Interviews

Interviews with horror filmmakers, actors and writers — how the films get made and what comes next.

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An Interview With ‘The Originals’ Actor Chase Coleman

I had the opportunity to ask actor-musician Chase Coleman a few quick questions, and of course I couldn’t pass that up. Some of you will recognize him from his reoccurring role as the renegade werewolf, Oliver, from the popular series ‘The Originals’. Chase also played the role of Billy on the show ‘Boardwalk Empire’, but then again Chase has had many roles. You should know, his world is not only about acting, he’s a musician as well and often holds concerts at the conventions he attends. KM “How old were you when you decided you wanted to be an actor ?” CC “Seventeen years old.” KM “What was it like playing your first role in ‘Scarlett’ ?” CC “Mind Blowing :P” KM “In the hit show ‘The Originals’ you play the role of Oliver, a werewolf. Where did you draw your inspiration from?” CC “Enjorlas from Les Miserables” KM “What was your favorite part of being involved with ‘The Originals’?”

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Oct 20, 2015

InterviewsMoviesReviews

An Interview With Indie Filmmaker Dustin Austen

Filmmaker Dustin Austen took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to talk with me about his films and the horror genre in general. KM “How old were you when you saw your first horror film?” DA ” I was three and it was ‘An American Werewolf in London’. My dad sat down and said “It’s a puppet, there are cameras.” I thought, “How did they do it?” That’s really what started me on my path.” KM “How did you get into filmmaking?” DA “For me, I originally wanted to do special effects. That was until I saw ‘Evil Dead 2’. I didn’t know cameras could do that. My awesome dad gave me a camcorder, as a kid I spent a lot of time making my friends run through the woods, while I hit them with sticks. I still run around with a camera. In fact, I still have that camcorder as a reminder. Back then I had to

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Oct 17, 2015

Comic Books/Graphic NovelsIndieInterviewsNewsReviews

John Lepper On His New Record Setting Comic ‘We Kill The Dead’

John Lepper, film producer, writer, special effects makeup artist and horror fan, is now working on a comic titled ‘We Kill The Dead’. There is something very special about this comic, it will hold the record for most cameos by characters in horror films, supernatural characters to be exact. Not only will the comic have a ton of familiar characters, it will also have a few new ones as well. Unlike in some comic cameos, Lepper has permission to use the characters he’s featuring. And there are a lot of them, 22 to be exact. The list includes Reeker from ‘No Man’s Land’, Thorn from the film ‘Slasher House’, Dollman (Methodic), Mary Mattock (Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet), Verden Fell (FrightWorld), Jonah (Jonah Lives), Jack-O (Jack-O), Evil Highlander (Redwood Massacre), Stitches (Stitches), BBK (Gutterballs) and Black Night from the film ‘Dead of Knight’, just to name a few. Lepper is also in the process of writing a novel

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Oct 16, 2015

BooksDocumentariesEventsIndieInterviewsMoviesProductReviewsStreaming TVTrue Story

Cynema: Based On A True Story (Sort Of)

Inspired By True Events “Based On A True Story” “Based On True Events” “Most Of What You Are About to See Is True” “Some Of This Is Bullshit” “The Names Have Been Changed, Certain Dialogue Has Been Made Up” “We Have An Agenda And We Want to Entertain You” “You’ve Become So Ignorant to Real Events, You Wouldn’t Know What Was Real Anyway. Just Go With It” The Los Angeles Times recently ran a disturbing article on an equally disturbing trend quietly seeping into filmmaking. It’s been for some time, but as the general population falls into a deeper sleep, it’s almost imperceptible. The article is found HERE. The focus was the acclaimed “biopic” on Steve Jobs and is the latest film to take swipes at a dead man unable to defend himself. History is told by the winner. Or the one’s who control the information. Columbus Day has come under revisionist fire, seen as the celebration of a man

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Capt McNeely

Oct 13, 2015

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Psycho II…The Slasher Dodges a Bullet

Norman Bates Is Coming Home… Summer, 1983. No Internet. No DVD extras. No “sneak peaks.” There were a handful of magazines to get your entertainment and especially your horror news and Fangoria was mine. I got my first subscription in 1980 and kept it through most of high school. At one point my mother asked me, “Are you sure you don’t want Playboy or something?” Unlike Norman Bates, I had plenty of girlfriends. Boobs I could see any time, but horror? That was serious shit and it came in the mail addressed to me. The slasher film dominated 80s horror. Carpenter’s Halloween hit in 1978 and the original Friday the 13th was ripping off at its heels, and both birthed franchises that spanned an entire decade and beyond. Psychopaths with knives and a variety of tools populated movie houses and late night cable. Most horror scholars will acknowledge the sub genre was peaking around 1983. Friday the 13th was winding

