get away with practically anything. And I think comedy is a good way to keep the material fresh and contrasting, plus I like to laugh just like anyone else.

 

When will the movie be ready, when will it be released, and where will it be released?

 

I hope to have everything finished by early next year (2009). We have three films completed and one in post production, so that leaves two more to be shot. Then it’s a matter of shopping it around for distribution. If we don’t get a deal that we are happy with then my production company Lost Art Films will do it independently. Go to www.myspace.com/thedarkpsychosis for up-to-date news.

 

Your first feature film (at least according to my knowledge) was Demons|Among|Us back in 2006. What can you tell us about that movie?

 

Demons|Among|Us was my first feature, shot over three years with a completely volunteer cast and crew. I also wrote, shot and edited it. It’s a horror about demons both in the real world and in our minds. It also features social/political undertones about the evils of mass consumerism, global advertising and religion. It also very silly and gory ha ha.

 


Flix.com

Demons|Among|Us was released in the USA by Troma. Do you feel any special affinity to that company and especially there house-style?

 

Well I grew up watching some of their earlier films like Toxic Avenger and Surf Nazis Must Die. I loved them. And I guess in their way, inspired me. Troma had an obvious style and attitude of film-making that was outside the Hollywood system and proved there was an audience for something very different. But as far as having a similar style myself? No, I think my films are quite different.

 

Your films all seem to have horror-themes. Is horror a genre especially dear to you?

 

Yeah, like I said before I love that fact you can get away with such crazy storylines in horror that you just couldn’t do in any other genre. But to be honest, the bulk of horror films out there bore me, they’re repetitive, non-original cash ins. Ahh don’t get me started on remakes either GOD!!!

 

Also, your movies always seem to have a comedic edge to them. Why do you think horror and comedy mix so well?

 

It's good to have the contrast. Let the audience relax a little before you smack them over the head again.  And often when we are confronted with things that are full-on and horrific, we laugh. And it’s this response that fascinates me.

 

You are making your films in Australia. What can you tell us about the Australian indie-horror scene?

 

Well there seems to be a lot of low budget/indie horror being made here at the moment but it’s a huge country so I haven’t met any of the indie filmmakers personally. I don’t know what there is to say about it really. I’m stuck up my own ass most of the time working on my own projects.

 

How easy or hard is it to get actors for indie-horror films like yours?

 

Its easy to find people, but getting good actors for no money is a different story. I’m lucky in that I work in Television as a cameraman, so I have some contacts and friends there that are happy to come on board. For a lot of the roles for the Dark Psychosis I actually held auditions advertised on MySpace.

 

What got you into filmmaking in the first place, and are there any films you've made I've just forgotten to mention?

 

Film is the greatest artistic medium of the modern age. How could you stay away? When it works, it's fucking amazing!

I done a bunch of other short films a long time ago but nothing worth mentioning really. I also have directed several video clips over the years and still enjoy doing the odd one. If the band is right and they trust you, the artistic freedom is fantastic.

 

Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned)

The links below
will take you
just there!!!

Find Stuart Simpson
at the amazons ...

USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

Germany (East AND West)  amazon.de

Looking for imports?
Find Stuart Simpson here ...

Thailand  eThaiCD.com
Your shop for all things Thai

Something naughty?
(Must be over 18 to go there!)

x-rated  find Stuart Simpson at adultvideouniverse.com

Your and your films' website/mySpace/whatever else?

 

Demons|Among|Us:

www.demonsamongus.com

www.myspace.com/demonsamongusthemovie

 

The Dark Psychosis:

www.myspace.com/thedarkpsychosis

 

Directors who have inspired you?

 

Weir, Miller, de Heer, Hillcoat, Cronenberg, Lynch, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Gondry, Jackson, Anderson, Barker, De Palma, Raimi ... any one doing something original and unique and in their own style.

 

Favourite films, both recent and all time favourites?

 

Blue Velvet, Evil Dead, The Shining, Raising Arizona, Mad Max, just to name but a few.

 

Any movies you really deplored?

 

All these recent horror remakes. Please stop!!!!

 

At the moment, you're quite obviously in the middle of The Dark Psychosis. But are there any future projects lined up after that?

 

I’ve got a few feature scripts in the works. So any producers out there?

 

Anything else I've just plain forgotten to ask and you're just dying to share with us?

 

UM...I hate to get on a soap box here but Support Independent Cinema! I know its easy to download stuff from the net but if you don’t buy the odd DVD then how can the film makers keep making films? We're not like a band that can tour around and make money. We need to sell DVDs or we are dead. Thank you to all the people who have supported us and our films over the years. You inspire us more than you know.

 

Thanks for the interview.

 

Thanks Mike ;)

 

© by Mike Haberfelner


Legal note: (re)Search my Trash cannot
and shall not be held responsible for
content of sites from a third party.




Thanks for watching !!!



 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!