Long Weekend (1978)

Earlier this year I watched the disappointing Nature’s Grave, which I found out was actually a remake of the 1978 Australian film Long Weekend. As I dug a little deeper I discovered that many people held Long Weekend in high regard and it had been called one of the greatest nature-run-amuck films ever made. So after watching the unremarkable remake, which was supposedly shot-for-shot of the original, I felt it was only fair to go back to the source and watch Long Weekend.

Long Weekend isn’t your standard nature’s revenge flick – it is far more subtle, and is more of a psychological struggle between a bickering city couple and the unfamiliar outdoors they’ve chosen as a vacation spot. Some could argue that there is a supernatural element to the proceedings, but everything that happens also has a perfectly logical, natural explanation as well…it just seems supernatural because the city slickers aren’t familiar with nature and definitely don’t respect it.

Before I get ahead of myself, let me give a brief synopsis of Long Weekend:

Peter (John Hargreaves) and Marcia (Briony Behets) are a married couple who are obviously having some issues. To hopefully patch up their marriage they head out to a deserted beach for a long weekend. Peter brings his dog, Cricket, and his trusty rifle to shoot at random stuff as he drinks beer, leaving a trail of litter in his wake. Marcia does nothing but complain that they are far away from her friends and how she would much rather spend a nice weekend at a luxury hotel, all the while burning a hole in the ozone layer as she constantly hoses down the campsite with bug spray. The couple continues to have a flippant disregard for the environment – Marcia flicks cigarette butts everywhere, Peter throws beer bottles into the brush and kills innocent animals (he runs over a kangaroo, kills a mama duck with an errant bullet and shoots a sea cow repeatedly). Soon, the laws of nature come into play and Peter and Marcia face the harsh justice of the jungle.

Long Weekend is a gorgeous film, with wide panning shots of the crystal-clear surf and white sand beach. The pristine environment makes the destruction Peter and Marcia cause that much more ugly and harsh. It’s a very sharp contrast between the food wrappers, cigarette butts, bottles of beer and the once pure coastline. Yet, in the finale when Peter stumbles upon another abandoned campsite we see how humans may come and go but Mother Nature seems to bounce back from any blight humans mar her with. Director Colin Eggleston definitely crafted a socially conscious and stunning film that was way ahead of its time.

As for the story, writer Everett De Roche really involves the audience in his cautionary tale. As mentioned earlier, it has a bit of a supernatural feel to it, but you could also look at it from a very rational point of view as well. It’s all in how you perceive the film, and I like how De Roche left it ambiguous for the audience. I also like how the characters were so unlikable, yet you were still interested to see what would happen to them and even a bit concerned for their safety (even though they brought their misfortune on themselves). All their trouble basically stemmed from poor decisions they made and their unfamiliarity with the outdoors. I mean, who really steals an eagle egg, smashes it and doesn’t expect the bird to come after them or approaches a possum and doesn’t expect to get bitten? Though the two leads make poor decisions, there is a part of you wishing they get out alive and perhaps learn a lesson not to mess with nature. Kudos to De Roche for making us care about such unlikable characters.

Both Briony Behets and John Hargreaves must also be commended for their strong performances in Long Weekend. They are basically the only two characters in the film, plus they are rotten individuals (she is always nagging while he is just an asshole, plus they have their own nasty secrets that come out as the film progresses), and yet we cannot take our eyes away from them. I think the biggest problem with the remake, Nature’s Grave, was the acting. In the remake the two leads didn’t have the fiery chemistry that Behets and Hargreaves possess, nor did they play it as realistically. Hargreaves and Behets really sell the characters and really involve us in the story, making us want to see and learn more about their vile characters.

There is also a lot to discover within the story itself, as the secrets of the secluded beach reveal themselves. The film is slow-paced, but that doesn’t make it bad by any means! Instead, it spends time building the tension and is punctuated by several shocking scenes (Peter’s crossbow accidentally going off and almost hitting Marcia, an aerial attack by an eagle, a menacing shape in the water while Peter is out swimming, Peter’s exploration of an overgrown campsite, and so on). The atmosphere of slowly-building dread is nicely accompanied by a beautiful score that helps accentuate the eeriness and tension of the film.

