And if there’s one specific kind of moviemaking that fans now hold up on a pedestal despite the genre once being considered a wasteland inhabited by low-brow trash, it has to be grindhouse cinema.

However, thanks to Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse double-feature back in 2007, the schlocky productions of the 1970s would see a much-needed comeback in the form of neo-exploitation films meant to harken back to the days of grainy photography and over-the-top violence.

In honor of Rod Blackhurst’s Dolly, now streaming on Shudder, proving that this movement is alive and well decades after the release of Planet Terror and Death Proof, today I’d like to highlight six other faux grindhouse thrillers that are definitely worth your time!

For the purposes of this list, I’ll be defining “faux grindhouse” as any modern-day movie that intentionally attempts to emulate the gritty style of low-budget cinema from the late ’60s to the early ’80s. This means no genuine grindhouse films or modern-day productions that only tangentially resemble retro filmmaking. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own neo-exploitation favorites if you think I missed a particularly memorable example.

With that out of the way, onto the list:

6. Father’s Day (2011)

Troma has been producing lovably low-budget schlock since the late ‘60s, so it’s no surprise that one of their more recent films would make it onto this list. What is surprising, however, is that the Astron 6–directed Father’s Day is actually a legitimately fun movie that does a lot more than coast on its retro aesthetics.

An over-the-top action/horror-comedy with plenty of gore and even more style, this bizarre film follows a pair of vengeful siblings as they attempt to track down a maniacal rapist/serial killer years after he targeted their own father.

If you like this edgy masterpiece, don’t forget to check out the team’s equally strange neo-giallo flick, The Editor.

5. The Love Witch (2016)

An authentic cinematic experiment shot on 35mm film and produced using period-accurate effects, Anna Biller’s modern cult classic may take more inspiration from the Technicolor classics of the 1960s than the gory B-movies of the ’70s, but The Love Witch’s sleazy charms still place it firmly in the realm of neo-grindhouse cinema.

In fact, the movie is so convincing in its retro setup that plenty of jaded cinephiles fail to realize that this artsy horror-comedy isn’t actually a long-lost cult film. Of course, it’s Samantha Robinson’s career-making performance as the lovesick spellcaster Elaine Parks that makes this one worth watching.

4. The Barn (2016)

I’ve always been a sucker for retro slasher flicks, but it takes a really talented filmmaker to make these familiar movies stand out from the classics that inspired them. That’s why I admire writer-director Justin M. Seaman for giving us not one but three fully-fledged killers to run from in his underrated The Barn franchise.

Featuring fan-favorite talent like Linnea Quigley and Ari Lehman (with the sequel even boasting Joe Bob Briggs, Diana Prince, and Pinhead himself, Doug Bradley), The Barn boasts a surprising amount of genre pedigree despite its low budget. However, it’s the flick’s charming sense of dark humor that really earns it a spot on this list.

3. The House of the Devil (2009)

From the opening crawl claiming that the film is based on true events to the grainy 16mm cinematography that looks equally beautiful and terrifying, Ti West’s 2009 opus is both my favorite film by the prolific director as well as one of the most authentic-feeling retro experiences on this list.

While the slow-burning tension and Satanic-Panic-inspired story remain divisive among horror fans, I’d argue that this deeply atmospheric thriller is worth experiencing at least once as a form of cinematic time travel back to a simpler (but no less scary) time in genre history.

2. Hobo With a Shotgun (2011)

The absolute best production to come out of the immediate aftermath of 2007’s Grindhouse (and I say this as a fan of Rodriguez’s Machete), Jason Eisener’s Hobo With a Shotgun is one hell of an entertaining revenge thriller that also serves as a theatrical playground for the late, great Rutger Hauer to flex his underappreciated skills as a leading man.

While I’ve written about this daring recreation of exploitation cinema in the past, there’s no way we can discuss faux grindhouse productions without bringing up the film where a disgruntled homeless man engages in practical-effects-driven ultraviolence against the criminal underworld of Hope Town, Canada!

1. Antrum (2018)

By far the scariest movie on this list, David Amito and Michael Laicini’s Antrum is proof that retro filmmaking doesn’t always have to be tongue-in-cheek. Presented as a “real” cursed film from the 1970s, this eerie little nightmare uses its nostalgic aesthetic to tell a surprisingly effective meta-story about the consequences of digging too deep into the occult.

Of course, it’s the grainy visuals that make this such a memorable experience, with the film masterfully recreating the lo-fi cinematography of yesteryear despite not actually being shot on film. And here’s a fun fact: the filmmakers claim that the flick’s sinister vibes were actually inspired by David B. Earle’s infamous short film There Is Nothing – a film that you may remember as a supposedly “cursed” viral video from the early days of YouTube.

The post 6 Other Faux Grindhouse Horror Films Worth Watching After ‘Dolly’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In Kids vs. Aliens, produced by Bloody Disgusting, Cinepocalypse, and Studio71, all Gary (Dominic Mariche) wants is to make wrestling home movies with his best buds. Gary’s annoyed that his older sister Samantha (Phoebe Rex) wants to skip their wrestling fun to hang with the cool kids. When the siblings’ parents head out of town on Halloween weekend, a teen house party turns to terror when aliens attack, forcing the siblings to band together to survive the night.

Eisener co-wrote the film with John Davies (Hobo with a Shotgun) and incorporated his childhood into this wild midnight movie, from hometown UFO lore to his love of Masters of the Universe toys. In many ways, Kids vs. Aliens feels like a fitting full circle moment for Eisener’s genre career. 

So much so that we’re looking back at Eisener’s horror output in anticipation of Kids vs. Aliens.

“Treevenge”

Jason Eisener hit the ground running in this 2008 short that sees Christmas trees revolt in gruesome ways. The filmmaker frames the horror from the perspective of sentient trees tired of humans using them as holiday décor, prompting a yuletide massacre that goes heavy on the eye-gouging deaths. It’s short, sweet, and fully unhinged.

Hobo with a Shotgun

In 2007, an international trailer contest was run in promotion of the Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez double feature Grindhouse. Director Jason Eisener got together with collaborators Rob Cotterill and John Davies, wrote a script, and shot a trailer titled “Hobo with a Shotgun” for a mere $150 in a few days. It went viral on YouTube shortly after and won the contest. The exposure led to a feature film version getting fast-tracked, the second fake trailer from Grindhouse to earn one (after Machete).

The feature-length film takes the highlight reel of the faux trailer and expands it to a brisk hour-and-a-half story that replaces the original Hobo, David Brunt, for a more recognizable genre mainstay, Rutger Hauer. Also gone is the scratchy, dusty vintage film quality and replaced instead with the vivid technicolor world. Though the visual style might have been updated, the film retains that grindhouse DNA; dialogue, gore and all.

The ABCs of Death – “Y is for Youngbuck”

This horror anthology assembled 26 shorts from genre filmmakers worldwide, all creating a story about death corresponding with each letter of the alphabet. Jason Eisener’s segment served as a grim energy boost near the film’s conclusion. A vile janitor gets his comeuppance in a fitting, horror-centric way, highlighting Eisener’s ability to test boundaries while delivering on the bloodletting and distinct style.

V/H/S/2 – “Slumber Party Alien Abduction”

The final segment, save wraparound, in this anthology sequel shares a lot of overlap with Kids vs. Aliens. Siblings take advantage of a parentless weekend with a slumber party. Gary and his brother antagonize their older sister, who’s much more interested in boys, and fail to notice that aliens are watching them. It’s a segment with a massive mean streak but one that demonstrates Eisener’s ability to let kids be kids at their messiest, most destructive. It’s easy to see where the kernel of Kids vs. Aliens began, expanding into a much more playful, anything-goes universe.

“One Last Dive”

Whereas Eisener’s genre output tends to evoke a sense of fun and gleeful gore, this short showcases the Canadian filmmaker’s ability to scare. The short film follows a diver’s final descent to investigate an underwater crime scene with time of the essence, and that night dive packs in chilling imagery and a breathless last hook. The supernatural twist to aquatic horror is so simple yet so utterly spooky. The short was included as part of The 3:07 AM Project. While Eisener’s planned feature adaptation never came to fruition, the filmmaker channeled some of those plans into Kids vs. Alien, resulting in some of the film’s best scenes.

Dark Side of the Ring

Jason Eisener’s acclaimed documentary series explores the intersection of reality and fiction within the wrestling world. And Eisener isn’t afraid to explore the sport’s most controversial stories. It’s not horror, obviously, but there is enough overlap among fandoms to appeal to genre fans. More importantly, it highlights one of Eisener’s passions, which extends to his plucky leads in Kids Vs. Aliens. It’s Gary’s entire motivation propelling his journey, and wrestling also serves as a vital asset against the alien invasion.

Kids vs. Aliens releases in Theaters, On Demand, and Digital on January 20, 2023, from RLJE Films and Shudder.

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While this retro gem came out in 2011, the story behind the film begins a few years earlier, back when Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino teamed up to make Grindhouse. Intending for their double-feature to act as a love-letter to sleazy exploitation flicks, the directors also encouraged other filmmakers to contribute to the project with fake movie trailers. Prominent creators like Edgar Wright, Eli Roth and even Rob Zombie ended up chipping in with absurdly entertaining teasers, but it was only Rodriguez’s Machete and Eisener’s Hobo with a Shotgun that made the leap from fake trailer to real movie.

Eisner’s trailer was actually the winner of a contest hosted by Rodriguez and South by Southwest as a part of Grindhouse‘s marketing campaign, but it soon became clear that this low-budget homage to the gritty thrillers of the 70s could easily stand on its own as a real exploitation film. The trailer’s proposed story of a homeless vigilante cleaning up the streets of a town overrun by crime and corruption would have been right at home in the era of Pam Grier and Russell Albion Meyer, so the filmmakers decided to adapt the idea into a feature-length production.

Concerned about the pressures of leading a feature film, the star of the original trailer (David Brunt) resigned himself to a simple cameo, leading the filmmakers to bring in the legendary Rutger Hauer to take over the titular role. Other than that, the film is a pretty faithful adaptation of the source material, retaining most of the absurdly violent scenarios and one-liners as it tells the story of a down-on-his-luck drifter who just wants to do the right thing.

From homeless fight clubs to a child-molesting Santa-Claus, the film borrows a page from Toxic Avenger‘s Tromaville in its depiction of Hope Town as a comically exaggerated dystopia where half the population appears to have been replaced by sociopaths. In fact, Hauer’s Hobo is actively punished by the police for attempting to save a prostitute from death at the hands of a local gangster, and the antagonists have no qualms about burning schoolchildren alive in order to prove a point. However, unlike most Troma movies, Hobo with a Shotgun is so well-directed and well-performed that a lot of the over-the-top cruelty comes across as genuinely horrific rather than funny, which is both a blessing and a curse.

Of course, Rutger Hauer is what really makes the film tick, providing genuine heart in what was meant to be a simple satire of the exploitation movement. Not only does he fully commit to the gruesome action sequences, but he also delivers one of the most memorable performances of his career as a surly vagrant with a heart of gold, slowly driven mad by the evil that surrounds him. The Hobo’s final monologue before the flick’s climactic showdown remains one of the late actor’s finest moments, masterfully blending the script’s dark humor with completely serious line delivery that would have been nominated for awards had it taken place in another kind of movie.

Nick Bateman, Gregory Smith and Brian Downey also make for entertaining Troma-like villains as the sadistic criminal family that runs the town, though horror hounds will most likely fall in love with the demonic hitmen Rip and Grinder, collectively known as The Plague. This duo of armor-clad killers is implied to have killed both Jesus Christ and Abraham Lincoln on previous missions, and I’m still bummed that they never spawned official action figures.

The film also boasts plenty of gore, with gnarly action sequences that only exploitation-styled cinema can provide. While everything is intentionally low-fi, the blood and guts hit extremely hard, with a lot of effort put into making the picture look like something that could have really been made in the 70s. In fact, the entire movie is a lot better than it needs to be, making a point of relying on retro practical effects and grimy photography while also sneaking in a few poignant takes about real-world homelessness issues. It would have been really easy for Hobo with a Shotgun to end up as another cynical farce, making fun of the ideas that inspired it instead of actually doing something with them, but the filmmakers chose to take every aspect of the production seriously regardless of their budget, much like the real Grindhouse classics of the past.

While I adore Rodriguez and Tarantino’s homage to the golden days of exploitation, I feel like both Planet Terror and Death Proof are more concerned with emulating the schlocky aesthetics of classic exploitation flicks rather than the rebellious spirit that informed their productions. That’s what makes Hobo with a Shotgun such a special little movie, as the filmmakers behind it understood that exploitation is more than just a visual style. Hell, if it had been shot on real film stock and if Hauer looked a few decades younger, it would be hard to tell that this isn’t a legitimate 70s movie.

It’s dark and mean and could have used a bigger budget, but that’s precisely why I think Hobo with a Shotgun is Faux-Grindhouse at its finest. The macabre sense of humor and over-the-top violence might not be for everyone, but there’s so much effort going on behind the blood and guts that the film remains unmatched even a decade later. So if you’re up for some ultra-violent justice delivered one shotgun shell at a time, I’d definitely recommend this masterful throwback.

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Death Ranch pays homage to exploitation and grindhouse cinema in spirit and subject matter. Set in the ‘70s, it follows three siblings on the run from the law. They take refuge in an abandoned Tennessee ranch, only to discover by nightfall that their hideout is the hunting grounds of a cannibalistic Ku Klux Klan cult. After getting captured and tortured, the siblings fight to escape and seek bloody vengeance.

Written and directed by Charlie Steeds, Death Ranch stars Deiondre Teagle, Faith Monique, Travis Cutner, Scot Scurlock, and Brad Belemjian.

The gore-heavy feature releases on Digital, VOD, and DVD on April 20, 2021. Because grindhouse films often screened as part of double or triple features, here are six modern grindhouse-style movies to pair with Death Ranch. You can pre-order the film on iTunes or Amazon (DVD).

Father’s Day

What happens when Astron-6 and Troma team up? You get a full-throttle modern exploitation movie unconcerned with the boundaries of taste, all for the sake of splatstick comedy. The plot sounds like a joke setup; a murderer, a priest, and a delinquent try to bring down a father-killing madman. Through insane gore, including a man vomiting up his own guts, Father’s Day uses humor and viscera to subvert exploitation tropes. In other words, while the gorehounds will find much to revel in here, there’s as much wry substance to celebrate along with it. It embraces everything about grindhouse cinema, including stretching out its meager budget to maximum effect.

The Devil’s Rejects

When much of modern exploitation and grindhouse-style films lean into the schlock through humor, Rob Zombie embraces disturbing grit. His follow-up to House of 1000 Corpses dropped the vivid neon aesthetic for a far grimier, dustier ‘70s style sequel. The Firefly clan take their depravity on the road in their attempts to flee a vengeful Sheriff, resulting in a trail of bodies in their wake. The Firefly clan dish out as much visceral punishment as they receive, and then some, resulting in one of the most brutal modern exploitation movies to grace the mainstream.

Drive Angry

Nicolas Cage stars as John Milton, a determined man on a mission who drives his Chevelle straight out of Hell after stealing Satan’s gun. He’s tracking the cult responsible for murdering his daughter and kidnapping his grandchild. He receives help in this wild road trip movie filled with carnage, and he’ll have to dodge Hell’s bounty hunters along the way. Everything about Patrick Lussier’s horror actioner screams over-the-top excess in the best possible way. One-liners, violence, muscle cars, and carnage offer a ridiculous amount of pulp entertainment.

Chillerama

This horror anthology assembles four horror filmmakers that tackle a different era or style of B-horror across three segments and a wraparound set at a drive-in theater. Adam Rifkin’s “Wadzilla” takes on the atomic ‘50s with a sperm kaiju wreaking havoc. Tim Sullivan’s “I Was a Teenage Werebear” offers a loving spoof of ‘60s beach musicals. Adam Green leans into exploitation with the black and white “The Diary of Anne Frankenstein,” and Joe Lynch ties it all together with “Zom-B-Movie.” Schlocky humor and fun are the aims here, and Chillerama brings the laughs.

Hobo with a Shotgun

Initially conceived as a trailer for a Grindhouse movie contest, Jason Eisener’s Hobo with a Shotgun marks the second teaser to earn a full feature adaptation after Machete. The feature-length film takes the highlight reel of the faux trailer and expands it to a brisk hour and a half story that replaces original hobo David Brunt for a more recognizable genre mainstay; Rutger Hauer. The plot is a simple tale of an antihero taking matters into his own bloodied hands. Who doesn’t want to watch Hauer maim and dismember his way through a town’s most corrupt denizens? Its extreme splatter cinema with heart, humor, and Troma-like sensibilities sure to offend the delicate.

