Interview With"Shock Festival" creator/author Stephen Romano

Author, artist and director Stephen Romano gets down-and-dirty about his acclaimed DVD, STEPHEN ROMANO PRESENTS SHOCK FESTIVAL, and the 2008 novel that started it all.



What got you into genre films?
I had a very unconventional upbringing by my father who was a rock and roller in Houston. He thought outside the box, played blues and jazz in smoky nightclubs. I followed him into that life for a while, but it was movies that fascinated me the most . . . and because we partied so often with local entertainment types, it wasn't hard at all to go on movie sets and get a whiff of the craziness that lurks behind the scenes. I actually interned for a few days on Al Reinert’s Academy Award-nominated documentary FOR ALL MANKIND. I talk about some of the more bizarre experiences I had during that time on my commentary track on the SHOCK FESTIVAL DVD. What really got me into genre films had to be STAR WARS, and later STARCRASH and DAWN OF THE DEAD; those were the films that really knocked my lights out. DAWN was the first film I ever saw that made me want to make films. There was a real excitement in the craft of that movie. The way it was shot and edited, the pacing and the execution of the special effects. (HALLOWEEN also wowed me, though it probably hasn't aged as well.) I was always a nerd for films like CLASH OF THE TITANS, too. The sleazy allure of the grindhouse experience put me in a hammerlock not too long after that. By the time I was 13 I was beyond help of any kind. When ALIENS came out in 1986, I paid real money to see it in the theater 37 times. (Believe it or not, I was actually aiming for 38 times because of Lieutenant Gorman's line in the film where he tells Vasquez he's done 38 simulated drops. That's the kind of obsessive fan-boy I am.) That was really a magic year for genre films. THE FLY came out that year as well. There were always late night creature features, midnight movies. Elvira was in her prime with MOVIE MACABRE back then. BARBARELLA was a favorite, still is. I wish they would stop remaking my favorite movies!



What got you into genre related art and more specifically movie poster art?
I think anybody with any interest in film at all is into movie poster art. It's half the game, really, especially with genre pictures, and I grew up in the last great age of it, when home video was first starting. Remember when they used to put real hand-painted movie poster art on video covers? Man, I miss that. I'm not sure who came up with the current trend of "floating heads" in movie posters, but it speaks volumes about how sanitized and unimaginative the industry has become. I collect posters and original movie art, too. I have one entire wall in my house devoted to art from STARCRASH, which is the grandest, cheapest, silliest, most awesome STAR WARS rip-off ever.



There's something really off kilter and tacky-fun about being so obsessed with a film like that. The crown jewels of my STARCRASH collection are three original pencil studies for the one-sheet, done by Drew Struzan, back when the film was still called THE ADVENTURES OF STELLA STAR. Struzan is a legend now of course because of his posters for BACK TO THE FUTURE, STAR WARS and the Indiana Jones movies, along with about a million other things---but back then in the seventies, he worked for American International, doing amazing posters for films like TENTACLES, SQUIRM and THE FOOD OF THE GODS. They hired him to do STARCRASH, but AIP lost the right to distribute the film and he was canned. But he still did five different pencil comps, which are beautiful works of art; of course, because this is Drew Struzan we're talking about. I'm always on the lookout for the other two. (Any LOST BOYS fans out there?) John Solie did the final one sheet, which is pretty stunning in its original art form. Roger Corman was distributing the movie by then.



What was the start of your career in art?
I've been in comics in some form or another as a writer/layout artist since about 1992-ish. My first pro gig was the graphic novelization of Fulci's THE BEYOND. I wrote and illustrated an original graphic novel project a year before that, but I was just the pencil artist. I was a rough breakdown kinda guy. See, I was never really a finishing artist before SHOCK FESTIVAL. I literally had to teach myself how to paint and design using Photoshop for the project because I realized it was too ambitious to afford a larger art team. One of the reasons that something like SHOCK FESTIVAL has never been attempted is that it would have been far too expensive to do in any conventional way. Oddly, since the announcement of SHOCK FESTIVAL in 2008 at the Fango show in Austin, I've done dozens of real movie posters and DVD covers for filmmakers who dig the style I developed. Crazy world. I never really set out to be a finishing illustrator, it just sorta happened by accident. Up until now, I've concentrated mostly on writing and designing.



