Actor-producer Demetrius Stear and I recently had a conversation about his role in the upcoming supernatural thriller The Domicile and more. Stear is a busy man between his acting career and the projects he is producing.
The Kentucky native spent several years in the US Army before beginning his career in film which is heading in a great direction.
Stear has appeared in films like The Domicile which is now out on VOD and DVD, Death Pool, Buddy Hutchins, Little Red Rotting Hood (on Netflix now), 12/12/12, and Sorority Sister Slaughter. He’s also had roles in series like ‘Comedy Bang! Bang!’, ‘Deadly Wives’, and ‘Unusual Suspects’.
Stear in Buddy Hutchins
Horror fuel: “How did you go from being in the Army to being an actor?”
Stear: “I’ve wanted to be an actor since I was a kid. I just really didn’t have the confidence or the road map to do it. I come from a small town in Kentucky, so there really wasn’t a way to study the craft, the business of filmmaking. After college, I joined the military and once my time was up in the military I decided to give it a shot. I just went all in.”
Horror Fuel: “I know how that small town life can be. I’m from a tiny town in Georgia whose name nobody has ever heard of.”
Stear: “Where in Georgia? I was stationed there at Fort Stewert in Hinesville, near Savannah.”
Horror Fuel: “I’m 2 1/2 hours from Atlanta and 2 1/2 hours from Savannah, smack in the middle.”
Stear: “Oh, cool. Georgia is awesome. I’ve had some good times there.”
Horror Fuel: “What made you want to become an actor?’
Stear: “I was a kid and movies were like my babysitter. When I was a kid, 7 or 8 years-old, my parents had both gone to work and they were my babysitter. I just got infatuated with them. They were like an escape from reality, you know. I wanted to become the characters that I saw on the big screen. I thought they were fascinating. As time went on I became more engaged with them and became a big movie buff. I wanted to learn the insides and outs of the movie and how to make magic.”
Horror Fuel: “We are glad you did.”
Horror Fuel: “A lot of your roles are in horror films, is that on purpose or does it just happen that way?”
Stear: “It kind of just happens that way. I am a big fan of horror, especially growing up. I love all the greats like John Carpenter, Dario Argento, all the greats. But it just kind of happened that way. Moving forward, I would like to, I’m not saying I don’t want to do any more horror films of anything like that, but I would like to branch out and do more crime drama, some action, maybe some family films as well.”
Horror Fuel: “Crime dramas are big these days. I love them.”
Stear: “Yeah, that’s actually my favorite genre. My favorites, where I’ve found inspiration, are Michael Mann, Tarantino, Brian De Palma, those directors have really inspired me.”
Horror Fuel: “They are all great filmmakers. I’m a big fan of true crime too.”
Stear: “Yeah, that’s a great genre that really needs to be brought back. The old school crime dramas like ‘Heat’, ‘Scarface’, ‘The Untouchables’. Those are all great movies.”
Horror Fuel: “Since you brought up ‘Scarface’, how do you feel about it being remade?”
Stear: “I don’t like it. Some things are better left untouched. I think that film is a masterpiece as it is. What’s left to improve? That film, even though it was made in the 80’s, doesn’t feel dated. I just feel like it couldn’t get any better to be honest with you. It is a masterpiece.”
Horror Fuel: “I agree completely. Some things should just be off limits.”
Horror Fuel: “Your most recent role is as “David” in the upcoming film ‘The Domicile’. Can you tell us about your character?”
Stear: “Yeah, sure. ‘Domicile’ is about this guy named Russell. He’s a successful playwrite, but the last 10 years have been off. He’s writing his opus and he’s trying to get his career back on track. I’m like his best friend and apprentice. I’m trying to help him write the play. I go along with him trying to help. In the middle of that, I find out about his infidelity. I’m kind of living vicariously through Russel who is in a relationship that I want to be out of. I’m watching him go through this situation with this knock out beauty who was one of his former actresses. I get him to take the bait. While he’s doing that I’m living vicariously through him. I would say David is his best friend.”
Horror Fuel:”With the film being supernatural/paranormal, did you ever get spooked on the set?”
Stear: “Here’s a really cool story. It was day two or three, some of the equipment went out. We were filming at this house in Pasadena, California. It’s an old house. It was built in maybe 1910. We were filming and the power went out and all the cameras got fried right in the middle of a scene. We had to cut the day short because of the electrical problems. We were doing a scene for this supernatural movie and then all of a sudden we have this camera. It shut off and we’re trying to figure out what is going on and probably two minutes later the whole house goes dark. We are sitting there like ‘This is really creepy.’ Like, did someone say a blessing before we came into this house? [laughter]’ The cool thing about that house is that it was built in the early 1900’s. There was a lot of energy in that house. You could feel it in the walls. The house had been passed down generation after generation. It wasn’t a scary feeling, but you could feel the energy there.”
Horror Fuel: “That does sound creepy.”
