Review: Stripperland

Text © Richard Gary/Indie Horror Films, 2019
Images from the Internet


Stripperland
Directed by Sean Skelding
Independent Media Distribution / MVD Visual
103 minutes, 2011
www.Imdplc.com
www.MVDvisual.com

When there’s no more room on the pole, strippers will walk the earth!”

“First they dance, then they kill!”

The basic premise to this comedy is that a virus turns young-to-middle aged women into zombies who like to dance on poles, dress in heels, spandex and lingerie, and dine on men’s body parts. Four people join forces on their way across the country to Portland, Oregon, where two of the passengers’ Grampa lives. It’s a mixture of a road movie, a buddy film, a love story, and, of course, the walking half-naked dancing dead.

Despite the title, an obvious play on 2009’s Zombieland (more on that later), this film is a lot less salacious than one may imagine. If that is a good thing or a bad one, guess that’s up to the viewer. While there is very little nudity, there are plenty of body parts, both attached and detached, mostly in something tight fitting.

Unlike some broad stroked comedies, such as Vampire’s Suck was to Twilight, or even the milder Scary Movie was to Scream, this is more of a comedic homage to a large number of zombie flicks, including all of the …of the Dead series (including the remakes), Return of the Living Dead, 28 Days/Weeks Later..., Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive, anything from Tromaville, Shaun of the Dead, Evil Dead,, even Star Wars (yes, I know there are no zombies in SW), and so many others. [Okay, another quick digression: do you realize that flesh eating zombies did not exist prior to 1968? Before that, zombies were mostly related to voodoo culture.]

But it’s definitely Zombieland that is the basic paradigm, sometimes accurately, such as relying on lists (in this case, typically “strippers are all about the money”; “never eat in a strip club”) and characters being named for states, for example, but usually twisting it a bit, having one look for baked goods rather than Twinkies (do I need a trademark stamp after that?), and Portland as the goal rather than an amusement park. But the two sisters are there (though a bit older than the ZL version for obvious reasons), the tough as nails Hummer driver with the shotgun and straw cowboy hat, and the nerdy (read: annoying) guy.

The director here, Sean Skelding, only has a couple of films under his belt (such as the same level of spoof, I Am Virgin), but he has been a set designer for some very A-level films and TV programs, such as Maverick, Party of Five, and yes, Twilight. This has led him to know quite a few recognizable B-level actors that are willing to appear in his films for the fun of it, usually outshining the four main characters, who I will get to after this…. [Well, after this brief side-step, once again. The AD, Tyler Benjamin, directed the zombie documentary Walking Dead Girls, reviewed in this column earlier. He created the word “zimbie,” or bimbo zombie, which the rapper character Double D uses at some point as a throwaway line here. Okay, now back to our show…]

The main character, Idaho (Ben Sheppard) – who does not come from that state – is based on Jesse Eisenberg’s Columbus. Ben plays Idaho like a manic depressive stuck on “up” mode. He chatters and smiles and is goofy, reminding me of a chipmunk, and is obsessed with strippers from before the infection. He’s so into looking at them on the Internet, he has no idea of what is actually going on in the world, even to his step-mom, until she bursts into the room with black electric tape over her nipples a la Wendy O. Williams.

At this point, the first guest star of the film shows up, none other than Troma chief and Toxic Avenger creator himself, Lloyd Kaufman. Ever notice how Kaufman’s personality is similar to Mel Brooks, with a quick mind for ad libs? Come to think of it, they even look a bit alike. Anyway, Kaufman hams his way joyously through his lines before his demise, the way in which reminds me of the fate of the Joe Silver character in Cronenberg’s Rabid. Not sure if that was intentional or not.

Idaho is joined, after a rescue in a supermarket, by Frisco (Jamison Challeen), the only character named after a city rather than state here, who is based on Woody Harrelson’s Tallahassee. He’s rough, he’s quiet, he’s good with a shotgun (and chain saw, apparently), and just pinning for his lost love, who was a great baker, it seems. Challeen plays it a bit over the top at times, but definitely has the character down pat, being fun to watch as his slow-burn bursts of anger surface.

One of the two sisters (I’m not sure which is supposed to be ZL’s “Wichita” or “Little Rock” because they had to up the ages due to the content, as I stated above, and rightfully so) is “Virginia” (Maren McGuire, who has a Karen Allen/Genevieve Bujold appeal). She is mostly quiet until she has a reason to put herself on the line. Her character has the most range of the four leads, going from quiet and shy to, well, lets just say bombastic. While the others stay in their niche, McGuire gets the opportunity to stretch, and handles it well.

Her sister is “West” (short for “West Virginia,” embodied by Ileana Herrin), who is a match for Frisco’s fire. Rather than a shotgun, her specialty is two machetes and a very short haircut. While Herrin’s acting is the stiffest of the four, the viewer is having fun, so it is just part of the show. [Note that three of the four main actors have mostly no other IMDB credits listed; only McGuire has had a career, with around 15 credits, including some still in production].

As fun as the set-up is, the heart of the film is the set pieces with the guest stars. The next one we meet is Daniel Baldwin, who plays the rapper (you heard me) Double D, which stands for the double-decker bus he rides around in while on tour, rather than what may be obvious for this film. His song “Club Life” is, well, horrendous (unintentionally so, I assume, from the way it’s used as the chapter head music on the DVD). Our stalwart foursome run across him rapping in the middle of the road beside his bus, with huge bodyguards by his side, arms folded of course. There are a bunch of zombies dancing in front of him; apparently, as long as he’s rapping, they’re dancing rather than attacking. He speaks the “yo yo yo” kind of talk that always sounds either stupid or exploitive when middle-aged whites do it (seems a common enough device on sit-coms, yaknowwhatahmsayin’?). Baldwin looks like he’s having fun, though, and that’s conveyed onto the audience, despite the – err – music.