When did you start the Shock Festival book project and what were its origins?
Well, I've wanted to do a book of fake movie posters since I was a kid, and it still strikes me as bizarre that someone hasn't done it yet! Seems like a real no-brainer, huh? But as I mentioned before, doing a book with hundreds of these damn things would be really expensive to produce . . . good artists cost lots of money, just ask Drew Struzan . . . but I think that's only part of the reason nobody ever did it until now. The best ideas are the most original ideas, and they tend to hover right there in plain sight. I had just finished writing a dreary novel about the death of my mom in early 2007 and decided I needed a more fun project to occupy my creative headspace. I had been toying with the SHOCK FESTIVAL concept as a real project since just before MASTERS OF HORROR (Episode one: INCIDENT ON AND OFF A MOUNTAIN ROAD) started filming---but I always came up against the wall of the art itself. I didn't feel like spending all my money hiring artists or getting my friends to work for free---but it was always nagging in the back of my head. So one night I'm just kinda doodling around on the computer and came up with a pretty respectable poster for I HATE YOUR GUTS and I said "hey . . . I bet I could pull this off." In the beginning, it was my plan to do all the design and graphics work myself, while farming out the key art to various professionals I could hire on the cheap. I put an ad on Craig's List, called in some favors, and enlisted all my friends as character models. I got Tim Bradstreet on the project on a kind of a wink-and-handshake deal. But a funny thing happened as those first few months of the project inched forward---I studied what these guys I was hiring to do my key art were doing and realized I could probably do it, too, and I could probably even get closer to what I actually wanted if I did it myself. I shot a bunch of photo reference for the fake film SHARKHUNTERS and was gonna send it to Tim Bradstreet so he could do the poster . . . but I just ended up art directing the thing until it was done! And it looked really terrific, very authentic.





When I realized I could shoulder most of the workload myself, I altered the scope of the project from sixty-six (because it couldn't be 666!) fake movies to one hundred and one and started putting in 18 hour workdays. Before I knew it, an entire year was gone and I had taught myself how to paint movie poster art! In December of that year, I had the project in good enough shape to print a small run of the book so that I could demonstrate the concept to publishers. Bradstreet was really blown away and came on with Thomas Jane as co-publishers with IDW----and then I spent ANOTHER year getting the final version ready, doubling the amount of art, working with Bradstreet. Jane offered to become a character named Elliot Swann. It was like making an indie movie and then getting a distributor and reworking the final cut. It became this massive, unprecedented endeavor. Literally two years in the making.

Was it harder coming up with the intertwining back-story of your fictional exploitation personalities or did the difficulty lie in coming up with so many fictional films that could pass as actual lost gems from the heyday of grindhouse cinema?
It was a completely organic process. I knew I wanted to have text along with the posters and some kind of faux history built around them, but I never realized just how deep it would eventually get. I began with inventing the posters, casting my friends as characters, kicking it around. A few of the models made suggestions to me about what kind of B-movie stars they wanted to be---like my best friend Ashley Laurence. She's still really famous for playing Kirsty in the HELLRAISER films and wanted to be a Russian sex kitten rather than a scream queen. We brainstormed over the phone and just kinda invented Natalya "Natalie" Ustinov right on the spot. I'd have wild photo sessions where people like Lynn Mikeska, who plays Tracie Lynn Darcie in the book, would show up with armloads of costumes and we'd just make up stuff! She had a wedding dress one of those nights and one of my other friends had a cool Indiana Jones getup on--so we slapped shotguns into their hands and RAIDERS OF THE WEDDING DAY MASSACRE was invented!



This was the first creative woolgathering session---the "research" period, so to speak. I started to see who the characters of SHOCK FESTIVAL were during this time. About mid-year, I just took a break from the art and spent a month writing the text of the book. It just flowed right out, that first draft, and it was wild and crazy, way too long, and I invented more films and characters along the way. Later, when it was time to get the book in shape for its nationwide release, I did an incredible amount of editing on the fucking thing. I cut it down from over a hundred and fifty thousand words to around sixty thousand. I added Thomas Jane's character. Cut out the fat. Added more posters. I made certain rules for myself editorially that provided a sort of "instant objectivity" about things. You'll notice that aside from the opening of each chapter, there's almost never a full page of text and each block of text ends on a PERIOD. In other words, I never wanted a page break in the middle of a paragraph, and I wanted the text to completely support the art, changing off smoothly in tandem. I spent months hacking it up and putting it back together. And while it was definitely a long and intense process . . . I wouldn't say that any of it was difficult at all. This stuff is in my blood. In fact, it was the MOST fun I've ever had on any project I ever attempted.

You directed the I HATE YOUR GUTS trailer - what was it about that specific film that inspired you to pick up a camera?
It was the first poster I did for the book . . . and I knew I could get Lynn to come in and reprise her role as Tracie Lynn Darcie. I had the concept for the trailer way early in the development of the book, actually. It's a sick joke that comes at you really hard and fast, and I knew it would make people laugh and maybe cringe a little. It's just under a minute long. I wanted mine to be short and brutal, really in-your-face. We had no money at all, so we had to do something that would be easy to do in one day. A lot of screaming and blood flying around, it's really very silly. But it's my little movie. Someone called the cops on us because we shot in my backyard and Lynn is a method actor. A bunch of officers showed up just as we wrapped and there's all this blood everywhere, it was just insane. I had to do my best song and dance to keep out of jail for directing I HATE YOUR GUTS!