If you happen to come across Nature’s Grave, I recommend skipping it and renting the far superior original, Long Weekend. Though this is not your typical “animals-run-amuck” revenge film, it is still a breathtaking and tension-filled film that deserves to be seen by those that like their slowly-creeping horror!

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Caesar and Otto's Summer Camp Massacre (2009)

Looking at the DVD for Caesar and Otto’s Summer Camp Massacre, there is no doubt that the intent of the movie is to spoof such horror classics like Sleepaway Camp and the Friday the 13^th films. Now, there are many low budget films that try to spoof horror films – but few succeed in actually being funny. So, looking at the DVD I was wary about popping it in, fearing it would be painful to sit through. Not even the promise of it starring Brinke Stevens and Felissa Rose got me excited and the synopsis didn’t sound entirely promising:

After punching out the police chief’s mentally challenged brother, belligerent nancy-boy, Caesar, is on the run. Together, he and his slovenly brother, Otto, take on new identities as counselors at the strangely vacant Camp Sunsmile.

The summer camp has attracted a motley crew of Hollywood outcasts, each with something to hide. But when the mysterious Carrie (Felissa Rose, star of Sleepaway Camp) shows up, the counselors begin disappearing one by one.

Soon, Caesar and Otto find themselves on the edge of a summer camp killer’s blade as they run, duck and swoosh for their lives!

So, the DVD sat on my desk for quite a few weeks before I reluctantly decided to pop it in the DVD player. What followed was a slapdash, wacky and silly film that had its moments, but overall didn’t stand out enough for me to enjoy.

It is supposed to be a comedy, but many of its jokes fall very flat. I love when movies poke fun at the clichés of horror films, but all the jokes I heard in Caesar and Otto’s Summer Camp Massacre felt reused and recycled. There are also lots of sight gags, including severed arms, chainsaw mishaps and Three Stooges-style physical humor, but none of it elicited more than a brief smile from me. No folks, I’m not dead inside but I require a little more than people getting bumped on the head for kicks, especially in a full-length movie.

The jokes weren’t all that funny, but did the film actually use some likable characters? Eh, not so much. The lead character, Caesar (played by writer/director Dave Campfield), is extremely flamboyant and his screechy voice gets on your nerves after a while…think Chris Kattan playing Corky Romano. I wish we had seen more of Otto (Paul Chomicki), the “gentle giant” of the pair, because he seemed entirely more interesting than Caesar and his bumbling personality. I did enjoy the character of the head camp counselor, played by Ken MacFarlane. His character was a bit on the fruity side too, but he put on a great performance. I also liked the character of Carrie, played by Felissa Rose, who is basically reprising of her role of Angela from Sleepaway Camp. It’s also a joy to see Rose again in a fun role that kinda makes us forget about her part in the atrocious Return to Sleepaway Camp.

As for the horror part of the film, it doesn’t offer much. While there is a killer stalking the camp counselors, the actual kills are done off camera and there is no over-the-top gore featured here either. Since the comedy part of the film doesn’t hold up, it would have been nice for some blood and guts to make up for that fact…unfortunately, this isn’t the case. However, I did enjoy the “mad scientist” lab at the end of the film and the killer’s ensuing explanation as to why he or she is so gung-ho about killing people.

Despite a few shining moments, Caesar and Otto’s Summer Camp Massacre just wasn’t my kind of flick. Though for an indie it was very competently filmed, it lacked good jokes…I mean, how many times have we heard the one about the chick in the horror film that gets naked and then gets killed by the masked murderer? With these tired old jokes and quickly exhausting an arsenal of slapstick, the film’s hour and a half running length feels much, much longer than it actually is.

Overall, Caesar and Otto’s Summer Camp Massacre was a disappointing effort for me. Though it is very well filmed, the slapstick humor just didn’t resonate with me and the film felt goofy but not funny. While it does elicit some brief smiles here and there, there’s just not enough fresh material to keep the film afloat for its entire running time. Perhaps it would have been better suited as a short film, but as a feature-length it feels drawn-out and never-ending.

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Book Review: Hammer Glamour by Marcus Hearn

Titan Books is releasing the gorgeous hardbound coffee table book Hammer Glamour on September 29^th, 2009 and I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at the lasciviously luscious book! Here is the description from the book’s dust jacket:

Over 50 years ago, with the release of The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula, Hammer Film Productions ushered in a whole new era of blood and barely retrained cleavage in glorious colour, mixing sex and horror with a style and panache that made the small British company world famous.

