Chris Siverston's adaptation of Jack Ketchum's novel The Lost was screened at the NYCHFF on Thursday night.  A story about Ray Pye, suburban teens, and mass murder.  Its chock full of incredibly hot chicks (including Robin Sydney who will burn your pants off) - sex, drugs, rock and roll, and some of the most disturbing violence brought to the big screen in a long time.  Author Jack Ketchum was in the audience and watched the film along with all who attended, and following the credits, festival director Michael Hein introduced him to everyone in the theater - where he took center stage and answered questions from the audience.

Michael Hein:  I would like to introduce the man who wrote The Lost - the man who created Ray Pye and that insanity...  Mr. Jack Ketchum...  (applauds) - And for those of you who didn't like the movie - pick up the book...

Jack Ketchum:  Yes - in the ending credits, the last card is, "If you don't like the movie - buy the book."  (laughs)  Did you guys have fun?  A little different, yes?

Q:  I heard the movie was a true story.  How much did the movie follow what really happened?

Jack Ketchum:  Uh, very closely.  I wrote the book based on a story that happened in a different place and a different time.  But what they did was they took my book and made it very, very close to the film.  So, its like two steps away from the actual crime.  But Ray Pye actually existed.  He did put the goddam crushed beer cans in his boots.  He was that kind of idiot.

Q:  What state did Ray Pye live in?

Jack Ketchum:  ...Damn - I think it was Wisconsin?  I think...  But you know what?  A great reference source - Bloodletters and Bad Men by Jay Robert Nash.  I've stole...  I should be paying him.  I've taken little bits and pieces from all of his stuff.  There's a great three volume edition of American crime going all the way back to the Revolutionary War straight up to now.  Nash is great.  So - you can look up Charles "Smitty" Schmid (here's his Wikipedia profile) - that's the real Ray Pye.

Q:  The writing was great in this movie - especially the dialogue.  The scene at the table when theyre on that date and having that Q & A back and forth just blew me away.  I was wondering how much of it was taken from the actual novel?

Jack Ketchum:  That was all taken from the book.  (long pause)  ...and...  was the dialogue I had... with a woman, once...  (everyone laughs because the male character they're referring to was a complete psycho) 

Q:  Talk about the title - The Lost?

Jack Ketchum:  The Lost.  Actually the book was set in the 1960's.  There was a notion that, there were people who went to war in Vietnam, the people who went to college durin' Vietnam, and there were people in the middle - and those were "the lost".  So, they couldn't, in the film - they didnt think they they could actually do the period.  That was strictly money.  They still got the idea down, I think.  That there are people in the middle who are just not... they dont go anywhere.  These kids - theyre all going nowhere - theyre "the lost". 

Q:  There was a handsome bartender...  (everyone laughs - the bartender in The Lost was played by Jack Ketchum)...  What amount of research did you do while preparing for this role? 

Jack Ketchum:  (laughing)  No - I did!  I did do research!   My neighborhood bartender told me exactly how to pour - to hold it exactly right...   Thank you...

Q:  Did the producer and director of this approach you from the start - did they seek out your blessing before they went ahead with this?

Jack Ketchum:  Lucky McKee came to me and said he wanted to do this.  And - I didn't know...  At the time - I had been getting a lot of DVDs from people who were totally untalented.  They were just awful.  And I said, "Oh shit - here's another one - his name is Lucky!  Fuckin, Lucky!"  But I put in his DVD and finally like after a month I played it, and Im like, "This guy's really good!"  And I said, "OK - whatever he wants Ill do it."  And he basically bought this for his best friend - Chris Siverston - to direct.  Chris did the black and white thing in May, if you've seen May.  Chris sent me an initial screenplay which was very, very good - very close to the book.  He even wanted the cat in there - if you read the book there's a cat, which would have added 20 minutes to the story.  They did just great all across the board.  I just said to Lucky recently - uh - he's going to be shooting Red (another Jack Ketchum novel).  And I said, "Why don't you just option everything I own - just option everything."  'Cause these guys are so damned good - they're real - they're nice people.

