Interview With Phil Hughes, Writer and Director of "The Scare Game"

I was listening to an interview with Uncle Lloyd Kaufman this morning, where he was talking about how the conglomerate's are manipulating the theatrical experience and his Troma films don't get the theatrical releases that they deserve. He went on and on about how he shoots on 35mm and how his films are meant to be seen in a theater and that's how Troma fans want to see them.

Well, I hate to disagree with Uncle Lloyd, but... I love Troma with all my heart and I think I've seen one Troma film in the theaters... and that's the original "Toxic Avenger". The interview got me thinking and, really, there's a lot to take away from his comments, but the long and short is people still don't get the DVD and home entertainment market. Like, executives of major entertainment companies still don't get it. So many people are stuck in the theatrical release system and they're trying to apply those rules to a changing DVD and home entertainment market. Further, now they're trying to apply those same rules to online distribution. The reality is, we need to create separate, individual ecosystems for each. What works theatrically is not working for home entertainment and what works for home entertainment won't necessarily work for online.

I don't have answers, but I do have ideas. Truth is, a lot of people have ideas and I love to watch the trailblazers go out there and try new things. One such trailblazer is Phil Hughes, the writer and director of "The Scare Game", a web-based horror-comedy series. The series blends horror and comedy and has great production value... the budget is low, but you really don't get that feeling. It's well put together, fun to watch and as each episode will be 7 to 10 minutes long, they're easy to consume. Personally, I'm very interested in what the future holds for web-based entertainment, so I was quite excited to have the opportunity to discuss this project with Hughes.

First off, tell us a bit about yourself. What are your influences and what got you into indie horror filmmaking?

Well the basics are that I'm male, 32, born in Albuquerque, New Mexico but I've lived in a few different places like Texas, New York, and Japan. I have two degrees- one in computer animation and graphics, the other is creative writing with a minor in photography, so I'm kind of all over the place. I'd have to say my biggest horror influence was my dad. He would rent every ridiculous horror movie under the sun from the shop and let me watch most of them and then try to scare my crap out of me. I had a fairly traumatic childhood, but it was good times. When I got into filmmaking, I started making a variety of short flicks, but most of them were comedies or dramedies with a bit of romance. When I got a little more confident with the camera, then I started to delve into genre filmmaking.

Film School: Yes or No?

No, but I've taken a lot of assorted classes that all relate to the discipline. There wasn't any stellar programs around here so I decided to broaden my abilities and continue to make movies on my own (with a good group of friends, of course).Of course, 6 1/2 years working for a movie theatre can be a hell of a film education.

You've launched a web-based series called "The Scare Game", tell us a bit about the project.

The Scare Game is a horror/comedy about this group of friends whose love of horror movies leads them down some bizarre and dangerous paths. It's hard to get too deep into it at this point. The first 6 episodes all revolve around a mystery and then the back half launch into them dealing with the mystery. I wanted to take time to develop the characters before we started getting into the heavier stuff.

Is there a particular reason you developed this for online?

It's a new medium and the rules aren't set. It's also liberating filmmaking because you can focus your time and money into other aspects of the filmmaking as opposed to worrying if it is in HD and how will project and how will afford the repeated raping of film festival costs. There aren't any specific restrictions, so we can make things as long or as short and/or as risque as we want. The shorter episode format lets me tell a serialized story that's not really intimidating to someone if they come part way through- they can catch up fairly quick.

What is your approx budget for the whole deal and how did you secure financing?

The pilot was a little over a grand and that pretty much covered food, equipment rental, and art department stuff. It all came out of our own pockets (Especially Producer Brian Austin Wenrich's). The money for the 2nd and 3rd episode was donated to us by friends who really believed in what we were doing and wanted to help get the ball rolling. We would eventually like to be ad-sponsored and things like that, but that's probably a ways off. Until then, it's beg, borrow, and steal... and then beg some more.

Talk a bit about where you see the series going and what can people expect?

I answered that a bit in one of the earlier questions. I hope that we create a fun series where people laugh, dig the characters, and then occasionally get creeped out or jump out of their chairs. As it's mapped out now, things will get darker and go into some moral gray area which might be hard for some folk, but I'm hoping they will be with the characters if/when they make decisions that aren't always the most noble. We have very specific ideas and things are mapped out, but I don't want to box myself in. If certain things evolve thematically and tonally that I wasn't expecting, then we'll roll with it.

