Yes, it is a horror/comedy/musical movie. Not a full blown musical, but maybe a half "musical" film with the singing actually motivated by the story, as in, there are reasons for them to break into song and dance, they jump up on stage and do it or grab a mic from the DJ at a party, it is not just random song and dance like most musicals, just to clarify. Here is a quick teaser: In one intense day and night, an otherwise regular high school senior, Paul, first discovers he is a half breed vampire, then discovers he is the chosen one to rule vampire kind... but instead, he decides to try and change his destiny and save the world for human beings, joining forces with his father and his high school crush, a hot goth girl named Laney, so they can kill off all the evil vampires.

So you star in this movie as Mabus/Rakeed well as wrote, directed, produced, edited, and composed it. And you've also worn a lot of hats in several of your previous productions. Which of those things do you think is your greatest strength and which is the greatest challenge for you?

The biggest challenge by far is that I am trying to not just play different characters in one movie, but I have the sole responsibility of holding the whole production together, I am the line producer as it is called, the main guy who is in charge of physically getting everything done, arranging craft services, making sure the actors show up on time, every last detail fell on me, but at the same time I am supposed to be making creative decisions and also doing a great job at acting... it is something that simply takes time to get the hang of. I have been doing this since I was a teenager though, when I moved to L.A. at only 19 years old, way back in 1997, so over the years I have learned how to do it well... the next step though is higher budget films, and NEVER line producing myself again, hiring that job out on set so I can concentrate on the things I love like creatively directing and acting, that's the fun stuff.

I notice you have been in a few low-budget musicals. What is the trick (is there one?) to doing musicals with a lower or tighter budget?

The only trick is to just being a good producer, knowing how to physically make sure everything is arranged on time and on budget and done well. It only comes through experience really. You learn by doing, and anyone can do it which is the great thing, you just have to be super, super motivated because it requires literally 24 hour work days at times and into the next day still working, sometimes you have to only get an hour or two of sleep and do it all over again the next day or two straight, so to physically get through things like that your mind has to be just off the charts motivated to love what you do and to give it your all and then some, 110% as they say, or to be quite literal every bit of 100% of everything you can possibly bring to the table to get things done. And it helps to have a plan B ready incase your plan A fails and also a plan C, so that way no matter what you are ready when problems arise, because they always do one way or another. Like I said after you do it for a while you know what to expect, it just takes a little experience and love and super motivation and anyone can do it well, even if "producing" extends to mean getting funding for higher budgets.

Tell me a little something about your work as Sheriff Carter in the comedy/horror/thriller 'Family Property'. What attracted you to that project?

My friend who was an actor in 'The Vampires of Zanzibar', Derek Young, made 'Family Property' as his first feature film and he just invited me to act in it and also offered my three year old son a role. It was fun acting without any need to do the work as a director/producer.

So I read where you worked as a production assistant for Full Moon Pictures? What are some of the titles you worked on and what is the craziest thing that ever happened on a Full Moon set?

I was actually Production Designer. I started as an intern, and they gave me a raise to be Production Designer on two feature films, 'Stitches' and 'Horrorvision'. I was very young, about 22 I think, about 10 years ago. It was a lot of fun. The craziest thing that happened there was, well, not the craziest but the most fun thing that happened was... we worked in their high rise offices at the corner of Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood. You looked out the window of a meeting room to see the Hollywood sign; it was a really beautiful, ideal location. And I invited over my girlfriend and my friend from film school while I was in there building a set, and we ordered pizza. And no one else was in the building, it was late at night, and we threw pizza out the window at people onto Hollywood boulevard. Like I said, it was not the craziest, but probably the most fun... but you asked for the craziest... the craziest was when they had me getting no sleep, not enough time to even take a shower because I had so many props to get together for the shooting of the second movie, Stitches, and I was burned out from working too hard and just racing around in my car to get to set on time like a psycho really, back then I drove a little crazy in general and didn't obey the law as perfectly as I do now, so I did some crazy "stunt driving" for an accurate term, to get to set on time, it was something I am not proud of.

Do you have any other upcoming projects you want the racksandrazors readers to know about?

Not really, ummm, my wife and I are sort of working on a new third movie, but it has been on the shelf for a while. Actually, Lloyd Kaufman has allowed me an audition for 'The Toxic Avenger Part V', so I am excited about that. But I may be living in L.A. and locked down by a job, so not sure yet if I will be able to even leave L.A. for NYC to audition and be in the movie if I even were to land a role. But I was excited for a while knowing that I was allowed an audition.

Vampires, werewolves, zombies, witches, creatures, aliens, telemarketers...what does it for you horrorwise John and why?

Umm, I would say Werewolves, aliens, vampires and zombies. Zombies because they are so obviously not a real life threat and probably never will be, but still I am so scared or like, standing up pacing back and forth while watching good scary zombie movies. Vampires because I like all some of that dark cheesy serious stuff. Werewolves because I used to really like Glenn Danzig and he talked about how he read old werewolf stories from hundreds of years ago and stuff, so I think that stuff is cool still to this day. And Aliens, well, because they are real and I have had very near real experiences with them.

What was the first movie to scare the shit out of you?

Oh, I think it was 'The Howling' and the original 'Friday The 13th' or one of the original Jason movies, I saw those back when I was about 10 or 11 in the very late 80s. I was terrified and could barely move/sleep.

And what was the last horror movie you saw that really annoyed you?

The last one that I saw that annoyed me was 'Paranormal Activity'. Just something almost evil about the way it was made or something, I don't know, I didn't like it; I got a bad vibe going into the theatre and had nightmares about real life ghosts terrified in the middle of the night later that night. It was not necessarily even a great movie, it was just made with a sort of evil intent I thought. It didn't leave you with a good vibe when it was done like, say, 'Zombieland' did, that was a scary but great movie I saw recently.

Okay, we're pulling into the John Birmingham 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?

The original 'Night of the Living Dead', because it still has it to this day, it still works, and it was the original. 'Shaun of the Dead' and 'The Vampires of Zanzibar', because they are both masterpieces in their own right. They are serving up a lot of something sweet because I am in fat mode.

What horror movie are you screaming to remake the right way?

'The Toxic Avenger'! But it is not even really horror.

And your favorite horror flick death scene?

It would have to be anything Troma, because all that death stuff is so not serious, it is more fun/funny.

What's the best Halloween costume you ever had?

Tommy Lee when I was 12.

What scares you in real life?

Aliens and sometimes ghosts.