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The
Interview
CB: You are obviously a huge fan of horror
films. What attracts you to the genre?
AM: Horror
has always been the outsider, bad boy, forbidden genre. Sounds exciting
to me. Horror wears a leather jacket and stands in the dark shadows
of a red lit alley, possibly concealing a knife. Horror is cinema's
rough trade.
I
was first hooked on horror when I read Stephen King's Cujo
at the tender age of twelve. It was my first major exposure to graphic
violence and sex and great literature. I was hooked and had to have
more. I remember King's descriptions of come stained sheets being
a particular thrill.
CB:
Exactly -- who wouldn't want to come home to a freshly christened
comforter? Your films really connect horror with the body, be it
bodily functions, sex, or contortionism - are you of the school
that our bodies are the most terrifying things in the world?
AM: That's
a new idea to me, I've never considered myself from the body horror
school of storytelling. But just because I haven't seen it doesn't
mean it's not there. I've always been more interested in contact
horror, that moment when evil tries to violate or dismantle the
body. The fear is of violent death, and it can be argued that all
horror is body horror, a loss of body horror.
With
my first film The Killer Krapper, I wanted to confront what
I considered the first fears in life, those associated with potty
training. The toilet can be intimidating to a tot, a growling, enormous
mouth. I remember fearing the flush, not the initial noise but the
moment when everything is sucked into a violent vortex. Perhaps
this echoes the earliest, unremembered fear of returning to the
womb, that insatiable organ hole. The Killer Krapper revolts against
its users. It bites back. It's hungry, and it wants to flush you
down its throat into oblivion.
Pervula
isn't concerned with murder, but with the traditional vampire fears
of being bitten and transformed, with the added side effects of
perverted dementia and gender slippage. I imagine if Gretchen were
to succumb to Pervula's bite, she'd become a nympho Nosferatu named
Vulvula.
Mime
After Midnightdelivers the horrors of a slasher, the killer
that wants to open the body with any available blade or power tool.
This mime takes it a step further by wanting to eat his victim's
quivering insides. Mime also complicates the formula by removing
the slasher's weapon from the visual equation, but not its effect.
This film is precisely about those moments of contact. There's a
direct link between the weapon and the will to kill.
If
Pervula and the Mime are contortionists its because I like villians
with stylized movements. Monsters are scarier if they don't move
like you or me. Okay, Pervula was me, so let me clarify that contortionists
are not by definition evil.
CB:
What scares you?
AM: The Bush administration. Cops
and their abuse of less lethal weapons - I lived in the middle of
the WTO riots and have faced tear gas, pepper spray, and concussion
grenades far too frequently. Religious zealots. The unknown thing
making clicking and sucking sounds in the dark.
CB:
Oh, sorry -- that was me. Terrible habit. How do you think your
sexuality drives your filmmaking?
AM: I don't think it does. I came
out of the closet as a horror fanatic and was writing feature horror
screenplays long before I came out of my queer closet. Ironically,
I've come across more problems and prejudice for being a horror
freak than for being a cock-smoker. I had a middle school honors
English teacher physically attack me in class for reading a Fangoria,
which he took after a prolonged fight and proceeded to tear up as
he verbally shamed me. He might as well have caught me with a Playgirl,
I don't think his intolerance and violent reaction would have been
any different.
It's
interesting to note that so far I am known for my jiggle horror
films; most of my audience would be surprised that I don't hang
out at Hooters. However I am not against using queer themes or characters,
perhaps a third of the features I've written have gay elements.
I fully believe there is not enough penis in the cinema and I'll
be working hard to remedy that. Ultimately I want the entire audience,
straight and gay, to get boners. The women too.
CB:
What are some of your favorite films/directors?
AM: The directors I love are the
usual suspects: John Carpenter, Wes Craven (especially
his cannibal family films), George Romero, Tobe Hooper
(I went nuts over his Toolbox Murders), David Cronenberg,
Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava, and H.G. Lewis.
Stephen King and Clive Barker continue to be huge
influences.
Other
directors I admire, tenuously connected to the genre, include Oliver
Stone, John Waters, James Cameron, and Katherine
Bigelow. My favorite films are Return of the Living Dead
and Katherine Bigelow's Strange Days. I'll make a case for
Strange Days, I hope that someday this film will be more widely
appreciated as the work of genius it is. It takes POVs and victim/killer/viewer/gender
identifications to a whole new level. As a political horror thriller,
it's terrifying and increasingly relevant today. Robo-Steckler is
the new Jason, only real. This movie positions America over a box
of dynamite with the fuse it.
CB:
I make the same argument for Bigelow's Point Break but people just
laugh. Ever think of making anything other than horror?
AM: That wouldn't be very fun now,
would it? Perhaps porn, the other black sheep of cinema. Of course
I'd have to give it a body count.
CB:
What's the horror/artistic population like in Seattle?
AM: I don't drink coffee, so it's
hard to relate to the people here. The fire of the protest and progressive
culture that put Seattle on the map five years ago has gone out.
Luckily San Francisco picked up where we left off. I give Seattle
credit for it's many independent cinemas and revival screens. Every
other weekend you can catch a horror classic late show somewhere.
But why was I one of only six people last Friday night watching
the original Friday the 13th in a theater? At least there
was nobody around to watch me alone in the front row, tickling myself
and reciting Betsy Palmer's dialogue. Kill her mommy, kill
her!
CB:
Do you have a strong queer horror porno support network?
AM: Seattle has a strong queer
horror porn network of one. If there are any others I'd like to
hear from them.
CB:
What's your biggest complaint about horror films today?
AM: I have few complaints, I'm
not bitchy. The genre is incredibly strong right now. There are
always a few stinkers, and a turd like Darkness Falls certainly
makes one consider burning down the studio because getting a refund
is just not enough. But last year reminded me of the glory days
of 1985, when I got to see so many great horrors on the big screen:
Nightmare on Elm Street, Return of the Living Dead,
Day of the Dead, Reanimator, Fright Night.
How can horror fans not be dancing in the streets for such horrific
delights as Wrong Turn, May, 28 Days Later,
Jeepers Creepers 2, Dreamcatcher, Freddy vs. Jason,
Final Destination 2, Bubba Ho-Tep, Texas Chainsaw...
Some are just guilty pleasures, but they're more wet now than ever
before.
My
only complaint is that there are not more films taking the NC-17
or unrated route theatrically. Let's all support Lions Gate's
NC-17 summer release of High Tension. Let's hope Romero won't
do a fourth Dead film unless its unrated.
CB:
Unrated... interesting... what are you wearing?
AM: I'm
wearing red, lacy crotchless panties over my face...
CB:
I mean, what are you working on now?
AM: I have three shorts in various
stages of production. Two are queer themed, one being a shockumentary
about a queer film festival's outrageous performance art parties
where I staged a gay haunted house for the past two years. It's
titled Perverts in Residence and it's in the editing stages.
The
second short in production is a queer themed splatter film, and
I promise plenty of pickle shots and spurting fluids. The third
short I'll leave a big scary surprise. And after these, I hope to
start a feature.
Send
an email to contest@campblood.org with the names
of Buzz’s cats in the body. Hint: there is a page with info
on the webmaster...
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