If a Shock Festival Volume Two DVD set ever happens, which film would you direct a trailer for on that set?
I wanted to shoot GOLDILOX STRAIGHT TO HELL for Volume One, but we were unable to pull it off on such a low budget. I'd like to do one for STARFIRE BEYOND THE GALAXY, which is my tribute to STARCRASH, of course. But to be honest, directing is not really a huge ambition of mine. I've actually been talking with one of the directors on this project about doing a feature-length SHOCK FESTIVAL trailer movie. That would be awesome and I wouldn't have to do any of the work! We DID have a great time shooting I HATE YOUR GUTS. You wouldn't believe how much laughing was going on behind the scenes on that. Then again, it was a one-day shoot on a zero budget, just goofing around with a camera and a few friends.

I understand that you have written for some other films and filmmakers, can you elaborate on this in general and specifically your work with Don Coscarelli?
Sure. I have actually written quite a number of film projects, most of which never got filmed for one reason or another. Sigh. That's Hollywood, man. But the money is good. I was able to take two years off to write and illustrate SHOCK FESTIVAL because of a few of those heavy paydays. I actually wrote something with Don during that period of time, but that's top secret for now. Coscarelli gave me my first professional break in the real business. I had written a few scripts for hire, published a science fiction novel called INVASION OF THE MUTANOIDS, ghosted two books for other writers. But I'd never done anything in Hollywood proper and I wasn't Guild yet. Don was impressed with my PHANTASM stuff and allowed me to publish the comic series, which he was really blown away by, and so he invited me to be his writing partner on a lot of things. Obviously, the first tangible result of that was our episode of MASTERS OF HORROR, which ended up as the best reviewed film of his career. That was insane. It was really an honor. We also wrote the sequel to BUBBA HO-TEP together. That's looking like it's finally going to get made soon.

Can you elaborate on the script you wrote for Phantasm V that Don Coscarelli supposedly liked so much?
Afraid not. Top secret. I wrote it. Don still likes it. Maybe it will happen someday.

What can we expect next from you?
The next film project is most likely to be BUBBA NOSFERATAU: CURSE OF THE SHE VAMPIRES. It's a wild screenplay and Don's getting it set up now, with Paul Giamatti co-producing and co-starring as Colonel Tom Parker. Ron Perlman is on board in the lead role of Elvis originated by Bruce Campbell, which is outrageous and cool. Book-wise, you should check out THE RIOT ACT. That was a book of original short fiction I self-published just after MASTERS OF HORROR in a super limited run---just a hundred copies to test the waters, and was very well received by some very famous people. The new version has six new stories in it, none of which have appeared anywhere else. It's all original stuff. It will appear soon from a major publisher. Also, I am the author of the OUTRAGEOUS novelization of BLACK DEVIL DOLL, which is available right now from Amazon. I am working on another novelization now. That's for the classic Spanish horror film PIECES. I am doing that one for Grindhouse Releasing, which is run by Bob Murawski, my great friend, who just recently won an Oscar for his work on THE HURT LOCKER. It'll be out just in time for Halloween, I believe. In fact, I just did the poster for Bob’s amazing GONE WITH THE POPE, which is also in theatres now and you MUST SEE.



I also have two novels in rewrite now. One of them is called SAFE IN THE WOODS, which is an important work, a bit along the lines of Jack Ketchum's THE GIRL NEXT-DOOR. Yeah. I don’t fuck around. I speak truth.



Also, just because I’m into having FUN with horror movies, I’ll be one of the hosts of the FRIDAY THE 13th 30 year convention in August and you'll see a really kick ass poster from me on that, too! I also did the original promo poster for THE BLACK WATERS OF ECHOES POND, which is out now in theatres . . . plus I do private commissions for people who just want to see themselves immortalized in B-movies, like THE MUMMY OF MOTOWN . . . and then there’s my poster for MURDER LOVES KILLERS TOO, which is an amazing horror film done by real professionals with a love and affection for Italian Giallo . . .





and, of course, I hope people enjoy my SHOCK FESTIVAL DVD set. We put an entire year into creating it and I think the work shows. I'm particularly proud of the commentary tracks I did, which are very innovative for this type of project---kind of a combination of an extended interview and lecture on horror and exploitation films which takes you into some wild territory and hopefully sends you away smiling and maybe a little more knowledgeable about the form. We have Uncle Creepy from Dread Central on the main track with his wild and hilarious commentary, which is more screen-specific and fan-centric than mine. He's a good buddy, and just fucking insane. I really think people will find the whole package satisfying as hell. We have all the bases covered, man.


For additional information on Stephen and his many projects, visit -http://www.myspace.com/shockfestival

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SHOCK FESTIVAL DVD Interview With"Devil Sister" director Paige Kay Davis

Interview by Joshua T. Gravel

Paige Davis, Head of Business Development for POPcinema and Camp Motion Pictures and Co-Producer of STEPHEN ROMANO PRESENTS SHOCK FESTIVAL, talks about her obsession with classic (and not-so-classic) possession films, and how they inspired DEVIL SISTER


Paige Davis and Ed Douglas, director of “The Dead Matter” and founder of the dark music band, Midnight Syndicate

Would you give the Alternative Cinema audience some background information on your career in film or the arts in general?
I have a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Maryland, and for the better part of 15 years worked in traditional sales and marketing positions. The opportunity to come on board with POP / Camp some 6 years ago couldn’t have come at a better time – I’d been working as an outside sales rep for a national company and was a) creatively frustrated, b) stressed out and c) bored to death. New technologies had made producing and directing my own projects an option and I briefly considered starting my own company. Ultimately, the financial and logistical hurdles convinced me I would be better served by learning all aspects of the business from inside an established company.

