FROM THE HELLBENT DIRECTOR
Paul Etheredge-Ouzts talks aboutmaking a "gay horror film"
The first meeting with Steven Wolfe and Josh Silver was especially interesting to me because I also had the chance to meet with Joe Wolf, one of the co-creators of the original John Carpenter classic, “Halloween”. I thought, who better to be involved with than someone who knew the horror genre so well. Josh Silver had met Joe Wolf around 1990 when he had a client in Joe’s film, "New York Cop" and had stayed in touch. Josh and Joe had lunch when Sneak Preview’s film "Circuit" was just about to come out.
Joe had heard Sneak Preview’s film, "Relax, it’s Just Sex!" had been successful and Josh spent a good portion of the lunch discussing with Joe that the gay market was under-served and ripe for more mainstream type movies. Josh equated it to the African American market in the '70's and how "Shaft" made it acceptable to make mainstream movies about blacks. “At the end of the lunch, I didn't think I had made much of an impression on Joe with my whole dissertation, and I said, ‘So Joe, good luck with your horror movies and wish me luck with the gay movies.’ ‘How about a gay horror movie?’ he said. The light bulb then went off in my head and I couldn't wait to get back to the office to tell Steven.”
“Joe suggested that Josh and I meet his daughter Karen to kick around some ideas. She had discovered the original script for ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’. We spent nearly a year developing a script with one writer but it wasn't quite right,” said Wolfe. I was frustrated and chatting with Joe one day and we happened to be talking about the Halloween parade in West Hollywood”. Joe said, “That would be a great back-drop for a film”. “That idea really stuck with me,” said Wolfe. “Paul Etheredge-Ouzts had been working with the company for nearly two years in production. I had read some of his writing and thought he showed a lot of promise. I was quite confident he could direct a film”.
What is gay horror? This was the first question I had to tackle when writing the script. I predict most audiences will expect a camp version of a slasher - characters growling arch double entendres as they off each other. This image doesn't describe the film at all. I realized that the elements of a traditional horror film - being chased, realizing that you're about to die, being unable to save a loved one, the dark - are universally potent. What makes the film gay are simply its characters and their objects of affection.
“I wanted to write a slasher film where
the characters are essential to
the story...”
I reviewed the celebrated (and less celebrated) films of the slasher genre in preparation for writing the script; "Psycho", "Suspiria", "Camp Sleepaway", "Scream", "Halloween." Not surprisingly, I found the most impressive slashers featured the better developed characters.” “I wanted to write a slasher film where the characters are essential to the story. I wanted the audience to hope - even assume - that no one will die. In our film, we pay homage to the recognizable slasher stereotypes - the bad boy, the sex addict, the virgin - but they're more fully formed characters.
When we began to cast the movie, I stressed that I didn't want actors who played "gay". I wanted the sexuality of the characters to feel incidental rather than be the defining trait. I envisioned the leads to be regular guys - regular, beautiful guys (it's an escapist movie, after all). I also needed capable, intuitive actors who could create their characters on the run. Our shooting schedule was maddeningly tight, and rehearsal time was a luxury we didn't have. (The actors were cast two days before principle photography began - just enough time to costume them.)
We cast Dylan Fergus as the character of "Eddie". Until I met him, I had always felt the character had been a cipher to me (as protagonists often are for their creators), but I immediately recognized "Eddie" when I met him. Dylan had only lived in Los Angeles for two weeks when he read for the part. Just out of college, he seemed unspoiled by life experience, yet also unformed by it. Dylan has an utterly wholesome, boyish look, but when he speaks, his voice is a man's. This contrast is startling. Perfect qualities, I thought, for the boy-next-door Eddie, whose taste for the darker stuff of life is maturing. Dylan's eyes sealed the deal: large, luminous, and pale aqua.
I modeled "Jake" after Marlon Brando in "The Wild Ones". He's almost a fantasy character, an amalgamation of all the alluring bad boy traits: he's rebellious, unapologetic, aggressively sexual, and a smoker. Bryan fits the bill perfectly. To our first meeting at a casual restaurant, Bryan Kirkwood wore a tee shirt he'd made that featured an explicit photograph of him gripping his penis. I knew then that the character of "Jake" was in capable hands.
