Hollywood Lands in Charlotte!

As Bo Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard, as Superman’s Pa on Smallville and Jim Cryer from The Haves and Have Nots, John Schneider has been an important part of American pop culture for over four decades.

Q&A

with PSY-KO SMILEY

Prowler Magazine for the Mad Monster Party: Does it bother you, that with all you’ve done, you are probably most recognized and known for being Bo Duke?

John Schneider: That’s a big assumption. It actually depends on the age of the person seeing me. Many folks call me Jonathan Kent from Smallville. Many more, lately, believe I’m Jim Cryer from the Haves and the Have Nots.

Soon they will call me the guy who made the most successful Horror/Comedy of all time!

MMP: Do you think a show like Dukes of Hazzard could work today? Do you think a regular network would carry it or would it have to go cable?

JS: Dukes is working today. It’s very successful on CMT. I think networks have changed to the extent that they would never take a chance on a show as expensive as Dukes. We were a 1.2 million show in 1979!

MMP: You, along with Marie Osmond, founded the Childrens Miracle Network in 1983. Are you amazed at what it has grown in to? Is it over-

whelming to think about what a difference your organization has made to so many children and their families?

JS: The success of CMT humbles me beyond words. Being a father myself, I know that we need all the help we can get even when our kiddos are healthy. Much more when health issues are entered into the equation.

MMP: Actor/Singer/Writer/Director/Stage Actor - Which hat is your favorite?

JS: I have to combine two... writer/director is my favorite designation/hat. This combo allows me to see the inspiration through from flash to finish.

MMP: Was writing & directing just a natural progression from acting, or was it always your goal and acting the means to an end?

JS: The writing and directing was always the goal. Acting is more of a means to the end. I wrote and directed the last episode of Dukes. Thought I’d do it again before this!

MMP: Is it hard as an actor to jump between the more Christian projects like I Am Gabriel or October Baby, to the sci fi/horror projects such as Ogre or Supershark?

JS: It’s not really hard to jump from one to the other. It’s all play and great fun much like summer stock in the old days.

MMP: You’re kind of known for very uplifting, wholesome values films. How did you decide to make the jump to a horror film? Are you a horror fan?

JS: Smothered is something that’s been lurking in the back of my mind for decades. Remember... The films I have done in the past have been means for other people to realize their dreams. I was a cog in their wheel... from now on I am concentrating on my wheel. The stories in my mind are dark and hopeful. I’m told you have to look really hard for the puppy dogs and fluffy clouds in my screenplays... but they are in there!

MMP: Did you catch any backlash from any fans for making a movie like Smothered which is so different from what you’ve done before?

JS: Some folks want to keep you in the little box they cre-

ate for you. As artists... Our job is to make sure they never have a chance to close the lid.

MMP: I, among many others I’m sure, are really looking forward to the premier of Smothered. How did you ever get so many horror icons involved?

JS: I am honored to say that all of the icons I sent the script to responded favorably right away. In fact... to a man they said “Why hasn’t anyone done this before? This is great!”

Then it’s just a matter of schedule and the deal.

MMP: If you could put on the mask of any horror icon and play the part who would it be?

JS: Like a lot of people... clowns freak me out. We created an angry clown called Colonel Wilson (the polar opposite of Captain Spaulding).

That’s who I would be.

John’s new horror movie “Smothered” premieres at the Mad Monster Party Friday, March 21st at the University Hilton in Charlotte, NC. Join us at this Red Carpet event! Visit www.TheMadMonsterParty.com to get your tickets now.

Q&A

with RANDY STIMPSON

Prowler Magazine for the Mad Monster Party: Did you consider that you might actually have made a great radio DJ in the age of great radio DJs? Adrienne Barbeau: I’ve always said being a DJ seems to me the greatest job ever. You don’t have to dress up, wear make-up, or endure the elements for an outside shoot. And you get to listen to music non-stop!

MMP: Creepshow, directed by Stephen Spielberg with special effects by Mad Monster Party guest Tom Savini)… how does an actress that is a poster model adapt to becoming a victim, ghoul or just plan undead?

AB: I rarely get cast as a victim, but I had a great time playing my first zombie in Alice Jacobs is Dead. The real adapting came when I had to eat the raw meat - I’m a vegetarian.

MMP: Escape from NY with Kurt Russell (Snake Pliskin) and (a guest here at the Mad Monster Party, Ox Baker) was a heavy, dark political statement with some characters we hadn’t seen before. An early comic book movie that was camp at it’s best —Wes Craven’s Swamp Thing a leading lady Alex Cable (Adrienne Barbeau). You’ve referred to this as a sort of Beauty and the Beast.

