Jason Liquori loves making
movies. He’s completely
dedicated to it. He’s
written, edited, shot, produced,
and directed his own projects and
is the force behind Hocus Focus
Productions – an independent
film production company out of
Central Florida. He’s the
kind of guy we need in the horror
flick trenches. Recently he
finished the chaptered movie gore
fest ‘Death Plots’
(2005) with Debbie Rochon, Hollie
Wynnard, and the incomparable
Joel D. Wynkoop. A couple of
Liquori’s previous titles
include: ‘The Lunar
Pack’ (2004), and ‘The
Dark Rose: Feedin’ and
Breedin’ (1998). Currently
he is co-producing ‘Hoodoo
for Voodoo’ (2006) with
director Steven Shea which
definitely boasts an enticing
cast that includes Debbie Rochon,
Tiffany Shepis, Lloyd Kaufman,
and Linnea Quigley. Jason’s
newest chapter horror opus in the
works is ‘All Wrapped
Up’ (2006) which is slated
to star hostess Rochon as well. Just
after the holidays Jason was kind
enough to kick off his shoes, put
his feet up on the desk, and ask
a few questions for www.racksandrazors.com
from his home office.
Owen:
Hey Jason, why not start off with
a visual for all the www.racksandrazors.com readers
and describe the room where
you're doing this interview?
Jason:
Oh, this will be fun. I'm
in my home office and editing
suite, which is in full Christmas
recovery mode. Since my
wife pretty much takes over the
house for the Holidays (except
Halloween, that one is mine) I
have retreated to my
office. There are werewolf
costumes hanging in the closet,
which I cannot close because it
is overstuffed with prop
guns. My desk has the
computer and is covered in DVD's,
CD-R's and 3.5' floppy
disks. There is a homemade
mirror on what should be my
second chair. It is waiting
to be cut into a shield for ALL
WRAPPED UP and there is
a 14 inch tall model robot that
is going to be stop motion
animated for that movie on a
dresser in the corner.
Three equipment shelves have my
cameras and lights on them and
scattered boxes and bags contain
the props I've been collecting
for the past two months.
Oh, and the body of a blue furry
puppet is sitting by the
door. He's not quite
finished.
Owen:
I want to hear about your newest
project 'Death Plots'.
What's the premise, who's in it,
how are you involved, etc?----
Jason:
DEATH PLOTS takes four
different looks at The
Grim Reaper. I
wanted to do another set of
shorts and zombies and vampires
seem to be pretty well
covered. I figured Death,
as a character, still had a lot
of open angles and it would be
fun to look at some of
them. Most of the stories
deal with Death as a guy with a
job. After all Reapers
don't kill people, they just sort
of collect them. Debbie Rochon,
Kevin White, Hollie Winnard, and
Joel Wynkoop head up a great
ensemble cast for me. Kevin
has been in most of my projects
since he first acted for me in
"Hit and Miss".
Debbie and Joel add that veteran
element to the movie.
Hollie Winnard is a model who
wanted to do some acting. I
threw her in feet first with a
role that required drama and
comedy and I think she did an
excellent job. Lloyd
Kaufman was also kind enough to
make a cameo appearance. As for
my involvement, well, I did
everything. That's not
true, I had lots of help, but
anything that had not been done,
I did. I was the writer and
director for all four
shorts. My wife and I
funded the movies with the
whopping $3K budget (there's one
vacation we didn't take). She did
a lot of my camera work and still
photography when I
couldn't. I also did the
producing, casting, and acted in
two of the shorts. Make-up
F/X were handled by Tabatha Gipe,
but the other "special"
F/X were done by me and Babette
II (my computer system).
Owen:
'Death Plots' is a
chapter movie hosted by Debbie
Rochon. What do you think
is the appeal of the
segmented horror flick from
a viewer as well as
a production perspective?
Jason:
I, like many people nowadays,
have a short attention
span. I think having
segmented pieces makes it easier
to watch a story, get involved
and be satisfied in a short
period of time. Before you
get bored with the story you're
moving onto the next one.
With that said, we are taking a
new approach with ALL
WRAPPED UP and the
stories will be a little more
intertwined than in the first two
movie sets. From a production
standpoint the advantages are
huge, but there are some
drawbacks too. When you
have people working for food and
a credit it's easier to ask them
for two days than fourteen.
I can shoot with 4 separate
groups of people and only need a
small commitment from each of
them. Debbie Rochon shot
her segments for last year when
she visited Florida for Megacon
to help promote THE LUNAR
PACK. It saved us
travel expenses. It also
helps to spread production out
and keep continuity easier.
If you can shoot one entire story
in three days you worry less
about actors changing their
looks, losing a location or
having someone sell the car their
character drives in the
movie. You can spread out
costs across a few months without
interrupting the production of a
specific story. On the negative
side, just when your cast is
getting into the groove of it all
you wrap up and move onto the
next short.
Owen:
I am also anxious to hear all
about 'Hoodoo for Voodoo'
with Linnea Quigley which you are
co-producing with director Steven
Shea for Abyssmal
Productions.-----
Jason:
Hoodoo for Voodoo is a
HUGE undertaking. Steven has
brought a whole new level to
super low budget movie making and
that's what I'm trying to help
him with. He's assembled an
excellent crew and the cast is
astounding. Linnea Quigley,
Debbie Rochon and Tiffany Shepis
have already shot scenes for the
movie and Lloyd Kaufman has
agreed to make an appearance in
this one as well. We started
shooting in Louisiana back before
the hurricanes hit and everyone
involved with Hoodoo
was shocked and saddened by what
happened in that part of the
country. The people there
were very kind to us and we made
a lot of friends in the New
Orleans area. An
email circulated while we checked
on everyone and thankfully the Hoodoo
cast and crew got through it all
okay. All I can say about this
movie is it will be funny, scary
and gory on levels that only a
true fan of the genre like Steven
Shea can bring to the screen.