Grindhouse

Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino paid homage to grindhouse cinema in a massive way with this double feature that emulates everything about the style of exploitation horror the theatres cranked out in their heyday. Rodriguez’s Planet Terror saw a go-go dancer and her lover lead survivors against a rogue military unit amidst a biochemically induced zombie outbreak. Tarantino’s Death Proof pit a maniacal driver against a group of stuntwomen. The theatrical release included a slew of fictitious trailers sandwiched between the films to further the grindhouse experience. 

Death Ranch joins the modern exploitation ranks on Digital, VOD, and DVD on April 20, 2021. You can pre-order the film on iTunes or Amazon (DVD).

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I grew up with Rutger Hauer’s movies, watching Blade Runner and Ladyhawke and Blind Fury repeatedly on television. To me he was as iconic a movie star as Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone. His persona wasn’t steely or superficial. He was always thoughtful, playful, and full of hidden depths. His characters were rarely banal tough guys or two-dimension villains, they were tragic figures whose violence was rarely, if ever, to be celebrated.

In short, although he spent most of his career with roles in “genre” films, and many of them so-called “b-movies,” he was always an actor first and foremost. He elevated every project just by showing up and giving one hell of a performance. And as I look back on Hauer’s career – with an emphasis on his horror/action/sci-fi filmography – I’m struck by just how consistent he was. You could rely on a Rutger Hauer movie. It was almost always worth watching.

Younger generations probably know Rutger Hauer best from his fine supporting roles in films like Batman Begins and Sin City, but we’re focusing today on the films where he gave standout performances. These films were great specifically because Rutger Hauer was a part of the production, whether he was the star, the villain, or just a scene-stealing maniac.

Rest in peace, Rutger Hauer. Your memories won’t be lost.

14. Surviving the Game (1994)

Rutger Hauer leads a team of rich psychopaths who lure a homeless man, played by Ice-T, into the forest and hunt him for sport. Surviving the Game doesn’t add many new dimensions to the “Most Dangerous Game” genre, but with a dynamite cast – which also includes Gary Busey, Charles S. Dutton, John C. McGinley and Oscar-winner F. Murray Abraham – and satisfying, action-packed direction by Ernest R. Dickerson (Demon Knight), it’s an excellent b-movie thriller, anchored by a great villainous performance from Hauer.

13. Split Second (1992)

The year is 2008 and global warming has flooded London, where burned-out tough guy cop Harley Stone (Hauer) tracks a serial killer who, it turns out, is a giant monster. Kim Cattrall, Neil Duncan and Pete Postlethwaite co-star in an inventive, strange sci-fi thriller that’s full of weird influences and unexpected plot twists. Hauer knows how to play the tortured tough guy but he also knows how weird this material is, and isn’t afraid to veer into cheesiness and earn a good laugh.

12. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)

Hauer plays a small but fantastic role in George Clooney’s directorial debut, based on the highly implausible autobiography of Chuck Barris who claimed, when he wasn’t creating The Dating Game and The Gong Show, he was also a CIA assassin. Sam Rockwell is perfectly strange and charming as Barris, but Hauer – playing a fellow assassin who fancies himself a bit of a shutterbug – steals the show from the future Oscar-winner. He truly loves his work, as barbaric as it is, and you can’t help but admire him for it. A little.

11. Fatherland (1994)

Hauer stars as a Nazi SS Major in 1964, decades after Germany won the war and conquered all of Europe. Now, just before an important diplomatic summit with America, retired Nazi officers are getting murdered and it’s up to Hauer to solve the mystery, and uncover the most horrifying cover-up in world history. Audiences know exactly where Hauer’s investigation will lead him in this alternate reality whodunnit, but that very surreal self-awareness lends the story an added layer of morbidity, and infuses Hauer’s performance with tragic complexity. This award-winning HBO production has been largely forgotten over the last 25 years, but it warrants rediscovery today.

10. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)

The original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie was quickly overshadowed by the superior television series, but there’s a lot to like about Fran Rubel Kuzui’s jokier version. Kristy Swanson plays Buffy, a teenager who discovers she’s the latest in a long line of vampire hunters, and gets trained by Donald Sutherland to destroy the immortal bloodsucker Lothos, played by a delightfully camp Rutger Hauer. The actor had an excellent sense of humor, when his roles allowed him to use it, and his comedic chemistry with Paul Reubens – who has one of the best death scenes in vampire movie history – is cheerfully diabolic.

9. Nighthawks (1981)

Rutger Hauer made his American debut with Bruce Malmuth’s Nighthawks, which was originally developed as The French Connection III but eventually became a standalone film starring Sylvester Stallone and Billy Dee Williams as cops trying to catch a terrorist. Hauer plays the villain, an alluring but disturbing monster who puts Stallone’s New York cop through the ringer. Nighthawks feels like it’s halfway between a fun Stallone thriller and a serious terrorism drama. Whether that’s entirely satisfying may be up to the individual viewer, but Hauer is clearly the film’s centerpiece, making a name for himself as a handsome but dangerous lead and setting himself up for an impressive international career.

8. Hostile Waters (1997)

Rutger Hauer leads an excellent cast in this Made-For-TV disaster thriller, based on the true story of the K-219 Soviet submarine. An undersea collision is flooding the vessel, which leads to a chain reaction that fills the submarine with poison gas and could set off the nuclear weapons inside. Meanwhile, the American fleet thinks Hauer’s ship is about to nuke the United States, and prepares to destroy them while they themselves are desperately trying to save their own lives and prevent World War III. Although it lacks the production value of sub thrillers like Crimson Tide or The Hunt for Red October, the film has all the tension of a Grade-A blockbuster, and Hauer’s sharp performance provides an exceptional anchor.

7. Ladyhawke (1985)

Richard Donner’s fantasy epic Ladyhawke is a bizarre film that seems hopelessly at war with itself. The tale it tells, about a knight who transforms into a wolf at night, a lady who transforms into a hawk during the day, and the love they are forbidden to share, is beautifully timeless. The cheerful synth score and comic relief performance by Matthew Broderick, however, are hopelessly 1980s. Nevertheless, it’s an enjoyable, epic adventure with beautiful performances by Hauer as the knight/wolf and Michelle Pfeiffer as the lady/hawk. Hauer rarely got to play a straightforward, dashing hero, and he proves right here that he was wonderful at it.

6. The Blood of Heroes (1989)

From David Webb Peoples, the writer of Unforgiven and co-writer of Blade Runner, comes a post-apocalyptic sci-fi sports movie like no other. Rutger Hauer stars as the captain of a team of roving athletes, who travel from town to town, challenging local teams in a sport played with dog skulls. If they win, they are paid in tribute. But the affluent cities are building their own leagues, and the stakes are getting brutally high. Hauer leads an impressive ensemble that includes Joan Chen, Delroy Lindo and Vincent D’Onofrio, and helps transform a very bizarre concept into one of the most satisfying, albeit unsung post-apocalyptic thrillers.

5. Blind Fury (1989)

An American remake of the 17th Zatoichi movie, Zatoichi Challenged, about a blind swordsman accompanying a bratty kid to Las Vegas to rescue his father from southern fried gangsters might not sound like a great idea for a movie… but it is. Blind Fury stars Hauer as a disarmingly friendly action hero, whose action-packed story is as funny as it is exciting, and as exciting as it is endearing. The film’s big climax, in which Hauer duels the legendary Sho Kosugi to the death, is a freakin’ hoot.

4. Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)

Jason Eisener’s Hobo with a Shotgun began as a fake trailer for the movie Grindhouse, which appeared in some Canadian releases of the film. When the movie, about a hobo with a shotgun (obviously) turned into a feature-length production it became a sublimely odd entity. Hauer stars as the title character, a homeless man who dreams of making enough money to buy a lawnmower and make a living doing yard work. But he lives in a Troma-esque nightmare community filled with over the top oppression and violence, and eventually it’s up to him to kill just about everybody. It’s lurid, it’s outlandish, and Hauer gives a fantastically rich performance as the title character. His monologue to a roomful of newborn infants, about their futures and his own fate, is riveting drama.

3. Flesh + Blood (1985)

Before Paul Verhoeven made a splash in America with RoboCop (which Verhoeven wanted to star Rutger Hauer, but the studios balked), he made the vicious and subversive historical thriller Flesh + Blood. Hauer stars as the leader of a gang of mercenaries, who kidnap a young maiden, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, and take over a castle, only to fight off a siege of soldiers and fall victim to the plague. There’s no hint of romanticism in Verhoeven’s epic, only sex and violence and disease, with religious zealotry and corrupt politics and cynical opportunism ruling the land and its people. Challenging and unusual (and enormously unprofitable), Flesh + Blood is unlike the other historical adventures of its day, to its great credit, and Hauer gives a pitch-perfect performance in it.

2. The Hitcher (1986)

C. Thomas Howell picks up a hitchhiker in the middle of the desert, and proceeds to have his life utterly destroyed. Rutger Hauer plays the title character, an unstoppable maniac whose crimes are so unbelievably monstrous that no one believes they actually happened. As he hunts Howell and his Flesh + Blood co-star Jennifer Jason Leigh across the dunes, shooting helicopters out of the sky and strapping innocent people between trucks, he gradually reveals himself as one of the ultimate cinematic boogeymen. Unstoppable, to even his own horror, The Hitcher is Hauer’s most frightening role, and it’s a spectacular, thrilling movie.

1. Blade Runner (1982)

Rutger Hauer gives his most iconic performance in Ridley Scott’s trailblazing sci-fi masterpiece, playing the replicant Roy Batty, an artificial human being who will stop at nothing to live longer than he’s programmed to. He does villainous things, but the depth of the storyline – built upon the mind-blowing ideas of Philip K. Dick – presents his quest as an existential journey, a man visiting the gods who made him and demanding the respect he deserves. His final scene, as he ponders the brief but wondrous events of his life as his timer ticks down, is one of the most powerful scenes of its kind, and gives Scott’s stylish production a beautiful, tragic soul.

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In 2007, an international trailer contest was run in promotion of the Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez double feature Grindhouse. Director Jason Eisener got together with collaborators Rob Cotterill and John Davies, wrote a script, and shot a trailer titled “Hobo with a Shotgun” for a mere $150 in a few days. It went viral on YouTube shortly after and won the contest. The exposure led to a feature film version getting fast-tracked, the second fake trailer from Grindhouse to earn one (after Machete).

The feature length film takes the highlight reel of the faux trailer and expands it to a brisk hour and a half story that replaces original Hobo David Brunt for a more recognizable genre mainstay; Rutger Hauer. Also gone is the scratchy, dusty vintage film quality and replaced instead with the vivid technicolor world that feels more akin to Suspiria. Though the visual style might have been updated, the film still retains that grindhouse DNA, dialogue and all.

The plot is a simple tale of an antihero taking matters into his own bloodied hands. When Hauer’s Hobo arrives in Hope Town by way of train boxcar, he soon finds the town is under the oppressive rule of The Drake and his sadistic sons. A public decapitation is Hobo’s introduction to the town’s deep-seated corruption, and eventually, Hobo snaps. If you surmised that the film’s title should be taken literally, then you win a prize; Hobo does indeed pick up a shotgun and begins a murder spree to remove the town’s pimps, drug dealers, pedophiles, and corrupt.

Eisener’s feature take on this character feels like a vivid colored Troma meets grindhouse film, so enjoyment mileage will vary depending on tastes for crude humor and gore, both of which there is plenty. Thanks to key special makeup effects artist Zane Knisely (Hannibal, The Void, The Monster) and team, the practical effects-driven gore is a huge highlight. Heads pop off and shower surrounding characters in blood. A character takes a hacksaw to the neck of a victim, slowly driving the serrated blade back and forth into their flesh. A doctor is impaled with a sword. An ice skate is used as a knife to someone’s chest. All were handled practically, and all reveled in excess violence and blood, which wouldn’t have been easy to contend with during production.

With both Hobo and his adversaries slaughtering their way through Hope Town, forcing the citizens to pick a side, a late game summoning of two armor-clad demons, dubbed “The Plague,” adds a new level of light-hearted weirdness to balance to grit. The gore, tone, and look of Hobo with a Shotgun makes for a perfect pairing to Turbo Kid, all the more fitting considering Eisener served as executive producer for the cult hit.

With dialogue like, “I’m gonna wash this blood off… with your blood,” and, “It’s a beautiful day for a skate-rape” and a ton of dismemberment (including genitalia mutilation), Hobo with a Shotgun is example of extreme splatter cinema with heart, humor, and Troma-like sensibilities that’s sure to offend the delicate.

The post [Butcher Block] ‘Hobo with a Shotgun,’ a Glorious Grindhouse-Style Gorefest appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Eisener has also directed segments for The ABCs of Death and V/H/S/2.

As we learn more details, we’ll bring them forward.

The post Jason Eisener’s Next Thriller Will Go Underwater appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Dave Howlett, Strange Adventures manager, adopted part of the script for one story, and created a series of others “inspired by” the original. The comic features artwork from Mike Homes, Nathan Boone, Andy Cotnam, Andre Myette, Patrick Burgomaster, Josh Rodgers and Shawn Mcleod.

The post Halifax Comic Shop Creates ‘Hobo With A Shotgun’ Comics appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Gareth Evans (The Raid; pictured above), Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project, Lovely Molly) & Gregg Hale, Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgun) & Timo Tjahjanto (Macabre) are among the new talent directing segments for the franchise. Adam Wingard (You’re Next, A Horrible Way To Die) is returning along with writer/producer Simon Barrett (You’re Next, A Horrible Way To Die), the latter of which will be making his directorial debut on the film.

Per THR, “Some news perfect for Halloween: Gareth Evans, who directed The Raid, and Eduardo Sanchez, the director of The Blair Witch Project and Lovely Molly, are co-writing and co-directing segments of a second installment of ‘V/H/S’, the hit horror anthology that had people fainting at the Sundance Film Festival.”

The first movie followed a group of students hired to break into a desolate house to find a lost VHS tape, paving the way for the movie to go into a series of found-footage stories directed by up-and-coming genre filmmakers. The new movie follows a similar structure, with a pair of investigators discovering a tape while looking for a student.

V/H/S 2 is shooting in LA, Maryland, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Indonesia.

The post Adjust Your Tracking! ‘V/H/S/2’ Is Coming!!! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

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In The Toxic Avenger, one of the greatest cheese ball flicks of all-time, there’s a pretty gruesome scene where Bozo and Slug’s gang runs over a kid with their car and then take photos of the body. It’s never meant to be funny, but rather to show that they’re really dangerous people, not just health spa meatheads, who get off on violence because up until that point, all they’ve done is pick on poor Melvin Junko. In Hobo, we’re shown numerous times how awful The Drake (Brian Downey) and his sons are (murder, attempted rape, etc.) and, although you’d figure the citizens AND the audience would understand that by the film’s midway point, someone decided it was in everyone’s best interest to set a school bus full of children on fire.

Now, the act precedes a decree by the villains that if the people of Scum Town don’t start murdering homeless people, they’ll start killing off children. So, a setup is warranted, except that Eisner has been setting the speech up for half the movie and it makes the scene pretty pointless because we already know that the Drakes are capable of pretty much anything. Not only that, but by having two jocks with Letterman jackets and sunglasses – they’re in a town that’s more overcast than Seattle on its worst day, mind you – hijack a bus with a boom box and flamethrower, it’s pretty clear that they’re going for laughs. But it’s not funny. Or offensive. Or anything really. It’s just there as a segue between increasingly mean moments, but nothing after that really tops it. In comparison, the rest of the flick is extremely tame in that respect.

Surprisingly, the film actually has a fun moment or two afterwards, such as a duo of armor-clad bounty hunters known as The Plague fighting the Hobo (Rutger Hauer) in a hospital – which seems to be empty except for the nursery and the handful of doctors and workers wandering the hall, an odd thing considering how much carnage occurs in Scum Town on a daily basis – and an out-of-the-blue octopus fight. It’s that kind of gleeful ridiculousness the film should’ve been full of and the reason why films like Black Dynamite and The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra work: they’re self-aware and they don’t pad themselves with glass-chewing scenes or take forty-five minutes to get going.

Maybe I’ve really hated exploitation films all along and have been oblivious to that, but aside from a very intense performance by Hauer and any scene involving The Plague, there’s nothing fun about Hobo With A Shotgun, which is a shame considering how great the faux trailer was. Where’s my submarine scene?

Magnolia’s 1080p encode does a good job of balancing grittiness and clarity, giving Hobo the picture quality it deserves. The film was shot using the Red Mysterium X system, so the sharpness of the picture and the boldness of the colors is through the roof, creating an appropriate presentation that looks great when juxtaposed to the effects done in post, such as color saturation and grain enhancement. It wasn’t shot on 16mm, so Eisner did everything shy of adding digital scratches to make sure it had an old school look, and I think this transfer proves that. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is the exact opposite of its video presentation in that it does not try to mimic the sound quality of yesteryear. The track is very robust, the Carpenter-esque score will pound on your speakers like they owe it money and the sound effects are crystal clear.

