E1 Entertainment have announced the UK release of The Joneses on DVD later this month and we have all the details plus a Q&A with Amber Heard who plays daughter Jenn in the film. Starring Demi Moore (Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle), David Duchovny (The X-Files), Amber Heard (Pineapple Express) and Ben Hollingsworth (A Flesh Offering), director Derrick Borte’s fresh and edgy debut feature exposes consumerism like never before in this funny, sexy and thought provoking drama oozing with glamour.

Perfect couple Steve (Duchovny) and Kate Jones (Moore), and their gorgeous teenage children Jenn (Heard) and Mick (Hollingsworth), are the envy of their posh, suburban neighbourhood filled with mansions and all the trappings of the upper middle class. From the latest car model to the best beauty treatments on the market – the Joneses have it all.

Kate is the ultimate trend setter – beautiful, sexy, dressed head-to-toe in designer labels. Steve is the admired successful businessman who has it all: a gorgeous wife, big house and an endless supply of high-tech toys. Jenn and Mick rule their new school as they embody all that is hip and trendy – cool clothes, fast cars and the latest gadgets. But as the neighbours try to keep up with the Joneses, none are prepared for the truth about this all too perfect family.

Exciting new actress Amber Heard stars as daughter Jenn in The Joneses – who also appears to be perfect in every way. The actress made her name in the acclaimed horror slasher film All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, followed by comedy Pineapple Express starring alongside Seth Rogen. Her other credits include Zombieland, The Stepfather, Never Back Down, Alpha Dog, The Informers, Friday Night Lights and North Country.

Heard will soon be seen starring opposite Johnny Depp in her next film, The Rum Diary. She plays Hunter S. Thompson’s fictionalised wife in the film, an adaptation of the writer’s loosely autobiographical novel. And she has just landed an equally impressive part as the female lead in the new Nicolas Cage film, Drive Angry. Her other upcoming movies include John Carpenter’s The Ward, The Ex-Terminators and And Soon The Darkness, which she also produces.

What appealed to you about the role and film?

AH: We are supposed to be the perfect family, like the commercials. But you quickly learn that this is a fake family, hired by a marketing company to push high end products onto potentially valuable upscale consumers. I think all of the characters have an arc, a journey. Jenn’s a great, complicated role for me to play this girl who pretends to be so mature but is actually still a child. She’s not average or perfect as the audience assumes at first. She is an adult, pretending to be young.

Who is Jenn and what is she like?

AH: She is the daughter of Demi Moore and David Duchovny’s characters and she is the teenage prom queen kind of girl. I’m hired by Demi Moore – this is our third job together so we’ve developed a rapport. She’s my boss and she’s pretending to be my mum and my job in life is to go and infiltrate high schools.

She sounds fascinating…

AH: She is! She has to go into school and become the most popular girl in class and subtly persuade the girls to buy specific make-up, hair products, clothing, bags and shoes that I wear. It’s called Stealth Marketing. Jenn picks out her target audience at school, girls that she’s going to compliment, and within 2.2. seconds of meeting the teacher, she knows where to sit at lunch and quickly becomes the most popular girl in school and that’s her job.

What kind of things happen in this family?

AH: I don’t want to give anything away. Let’s just say things happen that don’t probably go on in a normal family. She is a fake with a fake name and a lot of personal issues.

You are blonde but play Jenn with dark hair.

AH: They told me I could be blonde but I wanted to be brunette because I thought my character would have taken the steps to look as much like her fake family as possible.

What was it like working with Demi Moore?

AH: Demi is flawless and timeless and I mean that genuinely. She’s just one of the most remarkable women I’ve ever met. She taught me so much. I don’t think she meant to take me under her wing at all. I don’t think that’s how she approached it, but I certainly was so honoured that she took the time to work with me on set and work with our characters and the relationship they have.

You are a great reader, what do you read? What has inspired you?

AH: I was moved by Benedict de Spinoza [philosopher] and Ayn Rand [writer philosopher]. The fact that I cared about these authors and what they said infuriated everyone around me but somehow what they were saying felt right to me. I read Henry Miller and I liked Omar Khyyam [medieval Persian mathematician/poet ] and George Orwell.

What did you do when you left school?

AH: I left at 16, I was bored and I started taking correspondence classes at college instead. I did incredibly well. I won an award for my grades and if I need to go to university at anytime I could apply. I am certainly not advocating dropping out of high school but I saw it as such a waste of time for me. I had been so well versed in the Bible that I felt maybe I need some maths classes too.

How did the acting start?

AH: I went to New York to work as a model but it didn’t work out. I didn’t fit in at all; I hated modelling because it reminded me of school, no one was interested in my opinion. I have much more to offer than that. I hated being a mannequin. So I didn’t pursue it and at 17 I went back to Austin and got an audition for a movie, Friday Night Lights and on the set I met my agent who I still have today.

What are your hobbies?