What's your ultimate goal for the series?

We would like to have the financing to where the team could get paid to get it out there. That way, it'd be getting out on a regular basis and we could really have a steady "dialogue" with the fans. I'd like to be able to pay the rent and the people who work to make this happen and look great. It would be nice to put it out on DVD and actually have a goodly amount of people pick it up.

How are you going about promoting the series? What would you pass on to other filmmakers that are considering doing an online project?

Well our other producer/writer/actor, Jenn Daugherty, has been hard at work on a online campaign. She sent out almost 600 emails to various blog sites and newspapers (mostly college) the night we launched the episode. Plus, she was working hard to get the local media to give us some notice so we can build more support at home and then grow outward through the web. She does a lot on YouTube to meet people and find like-minded individuals and invite them to the site, facebook updates, and twitter feeds (we have a few people working on that).

My advice would be- be prepared to put in a lot of time just trying to reach out to people and get to know them. Become part of the community and hopefully that community will embrace you and lift you up. Jenn says the publicity work she does is like staring into the void, but she keeps going- bit by bit.

Is there money in a web-based series? How do you see "The Scare Game" getting monetized? Talk about online distribution versus traditional distribution

Haha. Again, I answered this a bit. Our plan is to utilize the inherit trickiness of the genre by filming full on horror (nudity, violence, and language) and then putting the edited version onto places like YouTube to try and reach the greatest audience we can, but then point back to the main site for the full, uncensored episode which would theoretically be where the ads would be. We need a few more (haha) people before people would start to consider ads for us, but we'll keep having at it. We'd love it if we could do some product placement. That would be hilarious! Online, we have the power to make decisions about how and what we release- we just don't get paid for it. We don't have to negotiate with anybody over our product; we just have to worry about bandwidth.

Talk about the indie horror scene. Where do you think it's at now and where do you see it going?

There was a brief time where a well made but SUPER cheap indie horror movie could be made and get a decent amount of money from a distributor to go into DVD and on to services like Netflix. I think that window has pretty much dried up. Indie horror has traditionally been the most accessible and profitable genre, but as with all indie film now, there is such a saturation of reasonable film equipment that everyone thinks they can make a movie. And then there are the ones that can, who are a small percentage, but in that saturated market, it turns out to be a lot of people so it's just that much harder to get noticed. As to where it's going... that's a hard one. Lower budget stuff will continue to look better and better, but it will take something truly original and mind-blowing to really break out of the pack. That being said, the web gives the hardcore fan a lot of material to peruse and that is just going to get easier and faster to find. I'm hoping that saturation will raise the bar of quality in general.

Do you have any other projects in the works?

I have a feature script that I am almost finished with and another 3 or 4 in the works, but most of my film energy is going toward The Scare Game.

How can people support "The Scare Game"?

They can go and watch it on youtube.com/thescaregame and then if they dig it and want to see the boobs, then they can roll on over to TheScareGame.com. If they like it, then they should get a few friends to see it. If they don't like it, still get a friend to see it. AND if they REALLY like it, then they can donate some change on the main site. Plus, we're a small operation so we don't need big companies to help sponsor us so we're always down for getting the word out to smaller companies and boutiques trying to get their wares out to the people. That helps everyone.

Interview with John Birmingham, writer/director of "Crazy Animal"

I'll admit that I grew up on Troma films. Well, I grew up on a lot of films, but Troma was definitely a huge influence. I remember rushing out to rent "The Toxic Avenger", "Class of Nuke 'Em High", "Surf Nazi's Must Die", "Troma's War" and on and on... I mean, Toxie and his buddy's were classics. What card carrying fan of indie horror doesn't know "The Toxic Avenger"? Do you remember "The Toxic Avenger" animated series? I do... I even own a copy of Lloyd's book, "Make Your Own Damn Movie" and the film that was spawned by it, "Terror Firmer". Yes, right here, right now. I'll say it. I'm proud to say I am a fan of Troma.

