TheoFantastique is a supporter of independent film, particularly in the form of indie horror. Midnight Syndicate Films makes its contribution to this art form with The Dead Matter. The press release for the film reports that post-production was completed at the end of April. “‘I am absolutely thrilled with how the movie came out,” says Edward Douglas, the film’s director, composer, and sound editor. ‘I think it’s exactly what fans would expect from a Midnight Syndicate movie. Classic horror themes…very atmospheric, very creepy…and loaded with twists and turns that really pull you into the dark world we try to create on all our discs. It’s definitely a fun ride for fans who enjoy a good story and an old-school edge to their horror films.’”

The press release also discusses the film’s plot: “The movie tells the story of a girl named Gretchen who’s desire to reconnect with her dead brother draws her into the supernatural world of vampirism and the living dead. Drenched in the dark and shadowy music of Midnight Syndicate and inspired by EC Comics, Creepshow, and Hammer Films, this mix of classic horror and modern twists promises to deliver for fans of the genre.”

Ed Douglas also responded to a few questions about the film in a brief interview:

TheoFantastique: The Dead Matter has a long history before reaching its present form with the upcoming release. How did you move from horror and Halloween music to independent horror filmmaking?
 
Edward Douglas: Before forming Midnight Syndicate, I studied film and theatre. My first major project was the original The Dead Matter (1996). Back then we had about $2,000 and had to borrow a Super-VHS camera and mics from our school, John Carroll University just to shoot it. We knew that we were going to be limited by our technical specs but we did the best we could with what we had in order to put ourselves in a position to remake it later with an actual budget.  As a midwest filmmaker trying to make a movie out here, Sam Raimi and George Romero were two of my greatest inspirations (Sam Raimi had a slightly similar path with Evil Dead). We released The Dead Matter in 1996 but it would take another ten years before we would be in a position to do it again. The success of Midnight Syndicate put us in contact with a lot of people in the entertainment industry, most notably, FX legend Robert Kurtzman (producer of From Dusk Till Dawn, and co-founder of KNB FX) who contacted us to score his drive-in thriller The Rage in 2006. After he was done shooting that film we approached him about The Dead Matter. He liked the project and signed on. We ended up co-producing the film with him, his company Precinct 13, and producer, Gary Jones (Boogeyman 3, and Xena).

TheoFantastique: The Dead Matter is described as a combination of “classic horror themes with modern twists.” What are you trying to accomplish with this synthesis?
 
Edward Douglas: Just as is the case with Midnight Syndicate, most of my influences come from the classic horror movies. That comes through in our music and it definitely comes through in The Dead Matter. The throwback feel of this film is also helped along by the look of it and the fact that both myself and the DP, Alex Esber are inspired by Hammer Films, Mario Bava, and 70s/80s horror cinema. We’re dealing with classic horror themes in the vampire and zombie and we respect a lot of the established “rules” which gives the movie and story an old-school feel. The fun comes though when we take those conventions and turn them on their side for a bit (the “modern twists”). It makes for an unpredictable movie that keeps you guessing and entertained. I think what I was trying to accomplish was to create a movie that respects the older vampire and zombie films that inspired us while still touching on new ground to mix it up for all of us that have watched those movies a thousand times over and still love them.

TheoFantastique: How can interested viewers see The Dead Matter? And do you have any plans to try to get it into next year’s Slamdance Film Festival perhaps?
 
Edward Douglas: We just began talks with distributors and will also be submitting it to festivals. I hope to have more information within the next few months.  

If the film is anywhere near the caliber of the 2008 CD by Midnight Syndicate, titled The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates, which was a collection of music inspired by the movie, then horror fans can expect plenty of frights from the film. For further information visit the film’s website.

Hostel

The League of Tana Tea Drinks (LOTT D) elite group of blogging horrorheads is putting together another unity blog, and one of the topics for discussion involved an invitation to complete the following sentence: “The problem with today’s horror movies is…” Contributors were given the opportunity to finish this sentence in keeping with its negative connotation, or take another approach that completes it more positively. Given my perspective on the current state of affairs in American horror films I complete this sentence by writing, “The problem with today’s horror movies is our current social and cultural context of postmodernity and the influence of commodification.” No doubt at this point readers are scratching their heads and saying, “What?” Allow me to explain.

