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Your upcoming movie The Dooms Chapel Horror - in a few words,
what is it about?
The Dooms Chapel Horror
is the story of a man returning to his childhood town after many years to
face the people that sent him away after the accidental death of his
beloved brother which he was blamed for. It’s a story of revenge. How did the project come together in
the first place, and how did you wind up producer? I
teamed up with my director friend John Holt for a 48 Hour Film Competition
in Paducah, KY, our hometown, in 2009. We had a ball, and after he asked if
I wanted to produce a short film he had a 12 page script for called The
Hunt. I loved the script and we made it in January 2010. It has won
several honors from film festivals and has almost 50k views on YouTube. It
also made an Ain't it Cool list of top 10 found footage horror shorts. We
decided to make a feature version of The Hunt because of all the great
feedback it was getting. So we gave the idea to a writer friend of ours
named Jason Turner and he ran with it. He returned with The Dooms Chapel
Horror and we rolled cameras in May 2013. To
what extent could you identify with the film's horror theme and approach,
and is horror a genre you're at all fond of? I
think everyone can identify with the feeling of revenge. Most don’t act
on it, its what makes us a civilized people. It’s why we like to watch
stories about people that do, so we can live vicariously through them. We
approached it as a horror film we grew up watching in the 80’s. We were
all big fans of Jason,
Freddy,
Pumkinhead, Halloween and the rest, and
those movies were about the characters and story as much as they were
about the killer. Horror films today have gone into torture porn and one
upping the last one with how many inventive ways we can rip apart a body.
They’re gimmicks, they aren't about anything, and you normally can’t
remember the characters' names after. Every time I hear the name Nancy, I
think of A Nightmare On Elm
Street. There’s a reason for that. You cared
about her as a character and that comes from good writing. We set out to
make that kind of movie.
John Holt, Christopher Bower
at the Dooms Chapel
Horror-premiere |
What can
you tell us about your director John Holt, and what was your collaboration
with him like? John
and I get along like brothers. Meaning we fight and laugh a lot. I love
working with John. I have had experience working with other directors and
he is by far the most focused, caring and dedicated director I’ve ever
worked with. He truly cares about guiding the ship to the dock in regards
to story and performance from his actors. He’s old school, which I like
and respect. I would definitely like to work with him again. What were the major challenges when
producing The Dooms Chapel Horror? And as a producer, to
what extent were you involved with the creative decisions when shooting? Well
as a producer I am very hands-on throughout the entire creative process. I
love the story development and pre-production processes. The Dooms Chapel Horror
had one
major challenge. How to get a well-written character-rich story out of a
documentary style film. We wanted to stay true to the short film that came
before it which was found footage. We explored all the ways to do found
footage for The Dooms Chapel Horror
but it just didn’t tell the story the way we needed. So we decided
to shoot The Dooms Chapel Horror
differently, not found footage, not cinematically but its
own flavor and style. It was a major undertaking but in the end, that is
how the story needed to be told, and it works. You
also appear in front of the camera in The Dooms Chapel Horror- so what can you tell us about your character and performance?
Well,
I’ve learned in the past to not bite off more than I can chew
performance wise while producing. I played a lead and produced my last
film and that was a ton of work. So for The Dooms Chapel
Horror I read the script and found
a cameo role. My characters name is Cheezberger. He’s a big dumb redneck
who doesn’t take kindly to the lead characters return. It was a lot of
fun doing the scenes and stunt work, and I got to drive a big truck. What
can you tell us about the rest of your cast of The Dooms Chapel Horror, and did you at all have a hand in casting? Yes,
I had a casting director, but I was involved in the entire process. Because
I knew what kind of movie we wanted to make, just any old typical horror
film cast wasn’t gonna cut it. We needed actors with range to be
believable and real in a fictional environment. We spent 3 months casting
the film. I saw auditions from actors all over the US, coast to coast. I
was surprised that I found over half my cast in my own city and in
Nashville. I’m always amazed at the acting chops and talent that keeps
popping up here in Paducah, KY. I also cast several actors from LA
including my friend and horror icon Bill Oberst jr [Bill
Oberst jr interview - click here]. Bill is always a total
pro and gives you great performances that leave you wanting more. One
scene in particular we filmed at a working police department. It was a
pivotal scene and Bill brought his A game. John Holt called cut and walked
out of the room. And I found him outside with tears running down his face,
Bill just knows how to bring it out of you, he really is amazing. We had
several other moments on this flick when the actors performances left the
crew in silence after wrap.
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Do
talk about the shoot as such for a bit, and the on-set atmosphere? I
always try and keep a light mood on set. I find if you can joke with and
feed your cast and crew well, there will be a lot of smiles at the end of
the day no matter how late you worked. Because there was a series of night
shoots on this film we had to keep the energy up and make the sets fun to
be around. It was very common for actors and crew that weren’t working
that day to still show up and lend a hand or just share a laugh off set.
We also were faced with the challenge of shooting a movie in the woods
during one of the hottest Kentucky summers on record. Chiggers and ticks
were a real problem but we soldiered on. Although, I think my next movie
will be entirely in a city, no more woods! As
far as I know, the film premiered only recently - so what can you tell us
about critical and audience reception of the movie so far, and any idea
when and where it will be released onto the general public? We
premiered the film at the Rivers Edge International Film Festival. We sold
out and had some people standing at the back the entire screening. It was
a real shot in the arm for us. We’ve heard some great feedback from the
audience, but everyone that’s seen it loved it. We are setting up
several screening dates between now and January. We hope to secure
distribution soon and have a release date sometime early next year. Any
future projects you'd like to share?
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The Dooms Chapel
Horror world premiere |
Nothing
set in stone yet but our next film will probably be a modern western called
The Gunmen Of Solider Creek. It’s an action packed thrill ride of a
script. We made a short film version to raise money with and it is getting
a lot of buzz. I have several other scripts and projects that are ready to
go as well. What got you into
the filmworld to begin with, and did you receive any formal education on
the subject? I
never went to film school or even thought about making movies till I was
30. Then in 2007, I got into producing and acting by making a Star Wars
fanfilm called Fanboy, in which I play the title role. We made several
short episodes which can be found on YouTube. We even had 2 actors from
the original trilogy do cameos. Once I did those I was hooked. And I’ve
been making films ever since. What can you tell us about your filmwork
prior to The Dooms Chapel Horror? Well,
I’ve acted and produced almost 20 short films and I made 2 feature films
before The Dooms Chapel Horror. I produced and starred in a buddy cop comedy called What A
Pair and then an action film called Clock Out that was picked up by
Industry Works.
Producers,
actors, filmmakers, whoever else who inspire you? Robert
Evans is a big influence for me as a producer/actor, and so is Scott
Mosier. I’m a big fan of Fincher, Spielberg, Howard and I’ll watch
anything written by Aaron Sorkin. Michael Moore is
another favorite, and we are both from Flint MI. Your
favourite movies? Star
Wars (OT only), Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein,
Drive, The Godfather, Jaws, Close Encounters of a Third
Kind, The Shining,
Full Metal Jacket, Halloween,
Troll Hunter, Miami Connection. ... and of course, films you really
deplore?
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Star
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that were already perfect. Your/your movie's website, Facebook, whatever
else?
You
can follow The Dooms Chapel Horror
on Facebook @:
https://www.facebook.com/TheDoomsChapelHorror
And
you can watch trailers and see our other films at:
www.atomiccitystudios.com
Anything else you are dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask? Just
that I hope everyone gives our film a chance, I think you’re going to
like what you see. Thanks for the interview!
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amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find Christopher Bower at adultvideouniverse.com