Troma was formed in 1974 by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz and, if you've ever watched a Troma film, you'd know that because I think they've used the same low-budget opening since then. Now, although they were formed in 1974, they really didn't become the Troma that you and I know until they came out with "The Toxic Avenger" in 1984. Prior to that, they were pumping out raunchy sex comedies like "The First Turn On" and "Squeeze Play". Troma had a few bombs and some troubled financial times, but in the last few years, they've redefined themselves and they're back in a good place. Recently, they've come out with "Poultryguiest: Night of the Chicken Dead", they do the Tromadance Festival every year, they're making "The Toxic Avenger" into a Broadway musical and Lloyd's in so many low-budget horror movies, it's impossible to count... in fact, he's also in the film that we're about to discuss, "Crazy Animal", which is actually being released by Troma.

"Crazy Animal" is written and directed by John Birmingham and he, too, was obviously raised on Troma. Like I said in the last paragraph, Lloyd Kaufman, himself, actually makes a cameo in the film, along with Ron Jeremy and Brinke Stevens. The film embodies everything that you'd expect from a quality Troma film; it has lots of boobs, it has some gore, some musical scenes, some scenes that will make you a little uncomfortable and it also has a great story, great acting and it's really well put together. If you're into classic Troma films (and if you're into indie horror, chances are you are), you'll thoroughly enjoy "Crazy Animal". We had the chance to discuss the film with John Birmingham, the writer and director...

First off, tell us a bit about yourself. What are your influences and what got you into indie filmmaking?

My influences were not necessarily film or movies. I was influenced by the great artists like Dali and philosophers like Aristotle and Plato and maybe very deep, articulate writers, when I was starting into college (community college, albeit, but...). And earlier I was always into music, rock stars and stuff, Jane's Addiction, Glenn Danzig and punk and stuff growing up, and even classical like Mozart or Tchaikovsky, really brilliant stuff. I played guitar, drums and more recently got into singing and acting, so that is what I want to do with my movies, make a true work of art, a timeless work of art that says something or has a message. Not necessarily a big movie fan, but some movies are brilliant, and I love the work of any good filmmaker, more especially Peter Medak, Stanley Kubrick, ones who still hang onto a real side of life, not a censored version, because life gets real, it gets out of hand and crazy, and I feel it should not be censored for the screen, if there is sex, it should show something (as long as it is not gratuitous, lol).

Film School: Yes or No?

Yeah, I made this as my graduate thesis film at Chapman University. I was privileged to go there. Schwarzeneggar, Spielberg, plenty of these types were on campus while I was attending back in about 2004/2005. The school is well connected, a dreamlike, amazing unparallelled experience going there, it was a real film school by every definition, and I got in while I was still relatively young, so I would suggest going if you can...

Where did you get the idea for "Crazy Animal"?

I wanted to play a glam rocker, really become one, so I put a lot of validation behind why I was a glam rocker, using that as a guise to reel in unsuspecting young white males who typically idolize rockers at some point in their lives... once they are fascinated by my character, I tie them up against their will to sing to them cheesy glam rock ballads to get them to confess to their crimes... haha... I tried to make it meaningful as possible but at the same time funny and an overall fun, entertaining experience.

What was the approx budget and how did you secure financing?

Wow, that is a tough one... I will just be truthful here... I was making this movie in L.A. and it was done legit with permits and everything, paid the actors, even shot some of it in Panavision 35mm (albeit I ran out of money and had to shoot some by myself with my own DV camera)... but every semester I was on partial scholarship and I would get I think $8000 or $4000 cash, can't remember, and all of it went to the budget of the movie. The rest I got my mom who was a real estate agent to give me chunks of a few thousand at a time... she really put herself out for me, and she will never do it again. She loves me a lot, but it sort of drained her a bit and I can never do that again (my next movie I funded through my own hard earned money....) but this one was like half me, half my mom... it was about $80,000.

What did you shoot on and how long was the shoot?

We shot using a Panasonic DVX-100 camera in 24p mode for most of it. And also some on some sort of Panavision 35mm motion picture camera, real movie film. The shoot was on and off for like a year, we'd shoot a few days at a time, and all the actors had to come back in their same clothes and hairstyles, haha.

The story was surprisingly in-depth, something you rarely see in an indie comedy/horror. Talk about the screenwriting process and how you put the story together.