Horror is a complex genre involving multiple layers of interpretation, and as Stephen King has noted it “is extremely limber, extremely adaptable, extremely useful.” One of the ways in which horror demonstrates its adaptability is that it provides a means of not only entertainment, but also an expression and means grappling with some of our greatest fears as individuals and cultures. It should come as no surprise then that as individuals and cultures change so do their fears, and these changes result in differing cinematic expressions of horror. Earlier in the modern period horror helped express fears of the Other in its various manifestations that were symbolized in the monster. But with late modernity or postmodernity, a post-1960s phenomenon which is often tied cinematically to films like Psycho (1960), The Night of the Living Dead(1968), or The Exorcist (1973), there has been a shift from the monster as Other to an internalization process whereby the monster is us. The shift from the externalized monster as the locus of horror to an internalized terror is the result of social forces and perceptions that in turn colored interpretation of the self. Lianne McLarty discusses this in her chapter “‘Beyond the Veil of the Flesh’: Cronenberg and the Disembodiment of Horror” as part of The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film, edited by Barry Keith Grant (University of Texas Press, 1996):

This ‘delegitimization’ of social institutions and the ‘instability’ of subjectivity finds expression in the ways in which these films depict both the monstrous threat and its consequences for protagonists. In contemporary (postmodern) horror, the threat is ‘not simply among us, but rather part of us, caused by us.’ Institutions (like the church and the military) that were once successful in containing the monster and restoring order are at best innefectual (there is often a lack of closure) and at worst responsible for the monstrous. Contemporary horror also tends to collapse the categories of normal and monstrous bodies; it is said to dispense with the binary opposition of us and them, and to resist the portrayal of the monster as a completely alien Other, characteristics of such 1950s films as The Thing (from Another World) (1951), Them! (1954), and The Blob (1958). This tendency to give the monster a familiar face (the monster is not simply among us, but possibly is us) is tied, in postmodern horror, to the focus on the body as site of the monstrous.

This shift from modern horror with the monster as external Other to the internal us with a related emphasis on the body has resulted in the continued tendency toward the production of slasher films beginning in the 1970s and gaining steam in the 1980s and beyond. A further development of this may be found in more recent films where the monster is not the lone psychological deviant such as Michael Myers of Halloween, but a group dynamic (in terms of the perpetrators) of psychological deviance as in Saw (if not in the original at least in the sequels), and Hostel, where the body most strongly becomes the site of the monstrous through graphic depictions of torture and mutilation.

I am not a prude when it comes to violence in film, but I do have my preferences in expressions of horror, no doubt due to the influences of my social environment as I was growing up. I first encountered horror in the late 1960s and early 1970s through horror’s twins in science fiction and fantasy films that depicted the monsterous Other as alien invader, the result of science gone awry, or prehistoric beast meets modern society. Later I encountered the classic Universal and Hammer horror films which again depicted the monster externally, and it was only in my later teens that I engaged postmodern horror with its emphasis on psychological deviance, the internalization of horror, and bodily mutilation as the primary expression of the horrific. In essence I suppose I was inculturated in a particular expression of horror, the early modern expression with the externalized monster, and as a result I have always found this expression of horror more frightening, indeed, more appealing. I think I might also find the complete internalization of horror within myself extremely distasteful. I recognize that human beings are indeed a curious mix of greatness and tragedy, but for me, postmodern horror’s revelry in human evil and bodily mutilation presents an overly dark and nihilistic expression of human nature and horror that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Related to these social and cultural considerations that result in a struggling horror market is its connection to commodification. Horror films are commodities designed to provide the highest return on investment possible, at least in those films produced by Hollywood and mainstream studios, and the emphasis on horror as commodity often leaves creativity and good storytelling by the wayside. In my view, some of the best contemporary horror comes from independent filmmakers and from the international market, with directors from Asia and Mexico, not the United States. In regards to independent filmmakers, the priority is given to good stories and frights, and while international horror is just as connected to commodification as the American horror market, somehow they have manged to provide a fresh infusion of creativity and conceptualization into the American horror market.

I recognize that my preferences for horror cause me to lean largely toward the Gothic, although my preferences for an early modern form of horror certainly go beyond this specific expression of horror. I am not alone in such preferences, as evidenced by others such as Bruce Lanier Wright in his book Nightwalkers: Gothic Horror Movies (Taylor Publishing Company, 1995):

..I believe that ideas have consequences, and I do worry about the idea embodied both in gore-porn and a good many modern ‘horror’ films. The underlying theme of Grand Guignol entertainment can be stated quite simply: You and I are pieces of meat, and all our interactions – anything we do to or for one another – are merely the random collisions of pieces of meat, without meaning or significance. This is a legitimate artistic position, and one developed with some brilliance by George Romero and others. It’s also a tremendously popular idea in mass media. The handful of individuals how decide what appears on television and in our theaters, not being particularly altruistic by nature, must believe it’s what you want to see.

The Gothic position, by contrast, is that good and evil do exist, and that men’s actions carry a moral weight; that our choices count. And if our actions have some sort of importance, maybe we do, too. Maybe we’re more than just the some of our desires and hatreds.

This post will likely be a little more “heady” than many of my fellow LOTT D unity post bloggers, but I think there’s something worth thinking about here. If horror is indeed an adaptable and useful genre we might be thinking about not only why it entertains, but also why it changes in its expression, and what the internalized “monsterous us” of contemporary, postmodern, nihilistic horror says about us as individuals and as a culture.