Even when he's not the focus of a scene, Hank Harris keeps "Joey" alive. Hank is a remarkably transparent and honest actor. Executive producer Karen Wolf knew he was the only person who could play Joey from our first casting session. “We were all enthralled with his performance in “Pumpkin” (a Sundance Film Festival favorite). While writing the script, I'd interpreted the character of "Chaz" - blandly - as a good-natured, free-spirited hedonist”, said Etheredge. Andrew Levitas created a darker, more complicated character. His "Chaz" is an un-neutered dog - libidinous, aggressive, almost bullying at times. One of the big casting challenges was the role of Tobey. After all, how many guys are going to want to play a role where they are in drag for the entire movie? We went through auditioning so many people, but just couldn’t find anything other than stereotype, said Wolf. Then we saw Matt Phillips. In addition to being an actor, Matt is a model and a boxer - he's a very physically striking, masculine figure. When he lurched into his audition and began spouting improvised obscenities in his Brooklyn accent, I knew we had found our "Tobey". That his character spends the entire film in 1940s Hollywood glamour drag is the cherry on the sundae.
“I envisioned the design of the film to reflect
the journey
the young characters take
during the course of the
Halloween night…”
During our initial meeting, the producers expressed an interest in capturing the pageantry of the Halloween festival. They referred to the film, "Black Orpheus" as a model. I looked to the homoerotic stereotypes the artist, Tom of Finland, for inspiration when creating the costumes for the characters. The cop, the cowboy, the leather daddy. I viewed the photography of James Bidgood and looked to the work of French artists, Pierre and Gilles. “The Halloween setting is dream-like. I envisioned the design of the film to reflect the journey the young characters take during the course of the Halloween night. At the beginning of the film, the guys trademarks of youth: invincible, oblivious to the dangers in the world. The colors in the film are surreal, glowing, often saturated. As the story progresses, and horrible events happen, the movie visually darkens, becomes less saturated. Their paler, more realistic counterparts replace the candy colors of innocence. The holiday setting supports the fantastic elements. We felt we could get away with wilder, fantastic design than most films enjoy.
The Halloween Carnival is a bacchanal. People lose their inhibitions, dress in fantastic costumes, become someone else for a night. It's a night that celebrates transformation and fantasy. The entire West Hollywood neighborhood becomes unreal. The Carnival has its horror element too. Monstrous images of violence and gore are as common on the boulevard as drag queens. So when I met with producers Steven Wolfe and Josh Silver about their idea to do a horror film set in and around the carnival, my thought was this: if a killer were hunting the Halloween Carnival, no one could distinguish between the stage blood and the real murders. He could kill, unrecognized in his costume, without attracting much notice from the crowd.
We've set the film in and around the annual West
Hollywood Halloween Carnival. This event claims to be the largest one-night
street festival in the world, with attendance approaching 450,000 people.
Although our version of West Hollywood and the party is fictional - it's
partially realized through specially constructed sets and additional locations
- we shot portions of the movie at the actual carnival during October 2001
and 2002. “I had done something
similar with our film, ‘Circuit’ which was a dramatic film that took place
in and around the gay circuit party scene,” said Wolfe. “In that film,
we went to the actual White Party in Palm Springs, as well as about five
other live events. We brought our actors into the events and got key
tie-in shots and completely covered the parties. Then six months later,
we shot the film and re-created party scenes in tighter for the dialogue”. “The
challenge on this film was that we didn’t have a script. Just a concept,
but the West Hollywood Carnival was just weeks away”. Joe said, “shoot
it anyway! Get as much footage as you can. We’ll finish the
script and be ready to put actors into the parade when
it comes around next year.”
We shot our first footage for the film at the West Hollywood Halloween Carnival in 2001. At this time, I hadn't written the script and only had a vague idea of what the film would be about. I sent three camera crews into the crowd with the instructions: "Shoot anything cool." We ended up with approximately six hours of 2nd Unit footage, less than two minutes of which will appear in the film. The following year, I had a script and a cast ready for the carnival. Shooting on Santa Monica Boulevard proved challenging. The producers had the unenviable task of not only shepherding thirty cast and crew members through the party crowds, but also keeping us focused on our work. Mixed success: some of us went home drunk.
“The effects for the film are achieved through
a blending
of digital and practical means…”
Aaron Sims designed the killer's mask and will execute several of key digital effects. Justin Raleigh constructed the practical mask and created Hank Harris' severed head. Steve Dyson oversees the digital effects compositing. These composites include the usual wire removal, matte shots, and decapitations. The production's key makeup artist, Josh Martin, and property master, AJ Lekowski, shared the on-set blood work chores.
“Instead of opting for the conventional dance mixes
often
found in gay films, we've assembled a soundtrack comprised of rockabilly,
punk, and underground music from queer and queer-friendly bands…”
