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At the forefront of the
independent horror scene, nobody has taken the digital revolution of
independent filmmaking as far as James Felix McKenney probably has.
An artist, McKenney
became a writer, editor, and publisher of comic books which led to the
formation of Monsterpants with close friends. Grabbing the attention of Larry Fessenden,
who hired McKenney for his graphic work, the two have become friends and
filmmakers, with Fessenden producing McKenney's films. McKenney's third
feature,
AUTOMATONS, a 1950s throwback about a robot invasion, has been critically
acclaimed and won numerous awards at film festivals.
McKenney has followed
suit with a Christian themed horror film, SATAN HATES YOU, which wrapped
filming this past summer with an all star cast that includes Fessenden,
Angus Scrimm, Reggie Bannister, Pauley Perrette, Max Brooks, and Debbie
Rochon. The Crypt was given unprecedented access to the making of the film
during its main shoot in New York.
With the announcement of
recent projects, McKenney had time to answer a few questions to the Crypt
via e-mail about his filmmaking career, his detailed approach to SATAN
HATES YOU, and the bright future ahead in this Crypt exclusive.
COLONEL’S CRYPT: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
JAMES FELIX McKENNEY: I was
obsessed with movies as a kid, starting with THE WIZARD OF OZ and ABBOTT
AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN. My parents grew up in a time when you
could go to the cinema and get a whole Saturday's entertainment - a
cartoon, newsreels, a short subject, a chapter of an action serial, a
B-picture and finally a feature film - for a nickel. So to them paying
three dollars or whatever it was to see just one 2-hour movie seemed like
a bit of a rip off, so they rarely ever took me to the movies as a kid.
Meanwhile, my older sisters from my Mom's previous marriage were taken by
their father to the cinema every Saturday afternoon. My sister Sharon
would come home and tell everything about what they saw, which was usually
something like JAWS, THE EXORCIST and even PHANTASM. This combination of
not being able to go see them myself and living vicariously through my
sister, made films even more magical and special to me. This was before
home video or even HBO, so I had to catch everything I could on TV or read
the novelizations of new releases. I especially loved the Universal and
Hammer monster movies, any kind of science fiction, Hitchcock, The Marx
Brothers and everything from the 1930's and 40's.
As I got older, my obsession with fantasy became even more pronounced at a
time when I should have been preparing for life in the real world. I
thought about working in comic books for a while, as well as television
and the theatre. But my love of movies eventually won out and here I am.
CC: How was Monsterpants formed?
JFM: Filmmaking eluded me for quite a while, as it was just too
expensive. I spent most of my 20's in underground theater in
Boston, mainly as an actor and stage hand, but
also writing and directing. I wanted to do something that was all my own,
so I started publishing comic books. MonsterPants was originally created
as a publishing company, putting out several issues of the anthology comic
COW and taking over Aleksandar Zograf's PSYCHONAUT from Fantagraphics
Books.
When film-writing opportunities came along, followed by the digital video
revolution, MonsterPants just sort of evolved from a publishing business
to a film production company. Our first film was a horror/ black comedy
called CANNIBALLISTIC!
CC: You have a famous piece of art called the "Marlboro Monticello." What
is the "Marlboro Monticello?"
JFM: I was born in New Haven, but
grew up in Maine. I still have family in Connecticut and in the early
1990's one of my aunts passed away from lung cancer. I traveled down to
New Haven from Boston to clean out her house so the family could sell it.
The place was filled with these mountains of empty Marlboro Lights
cartons. Being environmentally conscious, I didn't want these boxes to
just go into a landfill, so I decided to do some sort of art project with
them. I got permission for the city to build a permanent structure with
the cartons, as long as it had some historical significance. Some of my
aunt's ancestors had been slaves "owned" by Thomas Jefferson, so I thought
building a large model of Monticello would be a fitting tribute.
The structure ended up being bigger and more elaborate than I had planned
and I actually ran out of cartons during the last week of construction. I
had some local grammar school kids helping me out, so I had them go buy 75
more cartons of Marlboro Lights and we finished the project. The kids
actually made out pretty well -- I don't smoke, so I took all of the empty
cartons and the kids got to keep all of the cigarettes for themselves.
Free smokes for a month!