(For those readers interested in reading more of McLarty’s thoughts on Cronenberg and the body as site/sight of horror, as well as the other contributors to The Dread of Difference, or Wright’s further thoughts on Gothic horror in Nightwalkers, these books can be found as part of the TheoFantastique Amazon.com store.)

TheoFantastique: Mike, thanks again for stopping by to talk about your work. I like to begin on a personal note whenever possible. How did you get involved with film as a director of horror films?

Mike Nelson: Seriously- As far back as I can remember. If I remember correctly, the first three stories I ever wrote were Wolfman, Dracula, and the Mummy. Yes, those were the titles and I wrote them in kindergarten; including pictures with blood and all. And of course before then I drew several monster pictures, pirate pictures, and gun and knife pictures that it would be funny to think that I wouldn’t be making horror films at this point in my life. The trend never really stopped and the stories kept getting weirder and weirder and a littler gorier each time. It also helps that I was obsessed with watching movies (and still am), especially black and white monster flicks, Indiana Jones, American Graffiti and The Monster Squad. The violence ensued in elementary school where I started making stop motion robot destruction films in my moms living room to high school, where I made several action/horror/comedy/thriller type movies with lots of guns and too many people dying. Not the type of films you make and show to your church youth group (which I did and the outcome wasn’t pretty). Which led me to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design where I studied film for 4 years and made action films or horror/thrillers (and a documentary about a machine gun). So as you can see, it all works out. I then went on to form Random Creatureface Films with two friends, Ben Trandem and Lance Hendrickson and together along with an amazing cast and crew made our first feature film Summer School. A horror film none the less, which after 2 years has finally been put out on DVD independently. I continue writing and making shorts with horror or action or post apocalyptic stories, or twisted thrillers that only a mother couldn’t love. I am currently writing 4 stories to be made into feature screenplays, 2 action films, a dark revenge thriller and a “dramedy” to lighten things up a little. I am keeping busy.

TheoFantastique: Is your work as an independent filmmaker a personal choice or one of necessity given the difficulties of working through mainstream film studios? If your choice, why is this your preference?

Mike Nelson: I’d say both. I’ve heard too many horror stories from people who finally broke into the studio system and had their visions destroyed by over zealous suits with MBA’s. Yet I think at the end of most independent filmmakers tunnels they see a glimpse of hope that one day they will get a break that will land them a chance to truly prove themselves to the studios and make the films they have always dreamed of. I think that its almost necessary to dream that way. Its like fuel. I do think that if you decide to make going after a studio gig your life’s goal you are also ready and willing to give up some control at some point in time. That’s just the way it works. As for me, it would be amazing if I could stay indie and make my hyper-violent, all practical post-apocalyptic odyssey someday with backers and people who just plain believe in my filmmaking and storytelling. Hey, if a studio wants to buy it, even better! This isn’t 1972. BBS doesn’t exist anymore and Fox isn’t just letting any film school kid with a story about galactic battles and warriors swinging neon light tubes at each other in to talk to a head exec. But as an indie filmmaker I will try my hardest to tell great stories with keen direction, and cool cinematography and try to get noticed; hopefully by someone who has clout in the industry. And as any indie filmmaker would say, “as long as I can entertain an audience and show my work to the world, I am happily doing my job and it is the best job in the world.” On that note, thank goodness for the Internet! An indie filmmaker’s best friend.

TheoFantastique: With very few notable exceptions, some of the more creative work in horror films is coming through indie filmmaking. Why do you think this is?

Mike Nelson: I have found that indie filmmakers are more interested in telling good stories or shocking people with visual imagery or innovation more so than catering to what mainstream folk want. A lot of indie filmmakers want to tell a story that they’d want to see at a cineplex or on DVD. It’s obvious to me that many people are growing tired of the horror films (and films in general) that are being pumped out every weekend. The mainstream moviegoer knows that something needs to change but they don’t necessarily know what. And even that notion is changing. Moviegoers are getting smarter and they are looking for something more challenging. Indie films open a door to a whole other world of stories, some that studios wouldn’t touch even if they were forced to at gun point. I think more creative work is coming from the indie realm because there is nobody saying “you can’t” which opens the door to so many possibilities. On the other hand it also opens the door to a lot of crap. Yes, there is a lot of indie crap as well and I know that there is just as much crap as there is good stuff. But the fact that filmmakers are doing things that wouldn’t be done otherwise I feel improves films and can make them better overall.

TheoFantastique: You have put together Random Creatureface Films. Can you share a little about what this organization and its work is all about?