I just took a long time and wrote the script out as best I could. At one point, since I was trying to get in acting mode, I tried to hire a writer to write it for me, but he was sort of out there and came up with a 400 page screenplay (equates to 400 minutes), so I had to fire him before he got paid, unfortunately, he didn't know what he was doing at all. It is sad, but somewhere out there is a long 400 page manuscript of jibber jabber called "Crazy Animal"

I was also surprised at how well defined and believable the characters were… there were some veteran actors in the film, including: Lloyd Kaufman, Ron Jeremy and Brinke Stevens. However, most were amateurs and you got great performances out of them. Talk about your directing style.

Well, yeah, I guess you could call them amateurs, but one of them was a former Miss Norway, placed 11th in the Miss Universe pageant, Lene Pedersen, and some of the others have landed sizable roles on tv shows recently, like beautiful model Maria Zyrianova and the african american girl Anise Fuller, and the kid in the movie who played Henry has done a lot of national commercials. They were all L.A. actors with different levels of experience.

My directing style was really just letting them read the lines and be emotional and if something seemed off then call them on it. Really, there is not much to directing, its a lot of fun, its a matter of getting to be able to direct something and hiring all those other crew members to allow you to be the director... on this tiny budget, I was doing Production Design and basically everything, physically producing it all, crazy by Hollywood standards, they would have shot this for 6 million at least. But really, Directing is a lot of fun, I have been studying it and doing it, filmmaking full time for over 11 years.

Talk about being both a major role in the film, plus directing. How did you juggle that?

That was really tricky on such a low budget. But I learned how to do it and did it on my second movie too, The Vampires of Zanzibar (ZanzibarMovie.com), just finished editing it all myself. The hardest part I would say is getting time to memorize lines and then keeping in shape while you are physically producing the thing running around wearing all these hats.... if it is just directing and starring in something together, no big deal, I have that down... but what made it crazy was that on such a low budget I had to like arrange everything else, I was the only producer of the whole thing and doing set design and stuff a little in between it all, it was a little too munch, which is why I can't do that crap again... our next movie is hirer budget, my third feature film, we are figuring out ways to get investors now, which is the proper way to make a feature film and to really make a valuable product, I believe. But you have to start somewhere, which is why I made movies without a few hundred thousand or a couple of million dollars at that point.

One of the things that I found very interesting was the very serious topic of rape being juxtaposed into comedy. Castration, murder and even cannibalism can work well in horror/comedy, but rape can get sensitive. I'm just wondering if you thought about that or if it was done on purpose. Then again, Troma is an obvious influence and for Troma, nothing is too sensitive!

Yeah, that was my view that maybe the juxtaposition was a little harsh, but that was an afterthought... I originally figured... hey, when they mix killing and blood and boobs all together and comedy in movies frequently in horror movies, it is almost standard, I figured tackling the issue of rape was the same sort of thing, but a couple of people have said it may be too harsh. just two people, you and one other person mentioned it in an imdb comment. But for Troma, you are right, if you see Poultrygeist you will see that nothing is too harsh for them it seems... I mean, it gets literally scatalogical in Poultrygeist, like, feces flying all over the walls, coating the walls like buckets of diarrhea... I thought it was too much myself... but they have a message in that as well, so I think Crazy Animal is the perfect DVD release with Troma cause it is like another Poultrygeist without the feces, chickens and extras.

Music was another big thing in the film and it worked well, especially with your character, Ricky. Talk about creating music for film and the process involved.

Ummm, I just wrote some songs and played all the music, recorded my voice and mixed it and produced the music all myself. I have played music since childhood, so it is something I have always wanted to do... so it was a pretty fun experience... it just gets difficult on a budget cause you have to do it all yourself. Like, I had to physically mix it all myself, every little detail of the sound and sound design and everything on that movie. Which is why I am taking a long time away from that to concentrate now on just acting and music, my real ambition now, moreover music...

Tell us about some of the hurdles you overcame to get the film done. Any advice you can pass on to other indie filmmakers who might be just setting out to make a film.

It was hard to do as being just a student, but a great learning experience and getting used to acting and filmmaking at the same time. I learned a lot. I learned to always have a monitor on set (even a simple TV), then you can be in front of camera, even operate camera if you want to or had to.

