Interview by Eve Blaack
with Guests Dante Tomaselli and Tim Naylor

HORROR Best Cinematography: NYC Horror Film Festival
Written, Directed, and Produced by Dante Tomaselli
Edited by Marcus Bonilla
Director of Photography - Tim Naylor

Reverend Salo - The Amazing Kreskin
Grace - Lizzy Mahon
Luck - Danny Lopes
Reverend Salo Jr. - Vincent Lamberti
Art Therapist - Felissa Rose
---------------------------------------------------------------

Eve: What do you think were some of the factors that helped "Horror" win?

Dante: Due to the fact that I like to pack each frame with detail and make the shot look like a painting, my cinematographers have always told me that they've done their absolute best work on my films. Every time. I think I allow a certain freedom...and instill a lot of confidence in my DPs. I really want the cinematography in all my films to shine and I make sure that the cinematographer understands the picture quality has to be top-notch. That pressure is always there. Tim Naylor was the ultimate. Hands down, he's the best DP I've ever worked with. He and I got into a real groove shooting HORROR...it was almost hypnotic...like sometimes we didn't need words. We just knew. It seemed like the script was running through his veins. There were never any awkward debates, really...and there could have been. We were always charging ahead...It was a surprisingly smooth shoot and I attribute a lot of that to Tim's professionalism. We plan to reunite on my next film, SATAN'S PLAYGROUND.

Tim: One thing I feel compelled to mention is that the crew in Horror made much of its success possible. I feel one of the reasons is that working in NYC we rarely get a chance to work on Horror films and also that Dante insisted on no CG. That means what happens on set is how it's going to be. That makes any crew buck up. Also, the production staff headed by Anthony Vorhies had the ability to make a dollar out of fifteen cents and still keep us well fed. In any case, working with Dante and the crew on Horror was excellent. The schedule was tight, but that allowed enough money to hire excellent crew from Andre Lascaris (Gaffer), Brent Poleski (Key Grip), to Manuel Billeter (1st AC), and many more. In all, I can't wait to work with Dante and the gang again.

Eve: When the film was accepted into the festival, did you think you had a chance up against the competition?

Dante: Yes. Even though I never saw any of the other films -- my gut told me from the very start that HORROR would win Best Cinematography. I mean -- the cinematography in HORROR is really beautiful especially when you consider the film's low budget and the fact that it was shot on Super 16 mm. I'm very proud of Tim.



Tim: When the film got accepted, I was quite excited. I have never seen the movie in front of an audience. Filmmaking is fun, but at the end of the day it means nothing unless you screen it before a crowd. Screening is everything we work for. I hate it when I hear filmmakers say, "Oh, I can't bear to watch it screen....". You hear this crap all the time. Why the hell did you make the movie in the first place if screening is unbearable? To me it's the moment of truth. You can blather on about what the film means to you, etc, but an audience's reaction says a lot more. Our Line Producer, Anthony Vorhies, called to congratulate me. I was finishing up teaching a class at the New York Film Academy when he called. At first I thought he must be joking since no one had told me. Winning best Cinematography is a huge honor, especially, in a horror film festival. Horror films by their nature depend considerably on visual interpretation, mood and metaphor. It is the one genre, I feel works better on film than any other. So to win best cinematography, tells me that the visual collaboration with Dante was effective.

Dante: It was.

Eve: Tim, how did you wind up working on this film with Dante?

Tim: I got involved by answering a crew call in the "Independent Film Monitor" -- me and countless others. I think what sold Dante was my genuine passion for horror films. We both knew and loved many of the same movies (i.e., Audrey Rose, Don't Look Now, Mask of the Red Death, the Sentinel....) that, sad to say, many of today's kids have no clue about. We also, believe that straight up horror is a genre that is being neglected or not taken seriously and that the 70's were a golden era for well told scary films. The fact we both cared for many of the same movies made referencing much easier. What I find most interesting is that many critics cite Argento as a primary influence to Dante. However, based on our prep work, much of the aesthetic inspiration came from numerous sources, many from the gothic horror from the early to late 70's.

Eve: I seem to be reading a lot about "Horror" these days in the web. It pops up a lot. Are you surprised at the attention the film is getting?

Tim: No, not really. There's a hunger out there for psychological horror that isn't cute or satirical. Sometimes we just want a good old-fashioned scare without all the postmodern BS. I hope that Dante's film ushers in a return to the basics of horror - scare the crap out of me then make me feel good to be alive. For quite some time, horror, as a genre has watered down the scares. I believe much of this has to do with the shift of indies now doing all the "serious minded" films rather than the exploitation B films of yore. Now indies are nothing but tame dramas about family problems, or romantic comedies about hip people in NY who blather on about not getting laid, blah, blah or the politically correct drama - you know the Indian Lesbian who was Abused by the Alcoholic Father Involved in an Interracial Relationship with a Handicapped Dwarf movie. Hollywood took over horror films and indies lost their balls. Horror films by Hollywood play it too safe. Perhaps they're worried about lawsuits for scaring people to death. Dante is not.