Mike Nelson: Ben Trandem and Lance Hendrickson and I started RCF in 2005 with the idea that we wanted to create a film company with a horror flavor that made quality films. We also saw it as a way to bring filmmakers together and their visions to life. Lance, Ben, and I make up a well oiled machine: Lance being the producer and business man; Ben being skilled in several facets of post-production, practical effects, writing and directing, and web stuff; and myself being a director, cinematographer, story writer/conceptor and sound designer. Together we make up a self-sufficient unit employing the skills to make the films we want. But our strength solidifies by connecting and working with other filmmakers and collaborating to make the best possible work. Yet we don’t stop at horror. We recently produced and shot an R&B music video with an up-incoming director which will get national air play on cable come this fall. Lance wants to do a historical drama, Ben wants to pursue some comedy and I really want to pursue action films. In all we just love film and want to make some damn good movies. Ben and I are always trying to keep people updated with our projects on www.randomcreatureface.com as well as review the films we watch, so check us out.

TheoFantastique: Mike, thanks again for taking some time to discuss these things. One of my fantasy careers would have been to be a horror, sci fi and fantasy film director or special effects wizard, so I’ll try to live vicariously through the indie horror work of yourself and others. Thanks again.

TheoFantastique: Miguel, thanks for taking time out of a busy schedule to respond to a few questions about your work. To begin, can you talk about how you came to be interested in horror films on a personal level, and how did this translate into a career?

Miguel Gallego: Well, the short answer is that I loved movie monsters and wanted to learn everything about them. This curiosity led to learning about films and filmmaking magic, which led to formal film studies and, finally, working in the film industry. You could say that movie monsters were the gateway drug that led to my life as a film addict.

The longer, more detailed answer is that as a kid the Universal Studios’ monsters fascinated me. Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Phantom of the Opera, et al had a dark appeal. They were outsiders and romantic figures of dread, scorn and hatred. As the son of Spanish immigrants living in Anglo-Saxon Canada I immediately identified with these dark, tragic outsiders. More than the rest of my family I really lost myself in films. My doctor father claimed that I suffered from ‘monster-itis’.

Around this time – in the dark ages long before the Internet and DVDs with special features were common – there was a show on TV Ontario (our educational channel) called Magic Shadows hosted by Elwy Yost, the father of screenwriter Graham Yost who wrote Speed. On weeknights after dinner Elwy would show half-hour of a classic feature film and give background info on it. On Fridays he’d screen a chapter of an old movie serial. I watched the show religiously to learn everything I could about the films and the filmmakers.

Elwy Yost later hosted TVO’s Saturday Night at the Movies, which paired two classic feature films with actor and filmmaker interviews in between. In the era before every college had a film department it was the best film school available.

I entered university to study medicine, but an elective cinema studies course caught my interest. After that course I knew I wanted to work in film. I had no idea how. Toronto was not yet the production hotbed that it would become. I joined the film society and made my first Super 8 film, Washday, about a laundry monster that terrorizes a slovenly guy. The crowds laughed in the right spots, the film won an award, and I was hooked.

After earning a B.A. in cinema studies I found an apprentice position on the nature show Lorne Greene’s New Wilderness. Within the year I was production coordinating and still catching three to five films a week. Then I went to the American Film Institute in Los Angeles to learn more practical filmmaking.

When I came back to Toronto, the city was starting to swell with film and television production and I was lucky enough to catch that wave. I worked on some direct to video films and TV commercials. I worked a few years in corporate video production. The money was good, but I missed working on dramatic projects. I joined the Directors Guild of Canada and got back onto film sets, working my way up to assistant director. There’s nothing like being part of a band of gypsy film brothers working on a show. It’s as close as you’ll get to running away and joining the circus without having to muck out the elephant stalls. And when your work is done you get to join the crowd to experience the show you’ve worked on.

In time I made enough friends and contacts in the business so that I could put my money where my mouth was and produce my first short film, The Crypt Club. It’s a cautionary tale about peer pressure and bullying inspired by the legend of Black Aggie. Again, themes of outsiders and belonging crept in. It’s funny how you never stray too far from what inspired you in the first place.

Since The Crypt Club I’ve met a lot of filmmakers and found that short horror films don’t have legs. They play at festivals and disappear pretty quickly. I came up with the title ‘AAAAAH!! Indie Horror Hits’ and I started licensing these small horror gems to create a collection to preserve and share them. So a second career track has begun thanks to the love of monsters.

TheoFantastique: You are involved in a number of projects including what you just mentioned, AAAAAH!! Indie Horror Hits, and Crypt Club Productions Inc. Can you summarize your work as a filmmaker and as a promoter of independent horror films through these projects?

Miguel Gallego: Well, it may be a little early to summarize because both ventures are still taking baby steps, but here goes.

Crypt Club Productions Inc. is my umbrella company for film production and other horror based projects. The first film is The Crypt Club. It screened at over 45 international film festivals, and won 18 awards. It aired on TV in Canada and Argentina. I’m currently working on the deluxe archival DVD edition. Once that’s on the market I’ll begin refining some feature film ideas that have been percolating in my brain.