Anyway, the thing stands behind some little museum in New Haven. I'm told
that it's still quite a popular attraction.
CC: You have worked closely with Larry Fessenden. How did you meet Larry
and how has he been involved from project to project?
JFM: Six and a half years ago Larry was looking for an assistant with
various practical and computer skills for a project he was working on and
a mutual acquaintance recommended me for the job. Over the years of
working in theater, editing and publishing comics and making
CANNIBALLISTIC!, I had taught myself all of the skills that he was looking
for. I had an interview with he and his then-frequent collaborator, David
"The Impact Addict" Leslie, and showed them the CANNIBALLSTIC! trailer.
About an hour later, they called me and let me know that I had the job.
Very quickly Larry and I learned that although we come from completely
different backgrounds, we had a lot in common. After about six months of
stalling, I nervously gave him a copy of CANNIBALLISTIC! to watch. The
next day he gave me a raise and told me that he wanted me to make another
movie. We ended up doing THE OFF SEASON with Angus Scrimm from a script I
had written in 1997. We've been working together ever since.
CC: Although I haven't seen it yet, from what I've seen of AUTOMATONS it
looks very unique. How did AUTOMATONS come about?
JFM: I'm as obsessed with robots as much as I am with monsters. I've
wanted to make this film for years and I've always wanted to do it in
black and white with some kind of degraded image. I wanted it to have the
same feel as when I discovered so may of my favorite films as a kid on a
little black and white TV with a coat hanger for an antenna.
I knew that I wanted it to be very low-tech and hand-made looking. And I
knew I wanted it to be about this war that had been going on for years. I
still was missing a really solid story. Then the Bush administration
invaded Iraq and began the culture
wars in America. We all saw how the country was torn apart and there was
no communication between either sides. People were just set in their ways
and could not look at anything from the opposing side's point of view.
That lack of communication that breeds conflict is what became my story.
I pitched the movie to Larry. He was very reluctant to do it at first. But
once he read the script, he was on board, wrote the checks and showed up
to do his cameo. We're both thrilled with the results and the great
reviews the film has received. It's my favorite thing that I've done.
CC: AUTOMATONS was filmed on Super 8. What were some of the biggest
challenges in making AUTOMATONS on such an old format?
JFM: There's no video tap, so you don't have that luxury of sitting off
to the side and seeing everything that the cameraperson is shooting as
it's happening. It's also a consumer format that traditionally was just
used for shooting vacations and birthday parties, so it's not incredibly
reliable. We were shooting in an old factory during a heat wave in August.
The camera was sweating and when the film came back from the lab, we were
getting all of these white streaks on it that we had no control over. We
just had to live with it, but it didn't bother me as it just added to the
rough aesthetic. I love that look. You just can't get that with video and
AfterEffects. I wish I could shoot everything in B&W Super-8. I think it's
beautiful.
CC: From AUTOMATONS comes SATAN HATES YOU, which you recently wrapped.
You've described SATAN HATES YOU as a Christian horror film. What was the
inspiration behind making SATAN HATES YOU as your latest feature?
JFM: I love all sorts of "outsider" cinema, which I think of as films
that are created outside of the traditional
Hollywood and New York film cultures. Whether it's
exploitation cinema from Florida, horror movies from Pittsburg, comedies
from Baltimore or traffic safety films from Ohio -- it's for me! I love
the old Christian "Scare" Films that they used to show in Sunday schools
and church basements. Great films like A THIEF IN THE NIGHT and THE
BURNING HELL -- now those are REAL horror movies. Truly frightening.
Christian cinema today seems to have lost its heart. Films like THE OMEGA
CODE and LEFT BEHIND just seem like low-rent action films. The old films
were meant to frighten people so much that they'd accept Christ on the
spot. The new films are quite dull. I can't see them being any interest to
anyone but those who have already been converted.
I wanted to make something inspired by those old movies -- something dark,
violent and bloody, but also create something entirely unique at the same
time. Those original films already exist, there's no need to try imitating
them. We just used those films as a starting point and then did our own
thing.
CC: There definitely is a social commentary in your work and your films.
Do you think that is part of the key of making a successful horror
feature?