Dante: I am definitely surprised...but it's tricky. Just when I'm feeling secure, I'll go to a message board and there's some horrible thing written about me. I mean something really really over-the-top. Did an enemy write that or just somebody who really hates my films? I have no idea.Then I'll read something so nice and I'll totally doubt it. I'll just focus on the negative. What should I believe, you know? The web is a double-edged sword. I just have to listen to my inner voice. I mean...I'll read a review saying that I'm the future of horror, a good filmmaker, blah blah, and then in the next instant I'm told, usually on a message board or something, that I am the worst director in the entire world and that I should burn in hell. So you have to tread lightly over this Internet stuff -- it can be really deceptive. Overall I'm thrilled that I'm getting any attention at all. As a lifelong horror film fan, it's an incredible honor to have my first two horror films being distributed and being talked about. Many independent films don't find distribution at all. I'm on a mission. I'm here; I've been put here -- to transcribe my images. I've had them with me for as long as I can remember and they need to come out. I need to get these pictures and sounds out of my mind.

Eve: Do you have the exact release date yet from Elite on the DVD? And what extras do you have planned for it?

Dante: I don't have an exact date yet, but it should be out some time in April. As far as extras go, I know there will be a 10-minute Behind-the-Scenes piece...it will give you a feel for how the production ran. Also a mini-documentary, 14 minutes, on Kreskin conditioning subjects before hypnotizing them. What else? An extended 5-minute HORROR trailer. I'll do an audio commentary track. There will be a HORROR still gallery. There may be a never-seen-before clip of my short film, Desecration.

Eve: Felissa Rose plays a part in the film. I met her in NYC. She was super sweet. What was it like to work with her?

Dante: Felissa's a doll. I was just talking to her on the phone minutes ago. What was it like working with her? Magical. Really. I was moved by her genuinely bizarre performance in Sleepaway Camp. The movie was okay -- but she was a knockout. I saw it when I was 13 - in 83. To be working with her all these years later is really special. We were tingly on the set of HORROR. I remember that day clearly -- in the Bronx, at a health care facility...it was like we were on ecstasy or something -- all goodness and light and warmth. Everything flowed. In HORROR, she was playing an angel of death, which I thought was so appropriate after her role in Sleepaway Camp. There was definitely a feeling of destiny at play when we were working together.

Eve: Dante, How do you see yourself in ten years?

Dante: Well, I'm 33 now -- so when I'm 43? I'm sure I will be making horror movies. Low budget or big budget -- doesn't matter...I'll be making them.

Eve: Tim what are your plans now?

Tim: My immediate future is up in the air. I teach filmmaking at the New York Film Academy and free-lance as a DP. However, I am trying to shift my efforts towards directing. I will still DP on projects I believe in. And I am always up to shoot horror films. What can I say, they're fun to shoot. Currently, I am a directing finalist for Project Greenlight's directing contest. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Eve: What other pictures and sounds will you be sharing with horror fans besides your current project?

Dante: All sorts of things...I see and hear earthquakes, people being buried under rocks, supernatural riptides, gulping for breath underwater, armies of bloodthirsty crabs on a beach, quicksand, out-of-body-experiences, astral projection, seances, telekinesis, automatic writing, E.S.P....I've always wanted to do a movie about a religious character with stigmata; it doesn't matter that one already came out -- mine would be very, very different...I'd like to do a haunted house film with a team of parapsychologists investigating...I want to do a vampire movie. Also a film on The Evil Eye...superstitions, there are all kinds of curses...surely a period piece, a Salem Witch Trial horror movie. I want to explore every aspect of the occult, the unknown, the unexplained...I definitely want to do an Ouija Board horror movie at some point....

Eve: Do you have plans to go out of the horror genre?

Dante: No. My passion is in conjuring horror imagery. I really just want to stay here in this genre. And I don't think that's limiting to state that. There's really so much to explore. Sure, you can say that everything's been done before -- but that's not true -- it depends on the way you do it. With my films, the substance is in the style. I'm a visualist. I want the audience to taste color and touch sound.

Tim: As long as I am involved with filmmaking, I plan to work in horror films. To me it's one of the four great genres: Tragedy, Comedy, Romance and Horror. Its effectiveness lies in its visceral metaphors for the human condition - from Beowulf to Shelley's Frankenstein to Poe and so on. Since man has had bad dreams there have been horror stories. How could I be a lover of such great tradition and deny myself involvement in horror stories?