AAAAAH!! Indie Horror Hits is the next project from CCPI. It’s a collection of great short horror films from independent filmmakers worldwide. We’ll be distributing DVDs with about 2 hours worth of films per volume starting this summer. It’s like a horror film festival on disc. And we’re always looking for more great short horror films.

And then there are some other projects that are still in the embryo stage. They’re joint ventures with some other horror folks, but I can’t give out details just yet.

TheoFantastique: What attracts you to indie horror rather than that produced through mainstream studios?

Miguel Gallego: Well, a good film is a good film regardless of its origin. For me the difference between indie and studio horror films has to do with the passion and the vision of the filmmaker and the film’s creative process. I think it comes back to the insider/outsider argument.

Studio films often suffer from committee-think. True indie films are auteur driven. Right or wrong the indie films have a singular voice and a point of view. And that’s refreshing. Most studio horror films are cynical economic exercises. These films are not about storytelling but about marketing and return on investment, which is why the studios churn out re-makes of old films or clones of recent indie or foreign hits. hey’re playing it safe. There may be a high degree of craftsmanship, but very little innovation.

If the indie horror formula of low-budget spectacle with a high profit ratio didn’t work, the studios wouldn’t venture into the unsavoury field of horror. But the money’s too tempting and it helps the studios’ cash flow. It helps so much that several studios created indie-style production and distribution units. But here’s the problem: they haven’t been able to recreate the indie horror phenomenon in their in-house laboratories.

Horror is a lone wolf genre. Its purpose is to howl in the wilderness and chill us. The studios have tried domesticating it for their purposes and created a breed of snarling toy poodles in spiked collars. Basho wrote, “Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.” Studios are treading in the wolf’s footsteps without a clue what they’re searching for.

Now don’t get me wrong. There is a lot of bad, derivative indie filmmaking too. But once in a while a film comes together where the whole is greater that the sum of its parts. A paradigm shift in any field rarely comes from the people who are entrenched experts in that field. It comes from outsiders with a fresh, sometimes naive perspective. That’s why indie horror films matter. I believe it’s where the creative, thematic, and sometimes technical innovations will continue to originate.

TheoFantastique: As I reviewed your website for AAAAAH!! I noticed several films that you have been responsible for, but out of all of them which ones are you most proud of and why (or is this like asking you to choose which of your children is your favorite)?

Miguel Gallego: Actually, the only film in the collection that I’m directly responsible for creating is The Crypt Club. But I am proud of each film in the collection. Let’s just say they’re my adopted kids and I can’t chose between them. Each one is unique and lovable in its own creepy way.

The reason is that there’s an empathetic fraternity among indie filmmakers because we each wrestle with internal and external obstacles to reach our goal of sitting in the back of a theatre watching the back of people’s heads, waiting for their reaction to what we did months – sometimes years – before that moment. The war story details may vary from filmmaker to filmmaker but we all have similar tales of idealism, struggle, loyalty, heartbreak, and sometimes triumph.

Because of all the moving parts involved, the completion of a film – any film – is a minor miracle. And indie filmmakers are doing it with fewer resources than studio films, and a whole lot of heart. You gotta admire that feat, and support and nurture it because it may be the only reward these filmmakers get for tilting at windmills. And where would we be without these dreamers and creators?

While working on my film I was overwhelmed with admiration and gratitude for the selfless people who were helping me create it. It was, and still is, quite humbling. So I was compelled to work even harder to make the best film possible. It was no longer just for myself, but also to honour the trust and faith that these people had placed in me.

I have the same feeling for the films in the collection. These filmmakers have placed their faith in our idea and we’ve got to deliver for them.

TheoFantastique: I was intrigued by some statements you made in an interview for New Voices in Horror where you listed your favorite horror films and you included early Disney films and fairytales in that collection. This struck me in that my own appreciation for these influences is similar and not everyone remembers Disney’s dark side and that studio’s contribution to America’s Halloween mythos from the early cartoons. Can you provide a few examples of Disney’s work that you would classify as horror and why you found it significant?

Miguel Gallego: I’ve gotten several comments from people for calling Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs a horror film. This whole Disney horror thing started because I meet people who categorically refuse to watch “horror” films, yet they watch films that contain horror elements but that aren’t marketed as “horror”. So I ask these horror adverse people if they like early Disney films. And when they respond, “Of course. They’re great wholesome family films,” I explain to them how they have secretly gotten their recommended daily dose of horror without realizing it.

“See? You like horror. I hid it in the pudding and you ate it. So shut up and eat your scary vegetables.”

People think of Uncle Walt and recall Mickey Mouse and family entertainment. Walt is associated with joy and magic, but Disney’s genius as a storyteller came from his use and command of dramatic elements – including the horrific.

Disney combined comedy and horror to tremendous effect, resulting in a rich, emotionally satisfying catharsis for the viewer. His films alternated bitter and sweet for maximum emotional contrast, but he made sure the sweet was the first taste so you’d settle into the story and identify with the protagonist’s dreams.

