Your new movie Cabal - in a few words, what is it about?
A military assassin is hired to hunt down and eliminate a serial killer
who has been committing murders in a remote forest.
What were your sources of inspiration for writing Cabal?
It’s just an interesting concept.
Commando versus serial killer. It’s a little like my Dragon Unleashed movie
with a touch of my Havoc movies. It’s just a fun concept. This was just a
fun idea to fit in action, for horror and an even deeper plot that will unfold
once you see the movie. This concept also allowed for the type of subtext that
I like to include.
Do talk about your co-writer Barry Massoni for a bit, and what was your
collaboration like?
Barry Massoni is one of my best friends. He
helps me bring the stories down to earth. I tend to get too carried away.
Barry hears out all of my crazy over the top idea’s and then helps me make
them work in the confines of a movie. Very helpful. I was lucky to have him on
this one.
A few words about your movie's approach to horror?
I just feel
my way through filming, horror scenes included. I don’t think about them
intellectually. There is already so much thinking involved in the making of a
movie. When it’s time to film, I just feel my way through it all. I feel the
force. In the case of this movie, there is more evil happening than just what
we see in the trailer. A very real evil that I can’t explain without
spoiling the movie.
You of course also have to talk about the stunt work on Cabal,
and how was it achieved? This movie contains the best action
scenes I’ve ever filmed. Thanks to Master John Ozuna [John
Ozuna interview - click here], our star and fight
choreographer. He’s one of the best martial artists I’ve even know, and
I’ve known many. Ozuna brought several other actors in who were also
talented martial artists. They had their fight scenes all worked out.
It’s so good. Our main villain (Tony Jackson) is also a master martial
artist and the Villain versus Hero fights are brutal with those two heavy
hitters.
From what I've read, Cabal
is a rather outdoorsy movie - so do talk about your locations, and what
were the advantages and challenges filming there? The outdoor locations are all like dream vacation spots. Lakes,
mountains, caves, beaches, caverns, rivers. They are often hard to get to but
I’m used to it. The indoor locations were a little harder to contend with. We
have an airport, a bar, a house, a hospital, a restaurant, an underground
facility. Most B movies have one or two locations, due to lazy filmmakers.
Cabal has a new location for each scene. It’s more of an adventure. What
can you tell us about your overall directorial approach to your story at
hand?
Well, in this case, I wanted to make a Cannon
Films movie from 1983. Or even
Carolco Films. Something that one of those companies would have made in the
early 80s. I made the film's style and the overall look match those types
movies. Other than that, I don’t think of an approach. I just feel the
energy coming from the actors, from the location, and let that guide me. Do talk about your key cast, and why exactly these
people? Our hero could have
only been played by John Ozunaa [John
Ozuna interview - click here]. I wrote this movie with his talents in mind.
He’s a great leading man with a mastery of martial arts that most can only
ever dream of achieving. Our leading lady is Eva Hamilton. I first worked with
her on Death Kiss. Eva is a great actress. She has the look and the acting
skills to lead a movie. I can always count on her to make the right acting
choices. Our main villain is a slasher named Sallos and he’s played by Tony
Jackson. Tony has had small roles in my last 3 or 4 movies and he’s been so
dedicated that I let him step up and take a lead role. Glad to say he did an
amazing job. Tony put on a lot of weight to play this role and is a super
intimidating killer. A villain that will bring our hero to the edge of his
abilities.
A few words about the shoot as such, and the
on-set atmosphere?
We are anti-Hollywood. There are no attitudes on set. Never any drama. We
laugh all through the filming. Literally. And we laugh until the moment the
day ends. All good fun and fellowship. I’m usually a one-man crew but this
time I had on-set help from my new producer named Melody Vaughan. She made
this shoot so much smoother and is now going to be a permanent teammember.
We’ll now be a two person film crew, lol. And she brought in a friend in for
a few days and he was super helpful too. The work is very difficult but
it’s creative work so I love it. I think my actors do too. The $64 question of course, when and
where will Cabal be released? I only completed filming
about a week ago. I’m doing the music score now while my trusted sound guy
Guthrie Lowe works on the sound. The movie is edited, and I will start
contacting distributors in the next few weeks when the movie is complete. My
movies get picked up right away. This one will be no different. As of now,
I’ll have to wait until a distributor signs on and tells me the release
dates. Any future projects
you'd like to share?
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I finished a new Havoc
movie. People always ask me about those. This new one is called Cry Havoc
and will be released soon. I’m really proud of that one. Yolur/your movie's website,
Facebook, whatever else?
http://facebook.com/thedarkestmachines/
http://www.thedarkestmachines.com
Thanks for
the interview! My thanks to you.
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