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Capt McNeely

Oct 1, 2015

Comic Books/Graphic NovelsDocumentariesForeignIndieInterviewsProductReviews

Robert Altman & Popeye vs. Cynema

To Clear A Few Things Up A few myths need to be dispelled about the 1980 Robin Williams film, Popeye. It was NOT a boxoffice failure. It was made for 20 million and grossed well over 60 million. While deemed a “disappointment” by Paramount Pictures, it hardly failed. 2. It is NOT Robin Williams’s worst film. I will argue it is his best, hands down. Like Williams and its director, the film paid a price for breaking away from formula. Popeye is fucking art, so there, I said it. Popeye fought Cynema and lost the first few battles, but I think it won the war. It was Robin Williams’s first film, and almost his last. It’s been called a mess, incomprehensible, a misfire, a disaster and a bomb. Bear with me as I show how this unique film stands up against Cynema. I’ll also lay out how this film reflects the present attitudes between industry and audience. Years after I

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Capt McNeely

Sep 19, 2015

Comic Books/Graphic NovelsInterviewsReviews

Interview: Guinness World Record Holder John E. Boylan

The Guinness World Record for the largest collection of Swamp Thing memorabilia consists of 797 unique items and belongs to illustrator and designer John E. Boylan (USA). His collection was verified in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA on March 21 2015. I was fortunate enough to be able to ask Guinness World Record Holder, John E. Boylan, a few questions for this interview and he was gracious enough to provide me with some great answers. STG What inspired your passion to collect all things Swamp Thing? JEB “Good storytelling, other Swamp Thing fans, and enough oddball collectibles to stay intrigued. I was drawn to Swamp Thing, like many I imagine, by the beautiful art and writing. Once I started collecting single issues and chatting with other Swampy fans, I wondered what else was out there relating to Swamp Thing and found a bunch of great collectibles like, chalk, pencil sharpeners and furry slippers. Since Swampy isn’t the most popular/well known

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Capt McNeely

Sep 15, 2015

InterviewsNewsReviews

Exclusive Update: The Crawl Or Die Sequel And Their New Updated Website

Today I caught up with two of my favorite people in horror, director Oklahoma Ward and actress Nicole Alonso of the horror-scifi film ‘Crawl or Die’. Oklahoma and Nicole have been very busy preparing their new updated website, as well as getting ready to film the second movie of the franchise. 2014’s ‘Crawl or Die’ follows Tank (Alonso), a soldier in an apocalyptic earth over run with aliens , who is escorting the only remaining fertile woman to a ship so that she may be evacuated. On their way a nasty alien has began tracking them. The soldiers take to tunnels to escape. They must crawl or die. Tank is the only thing standing between the woman and the hungry alien. ‘Crawl or Die’ is an action packed, claustrophobia inducing thrill ride. &feature=youtu.be Oklahoma and Nicole are doing something unheard of in the film industry, building a website that truly revolves around their fans. The site goes live globally on

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Sep 4, 2015

HalloweenInterviewsMoviesProductReviewsStreaming TVTrailers

Big Apes, Big Cynema

Dino! “When Jaws die, nobody cry . When my Kong die, everybody cry.” – Dino DeLaurentiis, producer Younger viewers have almost no idea who legendary producer Dino DeLaurentiis was. Some saw him as the Italian forerunner of Michael Bay; creator of expensive, big budget, soulless films followed by similar producers like Alexander and Ilya Salkind, Peter Guber and Jon Peters, Jerry Bruckheimer as well as Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich. DeLaurentiis said this about his humble beginnings in film: “After the war, there was no industry. We lost the war. We had our whole city destroyed. No money. No studio. No film. No camera. No equipment. We would shoot in the street. We had no actors. Nothing. But we wanted to do movies. And we did the best movies in the world. If you lived in a provincial town like Torre Annunziata, where there was nothing to do in the evening but go to the movies with your friends, the

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Capt McNeely

Aug 21, 2015

IndieInterviewsMoviesProductReviewsStreaming TV

Cynema: Godzilla vs. Gino

Go Go Godzilla “We spared no expense.” – Sir Richard Attenborough, Jurassic Park Rumors circulated Hollywood since the early 1990’s of an American Godzilla movie. Writers and directors left the project and by 1996, Toho and Sony/Tri Star came to terms and the producing team of Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich were anointed to bring a full fledged American Godzilla film to the US masses. He would attack New York City; it would boast a big name cast and incorporate state of the art visual effects. There would be no man in a giant rubber suit in this film since Jurassic Park raised the bar for giant reptilian creatures. Toho Knew In the wake of the successful 2014 reboot (which had its own issues), it seems like a cheap shot to take yet another swipe at the much maligned (and deservedly so) 1998 mess. This time it’s to see how this film fits the Cynema paradigm. It’s not Godzilla, it

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Capt McNeely

Aug 20, 2015

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