So Tony, let's start off with the visual --- can
you describe for me the room where you're
answering these interview questions?
Im in my living
room and Martha Stewart is playing on my wide
screen HD television. I have a stack of DVDs
laying on top of my DVD player including BURNT
OFFERINGS, THE BEING, ITS ALIVE 2/3 and THE
DEVILS REJECTS. Im sitting on the
couch in front my computer/work station. My big,
white and tan dog Tobe is sitting beside me. My
old, feeble cat Jaromir is on the other end of
the couch sleeping. The table in front of me is
littered with paperwork, autographs, MiniDV tapes
and loose DVDs.
What makes Somerset
Pennsylvania the idea place for moviemaking?
Well, I live there so
thats a big bonus. At the end of the
shooting day I can go home and unwind rather than
be stuck in a hotel room or sleeping on
somebodys couch. Aside from that, its
a great area because it isnt
Hollywood. People here still think
making movies is neat and theyre willing to
let us use locations and be extras and dont
expect payment (well, most of them).
You started as a
journalist, moved on to screenplays (including
writing 'Poor White Trash' at
age 20!) and then started directing.
First made the thriller ('High Point')
and then a comedy ('Losing Hope')
before settling starting a new production company
(Crazy Ralph Films) and settling into the horror
genre. Was the eventual haven of
horror always your end goal?
While I always was a
huge horror fan, my earlier goals were to try to
make it into legit films. As a writer
I mostly worked in dramas, more edgy indie far
and also period flicks as Im a big history
buff. POOR WHITE TRASH was my first foray into
comedy and I discovered I had a knack for it.
When I started directing, I still has aspirations
of making a hit indie film and using that as my
in to better writing jobs and assignments.
Eventually I realized I wasnt passionate
about that. What I was passionate about was
horror. I decided if I was going to keep making
movies (which is a hell of a lot of work with
virtually no rewards), I had to do something I
loved. And that meant making horror movies.
So what lesson and
movie-shoot smarts did you
acquire from those first two films that were
the most useful when it came time to start in on
the horror?
Well I learned not to make
comedies and thrillers because theres no
market for them without stars. I also
learned that, while I wasnt a great
filmmaker, I was a pretty good one and I
didnt need to let more experienced
crew/partners try to run the show which happened
on one of those earlier projects. I think the
confidence I gained was the most important and
useful thing that happened from those films.
Crazy Ralph is named for
the wonderful character played by Walt Gorney in
'Friday the 13th' Part I &
II. What is it about the character
that makes him the ideal embodiment for your film
company?
Crazy Ralph has always
been one of my favorite little
characters. The FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise is my favorite horror movie franchise
and I love Walt Gorneys work in the first
two films. Hes that prototypical horror
character that tries to warn the others but, of
course, no one listens to him. I wanted to name
my company after him because he epitomizes why I
love that style of horror movie so much.
I think I want to hear
about KLOWNZ first. How
did that movie come to be & what did you
want to say with it?
Oh, wow, KLOWNZ. You
know, its been three years since I wrote
that script and to be honest, I have no idea
where it came from. In April of 2002 we had been
planning to shoot a zombie movie called AFTER
DEATH but it fell apart the week before
production was to start because we lost our main
location (a beautiful yet horrific abandoned
hospital). I was extremely disappointed and was
almost ready to throw in the towel. I wanted to
write something funny, yet scary at the same time
and for some reason, I got the idea for a demon
clown. It really is one of the weirdest scripts
Ive ever written and it just left me go
crazy in terms of visuals and the story. I love
it and cant wait to get it out there for
people to see. Its such a weird, funny
little horror movie.
I know so many people who
are freaked out by clowns. What
is that makes them so freakin' scary?
I dont get the
fear of clowns thing at all. But I know its
a real fear. One of our lead actresses was
actually terrified by clowns and the first time
she saw Nathan Faudree in full the
Pisso costume she broke down in
tears. I think we cured her of that fear though!
I think peoples fear of clowns must begin
in childhood. A lot of clowns are like those
ratty, department store Santas who just do it for
the paycheck and you can tell theyre faking
being cheerful and happy. Add a big, permanent
fake smile to it and I guess I can see why that
would freak out a lot of kids.
You take on another
unlikely horror icon with KOTTENTAIL about a man turned killer after he's bitten by a
rabbit. What was the main quality you
wanted your vicious killer bunny to bring to the
screen?