As well as making international stars of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, Hammer quickly became renowned for the stunning actresses who graced its films. Whether it was an exciting new discovery making her screen debut, an exotic foreign beauty, or a Hollywood star, glamour was an essential part of the Hammer formula. From Barbara Shelley baring her fangs, to Ingrid Pitt baring all – not forgetting Raquel Welch in a fur bikini – Hammer knew that “sex sells”.

Bursting at the seams with an astounding collection of rare and previously unpublished photographs from Hammer’s archive and private collections worldwide, and featuring many exclusive new interviews, Hammer Glamour is both a lavish celebration of Hammer’s female stars and a fascinating insight into a bygone era of movie publicity.

Filled with sensual, full-color photographs, Hammer Glamour is like stepping back into Hammer’s heydays of the 1950s,  ‘60s and ‘70’s where horror was filled with voluptuous sex kittens and cheesecake pinups. These sirens of sinema oozed sexuality yet also a certain innocence and playfulness. Hammer certainly didn’t show much restraint when it came to nudity, especially when censorship was relaxed in the 60’s and 70’s, but despite this their leading ladies all exude a sense of style, classiness and timeless beauty.

Where most Hammer books usually just focus on famous leading men like Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing, it’s refreshing to see the ladies of Hammer horror get their recognition in Hammer Glamour. The book evokes a bygone era of glamour and sensuality. I also appreciated the many different looks of the actresses featured within the pages; whether girl-next-door or exotic, blonde or brunette, short or long locks, every actress featured within the pages of Hammer Glamour celebrates the diversity of glamour!

Hammer favorites featured in the book include “glamourpuss” Stephanie Beacham (Dracula A.D. 1972), exotic Martine Beswicke (One Million Years B.C., Slave Girls, Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde), classical blonde beauty Veronica Carlson (Dracula Has Risen From the Grave, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, The Horror of Frankenstein), vampy twins Mary and Madeleine Collins (Twins of Evil), “buxom redhead” Hazel Court (The Curse of Frankenstein, The Man Who Could Cheat Death), “smoldering sexpot” Vera Day (Quatermass 2), beautiful brunette Caroline Munro (Dracula A.D. 1972, Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter), coquettish Kate O’Mara (The Vampire Lovers, The Horror of Frankenstein), iconic Ingrid Pitt (The Vampire Lovers, Countess Dracula), bombshell Barbara Shelley (The Camp on Blood Island, The Secret of Blood Island, Dracula Prince of Darkness, Rasputin the Mad Monk, Quatermass and the Pit), nymph Madeline Smith (Taste the Blood of Dracula, The Vampire Lovers, Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell) and, perhaps the most well-known of them all, the stunning Raquel Welch (One Million Years B.C.).

I especially liked reading about these ladies’ early films, careers and later lives in the informative biographies that author Marcus Hearn has masterfully written. Reading through the actresses’ biographies you also get a sense of the Hammer studios’ timeline and rise to success as well as its eventual decline. I really love how Hearn gave the reader both an idea of the actresses’ lives while also giving the reader a history of Hammer and how the filmmaking business was run back then.

Besides the insightful antidotes, the real stars of the book are the stunning photographs. Voluptuous vamps, sexy starlets, pouty pinups…the glamorous photographs have it all! Whether promotional pictures for films where the actresses are decked out in corsets and flowing dresses or glamour shots where they are modeling bikinis, all of the photographs are richly decadent!

Overall, Hammer Glamour is a rich book overflowing with the phenomenal female stars of Hammer horror films. It’s full-color pages filled with photos are stunningly gorgeous and its biographies on the stars, with exclusive interviews, give the perfect overview on their lives and careers as well as giving us a peek into the bygone golden era of Hammer films.

Hammer Glamour is a must-buy book for all fans of Hammer cinema, the history of horror and horror’s infamous leading ladies of years past.

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Pop Skull (2009)

Everyone remembers their first heartbreak. To some, the memory might be hazy and distant, but to others the pain is all too fresh and real. I’ve had my own experiences with having my heart broken and dealing with rocky break-ups, some even leaving me feeling like I lost everything, even myself.

