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So
Ruby why don't you start us off with a visual and
describe the room or place where you are
answering these questions?
I am sitting at
the "Horror Bar" which is in my house!
I have a vintage bar that has a wooden surface
and shelves and red cushioned and pleated front
with a golden foot bench, and red cushioned
swivel seats. It's the "horror" bar
because we have posters and 8 X 10's of some of
our favorite movies and people. For example, 'The
Return of the Living Dead' framed poster signed
by mostly all of the main characters, Linnea
being my favorite cause she's a friend of mine
and all of us in our production company Chainsaw
Kiss. 'The Last House on Dead End Street' framed
poster, Roger Watkins was/is my best friend and
mentor. 8 X 10's of Lenny Lies, Nick Tallo, John
Amplas, (maybe it should be the Romero bar?),
James Duval, Linnea... and we have those old
school framed posters of 'Weird Tales & The
Wolfman'. And we have an amazing photo done by
Jackie Cerniglia, who did this sweet and
beautiful photo of two people dressed as
'Frankenstein' and 'Bride of Frankenstein', and
some other original photography done by one of my
best friends and partners Joey Smack. That's just
what is in front of me at the moment. I could go
on and on about the room I'm in. My house is like
a museum. Behind me I have a replace with all
sorts of dead things in jars, a deer's head (that
was found in the trash, I am an animal rights
activist and vegetarian), and a last rights
"kit" previously belonging to a priest.
So I have to stop or this entire interview will
be about what I collect!
Why don't you
tell me how you got started in this business? Did
you have big horror/erotic feature plans prior to
meeting the Factory 2000 guys?
No! I
have done so many interviews telling about how I
first met Bill Hellfire, Joey Smack, and Misty
Mundae. They changed my life, and I think about
that all the time, how weird it is. I mean, think
about it, if I had never met them, would I be
where I am now? Probably not. It makes you wonder
what is truth and what is faith (not meaning
religious faith in any way), was that meeting
coincidence or fate? I can't answer that... I
have always loved horror movies. The first one I
ever saw was "A Nightmare on Elm
Street." I was 6. I wasn't allowed to watch
it so I stole my older brother's VHS copy and
snuck downstairs one night and watched it alone.
I couldn't sleep for a month. I would stay awake
all night and wait for my mother to get up in the
morning. She delivered newspapers at the time and
would get up to start her route at around 5am and
I would pretend I was already awake and couldn't
sleep anymore so I could go with her and almost
instantly fall asleep when we got in the car. I
still think the idea of a killer getting you in
your sleep is one of the scariest plots ever
created. After that I was hooked though, I was in
love with horror movies. I never knew there were
meeting places for people who shared the same
love until I was 18, and you know the story from
there. I went to Chiller and my life was forever
changed by a coincidental or fateful meeting with
three young filmmakers.
You are also
starting to do some directing. I want to hear
about 'The Landlord' segment
you are directing for the upcoming chapter film
'Scream Queen Campire'.
Ok, so
here is one of the questions I have to be honest
about. I do not know if this project is actually
going to come to fruition. But, I'd love to talk
about the movie I already made. Last year, by the
continual encouragement of my other best friend
and partner, Victor Bonacore, I wrote and
directed my first short film. It is titled
"Belated by Valentine's Lover" and is
based on a poem by the same name written by Lukas
Persson. I read the poem and it was so visual to
me I thought it would make a perfect short film.
In a nutshell, it is about a girl who is so in
love with a boy that she will do anything to keep
him. He asks for something, and she ends up
funding a way to "create" it for him,
but unknown to him, it is actually a love spell,
or recipe, that turns from a request to a happy
ending, but only for the girl. I am so proud of
it. I learned so much making it. It has been
playing in festivals all over the country. It is
also playing at Cinema Wasteland in Ohio this
October. After the completion I swore I never
wanted to write or direct again, only act,
because of how much work it is, but that feeling
didn't last long and I am currently in
pre-production for my next short that I am
writing and directing tentatively titled,
"Kissing an Atomic Bomb." It is based
on a short story written by Rich Mallery, he has
a blog at http://richmallery.wordpress.com He's an amazing
writer. He is a true hidden talent. Someone needs
to publish him pronto!
I also want to
hear about your work as Lace/Lillian in the
upcoming Marc Leland flick 'She
Wolf Rising'. The cast is amazing
and includes such names as Tiffany Shepis, Debbie
Rochon, Tina Krause, and Alan Rowe Kelly. Was the
project fun?