Did you enter "Crazy Animal" into any of the festivals? If so, how did it do and is the festival circuit something that every indie horror filmmaker should consider doing?

I just got into a couple of festivals, Tromadance 2006 in the Secret Screenings section and this one in Virginia right in my town. So, no, I didn't think it was a festival type of film, but my new one I am going the festival route for sure... I think if it is horror, you should for sure go to horror festivals if you have a decent product... try to win some awards, distributors will really, really take you more seriously with awards.

Tell us about the process of finding distribution. How did that go and what insight could you pass on to other filmmakers who are looking for distribution?

I wrote to every distributor in existence, some gave offers, but no money upfront, like Troma did. I went with them because I figured they were the best match for the movie. The best thing to do is to have a major screening in L.A. and invite distributors or sales reps to it, try to have something fun for them to go to, instead of watching it on a tiny screen, no fun in that and the movie usually looks worse small, or creates a smaller impression.

Where can people find out more about "Crazy Animal" or, better yet, buy a copy?

You can buy it at Amazon.com and maybe other stores soon... it is available to buy now at Amazon, but release date is officially March 31, 2009.

Talk about the indie horror genre and indie filmmaking. Where do you feel it is now and where do you see it going?

I think someone create something truly amazing if they take the time to first of all make a brilliant, brilliant script... I tried my best with Crazy Animal, but don't feel it was an Oscar worthy type of script or a really deep, deep, cool ultimate cool script that changed the world for the better a bit, which is what I want to write in the future. And I think if you have a taste of real greatness in your indie movie in the script first of all, then you have a chance at better things. If you consistently make great, genius product that not many others can provide, you will find a lot of money and work in Hollywood, the studios will hire you themselves to make your movies if you prove yourself like the guy did with Cabin Fever for example. Just get a decent budget together, and moreover the script.

What's next for you? Do you have any projects in the works?

Yeah, my third feature film, a secret subject matter... gay comedy... but funny for everybody, by no mean a "gay" movie... and my second movie I just finished all post production, its a vampire comedy, The Vampires of Zanzibar. Look it up, the trailer is up on Myspace and on the website, it is truly a great product. Thanks!!!!

New Horror Out On DVD This Week, including the first must-see Troma film in years...

It's the week leading up to Halloween and, of course, there's tons of crap being rereleased this week. However, if you trim the fat, there's a bunch of wicked indie horror films coming out this week, including Troma's latest "Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead", which is an absolute must see. Anyhow, if you're looking to buy the films, please do us a favor and click on the titles and buy them off Amazon, through us. Also, as usual, you can go to our Youtube page and check out all the trailers.

So, if you're a regular reader of the site, chances are you know all about Troma and Lloyd Kaufman. Hell, if you're a regular reader, there's a distinct possibility that you've met Lloyd Kaufman. I believe the story goes something like this... The storied indie studio, Troma, was on the verge of bankruptcy and Lloyd dumped everything he had into this film, banking on it to save him. And, in fact, today's released "Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead", did just that. It's being hailed as 'the best film Troma's ever produced, and certainly Lloyd Kaufman's most accomplished'. Now, that's saying a lot... but, I gotta say, it's true! It's a musical horror-comedy and I'm not going to get into the plot, as it's classic Troma. However, I will offer up that it poses the question, "Will Arbie and his friends be able to survive the wrath of the chicken-Indian zombies?" The reviews really are good and when it made its New York City premiere on May 9th, 2008, it had the second highest per-screen average ticket sales of the week in the city, doubling the per-screen averages of competitor "Speed Racer", but coming in just short of "Iron Man". What else can I say? You gotta see it to believe it...

"13 Hours in a Warehouse", written and directed by Dav Kaufman, won the gold award for best Fantasy/Horror film at WorldFest Houston. There's a definite nod to "Reservoir Dogs", as it's about 5 criminals that are holed up in a warehouse with a hostage and there's plenty of shit-talking, back stabbing and witty banter. However, the twist here is that the warehouse is haunted. For a low-budget indie horror, Kaufman does a great job. They create some great effects, they do a decent job on the acting and it's shot really, really professionally. I just saw it over the weekend and I'm really intrigued as to the budget and how they made it, so I may be looking further into this one...