AB: Actually I can’t think of another film I’ve done where I was pined for by anyone - beast or human. Swamp Thing may have been my first on screen romance. My characters don’t end up in love scenes as a rule. I mean...Billie, in Creepshow?

MMP: Fans couldn’t get enough of

Adrienne Barbeau…it seems you were essential to movies as you rose to stardom! Was there a point where you realized you were the IT girl for movies and horror in particular?

AB: It wasn’t until I began attending horror conventions that I realized how memorable some of my characters were and how the films I did in the early 80s were still fans’ favorites.

MMP: Your career has been almost ideal…you’ve starred in sitcoms, movies and even won a Tony award for your take on Rizzo in the Broadway Musical “Grease”… did you ever imagine you would be doing all of this in a lifetime? How did you make the move to Broadway?

AB: I started acting on stage when I was a teen-ager, so that when time came to see if I could make it a career, theatre was all I knew and all I considered. I moved to New York and began auditioning for musical comedies. Tevye’s daughter Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof was my first Broadway role. Then Broadway led to television and television led to film. But I never thought about the what the future might hold; I was just overjoyed to be earning a living doing something I love. The last “job” I had was as a discotheque dancer back in 1967. I don’t feel like I’ve worked a day in my life since then — it’s all been pure pleasure.

MMP: A quick thought about your appearances in the 70s and 80s most popular TV shows?

MMP: Fantasy Island AB: I did the pilot of Fantasy Island,

playing a Polly Bergen type CEO of a make-up company (if I remember correctly) and then later, I did two more episodes. I played Marie Antoinette in one and a 200 lb. woman in the other. That was great fun because I worked with Tim Thomerson. We have since done three films together and he’s so much fun, whenever I hear he’s cast, I immediately consider signing.

MMP: and then, there’s Maude….

AB: I write all about my years on Maude in my first book There Are Worse Things I Could Do. That show shaped my life in so many ways, I needed a whole chapter to really tell the tale. It remains one of the greatest joys of my life.

MMP: Your voice was a star by itself as the heroin Stevie Wayne in The Fog. It seems your sultry and recognizable voice has had a career of it’s own: Batman: Arkham Asylum Video Game, God of War, Catwoman and Judge Dredd. Are there new voices in your head for upcoming animated projects?

AB: I’ve done several more video games that are in the finishing stages of production. Dr. Tilson in Halo 4 was my first experience with motion capture and I really enjoyed that. Again, it’s one of those jobs where I don’t have to worry about hair and make-up! But the voices I use for animation, or commercials, or video games really spring from the words on the page. I’m not one of those incredibly talented voice actors who have twenty or thirty characters in their repertoire just waiting to be heard. That’s a talent I’m in awe of. What I am good at, maybe because reading is my great love, is putting books on tape and doing hours long narrations. I can record a full length novel in six hours. Lately I’ve been video cap-

tioning films and documentaries for the blind. Although I spend more time reading the script and watching the time code than I do looking at the screen, it gives me a chance to see films I’d probably never see in a theater.

MMP: Cannonball Run...

AB: Again, this is a chapter - well, more than one, really, because I dated Burt (Reynolds) long before we did Cannonball Run - in my memoir. Suffice it to say, the audience had more fun watching the film than I did making it. But I loved working with Dom and Dean and, especially, Roger Moore.

MMP: The as-of-yet unreleased Bring Me The Head of Lance Henrickson—sounds interesting…

AB: Tim Thomerson doesn’t really want Lance’s head — he wants his career! I haven’t seen the final cut yet, but I think you’ll be laughing.

MMP: Recently you’ve done stints on some of our favorite shows— CSI: New York, and Sons of Anarchy...

AB: I’m filming an episode of Criminal Minds right now and I’m not so sure you’d call my character charming, but I’m sure having a good time with her. In fact, all the women I’ve played lately, in CSI:New York, and Sons of Anarchy, and Revenge, are pretty nasty characters. There’s something really satisfying about getting inside them and understanding what makes them the way they are.

Fans can get more of Mrs. Barbeau right now by grabbing her latest novel Love Bites, which is available as an ebook (and hardcover, but easier to download digitally) on Amazon. She is also on FB and Twitter (@abarbeau).

That devious face in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez films is also the effects mastermind behind a thousand evil and tortured faces—the modern master of the macabre—who is living up to his idol (Tthe Man of 1,000 Faces) Lon Chaney, Sr.’s legend. He’s that good...