Special Features

Commentaries – Two tracks are included, the first of which features director Jason Eisner and star Rutger Hauer. It goes over a lot of the same info that can be found elsewhere on the disc, but it’s more scene specific here; it basically amounts to them talking about their influences, what happened on set, and how they came up with the idea/got involved. The second track, with Eisner, producer Rob Cotterill and actor David Brunt (the original “Hobo”), is far more entertaining, mainly because Brunt is insane and spends a lot of time talking about the lifetime’s worth of research he’s done on bears.

Shotgun Mode (106:27) – A special features track that runs alongside the film, which you can access every time a crosshair appears on screen. Some of the clips provide some great behind-the-scenes info, such as how they set up the beheadings and blood sprinkler dance, and others are just on-set antics. And, in case you didn’t listen to the commentary, Brunt goes on about his obsession with bears on at least three occasions. There’s also an option to watch all 44 Shotgun Mode clips by themselves, without interrupting your feature film viewing experience.

More Blood, More Heart: The Making of Hobo with a Shotgun (45:22) – A lengthy documentary about the creation of the film, starting with the faux trailer and ending with the Sundance premiere. It covers almost every facet of the production and shows the enthusiasm on the set. Easily the best supplement on the disc.

Deleted Scenes (5:58) – Two of the scenes further show how awful the Hobo’s reception is in Scum Town; they’re very brief and don’t really add anything, hence their inclusion in the deleted scenes section. The other scene is a montage of some of the more bizarre parts of the film, like The Plague killing an octopus in their lair.

Alternate Ending (0:33) – This would’ve been incredible as an epilogue scene after the credits, not really sure why it isn’t.

Video Blogs (6:27) – Nine short video blogs that premiered on the Hobo website during principal photography. They’re pretty jokey, but occasionally give some insight into the production.

Camera Test Footage (3:28) – Exactly what you think it is, shot using the Red Mysterium X, Mark IV and T2I.

Interviews (44:29) – Separate video interviews with Hauer and Eisner, as they gush about making Hobo. They share a lot of information and they’re pretty great sit-downs, but almost all of it is overlap if you’ve listened to the commentaries or watched More Blood, More Heart.

HDNet: A Look at Hobo with a Shotgun (5:13) – Except for the fact the Eisner and Hauer are in bed together during their interview segments, this is your typical HDNet EPK.

Grindhouse Trailer Contest Winner: Hobo with a Shotgun (2:07) – The trailer that started it all! If only it had been stretched out into something fun…

Hobo with a Shotgun Faux Trailer Contest Winner: Van Gore (2:01) – Since Hobo started out as a faux trailer contest winner, Eisner turned around and gave aspiring filmmakers a chance to be included on the DVD/Blu release. Van Gore, which is basically an updated version of Herschell Gordon Lewis’ Color Me Blood Red, was voted the winner by a panel comprised of Joe Dante, Brian Trenchard-Smith, and Katt Shea.

Film: 1.5/5
Blu-ray: 4/5

The post Blu-ray Review: ‘Hobo With A Shotgun’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

“A train pulls into its final station and a Hobo hops from a freight car. He has dreams of a fresh life in a new city, but finds himself trapped in an urban hell instead. A city where criminals rule the streets, landlords evict single mothers in the middle of the night, and where the city’s crime boss, The Drake, reigns supreme with his sadistic, homeless-killing sons, Slick & Ivan. Through the chaos, the Hobo comes across a shop window displaying a second hand lawn mower and a shotgun, and decides it’s time to cut the grass, make the city beautiful and start a new way of life. But after witnessing the brutality that encompasses this city, he realizes the only way to make a difference in this place is with a gun in his hand and two shells in its chamber.”

The post Full Red Band Trailer for ‘Hobo With a Shotgun’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Already in Canadian theaters, Hobo will be available April 1 on VOD, iTunes, Xbox Marketplace, PlayStation Network and Amazon.com, and in select theaters May 6, from Magnet Releasing.
“A train pulls into its final station and a Hobo hops from a freight car. He has dreams of a fresh life in a new city, but finds himself trapped in an urban hell instead. A city where criminals rule the streets, landlords evict single mothers in the middle of the night, and where the city’s crime boss, The Drake, reigns supreme with his sadistic, homeless-killing sons, Slick & Ivan. Through the chaos, the Hobo comes across a shop window displaying a second hand lawn mower and a shotgun, and decides it’s time to cut the grass, make the city beautiful and start a new way of life. But after witnessing the brutality that encompasses this city, he realizes the only way to make a difference in this place is with a gun in his hand and two shells in its chamber.”

The post Video Trailer for ‘Hobo With a Shotgun’ Documentary appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Hobo was the winner of the Quentin Tarantion and Robert Roderguiz’s Grindhouse SXSW trailer competition. To continue the legacy of the grindhouse cinema, the YerDead and Rhombus teams are giving you a chance to submit the next great exploitation masterpiece! You can submit right now until March 31st, 2011 at 11:59PM EST. To enter click here.

Visit the official Facebook
Visit the official website

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Jeff Proctor’s 24×36 poster for Hobo With a Shotgun was created as part of Alamo Drafthouse & Mondo’s SXSW poster collection. The Jason Eisener-directed Hobo With a Shotgun is part of the SXSW Midnighters series at the festival and follows a Hobo (played by the awesome Rutger Hauer) who finds himself in an urban hell. When he witnesses a brutal robbery, he realizes the only way to deliver justice is with a shotgun.

If you want to be one of the first people on the planet to see the film, click here for screening times and tix.

Additional posters that have been released in the SXSW poster colleciton include a “Director’s Series” for Duncan Jones with Source Code and Moon, by artist Olly Moss, and a poster for Paul, by artist Tom Whalen (see ’em here). Keep your eye out for more SXSW posters from Alamo Drafthouse and Mondo.

The post SXSW ’11: Mondo ‘Hobo With a Shotgun’ Poster Will Blow Your Face Off! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The trailer premiered last week to a flurry of positive remarks, now we got our hands on two more stills and the official festival one sheet. “Cancel your future…”

“ ‘Detention’ tells the story of the senior class at Grizzly Lake high school. The road to graduation is never an easy one, but it’s further complicated for these students by the arrival of a slasher movie killer who has seemingly come to life. The only ones who can stop the killer are a handful of students, but they’ll have to cut out of detention if they’re to stand a chance at saving the world.” Josh Hutcherson, Dane Cook, Shanley Caswell, Spencer Locke, Parker Bagley, Alison Woods, Walter Perez, and Carrie Wiita all star.

The post SXSW ’11: Genre-Bending One Sheet Debut for ‘Detention’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Inside you’ll find the trailer debut for the alien invasion horror film which stars Jodie Whittaker, John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Franz Drameh, Leeon Jones, Simon Howard, Luke Treadaway, Jumayn Hunter, and Nick Frost in a film that follows a gang of South London teenagers defending their housing project home against an alien attack.

The pic will have its premiere at this month’s SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. Also dig on the official website and Facebook.

While Sam and the police hunt for the gang, a second wave of meteors fall. Confident of victory against such feeble invaders, the gang grab weapons, mount bikes and mopeds, and set out to defend their turf. But this time the creatures are bigger. Much bigger. Savage, shadowy and bestial, they are hunting their fallen comrade and nothing will stand in their way. THE ESTATE IS ABOUT TO BECOME A BATTLEGROUND. And the bunch of no-hope kids who just attacked Sam are about to become her, and the block’s, only hope.”

Trailer courtesy of our friends at Empire:

The post SXSW ’11: ‘Attack the Block’ Trailer Reminds Me of When Movies Were Fun! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

“A young man searching for his missing girlfriend. A loyal friend willing to do anything to uncover the truth. An investigation that culminates in an old house. Inside two brutal murderers expect them, armed with twenty-five boxes of explosives stolen from the last military dictatorship in Argentina.”

Inside you’ll find the film’s official trailer and the two new one sheets, while you can click the image for our full image gallery!

The post SXSW ’11: Two Arty New Posters for ‘Cold Sweat’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

“A young man searching for his missing girlfriend. A loyal friend willing to do anything to uncover the truth. An investigation that culminates in an old house. Inside two brutal murderers expect them, armed with twenty-five boxes of explosives stolen from the last military dictatorship in Argentina.”

Inside you’ll find the film’s official trailer, while you can click the image for our full image gallery!

The post SXSW ’11: Trailer, Poster, First Info on ‘Cold Sweat’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Gearing up for the fest, the official website and Facebook have launched, featuring your first ever look at the film, along with a crazy long synopsis. I love genre films that are targeted towards kids, some of my all-time favorite horror films were made for the youngins.

While Sam and the police hunt for the gang, a second wave of meteors fall. Confident of victory against such feeble invaders, the gang grab weapons, mount bikes and mopeds, and set out to defend their turf. But this time the creatures are bigger. Much bigger. Savage, shadowy and bestial, they are hunting their fallen comrade and nothing will stand in their way. THE ESTATE IS ABOUT TO BECOME A BATTLEGROUND. And the bunch of no-hope kids who just attacked Sam are about to become her, and the block’s, only hope.”

The post SXSW ’11: Aliens Will ‘Attack the Block’ in First Stills! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

This afternoon I made a few calls and got my hands on the official festival poster, images, a Metallica-rocking international trailer, a Dawn of the Dead-ish festival trailer, and an exclusive clip that also taps musically into Assault on Precinct 13.

From the executive producer of Paranormal Activity, Phase 7 looks like it taps into early Romero and can be described as a cross between The Crazies, Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later. We’re told Goldbart loves Carpenter and used temp music from Assault on Precinct 13, The Thing and Escape From New York.

Starring Daniel Hendler, Federico Luppi, Jazmin Stuart, and Jose “Yayo” Guridi, “Coco just moved to his new apartment with 7-month pregnant wife. When the building is in quarantined for a deadly flue. The neighbors became unexpected enemies.”

EXCLUSIVE CLIP

The post SXSW ’11: Trailers, Clips, Posters, Images from Carpenter-Inspired ‘Phase 7’!! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

We just now scored this new steamy still, while inside you’ll find details on all of the shorts with some insane imagery.

“A well-to-do yuppie couple, Richard and Victoria, pose as concerned religious do-gooders in order to lure homeless girls back to their home for perverted sex games. Deciding upon their latest target, a mysterious young woman named Sorrow; they drug and imprison her before subjecting her to a series of assaults and humiliations. However, the captive girl is not as helpless as she first appears and the couple soon find the rules of the game have changed…”

Mutant Tool: Written and Directed by Andrew Parkinson

“Jen, a former prostitute and recovering drug addict, is undergoing therapy in a bid to turn her life around. Her new therapist, Dr Reece, comes as a recommendation via her boyfriend Frank. But unbeknownst to Jen, Frank and Dr Reece have a shadowy criminal relationship. The therapist is involved with a bizarre black market narcotics trade, in which the semen from human mutations created during WWII Nazi experiments is harvested and processed for its psychic effects on the human brain. And now the last known mutant is dying and a suitable replacement must be found…”

Bitch: Written and Directed by Simon Rumley

“Stuck in a destructive relationship which isn’t going anywhere and lousy dead-end jobs which have no future, Claire and Pete live in a council flat and are united only in their love of rock music. The flame of passion having long since died, the couple derives a strange sexual pleasure from an unspoken sadomasochistic role-playing game where Claire finds new and inventive ways of mistreating Pete – and Pete, ever the devoted lap dog, takes what she dishes out time and again. But in an unspoken game the boundaries are hazy, and when Claire unwittingly takes things one step too far Pete devises a way to teach the bitch to heel, once and for all.”

The post SXSW ’11: Smokey New Still from ‘Little Deaths’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

First discovered back in May, Ben Wheatley’s Kill List, which stars Neil Maskell, Michael Smiley, and MyAnna Buring, was announced as part of the Austin, Texas SXSW Film Festival. No details were revealed, but we’re so on top of our sh*t we’re excited to tell you that it’s about a group of demobbed soldiers turned contract killers who run up against a devil-worshipping coven (sounds a bit like what Rob Zombie is up to with The Lords of Salem). Anyways, here’s the super secret plot crunch and first ever hi-res still:

“Beginning 8 months after a disastrous job in Kiev left him physically and mentally scarred, ex-soldier turned contract killer Jay, is pressured by his partner Gal, into taking a tough new assignment. As they descend into the dark, disturbing world of the contract, Jay begins to unravel once again – his fear and paranoia sending him deep into the heart of darkness.”

The post SXSW ’11: Devil Worshippers Attack in ‘Kill List’! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

How many of you are fans of Frontier(s)? Yeah, me too. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am to see Xavier Gens’ quasi-anthology The Divide, which will premiere at this March’s SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

Starring Michael Biehn, Milo Ventimiglia, Rosanna Arquette, Courtney B. Vance, and LaurenGerman, “the segments include a post-apocalyptic thriller set mostly in an apartment building fallout shelter, a serial-killer thriller about a woman afflicted with “face blindness,” and a coming-of-age story about a young girl seeking out her birth mother.

German’s character is at the center of the film, set in New York, which is virtually destroyed in a mysterious explosion in the first act. Eight survivors take refuge in the fallout shelter of an apartment building, where they are menaced first by mysterious men in HazMat suits and eventually by each other.”

Check out three more images:

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Still, it’s worth noting that there were more “horror films” at this year’s festival than there have been in a very long time, which has to be a good sign, right? At least it shows that they’re trying. And at the very least, I had a great time. My abiding gratitude to B-D for sending me, and of course, a special thanks to our loyal readers for all of their much appreciated comments.

Inside you’ll find my ranking of this year’s films, along with a complete breakdown of ALL the festival coverage.

The post Full Sundance 2011 Coverage: Ryan Daley Reflects Back on This Year’s Big Indie Horror Films! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Bloody-Disgusting: First of all, would you describe this as a horror film?

Iwai Shunji: I think I would not. I would describe the film as look into the “life” of certain people.

BD: Talk about directing your first English-language movie. Was it very difficult?

IS: I understand English up to a point, for example I can conduct email interviews like this. But as for dialogue, it’s almost impossible for me to manage as much as I do in Japanese. So I asked the actors to not follow the script too closely and try to be more spontaneous so that the dialogue would be natural.

BD: Simon is not the traditional vampire character in this. He drinks the blood of others but he is not undead, from what I understand. What motivation did you give for the character to pursue this lifestyle?

IS: I love vampire films as a movie goer, however, I’m not interested in typical vampire films as a filmmaker. If I couldn’t come up with the idea of Simon’s character, I would have passed on the theme of Vampire. Simon’s habit is quite unique. Even for me, it’s so hard to understand. And I thought how endless people’s imaginations are. Simon’s character is partly based on the strange habits that we all have.

BD: I’ve heard theories floated that the film is your attempt to strip away the romantic veneer of the vampire mythology often presented in American horror films, and give the audience a more realistic interpretation of what vampirism would really be like. Is that true?

IS: Yes, it is. I don’t think VAMPIRE is the first ever attempt to strip away the romantic idea behind vampirism, but I haven’t seen anything yet that takes on this point of view where the vampire is not a supernatural creature but rather a real human being. I wanted to show this idea to audiences who assume that vampires are all fantasy-like creatures.

BD: Kevin Zegers has a very difficult role to play in this because he must go to some very dark places while also remaining somewhat sympathetic to the audience. What made him the right actor to take on that challenge?

IS: I always thought of Simon as being somewhat geek-like yet relatable for the audience. I think Kevin has that type of appeal of being relevant but also nerdy. This was a good role for Kevin as an actor as well, since it’s so different from his previous roles that we are used to seeing him in. He really understood and took on the role of Simon.

BD: Zegers described shooting the film in a set report I read as extremely taxing and somber. What was the mood like on set as you remember it?

IS: I can see that being true, as we shot in Vancouver, Canada during the spring, so the weather was always gray and rainy, which can bring the mood down. In addition, I gave a lot of freedom to Kevin with his character, Simon, so he really took on the sadness and troubles Simon’s character was going through.

BD: The concept reminds me a bit of a case in Germany where a man named Armin Meiwes put out an ad looking for someone who wanted looking to be eaten, and he actually found someone and killed and ate the other man. He was prosecuted for it and I believe convicted of manslaughter, but the defense’s argument was that because the man wanted to be eaten, it was consensual and therefore the other man shouldn’t be punished for killing him. Is this a case you were familiar with? It bears some similarities to your story.

IS: I’m not familiar with this case – but sounds very similar to the film. When I first started this project, I originally had the idea of creating a serial killer whose victims consented to being murdered, as they want to commit suicide as well. But while I was writing the script and developing this idea in 2005, I read a story in a Japanese newspaper where a local man found his victims on an online suicide chat room, and helped them kill themselves. It was so ironic that this was actually happening after I had the idea for the script. And at that time I had an earlier script I wrote about a vampire, so I just decided to combine the two stories.

BD: What kind of special effects were needed for the film? Does it become very gory?