KOTTENBTAIL is one of my
favorite films. I actually had the idea around
the time we were wrapping up work on an anthology
project. One of my favorite films is SILENT NIGHT
DEADLY NIGHT and the way it takes a beloved
holiday and turns it into a sick and twisted
fright fest. I wanted to do that and the first
holiday that came to mind that hadnt
already been taken was Easter. The idea of a
killer Easter Bunny was just too good to pass up.
I told Nathan Faudree about it and he loved it
too. He even came up with the title! We ended up
not really playing up the Easter elements as much
as Id have liked. I would have loved to
have had some kids at an Easter egg hunt get
wasted by Kottentail but I dialed it back a bit.
I want to hear about the
upcoming CRF - 'A POUND OF FLESH'. Can
you give me a brief plot synopsis?
A POUND OF FLESH came
about while we were making KOTTENTAIL. KOTTENTAIL
was a rough shoot filled with lots of stress and
drama and I was feeling pretty beaten by the
whole process. I was talking to Nathan (again)
and was telling him about how Roger Corman made
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS in just three days. I said
we should try that some time and he thought it
sounded like an interesting experiment too. Well,
I wanted something with minimal locations and
cast and ended up writing this script about a
cannibal who attacked a group of vacationers.
Thats basically the plot, nothing real
complex about it, but I do think its a very
layered film. The villain, Ezra Payne, is one of
my favorite characters Ive written.
Hes a good guy. Hes sensitive.
Hes a family man. He just happens to live
in the wild and eat people.
Rumor has it you also move
before the cameras in 'A POUND OF FLESH'.
Was that experience more a dream come true,
a nightmare realized, or an uneventful
doze?
Oh, God, it was such a
nightmare. I ended up in the movie because we
lost an actor shortly before the shoot and
didnt have time to replace him. The role he
was playing was a mute guy and I thought,
It cant be that hard and
decided to do it. Awful mistake! I hated every
nanosecond I was in front of the camera and
Id never take an actual role again. Maybe a
goofy in-joke cameo but a real part never!
I also want to hear the
most memorable moment of filming during your
flick HUNTING SEASON.
Well, the most
memorable moment was when we had to shoot a scene
of the character dumping a body. We had the actor
at the top of a small hill and I was at the
bottom, shooting up at them. My camera was
positioned on the ground and it was a beautiful
shot. Logan Hunter, our actor and stunt
coordinator had told me he was going to have the
body (actor James Jaworski) roll
twice and then stop. Then we could cut to the
top of the hill shot and have him
roll to the bottom. Well, he thought I relayed
this info to James and I thought he told James.
So, its time to roll down the hill and he
rolls ALL THE WAY DOWN, into the camera and into
me. My beautiful $1,200 3x wide lens was
destroyed but the camera (a Canon a REAL
camera) was otherwise perfect. Losing such an
expensive, and uninsured lens, was memorable, but
not in a good way. For good memories, I
dont even know where to start. Hunting
Season is by far my favorite film and the most
fun Ive ever had on a set. The actors were
all superb, they epitomized the word
professional. I think my favorite part of the
shoot was the last day when we shot the finale
for the film. Every actor was just pitch perfect
and it was one of the few times that the actual
scene youre shooting surpassed the way I
imagined it when I wrote it.
Tell me about the
partnership Crazy Ralph has developed with Shawn
Hunt's Funhouse Pictures. How did that 2004
event come about and what made it the right time
for a merger?
Shawn saved my life when he
came on board to executive produce HUNTING SEASON
less than one month before filming. Without him,
Id have had to sell a kidney to make the
movie happen. That immediately made me like him
but over the next few months we grew to be quite
close friends. Shawn was preparing for THE
SHRIEKING and he needed a bit of help with the
producing end of things, since it was his feature
debut. I offered my help, it was the least I
could do, and that paved the way toward our
partnership. Shawn wanted to be able to focus on
filmmaking, not all the distractions that go
along with the business end, and he proposed the
idea of a partnership with me. I was definitely
game for it. I could tell he was an extremely
talented, driven filmmaker and I like to work
with those kinds of people.
Is there some nadir, some
pinnacle moment or scene in your mind that a
viewer can see as the crystallized Crazy Ralph
Film moment?
Partnering up with Brain
Damage Films to get KOTTENTAIL released worldwide
is obviously our biggest achievement to date.
Its a huge step forward for us. Technically
and artistically, I feel our brightest moment is
the climax of HUNTING SEASON. Its the best
thing Ive ever made. The writing, the
directing and especially the acting and music are
all as close to perfection as Ive ever
come. I doubt well ever top it.
