Manny Serrano Interview
Thank you for agreeing to answer a few questions today.
Thank you for asking the questions.. Fire away!
Why don't you tell our readers what Blood Slaughter Massacre is about?
Blood Slaughter Massacre is multiple stories, tied into one. The Ripper is killing the teenage girls in Havenwood, and Det. James Fincher believes he is the same killer who escaped after massacring 24 people, ten years earlier. Fincher was also attacked by this killer a decade ago, and has since become a drunk, wasting away his family and any chance at a noble career as a detective. So, naturally, no one wants to hear his story of conspiracies and revenge. He gets a tip from the local Coroner, and finds himself on the fast track to finding the Ripper.
Danielle and Carla are two girls throwing a party while the parents are away, and they obviously get caught up in the Rippers plan. How the stories intertwine is the mystery!
Where did you come up with the idea for the film?
It’s a bit of a long story, but let me try the abridged version. The idea was bouncing around between myself and writer Louie Cortes’ heads for a while. We both love the horror of the 70’s and 80’s, and that’s what we wanted to capture with our films.
We started out in 2006 or so working on a short film that was never completed, based on the urban legend of the babysitter with the, unbeknownst to her, dead baby in the next room. We also had done some low-light camera tests in the streets, and staircases in our houses, with Louie wearing this mask we found a few years earlier, and a mental asylum jumpsuit. Hate having footage go to waste, I decided to take all this unused stuff, and turn it into a faux trailer. We called a couple friends over to fill in the blanks and give us a few more simple shots, and we created a trailer for this ridiculously over-the-top titled movie, Blood Slaughter Massacre.
People got a kick out of it, so we milled around the idea of one film after another that somehow involved this trailer. Nothing having come of it, we just decided to do a series of them, essentially creating our own series of movies that were “released” in 1984, but “banned” due to violent content, so no one has actually seen them. We combined the first three, and entered it into a short film competition at the Saturday Nightmares convention, which was run by the late Michael J Hein, director of the NYC Horror Film Festival. We didn’t win the competition, but Michael Hein did speak with us afterwards, and told us he enjoyed what we did, and thought it captured the feel of the 80’s slashers perfectly, and urged us to make a feature.
We had written scripts for sequel trailers up until Part 8, and spent a good portion of a year shooting the trailers for 2, 3 & 4. Realizing we probably could have done a feature in that time, we combined the ideas for 1, 2 and 3 to create the full script for the Blood Slaughter Massacre movie. And yes, that is the short version of the story!
You definitely captured the feel of an 80s horror film. Were there any particular 80s horror films that directly influenced Blood Slaughter Massacre?
There were so many films that influenced us, I don’t think I would name them all if I tried. We both grew up on a regular diet of 90% horror, 10% everything else. The 80’s were ripe with horror. It was everywhere.. Freddy, Jason and Michael Myers were the new Dracula, Frankenstein and Wolfman. Kids gravitated towards the monsters, and we were no exception. So, the movies are so deeply ingrained in us, I don’t even think we notice half of our influences. It’s just imagery we recognize, and emulate it.
I would definitely say the Slumber Party/Sorority House Massacre movies were obviously huge influences. The usual; Maniac, Pieces, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Creepshow.. The House of The Devil was a huge influence on us as well. It came out while we were still shooting the trailers, and we just stood in awe of how perfectly he captured what we were trying to do already. So when it came time to make the movie, we said, Ti West raised the bar for 80’s themed films, and we have to aim for that level of subtle perfection. I think he does brilliant work, and we both would love to work with him one day on something.
Blood Slaughter Massacre also had the feel of an 80s crime thriller, similar to what we have seen in the Dirty Harry films. Did you have those types of films in mind as well when making Blood Slaughter Massacre, or was it purely horror?
We totally did. We wanted a good detective story to drive the film. Lots of the movies of the 80’s had horror elements to them, whether they were horror or not. I mean really, think of Robocop. Paul McCrane in the acid, before being smashed to bits by a speeding car is just pure fuckin horror. The detective films of the 80’s had a very somber, dark tone to them, and we love them for it. We’re definitely not a fan of the “buddy cop” movies nowadays. Even the buddy cop movies of the 80’s were disturbing. For god’s sake, think back to Gary Busey with a lighter to his forearm for an excruciating 25 seconds!
We both had ideas for the detectives, like James Fincher came from David Mills in Se7en. Think, what would Mills’ life be like had his wife not been targeted by the Deadly Sins killer? Mills would be a wreck after that case. He’d start drinking, his newborn baby would become neglected by him, and his wife would eventually leave him; so, there’s another horror-based detective story.