Then Disney would introduce the bitter element, and he rarely held back. Disney’s best dramatic spice for family-oriented films was Death itself. Unlike other watered down family fare, Disney’s protagonists faced real and present mortal danger throughout the story.

Walt also made sure that the final taste in your mouth was sweet so you’d come back for a second (and third, and fourth…) serving. The stronger the audience’s emotional experience the more goodwill is generated toward the filmmaker who causes it.

If Walt Disney’s first mark of brilliance was to raise his film’s dramatic stakes to dire mortal consequences, then his second mark of brilliance was to market the films as family entertainment.

You can argue that Walt Disney’s films are not horror because they aren’t presented as such, but I’ll say that the engine that drives several of his animated feature films is pure horror.

Here are some examples to support my nomination for Walt Disney as a master of horror:

Snow White is about a vain queen who orders the murder of her increasingly beautiful stepdaughter. She orders a hunter to bring back Snow White’s heart as proof. When the compassionate hunter confesses the murder plot to Snow White she flees into the now terrifying forest. Learning that Snow White is alive the Queen turns herself into an old crone to deliver a poison apple to the girl. She even has a raven as her familiar. Snow White succumbs and falls into a death-like sleep. The vengeful gang of club wielding dwarves chase the crone through the forest to a cliff where she falls to her death. The happy ending comes when the handsome prince kisses Snow White as she lies in a glass coffin. Surprisingly, no audience has shouted, “Ew! Gross. Necrophilia!”

101 Dalmatians is a cute, cuddly story of a pair of Dalmatian parents protecting their 15 offspring from a witch (Cruella De Vil) who wants to skin the puppies to make a fashionable coat. The puppies are kidnapped and taken to Cruella’s mansion, Hell Hall. The parents find their brood and 84 other puppies in this country puppy mill. A rescue, escape, and chase ensue with the Cruella done in by her bumbling henchmen.

In the original Cinderella story the stepsisters cut off their heels to fit their feet into the slipper to win the prince. Disney omitted some of the gorier elements of the original story, but kept the threat level to his heroine high with a realistic rendering of the cruel stepmother in contrast to the more caricatured stepsisters and secondary characters. This wicked stepmother has a predator’s maternal instincts. She may not want to kill Cinderella, but her cruelty toward her is, perhaps, a fate worse than death.

In Bambi, the mortal danger is presented one third of the way through the film when Bambi’s mother warns him about Man and going into the open meadow. At the midway point a hunter kills Bambi’s mother off-screen in a heartbreakingly stark scene that still chills the pit of my stomach. In the final act Bambi faces Man the hunter, Man’s hunting Hellhounds, and then escapes a raging inferno that destroys the forest. As with many “fairy tales” it’s a story of maturation, which can be both scary and full of wonder. Bambi is born, learns about life, death, love, sacrifice, and in the end becomes a father himself. It’s the circle of life long before it was recycled for The Lion King.

What I find most significant about Walt Disney and his films is that Uncle Walt entertained millions of people, young and old, by making them laugh and by frightening them, proving that horror is an essential part of a balanced dramatic diet. Yet few people consider him a master of horror. And too many people still turn away at the mere mention of a horror film. Pity.

TheoFantastique: I also noted in the interview that you are a fan of mythology and folklore, interests you and I share. How do you explore these elements in your filmmaking and appreciation for the horror genre? And would you agree that we need more filmmakers exploring myth and folklore through film to create dark, adult fairytales much like Guillermo del Toro?

Miguel Gallego: While I studied film in Los Angeles I discovered Jan Harold Brunwand’s books on urban legends and Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With A Thousand Faces. These books opened up in me a new appreciation and interest in myth and folklore as wellsprings for story ideas and story interpretation. I grew up with Bible stories and tales of Greek and Roman heroes, but I hadn’t looked behind the stories to see how and why they worked. And now the mechanics of story craft fascinates me.

The Crypt Club was directly inspired by the tale of Black Aggie, which is an urban legend with its origin in the Middle Ages. I used the urban legend as a starting point and built the plot and characters out of that elemental cautionary tale.

Myths and folklore are either tales of adventure and achievement (do something good) or cautionary tales (don’t do something bad). These classic stories endure because they still speak to us. So, going back to the Basho quotation, I go to these stories to seek what those storytellers sought in the hopes of bringing something worthwhile to my stories.

As far as horror, I think worthwhile horror stories are – at their stripped down basics – cautionary tales. They’re warnings to us about unwise choices. Why else would you revel in gruesome horrors? Sure there may be a macabre fascination with the subject matter. But psychologically it’s not a great place to spend all of your time. Henry Frankenstein didn’t hang out with corpses because he liked them. He had a higher purpose, which was to create life. The corpses were his raw material not his intended end product. Unfortunately, I find too many horror films don’t have a purpose beyond causing shock or revulsion.

