 Ricardo
Islas has been drawn to horror
films almost his entire life.
When he was 13 he wrote script
and at 16 he saw
‘Posesion’ (1985)
filmed and broadcast in his
native Uruguay. It was wildly
successful and the experience
helped put the young man on the
map and whet his appetite to make
more movies. Other horror flicks
followed –
‘Crowley’,
‘Crowley’s Ashes’,
‘Feather Cushion’,
‘Bad Blood’, and
‘Into The Darkness’. In
1998 Ricardo moved his base of
operations to Chicago. Since then
he’s managed to continue to
write, direct, and produce
several damned scary films.
– ‘Headcrusher’
(1999) – a gloriously gory
tale about a uncovered virus
which causes those afflicted to
--- bash their heads in! Then he
took on the ambitious project of
writing/directing/and producing a
330-minute horror mini-series
‘Amor Brujo’ in
2000/01. Talk about epic! In 2005
Alpha made their most ambitious
film to date --- ‘Night
Fangs’ – a winning tale
of lesbians, vampires, Bathory,
and more! And very soon Alpha and
Mr. Islas are going to commence
work on their newest horror flick
‘Lockout’. Hello
Ricardo. Thanks for
chatting with us today.
First off can we have a visual
and describe the room where you
are answering these questions.
Sure...
I'm writing from my office at a
local TV station in Chicago,
where I work as a producer. I do
not make horror movies for
the station... I make
documentaries. So picture a
small cozy blue walls office with
a computer, a small poster
of Night Fangs that I keep just
to me and tones of
papers everywhere. And I'm
wearing... nah. I don't think
that matters...
Can you
tell me about how Alpha Studios
began starting with your 1985
film 'Posesión'
in Uruguay?
I
was 13 and I wrote this half an
hour rip of-… I mean this
movie inspired in The Exorcist
and took the script to a local TV
station. Since I was so young the
showed me door in a polite way.
Three years later, when I was 16
I came back and insisted. They
told me: If you get 10 sponsors,
we'll produce this thing for you.
I took my bike and rode all over
town looking for sponsors for the
first horror movie ever produced
in a small town in South America
by a 16 year old kid. As crazy as
that probably sounded, I got 20
sponsors and the TV station
produced the movie, which I
directed also. First time I saw
the truck with the cameras
arriving at the location, I had
to literally pinch myself to find
out if I was dreaming or not.
Hey... maybe I still am...
As a
filmmaker who or what do you
consider to be your greatest
inspirations?
I've
been doing this since 1985 and
never sat my butt in a film
school, so my mentors have been
several filmmakers whose work I
have admired throughout the
years. In the beginning I used to
get inspiration in John
Carpenter, De Palma and
Hitchcock, mostly because I was
concerned about filmmaking
structure and language. As years
went by, I decided to focus more
in content, so my admiration for
more visceral filmmakers such as
Scorcesse and Ford Coppola took
me in a different direction. Also
let me mention two of my
favorite: William Friedkin and
Stanley Kubrick
Back in
1997/98 production moved to
Chicago. Since that time
you've made some
wonderful horror films - 'Headcrusher'
in 1999 (with Stephanie Beaton),
'Amor Brujo' in
2000/01 -- which was actually a
horror miniseries -- and the
2005 feature 'Night Fangs'. I
know you have also done other
non-horror projects through the
studio, but has horror always
been your focus?
Yes. It
has to do with my fascination
with the genre since I was a
little kid. I grew up watching
Hammer movies and collecting the
Spanish translations of Tales
from the Crypt comics, so ... I
guess horror has always been in
my blood. Horror is a shortcut to
basic emotions and when you are
an indie filmmaker working under
low/no budget conditions, you put
yourself in a situation similar
to the filmmakers who started
this all in the early 1900s. So
you have to keep it simple and
basic. Nothing more basic than
horror or laughter and that's why
I have produced also a few
comedies.
I want to
hear about your most recent
effort 'Night Fangs'
which you wrote and
directed. Give me a plot
teaser that will make it
irresistible to horror fans?
It's
a real homage to Hammer in terms
of simplicity, gore and sadism...
some combo. I wrote it in 1999
and decided to revamp (very
appropriate...
"revamp") it in 2004. A
lesbian couple in search of
eternal youth manage to get
Elizabeth Bathory's diary and
perform some rituals, including
murdering virgins to bathe in
their blood. Something goes wrong
with the ritual and vampires
start to come up left and right.
Basic premise, basic violence,
basic fun. I think people who
enjoyed Hammer films will enjoy
Night Fangs. Kids who want to see
MTV paced horror flicks in
the style of Van Helsing, might
not... Oh well...
Part of
that film was shot at the Aragon
Theatre in Chicago, which has a
reputation for being haunted --
did you find there was anything
there that gave you a chill?