A big one for me was the Charles Bronson flick,10 To Midnight, and Louie is obsessed with the story structure of Assault On Precinct 13. Having the two stories happening kinda simultaneously, then colliding in the end, which is what we tried to achieve in the movie. Rather than just following the detective straight through, and letting him unveil everything, we really wanted to throw the audience for a loop, and give them a false ending, before realizing there’s another half of the movie left! We wanted the girls to be part of the story as well, rather than just pawns, and they have their own part to play. There is actually a lot more to this story, and we are not done telling it by a long shot. The Ripper is only the first chapter.
Were there any challenges in finding the appropriate costumes and props to help make the film look authentically 80s? I really want to know where you found those headphones with the orange ear pads and tape wallkman.
Haha! Fortunately, the 80’s fashion is coming back in style, so some items of clothing weren't too difficult to find, but some stuff had to be dead on. No imitations allowed. The Walkman I came across randomly in a dollar store, but the headphones were very modern, so finding the large ear pads to match was a task. I paid way more than I should have for them when I finally did find them (another casualty of the 80’s resurgence) but, it was something I was ridiculously insistent on having. And anyone who remembers having a Walkman remembers those headphones.
The clothing, we went to the old school favorites. Bongo and Lee jeans, Osh Kosh B’Gosh, LA Gear sneakers.. All the stuff the young kids wore, because they thought the older kids wore them. I remember thinking the LA Looks, LA Gear, LA Lights… anything with “LA” in the title is really what they used out there, and California is where the party was at! So, you just had to have it. Many of the cast had issues with the fit of the clothing. High waisted, tight fitting, and so awkward compared to today’s styles. There was always a collective sigh when the costumes were handed out at the beginning of the days.
You have a lot of talented actors in BSM, did the casting for the film take a while? Did you have anyone in mind that you immediately wanted for the film?
We had a few in mind beforehand, yes. Danielle Calhoun was reprising her role of Danielle from the BSM 3 trailer, so she was essentially the first one cast. Carmela Hayslett was a friend of ours who we had met through conventions and whatnot, and knew she was a seriously talented actress. I had her in mind during the entire scriptwriting process. We tailored the role of Carla towards her.. that small girl you knew in high school who was brash, tough and took no shit from anyone. I knew she had it in her, and I was positive she had the range as an actress to carry the two girls through their journey. As Danielle would break down and freeze, like Barbara in Night of the Living Dead, Carla would have to be her crutch to keep her moving.
We based the three party girls after Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and Cosby Show-era Lisa Bonet. She had that sexy-tough-tomboy look, and we were fortunate enough to find Jordyn Sims through auditions who, not only stole the role at the audition, she already had the hair for it, so she was perfect. The same goes for Samantha Quintana who, conveniently, can not only scream her head off, but is big into the 80’s fashion as well. She even provided her own wardrobe! Tiffany Carroll was a good friend of ours who modeled, and always reminded me of a young Madonna. She wanted to get into acting, so we gave her her first role, and couldn’t be happier with her.
We had met Bradley Creanzo at Chiller Theatre while we were writing the script, and if he doesn't have the right look for an 80’s film, who does? We thought he’d be the perfect older guy who still dates high school girls because they’re enamored by his car and ability to buy alcohol. Sammy Mena was always our choice for the creepy video store guy, and Melissa Roth was always our Jenny. Most of the other actors we found through auditions, and we couldn't have asked for a better cast from it. Matt Cody, Mike Roche and Charlotte Pines were invaluable to the production, going above and beyond to help us perfect every scene they were in. Charlotte enjoyed working with us so much, she sent Bridgette Miller and Jackie Wolozin our way to be our girls in the Park and Shower, respectively.
The ladies in the film were all great screamers, Did you have screaming as part of the auditioning?
Surprisingly, no! We just got lucky that all the girls had some tremendous pipes! It’s something we hadn’t even brought up in the audition. In hindsight we probably should have, but we lucked out! Definitely need to keep that in mind at future auditions. Each of the girls weren’t even sure, at the time of the scenes, how well they could scream, so they just belted out their best, and the best is what we got. My favorite part of editing them was that each of them screamed differently, which was great. Every scene had its own dynamic of scream, and gave each girl their own place.
