by David Byron
The Turning (1995)
If Memory Serves (1996)
Love Letters from the Rain Forest (1996) (with Edward Lee) Amid the Walking Wounded (1998)
Masks (1999) (with Edward Lee)
Right to Life (1999) Bram Stoker (nominee)
Gone (2000) Bram Stoker winner best short story
Awards
Bram Stoker Best Short story winner (1995) : The Box
Bram Stoker Best Novellette nominee (2000) : Right to Life Bram Stoker Best Short story winner (2001) : Gone
Bram Stoker Best Novel nominee (2002) : The Lost
Bram Stoker winner best long fiction{2002} Closing Time Bram Stoker winner best collection {2002}Peaceable Kingdom
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They Remember the 80s Slashers & Splatterpunks
John Kenneth Muir
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John Kenneth Muir became a full-time, professional writer/journalist in the year 1996 at the age of 27, just before his first book, Exploring Space: 1999 (McFarland, 1997) was published. Since 1997, John has - on average
- seen at least two books a year released from various publishers including Applause Theatre and Cinema Books and Powys Media. John now has fifteen successful books in print, with a sixteenth scheduled for July 15, 2009.
*** NVF Magazine interview With
John Kenneth Muir
Greetings and salutations, John. How are you? Long time, no hear. Very busy, thank you, and doing quite well. I hope the
same is true for you. It‘s an honor to be here today.
I must say, it is a real thrill to have you drop by. I have wanted to interview you since I read your book, Horror Films of the 1980s. Wow…that"s a BIG book! How long did it take you to write it?
It took me over a year to write that one. I think it was fifteen months. But, it was a very fun fifteen months.
I love the way you put the book together; I mean, this was brilliant! Just how many horror films have you seen? I love the horror film as an art form, and I have watched as much of it as possible while still maintaining a profession and a family life. For Horror Films of the 70s, I watched over 225 films. For the 80s book, it was around 325. I‘d venture to say I have seen over a thousand horror films. And that total is bound to go up soon, because I just signed a contract to write Horror Films of the 90s. I just put around 187 films in my Netflix queue…
Speaking of horror films in general, I feel compelled to ask you this for sure: What is your overall opinion of horror cinema these days? Things have changed a lot from decade to decade, and sometimes not for the better.
Taking the ‗‘big‘‘ historical view, I‘d say every period in horror history has had it‘s ups and downs. But fifteen years from now, we‘ll look back and see, I am certain, that there are some very
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strong titles among the weak titles, and I think that‘s true of every decade.
I see you also penned a book about my favorite director, John Carpenter. Have you ever met him in person?
No, I‘ve never had the pleasure, but maybe someday… I am sorry, I should have asked this question first: What prompted you to become a writer/journalist? My inspiration came from reading old EC Comics like Tales From The Crypt and watching old horror films on late night TV.
Well, I became infatuated with film and TV at an early age. An episode of Space: 1999, had an indelible impact on me when I was around six years old, in 1975. The episode was called ‗"Dragon"s Domain‘‘and it was about this monster lurking around on an abandoned space ship. It had a glowing eye and dozens of tentacles, and it would hypnotize it‘s victims, sucking them into it‘s gaping maw. Then, the monster would digest them, and spit up their steaming bones. The imagery in that show was absolutely unforgettable to me, and even though it was on a science fiction show, it cemented my love of horror.
You should have known I"d ask this; have you ever written any horror fiction? If so, I"d love to take a peek at it. I"d even post it in my on line magazine! All right, buddy, you asked for it. As soon as I can, I‘m sending some of my horror fiction your way, so beware!
How about a favorite horror film? Or book? I know that may cover a lot of ground. It would be difficult for me to name my favorite horror film, because I love so many of them. I have different favorites on different days. I think the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is work of art, a real masterpiece. I also love Carpenter‘s original Halloween, as well as the original The Hills Have Eyes, Night of the Living Dead, The Exorcist, Don"t Look Now, and Picnic At Hanging Rock. That too many?
Good enough! Hey…what"s this about you being interviewed on Dateline NBC?
Well, I had the good fortune to be interviewed on the E True Hollywood Story as well. The Dateline thing was interesting,
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though. It was around the time my Wes Craven book – The Art Of Horror – and Dateline called me and did a phone interview with me about the Scream series, and the Columbine shootings and the popular response to horror films. We talked a long time and the producer decided to fly me out to do the show. Then, that weekend, there was an ice storm – the worst I have seen in this area in eight years – so I didn‘t get to do the show. So…yeah, I did an interview, but I didn‘t get to be on TV.
Darn…oh well, they were thinking about you at least. Now, this may sound like a REALLY dumb question, but here goes; What is your favorite type of film? I mean, some folks enjoy writing horror, but otherwise never read it, or watch it on the screen.