JFM: I think it's important. If a filmmaker doesn't have anything to
say with any kind of fantasy film, whether it's horror, sci-fi or
whatever, then the film can come off as being mindless, or just a form of
childish escapism. That goes double for horror, which is often
graphically violent. If a film that depicts people suffering doesn't have
anything to say, then what is it contributing to our culture? Is it just
some kind of adolescent celebration of cruelty and that's it? I like
movies that make me think about the world we live in, not about the
motives of the person who made it.
CC: SATAN HATES YOU has some actors that you've worked with in AUTOMATONS.
Do you find it easier as a writer to write characters with certain actors
in mind and were they written with those actors in mind?
JFM: Absolutetly. I wrote a part in SATAN HATES YOU for almost every
performer who was in all of the films that I've made -- from
CANNIBALLISTIC! to THE OFF SEASON to AUTOMATONS. I like to work with the
same people as much as possible. That reliability and comfort level is a
huge bonus when you're working with such low budgets. With a few
exceptions, where people weren't available, all of those parts were
written for the people who actually play them in the film.
CC: In addition to a two week shoot, you have been shooting for a while
beforehand with some interesting characters. How did you schedule the
production and how were you able to get such an ensemble for this film?
JFM: I think we started sometime around late 2004, when I was visiting
my family in Maine and shot a bunch of super-8 of them to be used in a
dream sequence.
There are a lot of scenes in the film there where there is a TV set
playing in the room where the action takes place. I wanted to do this
practically, so we had to shoot what was going to be playing on those
televisions ahead of time.
That all began in 2005, when I went out to
Los Angeles to shoot Angus Scrimm's segments for
AUTOMATONS. While I was out there, I also wanted to grab some of those TV
segments with friend of mine who lived in LA. It seemed like a good way to
get SATAN started without spending much money.
The first thing I shot was a televangelist segment with John Levene, who
most people know as "Sergeant Benton" from the original DOCTOR WHO series.
He was also in CANNIBALLISTIC! and has a cameo in AUTOMATONS that we shot
that same day.
I was also planning on shooting a talk show segment with DW Ferranti (who
was also in CANNIBALLISTIC!) playing a religious scholar. The plan was to
have either our friend Max Brooks (Author of the "ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE"
and "WORLD WAR Z") or Pauley Perrette (TV's NCIS, THE RING) play the
interviewer, but as luck would have it, they were both out of town, so we
just filmed Ferranti's half of the interview. Month's later, Pauley was
visiting in New York and came by the AUTOMATONS set where we filmed her as
the interviewer. When you see it edited together, you'd never know that
they shot were four months and an entire continent apart!
Then it was quiet while I focused on AUTOMATONS. In 2007, Glass Eye Pix
wanted to bring Angus Scrimm out to New York to play his part in Glenn
McQuaid's I SELL THE DEAD. In order to make Angus' trip worthwhile, it was
decided that we'd build a set, round up our supporting cast and film all
of his scenes at that time. I kept the set, so we could match it during
the final shoot.
Finally, in the month or so before our final shoot in summer 2008 we did
the remaining TV segments -- a few in LA with Max Brooks shot by my friend
Rich Kaponas, and two more religious TV pieces that we did in our costume
designer Chase Tyler's space in Brooklyn.
For the final main shoot, the cast was mostly made up of people I've
worked with before -- Don Wood, Christine Spencer, Christina Campanella,
Larry Fessenden, etc. We also have Debbie Rochon, who is a big Glass Eye
Pix supporter and was absolutely amazing. Reggie Bannister was great as
well. I knew him before through Angus and Don Coscarelli. The only real
"outsider" was Michael Berryman, who we contacted the old-fashioned way -
through his agent. He's a really funny and warm guy. He's super fun and as
a performer gives you a wide variety of stuff to work with. Overall, I
think we have a pretty awesome cast.
CC: SATAN HATES YOU was shot on High Definition. Being you've shot with
film and on High Definition, what's your opinion on this digital boom of
film equipment?