I also have to mention Ashley Bloom, who I had met at a totally separate audition for a different film, and thought she was extremely talented, and had a wonderful look. I contacted her for the role of Mrs. Thompson, and we kept losing the locations I had set for that scene. So, she hung on for a good 9 months of her scene getting pushed farther and farther back, but stayed enthusiastic about it and was so awesome to work with when we finally got to it. Even though her scene is small, her scream from behind the door is exactly the feeling I wanted, and I couldn’t have found anyone better for that. I think her screams and cries were my favorite. It gave me chills when I was editing it. I combined scenes from three separate horror films to create what I wanted for the shower-hallway scene; the astute and well-studied horror fan can guess all three.
There has been a trend in recent independent horror movies to try and capture the look and feel of 80s horror. What is it about the horror films during that time, do you think makes them so appealing?
I think part of it goes back to what I said earlier, that in the 80’s, horror was a real culture. It was everywhere. It was on late night TV, in the theaters, the VHS boom brought countless movies into your home, and NO genre flourished more from VHS than horror. Freddy had his own TV show, The Cryptkeeper had a cartoon, Ghostbusters had a cereal.. Horror was taken seriously back then. Most of the movies then had a certain charm to them, the “campy” movies. And, people try to make cheesy movies now, but the difference is, they weren’t campy on purpose back then. It was just a restriction of their budgets, but these filmmakers genuinely tried everything they could to make the best damn movie they could afford. And, I felt we were in the same boat. I knew we couldn’t afford to make a blockbuster, so we did everything we could to write believable characters with a coherent story, and find the right people for the roles. So, even if the movie turned out like hell, at least the story was good enough to keep you watching.
What is it about film making that you enjoy the most?
Everything! It’s the greatest job in the world, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I love telling stories, I love seeing the character I created come to life in the scenes, and then maybe my favorite part (yet the most frustrating at the same time) editing it all together, and watching all the pieces fall into place, one bit at a time. Editing makes me want to rip my hair out sometimes, but I absolutely love it.
When I’m directing, I have my hands in every piece of the film. I love it all, so there is no single aspect that I send off to someone else and hope for the best to come back to me. We have a core group who make this all happen that I work closely with, and without them, none of this would be half as enjoyable as it is. I work with our props man Ralph Merced to create the set designs and many of the props you see. Every single badge in the movie was handmade by him, each with a custom number and name. I think he made almost 20 in total, including a couple of Hat Badges. Cat Martin being the unsung hero behind all of the amazing makeup which made our girls look as incredible as they did. And she has just as much, if not more so, of an eye for details than I do. Even when I said it was good enough, she still refused to finish until she was happy.
What I’m not a huge fan of is the pre-production planning. I just wanna get out there and shoot already, but that’s just not how it works. I mean, I love location scouting, planning shot lists, prepping the FX weeks in advance, that’s all fun, but every shoot takes many weeks of planning and coordination between myself and my wife, who is also my producer, AD and head of special FX, Lindsay Serrano. She is the whip that is cracked on the crews’ collective asses. She keeps it all in check, and organized so we can do the magic that we do.
One of the coolest parts of filmmaking though, is getting to work with other filmmakers, and see how they work their craft. We have worked the past few years with Devarez Films on Zombie Hunters: City Of The Dead, which has taught us more than we ever expected to learn in such a short period of time. We’ve also gotten to work with Christian Grillo a bit (who did some camera and sound work on Blood Slaughter as well). I would love for us to work on a full feature, from concept to completion with him someday in the future as well. Filmmaking is a collaborative art, no matter how you slice it. It’s not all “the directors vision” as is stated so many times. The Directors job is to keep the initial plan for the big picture of the movie together, and working through completion. But, without all of the ideas, love and hard work of everyone on the cast and crew, you wouldn’t have a movie. As perfectionist as Stanley Kubrick was, there was no way he would get the same Jack Torrance out of Christopher Reeve as he did out of Jack NIcholson.
Yeah, I kinda went all over the place with that answer didn’t I? Haha, Moving on!
Where can people find out more about Blood Slaughter Massacre and its festival screenings?
You can check us out online at Massgravepictures.com, and you can find us on Facebook, twitter, YouTube, vimeo, tumblr, instagram, etc etc. to stay up-to-date. We’ve submitted to numerous film festivals for the Fall season, so hopefully we’ll get into a few and the movie will screen near you!
Any words of advice for future film makers out there?
Get your sprocketholes together, and make a motherfuckin movie! It’s rough and it’s tough, but if it were easy, everyone would do it!
I appreciate you taking the time to talk to us today.
