I’m originally from Rhode Island, and share a birthday with Dario Argento. Living in New York, I’ve enjoyed working as a writer and director on a series of short films, and assistant director on commercials, corporate videos, and features such as James Felix McKenney’s AUTOMATONS and Alan Rowe Kelly’s THE BLOOD SHED. I'm also a frequent contributor to a host of film magazines including my favorites, FANGORIA and SHOCK CINEMA. I’ve long had a passion for horror films and surrealism, so it’s great to be on the front lines of horror at a time where so many interesting new directors are emerging.
- What inspired you to become a director?
When I was twelve years old, my family purchased a VHS camcorder. Having a fascination for horror films at that age, I immediately started gathering together family and friends to make amateur horror movies about zombies and vampires. This continued throughout high school, as I’d gather together various outsiders, metal heads and skaters to indulge in my macabre fantasies. Eventually, this led to more ambitious narratives such as a three-hour adaptation of Stephen King’s THE STAND (we had the jump on Mick Garris’s TV-adaptation by six years) and a melodramatic biography of Vincent van Gogh. By the time I was ready to go to college I submitted a portfolio of film clips to New York University’s undergraduate film school. I’m grateful that they accepted me.
- I see that you also act, how did that come about?
I’m not sure where you heard that. My last acting role was appearing in a film I was assistant directing, AUTOMATONS, which I hear will be playing for a week at NYC’s Pioneer Theater this December. That film is a post-apocalyptic film about robots taking over the world, and Jim needed someone to step into one of the robot suits for a couple of scenes. Years ago, I was a child actor and did quite a bit of regional theater, but haven’t done much since then. I’ve occasionally been offered roles as unfortunate victims in horror films, and would be up for a cameo appearance.
- Tell me about some of your other films?
I had a great deal of international festival success with a short film called THE CHRISTMAS PARTY, which is about a child whose life is in turmoil attending a party given by Christians...the kind who wants everyone else in the world to be Christian, too. We received excellent and thoughtful reviews from Film Threat and other publications, and the audience reaction varied quite strongly from one place to another. The French regarded it as a satire on American values and the pornographic fervor of the religious right, those in New England saw it as social realism, religious festivals saw it as a cautionary tale about a child who almost saw the light, and San Francisco and Atlanta read it as an anxiety-inducing horror film. I’m pleased, because the film was intended to provoke discussion.
- Regarding "THE POD"Could you tell me a little about the film?
Straight-laced Caroline (played by Mary Remington) is about to relocate for a new job. Her artist boyfriend Jonas (Emanuele Ancorini) is willing to uproot himself only if she’s willing to take an equal risk for him: ingesting a strange, mind-altering drug called The Pod. She loves Jonas, but their relationship is strained. She isn’t sure how much she is willing to sacrifice for someone else.
Jonas means well, and wants to find true love in his own misguided way. He takes the drug alone, which is completely against the rules. The drug shows you how alone we are, and that isolation can drag someone into a deep black hole. Jonas leaves instructions for her to find him...only if she’s ingested The Pod, too. When she does, Caroline sets off on a strange, reality-bending night of horror where she’s forced to confront her deepest hopes and fears.
The script was written for me by my friend, Carl Kelsch, who I hope to work with again on a larger project. The concept of a drug meant to be taken in couples, to enable them to discover if they share a true connection, struck a chord with me. The hallucinatory aspect became a metaphor for the desperate confusion and pandemonium of being madly in love and watching it fall apart before your eyes. Hallucinations take those abstract concepts and make them literal, like having lovers’ faces fusing together as a grotesque depiction of human interconnection and commitment.
- Any future projects in the works?
I’d prefer not to say too much about my future projects. My theory has always been to throw as many ideas out there and see which of them stick. I’ve been pitching some genre related ideas to a noted film maker and film producer, and am traveling to Budapest for two months to research a mystical story about the gypsies.
…And your favorite horror film?
That’s an impossible question, because I love the provocative body horror of VIDEODROME, the social statement fused with ultra-violence in DAWN OF THE DEAD, the sheer visceral impact of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, the paranoia of THE THING and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, the character driven introspection of Larry Fessenden’s HABIT, the melancholy of MARTIN and DEATH DREAM, and the explosive madness of Andrzej Zulawski’s POSSESSION. Those are just a handful of favorites from this beloved genre, which to me is as powerful and extraordinary as fairy tales, jokes, the theater of the absurd, or magic realism.
- Do you have a web site where my readers can read more about you and your work?
I haven’t created a Web site yet for THE POD, but readers can go to