IS: For one of the most important scenes in the film, at the end when Kevin is running from the police, we used a device that made Kevin appear as he is running through the air. It was very beautiful. As audiences will see, as VAMPIRE is not your typical vampire-horror film, there are not a lot of gory scenes in the film.

BD: What will your next project be after this? Will it be something else in the horror/thriller genre? Another in the English language?

IS: I have a couple projects in mind, but nothing solidified. In any case, for all my projects I always like to portray strange and unique human relationships, and I would like to continue making films in English.

The post Sundance ’11 Interview: ‘Vampire’ Director Iwai Shunji appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

“With all of the troll roaring, people chasing, and mythological elements, ‘The Troll Hunter’ is easily the ‘Jurassic Park’ of first-person horror.”

You can click the title above for the full review or catch up on all of our previous Sundance Film Festival reviews, interviews and news here.

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A hard-boiled thriller, I Saw The Devil stars Choi Min-sik (Oldboy) as a psychopathic serial killer up against Lee Byung-hun as a special agent whose fiancée becomes one of his victims. Lee’s cool-headed and intelligent character in turn becomes a monster in order to avenge the killing.

Ryan Daley has chimed in with a review of his own and can be read by going beyond the break. Just how good is this thriller? Read on to find out. Don’t forget to catch up on all of our previous Sundance Film Festival reviews, interviews and news here.
I Saw the Devil is the textbook definition of an instant cult classic. It’s a cat-and-mouse thriller in the vein of Insomnia or Seven, but in this case, the serial killer is the prey. I was eager to see I Saw the Devil after reading Mr. Disgusting’s rave review last year, but I purposely avoided reading any other coverage; I wanted to be able to go into the movie fairly blind. It’s the best way to experience this stunning revenge flick. Don’t read about it, don`t do any research, just see it as soon as you get the chance.

When Joo-yeon `s pregnant fiance is murdered and dismembered by Kyung-Chul, a cold-blooded serial killer, he decides to take matters into his own hands. Initially he confronts anyone of police interest (applying hammer to genitals, when necessary), but before long the trail leads to Kyung-Chul, and Joo-yeon knows that he’s found his man.

But rather than merely killing the heinous psychopath, Joo-yeon decides to toy with him. He watches as Kyung-Chul stalks his prey, preparing to kill an innocent victim, and then Joo-yeon intervenes, beating the living shit out of Kyung-Chul before letting him go, and then beginning the cycle all over again. What’s truly remarkable about I Saw the Devil is that it retains a charcoal black sense of humor even as it pushes its brutality to the grimmest of extremes. Kyung-Chul’s increasing incredulity– a look that reads what is this guy`s DEAL?–is particularly funny, as he gets attacked over and over again. These are witty, contemplative characters that you want to spend two and half hours with, even if you’re watching them through a blood mist of graphic violence.

Credit is due to the sharp script by Hoon-jung Park and near perfect casting. Min-Sik Choi from Oldboy plays Kyung-Chul with a laconic edge, a serial killer who knows he’s crazy and simply doesn’t give a shit. Byung-hun Lee (Three…Extremes) plays the vengeful fiance with the glowering stoicism of a schoolboy who has been bullied to the breaking point. Onscreen, they make for a potent combination.

Speaking of Oldboy, many comparisons are going to be made to Chan Wook-park’s much-loved revenge tale from 2003. In this reviewer’s opinion, I Saw the Devil is the superior film, with director Ji-Woon Kim creating a more immersive and involving experience, an escalating ballet of tension and gore that completely sucks you in. Don’t miss this one.

4/5 Skulls

The post Sundance ’11 REVIEW: A Second Look at ‘I Saw the Devil’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

“The ingredients for a ‘Martin’-like cult classic are certainly present…but this is one of those movies that inexplicably abandons compelling subplots in favor of boring ones. ‘Vampire’ is too self-indulgent to be taken seriously. It’s a film with a complete disregard for its audience.”

You can click the title above for the full review or catch up on all of our previous Sundance Film Festival reviews, interviews and news here.

The post Sundance ’11 REVIEW: ‘Vampire’ Turns Ryan White With Boredom appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

“The argument could be raised that much of Hobo with a Shotgun is intentionally bad, that–as an homage to 70s exploitation–the weak acting and goofy dialogue are all part of the intended package. Sure, I considered that. Then I remembered movies like Black Dynamite and Planet Terror, flicks that held up a mirror to the 70s exploitation film with a certain degree of hipness, of self-awareness.”

Click the title above for the full review or here to read all of our Sundance reviews and interviews.

The post Sundance ’11 REVIEW: ‘Hobo With a Shotgun’ Just “Bad”? appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Bloody-Disgusting: This is a really late entry into Sundance. Can you talk about how this came about?

Laura Lau: Well basically, we were approached to make this movie in June. So we did not start shooting until October. That is why we were a late submission.

Chris Kenis: We contacted [Sundance], they had an awareness of the picture in the early stages. So they had an awareness, and luckily they were willing to look at it. They didn’t know if it was gonna be good or not…but they were willing to look at it when it was finished. So Laura began the script in mid/late June, and we wrapped around November 12th or 15th. So we literally just kind of skidded in. But we got our first cut to them, and all the rest of the lineup and everything was long since announced. But luckily they really liked the movie, and they invited us back. So that’s kinda the story of that.

BD: That’s pretty amazing that you were able to get it together so quickly.

LL: You know, we were motivated, because from the time that we started meeting with our French producers we felt that there would be no better place to screen this movie than Sundance. So we had that in mind…it was really a goal to make the best film we could in this time frame and hopefully get to Sundance.

BD: It’s been seven years since “Open Water” premiered at Sundance. Does it feel like it’s been that long?

CK: Well you know, it does and it doesn’t. I mean we’ve certainly…”Open Water” was a life-changer for us. We’ve experienced so much since then, working in the industry…I think we didn’t know what to expect and kind of came completely naïve with “Open Water”, and of course you never know what to expect coming to Sundance. But we certainly have been working in the industry for awhile now…it’s funny, when you come back here it’s not like much time has passed at all.

BD: Is it easier the second time around because you know what to expect?

CK: I think it’s just different. We had zero expectations with “Open Water” because it was literally this little family movie that we’d been making and laboring over for years. And just being here completely under-the-radar…you know, we didn’t come with an army of publicists and actors, it was literally just –

LL: Coming to Sundance now, having made “Open Water”, I think there’s some amount of expectation…so coming with “Silent House”, there’s the precedent of “Open Water”. Whereas we came with “Open Water” we didn’t have anything previous to [it]. We were completely unknown. So I think that it’s definitely a little bit of a different experience. It’s great to hear how so many people appreciated “Open Water”.

BD: I really liked “Open Water” and have been waiting for the follow-up for a long time.

CK: Oh, thank you.

BD: I like the idea of making a very little-known film because I feel like more people will be more apt to check out the original after seeing this one. The Uruguayan film is very recent – I believe it only came out last year. Given that, it’s pretty amazing this is being relased so quickly. How did the project come about initially?

LL: Well, the Uruguayan film actually premiered in Cannes in the Director’s Fortnight in May. So it really has been a very short road here to Sundance. Our producers approached us in June and basically told us they had this really cool Uruguayan film that was one continuous take and inspired by a true story, and Chris and I were immediately intrigued. And once we saw the original and we were told by our producers that we could do whatever we wanted with the script, we were in. So from there on it was just a total focus and commitment to getting to this festival.

BD: Talk about adapting the script. How closely does it adhere to the original?

LL: Well actually, I was never given any script. I saw the film twice before I wrote the script. There were certain elements of the original that we liked a lot, and it was really a jumping[-off] point for us. And we basically had the benefit of the original to go further, and really mine the structure of the one take. And to tell a different story, which was still inspired by the kernel of this true story [that the original was based on]. But it was pretty much a total reimagining. A lot of times when I was writing the script I was really trying to keep the original out of my mind.

BD: It must have been difficult for you to build characterization in only 85 minutes of real time.

LL: It was very challenging to write the script. [It] actually only came out to 55 pages. We wondered whether it would time out properly, because there are no cuts. There’s no way to fix anything in post, it has to pace perfectly when you shoot it. So I think that was a huge challenge in terms of writing the script.

CK: I’ll say we’ve written a number [of scripts] over the years, and Laura’s got a very good sense of how a script should time out. So when she first came to me she said ‘it’s short, but I really think this is right’. Once we had a location, we literally went and basically played the part[s] and acted out the part[s] and [went through] the blocking and just went through the whole house ourselves to see how it timed out and make sure it timed out. And of course it did.

But getting back to your initial question, yes it was important to us…if the story was gonna matter, if the audience was gonna be frightened, if it was gonna mean anything, that we took a little time to develop characters so that you could be invested in them.

BD: Talk about the challenges of actually shooting in one continuous take. That must have been incredibly difficult.

LL: It was. It was and it wasn’t. We had a good long rehearsal period, and as Chris was saying, once we got the location Chris and I just spent a lot of time in the house running the film over and over and over again, and then once our D.P. came on we were running it with him. And then once we cast the film we started to rehearse with the actors, and then we had a really spectacular A.D. team, a lot of people helping us with cues and the choreography and making sure everybody was where they needed to be and doing what they needed to do. It was just a lot of coordination and tactics –

CK: It was very complex. Our D.P. Igor Martinovic was fantastic operating, but we had to have a second operator in order to achieve the complexity of some of these shots. Because if we were gonna do this we wanted to take it places that people hadn’t seen and challenge ourselves and take [as] full advantage of our budget as we could of this single-take idea…first of all, that would best serve telling the story but second of all would really have that ‘how did they do that?’ kind of factor.

And you know, to do that required more than one operator, where we had the camera being passed off. You know, we had some pretty complex camera choreography happening along with the actors and as Laura said the A.D. department where people planted within the house would have to hit certain cues, and cue this, and make this happen, and make that happen. So it was very, very challenging.

BD: Were there any false starts?

CK: Many. There were many, many, many, many, many, many false starts! [Laughs]

BD: I imagine it was also hard to find actors who were willing to take on the challenge.

CK: Well, we had terrific casting directors, Kerry Barden and Paul Schnee, who we’ve been in touch with a lot over the years. And it was a no-brainer…taking it to them. We brought it to them, and they kind of looked at the script and instantly just knew Elizabeth Olsen would be the right choice. And we met with her and auditioned her and she was fantastic, but it seemed too easy, you know? So we spent about a week looking at a lot of other people, just to be thorough, but no one ever came close. She was always…her attitude was fantastic.

I’ll tell you…such an emotionally draining role is always difficult, but to carry that for such a long period of time, and then one thing goes wrong and go back again, and do it again….she always had a great attitude for something that was a very, very difficult role.

BD: I didn’t realize initially that she was the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley. Were you guys aware of the relation initially?

LL: Absolutely. Yes, we were. You know, Elizabeth is really trying to…she wants to do her own thing. She’s been a very serious student of theater and acting, and she’s gone to Russia and studied acting there, and she’s at NYU now. You know, she’s very focused on being a serious actress.

CK: She’s extremely serious, and I think also wants to forge her own identity, you know? And rightfully so, because she’s her own unique talent. She’s terrific. It isn’t just riding off anybody’s coattails or anything. I mean, she’s put the hard time in and she has the craft down. Because you couldn’t accomplish something like this and bring yourself emotionally to that place over and over again without that craft and that professionalism.

LL: And her natural charisma and luminosity.

BD: You said the original was based on the kernel of a true story. What was the true story that this was based off of?

LL: Well, the director of the original had heard of a story in a village where there were photographs that were found, and there were bodies that had been…you know, people that had been murdered. And there were other details also that happened that I don’t want to talk about because it would give away some of the story, which when you see the film you’ll see that. But that’s basically what it was. And that was what inspired him to write the script for the original. And we found that to be compelling and kept that little kernel.

CK: Because again, when we approached using the single take…there were things that we wanted to do ourselves…so it was a springboard.

BD: Would you describe this as a supernatural film or more of a grounded horror film?

CK: Well, only because it’s so early in the process…

LL: In writing the script and making this movie we were definitely playing with different genres. And we hoped that people would look at the movie from –

CK: Not so much different genres but different conventions within the genre and playing to those. Because of that, I think at different times the movie works in different ways, but ultimately we don’t obviously want to give away, especially this early on, what it is. But certainly our intention is that it plays very realistically with those other elements as well.

BD: Were there any classic films that you were inspired by?

CK: Well, we obviously made it our business to look at every film that was a single-take film, starting with Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope…

LL: And Russian Ark, and…I mean, there are not very many one take movies, but we definitely were looking at all the home-invasion movies like ‘The Strangers’ –

CK: There were some inspirational movies, but again, to mention them would kind of tip our hand, you know? So there were those movies, and someday we’d gladly speak about it. But we don’t want to ruin the experience for anybody right now, but let’s just say Laura, taking on this script, really looked at everything there is within the horror genre new and old…at times taking the genre conventions and playing with them to direct the audience in different ways, and kind of guide them down certain paths, and also to have a little fun with those. A tremendous amount of research kind of went into the film also for other themes [that] again I don’t to get into now because it’s premature. But there were inspirations.

BD: What are some of your personal favorite horror films?

CK: Well, my personal favorites I’d have to say are –

LL: ‘The Shining’.

CK: Well, ‘The Shining’…

LL: We love ‘The Others’.

CK: It’s not one of my…I like ‘The Others’ very much, but there are a few. I always draw a blank…[when asked] a point-blank question like that..

LL: I love ‘Paranormal Activity’. I thought that was really good.

CK: I like ’28 Days Later’…I think it’s a very difficult genre frankly, because I think there are so many movies made in this genre all the time. And I think the audience becomes very aware of what those tricks are. It’s hard to do something new and be effective and to scare people…

I think what’s been most effective in horror films recently, like ‘Blair Witch’ and ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘Cloverfield’ and ‘The Last Exorcism’, is a documentary camera point of view which has a kind of a grittiness where people feel like they’re seeing something that has a sense of realism. But my fear is that it’s almost becoming like a sub-genre…[and] how can you put audiences there in the film and they can feel real like it’s happening to them? What other technique is there?

So this idea of the single camera never leaving your character’s side, being with them, never cutting away, living out the 86 minutes with them as they go through this, was a new way to experience it. It had to feel real but it didn’t have to look like grubby consumer video. [Laughs] We tried to do something a little more polished with this as well. So those were all things that excited me about the project.

BD: What’s the next project for you guys after this? Are you going to stay in the horror/thriller genre?

CK: Well, we’ve written in many genres…it’s a good question, and we’re still working on what that is. We’re certainly open to doing that again, but we’d like to also branch out into other things. ‘Open Water’ was interesting because…we know it was a scary movie and we tried to make it a scary movie, but [we didn’t] per se set out to make a horror movie. It was more of [being] fascinated by that story and wanted to tell it as realistically as possible. This picture I think we very much knew what genre we were working in and we have a few things we’re floating around right now, but we won’t know which the next one will be just yet.

The post Sundance ’11 Interview: ‘The Silent House’ Team Chris Kentis & Laura Lau! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Bloody-Disgusting.com: I’m really happy to see you’ve reunited with Angela Bettis for the film, as I really loved your collaboration in “May”.

Lucky McKee: Thank you. That means a lot. I’m so happy people still remember it almost ten years later!

BD: What is it about Angela that keeps you coming back to her?

LM: Angela always elevates anyone she works with. She always surprises me and never disappoints. We’ve tried a few different tones and styles together and she is just brilliant no matter what I put her up to. Seriously…on this film, I was going through dailies, joking with my post team, “Goddamn. This woman is amazing. I should work with her again sometime.”

BD: Do the two of you have similar sensibilities?

LM: Angie and I are kindred spirits in a lot of ways, and also polar opposites in others. I think both of those qualities – the complimentary and the friction based – are what makes for good challenging creative decisions. I love her as I do my own family. She is my family. She gets me.

BD: Pollyanna McIntosh reprises her role as “The Woman” in this film. She’s a beautiful woman but there’s also something exotic, slightly alien about her as well. Do you think her unusual looks contribute to her being such a good fit for a part that requires her to play someone so estranged from modern society?

LM: I think Polly is a very deep person. She dives full force into any given scene and puts everything she has into it. She is a total professional, and very sensitive to the emotions of humans and the rest of the animal kingdom. There is something exotic about her, but it’s more her insight and the immersive nature in which she works than just her physical appearance. That being said, it is a bit like hanging out with Wonder Woman. She is a spectacular person and very convincing when she has to be a bad ass.

BD: This is based on the upcoming “Offspring” sequel written by yourself and Jack Ketchum. I’d originally heard that the book was being released this month but now I see it’s coming out in May. Had you initially planned on releasing the book before the movie came out?

LM: Well, the movie isn’t out yet. The festival thing is a different sort of deal. No as much a release as it is a preview. It’s hard to time those two elements together, but we’ll just have to see how it shakes out. I guarantee, one will leave you wanting to absorb the other. They are the same story, but hit you in completely different ways because of the obvious difference in medium. The numbered edition of a specialty press hardcover is available from Bloodletting Books and it’s pretty damn gorgeous if one has the dough for it. The lettered edition should be out very soon.