Thank you for the opportunity, and hopefully we’ll get to do this again!
Thank you for asking the questions.. Fire away!
Why don't you tell our readers what Blood Slaughter Massacre is about?
Blood Slaughter Massacre is multiple stories, tied into one. The Ripper is killing the teenage girls in Havenwood, and Det. James Fincher believes he is the same killer who escaped after massacring 24 people, ten years earlier. Fincher was also attacked by this killer a decade ago, and has since become a drunk, wasting away his family and any chance at a noble career as a detective. So, naturally, no one wants to hear his story of conspiracies and revenge. He gets a tip from the local Coroner, and finds himself on the fast track to finding the Ripper.
Danielle and Carla are two girls throwing a party while the parents are away, and they obviously get caught up in the Rippers plan. How the stories intertwine is the mystery!
Where did you come up with the idea for the film?
It’s a bit of a long story, but let me try the abridged version. The idea was bouncing around between myself and writer Louie Cortes’ heads for a while. We both love the horror of the 70’s and 80’s, and that’s what we wanted to capture with our films.
We started out in 2006 or so working on a short film that was never completed, based on the urban legend of the babysitter with the, unbeknownst to her, dead baby in the next room. We also had done some low-light camera tests in the streets, and staircases in our houses, with Louie wearing this mask we found a few years earlier, and a mental asylum jumpsuit. Hate having footage go to waste, I decided to take all this unused stuff, and turn it into a faux trailer. We called a couple friends over to fill in the blanks and give us a few more simple shots, and we created a trailer for this ridiculously over-the-top titled movie, Blood Slaughter Massacre.
People got a kick out of it, so we milled around the idea of one film after another that somehow involved this trailer. Nothing having come of it, we just decided to do a series of them, essentially creating our own series of movies that were “released” in 1984, but “banned” due to violent content, so no one has actually seen them. We combined the first three, and entered it into a short film competition at the Saturday Nightmares convention, which was run by the late Michael J Hein, director of the NYC Horror Film Festival. We didn’t win the competition, but Michael Hein did speak with us afterwards, and told us he enjoyed what we did, and thought it captured the feel of the 80’s slashers perfectly, and urged us to make a feature.
We had written scripts for sequel trailers up until Part 8, and spent a good portion of a year shooting the trailers for 2, 3 & 4. Realizing we probably could have done a feature in that time, we combined the ideas for 1, 2 and 3 to create the full script for the Blood Slaughter Massacre movie. And yes, that is the short version of the story!
You definitely captured the feel of an 80s horror film. Were there any particular 80s horror films that directly influenced Blood Slaughter Massacre?
There were so many films that influenced us, I don’t think I would name them all if I tried. We both grew up on a regular diet of 90% horror, 10% everything else. The 80’s were ripe with horror. It was everywhere.. Freddy, Jason and Michael Myers were the new Dracula, Frankenstein and Wolfman. Kids gravitated towards the monsters, and we were no exception. So, the movies are so deeply ingrained in us, I don’t even think we notice half of our influences. It’s just imagery we recognize, and emulate it.
I would definitely say the Slumber Party/Sorority House Massacre movies were obviously huge influences. The usual; Maniac, Pieces, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Creepshow.. The House of The Devil was a huge influence on us as well. It came out while we were still shooting the trailers, and we just stood in awe of how perfectly he captured what we were trying to do already. So when it came time to make the movie, we said, Ti West raised the bar for 80’s themed films, and we have to aim for that level of subtle perfection. I think he does brilliant work, and we both would love to work with him one day on something.
Blood Slaughter Massacre also had the feel of an 80s crime thriller, similar to what we have seen in the Dirty Harry films. Did you have those types of films in mind as well when making Blood Slaughter Massacre, or was it purely horror?
We totally did. We wanted a good detective story to drive the film. Lots of the movies of the 80’s had horror elements to them, whether they were horror or not. I mean really, think of Robocop. Paul McCrane in the acid, before being smashed to bits by a speeding car is just pure fuckin horror. The detective films of the 80’s had a very somber, dark tone to them, and we love them for it. We’re definitely not a fan of the “buddy cop” movies nowadays. Even the buddy cop movies of the 80’s were disturbing. For god’s sake, think back to Gary Busey with a lighter to his forearm for an excruciating 25 seconds!
We both had ideas for the detectives, like James Fincher came from David Mills in Se7en. Think, what would Mills’ life be like had his wife not been targeted by the Deadly Sins killer? Mills would be a wreck after that case. He’d start drinking, his newborn baby would become neglected by him, and his wife would eventually leave him; so, there’s another horror-based detective story.
