Creep, damn you made a DOZEN movies in 2009
with titles like 'Orgy of Blood',
'He',
'Ding Dong Dead',
'Vaginal Holocaust', 'The
Corporate Cut Throat Massacre'...being
that prolific you must seem a lot of similarities
in your films...what common elements do you see
recurring in your rapidly expanding body of work?
The most common one is
most likely, the lack of a third act. Most of my
films do not have happy endings or any endings at
all for that matter. I don't like having
filmmakers tie up all the loose ends for me at
the end of a film so I tend to go out of the way
to leave as many possibilities open at the end of
the movie. But other than that, I have tried to
make these films as different as possible. Orgy
of Blood is a very old time Gothic mixed
with 70's Italian where as Vaginal
Holocaust is an homage to I Spit on
Your Grave, and Caged Lesbos is
a crappy 60's film shot on crappy 60's set
pieces. He is very much a
psychological horror and Corporate Cut
Throat is a Horror Comedy. And then O.C.
Babes is just awful. Its really bad
but in a fun way. I try to keep the films very
far apart in terms of look, color and scope. The
film that we just wrapped a couple days ago,
The Brothers Cannibal, is by far my
best film up til now. Its a dark
comedy and looks beautiful.
I imagine
filming that many films also is sort of a crash
course in film making, especially since you tend
to direct, produce, write, edit, compose, act as
cinematographer, etc. What things are
the biggest lessons you have learned that you
would like to pass on to all the novice
filmmakers out there?
It is. It is a
crash course in filmmaking for sure. I didn't go
to film school so i got most of my learning from
books on film making (Rebel without a Crew, Make
your own Damn Movie are two of my fave's) and
also watching the commentaries on DVDs. not the
fun ones with the cast but the boring ones with
the sound editor or the color timer or whatever
other boring ass job you can have on a project.
You learn loads listening to those and then you
have the visual aid right there. I do get this
question a lot and my answer is still the same.
Make your fucking movie. Just make it. If you run
out of money, if you break up with your
girlfriend and can't use her place anymore to
shoot in, it doesn't matter. Finish the film.
Finish it any way that you can. Like when I got
my budget cut down by 2/3's while making O.C.
Babes, I had only shot 30 pages of a 90
page script. I used cuts from Night of the
Living Dead in there. Not the best idea
ever, but the film was done, it got picked up and
now its everywhere getting bad reviews but,
I finished the film. I know a lot of people who
call themselves filmmakers who have never made a
film. They have this great script that they have
been sitting on for the last 5 years or so and
hanging on to maybes and what ifs. The only way
you are going to get your first film made, is to
freaking make it. The other thing I learned is
that the film is a living breathing creature that
has a mind of its own. It will change from your
script. Something will happen that will force you
to rewrite something on set whether it be a
misplaced prop that is important to the plot,
loosing a location, firing an actress. Any of
these things could happen. You have to come up
with a quick fix to work into the story to get
your movie from point A to point B. The worst
thing in the world is having a half shot film.
Allow yourself to let go of certain parts of your
story. You can use them in the next one. But
completing the project is should always be first
on your list, especially if you are using other
peoples money.
So which of
those many hats you wear during the making of one
of your films do you see as your greatest
strength and which do you see as the one that is
the most difficult for you?
Writing and
directing are my strong suits for sure. The
hardest thing has been either acting or editing.
Both rewarding, just really hard.
So in the 5
years that you were with the punk/goth band
Creepersin this Creep Creepersin persona was
developed. Since his incarnation
you've done numerous CDs, books, and
films. What do you see yourself saying as
an artist with all this and how do you see
yourself evolving?
There just
isn't enough time in the day to do all of these
things. On top of all those jobs you mentioned,
I'm also a husband and a father that just took
his son to his first formal dance. That was
weird. I have a lot of half finished books, and
we are finally recording the new Creepersin album
but there are a ton of movies that I
still want to make. I think as an artist I
am coming into my own where its not like "oh
that creep guy is the next so and so" it
becoming more like "oh that's how creep does
it" so with that said it makes me happy as
an artist that I am gaining that kind of
recognition but I'm am hoping with all of the big
push that I'm having right now, that I will have
the means and funds to be able to create on the
level that I really want to. I am also getting
back into my artwork as a painter which I haven't
had time to do in years. I will be having at
least on of my new pieces at the Land of Odd
gallery next month so that will be nice. a lot of
people don't know this but all the art work in
the film Erection is mine so that's
kind of nice to be able to do that kind of stuff
again.