BD: What’s different about the book as opposed to the film? Considering how violent most of the past books are is there anything you just couldn’t put on screen because it was too extreme?

LM: If I told you, I would have to kill you. Violently.

BD: Talk about the collaboration between the two of you on the novel – what was that like and how much input did Jack have on the screenplay?

LM: It was a 50/50 collaboration all the way down the line. It was a fantastic experience, and I was a bit nervous going in because of his stature and experience level. But as I learned working on Masters of Horror, these great veterans are very kind people that just care about the work. There were no egos involved in our process. Obviously Jack led the way with the literary side of things, and I led the way with the cinematic language. But both jobs really melded and blended in such a nice way, it just felt like this perfect fusion of what we are both pretty good at. I know we learned a lot of tricks about each other’s crafts from each other. In a way, it’s sort of similar to the creative experience I had working with Angela on ROMAN.

BD: There are several famous cases of “wild children” discovered living outside of society whom scientists have attempted to tame. Were you at all inspired by any of those real-life cases?

LM: Yes.

BD: Andrew directed the original film and is producing this one. How is this different from his film?

LM: Andrew and I are different, just as any person is different from the next. You seem to have seen a couple films of mine, so you can only guess that there is a bit of quirk in my approach. The one thing I can say is that it is not a repeat of the previous film, it is a tonal and stylistic shift while still honoring and respecting what came before it.

BD: Ketchum’s previous novels in the series, particularly “Offspring”, deal with the idea that in some cases ordinary, “civilized” human beings can be just as savage, in their own way, as the cannibal clan. Does that idea factor heavily into “The Woman” as well?

LM: I think that factors into the way I look at life. So yes. It weighs heavily. It’s part of why I had a connection with Ketchum’s work in the first place.

BD: Does the nerve-wracking experience having your movie debut at Sundance ever get any easier? This is I think your third time having one of your films open there.

LM: Man, my stomach has been eating itself on a daily basis. But this time it’s in a different way. Sure, you get used to nerves and handle them differently as you get older, but they are still there and that’s it. My anxiety is coming from anticipation, “What will they think?”, “Will they understand this?”, and on and on. But, I must say this is the most creatively satisfying experience I’ve had to date and the few people I’ve shared the film with have had such diverse reactions that I smile thinking of a crowd of 500 people all getting hit at once. It should be a very interesting shared group experience. Personally, I love the film, and people I love love it. So I’ll just have to keep that in mind as I let this sucker free on the public. It’s already given me something special so I can’t really ask for much more, just maybe that the movie gets seen and is loved or hated, not just sluffed over.

BD: What are you looking to do next?

LM: There’s lots of things I’d like to do, but I want to live this experience all the way out and listen to my gut. I’m determined to retain the creative freedom I have experienced on this film. I’ll build on that.

The post Sundance ’11 Interview: Lucky McKee Talks ‘The Woman’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

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Eisener doesn’t yet have an official title for the film, but we’ll be sure to keep our eyes on this one for you as news develops. In the meantime, Eisener recommends that all who have yet to watch the Hong Kong martial arts flick check it out ASAP.

“Oh man, just look it up on YouTube,” said the director excitedly. “It’s an amazing film. Just look it up. You’re gonna want to track it down.”

Click here for the full interview with Eisener.

The post ‘Hobo’ Director Discusses His Next Project – A Blood-Drenched Martial Arts Movie! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Bloody-Disgusting: I’m curious whether you had a feature-length script already written when you won the SXSW contest.

Jason Eisener: [Laughs] No, we did not have a script then. But we did have a trailer script. What we did is we outlined…we all kind of made a treatment for a feature film. So we knew the whole story, the big picture of the movie. And then we just went in and thought of which were the highlight parts that we wanted to show in the trailer. So we had a pretty rough idea of what the movie was about…

BD: Did you incorporate anything from the original trailer into the feature film?

JE: It’s almost all in there, except for the submarine. [Laughs]

BD: It’s been about four years since your trailer won the SXSW contest. I’m sure aspiring filmmakers would be interested to know what that process of going from the trailer to the feature was like.

JE: Well, what happened was is when we first put that trailer online, before we even won the contest, it started to get a huge buzz on the internet. We were starting to just rack up hits on YouTube. And then the contest came and we ended up winning, and it gave us a little bit more exposure…well actually, a lot more exposure.

After that contest we were sent off to L.A. to go to the ‘Grindhouse’ premiere. While we were there, we got a phone call from Alliance, which is a distribution company in Canada, and they wanted film prints of our trailer and attach it to ‘Grindhouse’ and fly us up to Toronto to talk about the idea of making a feature film. So we flew up to Toronto, we met a producer named Niv Fichman from Rhombus Media and we just hit it off. We had a great night. And he basically sent us home to bang out a treatment.

As soon as we got home we went right to work at it, and we wrote a script, we wrote several drafts. And in the meantime, when we were trying to get the feature film off the ground we made a short film called ‘Treevenge’. And ‘Treevenge’ did so much more than we expected. It did really well on the festival circuit – it ended up playing at Sundance and winning an honorable mention.

That kind of helped us to get more financial backing and proved to people that we weren’t just a one-trick pony. When you watch the original trailer, it’s just two minutes of insaneness and it doesn’t really show that we can handle a narrative story. But ‘Treevenge’ was a good example of…it was like 15 minutes long and so it kinda showed what we could possibly do with a feature film. And that was a huge help in getting financial support. And we just busted our asses off for three years, working every single day and just never giving up and pushing ourselves and making sure the script was right. And eventually it just happened! [Laughs]…we just jumped into making the feature film, and I guess the rest is history.

BD: Bagging Rutger Hauer as the lead was a really big coup for you. How did his involvement come about?

Well, the distributors wanted to get a name in the film. Originally we were planning for two years to have Dave Brunt, the guy who played the hobo in the original trailer, to be the hobo. But the thing is, he’s not an actor. And he lives off disability…he has a really bad hip problem. And filming with him can be really tough on him, just physically. The hobo role is a physical role. We came to realize that it just didn’t work with him and that it would just be too hard on him.

So I sat down with him – the distributors asked us who we thought could play the role, they asked us to write our dream list – and I sat down with Dave Brunt, and Rob Cotterill, our other producer, and my writer John Davis. And we came up with our dream list, and at the top of the list was Rutger Hauer. Especially for me and John, the writer, we grew up watching genre films together. And Rutger Hauer was like the first actor that really caught our attention. We’d just been huge fans of his. So we thought he’d be perfect, but we never would’ve thought that we would ever get him. We thought it was a good starting point to kind of show, ‘this is the direction we wanna go’.

We sent off the list and the next thing I know they call back and they’re like, ‘yeah, Rutger’s read the script, he wants to talk to you on Skype’. [Laughs] So I had my first Skype call with Rutger Hauer, and you can imagine how nervous you would be if you were talking to one of your actor idols. And I sat down with him for an hour on Skype. We just talked about our…we didn’t necessarily talk too much about the film, we talked about our own inspirations…he’s an ocean conservationist, and I grew up wanting to be a marine biologist when I was a kid before I wanted to be a filmmaker. So we just have a lot in common…we didn’t really talk about the film too much, [so] I didn’t really know how it went. I was all nervous, I was like, ‘I don’t know what’s gonna happen!’ The next thing I know, a half an hour later I get a call and they say he’s down, he wants to do it. [Laughs]

BD: That’s pretty awesome. So the trailer for the feature is pretty gory – I love the decapitation. I guess your effects artists must have had their work cut out for them on this.

JE: Oh man, you wouldn’t believe it. There are so many insane effects in this film! [Laughs] The trailer doesn’t give anything away. A lot of people were saying, ‘oh, I think they blew their load on this trailer, they showed everything!’ But people haven’t seen anything yet. [Laughs]

BD: Those old grindhouse trailers did show a lot of the money shots though, so it does make sense that you showed at least some of that stuff.

JE: Yeah, no absolutely. I totally agree. [Laughs]

BD: So I was reading the blog for the film and I saw that for the shot in the trailer where the cardboard box gets crushed by the tractor and all the blood flies out you used all the leftover blood from the rest of the film which was like 60 gallons. So I was like ‘holy shit, how much blood did you go through before that?’

JE: I don’t know the exact number, but one of my best friends Henry Townsend was in charge of blood. And he had his own truck that we called the ‘blood truck’. And the whole thing [had] just…barrels of blood filled inside of it. And I’d walk on set every day and there’d just be like I don’t know, 15 buckets of blood! [Laughs] I just lost count.

BD: I’m intrigued by ‘The Plague’, the bounty hunting team that are hunting down the hobo. They look pretty bad-ass. How many of them are there?

JE: There’s just two…for me they come out of like growing up in the ’80s and being exposed to crazy high-concept ideas. You know, things like…I grew up loving ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’, ‘He-Man’, ‘Transformers’, ‘Thundercats’. You know, it was just a crazy time for a kid to grow up. ‘Ghostbusters’, ‘M.A.S.K.’…it was just like filled with crazy high-concept ideas. And for me I wanted to bring in this element to the film that just totally captured the imagination of people who grew up in the ’80s. So I don’t know, I hope that people get it, and that they recognize the inspirations that we had with those guys. There’s also a bounty hunter in ‘The Muppet Movie’…that was a huge inspiration, was the bounty hunter in ‘The Muppet Movie’.

BD: Talk about the Magnet deal. What kind of a release are they planning for this and when can we expect this to come out?

JE: Yeah, it’s kind of like what they do with a lot of their films. There’s a…VOD run and then right after that they do a small theatrical [release].

BD: When are they planning on releasing it?

JE: I think in April…so it’s coming up pretty soon…there’s been so much buzz about this movie right now, that it’s beyond any of our expectations. So I think we wanna ride off the buzz right now! [Laughs]

BD: The original trailer had the scratchy look as if the print had been damaged. And I noticed in the new trailer, that’s not really present. Did you ever flirt with the idea of having the print for the feature look “damaged”?

JE: No, not at all. [Laughs] That look was fun at the time. Now it’s just so overused, like friggin’ ‘Jersey Shore’ even uses the grindhouse look! But for me, I don’t know…I didn’t want ‘Hobo’ to have any gags in it that are just referencing the exploitation movement. Like it was fun when we did the contest, but if I could go back I’d probably take off those scratch effects. This movie doesn’t really play off it being a throwback to the exploitation movies in the sense of…something like ‘Black Dynamite’. I don’t know if you’ve seen that film.

BD: No, I haven’t, but I remember that was at Sundance a few years ago.

JE: Yeah, yeah. It’s a great film. But they were really self-aware that it was a throwback, so they would have times where they would purposely have the boom pop into the shot. And like ‘Planet Terror’, there’s like a missing reel in the film. And I didn’t want to do anything like that…you know, if it gets those scratches over time, that’ll be cool if the film print plays and it gathers its own scratches, I think that would be rad. I’d love to see the film get worn in a little bit.

BD: So did you shoot on film?

JE: No, we didn’t. But we will have film prints. We shot it on the RED camera. I have a lot of people ask me too, they’re like, ‘well, those old ’70s and ’80s exploitation movies are all shot on film, you should shoot your movie on film!’ And I thought about it for awhile, and then reality kicked in. If these RED cameras or these digital cameras were around in the ’70s and ’80s, hell yeah those filmmakers would’ve used them! It’s definitely a cheaper way to make a film. The ‘Hobo’ movie is a fairly low-budget feature film, and we needed to save money wherever we could. And those RED cameras…have an amazing ability to take in light in low-light situations, a great sensor that allowed us to have a smaller lighting package.

BD: Who are some of your filmmaker inspirations?

JE: My inspirations would be Brian Trenchard-Smith…[he’s] a huge inspiration. I’m a big fan of his work. ‘Dead End Drive In’ was a film that I was showing my crew to get them pumped up for the movie. Walter Hill – ‘The Warriors’ is my favorite film of all time…’Streets of Fire’. John Carpenter is a huge inspiration as well. Jack Hill…Paul Schrader…’Rolling Thunder’ is a huge inspiration as well.

BD: That’s a pretty good list.

JE: Yeah! [Laughs]…I was also gonna say Robert Harmon is a huge inspiration. He directed ‘The Hitcher’. He even called me up…like a week before we were going to shoot, and we talked on the phone for like two hours. He worked with Rutger on ‘The Hitcher’ and he was giving me advice…’The Hitcher’ was his first feature film. And he called me up and he just gave me two hours of amazing advice, which was pretty amazing of him.

BD: Wow! Well, ‘The Hitcher’ was the film that made me deeply terrified of Rutger Hauer.

JE: [Laughs] Yeah, he’s amazing in that film.

BD: What’s he like in person?

JE: Oh, he’s amazing. He’s so fun to be around! And what was so great too is that like he also runs a program out of the Netherlands called Film Factory, where he works with a bunch of young filmmakers and helps them get their short films off the ground. So he’s very experienced with working with first-time directors, and he loves the energy, he feeds off of it. So he’s just a pleasure to work with in that sense. He was just so giving and so easy to work with. He worked his ass off on this film! He told me, he was like, ‘J, I’ve gotta tell you, I’ve never worked this hard on a film before!’ [Laughs]

BD: Well, that’s something of a compliment I guess. So what’s up next after this for you?

JE: Well, we’re working on a couple of ideas. We have hopefully a martial arts film that will hopefully go into production later on this year. And you can expect it to kinda be in…the same world [as ‘Hobo’]. There’ll be lots of blood and guts in that as well too…I gotta do a film that’s like a new version of ‘Riki-Oh’ maybe. [Laughs]

BD: A new version of what?

JE: Have you ever seen ‘Riki-Oh’?

BD: No.

JE: You’ve never seen ‘Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky’? [Laughs]

BD: No, I haven’t seen it!

JE: Oh man, just look it up on YouTube…it’s an amazing film. Just look it up. You’re gonna want to track it down when you see it.

BD: So is the martial arts film the next one?

JE: Yeah, hopefully.

BD: Is there a title for that?

JE: We just have working titles right now…I don’t want to say it yet, because yeah, I want it to be special.

BD: Well I know you have a busy night, so I don’t want to take up any more of your time. Thanks so much for getting on the phone with me.

JE: Oh, thank you man. I really appreciate it. I’ve been reading your guys’ site for years. Man, I can’t remember…I don’t know if you remember when ‘Diabolical Dominion’ used to be online…then you guys came around and I remember, I think I checked out your guys’ site the first day it was online, and I’ve been following it ever since…no man, when I saw that you guys first…when they first posted the ‘Hobo’ trailer on Bloody-Disgusting I was so fucking excited!

The post Sundance ’11 Interview: Jason Eisener on His Grindhouse-Inspired ‘Hobo With a Shotgun’! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Bloody-Disgusting: Talk about how the project came together.

Todd Rohal: This whole thing came together really quickly…[I’ve been trying to get another film] off the ground for two and a half years…actually maybe it’s three years now. Over the course of this last summer, [I realized] that film wasn’t going to be happening, and it just really hit me hard in terms of `I don’t think I can go another year’…it’s been five years since I finished `Guatemalan Handshake’. And it was like, `I’m not a filmmaker, I’m not making anything!’ You know, I’m worrying about anything else but making a movie.

This idea…I’d gone to talk to the producers about it, and talked to them about trying to raise the financing for it and put it together. To me, [it] seemed like a great package, we were gonna shoot it really low-budget, and have Steve Little…I just felt like that would be easy to put together, and it wasn’t. It was insane. It was insane to raise 20 dollars…it really felt like begging for change.

And Rob for years had been saying, `you need to make another movie’…and finally after telling him about all the difficulty of the previous film and then this…he said `somebody just needs to tell you yes’. That’s all you need, [is] someone to just say `go do it’ and stop really digging in to the details and questioning why you’re doing something. He’s like, `as a fan I’m gonna put in the first [bit] of money and I’m gonna go call and get the rest of the money’.

And that call went to David Gordon Green, and then that kickstarted [the project]…and then Roughhouse Pictures came on, David’s company with Danny [McBride] and Jody Hill. And Matt Riley getting excited about the movie. That first push came from Rob. And then another actor that I wanted to play his role couldn’t do it, and I was just like, `shit, I know Rob’s doing plenty of other movies but he’d be really good at this!’ [Laughs]…I turned back around and asked him to be in it, and it’s the best decision I could’ve made.

BD: Had Steve Little been attached before that?

TR: Yeah…I had met him actually on that previous [film] I was trying to get going, in a reading with the Sundance Institute…he was great. [I] met him, and was surprised to hear that he wasn’t getting…after seeing `Eastbound and Down’ I was ready to see him in any kind of feature. I was really surprised to find that he wasn’t offered those kinds of things.