JFM: I think it's wonderful. Up until recently filmmaking was
prohibitively expensive for so many of us. I made CANNIBALLISTIC! in 2000,
simply because the DV technology became available. THE OFF SEASON and
SATAN were both shot in HD, which gave those movies a much richer look
than regular DV. Even though I have made a movie in standard-def video, I
have to admit that I don't always love the way it looks. It can be tricky
to work with, but there's a lot you can pull off if you know how. Jeff
Winner made a movie called SATELLITE that he shot in DV and it looks so
good that during a Q & A at the Tribecca Film Festival, a cinematographer
asked him what film stock he used! But I also love it when a filmmaker
doesn't shy away from the format and try to hide that it's video. David
Lynch's INLAND EMPIRE is a great example of a director embracing the video
format and celebrating it, warts and all.
So many of us wouldn't be making films today if it weren't for this new
technology. I often compare it to the self-publishing boom when
photocopying became cheap and accessible and now everybody could put out a
zine. But there is a downside. It's sort of like back in the hardcore punk
days where anyone could go buy a 4-track mixer at Radio Shack and put out
tapes of their band through Flipside or Maximum Rock n Roll. But suddenly
there were a hundred tapes and 7-inches out there of bands that sounded
exactly like Minor Threat. So few people were taking advantage of their
artistic freedom.
In the film scene, partciularly in horror, you have so many filmmakers
that love the genre and the films they grew up with, but when it's their
turn to make their own DV feature they make just another low-budget
knockoff of the slasher film that inspired them, rather than trying to
bring something new to the genre.
I get a lot of crap from people for the way I experiment with genres --
from making quaint black & robot movies that turn suddenly dark and
violent to trying to bring real fleshed-out characters to a ghost story --
and that's fine. That's the whole thing about experimentation -- not
everybody's going to love what you do and sometimes you're going to fail
miserably. But if we can't try new things while working with these tiny
budgets, then when can we?
Lots of times when somebody asks me what film we're doing next, I'll
describe the project to them in a sentence or two. They'll immediately say
to me something like, "You're going to have this kind of character" or
this element or that, all based on clichés and things that they've seen in
movies before. They're always disappointed when I say, no, none of those
things are in this movie. We've already seen all of that. We should be
making movies that are the opposite of expectations, not recycling old
ideas without adding anything new. Filmmakers should use the things that
inspire them as a jumping off point and then make something that is
uniquely their own, for better or for worse.
CC: You have shot your films on relatively low budgets yet have a much
bigger look and feel to them. What approach do you go through in each
project?
JFM: Being the writer, director and editor helps when cutting corners.
You can then write for the budget that you have and then you only shoot
what you'll need in the editing room. Then all of that money that would
have gone to waste due to indecisiveness during production can go into
things that will all show up on-screen. Of course, set design and having a
good DP are crucial.
Also, when I'm writing, I write the script as if I'm making the movie all
by myself. Every effect and prop and other costly item that is in the
screenplay, I have in mind a way I'd build it and make it happen, so that
I know it can be done cheaply. Then when you bring in the real experts,
the quality of the work only gets better then what I had in mind.
CC: What would you say are the most important keys to independent
filmmaking?
JFM: The most important is that we don't try to play "mini-Hollywood."
Most film industry ways of doing things were developed by people with no
imagination and with money to burn. These methods just aren't practical or
effective. One should approach each film with a hands on, "art project"
mentality and you'll be able to develop your own working technique that is
more efficient and cost effective.
I also think it's key to keep the atmosphere light and friendly. So many
folks come into this business and quickly develop a massive attitude, even
at our level. That always blows my mind. Here we are, making this little
no-budget genre movie that 99.9% of the world's population will never see
or even care about and there are people acting like they're doing the most
important job in the world.
I can't stand having anyone with that "Hollywood
swagger" on our sets. There's no pecking order in our crew - the PA
working for free gets the same respect as the highest paid actor -- the
way it always should be. I've worked as both a PA and an extra on sets in
Hollywood and know how it feels to be screamed at and treated like
something less than human. It's ridiculous. If you behaved that way on a
construction site, you'd get punched in the mouth. In an office, you'd be
fired. I don't understand why it's acceptable on any film set, especially
in the east coast low-budget world. There's also the flip side of that
which is this fake politeness that's comes across as so insincere to
anyone with half a brain. It just sends me through the roof.