Q:  Can you talk a little about the casting process?

Jack Ketchum:  I had nothing to do with the casting process and that's good!  No - because I wouldn't have casted the people that they did cast.  I thought that Ed Lauter was a little too old to play that part.  And that proves to me that they're right - because when I saw it - he's fine.  Its good sometimes to just sit back and just let ...

Q:  How about Ray Pye?  Were you satisfied with who played him?

Jack Ketchum:  Oh - completely.  Uh - evidentally, the story goes that the guy who played Ray Pye - when he walked in to audition (Marc Senter) - he already had stuff in his shoes.  So he was all lurchin around like this - and I said, oh yeah, we gotta get him.  That's the guy. 

Q:  Is there any part of the film that scares the shit out of you after seeing it?

Jack Ketchum:  The end fucks me up!  (people laugh and agree)  I watched the end - every time I watch the end - even tonight - it still fucks me up.  Its so intense.  I wish I could have been a fly on the wall that night, when they were shooting that last sequence.  Everybody - all the actors were working so damned hard to get that intensity down.  Even the people who were just in [the ending scene] for the day.  The couple!  It blew me away!

Q:  In terms of the word "fly" - it seemed that whenever Ray was feeling a violence attack coming on, he heard this fly - whats the significance of that?

Jack Ketchum:  Actually Chris [the director] told me about this one - he said that he had a couple of tricks, that he did.  One trick was - the fly thing.  It started when they were outside, early on, his first kill - and the girl slaps a mosquito or fly...

Q:  Is that in the book?

Jack Ketchum:  Yeah.  Well - sort of.  Well - let me finish the question.  The second thing was sort of in the same area.  If you notice - if you watch this a second time - every character has their own color.  Theyre color coded characters.  Ray is black.  Katherine is red.  Jennifer is yellow - because its sort of neutral.  And they did things like that - which are sort of subliminal - but they work.  And I thought that was so smart.

Q:  Any other books that you've done that are based on a true story like this one?

Jack Ketchum:  Pretty much everything that I do is based on a true story.  I did one novel called "She Waits", which is a supernatural novel.  Ive done a few short stories which are supernatural.  Ive done a few ghost stories.  But basically what scares me is...  you assholes.  (laughs)  And why youre here - and why you laugh at Ray Pye.  But - yeah - I basically like to write stuff thats based in reality.

Q:  One thing I like about genre conventions are the fresh ideas.  Take for instance the cops in the movie.  From the beginning - they knew who the murderer was.  They were just fucking with him, until they caught him.  And I love that.  In a normal movie (I think he means "Hollywood") at the climax of the film, the cops would finally figure it out, its Ray, but he has the girls and they get there right before he starts killing them, and they capture him.  Could you talk about that and maybe some other things that just like break the genre mold...

Jack Ketchum:  In my books and in my stories, I want to go against what your expectations are.  I received a compliment somewhere in an interview or something, where someone said, "What you expect to happen, doesnt." 

Q:  Stephen King.

Jack Ketchum:  He said that?  He's said so much damn stuff - great man that he is.  I dunno, I just -

Q:  I think what he said was, "Simply the best working in the business today."

Jack Ketchum:  Thank you - but to your question - what I was after was - something that was simply, um , you wouldnt expect.  I dont want you to ever be able to outguess me.  What would you do?  I always ask myself that question.  What would I do?  What would you do?  What would my reader do?  And - am I making myself true to the reader?  If I am, Im alluring you.  If im not - Im losing you.  Unless youre a lazy reader. 

Q:  So whats next?

Jack Ketchum:  Oh shit.  I've got a short story collection called "Closing Time and Other Stories" and that should be coming out very soon.  There's a small novella, called "Weed Species" - its probably the nastiest piece of work Ive ever written.  Its just - I mean - there's just one person in this entire book that you might want to sit down and talk to.  Everybody else sucks.  The notion is that, human beings are kudzu - were kudzu - weed species.  Well - a lot of us are.  And so - that will be out next month. 