As for my interest in cult and horror films, John Stanley’s “Creature Feature” is firmly entrenched in my childhood memories. My grandmother belonged to the Redington Beach “Beach Club,” and each summer I would accompany her to the club to swim, then watch GODZILLA, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON or similar horror- sci-fi films while she played bridge and gossiped with her friends. When I was 7, we moved to Oahu and “Creature Feature” was replaced by “Ultra Man” and “Denjin Zaboga” (and on rare occasions a classic Universal Monsters film). It wasn’t until my late teens that I rediscovered my love for dark and obscure cinema after taking a class in which we watched POSSESSION and The MAFU CAGE.



How did you meet Stephen, and what was the genesis of the DVD?
I met Stephen as the result of a poster he created for Richard Griffin’s 2008 feature film, BEYOND THE DUNWICH HORROR. I initially called Stephen to gage his interest and availability in creating original art for one or more of our upcoming DVD releases; however, we soon got off-topic and embroiled in a discussion of exploitation and horror genres, our favorite films, trailers, his background and book…apparently, he’d always wanted to put out a trailer compilation, and the concept of tying in the DVD to his book and brand grew from there.



What was your production or direction experience before undertaking DEVIL SISTER? And, why did that particular faux film interest you?
Prior to DEVIL SISTER, I’d produced several “mini-docs” (short form supplemental media shot and edited in documentary fashion to “flesh out” a DVD release), but I’d never undertaken a project remotely like this one.


Los Angeles SHOCK-A-GO-GO FESTIVAL video produced by Paige Davis

The moment I stumbled across Stephen’s description for DEVIL SISTER, I knew I wanted to produce and direct the faux trailer for it…the qualities I found exciting about the project were the same ones that proved the most challenging: how to effectively convey dread, suspense and horror while maintaining ambiguity (regarding the “possession” of the main character). Of course, several contemporary films have done this effectively (THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE, REQUIEM) over the period of an hour or so…but I had to convey this in less than 4 minutes. Frankly, it’s unlikely I would have attempted the project if I hadn’t recently produced a highly exploitative piece of key art for a 2009 Bloody Earth Films release, STASH, in which young women are kidnapped, tortured and raped by a back-woods drug dealer. The model, Erin Russ, was absolutely amazing – when she first arrived on set, I gave her a brief run-down of the film’s plot and asked her to try to convey a near-catatonic state – she immediately “got it” (and was so convincing I was a bit freaked out), and I knew I had the lead for DEVIL SISTER, should I move forward.


Erin Russ as the Devil Sister

Justin Wingenfeld, who plays her brother (and is an amazing character actor and experienced director), stepped in to assist in a variety of ways; and Joe Kolbek (also an experienced director) shot, lit, edited, bought worms, and explained how the vomiting scene in the EXORCIST was achieved.


Editor Joseph Kolbek, “Devil Sister” Erin Russ and “Brother” Justin Wingenfeld

Luckily, my favorite possession films are THE CHILD, BEYOND THE DOOR, THE NIGHT CHILD, THE TEMPTER and THE SENTINEL…so I felt confident that if I could capture the off-beat, low-tech ‘vibe’ of these trailers my project would succeed, regardless of exercising restraint. Honestly, I would have loved to explore the psychosis of the priest – but there’s only so much footage I could justify shooting when the end result is a trailer! In the end, we cut at least 30% of the edited footage out of the trailer – it was simply too long and unnecessary.






above: Scenes from “Devil Sister”


Any upcoming projects you’d like to discuss?
I’m currently finishing two feature-length scripts: an extremely dark, surreal, fantasy-horror project and an exploitation-horror film with a nearly all-female cast. However, if I can make the time to direct something again soon, it’s likely to be another short – a dark fantasy inspired by VIY and Russian folklore, featuring Baba Yaga.

Buy Shock Festival DVD
AlternativeCinema.com

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SHOCK FESTIVAL DVD Interview with Mars (Dead House Music)

Interview by Joshua T. Gravel

Meet MARS of DEAD HOUSE MUSIC, composer, musician, horror fan and the composer of the original scores for the Stephen Romano Presents Shock Festival DVD.



Could you give the Alternative Cinema audience some background information on your career in film or the arts in general?
My pleasure. I grew up in a musical household, and have a background in music ranging from musical theatre, Classical and Jazz, thru Death Metal and Goth rock. I performed / toured in the extreme metal scene of the 1990's and decided to get off the road around 2004 or so. As a fan of genre film, who just happens to be a musician and composer, I figured that by establishing a studio in my own home I could pursue my primary career while simultaneously exploring my other passion: Horror films. I grew up on Universal Monsters and Hammer horror, and later I discovered Italian Giallo and other styles of Euro Horror. So, working within the genre just seemed to make sense.

