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If you check out the
credits of most independent horror films released in the NY area over the
past 10 years, one name you are most likely to find in the credits is
Jeremiah Kipp, who has proven to be one of the most respected and trusted
independent artists in cinema.
Kipp has worked as a
writer, director, producer, and assistant director on many films, ranging
as AD on the Colonel's own INSATIABLE to producing Angus Scrimm and Reggie
Bannister in James Felix McKenney's SATAN HATES YOU. The busy artist is
also a contributor to Fangoria magazine and many other publications.
With his latest short
film CONTACT completed and available to view online, the Crypt joins
forces with The Horror Review to give this exclusive interview with the
multi talented Kipp on CONTACT, working in the NY area, his many projects
coming out in 2010, and many more.
COLONEL’S CRYPT:
What is it about the horror genre that you find so appealing?
JEREMIAH KIPP: Horror unlocks the possibilities of the imagination; you
can go anywhere and do anything. Also, fear is one of our most primal and
cathartic of emotions. Ever since I was a child, I responded to horror
films the way kids respond to fairy tales; they take you to another world
that is dark, adult, and strange…
CC: How did CONTACT
come about?
JK: I had previously screened my short film THE POD, which was about a
nightmarish drug experience, at an annual Halloween horror film festival
here in New York called Sinister Six, curated by a maniacal downtown
personality named Bryan Enk. When he announced that 2009 would be the
final year of Sinister Six, entitled SINISTER SIX MUST BE DESTROYED, I
decided to create a reboot of THE POD, but one that pared the narrative
down to the essential, would be shot in minimalist black and white, and
create an intense and mystifying mood piece for the viewer. I found it a
very emotional picture to make, and thus a very satisfying one for me and
the audience…I think they responded to the romanticism of the movie as
much as the horror!
CC: The film from conception to completion was
done rather quickly and premiered on Halloween 2009 at the Sinister Six
Must Be Destroyed Film Festival. What was the biggest challenge during
this time?
JK: There were no challenges big enough to stop this movie, since I
surrounded myself with an incredibly talented cast and crew. Even the
ridiculously low budget was not an obstacle, since it forced us to be more
creative. I never thought of this as a “small” film despite the price tag;
we shot it in widescreen and acted as if it were a larger scale
production, even though we had minimal crew and no money. Everyone went
for it, and we had great producers in Alan Rowe Kelly and Bart Mastronardi,
who kept our spirits high and the ship afloat.
CC: Are you glad Sinister Six Has Been Destroyed?
JK: As we all know from FRIDAY THE 13th PART IV: THE FINAL
CHAPTER, we know that there is always room for a new beginning…Sinister
Six is dead, long live Sinister Six.
CC: CONTACT has a pretty strong anti-drug message,
much like your previous film THE POD. I know you’re not much of a drug guy
so why do you parlay into this aspect of psychological horror?
JK: I don’t know if the film is anti-drug. It depends on the audience,
I suppose. I found the drugs opened up room for the characters to discover
things about themselves. They take the plunge, and some of them have an
easier time during the trip than others.
Some viewers feel that the drug scene has an alluring quality. I like that
it is sensual and transgressive. For example, I showed CONTACT to someone
I know and her response was to immediately want to go take some drugs with
her boyfriend. I found that a very positive response to the film!
CC: Explain the process of working on the film
with Dominick Sivilli as a DP and as an editor.
JK: During pre-production, we looked over reference photos by an artist
named Gregory Crewdson, who photographs terrifying domestic scenes, and
that set a tone for the opening and closing sequences of CONTACT. David
Lynch’s one-minute film LUMIERE also inspired us with its dark, oppressive
tone. But when we shoot, we throw all of those references away and allow
ourselves to make new discoveries. He knows I like my scenes to feel
intense, with a slow-creeping underlying tension. We have the trust and
faith in each other than comes from knowing the other person is an artist,
a craftsman and a professional.
Dominick was like a brother throughout shooting, and it was great having
him continue in the editing room, where we continued to push and inspire
one another. When you find someone you enjoy collaborating with, it is
difficult to tell where your thoughts end and theirs begins. Dominick has
a powerful visual imagination and a great sensitivity; he also has an
intuitive sense of how to move the camera. I find he is very responsive to
the actors, and we had particularly giving performers on CONTACT.
CC: One person you’ve worked with several times is
with Zoe Daelman Chlanda, who stars in CONTACT. You’ve worked with her as
a director on CONTACT, as an assistant director on INSATIABLE, and as a
producer on THE BLOOD SHED. How does the relationship differ, if it does,
from project to project and how is it working with Zoe?
JK: The first time we worked together was on Alan Rowe Kelly’s THE
BLOOD SHED. I had already seen her work in I’LL BURY YOU TOMORROW, where
she impressed me very much. Alan just has a talent for finding people with
a unique star quality, and Zoe possesses a remarkable charisma, a fierce
tenacity, and a deep vulnerability. In other words, you can’t take your
eyes off her.
THE BLOOD SHED was
Alan’s movie, so my job was more to corral the many talented people he had
on that set and maintain the atmosphere of controlled chaos and mayhem
that movie thrived on. It was about an inbred cannibal redneck family,
after all. On INSATIABLE, again I was working as an assistant director,
but Zoe and I became good friends on that gig since we drove out to the
set together every day, and had the opportunity to discuss her role and
her thoughts about our craft.
With CONTACT, Zoe and I had the opportunity for rehearsals and more
collaboration during pre-production, where she was able to dig into this
character. She was absolutely fearless, and I was grateful that she was
willing to push herself to such extremes. We inspired each other on this
shoot very much, and I hope to continue our collaboration on forthcoming
projects. She always gives so much, and the camera just responds to her;
it’s a remarkable talent.
