The Interview:
How
did you become interested in horror?
When I found out that you could write cheerleaders into your
script, name them after bitchy chicks from high school, get em
nekkid in the film, then kill them. Horror rules.
Who are your major influences?
Honestly, an equal combination of
Sam
Raimi,
Bruce
Lee, Bob Ross and Seymore Butts.
What is one of the first horror films you can remember
seeing?
Halloween. I was six and it scared the living piss
out of me.
What is the scariest horror film you have seen?
Gigli
What
are some of your all-time favorite Horror Films?
Hellraiser,
Demons,
28
Days Later,
Trilogy of Terror,
Nightmare on Elm Street,
Jason
X,
The Devil's Rejects
What is your all time favorite B rated horror film and
why?
Frankenhooker. A terrifying tale of sluts an bolts, cmon!
Favorite Seasoned Horror Director:
Argento or
Hitchcock
Which up and coming director do you see flourishing is the
horror industry?
Rolfe
Kanefsky
If you could pick one horror film to have been yours,
which would it be?
Frankenhooker
Favorite ongoing horror series:
Evil
Dead
If you could be slain by any horror creature who or what
would it be and why?Frankenhooker - she'd give me a killer STD but damn
it be fun.
Which
murder weapon makes your skin crawl?
Anal Speculum
Current horror film you are most excited to see.
Snakes
on a Plane
How
did you come up with the storyline for Andre The Butcher?
Well we were sittin around watching the Cheerleader Nationals
on cable and thought fun
to make a horror movie about cheerleaders getting turned into
chili.
How did the casting of Ron Jeremy come about?
Ron Jeremy got me laid a few times with some hotties out here
in Hollywood. I figured I owed him a favor or two, or twelve...
I honestly thought he’d be a terrific villain. He also knows
martial arts and we wrote that into the script.
Did Ron's meat pole ever slip out of his pants and knock
any of the cast members unconscious?
No thank God. But he did knock over a few C-stands, no
biggie.
Your film has a great mixture of comedy and horror. Were
there any films that directly
inspired this tone?
Schlindler's List if you can believe that.
Let's
talk equipment. What model camera did you use for the shoot and
how did you edit the film?
It was mix of HD cams, Panasonic DVX 100 24p, Sony VX2000.
Final Cut HD was the editing system.
I'm not a cleavage detective or anything, but I know damn
well that those big naked titties in your film didn't belong to
any of the girls on screen. What's the deal with that?
Those bodacious ta-tas belonged to my fiancée April Renee,
who also played the naughty nurse. See Gregg, boobs are also a
serious casting choice to consider. They are their own
character. We auditioned many tits for the role, and April's
gazongas won by a melon. They got their own on screen credit at
the end of the film.
I always wonder this when I see a horror/comedy film. Was
there ever a point in the
development process when you wanted to make Andre a more serious
film?No, not really. It was really our intent from the start to be
off the wall zany as much as possible. When you work in this
budget range, most attempts to be serious usually end up looking
ridiculous due to lack of production values, talent, locations,
etc. We embraced our budget and tried to take ridiculous to new
heights. And dammit, it was fun.
As
you know, the name of the cheerleading squad in your film is
named "The Beavers." Do you think that there's any chance that
"The Beavers" could bring it hard enough to take on "The Cocks"?
The Beavers actually do take on The Gamecocks in the film and
beat their asses into meatloaf.
The final fight sequence between Andre and Jasmine is
obviously meant to be funny, but it's choreographed rather well.
How did you approach this sequence?
We knew Ron Jeremy had some martial arts training, so we
thought it\'92d be clever to have a climactic chop-socky
showdown with the head cheerleader. Our lead actress April
Billingsley had 6 months of martial arts training for the fight
and we filmed it in 2 days.
You co-wrote Andre The Butcher with James Hyde. How did
this collaboration come about and how exactly did you work
together?
James and I have been collaborating since high school (1993).
Andre the Butcher marks our fifth script that we co-wrote
together. Collectively, we wrote the first draft in less than a
month. This script was a blast cuz we got to roll all of our
favorite guilty pleasures into one flick: hot chicks, kung fu,
boobs, guns, explosions, gore and Ron Jeremy!
A little off topic but I gotta ask, between you and me,
which one of the cast members was the best lay?
Ron Jeremy. Hands down.
There
are going to be people who won't get this film at all. Do you
have anything to say to these people?
Thanks for watching and helping me pay my rent.
So what's next for Philip Cruz?
Kung-fu action movie about gorgeous lesbian assassins called
CARPET NINJAS. They really tear it up!
What
do you love most about the horror genre?
The worldly themes about compassion and forgiveness...
How important are gore and nudity to the success of a
horror film?
The more the merrier, on both accounts!
How do you feel about the current state of the genre?
I feel it can use plenty more nudity and gore.
Where do you think the Horror genre is headed?
With the development of digital technology, there will always
be a large wave of horror films every year flooding the market,
most of which are from novice filmmakers. By default, most of
them will be BAD. But the ones that employ good storytelling,
casting, writing and directing will prevail. Not to mention
casting hot chicks with gorgeous racks...
If
there were one misconception of the horror genre what would it
be?
That it's easy to make a horror movie. And a good one at
that.
Any final comments or thoughts?
Thanks for showing interest in my film! Thanks to the fans
too!