When they get to a mall (Jantzen Beach, in Portland), as you know they must if you follow the …of the Dead films, they run into a gay pimp with fur and reflections of Alex DeLarge of A Clockwork Orange via Bowler and eyeliner on one eye. He is played by Moose Jaw (Saskatchewan) native Boyd Banks, who has made a reputation by being in a number of George Romero’s later zombie films (not to mention Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and Kids in the Hall). The commentary track has some fine info about the development of his character.

Thom Bray plays an insane doctor living in a casino that’s trying to train the zombies into doing housework, or what he called “retro wifery.” Yep, not only is he based on the insane, always blood-soaked doctor from Day of the Dead, but he’s even named Dr. Logan. Bray is another one who is obviously having fun at this day’s work, even (re)writing his own shtick (such as a mother fixation, among other things). He’s a blast to watch at work.

The guest-star-that-wasn’t is Gilbert Gottfried, who was supposed to mirror the Bill Murray character from ZL, but as he couldn’t make it due to a another (I’m reading that as “paying”; I say that respectfully, not as a dig) commitment, the much lesser known Hank Cartwright fills in as Guy Gibson (they had already shot the scene with the “GG” on the gate), and he actually steals the scene, all the while being macho aging action star and dressed in drag.

Present scream queen Luna Moon has a bit part as a chained zombie in Dr. Logan’s laboratory. She’s into the role; you can tell by the gusto she presents. She’s occasionally seen in the background of the shots, and she is always pacing and strongly into character. She’s obviously not just a horror hostess.

And playing her first granny role (Jeez!) is ‘80s supreme scream queen Linnea Quigley (wasn’t she just a teen in Savage Streets and Return of the Living Dead?), dressed in a girl scout uniform. She gets a fine chance to chew a cigar (and some scenery), which she does in all her glory. I met her once in the early ‘90s, and she was as nice as can be.

There are two full-length commentaries, something more extensive than a viewer may associate with an indie horror film, but unlike most independents, they are worth watching, especially the one with the director, writer and producer. Their narrative is full of inside stories of particular days, how things got done, actors’ personalities, and everything that is interesting about a commentary (as opposed to the Farrelly Brothers’ lazy style of “Oh, there’s our neighbor; oh, there’s our mailman” or Kevin Smith’s insulting-each-other drunken/drugged out mess). This is really what a commentary should be. You’ll have to watch it if you want to find out the meaning of the “G.A.S.” signs that are placed all over Portland.There is a second track that I’ve listen to most of, and which I will finish, by the person in charge of the physical (make-up and applications) FX, and the one who did the digital ones. It’s also interesting to hear how they finagled things the last minute, though they occasionally focus on their own particular work, stepping on each other (not often though), and being cordial about it. Speaking of effects, there are literally hundreds of digital SFX through green screen, erasing, placing, blood, and the like, some of it a bit fakey (such as the Kaufman demise), but impressive nonetheless. As I’ve always enjoyed the prosthetics effects, make-up, and like (John Carpenter’s The Thing is still the one to beat), I was impressed by how much they were able to do with such a small budget. Overall both kinds of effects were remarkable for a film this size.

Other extras include three documentaries (averaging about 8 minutes each) on SFX, the guest stars, and interviews with some of the women who play the stripper zombies; some of them are dancers (one sounds so mercenary, I found her scarier than her character), or adult actors. There are also two music videos (including the dreadful Double D’s “City Life”), some company trailers (such as for Skelding’s I Am Virgin), and a few older refreshment theater ads that are on many of the Cheezy Flicks releases.

Sometimes the comedy falls flat in the film, and it certainly helps to be conscious of the zombie culture that has existed since someone stated, “They’re coming to get you, Bar-ba-ra” (yes, there is a character here with that name in honor, but no one says the line, and I don’t remember if anyone wore racing gloves). In the commentary, they make the suggestion that you use the recognition as a drinking game (know the source, take a drink). It’s the association of references that especially makes the film a fun voyage, more than the jokes, more than the dress code, and more than the gore. You really need to be a zombie fan (which I am) to derive the true flavor of the film, and if you are, it’s especially worth it.

There review originally appeared in FFanzeen.blogspot.com

Review: Lust of the Vampire Girls

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2017

Images from the Internet

Lust of the Vampire Girls

Produced and directed by Matt Johnson

Some Hero Productions / Wild Eye Releasing / MVD Visual

77 minutes, 2014 / 2017

www.facebook.com/lustofthevampiregirls

www.wildeyereleasing.com

www.mvdvisual.com

As with everything else, there are multiple levels of cinema: the big budget and the lower end. This was also true of the Euro-trash films of the late ‘60s into the late ‘80s. For every Dario Argento there was a Jesse Franco. This release models itself more after the latter than the former.

There certainly is a trend over the past few years to mostly honor and sometimes lovingly mock these now classics, be it the ones that were so-good-it’s-good or the so-bad-it’s-good. Most of these, though filmed before its fame, came to prominence in the Western Hemisphere with the rise of (i.e., a quick need for new product) video stores during the 1980s.

Most of the more recent batch of “throwback” style to Euro-horror is over the top in dialogue, in reading by actors and in style, such as purposefully putting in extremely obvious errors like the sound boom in the shot, or a crew member being in the background. A superb example of this is Richard Griffin’s recent Seven Dorms of Death.

