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Your new movie Cinefiend
- in a few words, what's it about?
I would say it's my stab (pun intended) at an American giallo with a meta twist.
With Cinefiend
being an hommage to the horror hosts of old, do you have personal memories
of these shows, and some of your favourites?
I definitely do.
Elvira was a huge personality during my younger years.
Her character getting a feature film by the late 80's was quite a score
for the horror community. I'm still a huge fan.
Cinefiend
is of course also a slasher movie - so is that a genre especially dear to
you, and some of your genre favourites?
I'm kind of a creature feature guy personally, but am always willing to
test new waters. Slasher is a new territory for me and I hope fans of my
work enjoy my interpretation.
Yet other sources of inspiration when writing
Cinefiend?
Inspiration came from all types of genres I love, for instance the
lighting scheme was totally Italian giallo as well as the killer being
black gloved. I also wanted to go meta and show the inner workings of live
television broadcasts and the trouble-shooting that sometimes is
necessary. What can you tell us about your co-writer Lee Turner, and what was
your collaboration like?
Turner came up with the idea of building a story around a television
horror host and I ran with it. Lee being an actual horror host for After
Hours Cinema helped with research.
Do talk about your movie's approach to horror!
I think the audience will like that it's very ambiguous in the all three
acts. At times you're wondering, "Is this a straight slasher movie or is
there a supernatural element to it? Have to watch to find out."
A few words about your overall directorial approach to your story
at hand? Directing that film was an incredible experience and a little pain-staking
as well as it was a two and half year journey. Nothing troublesome, just
getting the right post production team together to make it shine.
You also appear in front of the camera in
Cinefiend - so what
can you tell us about your character, what did you draw upon to bring him
to life, and have you written him with yourself in mind from the get-go?
Jack is the father figure of the production crew. He tries to keep
everyone safe and calm during this ordeal while at the same time givling
out sage advice to the ambitious filmmakers in the group. I had a great
time playing him and felt that some of that advice would have probably
really came from me in a reality-based situation.
Cinefiend
also features cameos from several genre veterans - so who have you got in
store, what was it like working with them, and how did you get them even?
Oh wow, well we had Felissa Rose [Felissa
Rose interview - click here], Deborah Dutch [Deborah
Dutch interview - click here], Lisa London [Lisa
London interview - click here], David Prak,
Dawna Lee Heising [Dawna
Lee Heising interview - click here], Jennifer Moriarty, and the late great Sally Kirkland in
a heartfelt cameo as the killer's mother. Everyone of the cast exceeded my
expectations and I admire them all
Do talk about the rest of
Cinefiend, and why
exactly these people?
The cast was so easy to work with because we were being meta for most of
our scenes. Sparkle Soojian is already a popular local television host and the
rest of us have bantered in real life behind the scenes of a set, so it
all came together so natural.
The $64-question of yourse, where can
Cinefiend be seen?
Cinefiend is going
to get a Central Valley and Los Angeles premiere in the near future as
well as spend a short time on the festival circuit before landing into
worldwide distribution territory. I hope those that are near one of the
festivals or premieres get to see it before it's available for streaming.
Anything you can tell us about audience and critical reception of
Cinefiend?
So far the critics have been great and have expressed joy overseeing
so.many familiar faces tied to horror hosting as well as horror itself.
Any future projects you'd like to share?
At the moment I'm playing around with a few scripts and have been writing
short stories with another collaborating partner, but nothing close to
announce at this time.
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten
to ask? Make sure to catch
Cinefiend at a
premiere and or festival and give us an awesome IMDb rating!
Thanks for the interview!
Thanks for having me, Michael! |
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