Exclusives
[Interview] Horror Icon Caroline Williams Talks ‘Blood Feast’
My Blood Feast interview rounds continue today with the legendary Caroline Williams. Horror fans no doubt are familiar with Williams from her role in Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and will be very pleased to see her in the upcoming Blood Feast remake.
Be sure to check out my previous Blood Feast interviews with Marcel Walz and Robert Rusler.
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: You’re an iconic scream queen that already has a number of legendary films on your resume. What it is like to now be taking part in the remake of an iconic horror film in Blood Feast?
Caroline Williams: I couldn’t say no, since I’ve worked with Marcel Walz before (on Seed 2) and I knew he would do wonderfully imaginative and scary things with this remake. And the fact that HGL gave his movie to Marcel to reimagine was the cherry on top!
BD: Were you familiar with the original Blood Feast and the work of Herschell Gordon Lewis before being cast in this latest film?
CW: Oh, yes, I’ve seen Herschell at conventions before and had seen so much of his work. We call him The Godfather. Blood Feast was the first splatter film.
BD: Louise Ramses is a very important character in Blood Feast. Can you talk a little about the role and what, in your eyes at least, Louise means to the film?
CW: It’s valuable to have the family structure in the film to watch it begin to fall apart and erode due to the influence and power that Ishtar holds over Fuad. Having Louise return to the city of her birth, which is foreign to her, makes her even more dependent on her husband and daughter and creating success in their Paris restaurant is imperative. It ups the pressure on the family as a whole and creates a lot of dramatic tension.
BD: Horror certainly isn’t the only genre you’ve dabbled in, but it is the genre you have the most experience in. Were you always a horror fan or is that something you just happened to find yourself in through various acting channels?
CW: Since one of my first big films was TCM2, I developed that fan following that keeps you busy in horror. I also love the action oriented nature of horror. Horror today is what westerns were in the past, so the fan devotion is so important.
BD: Knowing that fans of your work have already seen some of the best that horror has to offer, why do you think they should be interested in seeing Blood Feast?
CW: I think Blood Feast is ahead of the curve in that it has an international cast and feel to it. So many of LA and Hollywood locations have been shot out. Fans are familiar with Hollywood films in a way that they aren’t with foreign capitals. The elegance and sense of timelessness of Germany and France are so apparent in this film. It really raises the production value.
A hospital stay grows more nerve-frazzling when memory loss distorts reality in our exclusive clip from This Tempting Madness, inspired by a true story.
The mind-bending psychological thriller will be released in select theaters and on demand on June 12 via Vertical.
Simone Ashley (“Bridgerton”) stars as Mia, who awakens from a coma, grievously injured, her memory fractured. As she puts the pieces of her past together, she starts to question her own actions and her perception of reality.
In This Tempting Madness, “Mia awakens from a coma grievously injured, her memory fractured. As she puts the pieces of her past together, she starts to question her own actions, and her perception of reality.”
Jennifer E. Montgomery makes her feature directorial debut from a script she co-wrote with director of photography Andrew Davis, inspired by Montgomery’s first-hand experience with tragedy involving her best friend.
“Months before the incident, there were signals that her world was unraveling,” says Montgomery. “I could feel the pressure building, though I didn’t know what form it would take. I never could have known what violence would come, and I certainly never imagined making a film about it.”
Austin Stowell (“NCIS: Origins”), Suraj Sharma (Happy Death Day 2U), Mojean Aria (Reminiscence), Amol Shah (“For All Mankind”), and Zenobia Shroff (“Ms. Marvel”) round out the cast.
Smoke Jumper Films and Mango Monster Productions produce in association with Catchlight Studios (Heretic, The Blackening).
This Tempting Madness is rated R for “language, violence/bloody images, and brief sexuality.”