While Lust of the Vampire Girls [LothVG] also does a lot of that, it does it a bit more subtly, so it actually looks like errors, rather than a nod-nod-wink-wink shared with the knowing audience. As I will describe later, it actually took me a while to catch on that this is what they were doing, so kudos to the production team.

Victor Medina and Amy Savannah

The basic story is that Pretty Girl (Amy Savannah) and Man (Victor Medina), as they are billed in the credits, are having a fight. She wants to go to a party, and in a very douchey and controlling way, he refuses, insisting she should be happy spending her time just with him. She goes anyway, and apparently her “friends,” all of whom wear party masks, are a cult led by a Romanian Nazi named Gunter (Dave Nilson) who worked beside Mengele in the camps. While there, Gunter invented a serum that turns women into snarling (there is a lot of snarling) vampires who do not age. The drug only works on women, but Dr. Gunter is still working on it.

Pretty Girl is kidnapped by the group, and Man goes to rescue her, in a passive-aggressive manner (“I’m here risking my neck for her tedious ass”). Meanwhile, Man falls for one of the more sentimental vampire women, Lead Vamp Girl (Ashely Eliza Parker).

Ashley Eliza Parker

One of the many interesting choices made by the director is to have one of the camp’s growling, nightgown clad (very Hammer Films style) vampires be African-American; note that I use that specific term because even though they were supposed to become vamps while in a Polish concentration camp, this was filmed in Utah. Don’t remember hearing much about people of color in the camps. But I digress…

The film takes place somewhere in the late-1960s or very early ‘70s, considering the cell phones, typewriters, and magazine covers (e.g., Look magazine from 1986…yes, I do my research). There are some anachronisms, though, such as a nose piercing or modern artistic tattoos on the backs and wrists of more than one character.

Now, when I started watching this, I thought perhaps they were trying too hard to get the feel of the style, with bad acting and one lead character that is a creep and another that is too – err – girly, but about a third of the way through, I had a realization that changed my mindset and actually made this film make more logical and additionally fun. Now, I’m not sure this is intentional, but simply put, I was comparing it to the likes of Italian releases by Argento or even Franco, but in actuality it makes more sense to see the likeness in the even lesser B-versions, if you will, such as Spanish/Mexican films starring Paul Naschy. Not as low as the Luchador ones with, say, Santo or Mil Mascaras, but yet not quite classic giallo.

One thing that is consistent with Italian giallo, though, is the humming and stepping-on-nerve soundtrack, which is more like an electronic pulse. There are also some intentional errors (again, I’m assuming), such as occasional shots that are actually in reverse (is there a reference for that for which I don’t remember?). Then there is the time padding of other clips, such as long and drawn out bits of said snarling vampire women, or someone walking through the woods.

Dave Nilson

Relying on the macho/feminine ethos of films from the period this is supposed to take place (i.e., when it is supposed to be shot), the gendered roles are heightened and exaggerated in hyper-sexualized ways: think of Jane Fonda in 1968’s Barbarella or Steve McQueen in…well, just about anything).

For example, Man comes home to an empty apartment and complains that Pretty Girl has smoked a joint while at the same time he came drunk and carrying a bottle. Then he smokes the last of her joint! He’s very controlling, not wanting her to see her friends. It’s hard to like him: he’s clearly unfaithful and ambivalent about rescuing her. He also falls for Lead Vamp Girl way too quickly. She’s unlike the other vampires in that she’s sweet, needs a man to love her, and is a bit too clingy and needy, unlike that damn Pretty Girl who has a mind of very own and wants something beyond the company of Man. The nerve! Damn those feminists (yeah, this is sarcasm on my part, and arguably on the film’s, as well).

The bad guy, Gunther, has a haram of vampire women that he created with his formula, like a Nazi Superfly; that is devotion-wise, rather than prostitution, though the vampire women definitely show their cleavage and beauty with their flowing nightgowns, as mentioned earlier.

The extras are a bunch of Wildeye Releasing trailers (always fun), including for this film, and a 4+ minute short showing how LofVG’s storyboard translates into the film. Not very deep, but fun.

My uptightness as the film unspooled was because of my own blindness. LotVG is so close to what it’s trying to reflect, that it took me a while to realize what it was doing. That is not the fault of the director, but of my own subjectivity. That is the reason I started it over after about 15 minutes, to watch again with a new set of eyes, as it were. I smiled a lot more, and it was much more of an enjoyable experience. Fans of either Euro- or Mexi-horror are bound to find much to like, especially if you are familiar with the paradigm Johnson used to build his story.

Free Film: The Survivors

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2016
Images from the Internet

The Survivors

Written and directed by Steve Rudzinski
Silver Spotlight Film
37 minutes, 2016
www.silverspotlightfilms.com

Interesting premise here. It starts off with a simple image of cute Cindy (not Sidney) sitting down in front of the television with some popcorn for the evening. As a cool quick easy-to-miss visual, her parking herself down is reflected in the action on the television at the same time, although the person on the television is not her. Anyhoo, the phone rings, and the opening call from Scream (1996) happens (of course, she doesn’t like horror films, so she cannot “play”), and is beset by a quartet of serial killers: Spookface from the previously mentioned Scream, the fisherman from I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), a white and more literal version of the Candyman (1992), and a woman named Brenda whose affiliation escapes me (perhaps 1998’s Urban Legend, as they mention it indirectly?). They, in turn are attacked by a pair of serial killer hunters.

