Slammed & Damned: The Modern Day Horror Review

Our time with filmmaker Rolfe Kanefsky is drawing to a close. In this, the penultimate installment of our interview, we dig a little deeper into the business end of the movies. You’ll read real-life horror stories about making horror movies and you’ll find out about Rolfe’s serendipitous brush with the fetish community. Never one to hold back, Rolfe continues to tell us about the behind-the-scenes world of movie making as he details his journey through the veldt of the Hollywood jungle. Find the previous installments HERE, HERE and HERE.

Right after The Hazing, you made a picture called Corpses, and I gather it was a challenging experience.

There was a producer at York Entertainment named Scott, who had been trying to get me to direct something for them for a while. He was a fan of my first flick, There’s Nothing Out There. After I finished The Hazing, he approached me again. I had heard some horror stories about working for York, a very low-budget film company who had produced such films as Scarecrow with Tiffany Shepis, Alien 51 with Heidi Fleiss, Scarecrow Gone Wild, etc. Anyway, they were interested in making a film entitled Corpses. They had a poster but not script, although they did have a concept.

[Laughs] Classic!

They wanted it originally to be Final Destination with zombies. I wrote a treatment which was rejected. They did not know what they wanted the story to be but kept turning everything down. They finally hired a new development person who came up with the concept of a mortician who invents a serum that can bring the dead back to life but only for an hour at a time, creating a type of junkie zombie. Tanya York, the president of the company, finally agreed to that concept just before she got on a plane for the holidays. So, days before Christmas in 2003, they signed a deal with me to write and direct that storyline, and they wanted the script within the week.

So, I had between Christmas and New Years’ to create a screenplay based on that concept. Now, the idea immediately hit me as Re-Animator meets Dead & Buried with a touch of Phantasm thrown in. The development people at York didn’t know any of those films.

Uh oh.

I thought the idea was basically a black comedy with zombies. And my five-day script reflected that. By the way, I wrote and directed Corpses before Shaun of the Dead hit America. Looking back, I realize that is what I was sort of trying to do, but for a budget of about five cents, in what was the worst production I’ve ever been a part of.

To tell you the truth, I only decided to take the job because I was about to produce my own movie with Gabriella Hall and thought that I could use the Corpses production to help prep my own film, since they were around the same budget and shooting schedule. I was hoping to find some good actors and crew people while doing Corpses who I could then hire for Jacqueline Hyde.

Good thinking.

I found a few, including a great script supervisor, Esther Goodstein, who would become my producing partner very soon after. Also, Eva Derrik, who plays a prostitute in Corpses, actually auditioned for me on Jacqueline Hyde and I thought she’d be good for both. In Corpses, she gets her chest punched through by a zombie, and in Hyde, her chest is sucked dry by the title character. So, by casting the same actress, I could do a chest mold once and use it twice. Thinking like a producer. Also, the inflating chest of Melinda Bonini in Corpses was a similar stunt to the expanding chest gags in Jacqueline Hyde.

But all of my “producer thoughts” went out the window when Corpses became the nightmare movie of my career. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong and then some.

After I wrote my draft of Corpses, I was sure that they were going to turn it down. York didn’t make comedy horror films, and I assumed they would read it and say no thanks. But, a lot of people at the company liked the script and the humor. They just asked me to tone it down for Tanya because they wanted to trick her so she wouldn’t realize it was a comedy. I didn’t tone it down but she liked the script anyway. You see, Tanya York never reads scripts. She prefers to sit in on a table read, where actors read the whole script out loud to see how it plays.

After Tanya heard the script read, she approved it with only minor notes because she was more concerned about other things at the time. Everyone was quitting her company. Scott, the producer who brought me in, decided to retire. The development guy quit, as did much of the marketing department. It was a weird time. For a short period, I thought this was going to work to my advantage since nobody was really paying attention. Unfortunately, that was short lived when a new producer, Mark Headley, was brought on to oversee the movie. If I knew then what was going to happen, I would have quit as well.

At least you had a good cast on that film—Jeff Fahey, Tiffany Shepis, Robert Donavan.

That was the only reason I didn’t walk. I wrote the script with Tiffany in mind, and since she had done Scarecrow before, Tanya approved of her. Robert Donavan was my first choice, but they wouldn’t let me cast him until the guy they wanted asked for too much money a few days before the start of production. Luckily, Robert was still available and said yes. And Jeff Fahey was a lucky break.