Over the last couple of months Jack Ketchum has captured my attention as an outstanding horror author.  If youre looking for a heavy horror piece to read sometime soon, look up Ketchum's novels on Amazon.com because like Stephen King says, he is the best thing going in horror right now.  I was a bit skeptical going in to see The Lost - wondering how effective Ketchum's story will be allowed to be on the big screen - with censorship issues a major hurdle when producing a film.  Chris Siverston's film captured the grit and tension of the novel, and blew all our minds with an ending that will probably never make it out to mainstream theaters.  When you get a chance to see The Lost - grab it.  Its absofuckinglutely gripping, intense, and disturbing. 

Visit the OFFICIAL SITE for The Lost

Recently, we had an opportunity to sit down with Christopher Bond, the co-director and co-creator of Evil Dead The Musical. The following is our interview with man who is bringing the latest incarnation of Evil Dead to the fans.

House of Horror (HoH): Tell us fans a little bit about yourself and your love for the genre?

Christopher Bond (CB): I was born and raised in Toronto and went to school for theater. There I really got into the arts and I took a drama and film medial that was more focused on film. During this time, the genre I loved the most was horror and it was because of Evil Dead. The thing I love about Evil Dead is that I think Sam Raimi really pioneered a new vision for horror by mixing it with comedy. It was more slapstick and just off the wall fun with a three stooges influence and blood guzzling out in all different colors. I also love all of George Romero's work and even get into the old school classics like Friday the 13th and TCM. Recently I have been getting into the more ghetto stuff like Cabin Fever which I kind of see as an open love letter to Sam Raimi.

HoH: Tell us a little bit about where the idea for Evil Dead The Musical came from?

CB: The way it all shook down is that I was performing in a lot of theater and in one particular show, The Rocky Horror Show. I saw all these fans who really weren’t your traditional theater types coming out each night. It was kind like a cult and these same people were fans of the genre [Horror]. I thought to myself that I would love to come up with my own show that would have a cult following. I loved horror and thought how cool would it be to get horror geeks like myself to the theater.

Well it wasn’t easy, so I spent a lot of time going over what I thought would be fun. It was really Evil Dead 2 which I had seen many times that I thought had the basis for what could be a fabulous musical. You have this great setting in the cabin where all the action takes place. The cabin itself is the biggest character in the show. You have these great stereotypical horror characters which is a lot of fun. There is the iconic hero Ash who is just throwing out these witty heroic lines. He is the ultimate protagonist and I saw him as a hero and what does a hero need more than a song? There are hordes of zombies assaulting the cabin and what would be more fun that when they were attacking, they are singing too. 

So I partnered with George Reinblatt, the writer, who was a comedy writer for the Just for Laughs Festival in Canada and I asked him what he thought of Evil Dead 2. He said “why don’t we just make all the Evil Deads?”, because the first films had some great characters. That is why the show was original called Evil Dead 1 & 2: The Musical. We took the five college students from the first film and three additional characters from the second film and mashed them together to make this great story with music. So George began writing scenes and I wrote a bit of music and it all began to come together. The great thing about Evil Dead is when you mention to people what you are working on, everyone wants to get involved. So we never had a problem finding people to build sets,  do effects, or even sing. We didn’t have any money, because we were just a bunch of kids right out of university, but we were fortunate enough to have a lot of friends that were dying to get involved with this project. It has that appeal, the same appeal that brings in the audience. The show has slowly been evolving over the last four years and we’ve changed the ending to include the S-Mart ending so now we have all three movies and is now known as Evil Dead The Musical. The show has really evolved from the days when we performed in a bar (Tranzac) in Canada to Off-Broadway. Now we have added even more music, the best talent you can find, and even more blood than you can ever dream of.

