Your new movie The Acid Sorcerer
- in a few words, what is it about?
"The Acid Sorcerer
is a dark & nihilistic horror film about a set of
characters that include a serial killer, a sadistic drug dealer, a cross
dressing snuff filmmaker, a drug addicted couple & a prostitute with HIV.
The characters embrace their inner darkness, struggle with morality, come to
terms with their mortality & meet their demise."
What were your sources of inspiration when dreaming up The
Acid Sorcerer?
After the completion of American Scumbags I
wanted to make an extremely dark, depressing, hateful & surreal horror
film that would be similar to David Lynch's Eraserhead, but at the same
time I wanted to make a highly original film that was similar but a bit
different from our previous films.
With the three stories of The
Acid Sorcerer connected first and foremost by the character of a
drugdealer who really doesn't give a shit about anything - do you see your
movie at all as a comment on drugs, drug use, drug-related crime and the
like (however unintentionally)? Actually
no. I don't see anything like that about drugs in our films - I know that
Brian Knapp (Eyevin) & Darien Fawkes (Crawdad) do, but I don't. Drugs
have always been a prevalent theme in my films and I used the theme
again in this film but I think it comes across as more disturbing because
the viewer can easily sympathize with Crawdad & Vermina (the drug
addicted couple in the film) because they aren't that bad - they are just
desperate addicts doing what they have to do to score, & it leads to
the decay of their relationship & ultimately Vermina's death.
Do talk about the
violence in The Acid Sorcerer
for a bit, and how important is on-screen violence to your body of work in
general?
The Acid Sorcerer
may be our most disturbing & violent film yet, but I
think violence is an extremely Important & necessary element when it
comes to my films.
What can you tell us about your movie's
approach to horror? For The Acid Sorcerer
I drew inspiration from David Lynch's Eraserhead, I also
drew a lot of inspiration from old black and white films that relied a lot
on atmosphere like I Bury The Living. A few words about the overall look
and feel of your movie? As
I mentioned before I drew inspiration from black and white films like Eraserhead &
I Bury The Living, & assistant director/actor
Darien Fawkes even told me as we were shooting the film that it had a dark film
noir vibe to it and that was exactly what I was going for. For this
film I invested in a better camera and tripods which helped give the
camera work a more cinematic feel. I would say that it is definelty more
sleeker then our previous films - especially My Master
Satan, but it was
important that we still retained the grittiness of our previous films and
we succeeded in doing that. You also play one of the leads
in The Acid Sorcerer
- so do talk about your character for a bit, and did you write him with
yourself in mind?
Yes,
I had myself in mind to play Smoke all along. I've had the idea for the
character Smoke and his alter ego Leach since 2012-2013. Smoke is a drug
addicted serial killer and he is controlled by his other half Leach, which
is the more darker and philosophical side of Smoke that compels him to
murder. Smoke and Leach are actually my favorite characters from The Acid Sorcerer
and they give the film the dark feel I was striving for.
I
found a lot of inspiration for Smoke and some of Leach's dialogue and
monologues by reading serial killer books, interviews & quotes.
What can you tell us about the rest of
your cast, and why exactly these people? Everyone
in my films are my friends. I've known Darien Fawkes for a while now. We
worked together on American Scumbags (he played one of the main characters
named Billy) and on this film he accompanied me on all the shoots and
became the second unit director as well as having dual roles as Crawdad
& Leach. Then there is my friend Brian Knapp. I've known him for a
long time, he played Charlie in My Master
Satan. I wrote the role of
Eyevin specifically for him and he did an incredible job and captured the
hateful essence of the character. There's Nick Benning who played Nikki,
he played Lucifer in American Scumbags and I wrote the role of Nikki
specifically for him. There's Natasha Morgan who plays Vermina. She had no
prior acting experience but she stepped in to take the place of the
actress prior to her who dropped out & finally there's Selene
Velveteen who plays Ecstasy. She's Nick's girlfriend and offered to play
the role. I thinks everybody did a great job of bringing their characters
to the life and I am extremely satisfied with the film.
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A few words
about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
As
I mentioned previously, Darien accompanied me on all the shoots to help me,
therefore making it easier - especially for the scenes of Smoke where I
couldn't be behind the camera.
Also,
the whole film is shot at night-so the shoots would sometimes end at 2 in
the morning. Some nights-especially Nikki's scenes had a party atmosphere
to them. We would film and then once it was over Nick always had a party
at his place where we were filming.
The
whole film itself had a very dark and creepy feel to it, but the on set
atmosphere was quite the opposite.
The
$64-question of course, where can your movie be seen?
It
will be released on home video in August. It will be available on all the
major retail sites but we are having an IndieGoGo pre sale for the film
giving all of our fans an opportunity to buy signed first edition DVDs and/or posters.
The IndieGoGo page for the film film can be found @
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-acid-sorcerer-horror-drugs#/
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Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of The
Acid Sorcerer? It has been extremely positive so
far - myself and the rest of the cast consider it our best film yet. Any future projects you'd like to
share? Yes I am getting ready to start filming The Life of
an American Scumbag. It is a continuation of American Scumbags &
it will be out in late 2017. I am also writing a sequel to The Acid Sorcerer.
It's in its preliminary stages but it going to be darker then the first Acid Sorcerer
film. Your/your movie's website, Facebook, whatever
else?
The Acid Sorcerer's Facebook page can be found @
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=221727484901962
The
Dakota Bailey/R.A.
Productions Facebook page can be found @
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=101692230164888
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask? Thanks for the interview and for
covering our films, and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the cast
of The Acid Sorcerer
and most importantly the fans who continue to support
my films. Thanks for the interview!
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