I decided to sharpen up my orchestral chops, and I began looking for film work in 2005. I opened DEAD HOUSE MUSIC that same year, as a company dedicated to creating quality scores for independent genre film. 17 films later, I'm still on that mission.



I understand that you composed the music for various menus and intros on the Shock Festival project, what brought you to this project?
I was on Paige Davis' radar, and she called me when it came time to brainstorm for the project. She actually asked me initially to direct a trailer based upon one of Stephen's “films” that was supposed to be a lost H.P. Lovecraft adaptation. Anyone who knows me knows what a Lovecraft nerd I am. Anyway, at the time (directing a trailer) seemed like a bit of a stretch for me time-wise…so, I offered to write some music for a few of the other trailers and perhaps to do a central theme song for SHOCK FESTIVAL instead.

After corresponding with Stephen, we hit it off so well, I just kind of ran with the inspiration as it came. The result was a lot more music than I'd initially intended, but Stephan & Paige really dug what I was coming up with, so no one seemed to mind. Now the music is a really integral part of the project, and I'm really pleased that it turned out this way.



What is the process of composing music for projects like this?
I'd say it begins with 30 years of being a genre fan. Seriously, I have my bases covered when it comes to this world. Being able to reference multiple eras thru several decades of film music styles, let alone being able to reproduce those styles convincingly, by myself, takes some serious effort, I don't mean to sound arrogant, but that's the truth. But it never FELT like work, I was just indulging myself and immersing myself in the fantasy world Stephan had set up already, mixed with all the genre music I had absorbed thru being a fan for so long. The two mirror each other so closely that they crossed over.
From a technical standpoint, I used as many vintage guitars, amps, drums, and various other musical instruments as I could get my hands on. This was to get the correct tones that were crucial in making the music seem truly credible as being from the past. After that, I used selective equalization techniques and vinyl noise to “Age” the recordings properly. I think the results are pretty convincing if I do say so myself.



Are there any current or future projects you would like people to know about?
Sure. Several feature films I've done this year - ("WON TON BABY" "SAWTOOTH" & "SLIME CITY MASSACRE") hit the convention circuit before December, “LOVECRAFT: FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN” is out on DVD & Blu-Ray this month. “DEMON DIVAS AND THE LANES OF DAMNATION” should be out on DVD in 2010. And, the video & music I did for Transfuzion Comics's DEADWORLD re-launch turned out cool.



I'm past the funding stage for a film I'll be directing in 2010 (which, as everyone knows, is the hard part), and into pre-production right now. Lastly, I'm scoring an animated feature film sometime in the New Year. My Bloody Best to all the fans of horror out there.




For more information on Mars and Dead House Music, check out the following websites, www.deadhousemusic.com and www.myspace.com/deadhousemusic

SHOCK FESTIVAL DVD Interview with Nicanor Loreti

Interview by Joshua T. Gravel

Argentinean writer, producer and filmmaker Nic Loreti delivers a post-modern interpretation of Grindhouse cinema with ATTACK OF THE SADISTIC KILLER.



Could you give the Alternative Cinema audience some background information on your career in film or the arts in general?
I’m a professional writer and long-time horror fan who has contributed reviews and editorial to several leading genre publications (Fangoria, Shock Cinema), and I just published an interview book titled Cult People here in Argentina.
My involvement in genre cinema dates back to the 2001 Argentinean horror film, “Plaga Zombie: Zona Mutante”, for which I performed a variety of tasks both in front of and behind the camera (actor, best boy). In 2005, I produced and directed a short film, El Kuervo (inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven”), which screened at the Fantasia Film Festival as well as the Buenos Aries festival Rojo Sangre. In 2007, I produced the horror western LEFT FOR DEAD for cult director Albert Pyun, which was shot here in Argentina. After that, I wrote (with my close friend German Val, who did THINKING MAN'S GUN) the screenplay for BREAKING NIKKI - a cool indie horror pic coming soon to DVD in the US - and the film DYING GOD, starring Lance Henriksen and Erin Brown (Misty Mundae). I'm currently working as a film producer and writer here in Buenos Aries, having just completed a thriller called PARAPOLICIAL NEGRO, and will produce a horror movie titled MEMORY OF THE DEAD in early 2010 (both shot on Red One cameras). I also just finished an animated short film narrated by Billy Drago, with music by Claudio Simonetti (SUSPIRIA).





What attracted you to the project and ATTACK OF THE SADISTIC KILLER?
I'm a big fan of Stephen's book SHOCK FESTIVAL; it's truly a unique work of art. So when I approached the people at Pop Cinema about interpreting one of the faux films for the DVD, they told me to pick a poster for the trailer. I picked ATTACK OF THE SADISTIC KILLER based on the cool art and the amazing name (which was actually a re-title of one of the original faux films).




I really enjoyed the visual style you employed (freeze frames and the picture-in-picture segments) - were there any specific trailers that served as a template or an influence?
My inspirations for ATTACK were trailers for Italian giallos and film noirs, full of crazy colors and picture-in-picture images.