HoH: What can horror fans and in particular Evil Dead fans come to expect when they come to see the show?

CB: They can expect one thing for sure, that we are going to give them the films. We taken great care in staying true to the films and when you have such passionate fans as Evil Dead does, you can deviate for one second, but they have to understand that we are taking it to the next level by musicalizing everything and it is very campy. We promise you will have a few drink and we are going to hose down the audience with lots of blood. The fans are going to get everything that they could ever possibly want from a musical of their favorite movie. There is no baloney. It is the films and a lot of jokes pumped into and all the gore they could ever want. They will see all their favorite scenes from Ash cutting his hand off to Linda’s decapitation. This is every Evil Dead fans’ wildest dream come to life. Anyone who isn’t a fan of the films or even musicals, but loves seeing something that you can laugh your ass off and have a great time, this show is for you as well. If you are a fan, you will come out very satisfied. It is our honor to put on this show and bring this great cultural icon to life on the stage. I would be disappointed in any Evil Dead fan if he/her didn’t come and check us out and I know if they do, they are going to love it and come back another 4 or 5 times. It is going to be the most amazing musical any horror fan has ever seen.

HoH: You spoke earlier about the cabin being the main character of the show, tell us a little bit about it?

CB: It blew me away that the Tony award-winning set designer David Gallo is just as big an Evil Dead fan as we are and to have a guy who is going to design the cabin be an Evil Dead junkie was amazing. He really got it from day one and knew exactly what we were looking for and all the icons that were in the cabin that are from the movies, we got them. We are talking about the lamp and the deer or in our case the Canadian Moose. The lamp comes alive, as well as, the books and the clock. All the bits and pieces that only the fans would know. We even have a little Freddy Krueger glove hanging over the door just like in the shed. We have a Rocky Horror Show poster of that musical just like they had with the Hills Have Eyes poster. Every little thing you would want to see in the cabin is there and the best part is that it all comes to life right before your eyes.

HoH: We hear that the effects in the show are amazing. What can the fans expect to see?

CB: We are also fortunate enough to have a guy named Louis Zakarian heading our special effects and mask design. He’s a guy who has worked for NBC on Saturday Night Live and Conan. Our zombies look amazing. The great mask and blood work we are doing, along with all the blood flying around the audience will blow the fans away. The first two rows in the theater are know as the “Splatter Zone” and anyone with tickets there shouldn’t be wearing their best Armani to the show, because they are going to get some blood splashed on them. It is going to be a blast.

HoH: We have read that Bruce Campbell helped you secure the right for this new incarnation of Evil Dead. Is this true?

CB: When we were first getting the show off the ground it not easy getting permission to do this kind of thing. So we contacted Bruce through his webpage and explained what we were doing up here in Canada, that we were writing this show and putting out our own money into it. It was small and we were a bunch of students, but we were taking it very serious, because we were such big fans. We explained how we had a background in writing, theater, and production. We than went on to ask who we need to talk to and Bruce was actually quite helpful in pointing us in the right direction. I am not saying that he pulled any strings, but the people we spoke with were very helpful in accommodating our request and getting us information. The legal stuff took a very long time since all the films are owned by different entities. In the beginning, they were very cool in letting us try new things out. Now with our move to off-Broadway, we have worked with Sam’s people and they have been very helpful. Bruce later sent us an email congratulating us on our success.

HoH: We know what a DEADITE is in the movies, but I have read that you consider those who attend the show DEADITES. What is a DEADITE to you?

CB: A DEADITE is a true fan of the Evil Dead culture. They are the ones that are going make this show; sink or swim, because if they aren’t happy than this show doesn’t do well. These are the fans that we hope are going to come out and support us. I haven’t had an Evil Dead fan come up to me and say that we haven’t done the films justice. We hope they get involved and spread the word to other fans. This show is for the fans.

HoH: Can you share with us the process of bring this production to New York?

