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[Interview] Robert Rusler Discusses His Role in the ‘Blood Feast’ Remake
About a week ago Marcel Walz and I chatted about his upcoming Blood Feast remake. Today I talk with the film’s star, Robert Rusler, who plays Fuad Ramses, the man with plans to host the Blood Feast.
Synopsis:
Fuad Ramses and his family have moved from the United States to France, where they run an American diner. Since business is not going too well, Fuad also works night shifts in a museum of ancient Egyptian culture. During these long, lonely nights he becomes allured by goddess Ishtar as she speaks to him in visions. Eventually he succumbs to her deadly charms. After this pivotal night, Fuad begins a new life, in which murder and cannibalism become his daily bread. As butchered bodies are heaped upon the Altar of Ishtar, Fuad slowly slips further into madness, until he is no more than the goddess’s puppet…
Bloody Disgusting: Blood Feast is a pretty iconic horror film being essentially the first “splatter” film. Were you familiar with Herschell Gordon Lewis’ original film before taking on this role? If so, did you look at Mal Arnold’s portrayal of Ramses for inspiration?
Robert Rusler: Yes, I remember seeing the original Blood Feast when I was a young boy at a Saturday matinee in Downton LA with my Grandpa. We used to love watching horror movies together. Blood Feast was playing with The Abominable Dr. Phibes and The Town That Dreaded Sundown. In those days you could see 3 movies for about $3.00 a person and kids were free with an adult. I remember not being prepared for the graphic blood and nudity. But loved it anyway. I did re-watch the film again when I got the offer to play Fuad Ramses and was definitely inspired by Mal Arnold’s performance in the original. As an actor, I knew right away that this was an opportunity to play homage to his portrayal, and also to give the character a fresh personal approach based on my creative ideas, along with the direction of the sharp minded Marcel Walz.
BD: What attracted you to the role?
RR: I loved the mindset of Fuad. I was inspired to delve in to his passion for what he believes is his personal salvation. Fuad’s obsession with the Goddess Ishtar could lead him to committing acts that he never deemed possible for himself. Love will make a man do anything it takes, in order to get what his soul desires.
BD: The film is very gory and you’re in the center of that action getting your hands dirty. Is that something you enjoy in a role?
RR: Absolutely. I like that the blood and violence in this film are never gratuitous. There is a reason Fuad is willing to shed blood. And the method to his madness, he believes in his heart and soul are righteous. As an actor, I’m down to shock the audience in a way that they can vicariously put themselves in the character’s situation and circumstances. Hopefully it will make a lasting impression on them like the many killer horror movie characters did for me throughout my many years as a horror fan.
BD: When people sit down to watch Blood Feast, what is your hope? What do you want them to take away from the viewing?
RR: I want them to empathize with all the characters. I want the audience to feel what Fuad feels in the justification of his madness. I also want them to feel what the family and the victims of his wrath feel, so that it may haunt them in their dreams. Fuad and I are sick and demented like that!
BD: You’ve had quite the career and you’ve appeared in a number of horror films. Is horror a genre you have a preference for?
RR: Hell yes! I love horror movies. I adore horror fans and I plan on always looking for future roles to play, where I can stretch and challenge myself creatively in order to scare the shit out of people who love horror as much as I do! Horror Fans Rule!
BD: What’s next for Robert Rusler? Any projects outside of Blood Feast fans should be on the lookout for?
RR: I have a few films coming out. Another horror film I’m appearing in along with Dina Meyer, David Lipper and Lance Henriksen is entitled ‘The Unwilling,’ which is directed by another very talented director by the name of Jonathan Heap…Gonna be dope! I’m starting production on a film next month in Mississippi. (More will be revealed soon) And I will be back on Showtime’s hit show ‘Ray Donovan’ next season!
But what I really want the fans to be on the lookout for, are the many projects that I plan to produce and direct under my Production Company ENTERTAINMENT PLAYGROUND. I have been writing and preparing for many years, in order to share my own stories and talents with the world. I have a ton of support from the many friends and colleagues I’ve accumulated over the 33 year span of my career! Oh…and of course, I want the fans to get ready for….BLOOD FEAST 2!!! Muhuhuhuhuhahahahaha!!!!!!!!
Stephen Graham Jones is one of those horror literature names you know, even if you’re not that into horror literature.
The author of The Only Good Indians, My Heart is a Chainsaw, and dozens of other entries in the modern horror canon has built a reputation for two things: Chilling fiction and a jaw-droppingly prolific output, and today we can exclusively reveal the next story he’s unleashing on readers.
On March 9, 2027, Jones and Saga Press will release Ears, a new haunted house horror novella about a down-on-his-luck man who finds an unlucky ally in the ghost of a child in footie pajamas, complete with bunny ears on top.
Here’s the official synopsis:
“Mr. Morning Gun, the hapless narrator of this first person novella, is a disgraced history teacher who now is an unhoused person who is largely living within his electric car and the empty homes he looks after for local real estate agencies in a specific way: He flushes the empty houses toilets to keep, primarily, the wax seals on the toilets fresh, and the plumbing flowing. For this he gets a bit of money under table. One day, at “The Messner House” he gets caught by an aggressive realtor having a tryst, and the ghost of the previous owners’ missing child intervenes, killing the couple, and saving the former teacher and he finds himself embroiled into an ever-increasing layer of cover-ups as the girl in the lavender footie pajamas keeps killing folks to keep the house empty, except for him.”
What inspired a story like this? For Jones, it began with something very practical, which quickly morphed into a new expression of horror.
“I was wondering if the chargers for electric cars are universal or not, but didn’t know how to phrase a search to figure that out, so I had to figure it out the only way I know how: with a story—with horror,” Jones told Bloody Disgusting. “With, as it turned out, a haunted house. So, now I know that they probably are universal. And that that leads to… to bad things.”
Bloody Disgusting is pleased to exclusively reveal the haunting cover for Ears, designed by Luisa Dias.
Ears is the latest entry in Jones’ always-busy publishing schedule, which includes a new novel, Off the Reservation, arriving this fall from Saga. Beginning next spring, Saga will also reissue three of Jones’ earlier horror works for a new generation of readers, delivering new editions of Demon Theory, The Last Final Girl, and Growing Up Dead In Texas.
Those reissues don’t have firm release dates yet, but you can expect Ears to arrive on March 9, 2027.
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