I'm not sure I should call "Zombie Strippers" a 'highly anticipated' film, but a lot of people have been waiting for it. Seriously, how can you not be interested? It stars Robert Englund, Jenna Jameson, her boyfriend, Tito Ortiz AND it's about strippers who turn into zombies. It's written and directed by Jay Lee, who also wrote and directed "The Slaughter" from a few years back... Believe it or not, "Zombie Strippers" was actually based on the French existential Theatre of the Absurd play "Rhinoceros" by Eugene Ionesco... However, the reviews have been less than positive, but that could just be what happens when mainstream critics get to watch camp films. I mean, Richard Roeper of Ebert & Roeper checked it out and said that "it doesn't work as low budget crap". My response to that would be, how much "low budget crap" has he really seen? I've seen a lot and I have to say, you don't know low-budget crap, so don't talk about low budget crap... in fact, stay out of low budget crap, 'cause you don't understand low budget crap. Anyhow, I haven't seen it yet, but how bad could a film with Jenna Jameson about strippers and zombies be? Really?

I'm a big fan of 'out of the box' projects where people try something new and different... "Slumber Party Slaughterhouse: The DVD Game" definitely fits the bill. There is a story to it, but it's basically an interactive, indie horror game. I'll save you the whole Paul Tard getting electrocuted in the bathtub while watching internet porn backstory, to get to the part where he sells his soul to a demon in exchange for the power to take revenge on his former friends. His power comes from YOU answering slasher movie trivia questions that the demon asks. It's a cool project and it comes from indie horror label, Halo-8 films. The game stars a bunch of indie horror scream queens, including: Tiffany Shepis, Joanna Angel, Melissa Bacelar, Katie Nisa and Masuimi Max and was directed by various Halo-8 films directors, including: Matt Pizzolo, Doug Sakmann, Ramzi Abed, Kurly Tlapoyawa and Joanna Angel.

"Weird Tale Collection, Vol. 1: The Yellow Sign and Others" is a bunch of adaptations of horror author, Robert W. Chambers', work, including Aaron Vanek's award winning short feature film inspired by the short story, "The Yellow Sign". I can't say I know much more than that, as I've never heard of Robert W. Chambers OR Aaron Vanek... but that doesn't mean much, there's lots of people that I've never heard of. Anyhow, it's released by Microcinema and it's very indie horror, which is enough for me to mention it.

"Bikini Bloodbath Carwash" is, obviously, the sequel to "Bikini Bloodbath", both of which were directed by Jonathan Gorman and Thomas Edward Seymour and revolve around girls in bikini's and a maniac chef. I've seen "Bikini Bloodbath" and, it's exactly what you think it is... micro-cinema horror with lots of blood, guts and girls in bikini's... and a maniac chef. I can only assume that this sequel and the upcoming 3rd installment, "Bikini Bloodbath Christmas", will be more of the same.

I'm not really a huge H.P. Lovecraft fan... and I don't mean to say that I'm anti-Lovecraft, I just really don't know that much about him. So, as there is yet another collection coming out based on his works, "The H.P. Lovecraft Collection, Vol. 5: Strange Aeons", I'll take this opportunity to find out a bit about him, for both my sake and yours. So, let's see... he was born in 1890 and died in 1937 at the ripe old age of 47. He was an author of horror, fantasy and sci-fi, which was just known as 'weird fiction', at the time. His major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror, which was basically the idea that life is incomprehensible to human minds and that the universe is fundamentally alien. His "Cthulhu Mythos", as well as his "Necronomicon" series, gained him a huge cult following. However, his readership was quite limited during his life and his reputation has grown since his death and he is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th century, frequently being compared to Edgar Allan Poe. Most current masters of horror, including Clive Barker, Stephen King, John Carpenter, Stuart Gordon, etc consider him a major influence and his work can be found in everything from TV, to films, to video games... so, if you're into the horror history, check out this collection and other collections on him.

Unfortunately, I'm running out of time here, but I wanted to quickly touch on a couple of films that are also coming out this week. There's "Shiver", a Spanish film from Isidro Ortiz and the producers of "Pans Labyrinth"... and the indie horror, "Cannibal Taboo" from Mike Tristano. Sorry, I gotta get going and I don't have time to look into them, even though they both look pretty good!