What's the
best damn thing about making movies?
Creating.
Watching something being born. It is a very
spiritual experience. And at the end of a hard
shoot, getting to see what you created and
catching a glimpse of capturing those few seconds
in time is very otherworldly. Its hard to
explain.
Do you
have any other projects lined up you would like
to let the racksandrazors.com readers know about?
The
Brothers Cannibal we just wrapped. Next
month I am shooting a post apocalyptic vampire
flick called The Brides of Sodom that
has a lot of returning cast and crew from Orgy
of Blood. In April I am going to be
shooting a film co writing by actor Chandler
Maness called The Perfect Roommate.
And hopefully I will be able to do my Final Girl
Trilogy this spring which is by far my most
ambitious project yet. I have some more main
stream flicks that I'm trying to bang the kinks
out of but this year is looking fantastic for me.
And for those of you who are in the Las Vegas
area, the Las Vegas Grindhouse Film Fest by
Pollystaffle.com is have a Creep Creepersin night
where we show a bunch of my films and have a
Q&A afterwards. I think that's May 15th.
Could be wrong but go to pollygrind.com to find
out more.
You've made so
many films in such a short period of
time. What has been the most
frightening thing that has ever happened during
the actual filming of one of your movies?
On Brothers
Cannibal our AC had a huge power supply
fall on his head before we got the first shot
off. I thought for sure we were going to have to
take him to the hospital but he was a trooper.
other than that, having a crazy actress destroy
hard drives because she was mad about a scene and
made it to where we had to re shoot almost the
whole movie
Vampires,
werewolves, zombies, witches, creatures, aliens,
telemarketers...what does it for you horror wise
Creep and why?
I like to feel
anxious. To feel that way from a film is so
surreal. I grew up with Frankenstein and Jason as
my idols. So being a horror kid and getting to do
this now as an adult kind of gives me this
fountain of youth thing that a lot of people
never get to experience. But I like to have my
heart race, I like to feel like after I watch a
movie that there might be someone in my house,
the fright of it all. Its amazing.
What was the
first movie to scare the shit out of you?
The first real
horror movie I ever watched was Halloween 3.
It was scary because I was a kid and here's this
kid getting his head ripped off by a mask and
then snakes are coming out of him. That was
pretty fucked up. I remember watching The
Elephant Man on TV and my mom or my sister
made me watch it with my head under an Afghan. I
think that made it 100 times creeper. But when I
became a father, the film Funny Games
turned my life upside down. I became agoraphobic,
I couldn't leave my family alone for a couple
minutes without thinking someone would come in
and hurt my family. It destroyed my life for a
couple of years. And then I thought, wow, if I
can make someone feel like that by a movie I
make, that would be one of the most rewarding
things in the world.
And what was
the last horror movie you saw that really annoyed
you?
Its hard
to say because I have to watch really great
movies when I'm in production. I can't watch crap
during that time. I'm afraid that I will get the
bad mojo. And since Ive been working so
much, I've only be watching movies that I know
are fantastic. But I will say I saw Avatar
and I thought it was kind of predictable.
Okay, we're
pulling into the Creep Creepersin Drive In.
What three horror flicks are on the triple bill
for tonight and what goodies are they going to be
serving up at the concession stand?
Twin
Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Visitor Q,
and Double Agent 73. And they will
have strippers and little people serving popcorn
and sour patch kids with mummies on roller skates
bringing it to the car. There will be men on
stilts walking around just to make it difficult
for you to get to the restroom and a line of
senior citizens pointing right above your head
and laughing and when you turn around nothing's
there which makes you feel a little uneasy, but
when you get into the bathroom there is a guy
standing in the corner, facing the corner. He is
giggling and you don't know why. you wash your
hands in front of a fun house mirror and by the
time you get back to your car, you forgot that
you were there to see the movies because of the
show you just got when all you wanted to do was
piss out the last 44 oz. of coke you just drank
to make room for the next 44.
And your
favorite horror flick death scene?
The meat hook
in TCM how can you beat that entire scene.
What's the
best Halloween costume you ever had?
I was ET when
I was a kid. I scared the hell out of all the
little kids on the block for some reason.
What scares
you in real life?
Sound, old
people, fake smiles, and not having my family.
And also that guy who is standing behind you
right now as you read this. You don't want to
turn around because you know its crazy. But
wouldn't it be crazy not to look on the off
chance that someone might be standing right
behind you, ready to strike? You should take a
glace. |