Killer Interview
**I re-posted my interview with Mike Dempsey, so now I'm re-posting my interview with Todd "Killer" Wolfson. Since the interview, he's made the short fake trailer Sponge and is working on Batshi!. Check out 8-Bit Bloodbath and Sponge to see his weird mind. You'll be glad you did.**
As some of you may have noticed, I kind of enjoy myself a good gory horror movie. If you read my last interview, and a lot of you did as it was my most viewed blog entry yet, you met Mike Dempsey (horror punk drummer and horror enthusiast as well). Well, now I've got another interview and it's interesting as these two have something in common. I have the director of 8-Bit Blood Bath, on which Mike's band, Rebel Flesh, has a song on the soundtrack. Small world isn't it? I've been Facebook friends with the director, who goes by Gory Rory...AKA Killer Wolfson, for a while and I'm excited to interview him. Check out his movie on YouTube. It's a small budget and gory movie, but it's inspiring how dedicated Gory is. Hope you enjoy.
What were your inspirations for this movie, besides video games?
Gory Rory: Thanks man! I really appreciate hearing that since Kevin Smith is one of my main influences besides the horror genre. My main goal since day one was to create my own iconic horror slasher character like Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Meyers. I also wanted to put a spin on the genre and make something fresh. Basically, I found a muse in my friend Dan who was a hardcore old school NES gamer (one of the best I know!) and just like that Billy Blitzkrieg was spawned as the world's first ever 8-Bit demon killer from Hell. Dan also played Blitzkrieg in 8-Bit Blood Bath, I figured who better to play him than the person who conjured the whole idea up in the first place. I also want to note that Freddy's Dead definitely influenced the idea of using the NES power glove. But, I wanted my glove to stand on its own and that's why Blitzkrieg used the Ultra Glove. And anytime he pressed the buttons out would come any weapon of his choice, all of the weapons tributes from NES games.
Why did you choose Nintendo? Was the Power Glove part of your decision?
GR: I chose NES because that's what me and my friends grew up on and love. I also wanted to bring that nostalgia to the table. I was already a huge fan of all things horror and noticed that NECA had started making their own line of 8-Bit figures like Jason and Freddy and that also inspired me to want to fuse the two genres of horror and 8-Bit gaming together. The Power Glove, which in 8-Bit Blood Bath is called the Ultra Glove, definitely was very more popular in the early 90's. Even though it wasn't anything great...it was still a wicked glove and made you have the NES Power! So, I thought it only made sense that the glove would be Blitzkriegs main weapon.
Who did the graphics for the game scenes? What was the process there?
GR: I did a Hell of a lot of networking for my first film and met some amazing artists one of them was Karl O'Janpa. I met Karl on Pittsburgh Retro Gaming Facebook page which was a page dedicated to all things old-school NES and retro gaming. The crazy thing was that I was mainly just looking for someone to create 8-Bit music and sound effects for the movie. Here I come to find that besides making the awesome 8-Bit sounds he could also make the 8-Bit graphics too. Karl also made the poster art for 8-Bit Blood Bath which gathered a huge response from the community. I've always said that Karl is definitely my secret weapon X. Video games seem to be a very unique gimmick for a movie. What made you choose it? Well I knew that there were just as many gamers as there were horror fans and I wanted to do something original and combine the two worlds of horror and old school gaming. And I grew up playing Nintendo so it only made sense going back to the bloody roots of it all, thus resurrected Billy Blitzkrieg from the grave! I noticed the game in the beginning. Was that John Carpenter’s The Thing? Yes, you are correct sir! That was once again created by our 8-Bit animator guru Karl O’Janpa. He came up with the whole thing, and it turned out bloody brilliant for 8-Bit Blood Bath. I originally just wanted him to come up with his own game but when he made that it fit perfectly with the movie as we are all huge Carpenter fans!
A small taste of the graphics used for the movie. Very NES inspired.
One of the most memorable scenes for me was the sacrifice scene. What inspired that?
GR: The resurrection scene was one of my favorite scenes too. The resurrection scene plays a very crucial key in the plot of 8-Bit Blood Bath. Billy Blitzkrieg is tricked into going to a “Halloween party” by his high school crush Mallory. Mallory is really apart of an evil satanic cult who practice black magic. The cult wants Billy to be their ultimate sacrifice to obtain evil demonic powers. But, the cult made one lethal mistake by killing Blitzkrieg, they summoned a powerful evil demon who now possesses Blitzkrieg. Blitzkrieg rises from the pits of hell seeking revenge on the twisted cult members.
8-bit Billy
How long did you work on this, from concept to final product?