Director/co-writer Adam Wingard and co-writer/actor Lane Hughes are no strangers to heartbreak either, and were so upset by past breakups that they decided to make a film gleaned from their experiences. With writer E.L. Katz, they crafted an idea for a film and this idea eventually became Pop Skull, a trippy, hallucinatory movie about the unhinging of the lead character’s mind after his first break-up.

Daniel (Lane Hughes) is depressed and addicted to over-the-counter pills after his girlfriend breaks up with him for another guy. In his mind altered state he begins to see all sorts of things – until he can’t distinguish between reality and fantasy. Is something really haunting to him or is it just his mind on the verge of collapse?

The synopsis might not make Pop Skull seem like much, but as soon as you begin watching it envelopes you in its madness. The film shows Daniel’s unraveling in an artistic and inventive way…and you feel like you are right beside him. It makes you darkly dream, drifting further and further into yourself until you feel as hopeless and shut out of the world as Daniel does. A story that sweeps you up like that is a rarity, especially in a low-budget film, but that is precisely what Pop Skull does.

Pop Skull’s story wouldn’t be nearly as successful if the filmmakers hadn’t tapped into their own personal tales of woe and heartbreak, but thanks to those experiences we get a fantastic story as well as a truly mesmerizing performance by Lane Hughes as the quickly deteriorating Daniel. From Daniel’s heartfelt voiceovers with a tone that just oozes vulnerability and brokenness to his hypnotizing performance, Hughes completely owns the role. Don’t get me wrong, the other actors do a fine job as well, but Hughes completely steals the show and kept my eyes glued to the screen. He was just so darn believable and I could wholeheartedly relate to his feelings of desperation and hopelessness!

In regards to visuals, Pop Skull is beautifully filmed, though there are some scenes featuring flickering, pulsating or flashing images that just might induce seizures (a disclaimer in the beginning of the film urges epileptics to skip the film). The entire film was made for $3,000, and many shots were captured by director Adam Wingard and actor Lane Hughes just wandering around in the dead of night or at the crack of dawn. Sun-drenched exterior shots of Daniel and his ex-girlfriend kissing in an open field are juxtaposed with dark and gritty interior scenes in Daniel’s threadbare bedroom or his friend’s small house. I loved this contrast and thought it added a lot of depth to the film. The editing is also very creative, giving the film an artsy feel that elevates it above most low-budget horror films. Sure, some of the sequences of rapidly-flashing scenes were a bit hard to look at, but they effectively showed how disoriented Daniel’s mind was becoming.

Though Pop Skull is definitely not your typical horror film, there are quite a few effective scares peppered throughout the film. The jarring shots of the “things” Daniel sees in his home, imagined or not, are pretty freaky and caused me to jump more than once. The sound design also helped set the foreboding feeling. Though the music featured throughout was ambient most of the time, at key moments it distorted into awful noises to disturb the viewer with a double-whammy of jarring noise and frightening visuals.

Pop Skull is a disorienting, hallucinogenic and dream-like horror film unlike anything I’ve seen lately. It’s mesmerizing to watch the damaged lead character being pushed to the breaking point and experiencing just what he experiences, not knowing if its reality or fantasy. Plus, the ending is just riveting and probably the creepiest scene in the movie!

This low-budget film is not for everyone, but if you have an appreciation for slow-burning, artsy, independent films I highly urge you to take a dark journey with Pop Skull.

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Frayed (2009)

Frayed is an independent production from Washington State made by three lifelong friends with a dream of making a movie together. Though the film’s premise might sound like a typical slasher (and the film’s DVD cover certainly does it no justice), as the story progresses it offer much more than the typical stalk and slash movie. Frayed manages to transcend and discard genre conventions and delivers a film with an unexpected, shocking ending. It also manages to overcome the obstacle of a low budget and delivers a polished, professional-looking film that is sure to get tongues a-waggin’ in the horror community.

The film opens on a home video of young Sara’s fifth birthday party, complete with balloons, presents, cake and even a clown. Sarah couldn’t be happier, until her eight-year-old brother Kurt ruins her big day by being overly aggressive. Kurt is sent upstairs to his room and Mom comes in after the party, still toting the video camera, to see if he is ready to apologize to Sara. Suddenly, the video camera drops to the ground and we see Mom also violently fall…and then she is brutally beaten to a pulp by a baseball bat.