CB: It took a long time. The first couple of runs were in Toronto and we were fortunate enough to do the Just for Laugh Comedy Festival in Montreal where we were showcased to producers from around the world. The guy who really stepped up and got what we were doing and who came up with a way to make the show work in NYC while still giving us the artistic freedom we needed as far as staying true to the films was William Franzblau. He has had a lot of successes in NYC and he isn’t a guy who has just done Broadway and in theater. He has a lot of experience working in the Rock n’ Roll arena and has taken a lot of show on tour. He really gets the show and knows that it isn’t just a bit of theater, but a rocking bloody musical experience. It took a lot of time. We’ve re-written the show and added the AOD ending. It also took a lot of time working out the legality just to secure the rights. We really have beefed up things, added more special effects and hired the right people, but I actually think it worked out well, because we are launching the show in the fall and Halloween is right around the corner.

But I will tell you this much, as far as a fan goes, it doesn’t matter if you are a fan of the films or not, you are going to love it, because the show is great. It is a lot of fun. The jokes are fast and furious. The songs are catchy and will linger in your head for days to follow. Yeah it took a few extra years to develop the show and get it to where we are today, but we are thrilled to be here and we are getting some great buzz in NYC. I am pretty confident that we are going to deliver on what the fans have been waiting for.

HoH: When does the show open and how long is the run?

CB: We are opening previews to the public on Monday October 2^nd at the New World Stage at 340 West 50^th Street between 8^th and 9^th avenue in Manhattan. The official opening for the show begins on Wednesday, November 1^st and is set for an unlimited run. Tickets are available at the box office or online at our official site EvilDeadtheMusical.com.

We would like to thank Christopher for taking the time to speak with us and wish him all the success in the world with the musical. We know that we will be there for many shows.

DD:  Just finished World War Z and I have to tell ya, it was excellent.

MB:  Well, thank you, thanks a lot.

DD:  So, what is with the zombie fascination?  This is your second book in the zombie sub genre, is it just a fan fascination?

MB:  It’s a fan fascination but it is also a human fascination because the mindlessness of a zombie, the singularity of purpose, I think that is what terrifies me.  The fact that there is no middle ground, no negotiation, the fact that they will come to you, you don’t have to go looking for them.  The fact that they will just grow and spread.  I mean it is literally like if you could take a killer virus put it on legs and send it out into the world, it would be a zombie.

DD:  I think it is great how you have rooted the book in the “Romero” world of the zombies.

MB:  I’m a huge fan of George Romero as much for his political commentary as for his zombie’s and I think unfortunately a lot of people who have come after Romero have forsaken any type of social commentary for just chomping on entrails and that’s fine but I like to go a little bit deeper.  The only place I part company with Romero is on zombie intelligence and I understand Romero’s point of view, as a film maker he has to adapt, he has to grow so there fore his zombies become more intelligent become more organized, develop emotions but for me the less intelligent the less human they become the more terrifying they are to me.

DD:  Exactly and I know for me and maybe for some other fans out there that Land of the Dead just didn’t work.

MB:  Well for me, I loved Land of the Dead but I can understand why some didn’t.  They kind of like having their enemies black and white and it was a very grey movie in that way. 

DD:  I mean really, in that film the worst person in it was the Dennis Hopper character, a human.  You actually cheered when the zombie killed the human.  You were rooting for the zombie.

MB:  Yeah, you may be right.  I think that might be the reason that a lot of people didn’t care for Day of the Dead because Bub the zombie was a much more sympathetic character then Rhodes.  But for me, I just love watching Romero as a film maker, he explores different ideas and how he grows as a film maker.

DD:  Nobody is going to argue that point with you.  Romero is a legend when it comes to the zombie genre.  I have to tell you though.  With this book your name could become as attached to the zombie genre as his has. 

MB:  I should be so lucky to even be included in the same category as him.

DD:  This book is going to catapult you to the top and when the film comes out, well that should take it all to a whole other level.  Are you going to be involved in the writing of the screen play for the adaptation?