In the last twenty years we’ve seen a boom in the number of people teaching storytelling and screenwriting. It seems that everyone who has seen a film is teaching how to write one based on a secret insight into the process. I think it’s a great thing that so many resources exist for potential filmmakers. But the funny thing is that all of these story gurus’ theories stem from the same ancient source material: Aristotle’s Poetics. The principles of dramatic storytelling haven’t changed in over two thousand years. They may have been refined, but not drastically altered.

I think it’s important for filmmakers and storytellers to have a sense of history. In the early days of television you had all these great shows written by guys who read books and plays. They brought that understanding of drama and narrative to television. Now, two generations later, it’s people who grew up watching the tube who write the shows. It’s created an inbreeding of ideas and references. I see the same thing happening in horror films of the past ten years. They all take Night of the Living Dead as ground zero.

Folklore and mythology represent the timeless stories and themes of the human heart. Any current story you can point to has an antecedent, and you can save yourself a lot of time and creative energy if you acknowledge and build upon those stories rather than trying to re-invent the wheel. I think the broader knowledge you have the more it can help you bring up something fresh and understand why it works.

So, I think we need to explore myth and folklore to understand story craft – in any genre. And then use these fundamental principles (not pat formulas) to create new myths because today’s solid stories become tomorrow’s myth and folklore. I’ve heard a Cinderella story referred to as a Rocky story. We need to keep revisiting in order to reinvent. We need to understand archetypes rather than recycle stereotypes. Look to the classic source material to see why it worked and then make it your own. If storytellers go back to the classics and draw from the archetypes to create new characters we’d have richer stories instead of re-treads.

TheoFantastique: You are preparing to launch The Crypt Club Deluxe Archival Edition DVD as well as the AAAAAH!! Indie Horror Hits, Volume One. Can you describe these for folks, and where can they pick them up?

Miguel Gallego: Well, The Crypt Club Deluxe Archival Edition will have a crypt load of bonus features, including behind the scenes photos & footage, and material taped during our screening Q&A sessions explaining how we put the film together from idea through filming, post-production, selling the film, festival strategies, and more. There’s also a companion book in the works, The Crypt Club Chronicle.We’ve even had interest from educational sources to use The Crypt Club as a teaching aid on the topic of bullying and peer pressure. The disc will appeal both to horror fans and to indie filmmakers who want to see how we did it.

The AAAAAH!! Indie Horror Hits, Volume One DVD will have about a dozen great short horror films. It’s a mini international horror film festival on one disc. We’ve gotten film submissions from across Canada and the U.S., as well as Mexico, Australia, England, and Spain. Some are high budget, some are low budget, but each film is a real indie gem. If you missed them at festivals this is your chance to see them. I’m really excited about getting this DVD out there and challenging more filmmakers to send us their best short horror films for future volumes. The plan is to launch both DVDs at our booth at the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear here in Toronto, August 22-24. And we’ll have some other goodies available, including The Crypt Club posters, and samples from our new line of Crypt Wear™ apparel.

After that convention the DVDs and the goodies will become available on-line at both of our web sites: http://www.thecryptclub.com and http://www.aaaaah-films.com.

TheoFantastique: Miguel, it has been a pleasure. I look forward to following your work in indie horror, and if you ever come out to Slamdance as part of the Sundance Film Festival in Utah we need to get together. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

Miguel Gallego: My pleasure. Thanks for the chat. I’ve been following your blog for a while, so I’m flattered to be part of it. And I look forward to hooking up with you in Utah in the near future. The first round of chocolate milk is on me.

TheoFantastique: Jed, welcome to TheoFantastique! You are the first actor to be interviewed here, so thanks for plowing new ground. Before we get into specifics of your career and your extensive work in horror films, would you classify yourself as a fan of this genre, and if so, how did you come to be a fan and so involved as an actor in this genre?

Jed Rowen: I have always been a fan of horror films. think it started years ago when I first saw The Exorcist as a kid. But later on I really fell in love with the genre after seeing the more horror/comedy/absurdist films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre II and Evil Dead II. Those two films in particular hit a chord with me because of their over-the-top, farcical romps. I like absurdity.When I moved to Los Angeles about eight years ago from the Bay Area where I did theater, I only had one film credit. It was a great credit…I played a homeless guy in a Hong Kong film with Maggie Cheung that was #1 in the box office over there and was theatrically released all over Asia…but it was only one credit. I realized after butting my head against the wall trying to get cast in big Hollywood productions that low-budget horror films were actually a more realistic way for a no-name actor to get in real films that got distribution that were in stores that were seen by the general public. So I set my sights on that.

TheoFantastique: How many films have you been credited in, and what are some of your favorites?

