Director/Writer/Producer/ Interview:

A Chat With The Engaging Phil Creager

Okay Phil, why not start the readers out with a visual and describe the room where you are answering these questions?

I'm in a converted garage that I took great pains to make dark, then I made it darker. At the moment the only light comes from the computer monitor. I like how objects in a dark room on a quick glance can mess with the senses-- The ball stuck in the basketball net looks like a head in a noose, the mess in the corner (baseball bat, iced tea maker, packing bubbles, etc) looks like a peg-legged woman giving birth to a pot-bellied pig. With heat-blisters.

So Phil, give me a teaser that is going to make 'Death By Engagement' a must for horror fans?

A jilted groom bludgeons a bride's white dress bloody red with a tire iron, a cop blows him away and steals the ring off of the bride's finger then proposes with it-- as the dead groom takes revenge on all of those desperate-to-be-married-hotties that scam and hustle their way to his ring.

I've read a review that calls it 'Quentin Tarantino meets Friday the 13th'. Would you say that's an accurate description?

Obviously that is the most supreme compliment, but only Quentin can do want Quentin does, and what kind of dumbass would be cocky enough to call his own movie a classic like "Friday the 13th"? I guess the reviewer liked the smart ass dialogue and the gritty characters-- that was our intent. That, combined with the gore and scares apparently sent the reviewer towards your described marriage of films. Our goal was to make a horror with the staples of scares, skin, and blood, but with cool characters. Lots of them, as opposed to "six kids trapped in a" Jeff Parise as "Bobo" is my favorite-- Jeff described the low-life Bobo as "a pimp without any ho's." My dream is to have Bobo and Snoop Dog in a movie together.

So after hearing this I gotta ask, what are your views on marriage?

Why do you think I hide down here in the dark? No, really, it's not marriage I was ripping, but all the junk leading up to it. The wedding planning bullshit, trying to impress Aunt Edna, who you haven't seen since she was doing that tired border-line obscene blowing noise on your stomach when you were six, the engagement ring that has to pass inspection with all her materialistic friends...

You have assembled such a wonderful cast - Sascha Knopf, Christa Campbell (2001 Maniacs), Jilon Ghai (Boo! and Death Tunnel) and Ivari Limon from 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer'. However, I want to hear how you got the amazing PJ Soles to do 'Death By Engagement'.

You are right, she is amazing. With none of that diva garbage. She told me she liked that she was offered a creepy part, as opposed to the usual stuff she gets all the time. Now, it helped that her daughter babysits mine, and that I bribed her daughter into reading the script to my daughter as a bedtime story within P.J.\rquote s hearing range.

This movie also has some great FX and gore on a mini budget...was there any effect you recall which was harder to pull off than any of the others?

There is an effect that J.P. Petersen put together that had Iyari Limon bleeding gobs of blood bubbles from the neck after our groom whacked her with a fireplace poker. We basically had one shot at it, and Iyari was an absolute toughie. But we were lucky to have J.P., and it not only worked, he was ready when he said he would be ready. Anyone less competent, and I may have had a more interesting story for you.

Do you have any sage wisdom for novice directors out there looking to grab a camera and go at it? What has been the main thing you have learned from your three films to date?

The advice I\rquote d give is to listen to everyone WHO HAS DONE IT, read all you can about the process, take what makes sense, then do it your own way. With me, I have to be happy with the script. Once that is where I want it to be, then I think the most important thing is to cast well. That means talent as well as attitude. A diva on a small-budget is a killer.

So I hear you are also hard at work on a new horror/thriller. Care to divulge any of the details?

The screenplay is finished, is about all I can say. Soon we' ll start chasing actors. More to come, as it happens.

Do you recall the first movie to scare the shit out of you?

Some Barbara Steisand movie. It scared the shit out of me to think that there were women who bought in to that eating ice cream from the carton/singing into hair brushes crap.

We're pilling the car into the Phil Creager Drive In. What three horror flicks are on the triple bill tonight and what goodies are they going to be serving up at the concession stand?

'The Exorcist' will be first up, with the concession stand running a special on Red Vines twisted licorice in honor of Linda Blair\rquote s neck. Second up is 'Halloween', with I don't know, I'm reaching here, P.J. Soles' Totally Tacos, or maybe nachos served up in a Michael Myers hockey mask. The eye holes are great for a date, ala Mickey Roarke in 'Diner' where he pokes his stuff through the popcorn box on his lap-- Let's move forward. The last movie will be Vincent Price's 'House on Haunted Hill', and due to the commotion following stuff poking through nachos, the concession stand has been shut down.

What is something that frightens you?

Excessive plastic surgery on a woman.

What can make you go psycho in a second?

Telemarketers.