Can you ell us a little about the actors you worked with?
The lead is Guadalupe Cheja, who is also my girlfriend and a cool director/ editor herself. We did a short film called BAD BLOOD, which she co-directed and starred in, so I instantly thought of her when I needed a female lead in the trailer. The guys are all cult filmmakers from the indie scene in my country: Vic Cicuta, Elvira Serio and Hernan Quintana - the 3 of them seen in the Z movie SADOMASTER (released by the US label SRS CINEMA). They are all part of the amazing counter-culture world of the local underground cinema.




Who worked on the technical end of the production, specifically cinematography, music, and special effects?
Guadalupe and I did the special effects, makeup, camerawork and cinematography. Mariano Cattaneo helped in the editing and color correction and the music is by a local underground band called Da Capo, who are truly amazing.



Are there any current or future projects you would like people to know about?
Hmmm.... THE RAVEN (the animated short) is looking for a distributor, so if anyone's interested feel free to contact me, plus I'm also working on a new screenplay. Oh, Cult People, the English edition, is coming out in January 2010. Look for it then! It features interviews with Henriksen, Argento, a prologue by Lloyd Kaufman and more!

Keep track of all of Nicanor’s film projects and books at his myspace page, www.myspace.com/nicloreti

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SHOCK FESTIVAL DVD Interview with Adrian Santiago

Interview by Joshua T. Gravel

The director of the visceral and phantasmagorical TENTACLES IN A TWISTED DEATHDREAM, Adrian Santiago, fills us in on his newest film, GRIM and his involvement with Stephen Romano Presents Shock Festival.



Can you give us some background information on your career in film or the arts in general?
I most recently wrapped on my first self-written, self-shot, self-directed, self-edited, self-financed feature film GRIM (produced for on about $5,000us). I was also a lead videographer for the 2009 AFI Dallas International Film Festival, worked as an extra in seasons 2 and 3 of FOX's “PRISON BREAK", Lifetime's "INSPECTOR MOM", and many years ago as a child, CBS' "WALKER TEXAS RANGER".



When did you first meet Stephen Romano, and what drew your attention to TENTACLES IN A TWISTED DEATHDREAM?
We were at a horror convention promoting a movie for another independent studio, and just before getting kicked out of the booth for (gasp) giving my business card away and networking, I walked past Stephen Romano and his booth promoting the (at the time) unreleased book SHOCK FESTIVAL. I sat around, shot the shit with him and fell in love with the project! I remember saying something to him like "You should think about doing some fake movie trailers to go along with the book", and he smiled and said "Funny you should mention it..."



A couple of weeks later, Stephen sent over a PDF for the "TENTACLES IN A TWISTED DEATHDREAM" entry... and about a month after that I called him up to tell him it was ready. Good thing he's such a nice guy, because when he heard the good news he sounded like he couldn't believe it: He was excited, but I could swear he was trying to say "Holy shit, someone actually followed through!”

After that, he altered the poster for "TENTACLES" to include my name, our actors and crew which is way cool. He also stole a picture of me and inserted it into the "SATAN INSIDE HER" where he listed me as Italian Director "Enzo Castilliano". Very lulzworthy.



The monologue in the trailer appears to be shot specifically for a trailer rather than part of a film used for a trailer, much like how filmmakers such as Hitchcock and William Castle would shoot separate trailer material. Were there specific trailers which influenced you?
I wrote everything the night before we shot the trailer while I was pissed off at my girlfriend... I tend to do my best stuff when I'm either crazy angry or crazy depressed. Anyway, I got on Youtube and looked up a bunch of authentic grindhouse trailers (which, post-Rodriguez/Tarantino'cide were hard to find). Of all things, the one that spoke to me the loudest and most effectively was the trailer for DOLEMITE. It was action-action-action all the way through, accented by Rudy Ray Moore's stylized promo. I decided that was the best way to go, as we could establish a wide range of details (historical, political, and maniacal) and soak 'em in blood to show they're all equally futile.



I'd love a chance to take the concept behind TENTACLES (as Stephen wrote it) and translate it to a feature film. Make it real chatty, see if I can't get people to nod their heads in agreement with the guy who ends up being the craziest motherfucker of the bunch moments before he goes on a killing spree... see if the experience does anything to change their perception of right and wrong.



Can you tell us a little about the actors you worked with?
The only actor by trade out there was Christopher Dimock (whose name now appears on the TENTACLES poster in SHOCK FESTIVAL). At that point we had worked with him on a short film we did for Fox’s "On the Lot"... urp, excuse me: I always vomit a little when I mention that show. Other guys out there (the victims) were Garrett Wilkerson (the guy who gets the funny little "floating" animated bullet hole in his neck), a couple of his friends, Mike Peters (been with us since the first short film I ever made), and Tomas Santiago, my younger brother. Poor guy, everyone else gave us quiet deaths, but when Tom gets shot in the knee he was crying, cussing... all good stuff, but by then I figured we could save some time and just NOT record audio!