GR: Oh man, well I initially had the idea about a year or two before we filmed it, so I had the idea for it back in 2014 and than a year later I found a crew and 8-Bit BAM! But we started filming 8-Bit one week in May of 2015. We literally filmed most of the main scenes all within that week. The whole experience was very brutal and demanding at times. Overall I wouldn’t change a thing about it. I had a super talented crew and we had a lot of fun on set. After that first week of filming I realized that we were still missing a few scenes that needed filmed and were very crucial to the plot. So, that took another few weeks plus the editing took up some more time. If I remember correctly we had finished the film some time in June of 2015.
Horror seems to be a genre that indie movies seem to thrive and have an easier chance for cult status. What movies have you seen that had the most impact?
GR: Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 by far are my bloody favorites! I absolutely love Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, Evil Dead to me is one of the best indie horror movies, it just had everything from the crazy camera techniques to the wicked make-up and special fx, to Bruce Campbell. I’d also throw in Peter Jackson's Dead Alive. There's so many great indie horror movies out there though.
What genre within horror do you most want to be in? Horror/slasher, horror/comedy or are you looking for just movies within horror in general?
GR: Well, as a writer I am heavily influenced by a lot of different genres and not just horror. I love everything from Kevin Smith, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, John Hughes, to dark artsy stuff like David Lynch, Japanese horror, Troma and B-films, Hunter S. Thompson, 80's slashers and the list goes on and on. So I definitely wouldn’t throw myself into any one genre. However, I will say that my main stories are Horror/Comedy and Revenge tales. I love writing about the underdogs and freaks of society, the one. who you think gave up and would never fight back.
Is there a particular director that made you want to make your own movie?
GR: Yes, Kevin Smith has always been one of major influences. Clerks pretty much changed my life and opened up a whole new world for me as a writer. The characters he created were so realistic and entertaining. Smith really inspired me to create my own universe of oddball characters and expand on my style of writing. I have also watched a few of his Q&As and interviews and he always has such positive things to say to his fans, he tells us that anything is possible and that if you have a dream go for it. When I hear these inspiring words, it makes me want to get off my ass and do something about it because I can totally relate with Smith. I also have that passion and that big dream that I am trying to make a reality!
Is there scenes you left out? What length were you going for as your first release?
GR: Yes, since we made a deadline for this film there were a few small scenes that we either didn’t get around to filming or we just had to cut out, this was all primarily due to the fact that at times I had the actors ad libbing from the script. So, certain times things might have been changed around in the script or left out with the intentions of shooting them in a full length film or a possible sequel. And as far as the time duration of the film, I didn’t want it to be too long since I wanted to submit it to film festival’s. However, 8-Bit ended up being just a min over the 20 min mark, I was happy with that and I felt that I didn’t want to cut anything else out of it.
Now that you’ve got your first movie under your belt, where do you see yourself next?
GR: I have a lot of plans for next year, I’m currently in the last phases of production for my next short SPONGE which is a Grindhouse style trailer that is inspired by the Drive-in theater monster movies of the 1950's and 60’s. SPONGE is also heavily influenced by movies like Aliens, Critters, and A Nightmare On Elm Street. SPONGE will be finished sometime in February of 2017. After SPONGE, I plan on shooting my next short film “Batsh!t” which will be my first departure from the horror genre, although it will still have some dark elements and hellish themes. I plan on filming a small trilogy of films that all intertwine with each other and they will all be a lot different than my previous films. Now, I’m not abandoning the horror genre, in fact I’m just saving my aces in the deck for when I do have a real budget and crew to work with on a possible full length. I also have another Slasher/Revenge take called “Condition Priya” which I would also love to film at some point in the future. So, I’m always constantly coming up with new stories that I’m very excited and grateful to have the opportunity to bring these ideas to life and onto the big silver screen.
Will you stay within the horror genre, or are you interested in branching out?
GR: Yes and yes, I basically just answered this in the previous question. But, hell yes I definitely would love to branch out! As an artist, I have a lot of influences. I would love to make my own adventure movie like the Goonies, I feel like they don’t make those kind of fun adventure movies anymore. I would also like to make my own John Hughes type movie, both a regular comedy and dark comedy. Hmm, I have an idea for an Xmas horror movie titled “Blitzen” and I also have had a concept for a Halloween horror anthology like Creep Show.
***So, that wraps up my interview. Gory's a very cool dude and you'll dig his movie and his take on the horror genre. Can't wait to see who I can get to interview next. Til next time, my favorite ghouls.
Gory's production company.
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/Just-Buried-Productions-837868269593777/?pnref=story
https://www.facebook.com/8BitBloodBath/?pnref=story
https://www.facebook.com/todd.wolfson
https://mobile.twitter.com/JustBuried_Prod
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6qUFdenEJg
