Movies
‘Excision’ & ‘Suburban Gothic’ Director Sets a ‘Trash Fire’
Writer/director Richard Bates Jr. makes some really unique films. He followed up the dark coming of age tale Excision with the morbidly madcap Suburban Gothic (our review). In both, Bates exhibits a knack for addressing the fears of the youth while embracing the horror genre he loves. Now for his third feature, which just wrapped filming, Bates has set a Trash Fire. Starring Adrian Grenier (Cecil B. Demented) and Angela Trimbur (The Final Girls), Trash Fire is a psychological horror comedy being described as “Pyscho meets Harold and Maude.” Richard’s last name is Bates, after all.
Bates’ Suburban Gothic dealt with the fear of having to move back home again, which is painfully relatable. I’m excited to see the direction he takes tackling the sins of the family. Plus, I’m stoked to see Trimbur in another dark comedy – she’s wicked talented and an absolute riot in The Final Girls.
The synopsis for Trash Fire reads:
When an unforeseen event forces Owen (Grenier) to confront the past he’s been running from his whole adult life, he and his girlfriend, Isabel (Trimbur), become entangled in a horrifying web of lies, deceit, and murder. Trash Fire is a deeply, darkly comedic take on the traditional psychological horror film. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll be scarred for life.
Joining Grenier in the film’s cast is Angela Trimbur (The Final Girls), Fionnula Flanagan (The Others), AnnaLynne McCord (“90210”), Matthew Gray Gubler (Criminal Minds), Sally Kirkland (JFK), Ray Santiago (“Ash vs. Evil Dead”), Ezra Buzzington (The Hills Have Eyes) and Molly McCook (Excision).
When an unforeseen event forces Owen (Grenier) to confront the past he’s been running from his whole adult life, he and his girlfriend, Isabel (Trimbur), become entangled in a horrifying web of lies, deceit, and murder. Trash Fire is a deeply, darkly comedic take on the traditional psychological horror film. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll be scarred for life.
Lawrence Mattis and Matt Smith of Circle of Confusion and David Lawson Jr. of Snowfort Pictures produce the feature, which wrapped principal photography in Los Angeles last week.
Movies
‘Backrooms’ Director Kane Parsons Is No Fan of Generative AI: “Defeats the Purpose Entirely for Me”
There has been a lot of talk recently about filmmakers embracing generative AI as part of the filmmaking process, from Darren Aronofsky to Martin Scorsese. But what about filmmakers that are against the use of Gen AI for creative pursuits? You can count 20-year-old Backrooms director Kane Parsons among that group, which should give you some hope for the future.
In a new chat with The Australian, the self-taught young filmmaker makes it crystal clear that he won’t be using generative AI in any of his upcoming filmmaking projects.
“I think I’m in the same boat as most well-adjusted people,” Parsons tells the outlet. “If I could snap my fingers and make generative AI disappear forever, I probably would. Creatively, I get no enjoyment from using those tools. It defeats the purpose entirely for me.”
“What interests me more is interrogating it artistically,” Parsons notes. “We already live in a world where you walk outside and there are billboards and signs that are obvious AI slop. That’s become part of our visual reality. To me, generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot.”
He explains, “I’m interested in using that iconography in art – not using AI to make the art itself, but examining what it represents. I definitely want to explore it further in future projects.”
Kane Parsons also notes during the interview with The Australian, “… there’s so much at stake and so many genuinely harmful consequences already happening.”
Backrooms marks young prodigy Kane Parsons’ feature directorial debut, and it’s based on his own series of YouTube videos that were brought to life using Blender, the open-source 3D computer graphics software suite. So it’s no surprise that Parsons, who has hand-made his filmmaking career up to this point, isn’t buying into the hoopla around Generative AI.
His debut feature is the #1 movie in the world, so perhaps he’s onto something.
What’s next from Kane Parsons, you ask? Stay tuned…
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