HORRORNEWS.NET - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS:
The Joyhorror Interviews with Mike Joy
STEVEN ARVANITES Interview - 11.08.08
Your screenplay CADAVER recently got 1st Runner-up at the Eerie Horror Film Festival & Best Feature Screenplay at the Terror Horror Film Fest, can you tell our readers what the story is about?
What happens if a plastic dipped cadaver from one those traveling bodies exhibits reanimate and came after you to settle a score?
After a maverick detective shoots a serial killer in cold blood, he is reanimated as a cadaver from a traveling Bodies Alive! exhibit and stalks the NYPD cop for an ultimate revenge.
My goal in creating a script was to write a high concept horror film that was wholly original and based in some kind of warped reality. Since these ghoulish bodies exhibits are sweeping the country and have garnered protests from the Catholic Church and others because of their “immorality” I thought it perfect subject material to exploit.
As my natural scripting skills veer towards comedy my other challenge, besides making it terrifying, was for it to be perversely funny. So, I modeled the reanimated cadaver after Liberace. I mean that as the highest compliment because he was a great showman and entertainer. And my cadaver just doesn't kill you, he delightfully teases, torments then slices your tongue out so you drown on your own blood. Now, that’s theatrical!
Finally, what scared me the most is how much I enjoy killing people…on page. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than therapy and surprisingly it's a challenge to slaughter an innocent in a totally unique way each and friggin’ every time. It was damn exhausting!
Now, where does CADAVER go from here?
As of this moment I am in negotiations to sell Cadaver but the deal is not done. You must read the contractual fine print because if you don't you may have negotiated your kidney away by mistake. Money is great but moreover I want someone who is enthusiastic and understands the tent pole potential for the property and treat with a modicum of respect. Whatever the hell that means in Hollywood.
What inspired you to write CADAVER?
I was bored and went to the South Street Seaport (New York City) to see the Bodies Exhibit. It was late in the day and I was alone in the room with 12 “fun-posed” flesh stripped human cadavers. After “this is totally creeping me out” moment passed, the proverbial lightbulb went off and uttered, “What happens if one of the things came alive now?” I finished the script three weeks later.
Who is your favorite horror author?
Literally, I admire Steven King. He consistently turns out very good to great work. I also have a high regard for his writing process which is commented and annotated in his book, ON WRITING: A Memoir of the Craft. I recommend it.
Visually, Clive Barker is a genius. He grabs that sour place in our souls and renders it precisely on screen. Hellraiser is a masterpiece.
You are also the founder of NYCscreenwriter. Do you see a lot of up and
coming horror screenwriters out there?
As the founder of NYCscreenwriter.org, (please check us out. I teach FREE screenwriting classes twice monthly in Manhattan) I'm privy to many members script as a script consultant and adviser. A word of advice to all newbie horror writers: If your script is about teenage zombies shelve it and start a new one. Seen it, been there, and done that 465,389 times before. Also, the torture porn ship has sailed.
When a new screenwriter solicits me for advice about what her first screenplay should be I always say without hesitation, “Horror!” First, there's nothing like the challenge of scaring the crap out of someone textually and secondly, it's the only genre that does not require a star. So a great high concept horror film can be your entrée into Hollywood, convertibles, the chemically drowned and sun drenched “beautiful people.”
You recently completed filming "I KILLED YOU 'CAUSE I HAD TO". What is your
movie about?
Boy meets girl. Boy kills girl. Boy buries girl. Simplistic but the truth.
I Killed ‘Cause I Had To explores the dark place we all go to when gripped by unhealthy obsession. What I wanted to achieve, perversely as possible, is your kindly next-door neighbor can be watching your every move, picking through your garbage for “ treasures” and creating a deadly fantasy life that nothing to do with reality. Through Leo Bremer, the sociopath who drives my film, I wanted to explore the private and intimate behavior we all do when alone; from picking your nose, scratching your butt, dancing nude, having a moist time with your fav skin flick or delving deep with one-sided intellectual conversations. Portraying disturbing intimate behavior is the purpose of I Killed ‘Cause I Had To. And to creep out anyone whose been real-life stalked.
What was the hardest scene to film?
We had extraordinarily tight budget and timeline and there are several scenes that required “violence.” People think just go ahead and strangle her, thrash her around and make some choking noises. But you have actors, union actors, and you have to be careful not to hurt them and piss them off. So the two scenes that were the most complex were containing violence.
We had an excellent fight choreographer and, like a dance routine, he choreographed the violence step by step. I actually had to alter other shots because we were strangling and beating up each other so damn long. But it looks great on film so in the end it was all worth it. There's nothing like strangling your star to death that gets your blood pumping.
Where can fans see "I KILLED YOU 'CAUSE I HAD TO"?
We're making the festival rounds now. Nationally were hoping for Sundance, and internationally the Berlin Film Festival. If that happens a distribution deal likely follows. It's nice to get to a point where they come after you and not vice versa. Also, playing hard to get is kinda fun.
Any interesting behind the scenes stories from making "I KILLED YOU 'CAUSE I
HAD TO"?
One scene takes place in a parking garage. We tried to do it legally but the garage wanted a ridiculous amount of money so we did what any intrepid filmmaker would do and we stole the shot. I remember one point the security guard patrolling and we all ducked behind a humongous Land Rover and held our breath. The good news is we got off a terrific shot and didn't have to pay a penny!
Also, if you're going to make your horror flick in New York City, which is a great tableau, definitely skip Manhattan and shoot in the outer boroughs. We couldn't believe how accommodating, kind and giving people were in Queens. We rented this one Italian restaurant to shoot a complicated scene and instead of charging us for the crew meal, approximately 30, they gave us everything on the house. Now, that's a lot of pasta! So use the ‘burbs for your flicks. The residents aren't jaded like Manhattanites and you'll find if you bring a pretty face to the set and use them as extras you can get the moon and the stars...or at least a free lunch.
Do you have a favorite horror movie from your childhood?
Without a doubt the movie that scared me the most when I was a wee toddler was The Exorcist. There's something about the devil that always gets me. He's a fantastic antagonist that is rooted in firm belief and religion. So unlike ghosts or zombies, Satan truly “exists” for many people. I remember my mother asking me to go into the basement to get the laundry. Heart pounding, I knew the devil was waiting for me behind the dryer. I never ran so fast up the basement stairs as I did that afternoon.
Alien is the other film that scared the scared the bejesus out of me. Although not a traditional horror film, the Nostradamus was truly a haunted house and the carnivorous alien its lethal ghoul. I remember when my parents picked me up from the movie they thought I was sick because I was pale and sweating like a piglet.
Finally, if you want to see a perfectly constructed horror movie Halloween is it.
What other projects are you working on at the moment?
Serial killers have been very good for my career either real or as a reanimated cadaver. So the next script is the story of a convicted and pardoned serial killer who nonchalantly slices, dices, murders and mayhems across America and is protected by the CIA because… he knows a secret. And what is the secret that gives him the “permission” to kill anyone he wants. And what is the secret? Well, pay $12.50, buy a bag of popcorn and watch it like everyone else. D’oh!!
