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Interview:
Hey Gunnar, in your own words please explain the plot for
MURDER SET PIECES.
The central character is a
photographer who is spiraling down into madness. He meets
women, pretends to photograph them and eventually kills them
in inventive and brutal ways.
Nice! So how did you get
involved with the project?
Well I’ve known Nick Palumbo (the
director) for a while. He was working on putting together a
project called SINISTER that I was going to be involved
with, and ended up traveling to New York to shoot the
trailer. While down there MURDER SET PIECES came up and he
decided to go with that one.
Just out of curiosity. Where did
you first meet Nick?
You know honestly I’m not sure. It
could have been a convention. I can remember meeting him at
one and he gave me a copy of NUTBAG, but I’m not exactly
sure if that was the first time.
 During my research for this
interview I noticed that you are credited as “Nazi Mechanic”
in MURDER SET PIECES. What exactly does that mean?
(laughing)
It’s funny. When I first saw that
reference I was thinking “why is my character a Nazi?” and I
had forgotten that there was a big Nazi flag in my living
room. Well, in my characters living room. But yeah, he’s
actually selling a gun to the photographer. He’s looks like
a mechanic because he’s all covered in grease and he’s
working on his car when the killer showing up looking to buy
the gun.
So do you actually kill anyone
in the film?
Nope.
So you’re taking a breaking from
the massacring?
You know I’ve been thinking about
that and lately the films I have been working in I wasn’t
doing a lot of killing.
No you’re right actually,
because I saw CHAINSAW SALLY and you’re the one actually
being killed right?
Yep. In fact there’s another film
coming out soon called APOCALYPSE AND THE BEAUTY QUEEN where
I’m actually one of the good guys.
 That must be refreshing.
Yeah, it’s nice not being asked to
pull out a chainsaw.
You know I was going to ask you
this later, but it fits in better here. How sick of you with
answering questions about TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE?
Oh no. I understand that people are
interested in me, having me work in their movies and talking
with me because of CHAINSAW MASSACRE and I certainly
appreciate that. Usually by the end of October I’m pretty
tired of talking about the film, because most of the month
I’m busy making appearance and haunted houses and such. So
yeah, the month of November is reserved for no CHAINSAW
talk.
Well good it’s December.
Yep. Good thing.
 I haven’t seen MURDER SET PIECES
yet, but I remember reading in one of the trade magazines
that it was a brutal experience film and I was wondering
what your thoughts were on that. It seems lately that the
trend is the bloodier the better.
Well I certainly think that’s where
horror movies are going. When I saw an earlier cut, which
I’m sure is going to be more brutal then what the final cut
will look like, it didn’t bother me. I’m old fashioned in
the sense of what I want in a horror movie. I prefer films
where their main job is to creep you out and frighten you,
over movies like SAW for instance. So I tend to watch more
old style horror, but watching MURDER SET PIECES didn’t
bother me in the least. I know I spoke with Nick after and
he asked me if I was grossed out and I said, no not at all.
Have you seen a final cut of the
film?
No I haven’t. I’ve seen a cut Nick
put together a few months ago and I’m assuming it’s not the
same cut, but I don’t know, cause I have not seen the Lions
Gate release.
So MURDER SET PIECES aside. What
do you do when you’re not acting Gunnar?
Mostly I work as a writer. I work
in film when interesting films come up, and I go to an
occasional convention, maybe three or four a year. Then I do
other appearances. It seems like in the past few years I’ve
been getting more films, but most of my time is spend in
front of the computer writing.
 So what kind of stuff do you
write?
My most recent project was a
documentary film that I wrote and produced about the
relationship of the Passamaquoddy Indian Tribe to the
watershed in which they live, and that was funded be the
EPA. And I’m also working on a novel, which is what I spend
most of my time on. But as far as hobbies, I think
photography is mostly what I do these days, as far as for
myself.
A little off topic, but I wanted
to ask you about SOUTH TEXAS BLUES, the Texas Chainsaw
Massacre documentary. Are you involved with that project?
No I’m not. He (Christopher P.
Garetano) did ask me to be involved with that but I turned
it down. I just felt that there were already a good number
of films done about Chainsaw. Plus I was recently involved
with FLESH WOUNDS, which I think is really good, and I
didn’t want to do anymore.
So what else is in the works?
You mentioned APOCALYPSE AND THE BEAUTY QUEEN was coming out
soon right?
Yeah, APOCALYPSE AND THE BEAUTY
QUEEN, which was shot in St. Louis and like MURDER SET
PIECES, was shot on 35mm.
 Yeah, I was surprised to see the
35mm.
Yep. It’s a beautiful looking film
(meaning APOCALYPSE AND THE BEAUTY QUEEN). It’s interesting;
it’s not a horror film, but more of a post apocalyptic
drama. It’s as if the government collapsed a year ago and
people are living hand to mouth, most of them in abandoned
houses, or maybe abandoned cars. And the story is about this
woman who has taken over one area, basically declared
herself the queen, and my character is an ex-con drunk who
is trying to protect Sylvie, who’s the female lead
character. Because she’s pretty disgusted with what’s going
on, trying to overthrow the queen, and I’m trying to keep
her from getting killed.
And that’s due out in early
2007?
Yes. January 23rd, I believe.
I’ve got two more questions for
you. What do you think audiences will like most about MURDER
SET PIECES?
I think it’s going to be the
intensity. I mean this is a movie that you’re going to come
out of saying “Wow!”
 Yeah I bet. And what was the
last really good horror movie you saw?
See that’s tough because I have
such different tastes.
Well what was the last horror
movie that you told someone else about?
Oh, well that would be JACOB’S
LADDER. That tells you how long ago it was. I saw it on
video actually, about four or five years after it came out.
Any final comments Gunnar?
Just a thanks to all the fans!
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