Jed Rowen: I have credited parts in 62 films. A couple of those are Internet web-series and one television credit. But 62 sounds better than 59, so I’m padding it a little. My favorite features that I’ve been in are Attitude For Destruction, Werewolf in a Women’s Prison, and Zombie Farm. My favorite horror shorts I’ve been in are Serial Killer Scavenger Hunt, Terror Toons 1.5 and Cry of the Mummy. I have been in a lot of other great films but these three features and three shorts I truly adore because they fit into my love of the absurd, and to me they actually transcend the regular horror genre and have become iconic film statements all on their own.

TheoFantastique: You appeared at Starland Convention as part of the Horrorfest two years in a row, last year attending the premiere of Zombie Farm, and this year for the screening of Attitude for Destruction. What are your feelings about being a fixture in the independent horror film community, and how have fans responded to these two films in particular?

Jed Rowen: The horror community, ironically, is by far the most nurturing and supportive of all the film communities for an actor. The fans and the filmmakers in the horror world are the most open to new talent, and there are countless websites and magazines and conventions that support not only the big movies but also independent horror films and the people involved with them. I feel very lucky to be a fixture in the indie horror community and hopefully, if things keep going well, will remain there for the rest of my acting career.

The Starland/Horrorfest convention in Denver has been one of the very best things that has ever happened to me. It is a thrill to be an official guest at such a prestigious convention whose past guests include Tom Cruise, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Francis Ford Coppola. But it is also run by very classy and wonderful people who make me feel like royalty and who are very much in my corner. I was surprised at how many fans at the convention this past April actually remembered Zombie Farm from the year before and were still excited about that film. This year’s screening of Attitude for Destruction at the convention received a ton of enthusiasm and positive feedback from fans at the convention as well. I’m pretty much 2 for 2 with screenings there. I can’t wait to go back next year.

TheoFantastique: You have also done some non-horror films. Can you tell us a little about these?

Jed Rowen: I have been in some real non-horror gems that have won awards and have screened at many film festivals around the world. At the top of the list is definitely The Wright Stuff series in which I played a bunch of different characters. My favorite is the second Wright Stuff called Chinese Take-Out where I played Dr. Fu Man Chu. The Wright Stuff series won Best Comedy at the DragonCon Convention in Atlanta, GA, and has been in film festivals from Germany to Canada to all over the States. Everyone’s crazy about them. You can see them online. I was also in an amazing art-house film about a ballerina called Tiny Dancer. This is a beautiful short film that actually screened at Cannes and also in festivals all over the country. I played a very effeminate stage manager in that one. I was also in a real experimental film called Cineme Fabrique #1 that won for best experimental film at the Bare Bones Film Festival in Oklahoma, and I won an acting award for that film at Bare Bones as well. All of these films I just mentioned were directed by Ford Austin. He also, of course, directed the horror feature I was in, Attitude For Destruction. And he just finished shooting another drama called Grappling with Your Demons, and I had a small role in that one as well. Ford is a amazingly talented filmmaker of extraordinary range who can do it all very well. I’m ecstatic to be in his films. While we’re on the subject, I’ve also done a couple of other non-horror films worth mentioning. Ulli Lommel, who directed me in the horror film Black Dahlia, recently made a drama called 17 with David Carradine. It was a real thrill to work with Ulli again and to be in a film with someone like Carradine. Another movie I was in worth mentioning is called Beauty Sleep Symphony with Dee Wallace-Stone, a quirky drama directed by Carl Darchuck. And, finally, later this year I’m finishing up Paul Bunnell’s sci-fi musical extravaganza, The Ghastly Love of Johnny X, an amazing black-and-white 35mm film that is going to blow everyone away. I’m real jazzed up to be in these films. While it’s great to be in horror films, it’s nice to branch out from time to time.

TheoFantastique: What projects do you have underway?

Jed Rowen: I’m starring in another horror film called Dead Friday with the incomparable Randall Malone which Dennis Devine is directing. Dennis directed me in Sawblade, in which I played the main killer starring alongside Reggie Bannister. Sawblade came out great and I’m very psyched to be in another Dennis Devine film. Dave Sterling is producing this one, and Dave has been a big supporter of me and my acting career. I’ve been in more than a dozen of his films and
it was a real stroke of good fortune to become involved with him and his, as he terms it, ‘movie factory.’ I just wrapped another one of Dave’s films a few weeks ago called Xmas with Felissa Rose. Dave thankfully keeps me very busy.I’m also acting in a web-series directed and produced by Freddy Nager called The Worldwide Scoop. I play world-adventurer/investigative reporter Theo Chuckerson. We’ve shot the first episode already and will be shooting the next one in late May. The series is hilarious, and is going to premiere online imminently. That is pretty much it for right now. To sum it all up, I’m really glad I’m acting with such an assortment of great filmmakers and great projects and there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing.

TheoFantastique: Jed, thanks again for taking some time to talk about your work and career. I look forward to your continued successes in general, but particularly in the indie horror niche.