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Your new movie Blood
Covered Chocolate - in a few words, what is it about?
Blood
Covered Chocolate is about a recovering drug addict named Massimo. When he
is bitten by an ancient, shapeshifting monster named Sofia, Massimo has to
fight to save his girlfriend, Tien, from the same bloody fate.
With
Blood Covered
Chocolate being a vampire movie (of sorts at least), is that a
genre at all dear to you, and some of your genre favourites? And what can
you tell us about your movie's approach to vampirism? I
do love vampire fiction. It’s a monster that is universal throughout
various cultures and time periods. The vampire is also symbolic of the
creation of horror film itself, with F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu being the
first horror feature whose DNA is still felt today. Nosferatu
was the
direct inspiration to the color schemes in Blood
Covered Chocolate, in
particular the red hue symbolizing the presence of the monster. From
there, I wanted to harness a side of vampirism from Eastern culture that
we haven’t seen all that much in Western film. The 1981 Indonesian movie
Mystics in Bali is referenced directly, specifically the creature The
Penanggalan. (Other)
sources of inspiration when writing Blood
Covered Chocolate? I’m
always indebted to the absurdist writers and surrealists that have had the
biggest effect on me: Luis Buñuel, Julio Cortázar, Samuel Beckett, David
Lynch. I adore the Spanish and Italian giallo films, with their sense of
bombast and opera. I took inspiration from their dreamlike quality, their
ability to express as much raw emotion as possible in any given frame.
Blood
Covered Chocolate plays quite a bit with different levels of
"reality" - so how easy or difficult was it to not literally
lose your plot telling your story that way? It
certainly helped that I wrote, directed, and edited the film myself. I
storyboard all of my movies, so everyone was on the same page. I would
color hue the boards in white, blue, and red, which made it clear which
scenes were real time, flashback, or the presence of the monster. Whenever
you’re working in the realm of “dream logic” in a story, it’s
almost more important to flesh out the logic part than the surrealist
flourishes. That’s been the most satisfying part of our audience
feedback, so far. The movie may be symbolic and interpretive, but everyone
still “gets it”. If the movie had been incomprehensible, then it
wouldn’t have been a very good surrealist film. Thankfully, that
hasn’t been the case.
Do talk
about your movie's approach to horror!
I
knew I was going to be limited in the amount of blood and gore I would be
able to put in the film, so my approach was more psychological in nature.
The monochrome and various mixed-media colors give it the feeling of a
nightmare. So, that was my ultimate goal. To make the audience feel like
they are trapped in someone else’s nightmare, a lucid fever dream, where
every moment increases the sense of dread.
A few words about
your overall directorial approach to your story at hand? I
wanted to use every trick in the book to tell my story: Long takes, match
cuts, split diopter, juxtaposition, split screen, cross dissolves, etc.
But I also didn’t want to showboat any of those choices. They emerge
organically from the narrative, and what the character Massimo is feeling.
The advantage of making a film like an extended, lucid dream is that there
is no need to mimic “reality”. Blood
Covered Chocolate operates as a
subjective experience, similar to a German film I absolute adore, called
True Love Ways. We both share a love of severed heads too. What
can you tell us about Blood
Covered Chocolate's key cast, and why exactly these people?
The
lead Massimo is played by an actor named Michael Klug [Michael
Klug interview - click here]. I’ve known
Michael for many years. He actually had a supporting part in my previous
film, Space. Michael took the role to places I was wildly thrilled about,
especially because I know how difficult it is to play a character that
appears in every scene. I think Michael relished the chance to explore
such a complex and emotionally dark character.
Meghan Deanna Smith, who
plays the female vampire Sofia in the movie, was a recommendation from my
producer, Frank Merle. She is one of the greatest actresses I’ve ever
worked with. We talked a lot about who Sofia was as a person. I looked at
Sofia like the vampiric equivalent to one of those hard-nosed coaches in a
sports film. She wants Massimo to grow into this “gift” she has given
him with her bite, train up to be a great bloodsucker. Meghan brought a
level of charm and whimsy to the part. It could’ve been so dour and
cliché, the tired Carmilla trope. Instead, Meghan creates a character who
is so full of life, you can see why Sofia fights so desperately to hold on
to it.
Joe Altieri stepped in very close to filming to play Massimo’s
stepdad, the gangster Zeb Crate. He only had two days to prepare, I
believe. It’s a role he was born to play, and everyone just adored
working with him. Same with Mike Ferguson, who came to us with a massive
action, horror, and crime film CV. He worked on some James Cullen Bressack
[James Cullen Bressack
interview - click here] and Eric Roberts pictures, and we only had him for one day. The man is a
machine, take after take, stunt after stunt, perfect every time. Jamie
Tran strikes a memorable presence in the movie. She’s a wonderful
screenwriter and filmmaker in her own right. And I also got the chance to
work with scream queen royalty, Debra Lamb [Debra
Lamb interview - click here] and Helene Udy [Helene
Udy interview - click here]. Both of them
are incredible actors, madly talented, and their work speaks for itself.
It was a privilege to work with them.
Do
talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
It
was a highly focused set. We shot the whole movie in two weeks with a crew
of four, including myself. My director of photography Neal Tyler, as well
as Greg Schmittel and Curt Skelton. Our special effects make-up artists,
Lauren Verret and Cynthia Pinedo, did fantastic work with the practical
effects and gore in the film. With only a handful of exceptions, I wanted
to capture all of the effects on-set and in-camera, very much an
old-school style of filmmaking. They were doing the work of a crew of
thirty, and all of them did a masterful job. The actors were very generous
with their time and talent, and I think everyone nailed their performances
beautifully. The
$64-question of course, where can Blood
Covered Chocolate be seen? We
haven’t secured our release date quite yet. But we do have film
festivals on the horizon. A major one would be Shockfest Film Festival on
December 10, 2022. For the past fourteen years, Shockfest has emphasized
community, supporting filmmakers and writers of cutting-edge content from
all genres. It is a virtual event, so anyone in any city is welcome to
attend. The Shockfest website is:
https://www.shockfilmfest.com/home.
Anything you can tell
us about audience and critical reception of Blood
Covered Chocolate? Blood
Covered Chocolate has only started its roll out. So far, the reactions
have been quite magnanimous and positive. Everyone seems to really
identify with the lead, Massimo’s plight. You care about him, his
psychological and physical dilemma. I think we’ve all metaphorically
fought demons and depression, like its depicted in the film. The crime
movie and supernatural aspects offer a great rollercoaster ride, but the
heart at the center is the main character. That’s really been speaking
to people. Any future projects you'd
like to share?
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I
have a couple of projects in development that are currently seeking a
production company. One is a neo-western werewolf film called Her Black
Dog, about a woman who escapes a vicious cult that also turned her into a
lycanthrope. I’m excited to do a deconstructionist take on werewolves, a
companion piece to the vampires in Blood
Covered Chocolate. Think of it as
Ginger Snaps meets Wind River. I also have a very unique thriller script
called Chastity White, which centers around a teen girl serial killer; a
peaches-and-cream Hannibal Lecter with freckles and pigtails. Your/your
movie's website, social media, whatever else? I
have my Patreon, www.Patreon.com/TheRealMonteLight.
For only $5 a month, you can follow my entire filmmaking journey. I’m on
Instagram (@monte_light) and Twitter (@montelight). Always love to chat
about movies! Thanks for the interview!
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