My favorite type of film is indeed the horror film. But I should amend that to say ‗‘the intelligent, well-crafted‘‘ horror film. I mean, I can‘t stomach the sight or sound of a Troma film. I don‘t like having my intelligence insulted. I believe horror is a serious business, and I appreciate filmmakers who treat the genre with respect.
I must agree. Now…finally, last, but not least, what are your present and future projects? More books on my favorite subject I hope? Well, I will be turning in The Horror Films of the 90s by the end of 2009, and I am currently in post-production for the third season of my internet show called The House Between. Also, I blog on a daily basis, so let me direct your readers here http://reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.blogspot . There I review films and TV shows, and also look at nostalgia items like electronic toys from my youth.
Well John, I have to sign off for now, even though I"d like to ask you about ten thousand more questions, but please, drop by again sometime, ok? To quote someone famous….‘I‘ll be back…‘‘ Thanks, David.
No…thank you!
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Chuck Parello
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NVF Magazine interview With Chuck Parello
Greetings, Chuck. Long time no see. How are you today?
Pretty darned good. Thanks for asking.
First of all, I understand you are responsible for getting the film Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer into the spotlight where it belonged. How did you pull that one off? Don't get me wrong; I am glad you did.
I was working at a magazine about film production in Chicago when John McNaughton, then an unknown director, came in with a copy of his ultra low budget opus called "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer." It was going to be playing at The Chicago Film Festival and he was hoping somebody would write about it. Always interested in this kind of morbid and violent subject matter I took that VHS tape home and plugged in in not expecting much. Low and behold, it was an instant classic! I started showing it around to all my stoner friends and they agreed, through a cloud of bong exhaust, that Mr. McNaughton was on to something. Anyways, I wrote an article about this ultra terrifying gem and eventually got hired by the company that had put up the financing for it as a publicity director. I kept asking the bosses at that company what was going on with "Henry" and got the distinct feeling that they really didn't know what to do with it. It had received an "X" rating from the MPAA for being "mora
lly disturbing," whatever the hell that means, and had afterwards been dropped by a wimpy distributor that was obviously terrified of any whiff of controversy so they were kind of scratching their heads about the whole damned thing. I then started showing the film around to writer friends and got "Henry" its first commercial booking in Chicago were it started running as a Midnight movie. The reviews were good and the crowds kept getting bigger so I kept bugging my employers to give it a real release. The film finally was put out in a city or two and while the reviews were great the box office was only fair, I guess the tale of a blood-thirsty serial killer on the loose in Chicago was not everybody's idea of a great time at the movies. It took even more bugging by me to get "Henry" released in New York and Los Angeles were the reviews
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were awesome and finally the box office was paying off. The whole process was a lot of frustrating work on my part but I really feel vindicated when I hear "Henry" referred to as a classic. In fact, Entertainment Weekly recently called it one of the 20 scariest films of all time, which I couldn't agree with more.
I LOVED your film, Ed Gein. What was it about the man or his legacy that interested you so much? Was it the serial killer film boom of the 90s? I got a call about " Ed Gein" from a producer who had been hanging out with John McNaughton at the Cannes Film Festival. My first film "Henry 2," a magnificent sequel to John's seminal film, was being advertised for sale to foreign territories at that festival and this same producer had been teasing John about the fact that his masterpiece was being ripped off. However John, who I had worked for on films like "Mad Dog & Glory," stuck up for "Henry 2" and said that I had done a really good job with it so this producer, after he saw my flick and was suitably impressed, ended up coming to me when he was getting ready to make a film about the legendary Wisconsin murderer Ed Gein. Having grown up in Chicago, not too far from Gein's home town of Plainfield, Wisconsin, I was already way into this story of a homicidal graverobbing Momma's boy that had spawned great horror flicks like "Psycho" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" so me jumping on board to helm this low budget shocker was a no brainer. The film turned out exceptionally well, thanks to amazing performances by Steve Railsback and Carrie Snodgress, and I still get mail from people who say that it's one of their favorite flicks of all time. It's interesting that "Ed Gein" seems to have started a trend that still continues today with serial killer stories being turned into low budget movies. Look at "Dahmer," "Gacy," "Bundy," "Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield"...
Your film The Hillside Stranglers was a real classic, too. C. Thomas Howell looked like he was having a blast making that film. Was it a lot of fun? Matthew Bright was originally scheduled to make "Hillside" but I got a call after he and the producer had a falling out. When I first read about the case I couldn't believe that somebody was serious about making a film about such horrible human beings.