A big one for me was the Charles Bronson flick,10 To Midnight, and Louie is obsessed with the story structure of Assault On Precinct 13. Having the two stories happening kinda simultaneously, then colliding in the end, which is what we tried to achieve in the movie. Rather than just following the detective straight through, and letting him unveil everything, we really wanted to throw the audience for a loop, and give them a false ending, before realizing there’s another half of the movie left! We wanted the girls to be part of the story as well, rather than just pawns, and they have their own part to play. There is actually a lot more to this story, and we are not done telling it by a long shot. The Ripper is only the first chapter.
Were there any challenges in finding the appropriate costumes and props to help make the film look authentically 80s? I really want to know where you found those headphones with the orange ear pads and tape wallkman.
Haha! Fortunately, the 80’s fashion is coming back in style, so some items of clothing weren't too difficult to find, but some stuff had to be dead on. No imitations allowed. The Walkman I came across randomly in a dollar store, but the headphones were very modern, so finding the large ear pads to match was a task. I paid way more than I should have for them when I finally did find them (another casualty of the 80’s resurgence) but, it was something I was ridiculously insistent on having. And anyone who remembers having a Walkman remembers those headphones.
The clothing, we went to the old school favorites. Bongo and Lee jeans, Osh Kosh B’Gosh, LA Gear sneakers.. All the stuff the young kids wore, because they thought the older kids wore them. I remember thinking the LA Looks, LA Gear, LA Lights… anything with “LA” in the title is really what they used out there, and California is where the party was at! So, you just had to have it. Many of the cast had issues with the fit of the clothing. High waisted, tight fitting, and so awkward compared to today’s styles. There was always a collective sigh when the costumes were handed out at the beginning of the days.
You have a lot of talented actors in BSM, did the casting for the film take a while? Did you have anyone in mind that you immediately wanted for the film?
We had a few in mind beforehand, yes. Danielle Calhoun was reprising her role of Danielle from the BSM 3 trailer, so she was essentially the first one cast. Carmela Hayslett was a friend of ours who we had met through conventions and whatnot, and knew she was a seriously talented actress. I had her in mind during the entire scriptwriting process. We tailored the role of Carla towards her.. that small girl you knew in high school who was brash, tough and took no shit from anyone. I knew she had it in her, and I was positive she had the range as an actress to carry the two girls through their journey. As Danielle would break down and freeze, like Barbara in Night of the Living Dead, Carla would have to be her crutch to keep her moving.
We based the three party girls after Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and Cosby Show-era Lisa Bonet. She had that sexy-tough-tomboy look, and we were fortunate enough to find Jordyn Sims through auditions who, not only stole the role at the audition, she already had the hair for it, so she was perfect. The same goes for Samantha Quintana who, conveniently, can not only scream her head off, but is big into the 80’s fashion as well. She even provided her own wardrobe! Tiffany Carroll was a good friend of ours who modeled, and always reminded me of a young Madonna. She wanted to get into acting, so we gave her her first role, and couldn’t be happier with her.
We had met Bradley Creanzo at Chiller Theatre while we were writing the script, and if he doesn't have the right look for an 80’s film, who does? We thought he’d be the perfect older guy who still dates high school girls because they’re enamored by his car and ability to buy alcohol. Sammy Mena was always our choice for the creepy video store guy, and Melissa Roth was always our Jenny. Most of the other actors we found through auditions, and we couldn't have asked for a better cast from it. Matt Cody, Mike Roche and Charlotte Pines were invaluable to the production, going above and beyond to help us perfect every scene they were in. Charlotte enjoyed working with us so much, she sent Bridgette Miller and Jackie Wolozin our way to be our girls in the Park and Shower, respectively.
The ladies in the film were all great screamers, Did you have screaming as part of the auditioning?
Surprisingly, no! We just got lucky that all the girls had some tremendous pipes! It’s something we hadn’t even brought up in the audition. In hindsight we probably should have, but we lucked out! Definitely need to keep that in mind at future auditions. Each of the girls weren’t even sure, at the time of the scenes, how well they could scream, so they just belted out their best, and the best is what we got. My favorite part of editing them was that each of them screamed differently, which was great. Every scene had its own dynamic of scream, and gave each girl their own place.