Who worked on the technical end of the production, specifically cinematography, music, and special effects?
Garrett Wilkerson handled all the sweet blood hits (that was actually the first time they had been used), Cinematography was co-op between myself and Daniel Patterson. Surprisingly I get asked this question a lot, and I'd like to take this time to put the rumors to rest: Yes! You're SUPPOSED to see the boom pole! We planned out a lot of deliberate bloopers/flaws... some shots are in focus, none of the gunshots follow any kind of realistic trajectories, and so on. I had wanted to have the reflection of the crew in a car window as a guy stepped out of it, but we didn't have any vehicles from the era and the camera would've been too modern.



Are there any current or future projects you would like people to know about?
Yes, dammit! Be on the look out for "GRIM", a film by Adrian Santiago at a film festival near you in 2010! Test audiences (who have seen only clips) find the movie immensely troubling to watch... one person summed up the opening of the film best when they said, "It’s tough, it’s brutal, it’s unsettlingly realistic, you find yourself wishing it was over but it only gets worse. If they can get away with staging something like this in a film in broad daylight, imagine what a real-life sicko can get away with when there are even fewer people around."

I'm no asshole... feel free to reach out and touch me!

You can “reach out and touch” Adrian by email at evilprojectblack@gmail.com or follow him on projectblack.com, www.myspace.com/projectblackstudios or
www.facebook.com/projectblackstudios

SHOCK FESTIVAL is available on DVD Now!

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SHOCK FESTIVAL DVD Interview with Richard Griffin

Interview by Joshua T. Gravel



Since exploding onto the genre scene in 2004 with the critically acclaimed socio-political-zombie satire, FEEDING THE MASSES, Richard Griffin has gone on to complete nine more features (eight from the horror genre). Richard takes a moment to discuss his cinematic career, and his contribution to Shock Festival, DARK NIGHT OF THE DEMON HOUSE.



Richard, tell us about your background in film or the arts in general?
I started making short films on Super8 when I was very young, and then after awhile I began working at a local television station in Rhode Island. We did a little bit of everything.... from commercials, to PSAs, to shooting concerts and other events. As much as it was a video sausage factory, it taught me a great deal about virtually every aspect of production.

After leaving the television studio in the mid 2000s, I started Scorpio Film Releasing with my partner Ted Marr in 2004. Since then I have directed over nine features.





What brought you to this project and what drew your attention to DARK NIGHT OF THE DEMON HOUSE?
I was very fortunate to have Stephen Romano create the posters for two of our features -- BEYOND THE DUNWICH HORROR and NUN OF THAT. When it came time for the SHOCK FESTIVAL DVD, Stephen asked me if I would be interested in directing one of the faux trailers. Originally he asked me to make a specific trailer, an homage to the Luigi Cozzi STAR WARS rip-off, STAR CRASH, but I was right in the middle of shooting a feature and didn't feel like I would have the energy to devote to an epic sci-fi trailer, so I picked something a little more low-key.... and that was DARK NIGHT OF THE DEMONHOUSE.





Your trailer truly captured the seventies feel complete with period roto-scoping effects, were there any particular films or trailers which influenced your trailer?
Before shooting the trailer I watched a hell of a lot of Independent-International Pictures, especially NURSE SHERRI, for a general look and feel. I also viewed a bunch of EXORCIST rip-offs like BEYOND THE DOOR and ABBY. It was the most entertaining "research" I've ever done for a project!


Independent-International Pictures’ NURSE SHERRI

Can you tell us a little about the actors you worked with?
I rounded up a number of actors who were involved in NUN OF THAT at the time. Sarah Nicklin, who's been in every film I've made since SPLATTER DISCO, Michael Reed, who I know would have no problem having sex scenes with Sarah.... since they are now husband and wife! Also in the cast are Brandon Luis Aponte and his uncle Alex Aponte, (You can never have too many Apontes in your movie.), the beautiful Alexandra Cipolla, the regal Nolan Kerr, and to add to the movie's cool factor, David Lavallee, Jr., who is a brilliant up-and-coming actor and fight choreographer.

Who worked on the technical end of the production, specifically cinematography, music, and special effects?
Seeing it was very small production, we kept the crew very light. I directed, shot and edited it. Ted produced and ran sound, a brilliant FX artist named Alan August handled the blood, and finally my regular composer Daniel Hildreth composed and performed the score.



Are there any current or future projects you would like people to know about?
We currently wrapped shooting a sci-fi horror film set in 1957 called ATOMIC BRAIN INVASION, which I'm very proud of. In 2010 I'll be directing a dark comedy called BIRD TALK, as well as another feature that is currently untitled - but I promise it'll be our most shocking film yet!



You can keep track of Richard’s cinematic output by “friending” him on Facebook as well as visiting myspace.com/scorpiofilmreleasing

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SHOCK FESTIVAL DVD Interview with Victor Bonacore

Interview by Joshua T. Gravel

Indie filmmaker Victor Bonacore, director of the faux trailer "THEY MADE ME!" talks about his influences, his cast, crew and how it all began with a Chainsaw Kiss.