Eve: Both of you are going to work on Satan's Playground. Do you think this will develop into you two working on many projects together?

Dante: Yes. As long as the passion is still there. I'm just gonna let this unfold naturally and see what feels right from film to film. It's all about passion. Both of us have to be equally excited about the film and working with each other on the film or the chemistry won't work.

Tim: I believe working with a DP is a collaboration that if fortunes allow can develop over time into something special. Scorcese and Balhaus, Wong Kar Wei and Doyle, Woody Allen and Carlo Depalma are some of the contemporary great director / DP collaborations. On the other hand, I understand that sometimes it's good for both DP and director to work with other people. Sometimes, you are not right for a particular job, and great for others. I believe so long as Dante and I present each other with creative challenges and attack them with the passion we had for Horror, we'll continue to make more films together.

Eve: Would either of you change anything about the film looking back on it?

Dante: I would have liked to have had one more week of shooting. We shot 18 days. I think maybe I could have fleshed out the film more. I mean, HORROR is filled with a lot of loose ends purposely. I wanted it vague, ambiguous, trancelike...But the relationships -- the characterizations - I could have done more layering if I had more time. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it...I guess as happy as I can be with a film that was made for only $250, 000. Someone has to give me a larger budget now. Come on!

Eve: Dante your cousin Alfred Sole, directed and co-wrote the horror classic, ALICE, SWEET ALICE (1978). Has talent always run the family? Was he a mentor for you?

Dante: Thanks. There is something in the family blood -- something very weird and disturbing (laughs). Alice, Sweet Alice made its debut in November 76 in Paterson, NJ. It was originally called Communion. I was only like seven years old. Little Brooke Shields and her Mom were there...all my relatives were there...some of them were even extras in the film...I wasn't allowed to go, guess I was too young...The movie was re-released in 1978 with the new title, Alice, Sweet, Alice. But I saw the film on VHS when I was 10 in 1980, you know when VCRs were brand new...and I was obsessed. I still am. Growing up, the film was a staple in our household and I've seen it probably more than a million times. What's so great about Alice, Sweet Alice is that it's elusive -- no matter how many times you watch it -- you can always find something new, some new detail. It's a very mysterious film and I'm still not sure I fully understand it. I always drew mazes and enjoyed puzzles. I am influenced by my cousin yes -- at the same time I'm just being me. There's something definitely in the family blood. Talent or...wickedness (laughs). I don't know. If nothing else, we sure share some strange macabre visions.

Eve: Dante, you seem to have a lot of Italian influences in your films.

Dante: It's really interesting Eve, but I'm not influenced by Italian Horror at all. It's the biggest misconception. I really didn't grow up on those films. I saw Suspiria when I was in my twenties. By that time, I was already making films. I did see Lucio Fulci's Gates of Hell in theaters when I was 17. But that's about it. I'm mostly influenced by 60s, 70's and early 80's horror films like Halloween, The Omen, Don' t Look Now, Rosemary's Baby, Carrie, The Hills Have Eyes, The Evil Dead, The Brood, Let's Scare Jessica to Death, Night of the Living Dead, The Fog, Creepshow, Texas Chainsaw Massacre. There are so many others: Theater of Blood, The Shining, Friday the 13th, The Masque of the Red Death, Invasion of the Body Snatches (78), The Sender, The Sentinel...Italian horror films are wonderful, but it's only recently that I've been getting into them. If it seems like my films share characteristics with Italian horror films it's probably just because I'm Italian American. Something in the blood again.

Eve: I want to thank both of your for a great film and your time. I look forward to Satan's Playground and all your future projects.

Tim: Thank you. I hope this is the first of many more interviews to come.

Dante: Thank you. This was fun. The new film will star Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Ellen Sandweiss (The Evil Dead) and Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes). In essence, it's a monster movie. I don't want to give away too much right now, but here's the synopsis I'm putting out: SATAN'S PLAYGROUND is a supernatural shocker chronicling a family's spine-tingling odyssey in New Jersey's legendary Pine Barrens region. En route to a wilderness camping retreat, their car inexplicably breaks down. As darkness falls, panic sets in. Then the marooned family stumbles upon an ancient and seemingly abandoned house. And it is here that they meet the bizarre Mrs. Leeds, who lives there with her equally unhinged children. Offering no assistance, she warns of a violent, unseen force lurking in the forbidding countryside. Soon, the family will encounter a supernatural evil older than the woods themselves. SATAN'S PLAYGROUND...a place where deadly myth becomes gruesome reality.

--The Hacker's Source: Gateway to Independent Horror






 <- HOME