CC: What’s the main
difference between working on small independent productions like CONTACT
and INSATIABLE and six figure films like I SELL THE DEAD?
JK: Working on a movie like I SELL THE DEAD was like commanding a small
army. As assistant director, the logistics of running a set where
sometimes you would have at least 80 people working that day is
challenging, but also exhilarating. That movie was a massive undertaking,
so even though it was six figures it never felt that way, because once you
spend the money on extras, a giant guillotine, and eight or nine smoke
machines, you are still left with the same problems and hassles of a
small, no-budget indie short; you are still racing to get shots in the can
before the sun goes down. It just cost more money, and it is a bad trend
for bigger budget independent features to throw money at problems. On
no-budget movies, you rely on tenacity, creativity, courage and passion.
But I had as good a time making I SELL THE DEAD as I did on CONTACT—just
for different reasons.
CC: You have a lot of films scheduled for release
in 2010 that you worked on. Can you talk about each one, starting with
SATAN HATES YOU and then GOD’S LAND and PROJECT MAYHEM?
JK: PROJECT MAYHEM is actually not the title of that film; it was
actually an independent feature I produced entitled THE JONESTOWN DEFENSE
that we shot in
Sarasota, Florida. The crew made up t-shirts with Project Mayhem written
on them because the shoot felt like running the gauntlet every day, and
the name stuck. Suddenly, horror fans in New York were wondering what this
so-called Project Mayhem was. In fact, it is a drama about businessmen
having their lives decimated by the economic fallout. I was nearly
devoured by a dozen alligators in the wetlands on that movie; that is the
nature of the mayhem we faced. But it was an incredible shoot…
As for GOD’S LAND, that was a passion project by a southern filmmaker
named Preston Miller about an Asian cult visiting Garland, Texas and
awaiting the arrival of a spaceship from the fourth dimension. I produced
that film, too, and it was shot on a microbudget. But Preston is a winning
combination of beer drunking good ol’ boy, Samuel Beckett absurdist and
art house cinephile. Links to my production diaries of making the film,
which go into great detail on the joys and tribulations of making this
picture, can be found on his Web site:
http://www.vindaloophilmwallah.com/gl_toc.htm
SATAN HATES YOU is my second feature with James Felix McKenney, based
on the Christian scare films of the 1970s. It was great to have the
opportunity to co-produce a film with my friends at Glass Eye Pix, and Jim
is one of those filmmakers who I would work with at any time, any place,
any project. His previous film, the post-apocalyptic robot movie
AUTOMATONS, was time I cherished; one of the top three best filmmaking
experiences I ever had—a poetic and haunting film that used B-movie
tactics to get at something ultimately devastating. SATAN HATES YOU had a
bigger budget than Jim is used to, but it afforded him the chance to work
with genre icons like Reggie (PHANTASM) Bannister, Michael (THE HILLS HAVE
EYES) Berryman and Debbie Rochon. It is also his third feature with the
great Angus Scrimm.
CC: You also work as a journalist and have been
featured on Fangoria, Shock Cinema Magazine. How has being a journalist
benefited in your career as a filmmaker and what has been the most
rewarding experiences in this regard?
JK: It was certainly an enjoyable profession for a while, an afforded
me the chance to get to know Alan, Larry and some of the other filmmakers
you’ve mentioned. I have fazed out this part of my life somewhat, but will
never forget drinking malt liquor with Abel Ferrara in the Chelsea Hotel
as he raged on about the angels and the devils, or Tom Noonan recalling
his mental breakdown and why that was a healthy experience for him, or
Harmony Korine reveling in the highs and lows of his crazy life while
saying the middle ground just won’t do. Naomi Watts told me I was
fiendishly clever, but that’s a story for another time…
CC: A story I want to hear! Back to business,
explain your participation in the DVD release of Bart Mastronardi’s
VINDICATION.
JK: I will be moderating two commentary tracks; one with Bart and one
with the cast and crew. It’s a strong, artistically uncompromising film,
and I am proud to be associated with it.
CC: Where do you see both the film and horror
industry going in the next five years?
JK: I have no thoughts on the subject. Let the future reveal itself,
since we never know what is around the corner.
CC: Other than my
shit, what is coming up for you?
JK: I play my cards close to the vest. Let’s just say I have a monster
movie feature I am passionate about directing, as well as a handful of
music videos and producing gigs. I would love to work with the actors from
CONTACT again, as well as Jerry Murdock from I’LL BURY YOU TOMORROW and
VINDICATION. He is another wonderful genre actor with star quality; a
great match for Zoe.
CC: OK, let’s say that you are a film professor
teaching the history of horror films and you have five films to show your
class. Which five films would you show and why?
JK: Man, Scott…these answers I am giving make me sound like a
pretentious prick! But listen, I would not show five films. I would
encourage the students to go live their lives, really listen to people,
get their hands on motion picture cameras and take to the streets,
understand the difference between one lens and another, examine the nature
of light, study human behavior, read many books by the great authors, and
go to the museum. Once they have done that for two years, they are ready
to begin watching movies because they will not be couch potatoes absorbing
movie lore. Then I would say watch the films of Stanley Kubrick, Andrei
Tarkovsy, David Lean, Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, Ingmar Bergman,
Michael Bay, George Cukor, Howard Hawks, Claire Denis and Andrzej Zulawski,
for starters…
CC: My final
question to you is what would be the one thing you would tell someone who
wanted to make a movie?
JK: It’s not called the Talker’s Guild of America.
(Click on the picture to view CONTACT online)
(This interview was conducted in conjunction with the Horror Review.
Check it out at
http://www.horrorreview.com)
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