So immediately I was like, `I wanna write something for you’. [Laughs] Like, `if nobody else is gonna put you in anything, I will do it.’ Then I just emailed him and said, `I have this idea about a priest that drops his Bible in the toilet. We’ll shoot for a couple weeks, we’ll make it as easy as possible. Will you be up for doing that?’ And he came on board.

BD: It’s such a unique project, and I imagine that maybe was one reason why it was hard to get financing. Do you think that played into it?

TR: For me, what played into it the most was that I hadn’t made a movie in awhile, like five years. I’ve met a lot of people that are producers and stuff, and I just feel like in their eyes I was a person that made a movie and was not making movies. And therefore, if nobody else was making my movies, then they shouldn’t be making my movies…that’s a total paranoid view of myself, sure, maybe, probably. But it really felt like if you’re not an active filmmaker, then why is somebody going to invest money in you?

I think that’s really what’s to blame…every time I would try to bring it up, it just seemed like, `yeah, that sounds like a really funny idea, but we’d really rather put money into this drama about a little Mexican boy with big sad eyes’, you know? [Laughs] But to me it’s like, `I don’t know who sees those movies!’, you know?…

For me, it just felt like these ideas I have don’t seem as difficult [as those]. Certainly not as difficult as the things that I’m seeing released in theaters and getting written up and stuff. At least I’m not seeing the [type of] ideas I’m having in the theater as often. So it was very confusing for me. That’s the only thing I can put my finger on, like if you’re not an active artist you’re definitely putting off that vibe to producers…

BD: Talk about the tone. What line does it walk between comedy and the horror/supernatural elements?

TR: Tone to me is the most important thing when making a movie. That’s it to me. It’s more important than story, it’s more important than performance. It dictates to me what kind of performance[s I get]. But to me, tone is it. This movie is difficult…as much explaining as you can do of this movie or any of the movies I truly love, it’s impossible to convey what the movie’s about or really what it is without seeing it.

That to me is what makes films great…the tone of the film makes it. You have to see it…that’s it. That’s all I wanted. That’s all I’m interested in with filmmaking…It’s really like a feeling…the tone of something. And then your story builds off of that, your characters come out of that.

So with this, I don’t know if this is a comedy, I don’t know if this is a horror film, I don’t know if this is a straight-up drama. You get that sense of this tone and you feel that tone in those scenes. And that’s what dictates how you direct those scenes and how you edit those scenes and how the music plays in those scenes. That’s the only way I know how to put these things together.

That’s the challenge of what I’m learning as a filmmaker, is how to keep that tone in your head, you know? It’s like a tuning fork thing, like you get this one note and then everything [is based] around that. I just build off of that…

I’m rambling a little bit. Just for me, tone is everything in this in that it doesn’t matter if it’s comedy or horror. If that tone remains consistent throughout I feel like we can pull off anything. This movie should move between…what’s funny, what’s really dramatic and sad, and what’s ultimately horrific or scary.

BD: Yeah, it must be a difficult balance to strike for sure. Well since I write for a horror site I obviously have to ask about the horror elements in your film. Can you give me any specifics on those?

TR: Sure…I love hearing about when directors have screenings before their shoots for the cast and crew. And this totally felt like the right movie to do that for. We watched three movies together…’Funky Forest: The First Contact’…this movie that I absolutely love, this three-and-a-half hour Japanese movie. Then we watched `Deliverance’, then we watched `Texas Chainsaw Massacre’.

BD: What kind of effects were required during the shoot?

TR: We did a mix of practical and some digital things. I was a bit skeptical of what we could do digitally…[but] people are so capable of doing post[-production] effects stuff. It’s phenomenal. We found so many people ranging from people just on their home computers to pretty high end visual effects places that were very willing to help us with different aspects of effects in the movie…simple kinds of stuff that’s like taking up maybe five percent of the frame or something. We’re not doing giant visual effects or making monsters or anything. But I feel like the [practical and digital] blend pretty seamlessly together. I hope so.

BD: Was it always a goal from the very beginning to take the movie to Sundance?

TR: It was definitely…that’s what Rob and I talked about on set a lot…this would be amazing to have this come together after…[me] not being able to make something for so long. Just make this thing exactly what we want[ed]. Nobody ever said `no’ about anything. Every single person [who] came on board just…followed the vision of what we were going after. And to have that be screened in Park City, that’s it.

When that call came…that was it. The end all and be all of what I wanted for this film. It’s an insane honor. Especially the Midnight category…where it was just like my favorite movies from Sundance [have] screened, like `The American Astronaut’ and `Napoleon Dynamite’ and `Foot Fist Way’ all showed at midnight. That’s great company to be in. Those are some completely different, very fucked-up, fun movies.

BD: What night is your film premiering?

TR: It’s tomorrow night, Saturday night, at the Egyptian, which is gonna be pretty bad-ass.

BD: That’s a big theater, right? [Note: It’s actually 400 seats.]

TR: Yeah. They lost one of the biggest, the Racquet Club, this year. But it’s the quintessential Sundance theater, you know? That’s what everybody [who] comes into town takes pictures of. It’s the only real movie theater that they’re screening in…I’m very psyched about that.

BD: It must be pretty nerve-wracking too.

TR: It is. It’s definitely stressful just figuring out how to get so many cast and crew out here and like how to make different plans and your phone exploding with text messages. [Laughs] That’s my least favorite part of it, of `How do I get to the condo? Where can you get a hamburger in this town?’ I have no idea. And that’s pretty much what I guess being a filmmaker in Park City is about, is being more of a travel agent and making sure everybody’s got their tickets and that kind of stuff. [Laughs]

BD: Well, there’s something to fall back on. You can become a travel agent if you need to.

TR: Yeah, it’s like you get a sales agent, you get a publicist, and then you get the travel coordinator that shepherds everybody around and asks them what they want to eat all the time. Actually, I’m sure that exists for some people.

BD: What’s next for you after this, do you know?

TR: Well, hopefully that film I’ve been trying to put together for the last couple years will come together…things are looking good with that, and this is definitely [gonna be] a kick in the butt to get all that stuff going…that’s the hope, really just to keep making more stuff. So hopefully this summer I’ll be shooting this movie about this messed-up Boy Scout trip that maybe has some similarities to this movie. But yeah, I’m moving from priests to Boy Scout leaders, so there you go.

BD: So that has some horror elements in it as well?

TR: Not as…it’s definitely a very different movie than this one, but yeah, it definitely…things get a little weird. [Laughs] That’s the worst way to describe any movie is `things get weird’. But at this point yeah…I’m just terrible at explaining the plot to any movie, even my own.

BD: So we’ll be looking forward to news on that one I guess.

TR: Yeah, yeah. That’s the ultimate hope…I just hope that [we] can get something else going…for the first time in awhile, it just feels like maybe these couple years are looking up.

BD: Is there a title for that one?

TR: It’s right now just called `Scout Masters’. I have other titles for it, but [unless] the old Boy Scout Association decides we can’t use that title, then we’ll go with that one. Because it’s easier to explain what the movie’s about. [Laughs]

The post Sundance ’11 Interview: ‘Catechism Cataclysm’ Director Todd Rohal appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The post Sundance ’11: Watch the Full Short Film ‘Something Left, Something Taken’! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Bloody-Disgusting: I’m really excited to see the movie. I loved Calvin’s shorts.

Lindsay Pulsipher: Oh good, yeah. He’s quite the entertainer. [Laughs]

B-D: I actually talked to him a couple days ago, and he said he met you at an improv class in Seattle. And I’m curious what your first impression of him was.

LP: Well first of all, he was the only person that was like under the age of 55. [Laughs] So that definitely stuck out to me. But he was really quiet. He kept to himself. So I was kind of intrigued right off the bat. I was like, `who is this quiet guy?’

B-D: So talk about your character in `The Oregonian’ if you can. Can you tell me anything more about her?

LP: She’s leaving this terrible home life. She’s kind of escaping her past. And she gets into a car accident and…the way I think of it is she doesn’t know if she’s alive, dead, or floating somewhere in purgatory, heaven or hell, or wherever. So it’s kind of her journey. She discovers where she’s going, and who she is, and what she’s about to become.

B-D: It sounds like it’s kind of a hard thing to describe, like most of Calvin’s other movies.

LP: Yes, he’s very esoteric and kind of surreal. So you have to watch it before you can understand it, and even then I don’t think you’ll understand it. [Laughs]

B-D: Was this a pretty tough shoot for you? It seems like a really intense role.

LP: It was. It was emotionally draining because she’s carrying a heavy burden emotionally. I had to go to some dark places to get there. And also physically kind of draining because we were shooting out in the freezing rain in the Seattle Mountains. And I had the flu for the first half of the shoot and so it was both physically and emotionally draining. But I think that it kind of helped the character and kind of helped with her struggle.

B-D: That must have been kind of a nightmare for you.

LP: Yeah, while we were shooting it was kind of rough, but now in hindsight it’s kind of a beautiful thing. I love the way that it kind of impacted everything. It’s kind of nice.

B-D: In almost every single still photo I’ve seen and in a lot of the trailer it seems like you’re just covered in blood. Is that the result of the car accident you got into?

LP: Yeah, that’s part of the car accident. It kind of becomes her staple wardrobe. [Laughs]

B-D: So you must have been walking around in fake blood for a lot of the shoot.

LP: [Laughs] Yeah, we kind of had this joke between myself and the makeup girl. It was, `ok, is this full blood or half blood?’ And you know, the full blood was always the worst answer because I was just drenched in freezing cold [blood]. [Laughs] You just kind of start to live in it.

B-D: It must have been a nightmare for continuity too, to make sure it looked the same and lined up with before, right?

LP: Oh yeah, I have to give it to Sherril Johnson – that was our special effects makeup girl – she really nailed it, and she was really consistent. I don’t know how she did it, she was amazing.

B-D: How gory does this thing get? A lot of his films are pretty gory.

LP: You know, it gets pretty gory but it gets really weird, in addition to the gore. There are a lot of weird elements that are happening. [Laughs]

B-D: All his films are so interesting because it’s like you’re in a dream, you know? Or a terrible nightmare, really.

LP: Yeah, that’s a perfect way to describe it, it really is. You’re kind of in this alternate universe and you’re just trying to kind of grasp it. And I don’t think you ever really can. You just kind of have to enjoy the ride, you know?

B-D: Well I watched the trailer and I noticed some other details that were present in some of Calvin’s other movies. Like there are pina coladas at one point [like in `Snake Mountain Colada’], and there’s a woman that looks like the one that appeared in the room near the end of `Little Farm’. Are there a lot of little things like that that he pulled in from his short films and incorporated into this one?

LP: Yeah, I think so. If it’s more a question as to why he does it, that would be for Calvin. But yeah, he has these little things that are kind of sprinkled throughout all of his films and it kind of keeps a common thread that I quite enjoy, and I think it adds to the element of surrealism and the `out-there’ element. Which I enjoy. But I guess if you want to know the reason why, you’d have to ask Calvin. [Laughs]

B-D: I don’t know that he could even explain it to me, honestly.

LP: [Laughs] I don’t either, I think he’d probably mention something about Jimmy Buffett.

B-D: Well, he seemed very laid-back when I talked to him on the phone. What’s he like when he’s directing?

LP: You know, we actually have a really great working relationship, I think maybe because we’ve worked together…this is our fifth film now together. I kind of can get where he’s going before he even says anything. But he’s extremely particular, and he knows exactly what he’d like. He’s got the whole film mapped out in his brain before he shoots anything. You know, every shot, and every angle, and every aspect of the film is already in his brain. Which I really admire, and I think it takes talent to have all those details already planned out and to have them come to fruition…it’s really impression.

B-D: Yeah, he must do a lot of preparation before he embarks on the shoot then.

LP: He does, yeah. He’s got a lot going on his head, and it’s amazing how he can actually bring it out onto film. Because it’s always exactly how he wants it.

B-D: When I was talking to Calvin the other day he mentioned that he didn’t think any of his films are really horror movies. Which is interesting to me, because particularly `Little Farm’ and `The Rambler’ and now this one definitely seem like horror movies to me. What do you think about that? Do you think they’re horror movies?

LP: Well you know, I think that there’s definitely scary elements in each film. But I always look at his films as more art films than I do horror. But there’s definitely that element of terror that he carries in all of his films. But I don’t think that I would say they’re horror, because that sounds too simple. It’s more layered than that to me.

B-D: Yeah, they kind of defy easy categorization.

LP: Yeah, yeah.

B-D: Are you a fan of straight horror movies? I’m always curious about actors who are in these things running around with blood all over them whether they actually even like these types of movies.

LP: [Laughs] You know, I’m actually a huge fan of horror film. One of my favorite films of all time is the original `Texas Chainsaw Massacre’. I think that’s one of the most beautiful films ever made. I definitely appreciate [the genre] for sure. That doesn’t mean that when I’m on set of Calvin’s films that I don’t wonder `what the hell am I doing?’ [Laughs]

B-D: It seems like you’re a good sport and pretty game for this kind of stuff.

LP: I am! For some reason, I really enjoy his work and anything he asks me to do I will do. Well, I take that back, I haven’t read his next script. [Laughs] But for the most part, I will do whatever he asks, because I think his films are pretty unique and just have something is so different from anything else. I quite enjoy it. I guess I’m kind of sick that way. [Laughs]

B-D: Calvin said he’s trying to get a feature version of `The Rambler’ off the ground. Are you going to be a part of that?

LP: Well, I would love to be. Yeah, I would absolutely love to be if it comes to fruition. I hope so.

B-D: What’s next for you?

LP: Well, I’m back on season 4 of `True Blood’, so I’m keeping busy with that right now. And then there’s a couple of films that I’m in talks for…and yeah, I’m just chugging along, keeping busy.

B-D: Anything horror-related at all?

LP: No, not really, unfortunately. Not really, I guess…’True Blood’ is kind of bloody but it’s not really horror.

B-D: Well, we actually do cover `True Blood’. Is there anything you can tell me about this next season?

LP: I don’t know too much, and what I’m allowed to really talk about is so limited, it’s terrible. But yeah, I don’t really know too much to be quite honest.

The post Sundance ’11 Interview: ‘The Oregonian’ Star Lindsay Pulsipher appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The post Sundance ’11: A Trio of Blood-Draining ‘Vampire’ Clips appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Prologue

Bloody-Disgusting.com: I’m really interested to see Septien, it sounds like a complete trip.

Robert Longstreet: It is…it’s definitely the weirdest character I’ve ever done in my life.

B-D: Yeah, Michael’s an interesting guy.

RL: Yeah. How did Michael describe it?

B-D: He basically described it as sort of a reaction against the whole mantra of `know your audience’ and `know who you’re making your movie for’ kind of more commercial-minded filmmaking.

RL: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Very specific, just made for our inside, very odd sick joke.

B-D: Yeah. Well you’re like the darling of Sundance this year in the Midnight portion. You’re in like four movies, it’s unbelievable.

RL: I know, man. Thank you so much…instead of the darling, I’m kind of the king of weird.

B-D: Which film would you say the weirdest of all? Would that be Septien?

RL: It’s funny, in a way it’s the most grounded, but it’s also the most perverse and most strange. As far as just like outlandish horror kind of movie, I think `The Oregonian’ is the most in-your-face, disturbing weird one. That one actually has lots of blood, and lots of screaming, and things like that. `Septien’ is more I think like a slow burn, kind of creepy. And `Cataclysm [Catechism]’ starts out as a normal movie and then just delves into hell…it sort of looks like a perverse buddy movie of a priest and a death metal rocker, sort of like Jesus and the Devil taking a canoe trip. And then, it just…they meet some people that are from I don’t know where, and I don’t know who the hell they are, but they really mess our lives up quite a bit.

Chapter 1: Septien

B-D: Let’s talk about `Septien’ first. Talk about your character in that.

RL: Ok, my character is…well, we’re all really depressed and demented and sort of cabin-fevered, stuck on our little farm. Our parents had died, which I think was a really hard knock. We had an abusive father, and then a number who was just a sweetheart who actually killed herself. And I…what I’ve done is sort of projected onto her and mutated my grief into actually becoming her, you know? To sort of avoid the grief of losing my mom, I just wind up thinking I’m my brother’s mother, and try to get them to go to church, and cook them all their meals. [Laughs]

B-D: Yeah, I saw a still of you in a dress.

RL: [Laughs] Yeah, that’s the end where I show up…very unapologetic, and I show up and just start screaming at them and I’m like, `this is what I’m gonna wear from now on!’

B-D: It’s almost like Anthony Perkins in `Psycho’ or something.

RL: It’s a lot like that, man. Because there’s mommy stuff, and then…I mean, I’m not going around murdering people but it’s definitely that kind of sick bond. Yeah, where something is very, very wrong. You should not love your mother in that way. Like, don’t taxidermy her or don’t become her.

B-D: You came up with the story with Onur and Michael, right?