I also have to mention Ashley Bloom, who I had met at a totally separate audition for a different film, and thought she was extremely talented, and had a wonderful look. I contacted her for the role of Mrs. Thompson, and we kept losing the locations I had set for that scene. So, she hung on for a good 9 months of her scene getting pushed farther and farther back, but stayed enthusiastic about it and was so awesome to work with when we finally got to it. Even though her scene is small, her scream from behind the door is exactly the feeling I wanted, and I couldn’t have found anyone better for that. I think her screams and cries were my favorite. It gave me chills when I was editing it. I combined scenes from three separate horror films to create what I wanted for the shower-hallway scene; the astute and well-studied horror fan can guess all three.
There has been a trend in recent independent horror movies to try and capture the look and feel of 80s horror. What is it about the horror films during that time, do you think makes them so appealing?
I think part of it goes back to what I said earlier, that in the 80’s, horror was a real culture. It was everywhere. It was on late night TV, in the theaters, the VHS boom brought countless movies into your home, and NO genre flourished more from VHS than horror. Freddy had his own TV show, The Cryptkeeper had a cartoon, Ghostbusters had a cereal.. Horror was taken seriously back then. Most of the movies then had a certain charm to them, the “campy” movies. And, people try to make cheesy movies now, but the difference is, they weren’t campy on purpose back then. It was just a restriction of their budgets, but these filmmakers genuinely tried everything they could to make the best damn movie they could afford. And, I felt we were in the same boat. I knew we couldn’t afford to make a blockbuster, so we did everything we could to write believable characters with a coherent story, and find the right people for the roles. So, even if the movie turned out like hell, at least the story was good enough to keep you watching.
What is it about film making that you enjoy the most?
Everything! It’s the greatest job in the world, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I love telling stories, I love seeing the character I created come to life in the scenes, and then maybe my favorite part (yet the most frustrating at the same time) editing it all together, and watching all the pieces fall into place, one bit at a time. Editing makes me want to rip my hair out sometimes, but I absolutely love it.
When I’m directing, I have my hands in every piece of the film. I love it all, so there is no single aspect that I send off to someone else and hope for the best to come back to me. We have a core group who make this all happen that I work closely with, and without them, none of this would be half as enjoyable as it is. I work with our props man Ralph Merced to create the set designs and many of the props you see. Every single badge in the movie was handmade by him, each with a custom number and name. I think he made almost 20 in total, including a couple of Hat Badges. Cat Martin being the unsung hero behind all of the amazing makeup which made our girls look as incredible as they did. And she has just as much, if not more so, of an eye for details than I do. Even when I said it was good enough, she still refused to finish until she was happy.
What I’m not a huge fan of is the pre-production planning. I just wanna get out there and shoot already, but that’s just not how it works. I mean, I love location scouting, planning shot lists, prepping the FX weeks in advance, that’s all fun, but every shoot takes many weeks of planning and coordination between myself and my wife, who is also my producer, AD and head of special FX, Lindsay Serrano. She is the whip that is cracked on the crews’ collective asses. She keeps it all in check, and organized so we can do the magic that we do.
One of the coolest parts of filmmaking though, is getting to work with other filmmakers, and see how they work their craft. We have worked the past few years with Devarez Films on Zombie Hunters: City Of The Dead, which has taught us more than we ever expected to learn in such a short period of time. We’ve also gotten to work with Christian Grillo a bit (who did some camera and sound work on Blood Slaughter as well). I would love for us to work on a full feature, from concept to completion with him someday in the future as well. Filmmaking is a collaborative art, no matter how you slice it. It’s not all “the directors vision” as is stated so many times. The Directors job is to keep the initial plan for the big picture of the movie together, and working through completion. But, without all of the ideas, love and hard work of everyone on the cast and crew, you wouldn’t have a movie. As perfectionist as Stanley Kubrick was, there was no way he would get the same Jack Torrance out of Christopher Reeve as he did out of Jack NIcholson.
Yeah, I kinda went all over the place with that answer didn’t I? Haha, Moving on!
Where can people find out more about Blood Slaughter Massacre and its festival screenings?
You can check us out online at Massgravepictures.com, and you can find us on Facebook, twitter, YouTube, vimeo, tumblr, instagram, etc etc. to stay up-to-date. We’ve submitted to numerous film festivals for the Fall season, so hopefully we’ll get into a few and the movie will screen near you!
Any words of advice for future film makers out there?
Get your sprocketholes together, and make a motherfuckin movie! It’s rough and it’s tough, but if it were easy, everyone would do it!
I appreciate you taking the time to talk to us today.
Thank you for the opportunity, and hopefully we’ll get to do this again!