Oh, the horror. This past weekend was--dare we say?--the best Nevermore film festival to date, setting new attendance records and making Carolina history by selling out the theater's entire 1000-seat Fletcher Hall. Better still, many of the films' directors, producers, writers and actors were in attendance to make the rounds and chat with the audience. Finally, Recess gets to the heart, soul, blood and guts of independent filmmaking. The highlights:
Brian and Laurence Avenet-Bradley are writer/director and producer, respectively, of Ghost of the Needle. Brian also stars as Jacob, the needle-happy photographer who stalks, injects and poses his victims for a post-mortem portrait.
Recess: Hi. It's creepy to meet you in person, after watching you kill people on screen. Why did you choose to star in your own film?
Brian: Well, we filmed in 45 days. It really had to do with our budget and the level of time commitment.
R: What was it like acting out those violent scenes?
B: I really enjoyed doing the violent stuff!
R: Was there a lot of improvisation involved?
Laurence: There wasn't much improvisation at all... most of it was done prior to the actual shooting to conserve film.
B: Except there was this one scene where I slam my head against a concrete wall. We had to do that one six or seven times.
Stefan Avalos and Marianne Connor, writer/director and producer of The Ghosts of Edendale, describe their film as semi-autobiographical... with a twist.
Stefan and Marianne: We had just moved out to Los Angeles, and the move was fresh in our memory. The film really plays off our fears of moving to L.A.... It's about meeting the people who will become your friends. Remember the old adage; it's about who you know. There's this paranoia--who's out? Who's in? Why? Everything you hear about Hollywood--it's true.
Recess: How did you turn your story into a ghost story?
S: Well, you take every aspect and made it bad. Hey, you made some friends--ooh, that's sinister! You quit smoking and lost weight? That's a bad thing. Then we used special lighting, to create this leprous, hepatitic sunlight....
R: You filmed Ghosts in your own house. Was that kind of creepy?
M: Not really; it's our home. It's just that closet, though....
R: The one with the dead ghost-child inside?
M: Yes... sometimes at night, it kind of scares me....
Ian Hayes Brett, director of At Night With No Curtains, describes the making of a good Southern ghost story:
Recess: What can you tell me about the filming location?
Brett: It's a real abandoned Southern plantation; the owner's ancestors were slaves there. He gave us permission to film there. It was scary.... definitely helped the actors get into character!
R: The premise of Night--the legend of Elizabeth Hatley (a Civil War widow who has her servant wound each of her five children, then locks them in a closet and listens to their dying screams... ) is a pretty violent story. How much violence did you choose to depict onscreen?
B: I try to use a lot of Hitchcock--don't show the violence; let them imagine it.
R: Is there any truth to the legend?
B: Nah, the legend was made up. I based Elizabeth Hatley on my kindergarten teacher.
Alan Rowe Kelly, director of I'll Bury You Tomorrow; and music director/composer Tom Burns spill all:
Recess: I'm really curious to know what you used for blood, because you used so very much of it.
Kelly: I'm really proud of that. You know how other people bleed pints? I wanted to bleed gallons.
Burns: Yeah, I'd go to the fridge for a beer, and there'd be just gallons of blood in there.
K: It's mostly caro syrup and food coloring, with a little Dawn to make it more viscous. Oh, and it helps the blood wash out more easily, so you could kill someone, and they'd be back in their same clothes the next day.
R: How do you feel about your film being compared to older classic horror films?
K: It's a great compliment. I'd take it.
B: Especially these days, it's all Scream this, Scream that, I Know when you Screamed, I Know what you Did Last Fall, Spring, Whatever...
R: Your film takes place in a funeral parlor. How accurate are the techniques shown? Did you do a lot of research?
K: It's amazing what they do to a body before they go and stick it in the ground.... We saw how they do all those things; it really is as disgusting as thunk [mimes stabbing embalming hose in cadaver].
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