MB:  Someone else is going to adapt it and I am totally OK with that because in order for World War Z to get made it is going to have to be a big movie so it is going to have to be an epic film which requires a big budget which requires a screenwriter which is trusted by the Hollywood system.  No executive, no studio is going to trust a multi million dollar movie to a guy like me who has never written a film that has been made.

DD:  What was the catalyst for writing World War Z?  Your first book, they tried to sell it off as a kind of satire but when I read it I thought it came off much more serious and World War Z is very, very serious.  There are no “tongue in cheek” moments; it’s a very serious novel.

MB:  Zombie Survival Guide was intended to be serious.

DD:  It came across that way but a lot of people took it as a joke and I was saying, no wait this guy is serious.  If these things were to happen, this book could save your life.

MB:  That was the intention but it had to be marketed as humor because at that point I was only none as Mel Brook’s son or the dude that wrote for Saturday Night Live and I understand that.  If I was in a marketing position I would have done the same thing.  But honestly the big joke about the Zombie Survival Guide is that I had the time to write it.  But World War Z has no humor in it.  Anyone who finds humor it has some serious emotional problems.

DD:  It’s very serious.  There are parts that are down right disturbing.

MB:  Yeah, there are some very, very dark aspects to it and that is what I intended just like with Zombie Survival Guide I wanted to create a world that if there were zombies, this is how you would actually survive.  In World War Z, if there was a zombie plague how would the world react to it? 

DD:  The whole political cover up and keeping it from the public, well it is just an amazing book.  I don’t know how else to describe it.  Let’s talk a little about the film adaptation.  There are a lot of rumors floating around out there, what’s the truth?

MB:  What happened was there was a bidding war between Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio.  Between their companies and the bidding war happened as soon as the advance copies were finished.  They knew about it before, don’t ask me how but somehow they knew I was working on another zombie book and the bidding war went on for, I’m not kidding, 24 hours, into the night.  My cell phone has never rang so much in its life.  It used to ring like once as week and I felt so Hollywood.  And then when the dust settled Brad Pitt won the war and his company Plan B has it. 

DD: So in your perfect world who would direct this, who would write it, star in it, if you made the calls.

MB:  Honestly, a perfect complete fantasy?  Here is whom I would have helm this project.  Irwin Allen. 

DD:  Irwin Allen.  You know what?  That is the perfect answer. 

MB:  I mean if we’re talking fantasy, let’s go fantasy. 

DD:  Nobody did the big disaster epic like Irwin Allen.

MB:  He knew how to assemble an all star cast, knew how to tell multiple story lines around a singular disaster.  Irwin Allen was the man.  If he were alive….ahhh.

DD:  Yeah, that is a great answer.  It gives me goose bumps to imagine it.  How about star power.  Do you see this as being a star magnet?

MB:  It is going to have to be big.  This just can’t be done as a small indie project.  They are going to have to get a director who has done big budget epics and A list actors.  I think it the only way to get it done.

DD:  I keep thinking Ridley Scott.

MB:  Couldn’t get any better than that.  The man who did Alien and Kingdom of Heaven.  WOW.

DD:  Well, we’ll just have to wait and see how it all works out.

MB:  Yeah, it’s not up to me so I am on the sidelines with the rest of the fans. 

DD:  The fans should just eat this book up.  Now, you’re going to be at the Fango show in New Jersey right?

MB:  Yep, I will be there.  I’ll be talking about what I do and a little about both the books.  I owe a lot to Fango as they were the first to embrace as a serious horror fan. 

DD:  You plan on keeping on in the zombie genre or branching out into other areas?  You have any fear of getting pigeon holed as a horror author?

MB:  I have no fear of being pigeon holed because I have been for my entire life.  I have been typecast as Mel Brooks’s son from the day I was born.

DD:  Yeah, a lot of the other article I have read on you just can’t help but throw your dads name in their. 