The sad thing is that I've seen people who worked with us and I thought
were great go off for a couple of years and work on other crews and then
come back to work for us and they've developed that crappy attitude --
acting superior and snapping at fellow crew members. When that happens, we
unfortunately can't invite them back for our next production. You want to
behave that way? Move to Los Angeles. They'll love you there.
We need to keep things light and positive on set. People aren't making
much money and taking time off from their real jobs and lives to work with
us and should be treated with the utmost appreciation and respect. I've
had several folks come up to me after a shoot and gushingly pledge their
allegiance to MonsterPants, mainly because we're a ton of fun to work
with. Everybody gets along. If people are happy and having a good time,
they have no problem working for little or no money.
CC: You're a writer, director, and producer. Out of the three, which do
you find the most rewarding?
JFM: Writing, definitely. I'm basically a loner by nature, so this is
the most satisfying part of the creative process. I would be fine spending
the rest of my life as just a writer.
Producing is easily my least favorite. It's mainly a necessity. It's
something I have to do on my own films because I'm the cheapest labor that
I can get. Producing other people's work is part of my "day job" working
for Glass Eye Pix. It's not a career goal or anything.
I enjoy directing, but it's very stressful, especially with tiny budgets
and working with large groups of people can be a bit overwhelming for me.
I can also be a real blast though, if things are going well, the project
is fun and you've got a great cast and crew.
CC: When should we expect to see SATAN HATES YOU?
JFM: I do most of the post-production work myself and am also working
on other projects, s it's kind of a slow process. I'm hoping we'll hit
festivals and start screening in New
York in mid-2009.
CC: Where do you see filmmaking and in particular the horror genre going
within the next five years?
JFM: Gosh, I have no idea. I hope that it becomes more experimental and
people take more chances by creating more innovative work. I think the
current horror craze may be dying down (although I've been saying that for
the last three years and proven wrong) which is probably a good thing. It
lets the genre get a bit of a break and re-energize itself so that someone
can come up with the next amazing and inspired film that jump-starts the
next horror cycle.
CC: You are a film professor teaching "Horror 101" to a class of students
and you have five films to show your class. Which five films would they be
and why?
JFM: FRANKENSTEIN - Because you have to start with a Universal film and
that's probably my favorite.
CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON - It's an excellent introduction to the
Creature Features of the 1950's and I love that monster!
DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS - Even though there's no Peter Cushing as Van
Helsing in it, It's an excellent example of Hammer horror and British
horror in general from that period. Plus you have to have at least one
vampire film in the mix!
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD - Because of its importance as both a midnight
movie and to what was to come in the 1970's
PHANTASM - To show how absolutely far out the genre can go.
Narrowing it down to five is hard. I'd also want to include THE WICKER
MAN, ROSEMARY'S BABY, THE BIRDS, THE
SHINING, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, THE OMEN, THE WOLF MAN, THE MUMMY,
NOSFERATU, LAST MAN ON EARTH, BLACK SUNDAY, ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES, so many
more...
CC: What is coming up next for you?
JFM: I was planning on doing a little film of my own this fall,
produced and financed entirely by MonsterPants, called WORLD'S
FAIR. It's a dark fantasy about a traveling
show that's sort of a cross between a Tod Browning film and the Twilight
Zone. But almost immediately after the project was announced on the
Fangoria website, Glass Eye Pix began making a deal with Dark Sky Films to
produce a group of new horror films, one of which would be by me. Since
they have a specific schedule and I don't I pushed back WORLD'S FAIR for a
year to work on this new monster movie called HYPOTHERMIA.
I think horror fans will really like this new film. It's about two
families that go ice fishing and encounter a vicious creature living in
the water under the ice. The monster is very similar to THE CREATURE FROM
THE BLACK LAGOON, but much faster and meaner. We're going to have a real
guy in a fantastic latex suit and I've received some amazing feedback on
the script I wrote. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. We're casting
now and will be shooting this February.
CC: I leave the last word for you.
JFM: I am very thankful that I've been able to get this far making
these weird little movies with people I enjoy being around. I'm even more
grateful to anyone who's actually made it through this whole article
because they're interested in the work that Team MonsterPants and I are
doing! There's a lot more to come. Check it out at
http://www.monsterpants.net
Click
HERE for an On The Set Report of SATAN HATES YOU.
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