AH: I have always been into old cars, I’ve had a number of them a 63 ‘Checker and a 67 Mercedes. Maybe it’s the Texan in me but I love cars that have character. I have always been into muscle cars. My ‘68 Mustang is my baby. I have had it for six years, it’s in the shop right now because it was stolen. I got it back luckily, but it gets stolen a lot. I park it on the street for one minute and someone takes it for a joy ride, but they always recover it. I just have to do the maintenance and repair the damage.

I believe you are quite an expert at mechanics?

AH: I hotwire my own cars. Old cars are easy to hotwire. My dad taught me enough about cars so that if I ever have problems I would never have to ask a man on the side of the road for help. With my Mustang, the idiots who stole it didn’t know how to hotwire a car, they took apart the ignition to get something in to start it. So when I picked it up at the junkyard I hotwired it myself and drove it home. Big cosmetic work I take it to the shop, but most of the work I do myself. I enjoy it.

Can you say anything about your next film?

AH: I produced my next film And Soon The Darkness, a thriller about two girls who go on a cycling tour to South America and one of us gets kidnapped. It was my first time producing and I thoroughly enjoyed it, I did a lot of writing, worked on the dialogue and did the budgets – the whole gig.

How interesting was it producing the film?

AH: I loved it and want to do more. It’s important as a woman to produce and take control because it is hard as an actress.

Special Features on the DVD release are still to be confirmed.

E1 Entertainment will be releasing The Joneses (cert. 15) on DVD on 16th August 2010 and we’ll be running a new competition to give away three copies of the film on DVD next week!

You can listen to Phil’s review of the film in Podcast #31 here.

You can read Phil’s review of the film at TIFF 09 here.

2001 Maniacs: Field Of Screams is due to be released on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK on 26th July and we’re delighted to present an exclusive interview with the film’s director, Tim Sullivan. With a cast that includes Bill Moseley (The Devil’s Rejects), Lin Shaye (There’s Something About Mary) and Christa Campbell (2001 Maniacs), Field Of Screams is the eagerly anticipated second instalment of the gore soaked horror/comedy franchise.

When this year’s round of unsuspecting Northerners fail to show up for their annual Guts N’ Glory Jamboree, the residents of Pleasant Valley take their cannibalistic carnival on the road, and head to Iowa where they encounter spoiled heiresses Rome & Tina Sheraton and the cast and crew of their “Road Rascals” reality show. Performing “The Bloodiest Show on Earth”, our Southern Maniacs prove more than ratings killers in what legendary director John Landis has called, “one of the rare sequels that surpasses the original”.

Phil recently caught up with Tim to find out more about what makes this particular ‘Maniac’ tick…

PN: Hi Tim! You began your film career as a production assistant. Did you always want to get into directing?

TS: Well, I at least knew I wanted to make movies, long before I knew what a director really did. It all started with a Saturday night broadcast of Dracula when I was five years old. Up to that point I’d only been exposed to Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse but this opened a Pandora‘s Box that hasn‘t been closed since. I was instantly hooked by the charming Count and my life would never be the same. That very Saturday night and the days that followed set the pattern. It was truly an awakening which the universe entirely supported. Monday afternoon I came upon the gothic vampire soap opera Dark Shadows all by myself, 3:30 pm on Channel 7. A daily dose of bloodsucking. I was in! Then I unearthed the AURORA company’s Frankenstein model kit at my local hobby shop. Suddenly I was a mini Michelangelo sculpting and painting demons and ghouls. But my greatest find was when I discovered Forry Ackerman’s Famous Monsters Of Filmland magazine at the local grocery store (It was issue #82, if ya must know!). I had probably walked past it a hundred times before, but now, my eyes were wide open and I was ready for its offerings. That magazine became my bible, my movie monster manual. From age 5 onwards, I made it my business to learn about Chaney, Karloff, Price, Cushing and Lee. I came to understand that there were magicians behind the magic, men and women who created the illusions and performed the pantomimes of these horror shows that so captivated me. They were called filmmakers, and I vowed to myself that someday, somehow, I would become one.

PN: ’2001 Maniacs’ was your feature debut. What was it about Herschell Gordon Lewis’s ‘Two Thousand Maniacs!’ that attracted you to remake it?

TS: Well, everything revolved around Herschell. I consider myself a rock ‘n’ roll horror guy. I think that horror is to film what rock ‘n’ roll is to music: the rebellious bastard offshoot of a genre. When I first saw Herschell’s movies – I was in high school – and they had no grindhouse cinemas in New Jersey, they were in New York, and I used to take the train to New York and tell my mom I was going to see Disney on Ice or something like that, then go to the grindhouses and see the Herschell Gordon Lewis films and the Russ Myers films, and films like 2000 Maniacs just blew my mind. I mean these were not great films, let’s just face it: they’re not really well-made, they’re not really well-acted, there’s a lot of things to criticise about them. But, they had an attraction. It was almost like this ‘I dare you to keep watching attitude’, that affected me – and I imagine if it affected me in the 70s it must have really blown people’s minds in the 60s. And I never could forget Herschell’s movies, especially Two Thousand Maniacs! There was just something about that film, something about all these people standing around, with grins on their faces, watching all these horrible things happen (laughs) “Oh my God!” So when I decided to direct, it was perfect timing because this guy named Chris Kobin literally walked off the street into my production office and said he had the rights to remake the films of Herschell Gordon Lewis, and a light bulb went on over my head.