Q&A

with RANDY STIMPSON

Prowler Magazine for the Mad Monster Party: You’re known as The Godfather of Gore‚ a modern day heir to the Chaney throne of special effects and many faces. Let’s start with the early masterpieces. Dawn of the Dead 1978. Looking back on creative work sometimes gives us an outsider’ perspective... what are you proud of? What would you like to have done differently?

Tom Savini: There’s a lot I would do differently in Dawn of the Dead, especially the color of the zombies. Night of the Living Dead was in black and white and I thought if I just simply made all the zombies in Dawn gray that that was how you would know a zombie from a real person. but the lighting sometimes made them look blue or green and that is not my intention. In Day of the Dead I caught hell cause all the zombies looked different and that is how it should have been in Dawn. People rot and decay differently in real life depending on where they died, and how, and what ethnic group they belong to and that is what I did in Day. I would also like to see more “chunks of flesh” when a zombie bites someone. You know, more stretchy skin snapping kind of thing I did a lot in Day.

You don’t think you are part of some movement when you are doing something like Dawn, you are just doing your job the best that you can and for me that was killing people.

I remember the telegraph I got from George Romero telling me we were going to do Dawn. It just said...”Start thinking of ways to kill people...we got another gig.”

MMP: Creepshow—Bringing pulp comics to life far before Pulp Fiction. Were you a fan of comics?

TS: I was a fan of EC comics growing up so I knew what George was after...the biggest challenge was just simply doing this movie...it was five movies in one and it was just me and a 17 year old kid named Daryl Ferucci, who also played Fluffy..(the creature under the stairs in the crate) who did all the effects in all five movies. We created Fluffy, and Nates corpse, and the spectre in the window, and the water-logged walking dead Ted Danson and Gaylen Ross and so much other stuff including all the cockroach stuff.

EG Marshal was so great to work with but so was Hal Holbrook, and Fritz Weaver and of course Leslie Neilson, who had great Forbidden Planet stories.

Everyone was great. I’ve never

had to work with any jerks.

I’ve been lucky that everyone was so very much fun.

MMP: The movie that some say changed it all—the first splatter movie: Friday the 13th. Which scene comes to mind ?

TS: Probably cutting Betsey Palmer’s head off followed by driving an arrow through Kevin Bacon’s neck, and creating Jason’s look, and living at the camp and not some hotel with the cast and crew. Me and my assistant Taso Stavrakis actually lived at the camp. We had the lake, a boat, a motorcycle.....great fun.

MMP: Did you begin to feel like a rock star as this grew in popularity?

TS: There is a certain amount of joy that comes from inventing one of the most notorious serial killers in the franchise world of splatter movies. But again, you don’t know that when you are making this stuff, but yes...the fans make you feel like a rock star.

MMP: Scaring kids to death for generations...do you feel good about this (we do)?

TS: Of course I love to scare people. It’s what I do.

MMP: From Dusk ‘til Dawn— You stepped in front of the camera alongside a slithering Salma Hayek and grizzly Fred Ward to battle neck-tattooed Clooney and a drooling Taran-

tino—who named your character Sex Machine?

TS: Wasn’t that Quentin?

MMP: Did you design the crotch pistol?

TS: No, that was a left over prop from Desperado. They couldn’t get it to work on that movie and lucky me...they got it to work on Dusk...and I got to wear it.

MMP: Any injuries from firing?

TS: No, it was just flash paper that was fired through that thing.

MMP: You’ve directed, acted, and shared your incredible make-up skills with the world.

What’s next?

TS: Well, I am writing my biography, and there is a documentary I am helping create called Smoke and Mirrors about my life in the movies, and I am being courted to direct the next Friday the 13th movie, and possibly a remake of Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things, and a movie I wrote called Death Island, and I’m off to play a Disney villain later this month, and I am constantly painting and sculpting.

MMP:Your children and grandchildren‚ one named Lon and one named Chaney—will they carry the torch?

TS: Maybe my grandson James will carry it on as far as Make-up Effects. He is very interested in the magic of it all.....

Q&A

up. The spirit of Nancy won’t let me.

with CORINNE L. BARRIOS

Prowler Magazine for the Mad Monster Party: First and foremost, I have to tell you that your role as Nancy Thompson in A Nightmare on Elm Street is something I have idolized since I was a young girl. The strength and ingenuity you brought to life in Nancy gives me strength and hope to this day. I was absolutely thrilled to have finally met you at Mad Monster Party Gras in New Orleans, LA last year! My most favorite films from the Nightmare franchise are absolutely 1, 3 and New Nightmare. (New Nightmare is probably my most favorite and a big part of why my second born is named Dylan.) Which one was your most favorite to film and why?

