6/13/2017 – Bob Clarke and Bruce Kilroy over at Reel Bloody Films have released their first feature length film, Strip Club Massacre. We picked up on this during production and ran a short interview with the gore duo. Now that the movie has been released we picked up the phone to find out how the film has been doing, what they learned from making Strip Club Massacre, and what is just over the horizon for Reel Bloody.
Slickster – When was the official release date of Strip Club Massacre and how has the response from fans been thus far?
Bruce – After a long time, we got with Midnight Releasing and Brain Damage films, got all of our ducks in a row, and we released on May 2nd, 2017. That was the official domestic release, but we’ve got some international rights out there as well. I think the reception overall has been positive. That’s not to say that Bob and I haven’t read a couple of reviews that were pretty negative. But, even those ones are the ones that, we kind of chuckle about because, you know, everyone has their opinion. What may do it for some person, may not do it for another person.
One thing I can say that I’m super proud of is, this is Bob and I’s first full length feature film. No one has critiqued the movie on anything Bob and I already didn’t know. Like, “Next time, mental note; We’re gonna UNFUCK that. We’re gonna fix this…” So I feel like, that is a victory! If someone said something soooo far off and Bob and I were like, “DUDE! That never occurred to me.” But no one has had anything negative to say that we didn’t already kind of agree with. To me, I don’t really care if it’s a negative review, because that means they see the same things we do. We know where we need to improve, and the reviewers see the potential that we have.
Bob – This answer is 100% spot on. There have been some negative reviews, but there isn’t anything out there that we didn’t already know.
The film was actually more gorey than I expected. You guys really went for the jugular, pun intended, in certain keys scenes. Did you accomplish the level blood and shock that you wanted to, or did you feel you that maybe you could have taken it a little further?
Bob – Honestly, I wanted more blood. Especially in the closing massacre scene itself, I feel like there are some things here and there I should have done a little differently. I am happy with the production and the final product, but when I watch it I’m like, “Aghhh! I should’ve done this. I should’ve done that.” I think I did want a little more shock value, but as Bruce will tell you, our next project is going to come hitting hard!
Bruce – We wanted to try and concentrate on the story. We felt like we created something special because we had a really good story. I think because of that, we did scale back a little bit. We just don’t want to throw tits and blood on the screen for the sake of saying, “Look at all these tits and blood“. We wanted there to be that, but we also wanted people to acknowledge that it was a pretty decent story and well thought out. But as Bob said, the next go-round will have more than we did on Strip Club Massacre.
Bone to pick. Slasher movie cliché, I know, but the two main female protagonists (Alica Watson and Courtney Riggs) didn’t have any nude scenes. All of the other actresses were naked at some point , but not these two. What gives?!
Both – [Laughs]
Bob – I don’t really want to get into the answer of that question! Nothing bad, but let’s just say that was not my intention from day one. It ended up happening that way, but if I could go back and do it again there would have been a lot of things I would have done different. That was one of things that Bruce and I have talked about.
Bruce – To a certain degree, part of the element that contributed to that was, this was Bob and I’s first feature. It was on a micro budget. We had to be ok with scaling back a bit where needed, and this goes right along with the gore, wether it was our choice or not. We said, “No matter what, this film is going to be finished.” This was a side effect of the small budget we had I think.
Bob – Very good answer!
Any project, especially a project of this scope, is bound to have some learning experiences. Can you share a one or two of the lessons that you learned during the making of Strip Club Massacre?
Bob – One thing I learned about making a full feature, especially if it’s your first or early on in your career is, limit your locations and limit your cast. We had extras. We had twelve to thirteen locations. When you’re doing a production schedule… and you’re traveling… and you’ve got 45 people in one strip club scene… and you’ve only got access to the strip club once a week…. It’s, well… keep your cast small and your locations smaller! That’s the biggest tip I can give a ‘starting out’ film maker with a low budget.
What’s next for Reel Bloody Films?
Bruce – For the record, Bob and I are Reel Bloody Films. You’re not going to find him working on anything that I’m not working on and vice-versa. We’re a package deal. That being said, we’ve been trying to let the release of Strip Club Massacre happen and kind of see how everything goes. We’ve been tossing around a few ideas, but I think at this point Bob and I definitely have our next full length feature. We are currently writing it. It will be….. I think it’s safe to say that Strip Club Massacre was pretty sexy and pretty fun, but I don’t think you’re going to get the same amount of ‘sexy n’ fun’ out this next film. We’re going to try and push the boundaries a little bit and get more grisly….
Bob – Just imagine Rounders meets Hostel! With a bunch of sexy women involved again, but with a much more darker, sinister, gritty feel to the movie. We’ll still have some campy one-liners here and there, but I wanted to go all in on this one, hit hard, and make people say, “WHAT THE FUCK?!” That’s the goal in this upcoming one.
Thanks for talking to Slickster Magazine. Whiteboard. Anything goes, shoot!
Bruce – Look for us on social media or any of the major platforms and you’ll find us. There will be updates on the new film up there soon. There isn’t any misinformation out there. There are a few people who have accused us of failing miserably at sexploitation. But in our defense, I don’t think we ever said we were going to do sexploitation. That got put in our mouths early on because of the film’s title (Strip Club Massacre). To some degree, that’s expected with a title like that, and people took their own liberty.
Bob – Yeah, I agree with Bruce. Never did we intend to do a sexploitation film, so to whoever said that, I don’t know where you made that up, but go fuck yourself!
All – [Laughs]