The name Pauly Shore is one you will all recognize. While you know him best as a comedian, Shore is revealing his darker side. Yesterday he released his most recent short film, titled Sin City Psycho where he plays the role of a psychotic killer. Not only does Shore star, but he also wrote, directed and produced the film. Even though we know Shore for comedic films like Bio-Dome, Son in Law, and Encino Man, he pulls off the role of a killer quite well. We happen to have the full short film here for you to see.
I sat down for a conversation with Pauly Shore about Sin City Psycho, his past projects, and what the future might hold.
Horror Fuel: “It’s nice to see you in the role of a dramatic character.”
Pauly Shore: “When I first started acting, before all my comedy, did all dramatic stuff. It’s been inside of me. My mom died, I went through all this personal, heavy stuff, and my sister passed away. I’m fifty now and when you’re fifty all these things occur in your life. I thought now would be a good time to do something dramatic, so I can pull from all of my personal life. Yeah, you know?”
Horror Fuel: “I am so very sorry to hear you’ve been dealing with all of that.”
Pauly Shore: “Yeah, it’s all crazy, crazy life stuff. It’s heavy you know.”
Horror Fuel: “I know exactly what you mean. I lost my dad five years ago. Losing any family member is hard. It changes your world.”
Horror Fuel: “You’ve starred in so many hilarious films, like Bio-Dome, Son in Law, Encino Man. Looking back now, what was your favorite character and why?”
Pauly Shore: “I think Son in Law. It was the movie that got me out of MTV and into the mainstream. I think it had a lot of heart. It was funny and I felt like a fish out of water. I thought the story was good and it was a cute movie.”
Horror Fuel: “So far, that’s my personal favorite out of your films. I love Crawl. He’s adorable.
I’ve always wondered if it’s more difficult to be in comedy than say, a drama because there have to be days where you just don’t feel like being funny. Am I right?”
Pauly Shore: “Understood. Yeah, I agree. Comedy is difficult. You’ve gotta pull from something, you know?”
Horror Fuel: “Over the past couple of years you’ve lent your voice to several animated characters in Animals and Liverspots and Astronauts. What is that experience like?
Pauly Shore: “It’s all fun, I mean, everything in this business is fun. That’s why I’m in the business. Sometimes I’ll get called to do a voiceover, sometimes I’ll get called to do stand up. I love to entertain people. Doing animated voices is fun too because you do them and never know what the director and producers are going to come up with. You know what I mean?”
Horror Fuel: ” Fans get to see your serious side in Sin City Psycho. How did you get in that headspace while writing and making it?”
Pauly Shore: “It’s actually a script that a friend and I wrote a long time ago. Because getting movies financed now is so difficult and because the internet world has caught up to the entertainment world where you do concepts and put them right out, I decided to forget doing it as a feature, to just do it as a short. I wanted to put it up against Halloween time, you know. I’ve always wanted to play a psychopath. Those are great characters. I talk about it in my synopsis, every actor wants to play, like, someone sinister. I love Christian Bale in American Psycho. Did you see that?”
Horror Fuel: “I have seen it several times. It’s a great film.”
Pauly Shore: “I love that movie and I love that character. He’s a psychopath. It’s kind of a take off of that a little bit. In Sin City Psycho the character was both high and crazy at the same time. I kind of got that nitrous thing from that movie Blue Velvet with Dennis Hopper huffing the nitrous, you know? It’s a little bit of that too. And remember that show, Dexter? It’s a little bit of that too. It was cool shooting it in that hotel in Vagas.”
Horror Fuel: “That was a good film as well. If you had the opportunity to make Sin City Psycho into a feature, would you? And would you want to direct it?”
Pauly Shore: ” It would depend on how it does I guess. The internet will tell us, right [laughter]? I would let someone else do it. I would like to get it in the hands of a writer/director/producer that has done the genre before. This is a genre I’ve never done before. It would have to be in the right hands or the right person, you know?”
Horror Fuel: “If nothing else the internet loves to hand out opinions. Is there someone you have in mind?”
Pauly Shore: “David Fincher would be cool. He’d be amazing.”
Horror Fuel: “I think it would be an interesting story to see. Fincher killed it with Se7en.
You’re good as a psycho and it’s an unexpected character for you, which was good. I dig it.”
Pauly Shore: “I’m glad that you liked it. Have seen some of the other shorts I’ve done?”
Horror Fuel: “I have seen several.”
Pauly Shore: “There’s one called Bad Paramatic, I put that up like three months ago, and there’s another one called Silver Lake Vice Squad. I like doing these shorts. They’re pretty cool, yeah?”
Horror Fuel: “They are. You have quite a few different types of videos on your channel. YouTube’s a great way to get ideas and stories out there.”
Pauly Shore: “Exactly, exactly. It’s lowkey.”
Horror Fuel: “I love serial killers. Wait, [laughter] that didn’t sound right. I love serial killer characters.”
Pauly Shore: “Right [laughter]. I love Silence of the Lambs, American Psycho, they’re some of my favorite films, you know?”
Horror Fuel: “They’re classics. It’s hard to get much more twisted than Hannibal Lecter.”
Pauly Shore: “He is great. He’s crazy.”
Horror Fuel: “Speaking of movies, do you have any projects coming up?”
Pauly Shore: “What am I doing next? I have some documentaries that I just finished. I just did a documentary on my life. Which are about my MTV days and the Playboy Mansion and Disney and the movies. I have a couple of things I’m working on, so many different things. I’ll also do more short films and sketches. I like doing that.”
Horror Fuel: “I look forward to seeing more of your projects. Will you be doing some auditions for more serious roles as well?”
Pauly Shore: “Yeah, but the problem has always been my persona. It’s hard for agents to present me in a way that is in a way like I presented me in Sin City Psycho because when you think of Pauly Shore you don’t think of characters like in Sin City Psychos. Hopefully, if this thing gets out there properly, someone will see it and give me an opportunity to be on like a drama on TV or something, you know?”
Horror Fuel: “With your background, casting you as a dark character would be a great way to surprise an audience. They wouldn’t be expecting it. I can definitely see you in a role as a psychotic character. When that funny side meets unhinged, it could be pretty disturbing, and I mean that in the best possible way.”
Pauly Shore: “That’s hilarious [laughter]. It’s like Jack Nicolson in The Shinning. I love that movie. He was crazy, right?”
Horror Fuel: “He was. It was his darkness with that twisted humor that really made his character shine.”
Pauly Shore: “Yeah.”
I look forward to seeing what Pauly Shore does next. Hopefully, we’ll see him in more serious roles as well as in more comedies like the ones that made him a legend. In the meantime, check out his YouTube channel for more short films and videos.
Be sure to follow Shore on Facebook and Instagram for updates on his upcoming projects, films, and videos.