Steve Rudzinski

I know that director Rudzinski is a comic book fanatic of fanboy level (meant as a compliment), and as such he sets this film up as almost an X-Men vs. Brotherhood of Mutants, with humor.  In fact, part of his real life is playing action heroes and villains such as the Beach Boys… I mean Spiderman at big events. A particularly funny bit involves “Frank” (aka Freddy K), played by Rudzinski with two gloves, rather than one, as he waits in Slasher hell for the chance to go back to Earth.

Apparently, the old guard slashers are being put aside for the new, more recent killers. In other words, this film is a sidebar companion to Rudzinski’s previous films, such as the intelligent and no-reason mass murderous, Everyone Must Die! (aka EMD!; 2012). On the other end of the spectrum (i.e., the good guys) include the presence of the title characters from Capt. Z and the Terror of Leviathan (2014) and even Wolfster, Part I: The Curse of the Emo Vamp (2006; a film I haven’t seen yet, sad to say, also played by Rudzinski, reprising his original role as the avenging werewolf).

The good team is filled with not only heroes from Radzinski films, but also the villains are both also from his previous releases, and others who are veiled mainstream slashers. But mostly what makes this film just so great (especially as it’s a love letter to the fans), is its self-referential humor. There are a lot of laughs built in, though if you’ve never seen any of Radzinski’s work, it may leave you scratching your head on occasion.

Part of the referentiality is the breaking of the fourth wall: not in talking to the audience, but rather things like Wolfie saying, “One of my super powers is knowing that we’re actually in a film,” and then picking up a script to see what’s next. However, there is some much subtler rib-stickers, such as the people playing Spookface including writer/actor Michael Varrati, who has written some amazing films like The Sins of Dracula in 2014 for director Richard Griffin, and Dustin Wayde Mills, who directed the likes of Puppet Monster Massacre (2010) and the more recent Her Name is Torment franchise.

Now, if you haven’t seen the previous films, would you be lost? Not necessarily, as so many of the villain characters are shadows of those familiar to all of us horror fans, both indie and mainstream. Not sure? Well, hell, check it out, it’s short at just over half an hour, and what’s more it’s free at the following site – and make sure you stick around for after the credits:

Meet the Denovio Family: Caesar and Otto and Fred’s Eerie Interview

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2016
Images from the Internet
www.caesarandotto.com

They’re creepy and they’re goofy…

Caesar is pissed off, not at any single thing or person specifically, he just always thinking – or let’s say believing – that life should be with him at the center, and in control of it. His older half-brother, Otto, isn’t necessarily running on all motors, but is fueled more on emotions than anything else, and has a lot of loss and failures behind him. Together they spar, but they are each other’s yin and yang. Their shared father, lothario Fred, is a huggable, lovable rascal who doesn’t take crap from anyone, but can charm the wallet out of your pocket and you’d be glad. The only thing he can’t control is his sons, but he is joyfully along for the ride to see both how he can help keep some peace in the family, and what he can get out of it.

Caesar and Otto can now be considered part of a film franchise, with director and writer Dave Campfield at the helm. He also plays the anal and the occasionally somewhat sexually ambiguous Caesar. Otto is faced by the slovenly looking Paul Chomicki, who has a natural talent for comedy timing.  Both of these gents grew up in the Commack/Kings Park area of Long Island, and have been friends since teenhood.  Joining the brothers is real-life Disneyland Nurse Scott Aguilar, who has found a way to medicate his acting bug through Caesar and Otto’s dad, Fred. Scott manages to occasionally steal scenes with his natural charm (hey, he doesn’t work for the Magic Kingdom fer nuthin’).

As I was saying, there have been a series of these films, including shorts, such as Caesar and Otto in the House of Dracula (2009) and Caesar and Otto Meet Dracula’s Lawyer (2010), to some features, including (but not all) Caesar and Otto’s Summer Camp Massacre (2009), Caesar and Otto’s Deadly Xmas (2012), and the most recent Caesar and Otto’s Paranormal Halloween (2015). As the series progresses, we are getting to meet some other wonderful recurring characters and actors, as well. The films are available through Wild Eye Releasing and MVD Visual.

Over time, the three main characters have evolved (unlike, say, the Three Stooges or the Marx Brothers, who’s wondrous personas pretty much remained the same throughout their runs), I believe for the better. For that reason, along with the fact that their films are quite funny while remaining in the genre, that I asked the three main actors in this series some questions I was pondering. For honesty’s sake, I asked Campfield for an interview, and he suggested I should include Chomicki and Aguilar, and he was totally right.

Oh, and Campfield has directed (and acted) in other films beyond the Caesar and Otto timeline, including a hysterical one that is quite relevant now: a short called The Perfect Candidate (can be seen HERE).

Now, here are the humans behind the cinematic Denovio clan.

Otto and Caesar

IndieHorrorFilms.BlogSpot (IHF): Let’s start off with some obvious questions and build. How did Dave and Paul get to know each other, and then become friends? I’m assuming, in part, it’s because you grew up 5 miles from each other in the Kings Park/Commack area on Long Island. And how did Scott, who lives in California, come aboard?

Dave Campfield (Caesar): My older brother had a friend named Dan. He was the filmmaking prodigy of the High School that I went to. Dan could take pots, pans, and construction paper and build the cockpit of an airplane. His big effort was a VHS camcorder feature length thriller named The Highest Fear, about a hijacking. One of the stars of that movie was a twelfth grader named Paul Chomicki. I thought he was great and let him know that during one lunch break. We became good friends. I was thirteen and just starting to make my own movies on a camcorder. Paul became my go-to actor.
Paul Chomicki (Otto): He was two grades below me. We lived about 10 minutes from each other. We became friends as we were both into filmmaking and movies in general.
Scott Aguilar (Fred): I'm in Southern California (born and raised a long, long time ago...). There was a newspaper called Dramalogue. It later changed to Backstage West and Backstage East. Now it's just Backstage. It's a newspaper that one can list casting notices. Dave put an ad in and I sent him my photo and acting resume. I met him and Paul. He had a first draft script for our original Caesar and Otto. We've now made 4. It was a take-off on reality TV which was still pretty new. That was 2005 [released in 2007 – RG].