I love
Alan Rowe Kelly! Alan is a vintage beauty, like
Greta Garbo, and one of the most genuine people
in the industry. AND, it felt like a dream come
true to be in a movie with Tiffany Shepis. First
of all, she's so (fucking) hot!!! She exudes sex
appeal. And she was so sweet to me. After working
with her, I really felt accomplished as an
actress in the horror genre. And Debbie Rochon is
a queen in the scene and has been for a long
time, and we have been in other movies together
and it is always great to be a co-star of hers.
And Tina??? Dude, (you just made me say dude,
that's huge) Dude, Tina is the shit. If you can't
print shit, print Tina is wondrous, gorgeous,
hysterical, sweet as a peach, and runs at 150 mph
100% of the time. She is unbelievable. Not only a
great actress but she will have you laughing so
hard the entire time you almost don't want to
shoot so you can just goof around with her the
entire time. I don't bullshit, by the way. I mean
what I say and I say what I mean, all the time.
It was kind of by accident that I got to play two
roles, but one of them I was in so much
make-up/special effects I don't think you will
even recognize me. And I did ballet! Marc and
Alan thought I was trained, HA!!! I was very
athletic growing up, not graceful like a
ballerina, but I pulled it off and that is
extremely comical to me yet makes me proud of
myself as well. It was a great shoot.
Given your
career and popularity I'm sure you've had fans
ask you some very strange things. What's the most
unusual thing you've been asked?
Once
someone asked me if I liked dead bodies and when
I answered yes, they said, "I work in a
morgue. You wouldn't believe where these hands
have been. You should come to work with me one
day." I politely declined.
If you were to
organize and run a Scream Queen Academy what are
some of the subjects would you teach and what
would be the final exam to see if the girls were
worthy?
What a
great question! Well one of the subjects would
definitely be screaming. There are all different
kinds of screams; scared, dying, angry, etc. As a
"Scream Queen" you need to know how to
deliver each kind of scream effectively, so that
would be one course. Another course would be
convention etiquette. For example, how to treat
fans, how to handle the stranger fans and weird
situations you may encounter because of them, how
to dress, what to bring, and how to have fun
during it all! For the final exam each girl would
have to reenact Divine's performance in the end
of "Female Trouble" when she's in the
electric chair. And then of course the written
test, because the last question is, "is
being a scream queen enough for you in
life?" The reason I would ask this question
is because I asked myself it recently and the
answer for me is, "NO! I want to be
Divine!"
In the smaller
budgeted horror movies and such some very
interesting things can happen on set. What is the
craziest, scariest, or simply most unusual thing
that you've ever witnessed on a movie set?
When I
was shooting "The Lost" it was the
first time I was ever going to be
"shot" in a movie. I was nervous to
begin with. First the fx director told me they
were going to use an air compressor to shoot a
blood dart at my forehead, to simulate a bullet
wound. They spent a good amount of time with the
air compressor, trying to get it to work, to no
avail. So, the FX guy said they were going to use
a blow dart. "A what?" I said.
Basically a piece of plastic piping, that the
dude was going to physically blow through, with
his mouth, toward my face (like previously said,
my forehead was the mark) and I was visibly
nervous. So, the director, Chris Sivertson,
offered to go first in order to make me feel
comfortable. And this is coming from me, Ruby
LaRocca, who has done really weird and crazy shit
and isn't scared of anything but was nervous,
about the dude's aim, not about the effect. I
didn't want to lose an eyeball! So Chris goes
first, and the fx guy hits him dead center. Now
I'm feeling confident. We go to do the shot and
the first try he hits me on the top of the head.
Now I'm thinking, oh shit, this guy was just
lucky when he practiced on Chris, I am going to
get hurt. Fortunately the second time he hit me
dead on and then set off the squibs attached to
the inside of my shirt and I threw myself back
against the tree behind me as hard as I could as
if I had just been shot, twice, cause I did not
want to do it again. I have a love for glass
eyeballs but in other people's heads, not my
own... Only problem after that was continuity,
because my shoes flew off when I threw myself
backward against the tree. So, the rest of the
scene, I had to do it shoeless. I don't want to
tell too much, for those who haven't seen it, but
I will end it with that both myself and the
steady-cam operator spent the wee hours of the
morning having cactus quills plucked from various
parts of our bodies, but mostly our feet and
legs. Awesome scene though, so I'd do it again in
a heartbeat.
Do you have
any other upcoming projects you would like the
racksandrazors.com readers to know about?