You see, York’s films were not SAG [Screen Actors Guild] at the time. So, they were interested in stunt casting—finding people in the news and see if they wanted to be actors. This is how Heidi Fleiss wound up in Alien 51. I was given a list of “names” to consider for Corpses. People like Pete Rose, Monica Lewinsky, Wolfgang Puck—

Oh my god!

I’m not kidding! But there were two real actors on the list: Gary Busey and Jeff Fahey. I had heard so many stories about crazy Gary Busey that I immediately went for Fahey. He liked the humor of the script and wind up being a pleasure to work with. He was only on the film for four days but is still one of the leads and in the entire film from beginning to end. I found his character in Grindhouse years later to be kind of similar to this role.

I give the actors all the credit in the world for getting through the making of Corpses in one piece and giving any kind of decent performance. I wish I could have done a commentary track with Tiffany on that film because the stories are amazing and endless. I could literally write a book about the making or, rather, “The Unmaking of Corpses” one day and you probably wouldn’t believe it.

So, let’s just say between the money stolen on the production, the filming in a real working funeral home that smelled like rotten fish, the nonexistent budgets for every department, the expiring permits that cost us scenes, the narcoleptic sound department, the secret second unit shoot that I wasn’t supposed to know about, Tiffany’s pregnancy and broken ribs, the director of photography’s wife having a baby in the middle of production, the five-second short ends of 35mm that I was forced to film with, the lack of having any film for the camera at times, our crew and cast getting lost because nobody knew where we were filming the first week of the shoot, the scooter with the flat tire, the make-up department that insulted some of the cast so they would storm off the set crying, not having any duplicate clothes for the actors when this is a blood and guts zombie movie, the lack of catering, and not being able to shoot about 25 pages of the script due to all these problems and much more, it is amazing that Corpses is a movie in any definition of the term.

That sounds like the worst shoot in history.

To sum up, the finished version of Corpses was not the film that I was trying to make. It is a weird zombie comedy that works better if you’re drunk or stoned. If Corpses had been my first film as a director, I probably would have quit the movie business.

But on the plus side, I know that I will never, never have such a bad experience again. There is no way anything can top Corpses. I have had some bad times since then, but none compare to the behind-the-scenes horror that went on with that production. And I did meet Esther Goodstein [and] got to work with some of my friends and a very cool Jeff Fahey. So, it was a learning experience that I never have to repeat. That said, I don’t disown the film. For what it is and for what I had to go through to get what it is, I can still appreciate it on its own messed-up terms. Tiffany and Esther are also kind of proud of the film in a way. It is funny if you have the right sense of humor and are not expecting anything close to a good, scary zombie film. It’s the closest I’ve gotten to making a Troma-like film. ‘Nuff said.

Indeed. You followed Corpses with Jacqueline Hyde, which is kind of a cross between Basic Instinct and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Yes. Like I said, I had planned to make Jacqueline Hyde before Corpses came around. We pushed Hyde back slightly to do it. I wrote the script for Gabriella Hall to star in and produce. Given Gabriella’s soft-core reputation, I felt the film needed to be sexy in an erotic thriller way, but I did not want it to be a “Skinemax” type of film. In my mind, it was a cross between Looking for Mr. Goodbar and Jekyll and Hyde—a female take on the classic story about a woman trying to find herself emotionally and sexually. There are a lot of serious issues in Jacqueline Hyde as well as comedy, horror, suspense and weirdness. It was shot in 12 days for about $75,000 and was my first HD movie. We used the Sony 900 camera. Again, for that time and budget, I am pretty pleased with the final result and delighted that it was released by Warner Brothers Home Video.

It’s a pretty cool little flick. This was the first picture for Pixie Flicks Entertainment with Gabriella Hall. Was this a step toward career transition for her, to behind the camera?

That was part of the plan. I had worked with Gabriella a lot back in the days of Alain Siritzky. She was in my Rod Steele 0014, my Alien Files and a few others. We became good friends on those films and she was always willing to do whatever I wanted. Years later, we had both reached a point that we were frustrated with bad producers or bad productions and wanted to try producing ourselves. Gabriella thought she could raise the money, so I wrote four treatments. Gabriella liked Jacqueline Hyde the best and I turned that one into a script.