IHF: Where did the concept of Caesar and Otto come from?

Dave: When Paul lived near me, we’d get together a few days a week and work on sketches. It was in that time that the characters of Caesar and Otto emerged in a short movie we made. Eventually Paul moved to Los Angeles, and I, in time, had the idea of expanding the characters into feature films.
Paul: As Dave [said], Caesar and Otto started as a little sketch we did on video. One big difference though is I played Otto as Mentally Challenged. I then acted in a play with Dave and he was kind of inspired by how I played my character, who was a bit lazy and silly.

Caesar and Fred

IHF: Many seem to compare the series to Abbott and Costello or the Three Stooges (I’m guilty of this, as well). Do you see this as a good thing or a hindrance?

Dave: People gravitate toward what they know, so it’s a good thing. I also happen to be a fan of the above mentioned so I’m quite flattered by the comparison. I don’t set out to copy them, as we’re our own distinct characters, but they were certainly an inspiration.
Scott: I think any comparison to well-known comedy teams is an amazing complement. I've always thought we were closer to the Marx Brothers.
Paul: Yes, we are kind of like the Three Stooges, especially with Scott Aguilar as our dad as the third Stooge. Inspired for sure by the Odd Couple as well. I think of Caesar and Otto like Ren and Stimpy, which I was a fan.

IHF: The characters have undergone some transformations since Caesar and Otto, the first film released in 2007. How would you describe them?

Paul: Dave's character of Caesar is certainly more cartoonish in the earlier movies. Otto's character hasn’t really changed too much.
Dave: I used to simply think the bigger the better in terms of performing Caesar. Paul likewise felt so and would spur me on to be bigger! Louder! But at one point I realized I was annoying about 80 percent of the audience and decided to dial it back some.

IHF: There are a lot of genre actors who appear in the films, such as Debbie Rochon, Felissa Rose, Brinke Stevens, Andre Gower, Vern Wells and the late Robert Z’Dar, to name just a very few. How do manage to wrangle such amazing talent?

Dave: Largely through Felissa Rose, who’s been in the producing department of these movies. In the case of Linnea Quigley and Lloyd Kaufman, that was the work of Joe Randazzo (producer as well).

Lloyd Kaufman as grandpa talking to kid Caesar

IHF: Lloyd Kaufman is known for being such a wild card; what was it like to work with him [Caesar and Otto’s Dead Xmas, as Caesar’s maternal grandfather]?

Dave: Easy going, fun and relaxed. I wish I had something juicy for you, but he was just a normal guy as soon as the cameras stopped rolling. He also gave the cast and crew lots of Troma posters and memorabilia, which was great.
Paul: I never met Lloyd Kaufman as we didn't have a scene together.

Dave Campfield, who plays Caesar (and directs the films)

IHF: While so many pictures that spoof major genre tropes, such as A Haunted House (2013) and most of the Scary Movie franchise seems to fall on its face (no matter how money much they make, in my opinion), how is it that the Caesar and Otto films seem so much more accurately biting, even though not bringing in the big bucks (although ought to be) the same ways?
Dave: Well, thank you for that. Clearly those movies are made by people with major talent but often it’s far from the artists’ best work. Though truth be told I did very much enjoy the first Scary Movie [agreed; they do just keep getting worse, though – RG].  In the case of Caesar and Otto... I think what helps is that it’s really focused on the plot as a whole. And the characters: Caesar, Otto, Jerry, Dad, aren’t spoofs of other characters you see in horror. We have our own history, likes, dislikes... Cindy in Scary Movie [2000] is just an exaggerated version of Sid in Scream [1996]. Whereas Caesar and Otto are their own people. You can get more involved with their stories as such. As far as the style of comedy, I have my feelings about the state of horror and I just let the screenplay reflect that. If I made it for a big studio they’d probably tell me to keep it simple, and in turn, I’d probably lose the satirical edge I hope these movies have.
Scott: Between you and I, I think it was lack of publicity and marketing. None of us were involved in that. Dave oversaw it all.
Paul: Caesar and Otto has a much bigger audience out there. We need to find them any way we can. We simply don't get the publicity of a major studio.
IHF: Dave, how do you go about getting ideas for the gags? Do you see other genre films and write notes about things most people don’t notice? Is it a solo input, or do you have feedback from others, like Paul, other actors, the producers, etc.?
Dave: Paul and many of the actors tend of offer their two cents on set. Pretty much the writing process consists of me locking myself away from the world and committing it to paper. Rich Calderon, however, who provides the practical effects and Production Design, probably has the greatest input. He reads the script, lets me know what can and can’t pull off for the budget, and offers some great gag suggestions as well. For the writing on Paranormal, I broke out every haunted house movie I could get my hands on and tried to find parallels in them all. There were plenty.
Scott: Dave usually has the major bits already in the script, but he's always open to ideas. We would always shoot it his way first but always had a chance to try other things.

Paul Chomicki, who plays Otto

IHF: Otto seems to be searching for a specific someone to make him happy, be it a childhood sweetheart [Deadly Xmas] or his mother [Paranormal Halloween], to no success. Comments?