Kurt is sent to a mental institution for killing his mother, but enters into a catatonic state and won’t speak to anyone. The doctors say he has a disassociate personality disorder and can’t tell the difference between reality and fantasy. His father, Pat (Tony Doupe), who also happens to be the small town’s sheriff, checks in on him regularly but after several years the doctors tell him they can do no more for Kurt and suggest he is moved to another facility. Meanwhile, sister Sara (Alena Dashiell) and step-mother Jolene (Kellee Bradley) have moved on and rarely talk about Kurt or the past.

On the night Kurt is scheduled to be transferred to a more secure institution, he escapes and starts brutally killing people again. As Pat and a lone security guard named Gary (Aaron Blakely) try to track down Kurt, it becomes clear that no one can stop him from reuniting with the family that has forsaken him while facing some very dark family demons.

When I first sat down to watch Frayed, I really wasn’t expecting much. It looked like your typical slasher so I prepared to turn my brain off and just let the mayhem ensue. It started with a bang (the mom’s death scene definitely lives up to the hype of “one of the most brutally graphic scenes ever depicted on film”, especially considering this in an indie effort), but soon I found myself thinking that the storyline was too similar to Halloween. A child killer that grows up in a mental institution but escapes to wreak havoc on his estranged family was a bit too reminiscent of the iconic Michael Myers for me. As the film progressed, though, it became more its own film, with plenty of inventive twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat.

Despite the initial shocking bludgeoning death of the mother in the film’s opening scenes, Frayed is a lot less gory and bloody than most modern slashers. Instead, it focuses on the psychological terror of a killer that’s hot on the victim’s heels, much like the “old school” slashers back in the day. I really loved the crazy clown costume Kurt wears as he stalks his victims and how it ties back to the tragedy he experienced as a child. There is a lot of suspense and tension throughout Frayed, something you don’t usually see a lot of in the “modern slasher”. I liked how it relied more on dread and really built up the story and characters instead of just focusing on blood and guts.

The actors all did a surprisingly good job with each of their characters. The real star was Aaron Blakely as Gary the security guard. We keep cheering him on as he escapes time and time again from Kurt. I also liked Tony Doupe’s multi-layered performance as Sheriff Pat and Tasha Smith-Floe plays Sara’s sassy friend Veronica vivaciously! The rest of the cast were great as well, which is surprising considering this was a low budget film. Despite the low budget, impressive performances were found in both the leads as well as supporting actors!

Another amazing aspect of the film is that despite its low budget it looks like it belongs up on the big screen! The film was shot digitally, but looks like it was filmed in 35mm, the sound is crisp and never muffled and even though the majority of the film is set at night, you can always tell what is going on. Frayed is the first feature film for lifelong friends Rob Portmann (co-writer/co-director), Kurt Svennungsen (co-writer) and Norbert Caoili (co-writer/co-director) and together they have truly created a film that raises the bar for all independent productions to come.

Not only does the film look like a big budget production (excellent makeup effects, seamless special effects using CGI, and even an impressive car crash scene), but the story also goes far and beyond what most horror films strive for. Though it starts off a bit shaky and feels like another “reimaging” of Halloween, the story actually builds as the film progresses and gets more and more complex, a rarity in horror films today. You might be able to guess the twist ending if you pay close enough attention, but nothing will prepare you for the second twist that will completely blindside you and leave you shocked! The tragic ending just goes to show that in real life there is no tidy wrap-up and the innocent victims aren’t always avenged.

Frayed is an impressive independent film that offers much more than it first suggests. Though it looks polished and professional like a big budget film, the filmmakers took time to make sure Frayed had a well-developed and intriguing story, one whose horror will stick with you long after watching. With this as their big splash in the blood-filled horror pool, I can’t see what Portmann, Svennungsen and Caoili do next!

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Magazine Review: Shock Totem Issue 1

Shock Totem is a new print publication that is packed full of “curious tales of the macabre and twisted”. This richly bound magazine, with glossy, full color front and back covers beautifully illustrated by Robert Hoyem, looks like a novel, but is a periodical that not only boasts terrifying tales but also contains dark poetry, reviews and interviews. I had the exquisite opportunity to check out the first issue of the periodical and the expansive contents inside stunned me with their high quality.