Owen:
Tell me about your
production company Hocus Focus
Productions. How did it
come about and what do you have
as a statement of intent?
Jason:
Hocus Focus Productions started
out as an event video
company. We did weddings,
parties and junk like that.
(A guy's gotta pay the
bills). Years ago I was
writing an online story about a
vampire hunter to keep the
creative juices flowing and one
of the readers decided he'd like
to see it as a movie. He
funded the production of DARK
ROSE: FEEDIN' & BREEDIN.
I stopped doing movies for
awhile, but couldn't keep away
for long, so I pulled out some
old stories and shot some
shorts. In a year we had
three shorts. With the
advanced in digital shooting and
editing gear I realized I could
come much closer to my vision
with the budgets I had to work
with and decided that it was time
to get back to making some movies
that had the unusual elements I
enjoy so much. I guess Hocus
Focus Productions intent is to
make independent movies right
here in Central Florida, whether
they be horror, sci-fi or any
other genre. We produce our
own and also strive to help other
indies bring their ideas to the
screen.
Owen:
Now you were the
director,
producer, cinematographer,
editor, and writer (in varying
capacities) on 'Death
Plots' (2005), 'The
Lunar Pack' (2004), and
'Dark Rose: Feedin' and
Breedin' (1998).
Which of those jobs gives you the
greatest pleasure and which is
the toughest for you to perform?
----
Jason:
Undoubtedly I enjoy writing and
editing the most. The
writing gives you the most
freedom, especially when you are
writing something for someone
else to shoot. You don't
worry as much about budget at
this stage. Of course,
later things will probably be
scaled down to match up with the
realities of shooting.
Editing is just magic. You
get to see all those little
elements come together and work
(you hope). An effect
sells, an actor or actress gave
you a great take, the paper mache
boulder looks real. All of
these things just come with such
a feeling of accomplishment. As
for the toughest tasks, it's
balancing producing with
director. Imagine being a
kid and parent at the same
time. You really want that
toy, but you also have to tell
yourself it's too
expensive. As the director,
you know what you want the scene
to look like, but as a producer
you have to decide if it is worth
the time, money, and effort to
get a specific location, prop or
actress, etc. My Dad was
the first to point out that in
most cases these two
personalities are at odds and
should balance each other out,
but when they're the same person
it causes an internal
conflict. I've solved it
with the "three things"
philosophy. On any project
a director gets three things that
he cannot bend on. Those
elements must be there at the
cost of all others. For
Death Plots I had even given one
of those up and two of my actors
saved me. I wanted matching
American sedans for the Federal
Agents and couldn't afford to
rent them (sad, huh?), but two of
my actors showed up in dark
Chevy's and I was in heaven.
Owen:
So is there anyone
within this industry (or outside
of it I guess) who you use as an
inspirational guide for how you
want to run your career?
Jason:
I remember something
Debbie Rochon said in an
interview and it really stuck
with me. She stated that
she takes a "blue
collar" approach to
acting. I do the same with
movie making. I work when I
can on what I can and ask a fair
wage in return. I do my
best to make movies I enjoy and
eek out a living while I do
it. I'd rather have a long
career that pays the bills than
make one movie that is a
blockbuster and never have my
work put on a screen (however
small) again.
Owen:
Do you have any other projects
you would like to plug, promote,
or want all the readers at www.racksandrazors.com to know
about?
Jason:
ALL WRAPPED UP is the
project we are shooting this
year. It is four mummy
shorts this time connected by
overlapping characters, but don't
worry, Misty (Debbie Rochon) will
be doing an introduction and
making an appearance that reveals
more about her character.
This will hopefully be the set up
for a feature to be shot in 2007.
Owen:
Okay now it's time for some pure
fantasy Jason. Tell me all
about the cast and plot synopsis
of your dream project.
Remember there are no limits.
Jason:
As for cast, I have
always wanted to work with
Malcolm McDowell. I would
also love to put Julie Strain in
a project and then actually give
high paying roles to the actors
who have stuck with me all this
time. I'd like to a mad
doctor with a creature that goes
awry type of story. Malcolm
McDowell creates a genetically
perfect soldier who then leaves
him and falls in love with the
daughter of a crime boss.
The super-soldier becomes the
scourge of the underworld as he
works as the woman's enforcer,
but our evil Doctor won't stand
for his creation being
disobedient, so he sends out the
prototypes, which are far less
attractive and even more savage,
to bring his renegade project
down. Something like that.
What can I say? I dream
small.
Owen:
Jason what cinematic sub-theme
does it for you & why -
vampires, werewolves, creatures,
ghosts, aliens, witches, zombies,
psychos, etc?
Jason:
Creatures in general, but
werewolves especially. I
actually do a wildlife show
online and have always been
fascinated with animals. I
love movies that exploit a
specific animal's special
abilities and then multiply it to
a ridiculous level. I
usually find myself siding with
the creature though.
Owen:
We're pulling the car into the
Jason Liquori Drive In.
What three horror flicks are on
the triple bill and what goodies
are they going to be serving up
at the concession stand?
Jason:
Evil Dead, Tromeo
and Juliet, The
Wolfman, Popcorn,
Cherry Licorice whips, and
pizza. Always pizza.
Owen:
Other than my own work, the last
really awesome horror movie I saw
was _________.
Jason:
Vampire Resurrection,
but it did have the advantage of
Denice Duff doing a live
commentary.
Owen:
What scares you in real life?
Jason:
People. Really, if I had the
choice of running into a bear of
strange people in the woods, I'd
choose the bear.
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