Paul: Otto has had a lot of people abandon him in his youth. He needs Caesar as Caesar needs him.
Dave: Otto’s just a lost soul looking for love... So, you’re right. All though meeting his mother certainly does make him a more complete person.

IHF: Gratuitous, tongue-in-cheeky question: there is always one topless scene in every film. Is this a social commentary on genre films, or is there another point, such as a sneaky way of getting to see someone topless?

Dave: Actually Summer Camp Massacre didn’t showcase any on screen nudity. I was asked to by its executive producer (then the distributor) to include some nudity, and had a good gag lined up for it, but it fell through. So, I plugged that same joke into Deadly Xmas. When Paranormal came along, a collaborator said he knew an actress he thought would be great for the stripper character and said she’s very comfortable with on screen nudity. I just threw my hands up in the hair and said what the hell. In other words, the only film I wanted to have nudity in didn’t, and the other two did. Go figure.
Scott: To be honest I liked the way it was done in Summer Camp because it made fun of the gratuitous T&A in other movies. He did use a bit in Deadly Xmas, and the gag was her boobs were pixelated. I don't think we really needed it in Paranormal Halloween. Same with language. In the first movies we never used four-letter words and it worked as a joke. That also changed.
Paul: There is nudity in the films because it's in my contract. I refuse to do a Caesar and Otto movie without seeing boobs. In our [forthcoming] Spring Break movie there must be three pairs of tits or I walk. [The full title is planned be Caesar and Otto’s Spring Break of the Living Dead – RG.]

IHF: I hope you don’t mean three pair on the same person… Speaking of which, there is a lot of Troma in your films, including acting talent (such as Rochon and Tiffany Shepis; and, of course, Kaufman). How much of an influence was the Troma films on your childhood, and can you give an example or two of how it changed your life (such as particular films, or scenes)?

Paul: I personally was always a fan of Toxic Avenger since my youth, so it was cool Lloyd got in one of our movies.
Dave: Troma was a later discovery in life. My love of comedy horror was forged by The Simpsons Treehouse of Terror episodes and the Abbott and Costello comedy horror installments. But when I did discover Troma, I found a voice that was completely unique and off the wall... and it was my cup of tea (well, a lot of the times at least).

Scott Aguilar, who play Fred

IHF: Scott, you’ve done a lot of medical/nursing work on some major films. Any anecdotes you’d like to share? And how did you make the transition to the front of the camera? You seem very comfortable in the role of Fred.

Scott: You've been peeking at my IMBD page, I see. Yes, I have a pretty mixed resume. I started on stage as an actor in 1970. It wasn't until 1984 when I was studying Theatre at the University of Southern California that I began directing stage shows. At that time I also was introduced to a USC Film School student (Glenn Burton) who was trying to write a stageplay and needed help. We collaborated and I did do it as a stageplay at the University, but we decided it would be better as a screenplay. We wrote it as a romantic comedy and started making rounds in Hollywood trying to sell it. By 1988 we had written three more romantic comedies. One of the professors at the film school liked our stuff and got us a meeting with Henry Winkler (who had just opened a production company at Paramount Studios [Fair Dinkum Productions – RG]). [Winkler] liked our stuff and things were going to move forward. The next morning the Writers Guild of America went on strike; we were not union members. Our scripts were never seen again. I got into V work in 1983. I was on a research team at the USC School of Medicine, working on AIDS (which was brand new). My boss assigned me to work with Jack Klugman and his production team to work up a Quincy M.E. [television program, 1976-83 – RG] script about AIDS. During that same time I was assigned to help a production company called West 57th [a news-focused television program, 1985-1989 – RG] who had a new news magazine TV show. They were doing a story on AIDS. That lasted about half a season. Anyway that how I first got over being a theatre snob and found it was okay to do other things. I received a random call from a guy at Termite Art Production Company [their programs include “Made in America,” 2003-present – RG]. Someone (and I never found out who) had given him my number because he was looking for a medical advisor. They were a contractor for the newly formed Discovery Channel. On more than one occasion an actor wouldn't show up for a shoot and I would step in and be the doctor or whatever. They finally put me on a show as a co-star when we did More Than Human [2003-present – RG]. During that time I was also acting in a lot of student shorts and independent films. The problem with the consultant job was it wasn't steady. I still needed a day job.

IHF: The two main actors of Caesar and Otto are from New York, and yet it is filmed in LA. Why is that, and will that change over time?

Dave: We’ve shot some shorts in NY together. So, ya never know.
Paul: Our shorts are shot in NY and features here [in LA] pretty much. Easier to get our horror movie cameos being shot in LA.
Scott: Pretty much only Dave and JoJo [Josephine Iannece, who was in Paranormal Halloween, and is Dave’s significant other], are in NY anymore. Everyone else, including Paul, live out here in SoCal.

Avi Garp, who gives the film a hand (or two).

IHF: What’s with Avi Garp’s character and the limb removal-and-replacing cha-cha?

Dave: I really enjoyed how Avi played the scenes of his limbs getting pulled off in Summer Camp; so much that I decided to make it a reoccurring gag.
Scott: That was a one-time gag in Summer Camp that got so many laughs it had to come back.

IHF: I really enjoy the “Ask Caesar and Otto Anything” series on YouTube [Example HERE]. It reminds me of the 2000 Year Old Man recordings. What are some of your favorite questions?

Dave: Let me avoid this question as there are so many I literally can’t remember them well enough. We had about 30 questions in the last edition alone. 
Paul: I like the “Ask Caesar and Otto Anything” shorts because the questions are from real fans and not made up by us.