It was supposed to be a co-production between Pixie Flicks—Gabriella’s company—and Valkhn Films—my company. But three days before production, Gabriella’s investor threatened to pull out unless Pixie Flicks was the sole production company for the film. He didn’t want any partners. Looking back now, I think this may have all been a scheme from the beginning, but I trusted Gabriella.

Famous last Hollywood words.

And at this point, I wanted to make the movie, so I agreed. I wrote, directed and produced the film with her, deferring my entire salary since I mistakenly thought I was co-owner of the property. I even put in $3,000 of my own money to secure a location that we needed for the film, and my father, who edited the film, deferred most of the post-production services.

We thought at the time that this was going to be the beginning of a long-time partnership. Gabriella wanted to get into producing and we were hoping to do a slate of pictures together if Jacqueline Hyde was successful.

It was kind of fun seeing Gabriella playing against type, as the “plain Jane” character.

I wanted to give Gabriella a good role to show her range. After all those soft-core parts, I felt I owed it to her. She gained weight and was allowed to look frumpy for a change. But being an actor and producer is a lot of work and she got so caught up in the producing side that the acting side suffered a bit. She told me after that she should never have acted and produced the film at the same time. It was too much for her. Esther helped out a lot and received a much deserved associate producer credit. Just watch David Mamet’s State and Main for a good definition of an associate producer. But seriously, Esther did deserve the credit and a whole lot more.

I realized that Esther, with a bit of training, could and would make a good producer, and [she] has produced my last four films. From script supervisor on Corpses to associate producer on Jacqueline Hyde to producer on Nightmare Man, Pretty Cool Too and One in the Gun.

That’s a nice climb. Jacqueline Hyde really has an early ‘70s feel to it, especially the score and effects.

Yes, I wanted to go back to the Hammer films a bit. Obviously, Doctor Jekyll and Sister Hyde is the closet to what I was making. The score, again composed wonderfully by my regular collaborator Christoper Farrell, had a very strong Jerry Goldsmith flavor. Basic Instinct, Psycho II and Mephisto Waltz were all used in my original temp track. In fact, I was cutting a trailer for Jacqueline Hyde using Jerry Goldsmith music the day he died. His influence on my pictures is so strong that I put a little dedication to him at the end of the credits.

I also thought that going back to that simple animation for the “freak-out drug scenes” was kind of cool. Very old fashioned, cheesy but fun. I wanted the whole film to have that throwback feel in a contemporary yet gothic setting.

The house that serves as the movie’s main set is amazing.

Esther Goodstein found the house on Craigslist. It was located in Redondo Beach in California and owned by two magicians. They had never allowed a film crew to shoot there before but liked us. As soon as I saw the house, I knew it was perfect and rewrote the script to accommodate the location. I even incorporated some of the gags in the house. The spider that drops down and the shaking doll in the glass case were actual scares that they built into the house for guests. I immediately put them into the script.

One review for the movie said I shot it like “house porn,” which is true. The house becomes a main character in the piece. It is haunting Jacqueline as much as what she is doing to herself. We could only afford to film in and around the house for four days but made every moment count. It was more than we were supposed to pay for a location but since I was a producer, I was able to spend the money where I thought it mattered. That’s one of the good things about having control over your own projects. You get to put the money into the right places that makes the film better. This was not always the case in some of my previous productions—i.e., Corpses.

This was your first film with Blythe Metz, right? She’s wonderfully over the top as Jacqueline, yet she never goes too far. That’s a tricky balance to maintain.

Blythe was actually the first actress to audition for the film. We cast the film ourselves, using nowcasting.com. Blythe came in and gave a great audition. Nobody was ever better. She was okay with doing nudity, although she had never done it before, as long as she was sure that we were not making a Cinemax type of film. I showed her Tomorrow By Midnight and discussed all the nudity in detail. She agreed, and I never had any problems with her on or off the set.

I think Blythe’s performance is really good, especially those scenes of her talking to Gabriella through the mirror reflections. It’s a very strong performance and very different from what I would later have her do in Nightmare Man.

No kidding!

Both of these characters are a kind of heightened reality that is hard to pull off. Nobody does crazy like Blythe. She just goes for it!

Which is so important when doing crazy!

