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Your new show Horror House, in a few words, what is it about?
DB - It’s an old style hosted horror show where we present the
goriest, sexiest and most bad taste Aussie short movies we could find.
It’s co hosted by Count Funghoula and Mistress Boobiyana. Unlike
the dad jokes you find in the old hosted horror shows, we have taken the
humour a bit further.
David, what inspired you to launch the show, and how did the
project fall together in the first place?
DB - I
saw a lot of very good short Aussie horror movies at local film festivals
and short movie nights and was totally amazed.
I couldn’t believe how good some were and just had to meet the
directors. Some of them told
me that they were unlikely to get shown at a cinema or released on DVD due
to being too short. Basically,
the night that I had seen them at was one of the few times that these gems
would be seen.
I was a bit troubled by that and came up with the idea of grouping these
short movies together and having a host presenting them.
I grew up with our local hosted horror show, Deadly Earnest, and
always wanted to do something like that.
I mentioned my idea on Facebook and Bosworth Entertainment jumped
right at it. Adam said that it
was a winning idea and he would like to pitch it to the TV stations. Tritia, how
did you get involved with Horror House? TDV - David
initially asked if he could screen my experimental short The Kali
Geisha Erotica Grotesque on the pilot while he was conceptualizing the
show. Several months later, I heard he was looking for a co-host so I put
my hand up and it went from there J
Since Horror
House is, as the title might suggest, a horror show, is that a genre
that's dear to you both?
DB - I love
a lot of genres, such as action, sci-fi and comedy, but yes, horror is
closest to my heart. When I
was a kid, the TV stations used to turn off the signal around 10:30 pm,
except on Friday 13th. That
night, one station would broadcast horror movies all night.
They would start with the old Universal horror movies and by
midnight they would be onto the Hammer House of Horror stuff.
It was magical and the horror genre has meant a lot to me since
then.
Oh, except for
one time. When I was 15, I
took a girl to see Deadly Blessing. When
that body suddenly fell from the ceiling, with a noose around its neck --
she jumped! She slapped one
arm against the arm rest with full force, but the other arm missed and hit
me right in the nuts!!! Aside
from that, all memories are good.
TDV - Indeed,
I am a big action, fantasy, sci-fi & horror girl. I love blood, gore, SFX,
supernatural mystical ideas & I think that the horror genre & all
creative arts/expressions (film, art, novels, etc) are a wonderful way to
explore the darkest recesses of our psyches in a healthy & imaginative way
& explore the most perverse and find the beauty within, if we only have the
right eyes to see.
Please do talk about your
respective characters for a bit ... and how much fun was it playing them? DB
-
I play Count Funghoula. He’s a bit of a
crossover between the Max Shreck and Bela Lugosi [Bela
Lugosi bio - click here] versions of a vampire,
but totally hammed up. He’s
also a bit of a pervert. It
was fun to play him but it’s also a bit difficult because you can’t
take your concentration off of the character for even a second.
He is so animated with his hands and eyes moving all the time.
Originally, I was practicing just his movements and expressions
everywhere, so that they would become second nature and I would have a bit
more head space for the lines. I
had to stop though because it was freaking people out at the tram stop and
on the train and then it really got me in trouble while waiting in the
queue at the bank.
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TDV - Mistress Boobiyana is a blast to play. She is styled like Elvira from the old
horror shows, but sometimes speaks with a colloquial ‘Strine
(Australian) accent as she has spent a bit of time in Australia. The
character is similar to a lot of the characters I play as well as parts of
myself, so I have a lot of fun just hamming it up with David & taking
things to the extreme as we workshop & develop scenes J
When
shooting your scenes of Horror House, do you usually stick to the
script rather slavishly, or is there improvisation involved?
DB - The
script is just a guideline. It’s
impossible to keep it fresh and stick to it verbatim.
Improvisation is necessary anyway as stunts don’t always go
exactly to plan. E.g.
there’s a scene where one of my eyeballs is being bounced around by
Mistress Boobiyana with a big knife.The
eyeball was supposed to bounce a few times on the knife but it bounced
just once and flew off behind the couch.