MB:  And you know it doesn’t bother me because obviously I’m used to it.  The only thing that concerns me about being labeled as his son is it might give potential fans the wrong idea and I wouldn’t want someone to pick up World War Z thinking its going to be Young Frankenstein. 

DD:  Yeah I suspect that does happen.  They just expect it to be funny because of who your dad is and it needs to be looked at in a different light.  It is a serious, compelling, disturbing look at a world gone mad.

MB:  Have you heard the audio book?

DD:  No.

MB:  Ohhhh, you’re in for it.

DD:  Is that out at the same time as the hardcover?

MB:  The audio book is out right now and Random House, God bless them because they actually put up the money to hire a full cast.  And we have got some of the greatest voices on it.  We’ve got Alan Alda, Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner, Henry Rollins, and Mark Hamil.  It’s unbelievable.  World War Z kind of lends itself to an audio book as it is a book of interviews.  When I heard it I was blown away.  I was like; hey they make my writing sound good.  (laughs)

Read on and meet the man that is going to scare the crap out of you this weekend, John Gulager.

DD:  Well, I finally got to see the movie on Tuesday night.

JG:  Oh, good, good.

DD:  And I have to tell you, it really blew me away.  The Project Greenlight show really didn’t do the film any justice.

JG:  Yeah, yeah

DD:  So, what are your thoughts on this night before your big opening weekend?

JG:  Well, you know, it is pretty wild.  You get mixed thoughts you can’t help but think it would be better if it opened wider but then again I am able to walk down to my local theater here, just around the corner from my house, have a bite to eat before the show and then watch a movie that I directed which ya know, is not to shabby.  And invite all my pals and hopefully people will go and see it across the country.  It’s playing in about 150 theatres and it’s pretty exciting, pretty daunting.

DD:  It has to be.  I mean you come across as a pretty average guy, you know, a fan.  When you were on the show I got very defensive of you.  You became like the water cooler discussion at work.  People were like “what a fool” and shit and I found myself defending you.

JG:  Laughs.  Well in real life I’m hoping I’m not  really that much of an idiot, I mean I’m not that heroic or anything but I guess part of that is true, I guess I am a bit of an idiot (laughs) 

DD:  It’s pretty much obvious to me that the show was edited in such a fashion to make you look that way, you know these are the bad people and here is poor John.

JG:  Yeah, they do that; make a story out of your life.  I mean, everything was real, we actually do it but they do, well you know you can make someone look anyway you want, I know that as a film maker, I can make someone look angelic or make them look satanic with the same material just depending on what I choose to highlight.  But at the same time nothing is made up.

DD:  I just want to state right here and now, anyone who sees this film will know John Gulager is no idiot because this film is masterful.

JG:  Well thank you, you’re very kind (laughs)

DD:  The over the top gore in the film is great, I loved it, but for me it was the little things that made the biggest difference.  (I don’t want to give away anything, we at this point discuss one of the scenes in the film) that was sweet.  ( Laughs)

JG: ( Laughs) Yeah, that was a nice little sound there too…..

DD:  Little things like that just made the film fantastic.  Now correct me if I’m wrong here but you guys actually went back and shot more after the PG show was over, right?

JG:  Yeah, we shot a few more days just a couple of months ago.  The film just kind of laid dormant for a while.  The company kind of reformed and then they were like, hey you need to finish the movie so we swung into gear and shot about 3 days worth of pick up, some stuff in front of the bar and some stuff with Christa and we got to shoot an explosion out in the desert.

DD:  Anytime you get to blow something up, you know you’re in good shape.  (laughs)

JG:  Yeah, that’s always good.

DD:  The cast was fantastic, Kudos to your father by the way.  He was awesome and it was so great to see him on screen again.  And Judah Friedlander, man he was awesome.

JG:  Yeah, Judah’s great

DD:  He was great.  I laughed from the moment he walked on screen until the end.  Just loved his performance.  He is going to come out of this film smelling like a rose I think.

JG:  Hopefully several of the stars will.