I have
too many to name! First and foremost I have to
say our movie, our being ChainsawKiss productions
which is myself, Victor Bonacore, Joey Smack,
& Jimmy ScreamerClauz (another best friend)at
the core of the group. We are right in the middle
of shooting our first feature length fim (and
when I say film I mean 16mm film) titled
"Bloodwings: A Satanic Fantasy," which
was written by myself and Victor and is starring
myself, Linnea Quigley, Johnny Link, & Brian
Barry, as the main characters and has cameos by
Jim VanBebber, R.A. the Rugged Man, 42nd Street
Pete, BillZebub, Ami Goodheart, Bill Hellfire,
Erin Russ, Jaime Mayhem, Mike Hunchback, Sean C
Phillips, Edward X Young and many many many
more!.... We are also in the middle of shooting
Jimmy ScreamerClauz's feature "Dogshit"
which stars Brandon Slagle. Then we are doing my
movie "Kissing an Atomic Bomb" and Joey
Smack's next movie titled, "The Most
Miserable People in the World." And one
other short written by Victor and Hannah
Neurotica titled, "Shitfucked: A Vile Love
Story." And ChainsawKiss is currently
working on a documentary about Jim VanBebber and
we are hosting a "Deadbeat at Dawn"
retrospect and reunion with Jim, Mike King &
Marc (Bonecrusher) Pitman at Cinema Wasteland in
October and our table will be next to theirs!
Besides that, and I don't want to go on and on so
I apologize to my fellow film makers but as of
right now these are the movies I am working on
this summer, BillZebub's
"ZombieChrist," Brandon E. Brooks from
Saints & Sinners Productions
"TheSickness," Eamon Hardiman from
Razor Sharp Productions "Zombie
Babies," Cameron Scott's "Post
Mortem," Chris LaMartina and Midnight Crew
Studios "Witch's Brew," and Adam
Ahlbrandt from Index Films "The
Cemetery," and last but not least Coven
Delacruz from Condemned Productions "The Day
Erased." I would love to go into detail
about every single project but there are so many
it could be an entire interview in of itself. I
can say that each and every project I am so proud
to be a part of. Some I have lead roles, some
medium sized roles, some small roles, and some
cameos. ALL are going to be great, and that is
because of the people that are making them. This
will be the second time I'm working with Eamon
Hardiman and Chris LaMartina as directors. Let me
tell you that they are both so much fun to work
with. When I say fun I mean, laughing my ass off
all day, all night, and it hardly felt like work
at the end of the day it was so much fun. Well,
hardly felt like work for me. What's funny is I
have pictures of both of them doing the
"director with too much on his mind
pose" from both shoots. Cracks me up every
time I look at them...
Zombies,
werewolves, vampires, witches, creatures, aliens,
psychos ---what does it for you horrorwise Ruby,
and why?
ALL of
them! I really do love all of those things in
movies, but if you mean what scares me in movies
then I have to go with the "this could
happen to you in real life" type movie,
which usually means psychos. That and foot fetish
porn. I know that's not a horror movie genre, but
it's fucking scary as hell so I think it still
counts.
What was the
first movie you saw that scared the shit out of
you?
I know I
already said the first movie I saw, and there
were others that scared me like "The
Exorcist," but "Phantasm" was the
scariest movie to me as a kid. So scary in fact
that one chiller I didn't know that Angus Scrimm
was a guest and I was going down the escalator as
he was entering the lobby from outside and when I
saw him i got so scared that when I reached the
bottom of the escalator immediately turned around
and went right back up on the escalator. I had to
pause and breathe, because I had reverted right
back to the age when I saw that movie, and I had
to tell myself, it's only a movie, it's only a
movie...
Okay, we're
pulling the car into the Ruby LaRocca 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?
'Last
House on Dead End Street', 'The Holy Mountain'
(that might not be considered horror but it's my
favorite movie), and 'Bloodwings' of course. At
the concession stand: Blowjobs (and the
equivalent for girls), vegan chili cheese dogs,
& pot (I don't smoke it but I absolutely
support those who do and the legalization of it)
What is the
best Halloween costume you ever had?
Matt
Dallow. He is one of my other best friends, I
have a few. Actually on his IMDB page it says in
his bio that I am his best friend, so it must be
true! One year I dressed up as him. He is very
unique looking. It was hilarious.
Do you have
any collections, obsessions, or true loves?
Collections
and obsessions are kind of one in the same for
me: teeth, bugs, books, dead things in jars, old
cameras, black and white photos, wigs, glasses
that don't belong to me, prosthetic limbs,
monocles, playing dress up (acting; in a movie or
in my living room), True loves? My dogs!, and my
best friends.
What scares
you in real life?
The
government, being stagnant, boredom, & dying
less then an hour from where I was born.
Any closing
comments?
I support
dangerous art, fearless hearts, & the monster
inside! Live Loud! |
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