June 29, 2016, at 12:30 p.m.
Last week we reviewed the teaser trailer for “Strip Club Massacre.” Now, you may be thinking that with the words “teaser trailer” and “strip club” in the same sentence together, that this movie is going to rely on boobies and blood to sell the picture. You would be correct! But there are multiple layers to this project, and the guys at Reel Bloody Films are true fans of the genre. While keeping true to the icons of horror, they’ve worked hard at actually putting some substance into the picture.
Doing the HARD CORE investigative journalism that Slickster is known for, we reached out to the writing and directing team, Bob Clark and Bruce Kilroy. They gave some insight to their inaugural filmmaking attempt, we traded awful puns, and more.
If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, here it is first.
Interview with “Strip Club Massacre” Directors Bob Clark and Bruce Kilroy
Slickster: Thanks for doing the interview. Should this be a silly interview or a DEAD serious one?
Bob Clark: I am good for both. Let’s have some fun but also get to the seriousness too
Bruce Kilroy: Yeah, Bob and I are usually not serious about much so I’m good with silly.
Before we ask our questions, is there anything you or Bob would like to say to your fans? Is there any misinformation out there circulating on the interwebs that you’d like to clear up about Reel Bloody Films?
BC: So far the reception has been extremely positive. We have a great following that, of course, we would like to increase, but for now we have had many great words of advice, best wishes in the endeavor, etc. When the film is released, we shall see. (laugh)
BK: No REEL (zinggggg) misinformation out there, but I do really need to update the website a little. Regarding the film: I’ve said it countless times, but Bob and I are first and foremost fans of the horror genre. We’ve known each other for… Jesus… 25 plus years, and talking/creating horror is how we’ve spent the last couple of those years. Our fans (and fans of the indie horror scene) are some of the best I’ve ever met, and they’ve all been very supportive. This film is our first, but for me it’s very much a thank you to fans of horror and an homage of sorts. So yeah, the film is by fans, for fans. Like FUBU.
Let’s get some background. Who are your major influences among horror filmmakers?
BC: I really don’t have anyone I’d call an “influence.” Even though I enjoy the Rob Zombie films, I still want to put my own stamp on my films. The last thing I want to do is be called a copycat or plagiarist… I’m not Carlos Mencia. (laugh)
BK: I’m not so much passionate about specific filmmakers as much as I am a fan of horror films and the specific elements that create them. So, genres instead of filmmakers, cool? I LOVE werewolf flicks (ask Bob), slashers, and fuck a zombie flick… unless it’s Shaun of the Dead.
Nudity. In a movie titled “Strip Club Massacre” you go in accepting that there is going to be a large deal of T ‘n’ A. How do you define or separate the line from exploitation, campy cheekiness, or just plain porn?
BC: It’ll shock you to know that the film has nowhere near the nudity that you would think. We are actually in the process now in post-production to add some reshoots and transition scenes to add more to our film. Our goal was not shock value…it’s not tits and blood with no solid plot. We see that way too much from indie horror filmmakers and to be honest it’s lazy and uninspired.
BK: Bob nails it here. Yeah, it’s a strip club and some evil shit goes down, but it’s all proportionate. A place for everything and everything in its place. I’d like to think it’s a solid story that just happens to fall into the horror genre and just happens to show some tits and gore. I think the writing is pretty clever as well. I’m sure it dips a toe into campy in the sense that there is purposefully some humorous dialogue in the film. You might not laugh out loud, but your chuckles and boners will be in a close race.
In Lloyd Kaufman’s (Troma) book about how to make low-budget films, he discusses the subject of nudity in movies and casting for it. He writes that you should require the actresses to get naked before the day of filming while being supervised with another female in the room. This way you can avoid any cold feet on the day of principal photography. It would waste a lot of time, money, and effort to have an entire crew on stage and suddenly she doesn’t want to wear her pink thong bikini on camera. How did you and Bob go about casting and the screening the actresses for these types of roles?
BC: For the nude scenes, we used mostly real strippers. Real dancers. They had no problem with filming because it’s what they do for a living. The few that were not dancers had no problem. Our set was very laid back, which is how we wanted it from day one. So everyone had a pretty good amount of comfort with each other.
BK: Taking nothing away from Kaufman, Bob and I have followed our own path for this film since it was only a twinkle in our eyes. I think we’ll both tell you that we have done NOTHING the conventional way as we developed, wrote, and shot the film. Casting was no exception. This was a micro-budget film and we called in every favor we had for locations, extras, etc. When we cast for the parts, we did it to the best of our ability, and yeah, probably a bit of a gamble. We’ve kept a very intimate and comfortable set and we’re all great friends so there was never any pressure for the girls to flash skin. The film required it, and we had a great group of girls who did it when needed. In hindsight, yeah we probably got lucky in that sense. Fortune favors the brave, right?
When does adding gore and blood become OVERKILL? (Sorry for the bad puns.) Is there a point when blood and gore no longer serves a purpose and is only there for the sake of being there?
BC: While we do have some gore, just like nudity, we did not overdo it. In my opinion situational scenes or films that are more psychologically disturbing have a bigger impact. Not that our film is a psychological one per se, we also did not go overboard with the gore
BK: See #4 [on nudity]. (laugh) Gore and skin… both are fun, and both can be overdone. I’d say we definitely surpass moderation, but come nowhere near pointless. There are too many films out there that do it to do it, and all that does is muddy the waters of good, fun horror with whatever you call that shit, torture porn or whatever.
Will you be doing any touring to promote the film?
BC: Yes. We will enter various film festivals and also have premiers and screenings through 2017. We also plan to attend many of the days of dead and mad monster conventions as we can.
BK: What he said. We actually already promoted the film at Days of the Dead Atlanta back in February and we’ll continue to make every convention/film festival we can in order to get people excited for the film and kinda show off what we’ve done. We went from texting about horror, to writing horror reviews, to promoting indie horror films, to finally saying, “Fuck it, let’s do our own.” So yeah, we are proud of what we’ve done in the past 12 months or so.
How can fans get involved with the project and/or Reel Bloody Films?
BC: For now, just show the love. Follow us on social media. Share updates. Spread the word
BK: Yeah, we finished up some crowd funding for finishing funds a couple months ago. Most recently, we actually ended our DVD pre-sales via our website and social media in order to concentrate all our efforts into post production and ripping out a great final product. So for now, social media interaction is a great way to keep up with us and follow our progress for editing the film. Word of mouth is as good as gold.
Last question. Thanks for talking with Slickster Magazine and we look forward to seeing “Strip Club Massacre.” Name your top five slasher flicks of all time. Go!
BC: Taking the reins on this one and defying your request for only slasher films. I’m giving you three of my all-time faves and three recent-ish gems, because I get nervous around odd numbers. I really wish you had a 10th question. Here we go!
1) Ginger Snaps
2) Friday the 13th (Jason Voorhees is THE slasher icon)
3) Orphan
4) Let Me In
5) Late Phases
6) The Witch