Unfortunately
nothing gave me the chills. After
all I was the kind of kid who
would go alone into a haunted
house craving to find something
and would be disappointed if
nothing happened. But the place
certainly had very nervous some
of the girls in my crew and
specially the janitor did not
want to stay in the basement with
us during the shoots.
I am
so curious about 'Amor
Brujo’, which you
wrote, produced, and
directed. It was a 330
minute horror mini series.
What was your inspiration for
doing something like that?
The
Omen was my inspiration to do
something about the end
of the world and the
Antichrist. Amor Brujo is the
story of a young Mexican girl who
crosses the border and has a
mission: to get pregnant and
bring the Antichrist to the
planet. Then we have those who
want to protect her and help her
succeed in her mission and
those who want to kill her
before she gives birth to
the Antichrist. Basic premise
again. The fact that it lasts 6
and a half hours is because I
chose to turn this story into a
mini-series targeting the Spanish
speaking community who have
never seen anything like
this. It's doing pretty well in
DVD now. One day I might dub it
into English for audiences
who don't speak
Spanish.
Was that
venue for television? And
since it was in Spanish was there
a ready-made Hispanic audience
for the show?
I was
surprised at the fact that many
people watched it. It was shown
in a local cable station in
Chicago twice and then they
showed it in some suburban areas
as well. It's also been shown in
theatres in episodes!! In South
America people get into it and
live the different stories.
Horror is very universal, but
besides I also put there many
elements that Hispanics would
recognize, such as the cross over
the border with Mexico , problems
with La Migra. Devotion to the
virgin, etc, etc.
Somewhat
going along with that -- do you
shoot every scene twice once in
English and once in Spanish
to double your market
potential? Do you
prefer subtitles? How does
that all happen at Alpha?
We
only did that once, with Para
Matar a un Asesino/ To Kill a
Killer. We would shoot the
dialogues twice (English and
Spanish) and the action scenes
once. This is possible because I
am bilingual and also because I
could work with a great bilingual
cast. Subtitles are fine when
there's no other option, but if
you have a cast that can
originally speak two languages,
shooting dialogues twice is just
like doing another take. Some
people think it's like making two
movies, but not really. Just
another take and you end with two
movies for the price of one and a
half or less... not bad
So what
sets Alpha Studios apart from
other studios? What
was your mission statement when
you began the company?
I
don't think we have such a thing
as a "mission
statement", but I would say
what sets us apart from other
studios today is that we operate
like a studio from yesterday. We
are not operated by business MBA
guys, but by guys who love
filmmaking. We also believe in
matching new upcoming talent with
established one (as we did with
To Kill a Killer, where we had
two well known Mexican stars and
the rest of the cast was
unknown). This way we help create
new stars. Not many studios can
offer the opportunity to new cast
and crew members to put their
name on key positions in movies
that do get distributed all over
the world. You can find our
movies in any major store in
America and also abroad, besides
online and festival circuits as
well. If I had to define in a
main concept why we are
different, I should say we are
not goal oriented, but process
oriented. And that's a whole
different perspective to produce
movies. We don't do 16 hour days
shoot, just thinking of how to
strike fast. We do 8 to 10 hour
days where we can pay attention
to detail and have everyone enjoy
the process.
Often you
are listed as the writer,
director, and producer for Alpha
projects --- which of those roles
comes the most easily to you and
which proves to be the most
challenging?
I'm a
writer first. I became a director
because I couldn't find one to
direct my scripts and I ended up
producing because I didn't find a
producer who would hire me as a
director...
Do you
have any other projects you would
like to tell the horror-hungry
racks and razors readers about?
We
start shooting ‘Lockout’
in a couple of months. It's a
very dark edgy horror movie in
the vein of The Ring or The
Grudge. Once again: basic,
direct, shocking horror. We don't
believe in high concept and poor
delivery, which seems to be the
Hollywood formula these days. We
shoot up high from script to
post-production. Lockout might
also become a controversial
piece, since it has to do with
how racism can push people to the
edge and turn them into real
monsters.
So we are
pulling the car into the Ricardo
Islas Drive In. What three
horror movies are you going to be
showing on the triple bill and
what goodies are they going to be
serving up at the concession
stand?
We are
a very special production
company, so we have two drive-in
theatres... like a cineplex, but
for real and not a plastic one...
In one drive-in, we have
Headcrusher, Night Fangs and
Lockout. We might run some shorts
like in the old times too: A
silent film I produced in my
country, titled Silent Fear; and
some extra features on how we
shot Night Fangs.
In the
other one, we would be running
three Spanish films: Para Matar a
un Asesino, El grito de la
Llorona y El Dia de los muertos.
With also some shorts.
Goodies
for the concession stand? Salty
heavily buttered popcorn and
never-diet sodas. If you are
going to see these movies, you
should have a strong stomach
anyway...
What
scares you in real life?
Only
one creepy hairy word... SPIDERS
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