Horror Fuel: “What kind of feedback are you getting now that ‘Domicile’ is out?
Stear: “People like it. It’s an homage to the supernatural films of the 80s and 90s. There has been a lot of good feedback. A lot of people like Samantha. She did an incredible job in the film. A lot of people fell in love with her character.”
Horror Fuel: “Awesome!”
Horror Fuel: “What was your favorite part of filming the movie?”
Stear: “Anytime you are making a movie it is a pretty cool, chaotic experience. Just the overall fact that I’m doing what I love, building something. There were a lot of cool actors that I got to work with. I got to work with Sara Malakul Lane again who is a really good friend of mine. Anytime you are going to work with people like that it’s always a pleasure.”
Horror Fuel: “If you had to, could you describe ‘The Domicile’ in one word?”
Stears: “Chilling.”
Horror Fuel: “Good word.”
Horror Fuel: What was it like on the set of ‘Little Red Rotting Hood’?”
Stear: “That was an interesting shoot. I think it’s on Netflix now. It was interesting because when I shot my scene we had a real wolf on set and they brought some dogs in. I hate to give out a spoiler here but I get mauled by a pack of wolves. I actually did all my own stunts. It was really cool. It was frightening at the beginning but I was in good hands. Sometimes you just got to get in there and do the dirty work yourself. The brought in the wolf and cut the scenes with the dogs. I got in there and rolled around with them. It was grueling. I think we shot that, I was on for two days, but it took all day to shoot that. You don’t realize how strong these dogs are. They actually put a little bit of food and doggy treats in some of the prosthetics I had to wear. When they are on top of you, you feel it. In the scene, I am only fighting them for about thirty seconds. After those thirty seconds, I felt like I had done a full body work out. It was a cool experience, something I will more than likely never have the chance to experience again.”
Horror Fuel: “I know that feeling you are talking about, one of my dogs weighs in 147lbs. He’s a lot bigger than me.”
Stear: “That’s a big dog. I’m a grown man. I’m pretty physically fit. But they don’t give up. When they are on the attack, they don’t give up especially when food is involved. I can only imagine, god forbid, how bad being attacked by a pack of wolves or a pack of dogs would be. Oh man, yeah.”
Horror Fuel: “Are you working on any projects now?”
Stear: “Actually, I just finished shooting a film called ‘Halloween Pussytrap Kill! Kill!’. It’s a horror film in the vein of ‘Saw’ meets ‘Faster Pussycat’. It will be released nationwide theatrically (I’m assuming) this October. That was a lot of fun. I shot that with Cleopatra Entertainment. Richard Grieco was part of it. Dave Mustaine from Metallica is in it. We had a good time shooting it.
On the production side, I have a couple of projects developing right now. One is a film based on the graphic novel ‘Gomers’ by Chuck Dixon. Dixon created the comic book character, Bane. I’m developing that. It’s an apocalyptic zombie feature film. You can compare it to ‘Harold and Kumar’ meets ‘Zombieland’. We just finished the script on that.
There are a couple of other crime drama screenplays we are working on right now. But I’m not at liberty to discuss them at this point.
Horror Fuel: “Are you co-writing ‘Gomers’?”
Stear: ” No, I’m just producing it.”
Horror Fuel: “Will you be starring in it as well?”
Stear: “No, not at this point.”
Horror Fuel: “Still, that’s awesome. We’ll keep an eye out for it.”
Check out the music video for Halloween Pussytrap Kill! Kill!
Horror Fuel: “What’s your favorite scary movie?”
Stear: “My favorite scary movie? I have to say two. I can’t take one over the other, ‘Alien’ and ‘Aliens’ are two of my favorite movies just hands down. I’m a big fan of Ridley Scott as well as James Cameron. Those films, to me, if I’m going to a deserted Island I’m taking them both.”
Horror Fuel: “Good choices. Have you seen ‘Alien: Covenant?'”
Stear: “No, not yet. The problem is when you make sequels or you try to remake a movie like we were talking about earlier with ‘Scarface’, it’s hard to beat the original. It’s damn near impossible. You’re in a different place at that time. You can only create that magic once. With sequels, people try to stretch the writing and add fillers. A lot of people try to recreate the magic of the original but it’s really hard to do.”
Horror Fuel: “I get it. I feel the same way about Jaws. If I ever hear about someone trying to remake that I’m grabbing some signs and going to protest.”
Stear: “Yeah, let me know. I’ll join you. The brilliance of ‘Jaws’ is its simplicity. ”
Keep your eye on Demetrius Stear. I expect we’ll be seeing a lot more of him. The best way to do that is to follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and on Instagram.
Be sure to rent or buy your copy of The Domicile now, from writer-director Jared Cohn, today. Stear co-stars alongside Richard Harris (Evil Nanny), Demetrius Stear (Death Pool), Katherine Flannery (Zombie Pizza), and Sara Malakul Lane (King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table) in this ghostly film about love and vengeance.