What inspired you to pursue a career in film?
I have always been into the arts, especially film. My two older sisters raised me on PINK FLAMINGOS, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW & THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS, so I believe that had somewhat of an impact on me. After I got my first camcorder I re-enacted scenes from famous movies, and then I started writing. I went to school for film, and made some shorts there, but it wasn’t until I moved out to New Jersey and into a house with fellow filmmakers Joey Smack & Ruby Larocca that I really found my place. I bought a 16mm camera; we put our minds together and started creating all the time, and formed CHAINSAW KISS. We started making films together in the summer of 08. First we did a weird music video for Long Island folk artist Johnnie Lee Jordan called THE WIGLY. Then we did a film about child molestation and organized religion that played some great festivals like Fantasia in Montreal & The Coney Island Film Festival called ICE CREAM SUNDAY. Our next project was a movie about a girl who will do anything to get the weird one that she wants, which was actually the directorial debut for Ruby Larocca, titled BELATED BY VALENTINES LOVER. Then we did a film called DOG SHIT written & directed by underground speed-core musician ScreamerClauz about a utopian society where people wear paper plates as masks. Next came the trailer for the SHOCK FESTIVAL project, and we had a blast doing that. We are currently shooting a new film called BLOOD WINGS: A SATANIC FANTASY and it’s going to be our first feature film together. We are all very excited about it. After that we’re going to produce a new short, written and directed by Joey Smack! So we are constantly working, constantly going broke, but committed to making our name in the underground art scene.



What brought you to this project and what drew your attention to choose the specific trailer you made?
I have a good friend that works for ALTERNATIVE CINEMA, and I thought this would be a great project to be associated with so I asked if CHAINSAW KISS could be a part of it, and they said yes! So we went home, flipped through the book for a couple of days and I fell in love with THEY MADE ME! I love girl gang films, and I just love gang films in general so I thought it would be great fun doing one. I went to Ruby right away and asked if she would play the lead in the trailer, and of course she said yes! I took all the taglines and anything else associated with that title in the book, and then wrote out a rough script for it. Joe & I reviewed it again, made some changes and we were ready to shoot. Our friend Brandon was living with us at the time and is a very talented DP, so I asked him to shoot it, and that is one of the reasons, the trailer looks so good!



Explain why you would want to make a trailer for a film the book refers to as “the most poorly made all girl exploitation effort of its day?”
Because that’s awesome! There is true art in bad cinema and to have my name associated with that is a blessing from Satan!

Can you tell us a little about the actors you worked with?
Well, what can I say about RUBY LAROCCA? She is the greatest actress of all time. And I really mean that. If you ever get lucky enough to work with her, you will know what I mean, she does whatever you ask of her, and more, she’s a great fucking talent, friend and roommate.




pictured: Ruby LaRocca, Shock Festival producer Paige Kay Davis, Victor Bonacore

The other girls were great too! I had never worked with Jamie Mayhem before and was really excited to. She is great and is a pleasure on set. She is also in the upcoming BLOOD WINGS as well! Sybelle Silverphoenix was great too, I met her at Comic-Con where she was promoting a new film she was in directed by Underground Legend BillZebub. I contacted her and she was down! Monique Stines I have known for a while and have worked with before, too. She will do it all and with a smile on her face. Then we had Mike Mistake who was more than happy to get brutally murdered by a group of beautiful toughies. Chi Orengo gladly got thrown around in the dirt and rolled on glass for the film. Then I needed a girl to get raped by a knife, so I called up my girlfriend who had never been in a film before and said “would you be cool getting raped by a knife today?” She was down!

Then I put a call in to the incredible New Jersey actor ALAN ROWE KELLY, a pleasure to be around and great honor to work with. I knew he would bring the mother character to life. Really a great cast, where everyone went the extra mile and everyone kicked ass, and I know that is reflected on screen.


pictured: Alan Rowe Kelly


Who worked on the technical end of the production, specifically cinematography, music, and special effects?
Brandon Wunder was the director of photography. He’s got a great eye and his stuff is great; it was easy to work with him. The song we used was from the band the UBANGIS! A really tight, rock n’ roll band! ScreamerClauz edited the trailer, did the sound mix and all the visual effects for the film!




on the set of “Blood Wings.” Pictured: Victor Bonacore, Linnea Quigley, Johnny Link

Are there any current or future projects you would like people to know about?
Yes, there’s DOG SHIT, which I mentioned earlier, and our newest project BLOOD WINGS, which we are currently still shooting. We just got off our biggest weekend of shooting, 3 days straight. LINNEA QUIGLEY is in this film as the housemother of a satanic cult (we just finished shooting all her scenes). This movie is going to be insane! It’s a story Ruby and I came up with together, and we are all producing together while I take the directional reigns. This will be our first feature so we are very, very excited about it! Keep an eye out for it next spring!

Keep up with CHAINSAW KISS at their myspace page
www.myspace.com/chainsawkiss

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