The publication opens with an editorial by publisher and editor K. Allen Wood explaining the genesis of the magazine and how the title “Shock Totem” was conceived. The editorial is a perfect introduction to the publication and perfectly captures the excitement and challenges of an independent dark horror magazine. It really gives the reader insight on the complexities of undergoing such an endeavor, especially in these turbulent economic times.

From there, we move into the first short story, the imaginative and whimsical, but no less violent, The Music Box by T.L. Morganfield. The Music Box is about a child’s cherished toys that have a life of their own…and are fighting each other for the love of their owner. This tale brings back warm and fuzzy memories of childhood, when you believed that your stuffed animals came to life every time you left the room or turned your back. Of course, this story has a bit more violence and bloodshed than most childhood memories, but its fanciful tone remains!

Next, we have Murder for Beginners by Mercedes M. Yardley, about two first-time murderesses taking their first kill in stride. I love the wickedly dark humor of this piece as the two killers joke back and forth about their unfortunate victim! First Light by Les Berkley is a story steeped in the pagan and Celtic beliefs of All Hallow’s Eve and is a beautifully written ghost story. I will definitely be pulling this stunning story down from the bookshelf as the cherished month of October creeps closer!

All of the stories contained within Shock Totem are amazing, but Complexity by Don D’Ammassa is probably my favorite, and is a bit more complicated spin on the “ghost in the machine” story. The main character has noticed a certain intelligent design to technology and inorganic products, almost as if technology had a mind of its own and is evolving. Now that he has noticed this underlying force it has noticed HIM and he feels his life is in danger. I absolutely loved this story, and felt that it is especially relevant nowadays when technology basically rules our lives.

I loved the palatial oasis of an Arabic queen where Below the Surface, by Pam L. Wallace, is set. Jealousy, treachery, betrayal and a mother’s undying love for her son all play large roles in this sumptuous tale. Slider by David Niall Wilson is about an infamous baseball that killed a pitcher back in the day and is about to be auctioned off…but carries a deadly curse. The characterization of the two lead characters, the auctioneer and a mysterious old man, is what makes this tale so intriguing to read. Plus, it has one killer ending…

The second-to-last tale is Brian Rappatta’s The Dead March, about a lonely kid who has a special ability to raise the dead. It goes much deeper than a standard zombie tale, though, and has the ability to really make your skin crawl. This is my second favorite story in this issue and really makes me eager to see what Rappatta does next.

Thirty-Two Scenes from a Dead Hooker’s Mouth by Kurt Newton wins hands down for the best title in the magazine! It starts with a prostitute’s death and moves backward through select scenes in her life to show just how her life deteriorated. I really loved the concept of this story and especially loved its unique narrative structure.

Besides the high quality short stories, the first issue of Shock Totem offers readers interviews with legendary splatterpunk author John Skipp, musician and horror comic creator Alan Robert, and horror author William Ollie. In their review section, Shock Totem covers books, films and music. There are also a few dark poems scattered throughout the publication. The end of the magazine offers a very informative section in which the authors of the short stories talk about their inspirations for their respective stories. I loved reading about the back stories behind all the stories I had just read!

Overall, Shock Totem is an impressive small press publication that is impeccably edited and compiled. There is not one section of the magazine that I didn’t like and all of the stories contained within its pages truly impressed and entertained me. You can tell that it is made by horror fans for horror fans! Shock Totem definitely lives up to its tagline of “curious tales of the macabre and twisted” and I cannot wait to see what future issues bring us!

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Visit Shock Totem’s Official Site!

Interview with Director Mark Steensland

Many may not know this, but indie filmmaker Mark Steensland is the one person that really inspired me to start writing about horror and start this site. You see, back in college Mark taught a film class whose emphasis was horror films. Each class we would sit in the dark and watch horror movies. It was in this class where I was introduced to Italian gialli, Asian horrors and many other influential horror films. After watching the films we discussed them and wrote about our reactions to them. I had always loved horror movies, but this class gave me a way to express that love on paper and in words and was definitely a gateway for me to start this site. So, as you see, I am eternally grateful to Mark for introducing me to the academic study of horror!