JG:  Did you know that our worm wrangler was also the snake handler from Snakes on a Plane.  We had Jules the worm wrangler and he went on to be Jules the snake handler.

DD:  So, he is moving on to bigger productions huh?

JG:  Yeah, well actually I had seen him before, on TV.  He showed up on set with maggots and worms and I was like, hey, I know you.   (laughs)

DD:  So, you planning on staying in the horror genre, I mean you have to be getting offers right?

JG:  You see, I like horror films; it was a great match up.  There’s a little bit of serendipity with a contest where you’re taking a script and then picking a director and then hoping it all works out and in this case, I think it did so I think the next thing will end up being a horror thing.  To paraphrase Raymond Chandler, there is no second rate genres only second rate writers and you have to got to take that to heart.  A lot of people put down the horror genre and I think that is totally bogus because you can make great films in any genre and you can make stinkers in any genre and I enjoy horror so….. there will be touches of horror in anything I do even if it is not an out an out monster movie like this. 

DD:  Let’s discuss this whole midnight screening thing.  What’s the thinking behind this?

JG:  I would love to be able to tell you it’s all about reviving the midnight movie tradition but to tell you the truth, I don’t really know.  I used to go to midnight screenings when I was a kid here in LA.  On Friday nights they would play Eraserhead and on Sat. nights they would play Pink Flamingoes and they were considered dangerous cult films at the time.  It was before the Rocky Horror Show started with the midnight shows.  It was probably before Rocky Horror was even made.  (laughs) It was early 70’s.  So it’s kind of like that I guess.

DD:  I think it’s a great idea.

JG:  People have to go, go, go, go.   I want people to see this movie.  I go see midnight movies all the time, show up, sit in the front row.  I’m hoping that people in Ohio and all across the country will go to a midnight screening.  In some places it’s 10 PM.  The last showing of the night but in most places it is going to be a full on midnight screening.

DD:  It is here in the Cleveland area it’s an actual midnight showing and I’m hoping to see a nice crowd there.

JG:  Good, good.  People will show up, that’s what I am hoping for. 

DD:  Any chance it might get an extended play if it has a strong two days?

JG:  This is the way I look at it.  The theatres are going to have the prints and I know of a few theatres said that they are going to keep playing it.  I know a theatre in Little Rock said they were going to play it every weekend till Halloween and a theatre in Denver called me and said that they might show it again and I told them if they did I would drive to their theatre.  That was before my car broke down again, but I am going to try and get there.  So a few places are talking about trying to keep it going.  Some of the theatres do have a little bit of leeway and if they want to take advantage of it, they can.  They’ll have the prints and if they want to do, that’s great.

DD:  It’s all going to come down to the fans demanding it.  If the interest is there, they’ll play it.

JG:  If no one goes, then that is going to be it.  It’ll be the two days and I will be grateful for that.  If people show up, I think it’s a great Halloween movie myself, then that will keep it going.

DD:  The DVD is slated to come out right before Halloween right?

JG:  October 17^th the DVD comes out.

DD:  Did you do a commentary track for that?

JG:  Yeah but the commentary got a little rowdy.  There was a whole bunch of us there and I don’t know what happened but things just got kind of rowdy and I’m not sure how much we actually talked about the film.  We just had a hoot and we all just tried to top each other and then every now and then Marcus would have a note, kind of a serous thing he wanted to say, you know, thank somebody and his voice would drop lower (begins laughing) and it’s pretty funny.  After it was all done it was like what, it’s over?  Should we try that again?  It should be pretty fun.

DD:  I’m hoping the horror community really embraces this film.  You hear so much bitching about lame films and not having enough gore and FEAST has it all.  I can’t imagine what more the fans could ask for.

JG:  Thank you.  We decided when we made it we were just going to go for it and people will either love it or hate it.  We tried not to hold back and were hoping that the horror community will appreciate that.  Marcus, Patrick and I, we’re all horror guys.  That’s what we like, so….