RL: Yeah, yes. Actually, it all started with David Gordon Green and Michael did like a five-sentence treatment of it, of just like this sports guy who had had a bad run-in with the football coach, and [at] the end they just wanted to see a football going through a field goal. So for about I guess six months Michael and Onur and I batted emails back and forth and talked, and Onur and I just sort of fleshed out our characters individually, and then sent Tully…this information that he spun into gold. I mean, just even the first 40 pages that he wrote were just so dead-on and great. I mean, he’s being very generous giving us story credits. We did all hash it out, but I mean he really turned it into something.

B-D: How did you get into the mind of this dysfunctional character? That must have been a trippy experience.

RL: You know what, it was funny I think that what I’m doing is playing the mother to some of the girlfriends I had in college and high school…so instead of just like…cause it could be so fey, and instead of making it a big homophobic joke I decided it would be, and Michael wrote these great descriptions in there where like he’s talking to the plumber, and it says `he comes out of the house, but slowly it starts to dawn on you that he’s acting more like somebody’s mother’. Like the plumber comes and I tell him there’s cookies in the oven and would he like a snack before he starts? It’s just really strange.

B-D: So you don’t affect any sort of more feminine speech patterns?

RL: Not in an overt way…but there’s a little bit of that, yeah. But it’s not West Hollywood fey, it’s like Southern mother fey.

B-D: So it’s not `To Wong Foo’ or anything.

RL: No, no, god no. No. And that is what we were trying to avoid, that kind of stuff, at all costs. Any fabulousness whatsoever. This is like farm-born repressed homosexuality. It’s more the `Deliverance’ variety.

B-D: What was your reaction when you first saw a cut of the movie?

RL: I was floored how well it came together, because it’s a real…I mean, it was a balls-out risk for us to do this, to do something this odd and this kind of…I was floored that he actually pulled off the tone. Because it seemed like it was an impossible in-joke that we were all doing, and sort of giggling after each take and just going like, `ok, well, maybe the three of us and three of our friends are gonna think this is great and then we’ll just ride off into the sunset and that’s all we expect’.

B-D: And now it’s like IFC, and VOD. It’s pretty crazy how it all came together so quickly.

RL: It’s just…well like [editor] Marc Vives and then Michael [Montes], who did the music, and then Michael Tully…I mean, they just, the really pulled a magic trick serving it in the way they edited it. It’s come off as like a…it’s got that weird old feeling like an old `70s semi-horror movie like `Let’s Scare Jessica to Death’, where it just kind of…out of nowhere just sort of makes your skin crawl. And what’s happening shouldn’t be plausible but it is. Maybe in a little bit of a Lynchian way, too.

Chapter 2: The Oregonian

B-D: So let’s move on to `The Oregonian’. In that film you play Herb. Talk about your character.

RL: I’m actually her abusive, alcoholic husband. It’s another bunch of creatures who live on a weird little farm. Yeah. No, I’m completely psychotic, and I’m jealous of her. And some of it’s fantasy, and some of it’s reality. And eventually it just breaks my mind, where I just want to kill her. And I don’t try to kill her, but…I only have a few scenes in that, but I’m probably the meanest I’ve ever been in my life. Just screaming at sweet, beautiful little Lindsay Pulsipher. Cause I did a short with her too, where I was just another mean husband with her, so we’re just saying it’s our abusive triptych, we have to do a third one.

B-D: Exactly. So are you only in the first part of the movie, then?

RL: I’m in the beginning, and then I show up throughout in some flashbacks, like sort of dragging her around the farm and things like that. I mean, that movie is a surreal nightmare. And Lindsay is really carrying that whole movie, yeah. She’s just amazing in it.

B-D: I’ve seen `Little Farm’, which just blew my mind, literally.

RL: [Laughs] Me, too! Yeah, me too, literally! Yeah.

B-D: That last shot is just unbelievably out of nowhere, you know? The whole last minute of the movie is just non-stop bizarreness and gore. It’s pretty crazy.

RL: `The Oregonian’ is the same thing…’The Oregonian’ is even more disturbing than his short [films]. Like I saw `Little Farm’ in 2007, and I had never seen a short that scared the shit out of me before. So I chased Calvin down like crazy and begged him to be in one of his movies, and it finally happened.

B-D: It seems like it takes place almost in the exact same universe as `Little Farm’ did.

RL: Well, they’re all…in a way they’re connected. There’s a couple scripts, `The Oregonian’, and `The Rambler’. Yeah, they have that feeling. You know, you were talking about `Little Farm’…to me it’s like the shots of like weird little lawn ornaments and stuff and that strange music that’s playing. It’s like, `I am dead, I am very dead’.

B-D: Yeah, it’s a super creepy atmosphere…the details in that movie are…

RL: They’re incredible. And then the incest of it is sort of like the pulse underneath the whole thing that just makes it incredibly creepy.

B-D: `Little Farm’ is very gory. So does this `The Oregonian’ one-up that one in terms of gore? He has more time to create those moments in this.

RL: Yeah, there’s more blood. I mean, as far as time, in a Calvin Reeder movie you hit the ground running. Like, they move really fast. They know exactly what they want and they fly through it. And they’re open to anything, and they try a million things. There’s improve and…yeah, Calvin’s amazing. Calvin throws a lot of things at the wall.

Chapter 3: Take Shelter

B-D: So you have another movie called `Take Shelter’.

RL: Yes! Yeah, `Take Shelter’ is…I can’t wait to see that. That’s the only one I haven’t seen.

B-D: So you’re gonna be seeing it at Sundance with everyone else for the first time.

RL: For the first time. I actually begged [director] Jeff [Nichols] for a DVD so I wouldn’t have a coronary, and he wouldn’t do it. So I’m gonna have to see that there for the first time. It’s always scary for me to see stuff for the first time, like it takes a couple viewings to sort of get comfortable with what you did. Because at first it’s just so daunting to see yourself out there. So you can’t even pay attention to it.

B-D: Of course now you’re gonna be seeing it with a huge audience. That must be nerve-wracking.

RL: I know! Yeah. It’s nerve-wracking, and there are some of my heroes in that movie. Like Michael Shannon, and Kathy Baker, and Shea Whigham. There are actors that I really admire in that movie.

B-D: Well talk a little about your character in that, and the film in general.

RL: Yeah, well my character…I play [Michael Shannon’s character’s] boss, we work at a cement factory, like a quarry, sort of grinding down stuff for cement. And I play Michael Shannon’s boss, and I made him the manager and I sort of felt like he was gonna take over the thing from me, like I’d taken it over from my father. And he starts acting odd. Like, he seems a little spacey at work, he’s fired some people and done some odd things like fire one of his best buddies. And I can’t figure out whether he’s on drugs or what’s going on, and eventually…god, I don’t want to give stuff away! He takes some equipment from work for a project at his house, and I wind up firing him for that. And then his life just spirals…what’s going on is he’s questioning his sanity.

B-D: Is this a film that plays with ambiguity? Like you’re not sure if this is really happening or if it’s all in his head?

RL: Yes, yes, yes. You’re gonna question whether you’re gonna see what he’s seeing, the disturbing things that he’s seeing, and you’re gonna question whether it’s fantasy or reality. The great thing…I don’t want to compare it cause it’s not a horror movie, but it’s sort of like…what’s the thing with Julie Harris, `The Haunting’?…where you’re questioning the heroine’s sanity through the whole thing.

B-D: It’s billed as a psychological thriller, but it definitely seems like it has some horror elements in it.

RL: It definitely does, because the things that are plaguing him are definitely apocalyptic and horrific.

Chapter 4: Catechism Cataclysm

B-D: I’ve also been told that we need to keep an eye on `Catechism Cataclysm’.

RL: Oh, that movie! I’m just in love with that movie!

B-D: `God Will Fuck You Up’ is like the greatest tagline ever.

RL: Is that not incredible? I actually sent [director] Todd [Rohal] an email yesterday and I said, thank you, sir, for having the balls to stick with `God Will Fuck You Up’. Especially going to Park City, Utah, you know?

B-D: I know, it’s great.

RL: That movie…Todd’s a genius.

B-D: Yeah, talk about that. It sounds like a really interesting, hard-to-pin down thing.

RL: Well it is. It changes so much! You know, at first it seems like a hero tale where this guy is like, Father Billy [played by Steve Little], I think is really at the end of his rope and bored with ecclesiastics and all the studies that he’s doing, and I think he thinks that maybe he missed out on life and wants to go hang out with his friend, who is a big rocker. And then I think that things aren’t the same, it’s like `be careful of chasing down your heroes, because they’re not necessarily any happier than you are’, you know? So I think he gets disappointed when we go down the river and then it just gets incredibly odd. And I can’t give that away, there’s some big surprises in `Cataclysm’. It really changes up.

B-D: Is it kind of a hardcore black comedy kind of thing? What’s the tone?

RL: The tone is almost buddy movie. And then our conflict increases. We really start to butt heads together. And then we sort of come to another level of understanding with each other, and more on an even plain. Then God fucks up both up.

B-D: So there’s some Biblical shit going down.

RL: There’s a lot of Biblical shit. That script – I’m not even sure that I fully understand all of it – but it’s working on many, many levels. You know what it is? It’s a buddy movie, horror movie, black comedy kind of a Russian doll. You know, it’s like there’s a million levels of it.

B-D: Is the audience gonna be left scratching their heads at the end of it?

RL: Yes, yes! You’re gonna take a deep breath and wonder what the hell you just went through.

Epilogue

B-D: What’s next for you after this? You’re obviously insanely busy. I know you executive produced two of these films, so you’re also dealing with that. Have you had a chance to think at all about what you’re doing after this?

RL: You know, the only thing I know is that David Lowery wrote me a movie. And I’ve been wanting to work with David Lowery for years. So I’m not even sure what that is, I think I’m playing an evil Sheriff.

B-D: Is that a horror/thriller type thing?

RL: I think it’ll be a thriller, yeah. I think it’ll be his most intense and possibly violent movie.

B-D: Can you talk at all about it?

RL: You know what, I haven’t read it! You know about as much as I know about it. He’s really teased me with it.

Executive producing these things, like the reason I did all that stuff was…Todd had been trying to get another movie made, and they made him rewrite the script like 13 times…and `Guatemalan Handshake’ was one of my favorite movies so I just said that I just wanna give Todd `yes’. You know, go back to the `70s thing where filmmakers rule the roost. And I called David [Gordon] Green and he invested immediately and matched the money I did in like 15 seconds. So I called up Todd and just said, `finish that script, we’re gonna shoot it, I don’t even need to read it’.

B-D: Are you interested in directing at all in the future?

RL: You know, [writer/director/actor] Onur Tukel [his co-star in Septien and frequent collaborator] always asks me that. I don’t know if I have the patience for it. I think I’d be a bastard. You know? I can be nice and show up as an actor and do all that stuff, but I think like worrying about the million things and getting people to do it, I have a feeling I wouldn’t have the patience for it. I’d certainly know where actors were coming from, but I have a feeling I’d be mean to people…when I was 16 and I made Super 8 films with my friends in the neighborhood I was a prick.

B-D: So maybe not the right line of work for you.

RL: No, maybe not. I think I’m definitely an actor/producer. I think that’s my forte.

The post Sundance ’11 Interview: Festival Darling/’King of Weird’ Robert Longstreet appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The post Sundance ’11: Trailer Debut for Comedy ‘Septien’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Bloody-Disgusting: There’s a lot of secrecy surrounding the movie. Is it kind of a situation where you couldn’t possibly explain what the movie is about, or is it a deliberate kind of secrecy to make people anticipate the movie more?

Calvin Reeder: Maybe it’s a little bit of both. Or maybe it’s just the movie isn’t really meant to be explained in words. [Laughs] I think you could watch the movie probably eight times and not have an accurate description of it. It’s just not that type of movie. That being said, I hope it does inspire conversation. I think that’s what I hope for the most. It’s difficult to explain. But I think it’s more easy to understand than it is to explain.

BD: I ask the question because I’ve seen all your shorts, and they always end and you’re always like, ‘what the fuck?’ Particularly ‘Little Farm’ and ‘The Rambler’, and ‘Snake Mountain Colada’ which is also a crazy one. So I had to ask because I thought, ‘how could you even explain those movies?’ They’re just so off-the-wall.

CR: Yeah, I think it’s kinda like that. I think it doesn’t tread as lightly as ‘Snake Mountain’. I think that was more funny than anything. This one can’t be funny. It’s mostly pretty dark.

BD: It looks pretty dark from the trailer. It looks almost ripped from the same universe as ‘Little Farm’ or ‘The Rambler’ specifically. Is it a companion piece to those shorts?

CR: I think if people are into my stuff, I kinda hope they’re all companion pieces. I don’t think it’s directly linked. I’ve been saying this a lot lately, but I’m starting to think that maybe I’ve just been making the same damn movie ever since ‘Little Farm’. [Laughs]

BD: It definitely looks really interesting. So this is your first solo feature directing project. Talk about how the project came together initially.

CR: Well, I had been trying to make a feature version of ‘The Rambler’ for a few years, or maybe two years, anyway. And it just was going really bad. So I just changed gears and involved some of the people that I wanted to make ‘The Rambler’ with for something that would be less money, and we could do in less days. It was really funny, it was like right as you kind of change your outlook, it all just kind of came together. It was actually incredibly easy. It was like, I wrote it and then within like four months we had funding…some of the funding fell through but then we found the rest of it. Before I knew, we were shooting…I don’t know, it was just really easy.

BD: Why do you think this one came together easier than ‘The Rambler’?

CR: I think it wasn’t as challenging…it was very challenging in some ways, but…’The Rambler’ is kind of elaborate and would have been expensive and would have taken a lot of people’s time. This was a movie of minimal commitment from a lot of people. Even though I think it plays big, it didn’t take that much from people. They could put both feet in for a small amount of time.

BD: This is also the first one of your works that you didn’t act in. Is that just because it was a bigger project and you wanted to just focus solely on the directing side?

CR: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I don’t love acting. I just do it in some of my friends’ movies because I just want to hang out with my friends, and sometimes I do it in my own movies because I can’t find anybody else to get vomited on. But this one was pretty intense for me. There’s a lot of shots. I’m a really obsessive shot-lister. So I had to make sure we got everything in that limited amount of time. And also, there just isn’t a role for me. If you look at the movie, there just really wouldn’t be some place for me. So I was stoked to just direct, it was fun. I’d like to continue just doing that.

BD: Speaking of the cast, Lindsay has been in most of your films. Talk about working with her, and what specific qualities she brings to the films that you think really works.

CR: Well, she’s great. I met her…I was taking an acting class up in Seattle, an improv class. And I wanted to make friends of actors that could help me make a film I made called ‘Piledriver’. I met her and she was fantastic, and she was like the only actual young actor in that [class]. Everybody was like 45 or over, and they weren’t gonna work for the movie. But I met her, and she was just incredibly natural. So I started working with her, and then we started dating and we’ve been going out for like six years now. But she’s really…there’s nothing that she’s afraid to do, which is I think pretty evident. And she’s pliable. And I’m not really big on dialogue, and she can emote things without words. So I think that that’s one of the things that makes us a very good pair artistically, because she can just kind of fill up the screen even if I don’t write a lot of dialogue. And in ‘The Oregonian’ she gets to do a lot of that, more than ever. She really knocks it out of the park.

BD: Well you mentioned that she’s pliable, and she definitely has the quality where she could be the girl next door, or she could be some crazy backwoods character. She definitely does have a look that kind of look that definitely lends itself to that, to be able to play all these different kinds of roles.

CR: Yeah, yeah, she does. She’s a transformer.

BD: Could you talk at all about her character in this?

CR: You know, it’s pretty well described in my description there on the Sundance website. She’s a lost woman who’s looking to escape her former life. And she enters the unknown. I hate to say too much more.

BD: I actually like that, because I feel like movies are often way too over-explained before they even come out now. So I kind of like the mystery there.

CR: Well good, I’m glad it’s holding up.

BD: You were talking about before how it’s so hard to explain your movies, and that quality reminds me a lot of David Lynch. Is he an influence of yours?

CR: I mean, he’s in there somewhere. But you know, I think I’m more into like the [Andrei] Tarkovsky, [Andrzej] Zulawski, Nicolas Roeg, Jodorowsky set. Those movies to me are far more dream-like. And that really works for me. Aesthetically those guys are…they’re in my dreams, man. [Laughs]…those guys are definitely my main influences, I’d say. Nicolas Roeg’s first four movies, Tarkovsky, Zulawski’s Diabel and Third Part of the Night. And then the Jodorowsky stuff. I think everybody loves that, right?

BD: It actually didn’t even occur to me, but now that you mention it…especially Jodorowsky. You definitely have a lot of similarities there.

CR: Yeah, there’s too many of them, huh? [Laughs]

BD: Your films are also known for being very gory, which a lot of horror fans really love obviously. And you’ve got a really high-profile special effects guy this time, Jason Collins. Talk about how he got involved in this.