I was lucky to take Mark’s class when I did, because soon after he accepted another teaching position and moved away. A few years later, I learned that he was pursuing filmmaking more and was making his own horror shorts, a few of which I was privy to see.

This year, Mark really impressed with with his two latest horror shorts, Peekers and The Ugly File, so I thought it was high time that chat with Mr. Steensland about his remarkable films and what the future holds for this talented filmmaker.

Fatally Yours: Hi Mark and thanks for taking the time to talk! Your latest project is The Ugly File Can you tell us how the project came about and why you chose this particular short story to adapt to film?

Mark Steensland: After I finished my last short film (Peekers), I saw a long short movie called Bugcrush, made by the guy who directed The Ruins [Carter Smith]. And I was really fascinated by the emotional quality of it and I realized that while Peekers was good, it wasn’t really very deep emotionally. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, per se, but I felt like I wanted to make something very different. I wanted to make something that had a much deeper emotional quality to it. So I started looking for a story that had that quality, as well as all the others I look for in material. Ed Gorman’s name came up from a couple of people and I asked them which of his short stories I should read. Two were mentioned. One was The Ugly File. As soon as I read it, I said: “This is it.” I didn’t even read the other story and to be perfectly honest, I can’t even remember the name of it now.

Fatally Yours: Will The Ugly File or any of your other films be screening at any upcoming festivals?

Mark Steensland: The Ugly File is on the festival circuit right now. We’ve already played in a handful of festivals – including opening for Paul Solet’s Grace at Fantasia in Montreal – and we’ve won one award (first place in the horror shorts category at The Indie Gathering in Cleveland, Ohio). We’ve been accepted to a bunch more and I’m waiting to hear from even more. It’s a very expensive process to submit to film festivals, so I usually submit to somewhere between 40 and 50 fests.

Fatally Yours: Your 2008 short film, Peekers, did extremely well and now you’ve made it available to watch for free on your website, www.marksteensland.com. Do you plan to release all your films online?

Mark Steensland: There were plans at one point to release a DVD compiling all the short films. You got to see a sort of early version of that, which was called Beyond the Pale. But that didn’t really get much momentum, unfortunately. So I decided that maybe Peekers could generate more traffic by being on its own site. As for the other stuff, we’ll have to see.

Fatally Yours: I loved your short film Dead@17, based on Josh Howard’s graphic novel! What made you want to adapt that film for screen and how did you organize that project?

Mark Steensland: Our original hope was to get the feature film rights to the comic book and to use the short film to generate interest in our making the feature version. The bad news – for us, anyway – was that the rights were already sold. They’ve been doing the Hollywood shuffle for years now, literally. And maybe you’ve heard that they’ve attached Vanessa Hudgens to star and Michael Dougherty to write. Who knows. The good news is that we did generate quite a bit of attention for ourselves. Especially now as the interest in the feature version has been growing, the mention of our little fan film has been growing along with it.

Fatally Yours: A lot of your films have been inspired by or are based on short stories. Why do you choose these as the basis for your films? 

Mark Steensland: Stanley Kubrick had a very interesting bit of wisdom about this subject. He believed that you could never have the same objective reaction to someone else’s writing as you could to something you wrote yourself. I think he’s mostly right. I’m certainly not opposed to making films based on my own ideas, but I do think the stories I’ve chosen to adapt have an undeniable strength. Also, there’s a lot to be said for the reputation of the story raising interest in the film. I’ve heard from a number of people who loved The Ugly File as a short story and they are very pleased with what we did in the film version.

Fatally Yours: Is it difficult or expensive to get authors’ permissions to use their stories and adapt them for the screen? 

Mark Steensland: Yes and no. It really depends on the author. We’ve gone after some stories from authors who simply would never even talk to us. We’ve gone after a few stories that we made deals for but that fell apart at some stage before actually being made. Now, I’m happy to say, we actually have authors soliciting us to make films out of their stories because they’ve seen the quality of our work and what kind of exposure it’s been getting.

Fatally Yours: Short films are usually seen as a means to an end for most directors, but your shorts are impeccably filmed and stand on their own artistic merit. What draws you to focus on short films as opposed to features?