One often hears about
directors prodding actors into disgusting and
harrowing stunts and situations. You have
such a loyal band of Splat Pack actors...in your
opinion what is or has been the most
difficult or challenging thing you have ever
asked one of your actors to do?
Im terrified of
an actor getting injured so I dont ever
take chances with their safety. Making a low/no
budget horror movie just isnt worth
somebody getting hurt, in my opinion. That said,
we had one close call on HUNTING SEASON. Logan
and Nathan choreographed a very extensive fight
scene for the end, which culminated in Logan
throwing Nathan off a wooden pier and into a
lake. Well, when he did it, Nathan flipped over
in the air and his head was no more than 6 inches
away from slamming into the dock. I was terrified
and refused to allow another take. Logan is a
beast and he was willing to do ANYTHING. Nathan
is the same way. They are true champs. I think
the most disgusting thing that we ever had an
actor do was in FLESH and it wasnt
intentional. In the film Nathans character
forces a captive to eat human flesh. She, of
course, pukes it up. Now in reality it was a
piece of turkey and some creamed corn and there
was nothing gross about it. After she
puked we intended to cut and replace
it with fresh puke, from which Nathan
would grab the meat and eat it. Maybe it was
dedication, maybe it was the heat of the moment,
but in the take when the actress spit the
puke onto the ground, Nathan
immediately reached in, grabbed the meat and
shoved it into his mouth. It was incredible to
watch. I think I was in shock. I still cant
believe he did it. A lot of people you talk to
will say our most disgusting moment was in
KOTTENTAIL when we had an evisceration scene and
used real pig intestines as props. Yes, it stank.
Yes, it was gross. But it wasnt as bad as
they make it out to be. If its good enough
for Savini its good enough for Crazy Ralph
Films. To be honest, I think one of the most
revolting things I was ever part of was in
KLOWNZ. We shot the movie in a
haunted house in July and the heat
was oppressive. The film uses cream pies, cottage
cheese and chocolate syrup in a very unique
manner. Needless to say, it was pretty messy. At
the end of the shoot Casey Barnhart, Keith Singer
and myself were cleaning up the house. Between
the heat, the cream, the chocolate and cottage
cheese (you have to see the movie to understand),
the smell was just unbelievably sick. I was
gagging the entire morning. Ninety-degree
temperatures are not kind to those food items.
And as a director who
would you find it most flattering to be compared
to or what director's career do you
aspire to?
Nathan calls me Raimi and I
call him Bruce. While I find it flattering I know
Im not in the same league as Sam Raimi. My
favorite director is Tobe Hooper so Id like
to be compared to him some day. But really, I
have no desire to make studio films. I dont
have the patience for it. I just want to make fun
movies that people remember. Thats
whats most important to me.
Okay - we are pulling the
car into the gravel lot of the Tony
Urban Drive In, hooking the crackling
speaker onto the window, and waiting for
dusk. What three horror
movies are on the triple bill and what
goodies are they going to be serving at the
concession stand?
You have no idea how
much I love drive in theatres. I went to the
drive in a dozen times last year and seeing a
good horror movie at the drive in is as close to
nirvana as Ive ever come. My three flicks
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, THE EVIL
DEAD, FRIDAY THE 13TH
PART 2. As for food items - pizza please. And
nachos are good too.
I know. I grew up
with drive-ins and they definitely fostered my
love of movies and especially horror. Anyway,
you're a horror aficionado Tony - what class or
horror sub-genre do you fall into and why?
Is it vampires, werewolves, zombies, witches,
psychos, Satanists, aliens, creatures,
telemarketers, Paris Hilton...
Psychos for sure. I
can easily see myself living in a cabin up in the
woods, going mad and wiping out a bunch of horny
teenagers.
Do you have any other
upcoming projects you would like to promote, brag
about, or inform the www.racksandrazors.com readers about?
Please watch out for
BLEACH, an incredibly fun, mean spirited little
slasher movie that Im co-producing. It
begins filming on the Isle of Wight, U.K. next
week (Jan 16) and is shaping up to be an awesome,
gory movie. Aside from that, I want people to
stay on the lookout for HUNTING SEASON which is
our best work. You can visit us on the web at http://www.crazyralph.com Join our message
boards and talk to us! Oh, and we feature a
different hot and sexy Scream Queen pictorial
every month.
What makes you go psycho
in real life?
Stupid teenagers who
call films like HALLOWEEN, DAWN OF THE DEAD and
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE overrated. I think they
should die. Slowly and painfully.
What scares you in real
life?
Not getting to express
myself for a living. |