HL: I have the fondest and proudest feelings for the original, of course; that film inspired everything that followed. But what I realized a while ago is that very few women in film have had the chance to take a character from her teenage years, to her early adulthood and then into motherhood. You see that in Nightmare on Elm Street 1,3 and 7, and also in Terminator. I’d also say my hero, Ripley, takes a similar journey through her Alien films. I would suggest that this female journey is as interesting as the notion of the final girl, which is always how NANCY is discussed.

MMP: In your documentary, I am Nancy, Robert Englund said that you represented a “great feminist spine” in horror films. As most ‘slasher’ films have over sexual-

ized women, portraying them as extremely vulnerable with no brain power, how honored/proud are you to have immortalized such a strong female protagonist in a horror film and at what point did you realize the importance of Nancy?

HL: I always wanted people to appreciate Nancy for the qualities you and Robert mention but I never really felt that in the early years. In the late eighties, early nineties, the celebration of the final girl started as a cultural discussion about the role of women in horror and “slasher” movies.

The analysis of the final girl has become quite a sophisticated subject in film studies now. But I’d say that we’ve come full circle, in that the final girl is practically a cliche in and of itself and I truly look forward to a continuation of the genre to include boys, men and old people!!! Everyone has the ability to face their fears and kick ass.

MMP: In I am Nancy, you revealed your distaste for the imbalance in popularity between your character and Robert’s. From tattoos to action figures, Freddy keeps Nancy in his shadow. Will you be creating your own line of “Nancy” figures to fight Krueger back into the shadows?

HL: I would consider creating a Nancy action figure as high up on my bucket list. However, it is a complicated endeavor and I have met several dead ends in the process so far, regarding rights and licenses. But I am not giving

MMP: You and your husband own and operate AFX Studio, a Special F/X Make-Up Studio in Los Angeles. Did your Elm Street experiences help push you into that line of work and what is your role at the studio?

HL: From the first day I worked on a set, I fell in love with all the departments that come together to create a film’s reality — the set decorators, wardrobe department, make-up and cinematography and even the stunt department. My husband and I have a motto that we can make anything and that is really how we like to approach creating things in our shop. Whatever a director wants, we feel that with ingenuity and the expertise of the artists who work for us, we can bring anything to life. I don’t usually input much to the creative design part of our business. I let my husband, David Anderson, take the lead on that but I step up and find out where to get the materials together and how to make the thing in the time frame allotted. I make sure that all of the pieces of the puzzle come together by the shooting day. And I also feel it is my job to let everyone know how important they are to the process.

I really respect people who decide to become artists. It is often not well paying. So there has to be other ways to let people know that they are important to the process and that their skills are highly valued. I like to think that’s the best part of my job.

MMP: AFX is credited with special fx make-up for such films as Angels and Demons, The Cabin in

the Woods, Dawn of the Dead, Dead Silence and Star Trek Into Darkness. How did it feel to don the make-up and prosthetics to play “Moto” in Star Trek, both physically and emotionally?

HL: It was a five hour make-up application. We had worked on the make-up for weeks. My father-inlaw, Lance Anderson, had painstakingly worked on all the mechanics of the make-up. It wasn’t on film, but the bottom lip of that make-up blew up like the throat of a frog and glowed. It was left out of the film but I feel we created truly original and beautiful make-up. I’ve always wanted to wear prosthetic make-up to experience what acting is like with all that foam latex covering your face. It is hard to express yourself, obviously, but you find ways to move that indicate your feelings.

I gained a lot of admiration for Robert Englund. To endure the process of going in and out of make-up for all those hundreds of times is a feat of strength and concentration that not many people could endure.

MMP: Was acting always something you wanted to do? Or was it a spur of the moment decision because The Outsiders was being filmed in your hometown?

HL: I loved acting since I was a child. I was always a kid who loved being in front of a crowd. I felt the strong love of acting in high school in Washington, DC and I got to play in plays and musicals that gave me some wonderful experience. However, meeting the casting director in Tulsa for The Outsiders was a turning point.

Janet Hirshenson, the casting director, let me know that she would offer me her help and as-

In her groundbreaking role in perhaps the ultimate Grindhouse-style shocker, Camille Keaton portrayed the model for survivalist females in movies and television that reign supreme even today. It’s been remade, but never outdone. Will this role endure indefinitely?