The lines that were to follow wouldn’t quite have fitted if they
had been followed. That’s
where a bit of off the cuff humour just has to come in.
TDV - It's
scripted so that we can keep it snappy as we only have a few minutes in between
each lot of films to play around, but within that scripting there is quite a bit
of room for improvisation & we keep things fun & flowing.
What
can you tell us about the brand of humour of your Horror House-segments?
DB - Ok, my
answer here is just going to throw everyone.
Many have heard the term “Shlock Humour” and probably just
think that means bad taste/black humour.
They might even feel that it is an American thing and associate it
with Lloyd Kaufman of Troma pictures and Mel Brooks.
Maybe even with Gene Wilder too.
Thing is, shlock is a Yiddish word, and this isn’t far off the
Jewish humour that I was brought up with. Few of the older people that used this humour with me would admit
it, but it was just that widespread in whispered jokes.
It’s a combination of absurd, bad taste and unthinkable actions.
The other part
is slapstick. Once again,
another Jewish influence on me. I
grew up with the 3
Stooges, so when given the chance, I just had to add
that in. Mistress Boobiyana
assaults me with big knives, hits me over the head and cuts off body parts
all the time.
TDV - Yup.
Slapstick humour, definitely David’s idea. My own style is much more dark,
mystical, epic action fantasy, so I just follow David’s lead & just throw
in ideas & bounce & expand off his original suggestions & scripting.
This is the 1st time I’ve done slapstick humour, so it’s quite a
bit of fun for me.
What's
a Horror House-shoot usually like?
DB - We’ve
just done the pilot so far but it was very similar to the other shoots
that I’ve directed. By
comparison to other directors, I don’t stand up and take charge.
I don’t give the usual welcome spiel at the start or farewell at
the end. I prefer to catch up
with people individually or in small groups and chat to them first.
After that, I throw out many of the decisions to the crew about how
they would like to do things and get everyone collaborating. It makes for a friendlier, laid back sort of shoot and brings out
the best skills of all involved.
Btw, so far,
we haven’t actually talked about the movies before showing them.
Count Funghoula and Mistress Boobiyana just get up to crazy stuff
and then one or the other just says something like - “roll the
movies” and we then cut to them.
You of course
also have to talk about the movies shown on your show for a bit, and what
kind of quality are you looking for when choosing which shorts to play?
And is there any way to submit one's shorts for your show?
DB
-
I don’t put
people through big formalities. If
they send me the link via Facebook chat, I then put it into the Horror
House work group where everyone can watch it and give their opinion.
The
$64-question of course, where can your show be seen?
DB - The show
has been picked up by Foxtel Aurora, to be shown in early 2018 across
Australia. Foxtel is a huge
national TV company and Aurora is their community station.
I’m hoping that we build enough of an audience over the first
series that they renew Horror House for a second series.
Beyond that, all plans are with Bosworth Entertainment. Any future projects you'd like to share?
DB - I’ve always got things on the go, but Horror House will do for now.
It will take up a lot of my time until the end of year to tape the
next 5 episodes. TDV - Yes
it’s pretty exciting what’s happening with Horror House. I guess I could plug my
fantasy short Inanna the Queen of Heaven here, a 10min epic that I
wrote, produced, starred in & directed, which is currently in post,
& should hopefully be finished by early next year, you can check it
out at
www.facebook.com/Inannathemovie. Another one to keep an eye out for woud be
Tracy - https://www.facebook.com/Tracymovie
-, a new Australian indie feature by Derek Erskine, which I play a
supporting role in,
that should probably be out in a few months
time.
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Your/your
show's website, Facebook, whatever else?
DB - At the end of
each Horror House episode of the first series is a music video clip by my
band Darkness Visible, so I’ll share the Darkness Visible
Facebook page,
as well as the Horror House one.
Horror
House Facebook page -
https://www.facebook.com/HorrorHouseShow/
Darkness Visible Facebook page -
https://www.facebook.com/DarknessVisible/
TDV - https://www.facebook.com/TritiaDeViSha.official/ Thanks
for the interview!
Thanks
Michael J
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