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I thought Bianchi and Buono made Ed Gein look like a boy scout. But then I started getting more and more into the mindset of these two oddball losers and how they were eventually compelled to go on this horrible killing rampage together in Los Angeles in the late 70's and I was hooked. It was really wild how the whole low budget production fell into place the way it did. I kept expecting somebody to come running on to the set to say what we were doing was so wrong and that we were all going to be damned to hell for even attempting it, but nobody ever did and we were able to get away with a lot. C. Thomas and Nick Turturro couldn't have been any easier to work with. They both attacked their parts with relish and I think the results are there up on screen. It's interesting that Nick Turturro initially tried to turn down the part of woman hater Angelo Buono but then ended up being so into it. Both Nick and Tommy are so freaky scary in this film. I think they both realized that this was an opportunity to go completely off the rails and that they might as well dive right into these dangerous waters. I'd like to work with both of these marvelous actors again if the chance ever comes up. And yes, C. Thomas was having the time of his life. At one point he came up to me and tried to act like he was disturbed by what he was doing to these women, raping and killing like there was no tomorrow. My sensitive response to that was "You fucking loved it" and he had to admit that that was absolutely true, it was the most fun he'd had in decades!
Who were your early influences as a filmmaker? I mean, everybody has an ''inspiration'' as far as their chosen career path is concerned. Any favorite director? One of mine was John Carpenter. Next to you, of course.
When I saw " Henry" for the first time I knew that this was a film that was speaking to me. I immediately wrote John McNaughton a fan letter and said I would do anything to be involved in any of his future projects. I guess you can say I was truly inspired by "Henry" in that I even went on to make a sequel to that film. Besides superb serial killer films, which there are unfortunately too few of, I would say that I'm most inspired by foreign films that are dark and depressing. Bergman, Polanski, Michael Haneke, these are directors I worship and whose films I watch often.
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Have you ever written any fiction of your own? I mean, as in short story form? And, isn't a screenplay just like a short - or long - story, except in a different format?
I was a creative writing major in college so I have written a lot of fiction. I've often toyed with the idea of writing a novel but I've been so busy with writing and trying to sell my screenplays that a huge undertaking like that usually gets pushed to the back burner.
That"s too bad. Now for some of my obligatory - and boring - Q&A: What would you say is your favorite horror film? Or book? And no…you cannot say ''Ed Gein.'' That's cheating! LOL!
Without a doubt my favorite horror film is "Rosemary's Baby." I just love everything about it; Mia Farrow's paranoid performance, Roman Polanski's classic direction, the spooky cinematography of William A. Fraker, John Cassavetes as Guy, Ruth Gordon as Minnie, Sidney Blackmer as Roman, the New York locations, the chocolate mousse, the hallucinatory devil rape sequence, and it goes on and on... The books I love to read usually involve true crime. Although I have many favorites, one that springs to mind that happens to be very scary is Ann Rule's Ted Bundy book "The Stranger Beside Me."
Okay, honest answer: Which type of film would you rather be involved in? Big budget {major studio} or an indie? At this point I would much rather be involved in a big budget film. These low budget quickies are for the birds--no time, no money, no support from producers, no residual checks, no nothing. I don't know how closely you follow the trades but independents are in serious trouble these days. Nobody is investing in little films the way the used to, especially now that the stock market is collapsing. It's always been hard to raise cash for films, now it's next to impossible. I've actually had my scripts rejected a couple of times recently by companies who said that they would have gladly bought the project a few years back, but with the market in such bad shape... I know working for a studio would mean a lot less creative freedom, but it might also mean a decent
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paycheck and the film getting a real release instead of just being put out in a few cities for a week or two before making its way to the video shelves.
Any interesting projects coming up to speak of? I'm currently scheduled to make a picture with Naveen Andrews called "City Gas" that details what happens when a gas station millionaire hires a hit man to perform a string of contract murders in New York. It should be exciting so please watch out of it. I'm also scheduled to do a film called "Powder Burns" which details how a teenaged girl and her married lover go about murdering her parents and little brother.
Any last words before you go?
Thanks for letting me prattle on for a while and I love you all!! ***
Director:
In Production
2000s
1990s
Something in the Night (2009) (pre-production)
... aka S.I.N (USA: short title)
/>
The Hillside Strangler (2004)
In the Light of the Moon (2000)
... aka Ed Gein (USA: new title)
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Part 2 (1998)
... aka Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer 2 - Mask of Sanity (USA: video box title)
Miscellaneous Crew:
1990s
1980s
Mad Dog and Glory (1993) (assistant: Mr. McNaughton and Mr. Jones) Cape Fear (1991) (production assistant)
The Many Faces of Bond (1989) (V) (researcher)
Producer:
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2000s
1990s
Death and Taxis (2007) (executive producer)
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Part 2 (1998) (producer)
... aka Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer 2 - Mask of Sanity (USA: video box title)
Writer:
2000s
1990s
The Hillside Strangler (2004) (writer)
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Part 2 (1998) (writer)
... aka Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer 2 - Mask of Sanity (USA: video box title)
Actor:
Mad Dog and Glory (1993) .... Frank's Gang
Thanks:
2000s
1980s
American Pets (2006) (V) (special thanks)
American Storytellers (2003) (special thanks)
Death Scenes (1989) (V) (special thanks)
Self:
Portrait: The Making of 'Henry' (2005) (V) .... Himself
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Doug Bradley
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