Q&A

with MARK BARANOWSKI

Mark Baranowski, special to Prowler Magazine for the Mad Monster Party: Were you always interested in acting, or did your first opportunity come to you by chance?

Camille Keaton: When I was a little girl playing with my movie star paper dolls, I was thinking, “I want to wear that gown and look like her... .. Doris Day, Elizabeth Taylor,” etc. That’s when I first wanted to become an actress.

Eventually, I planned to run off to Hollywood, but this idea was sidetracked by a car accident. Instead, a couple years later I took off for Rome, Italy. I had seen some Clint Eastwood westerns (Sergio Leone) and decided Europe was the way to go. While there, I learned to speak Italian and was introduced to various fascinating cultures.

MB: Although you’ve appeared in several important genre films since the early 70’s, you’re surely best remembered‚ and revered‚ for 1978’s I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (aka Day of the Woman). Much of the film is quite brutal as it depicts not only the ordeal your character must endure, but also that of your tormentors as you exact your revenge. What attracted you to the project, and did you find it difficult to play such a demanding role?

CK: I took on the role of Jennifer Hills in I Spit On Your Grave for different reasons. One reason was that I would have the opportunity to express a wide range of emotions, the happy “girl next door”, the victim and then the villain.

This was a demanding character to play. There was nothing easy about filming “Grave”. This was an opportunity that came my way via the trade paper, Backstage. Usually you make your own opportunities in my experience.

MB:The males in the film show little restraint or compassion while they repeatedly abuse your character on-screen. How was your relationship with these actors behind the camera? Did any of them make you truly uncomfortable and especially anxious to get the required scenes over with?

CK: It has been pointed out to me that the rapists show no restraint and compassion. Well, what rapist does? Although “Mathew” allowed me to live, he was a part of the action and therefore guilty too in the detached mind of vigilante Jennifer. And speaking of other characters and actors, we all got along well on the set of “Grave” and respected each other. We concentrated on our work.

MB:My wife, Ryli Morgan, and I produce our films together; something oftentimes easier said than done. Since you later married Meir Zarchi, writer/producer/director of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, was this film a similar partnership between the two of you? Were you his only choice to play the lead character, and did watching you do so ever make him uncomfortable during the shoot?

CK: The part of Jennifer Hills came down to three actors. There

were many call-backs and auditions. That’s how I came to know Meir Zarchi, the director. When you work with someone you are close to, I find being professional becomes more challenging. You know what buttons to push.

There isn’t that distance between you that you would have otherwise had. Sometimes that works well and other times it doesn’t work..

MB: Do you ever regret doing the film? In other words, do you feel it might have limited subsequent job offers of a more, mainstream nature?

CK: Was “Grave” a bad choice?

Did it affect my career? I think not. First of all it “slept” for years.

So few people knew about it. It takes a lot to mess up ones career or to make the most of a career.

An actor needs to be 150% devoted and dedicated, thickskinned, and aggressive. Treat your career lovingly and give it all your focus. When I remarried, I put my career aside to concentrate on my marriage. (don’t do that).

MB: Do you welcome offers from independent filmmakers to appear in their films? If folks such as Ryli and myself could entice you to be a part of an upcoming project, what type of role(s) interest you most?

CK: I would like to play a vampire or ghost. That’s something I’ve never done... . fang up! Horror movies have changed considerably over the decades shifting the action of the actor to special effects and of course digital enhancements. One thing for sure, horror will always have an audience. We love them.

MB: What are your thoughts on horror conventions, based on your experiences so far? Anything they’re missing, or could do without?

CK: I always look forward to Horror Conventions. They are so much fun. People dress up and really use their imagination. There are contests. One thing we need for the conventions is wider promotion. Looking back to the conventions that I have been invited to, there is the first one that comes to mind. I didn’t know why I was there. A friend called me and said, “Camille, come to the Beverly Court on Saturday and bring some photos”. The next thing I know someone was explaining to me why they wanted my “John Doe”. I was thinking, “Oh yea, I made that movie.”

MB: Thanks so much for your time, Camille! We certainly hope you enjoy your visit to Charlotte... and that you have a blast at the Mad Monster Party!

CK: PS: We just did a documentary on the “making of “Grave”.

We can’t say when it is coming out. We don’t know. I am looking forward to coming to Mad Monster Party in Charlotte in a couple of weeks. Starting the countdown!

Mark Baranowski On Mark Productions createtolive.com

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