IHF: I understand that the next film you will be working on, Dave, is a more serious one (check out his acting reel HERE). Yet at the end of Paranormal Halloween there is a hint of Caesar and Otto’s Spring Break of the Living Dead. Is this really an idea (I’m hoping), or just a continuation of putting a “coming next” at the end of every Caesar and Otto film?

Dave: I’d like to make it, but at the moment I need to make a movie that’s very person to me (ironically, it’s a horror movie).
Scott: I was talking about a Caesar and Otto Spring Break Alien Abduction, but I think Dave wants to do a zombie one instead.

IHF: I’ve always told new filmmakers / photographers / writers / musicians the same two things when asking how to start: first, volunteer to work on other people’s films to learn what to do and what not to do, and to follow Lemmy’s advice to a singer I know (Dava She Wolf) who wanted to learn guitar, which is ask everyone in the field to teach one thing. The second piece of advice I have is to just do it, and learn as you go (or do both pieces). What advice do you have to get into the field?

Dave: If you’re willing to spend most of your life being financially destitute, just do it. I’ve been at this for years, glad to have met so many wonderful people along the way, but it’s not for the faint of heart. If it means as much to you as it does for me, just do whatever you can. Find your own unique voice, and get involved with as much as you can. And don’t lead with your ego. Even when you don’t like a colleague’s movie, don’t go badmouth them behind their back. It makes you appear petty and vindictive. We’re all artists, and we’re all in it together.
Paul: Working on other people’s films is a good way to learn. Experimentation is key to figure out your own style.

IHF: Anything you’d like to add, such as what you always wanted say to people asking questions and never got the chance?

Scott:  Don't know if it's interesting, but I studied Theatre at USC and Cal State Los Angeles. But with all the TV and film work I was doing I went to Columbia College/Hollywood after I came back from operation Desert Storm and finished my degree in motion picture production.
Dave: I'm all out of anecdotes!
Paul: I love and appreciate our fans. It makes my day to get a good review or a compliment on the movies. Stick with us folks! We love you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsUvnUiIvls

Review: Caesar and Otto’s Paranormal Halloween

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2015
Images from the Internet

Caesar and Otto’s Paranormal Halloween

Written, produced, directed and edited by Dave Campfield
Fourth Horizon Cinema / R and Productions / Wild Eye Releasing
89 minutes, 2015
www.CaesarAndOtto.com
www.WildEyeReleasing.com
www.mvdvisual.com

This is not your father’s Caesar and Otto. Let me ‘splain.

The Caesar and Otto franchise is like the Abbott and Costello collection (and I certainly am not the first to make that comparison) in that they are a series of films about the same two characters; here, they are half-brothers who share a dad, and have a deeply conflicted love-like-hate relationship.

Caesar (Dave Campfield) and Otto (Paul Chomicki)

In previous films, Caesar and Otto’s Summer Camp Massacre (2009) or Caesar and Otto’s Deadly Xmas (2012), Caesar Denovio (Dave Campfield) was pretty unlikeable, kind of like Stinky Davis (a pre-Three Stooges Joe Besser) character from the “The Abbot and Costello Show” (1952). The character also had a weird, halting, annoying voice. Well, here’s the change: Caesar has matured – a bit – and some of what made him so criticized has been taken away. He’s not as one-dimensional and shallow, he’s not as mysteriously girlish (despite the opening sequence), and he’s definitely not as mean. Don’t get me wrong, Caesar’s not a guy you necessarily want to hang out with, but Campfield has done a spectacular job revisioning him as a fuller, more realistic character, and occasionally likeable, which makes it easier to identify with him without taking away what makes Caesar Caesar. Oh, and that voice is mostly gone. From the commentary, that also works well with/for Campfield.

Less is changed about Otto Denovio’s (Pau Chomicki) slovenly demeanor, but he is also softened a bit. He was always likeable, but here he becomes more of a big, smelly (wash that orange shirt already!) teddy bear, still looking for love, or for this film, his long-lost, thought-to-be-dead mommy (Beverly Randolph, one of the leads in 1985’s The Return of the Living Dead). One thing that hasn’t changed I’m happy to say is that Otto’s voice, or rather his Lon’Gyland (aka Long Island) accent, is still front and center.

With many horror comedy films, you can view this as just plain silly, but if you are wise to the ways of indie spoof horror, you will recognize just how smart a film it actually is; definitely the strongest of the series to-date. I may be giving away too much too early, but I enjoyed all of this film.

One of the smartest things about the premise, which I’ll get to shortly, is that Campfield breaks down the fourth wall to make many meta comments, such as the fact that in most of the Paranormal Activity franchise, nothing happens, until the very end, the rest being dull. But the meta part is the indication that like reality television, the found footage subgenre is actually a sneaky way to make inexpensive films with little crew (e.g., no camera people because it’s either the actors who are doing the shooting, or the cameras are just mounted on walls), yet tend to bring in decent bucks.

Another finger to the side of the nose is the in-jokes that follow through all of the CandO films, such as Avi K. Garg’s Police Chief character getting seriously hurt but being okay, and losing limbs that are just resewn on again and agan (his “Oh, come on!” line reading is hysterical; oh, and shhh, check out the Easter Egg commentary by him). Additionally, there is the main villain, the nearly Satanic Jerry (Ken MacFarlane) and his minion, Roberta (Samantha Barrios), who return from previous CandO excursions. Also, CandO themselves have some shticks they repeat, such as jumping out of a moving car when mad (it’s a humorous bit).