Mark Steensland: Well, I’ve made two feature films already. The first one, called The Last Way Out, was made back in 1997 and is available from Troma. It’s a crime drama, not a horror film. The second was made in 2001. It’s a documentary called The Gospel According to Philip K. Dick. We’re gearing up for a feature right now that will be a horror film. Hopefully that will happen this year. But I’ve learned not to hold my breath. What I hadn’t done with the features, however, was go on the film festival circuit. And that’s what I’ve really been doing with the short films. And it’s really been an amazing experience. I think we’ve been building a really good reputation and I’m hoping that it will help when we have a feature to screen.

Fatally Yours: Your films have an artistic, sophisticated look and feel to them. How do you feel about indie horror films that don’t have the same polish as your films do? Do you think the easy access to technology has made some filmmakers skip the actual craft of filmmaking? 

Mark Steensland: That’s a loaded question! I don’t really think about my own films as they compare to what other people do. In other words, I’m not trying to imitate some particular look or feel. In fact, someone recently commented that the thing about my films is how bright they all are – they seem to take place during the day and in brightly lit spaces. Not the usual dark and stormy night kind of thing. And this isn’t really something I was even aware of until they mentioned it. I don’t like a lot of shaky camera work. And I don’t like a lot of fast editing. And so my films reflect that. I don’t really like to be flashy in that way. I like a more thoughtful approach. And that’s just me. I know plenty of people prefer a completely different style. And that’s fine with me. I’d just like to have enough fans to support a career.

Fatally Yours: How do you feel about the current state of horror films?

Mark Steensland: I think it’s the same as it always has been. There are good ones and there are bad ones. And I think a good film will always manage to find an audience. I wish there were more good films, but I wish a lot of things that don’t come true. I’m sorry that the business has become so business oriented. I think that’s why we’re seeing so many remakes. They know there’s an audience out there and if they can make it for X amount of dollars, they can open it on Y amount of screens and ultimately make Z amount in total revenue. It’s too bad the production side has gotten so bloated. I think good movies can be made with very limited resources and I think that they could return their investment. But everything these days is about making a billion dollars at the box office and that takes a lot.

Fatally Yours: When did you become attracted to the horror genre?

Mark Steensland: I was really young. I remember being probably four years old and my older brother (who was eleven) was into monster movies. He had the old Aurora monster models in our bedroom and they had glow-in-the-dark pieces and I had to have them covered up at night so I could sleep. My brother and I shared bunk beds. He had the top bunk and I had the bottom bunk. And he had a giant poster of Bela Lugosi as Dracula at the head of his bed. And one night I went to bed and fell asleep and the poster came off the wall and slid down so that it was at the head of my bed. And I woke up because of the sound and when I turned around, here was Dracula reaching out for me. I screamed bloody murder, I can tell you. So I think that all had its influence on me. And I used to watch monster movies on TV and when I started getting into filmmaking, it just so happened that I gravitated towards horror more than anything else.

Fatally Yours: How did you get your start in filmmaking?

Mark Steensland: I can remember reading about John Carpenter’s Halloween in Fangoria magazine. And then going to see it at the movie theater. And when I came back home, I was so inspired because I knew that he had made it with a very limited budget and a very limited crew and so on. So I got out the old family movie camera – a Super 8 cartridge camera – and I made a film with my friends called Darkness is Always Black. And I basically wrote it while we were filming and I edited it in camera. So when I sent the film to the lab and it came back, it was ready to watch. It’s pretty bad, as it should be. But it really gave me a sense of what it would take to make a movie.

Fatally Yours: I still remember taking a horror film class from you that inspired me to write about horror movies and take them more seriously. Do you still teach?

Mark Steensland: Yes. It’s my secret day job. But it’s great because I have time to make my own films and I’m teaching what I’m doing.

Fatally Yours: Do you use your students in your films as part of either the cast or crew?

Mark Steensland: As a matter of fact, I do. Students have worked with me on several of the short films. And they really like it because it’s a big step up from what most of them are doing on their own. Frankly, I wish that I would have had a similar opportunity when I went to film school.

Fatally Yours: What are you working on next?

Mark Steensland: As I said earlier, we’re putting together a feature now. We’ve got a lot of other irons in the fire, as well, but the way things go, you just never know.

Fatally Yours: Mark, thanks so much for answering my questions. It is always a pleasure and I wish you all the best with your film career! 

Mark Steensland: Thanks!

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