I hope one day people give Jacqueline Hyde another look because when it came out, it was quickly dismissed because of Gabriella Hall’s reputation. People were expecting it to be another soft-core romp and it really isn’t. Others were expecting a real blood and guts horror movie and it isn’t that either. It’s a psychological thriller with some sex and violence.

It’s funny, but the film was really well received in Europe. It premiered at the 23^rd Brussels Film Festival and the audience, even with subtitles, cheered and loved it. They were actually surprised that it was an American film because it felt very European to them. In fact, getting into that festival changed Gabriella’s life. She met a man at the closing party and fell in love. She then moved to Europe to marry him and disappeared.

I haven’t heard from her since and unfortunately never received one penny from the finished film. I know the film made money, but since it was her company that owned it, I kind of got hung out to dry. Another lesson learned in the film business: Be careful who you trust. But, at least, in this case, I am very happy with the final film and it proved that I could produce my own films, so after Corpses it gave me the confidence to go on and eventually make Nightmare Man.

Then it was definitely worthwhile if for no other reason. Now, there’s a gag in the flick that involves breasts that grow on command. Is that where the idea for your short film Mood Boobs was born?

The birth of Mood Boobs is actually a very weird story. When we were finishing up Jacqueline Hyde, I cut a trailer to help sell the movie, and in that trailer was the quick gag where she makes her breasts grow on command. The trailer was posted on some websites and I received an email from a guy who could not stop raving about the effect.

I quickly found out that there is a fetish where people love watching boobs grow. I’m talking about inflating breasts where the shirt gets tight, buttons pop off, blouses rip, etc. It’s not about showing naked breasts; it’s the actual growing act itself that does it for them. Now, this may sound weird but when you think about it, it is amazing how many movies and television shows have done this gag. Up The Sandbox with Barbra Streisand; Death Becomes Her with Meryl Streep; Dude, Where’s My Car with Jennifer Garner; Terminator 3; Jennifer Aniston in Bruce Almighty—the list does go on and on. Repossessed, Ally McBeal, Caroline in the City, Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold, Village of Giants.

Anyway, he contacted me and wanted to know how much it would cost to produce a feature or short dealing with growing boobs. I said for a professionally produced 10- to 15-minute short, about $6,000. He then spent almost a year trying to find partners to get the money. He hired me to write a script and paid in cash, so I sat down and knocked off Mood Boobs.

In my mind, it was a PG-13 type comedy that could also poke fun of shows like Nip/Tuck and the obsession men and women have with big breasts. Well, he loved the script and spent the next five months saving up money so I could make it.

Boobs have historically been a great motivator.

This guy turned out to be one of the best producers I’ve ever had. He gave me all the money in advance and left me alone to make the short. I put my team together, and Tiffany Shepis and one of Tiffany’s best friends, Shaina Fewell, agreed to star in it. We shot it in my apartment in a weekend and a few months later had a cute 18-minute short film to sell online.

We started a website and sold copies for $23.00.  And guess what? We sold out! One thousand copies made and sold. It made back all of its money and actually some profit as well. He was an honest, straight-forward producer who financed Mood Boobs just because he wanted to see it.

It was a great little venture and proved that money can be made on the internet. I still get emails from people wanting to see a Mood Boobs 2.

I’m sure you do.

We did use the rig that was created for Jacqueline Hyde and invented some other ones for all the gags. It was a simple but tricky shoot that is greatly helped by two talented actresses and my cat, Cali, who almost steals the movie.

I guess that depends on the audience [laughs]. Is it still available through your website?

No, Mood Boobs is officially out of print. We had a website, www.moodboobs.com, which I think is still up and running—but not for long, unless we do make a sequel. You never know. The power to control another person’s body with a snap of your fingers has a lot of potential. Who knows? Maybe there’s a feature-length comedy in this idea. I know there are a few websites and fansites who would love to see it.

I’m sure there are.

As long as men and women are obsessed with breasts, there’s definitely a market out there for something like this. And this is another lesson in the film business. You never know what projects are going to be remembered and [be] successful. Every movie is a gamble. Did I think There’s Nothing Out There was going to be cult movie 20 years later? No. Did I think Tomorrow By Midnight would remain unreleased 10 years later? No. Did I think anyone would ever see Mood Boobs? No. The film business is a crap shoot, and much of the time you have no control over where your film will wind up. So, try to enjoy the ride because the end result is anybody’s guess.

~Theron Neel