JamieLee Ackerman

The plot is, well, bizarrely fun and a bit all over the place, as is almost always true in spoof comedies because there is so many references (more on that later). Our hapless bros and their scene-stealing father, Fred (Scott Aguilar) take a job housesitting for Jerry’s mysterious mansion for the season, where lots of weird and Ooo-WEE-oo (hear that as played by a Theremin) paranormal activity seems to be happening. There are also two servants, one a lovely lass gardener named Gilda (Josephine Iannece, aka JoJo, aka Campfield’s real-life girlfriend), and the other a quiet and kind of scary chef, Kyla (JamieLee Ackerman, posessing a lovely Irish lilt), who always seems to be carrying something sharp. Next door to the abode are a couple of high IQ’d retired Playboy bunnies, Jamie (Troma queen Tiffany Shepis) and Judy (Stef Barkley).

Like most of the CandO franchise, it always feels like it’s a mix of horror and a kind of twisted 1930’s farce in that the action and the dialog happen really fast (thus I recommend more than a single viewing since I had noticed things all the times I watched it). It’s important to pay attention, because things come and go so quickly around here. This is true of the especially subtle bits, such as someone getting slapped and the sound is off-sync’d, or words and hints that are written in the background with magnetic letters.

Some of the references are pretty obvious (Halloween [a mix of 1978 and 2007], Paranormal Activity [2007], The Shining [1980], etc.), but picking out some of the hopelessly obscure ones are also fun. For example, and I’m not sure if this was intentional or not, the half-circle openings on the porch reflect nicely on the “eyes” of the house in The Amityville Horror (1979), also referenced within the story. Adding a clip from the Campfield short Piggyzilla may also reference the pig seen in the window of the original Amityville. Perhaps I am overreaching?

Brinke Stevens and Brinke Stevens (check your pants)

Every opportunity is taken to inject some humor with a nod and a wink, such as some title cards; for example a church called Our Lady of Low Production Values. Most of the dialog is filled with nuggets: Jerry mentions that previous caretakers at his house went crazy from isolation (sound familiar?), but when we see the house, it’s just on a suburban street. Or there is a brief commercial for stronger deadbolt locks, reflecting on an earlier, funny gag. Another throwaway bit, again about previous housesitters, is mentioning “that guy who resembled James Brolin and tried to kill his whole family, and then married Yentl.” Then, as the Fred tells Otto, “…Your mother died a couple of years before you were born.” Did I mention that two grave diggers are named Lenny and George (no mention of rabbits, though)?

There is also a very sly bit with an exorcist priest named Fr. Jason Steiger, named after two horror priest actors, Jason Miller (d. 2001) of 1973’s The Exorcist and Rod Steiger (d. 2002) of The Amityville Horror (joyfully played by CandO regular Deron Miller), where he’s turn over to the “Vatican Police” by a fellow priest named Jude (John Thomassen) for $30. These lines are spoken so fast, it’s easy to miss some of these gems. And if you think I have said too much, I have barely put my paddle to the water.

Maximo "Frank" Sorrentino and Felissa Rose

An additional gem is the maaaaaany cameos that show up frequently. To name drop just a few, there is the ever lovin’ Debbie Rochon (too many great films to credit just one), Andre Gower (lead kid in The Monster Squad [1987]), Sean Whalen (Twister [1996]), Vern Wells (the main mohawked villain of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior [1981]), Brinke Stevens who is one of foremost scream queens of the modern VHS-and-beyond era (as a twin wallet-stealing ghost; again, too many credits to pick), and Paul Guay (creator and co-writer of 1987’s Liar, Liar). In a really nice and thoughtful placement as a media-minded married couple who deal with psychic interactions, are Maximo “Frank” Sorrentino (of the TV show “The Sorrentinos,” and brother of “Jersey Shore’s” “The Situation” Sorrentino) and  Felissa Rose (actor / producer of indie films). Why is this so exquisite? Because they were both together in the early slasher classic Sleepaway Camp (1983); Rose was the lead.

There is some well-done gore (e.g., head smashed under a car wheel) as well as some cheesy stuff (a mannequin head, for example, in a fantasy sequence). For nudity, as is consistent with a CandO film, there is a single acknowledgedly gratuitous topless generic scene (in Deadly Xmas, it was in a shower, here it’s at a strip club). Doesn’t matter, it’s the story that still keeps you in your seat.

Now, let’s talk about some of the extras on this loaded disk. First, there is an interesting commentary with Campfield, Iannece and Ackerman. A second commentary has a number of cast and crew, including Chomicki and Aguilar; it gets a bit hectic telling who’s who, and there is some talking over each other, but there’s lots of good info, as well. The viewer also gets a short Blooper Reel, a Facebook promo video with Campfield and Ackerman, a really nice tribute to the late cult actor Robert Z’Dar (d. 2015), a 50+-minute on-set audio podcast interview with Campfield and cast members (including Rochon), and the complete “Son of Piggyzilla Trilogy (commentary available), which lasts 6 minutes. Of course, this being a part of Wild Eye Releasing, there are a number of cool trailers, some of which I’ve had the pleasure to review.

For everything I whined like a little bitch about the last film, that’s how much I liked this one. It is a really good laugh, a well-researched film, and an attention keeper – especially for those genre geeks – from the first second to the last. There have been plenty of horror spoofs, such as the Scary Movie franchise, A Haunted House (2013; the sequel was in 2014) and Vampire’s Suck (2010), with the exception of the first Scary Movie (2000), they all fall to the wayside in comparison.

So make sure you stick around for the final credits, as always with a CandO film, and I’m looking forward to the reported next film in the franchise, Caesar and Otto’s Spring Break of the Living Dead.