CR: Oh, Jason is a friend of mine who I met because he was doing a special effect on Lindsay’s face for a photo shoot. He put a couple of scissors in her eyeballs for a still photo. And it was amazing, it definitely was. And we just got to talking, and he actually lent me all the stuff for ‘Snake Mountain Colada’ even though he wasn’t able to be on the set. Actually he was able to be on the set but I gave him my wrong phone number. Sound familiar? [Side Note: Reeder gave me the incorrect phone number for this interview as well before realizing his mistake and calling me a couple minutes after our scheduled time.]

BD: That’s becoming a problem for you.

CR: I know! But we stayed in touch and figured it out, and he was excited to do The Oregonian. He hadn’t seen it yet, but I’ll get him a copy.

BD: So you shot this on Super 16, which makes sense. Have you ever shot on digital video or have you always shot on film?

CR: Everything I’ve cared about is shot on film. I’ve shot some little stuff on video…I don’t know, it doesn’t seem worth my time.

BD: It definitely…[he starts talking] oh, go ahead I’m sorry.

CR: Oh no, I was just gonna complain about video, that’s all. [Laughs]

BD: No please do, I’d like to hear your thoughts on it.

CR: I was just saying that every camera that comes out, everybody talks about how much it looks like film and I don’t understand why they don’t just use film.

BD: I think the perception among a lot of filmmakers is that it’s just more difficult to shoot on film.

CR: Well, I don’t know. Filmmaking is never really a pleasant experience. Even if it’s hard, it doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing.

BD: Yeah, yeah. But I think shooting on film definitely lends itself to your movies because they have kind of a timeless feel to them. They feel like they could’ve been shot in the ’70s. So I think it that way it definitely makes sense for the films that you’ve made.

CR: Oh thanks, I’m glad that that comes through.

BD: Yeah, it definitely does. So I was gonna ask you if this follows a more traditional narrative than your other films given that it’s a feature, but it sounds like we’re gonna be just as bugged out by this one as we were by the rest of your movies.

CR: [Laughs] Yeah, I don’t wanna turn anybody away…I think there’s no wrong way to watch the movie, and I think that you won’t be completely lost. I think you’ll be with it. But yeah, a traditional narrative, probably not…I think it’s just kind of hard to describe, and I hope someone finds a way to describe it for me. [Laughs]

BD: It sounds like the answers in the movie come across much more visually than they do in a traditional sense, then.

CR: Yeah, I hope it’s visual, and I also hope it’s visceral. I hope they feel it. I mean, if it’s funny, if it’s scary, if it’s whatever, you know?

BD: Can you talk about any of the gore effects? You’ve had some really memorable ones in some of your past movies.

CR: Well, I’d hate to give up any of the secrets. If I gave up any of the secrets in those other movies without anybody seeing it, that’d be like, ‘oh, I already knew that happened’, so it would be less climactic. I’d hate to give up the ghost. I try to use it sparingly. I use a lot of it when I do, but I don’t want to make slasher movies with just excess [gore]…but I usually try to localize the affection, poignant areas. So I don’t want to give any of those up, but I think people will be stoked.

BD: What’s coming up next for you?

CR: You know, I’m still trying to get ‘The Rambler’ feature on the burner here. I’m kind of hoping we’re gonna get a little heat from Sundance and maybe get that going. But I don’t have all the money I need or whatever. So if I don’t do that one, maybe I’ll just do something else like ‘The Oregonian’.

BD: Will you do more shorts or are you fully focused on your feature career right now?

CR: Yeah, if I don’t have any projects going I’ll definitely make a short.

BD: Speaking of ‘The Rambler’, can you talk at all about how you might expand that? There’s a script for that right?

CR: Oh, yeah. Yeah, it’s approved by Anchor Bay in fact. They want to come in and help. They’ve only been able to provide some of the funding or whatever, but we can’t seem to find the rest of it just yet. But yeah, it’s not really an expanding of the short, but a lot of those parts are in it. It just kind of starts with The Rambler getting out of jail, and he kind of follows this somewhat episodic and sometimes very psychedelic journey. [Laughs] It’s hard to explain, just like everything else I guess.

BD: What are some of your favorite more traditional horror films?

CR: Yeah, I really like Nicolas Roeg’s ‘Don’t Look Now’. I think everybody likes that one, right? I’m a big fan of [Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz’s] ‘Messiah of Evil’. I’m also a big fan of ‘Who Can Kill A Child?’, that’s another big favorite. And you know, I love ‘The Shining’ and ‘The Exorcist’ too, it’s all good. I love it when a movie surprises me, like when it’s really scary. ‘Who Can Kill a Child?’ has a lot of those moments, where you don’t expect it. So I like those kind of movies.

BD: Do you think you’ll stay in the horror genre going forward?

CR: You know, I don’t know. I think there will always be horror elements to everything I’ve done and do. I think it just kind of comes with everything else. I don’t know, are they horror movies? Do you think so?

BD: I think some more than others. ‘Little Farm’ and ‘The Rambler’ probably…hew the closest to the genre, I would say. And then ‘Piledriver’ I would say is probably more of a…gosh, I don’t know. That movie’s just more of a fucked-up love story I guess.

CR: [Laughs] Yeah. I mean, I like horror movies, for sure. I’m just not sure that I’ve ever made like a real horror movie. But I love movies that scare me, and I would like to one day make a movie that actually scares people. That would be cool. One of the things that interests me about making films is like pursuing what actually might be scary to somebody. You know, I don’t think I even need to say it, but I don’t follow the horror trend, you know? [Laughs]

The post Sundance ’11 Interview: Calvin Reader on the Ultra-Hyped ‘The Oregonian’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The filmmaker doesn’t seem all that sure himself, but he nevertheless made an attempt at explaining it to me (full disclosure: I have not yet had an opportunity to see the movie) when we hopped on the phone the other day to discuss ‘Septien”s forthcoming Sundance/Video On Demand debut.

“[The] primary goal was capturing the feeling of `you’re back in the `80s, and you’re younger than you are right now, and you turn on the T.V. at 2am and it seems like you’re watching a sort of quirky, humorous character piece that starts bending into increasingly odd directions’“, said Tully, speaking to me from his home base of New York City. This in answer to my question of how, exactly, his film was appropriate for coverage on a horror film website. In all honesty I never quite figured out the answer to that question, but judging by his influences – ’71 chiller ‘Let’s Scare Jessica to Death’, ’74 made-for-TV anomaly ‘Bad Ronald’, Charles Laughton’s expressionistic 1955 classic ‘Night of the Hunter’ – it seems practically a guarantee that some of what’s in the film will skew in a decidedly darker direction.

“It’s not overt, outright horror“, he continued. “It’s more like me being six years old and watching `Bad Ronald’ and just feeling like, `this movie is weird!’”

For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of watching `Bad Ronald’ (number six on my list of “Ten Underrated Horror Gems“!), the made-for-TV film, based on the book of the same title by Jack Vance, concerns a young, socially-awkward teenager who accidentally kills a young girl in his neighborhood and is forced by his mother to hide out in a wallpapered-over room to avoid arrest. If it sounds like a rather unusual premise, the actual film is even stranger than it sounds – and at about the halfway point, things only get weirder. ‘Septien’, while admittedly a much different kind of film, seems to share that quality in common with the little-known oddity.

“The script…is a sort of bifurcated narrative, where the first 40 minutes are just like…’is this even going anywhere?’” said Tully. “And then it sort of kicks in.”

The premise itself is about as bizarre as you might imagine. As summed up by the Sundance website:

“Eighteen years after disappearing without a trace, Cornelius Rawlings returns to his family’s farm. While his parents are long deceased, Cornelius’s brothers continue to live in isolation on this forgotten piece of land. Ezra is a freak for two things: cleanliness and Jesus. Amos is a self-taught artist who fetishizes sports and Satan. Although back home, Cornelius is still distant. In between challenging strangers to one-on-one games, he huffs and drinks the days away. The family’s high-school sports demons show up one day in the guise of a plumber and a pretty girl. Only a mysterious drifter can redeem their souls on 4th and goal.”

While it’s a synopsis bound to pique the curiosity of independent film-lovers with a darker bent (myself included), Tully understands all too well that ‘Septien’ won’t appeal to a majority of audiences, and that’s by design. In fact, he seemed genuinely amazed that Sundance – a Festival that at least claims to celebrate artistic innovation in American cinema, though some detractors would question that assertion – warmed to the film at all.

“[‘Septien’] sort of defeat[s] the Sundance Labs theory of how to tell a story“, remarked Tully, in reference to the program at the Sundance Institute where every year several up-and-coming filmmakers are invited to workshop their projects with established professionals. “So I just thought they were gonna be like, `this seems like an unfocused, weird mess’. Miraculously, I think they caught on to the spirit of it – the overriding spirit that we were trying to be sincere, even if we were trying to do something different.”

Even more miraculously, the film already has a distributor in IFC Films, a company known for taking risks on exceedingly quirky projects (Exhibit A: they released ass-to-mouth extravaganza ‘The Human Centipede’ last April). Tully certainly realizes how lucky he is.

“First of all, I’ll tell you that…anyone who put money in[to the project], including myself, was of the understanding that we would never see a dollar“, he told me sincerely. “That was just understood, and I was very honest to the investors – friends of mine, and associates. Like, `we’re not doing this for that reason’. It was almost a reaction against everyone saying…’you have to know your audience, and only make a movie if you know that there’s gonna be a way that you can sell it and connect with viewers’. And after writing about movies at hammertonail.com [the independent film website founded by Ted Hope and Corbin Day] for a couple years, I was just like, `I want to make the exact opposite statement’.”

Tully certainly has a unique perspective, in that he regularly writes about the films of others while also penning and directing his own projects. Indeed, there is an air of the “jaded film journalist” about him – the feeling that he has seen and written about ‘a lot’ of movies and come away with the impression that even the independent film world is currently suffering in many ways from what could best be described as a hive-mind mentality. I have no idea if this is what Tully actually believes (it’s only my best guess), but like a true film journalist he consistently referenced other titles in describing his own project, influences that ranged from quirky classics underappreciated during their initial run (the aforementioned ‘Night of the Hunter’) to near-unknown arthouse films (Sean Baker’s ‘Take Out’, which Tully believes is “in the same class as `The Bicycle Thief’“). It is the spirit of these influences – which include Victor Erice’s ‘Spirit of the Beehive’ and the aforementioned ‘Bad Ronald’ and ‘Let’s Scare Jessica to Death’ – that Tully strove valiantly to capture in his own work, although true to the fiercely individualistic nature of ‘Septien’ these influences may not be obvious to anyone but the director himself. This is also by design.

“You know, my instinct as a filmmaker is to not…where it’s like Wes Anderson in `Rushmore’ literally takes a scene from `High School’, Frederick Wiseman’s documentary, and just sort of incorporates that into his movie, I personally have trouble doing that“, said Tully to the idea of overtly referencing these other films. “My influences are more like the spirit of something. So we have a musical interlude in the film that was sort of a `Night of the Hunter’ tribute, but in no way is it direct. And anyone would laugh if I told them it was.”

The core “brothers on a farm” premise behind ‘Septien’ was conceived rather casually several years ago by Tully, fellow filmmaker/friend Onur Tukel, and actor/friend Robert Longstreet (both of whom co-star with Tully in the film and received a story credit), but for years it remained unrealized. It was only during a visit to the set of friend David Gordon Green’s latest film ‘Your Highness’ that Tully began to take the idea more seriously – a fire he credits Green for stoking.

“When I went to the set of `Your Highness’, he has three shoots going on at once in this old, converted…where they built the Titanic, this huge hangar“, he said, in awe of the enormous resources Green now enjoys after becoming a fixture on the arthouse circuit for many years. “And he’s like, `ok, what scripts are you working on?’ You know? He was just like, `let’s talk about your movies’. So the guy has just boundless energy and enthusiasm. We came away from that conversation with the really formed outline…that sort of made it all the way through the shooting stage.”

That was only a few months ago – sometime in early 2010 – but the project blossomed quickly. With buy-in from Tukel and Longstreet, Tully quickly wrote the screenplay and in short order they found themselves shooting the film in Tennessee with producers Brent Stewart, Ryan Zacarias and Brooke Bernard of Nomadic Independence Pictures, headquartered in Nashville. All three had previously collaborated with idiosyncratic writer/director Harmony Korine (‘Mister Lonely’, ‘Trash Humpers’) and his actress wife Rachel, both of whom Tully had come to know through his sister Carol several years previously. Though Harmony’s schedule wouldn’t allow for his involvement in the project (Tully initially wanted him to appear in the film), Rachel agreed to star in the role of underage teen “Savannah” (“the pretty girl” in the synopsis), a part Tully had written for her specifically. As for the central Rawlings brothers, Tully took on the lead role of “Cornelius“, described as a “reclusive sports hustler” who returns to the family farm after 18 years; Longstreet was cast as “Ezra“, who has taken on the persona of the siblings’ deceased mother; and Tukel signed on as “Amos“, who “fetishizes sports and Satan“.

Rare for an independent production now, the film was shot on Super 16mm, both because Tully prefers the quality of film stock (“watching a movie on film feels a little richer“) and also in an effort to capture the “timeless” quality he was aiming for in the final product. It also helped to engender the go-for-broke sensibility on set that in hindsight Tully believes helped make the film what it is.

“I just don’t think you can replace the magic of shooting on a film camera“, he said of his preference. “And we were doing this…you know, I’m directing and acting. So I barely was looking at a monitor and trusting our awesome D.P. Jeremy Saulnier to make beautiful imagery. But even that first week he was like, `bro, I have not shot [on] film in eight years, we need to look at dailies, I don’t know if any of this is coming out.’ And that added to this like `fuck it’ spirit that we had…everyone was way more enthusiastic. If we were shooting on video, I just don’t think it would’ve had that spirit in the production itself.”

As for the IFC deal, Tully was approached by Manager of Acquisitions & Productions Jeff Deutchman – who he’d become friendly with during his years of making the rounds in the independent film world – long before his movie was ready for public consumption. The offer put together by the independent distributor guaranteed ‘Septien’ both a Video On Demand release concurrent with its Sundance debut (in a co-venture between IFC and Sundance Selects, a new program which brings festival selections directly into the living rooms of independent film lovers who don’t have the luxury of traveling to Park City) and a limited theatrical run later in the year. It also mandated a January 10th deadline to deliver the finished film, which at the time Tully considered a near-impossible time frame to work within. However, after shopping the project around to a few other distributors (in the spirit of playing fair) and being greeted by sweeping rejections, it became apparent that the IFC deal was his best bet.

“In talking to our sales agent George Rush out of San Francisco, who’s an attorney as well, in his experience was like, `I love your movie, I think it’s got this sort of cult spirit to it. But I think your deals are only gonna be going down once like half the room is scratching their heads in Park City’“, he recounted. “It was made to have like five weirdos talking about it, and not being able to stop thinking about it…I mean, we didn’t want to antagonize viewers and make people upset and not like it. But the purpose was to make something that was like a handful of people thought was pretty amazing, and the rest of the room was like, `What did we just watch? I still don’t know’.”

That description will ultimately apply not only to general moviegoers but hardcore horror fans as well, and Tully made sure not to plug the film as anything other than a mad experiment free of the traditional genre trappings that would make it an easier sell. In other words: if you’re looking for a film where characters solve their problems by slicing off each other’s body parts, you’d best be moving right along.

“I don’t want to give one thing away until people see it…but where it should be getting violent it doesn’t“, Tully admitted in no uncertain terms. “There’s a flirtation with it, hopefully there’s a tension, but again, I don’t wanna lie and tell all the horror genre heads out there that this is gonna be some mind-blowing, violent explosion because it sort of takes a turn and it goes in a concentrated direction in the other way. I don’t wanna get philosophical about this film and this story, but I like the idea that this is a tale of revenge, but it’s not revenge in the sort of `eye-for-an-eye’ sense. It’s more accepting the past…and trying to move on with it.”

What’s refreshing about the director is that, unlike many in the film world who attempt to sell themselves and/or their projects as “all-things-to-all-people” (in an industry where “four-quadrant” appeal is held up as the ultimate prize), he is acutely aware of what his movie is and makes no attempt to sell it as anything else. Which doesn’t mean he harbors no desire to move on from the extremely niche audience ‘Septien’ caters to later in his career (though his hoped-for next film, a “period piece ping pong hip-hop comedy” entitled ‘Ping Pong Summer’, admittedly doesn’t scream “blockbuster“).

“I’m sort of interested to see if this will…I mean, it’s just such a weird movie that I could not see how anyone would watch [‘Septien’] and think I’d be perfect for a Hollywood rom-com or I don’t know what, you know?” he admitted. “I mean, David [Gordon Green] is a huge model, Steven Soderbergh and now David, and even Jody Hill and Danny [McBride], the Rough House [Pictures] crew. What they’re doing is super-inspiring. And they’re sort of playing the game on their terms. If I can find a way to do that, I would love to make a paycheck making a movie…if I could keep sort of sticking to my guns while getting bigger budgets and talking to people, I’m game to try it.”

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