PN: There’s a lot of non-PC humour in the films. Did you have any concerns that playing up to the Southern stereotypes – although clearly self-aware – could offend or upset anyone?

TS: Not really. It’s my aim to offend! I think audiences have become numb by the abundance of stimulation. Between You Tube, Playstation, Blu-ray, Net Flix… Man, there’s just so much shit out there. I want to shake people out of their complacency and say WAKE UP! I did have this really weird experience when we were filming the first Maniacs movie on location in Georgia. We were working with this Confederate flag waving bunch of Civil War re-enactors. Got the whole historical thing down perfect, right down to whether the uniforms had zippers or buttons — only thing they were a bit off on, was the fact that the South actually didn’t win the Civil War. So when they finally read the script, I guess they couldn’t appreciate the “humor”, so they took off and damned me and the film with the “Curse of the Confederacy”. Now I never heard of that particular curse, and I’m not really sure what it entails, but a lot of weird shit happened from the very first day — Generators mysteriously didn’t work, we couldn’t open our equipment trucks, it rained when it was supposed to be sunny and we didn’t get to shoot most of our driving stuff; I lost two Assistant Directors – one fell and went into a seizure, the other got a migraine and passed out. Robert was rushed to the hospital with chest pains, I was stung by wasps and collapsed on the set, Ryan Fleming, who plays Hucklebilly, sprained his ankle, Cristin Michele who plays Glendora, broke her nose, Wendy Kremer, who plays Peaches, collapsed from hypothermia… And yeah, the unions came and almost shut us down. But weirdest of all, I kid you not, at night, as we would be walking thru the woods, there was absolutely no lights, there was no electricity, and you could hear the sound of gunfire, fifes, drums, and battle cries. Yeah, it was a barrel of laughs, that damn curse, whatever it was.

PN: One of the key elements in the films is the ‘splatstick’ gore. Was it challenging for you to find new ways of coming up with the inventive kills in the sequel?

TS: That’s one of my favorite things to do as a writer! I remember how Chris Kobin and I came up with all these creative deaths for the first Maniacs — it was lots of fun then and lots of fun now! We juts put ourselves in the mindset of the maniacs and think, What would Buckman do? WWBD! That’s the motto.

PN: In addition to Christa Campbell, Adam Robitel and Ryan Fleming who all return, you also welcome back Lin Shaye (as Granny Boone) who I believe has been cast in all of your films to date. What is it about Lin that you particularly admire?

TS: Lin is my good luck charm, a true artist and creative partner. She was in the first movie I produced, Detroit Rock City, and every movie I’ve done since then. So I have to put her in everything I do — I’m afraid of what might happen if I don’t!

PN: And I’ve heard a scurrilous rumour that Granny is the only character – male or female – who doesn’t go topless in the sequel. Was there a shortage of shirts on set?

TS: Yes — by design. Seriously though, I think we assembled a great looking young cast. Why not show off their assets as much as possible? And by the way, it’s not because Lin wasn’t willing that Granny doesn’t get naked! (laughs)

PN: Sadly Robert Englund doesn’t reprise his role as Mayor Buckman in the sequel, however ably filling his shoes this time around is Bill Moseley. How was it working with these two genre legends?

TS: Robert has been a friend for 20 years — he’s a great actor and of course it was an honor to direct Freddy himself! Bill Moseley was just brilliant on a different level. It’s interesting to compare their two performances. What Bill didn’t tell me until recently is that he approached the character by watching Jimmy Stewart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance as well as Henry Fonda in Once Upon A Time In The West. While Robert’s more broad and a showman, Bill felt he should be the straight man and have all the Maniacs be the humorous sidekicks, whereas Robert definitely played the main Maniac. Robert wears Buckman’s emotions on his sleeve, whereas Bill’s Buckman holds them kind of close to his chest, so when his anger comes out it really has an impact. Bill plays it more like a sleazy politician that’s smiling all the time. And I think both approaches are very valid, but I think that both approaches fit their movie.

PN: How do you approach directing your actors on set. Do you allow much improvisation?

TS: I think the key to directing is in the casting. I prefer meetings to auditions. Once I trust that someone gets what I am trying to do with both the movie and their character, I find it best to just sit back and let the magic happen. Of course, on a tight schedule, too much improv can lead to going over budget, so you have to find a balance. So I let my actors go till they deviate a little too far off the game plan, and then I gently reel them back in. It’s all about the creative energy.

PN: Given that ’2001 Maniacs’ is one of the more successful remakes how do you feel about the sheer number that are happening now and what effect (if any) does this have on the genre?

TS: I think you have to consider remakes on a case by case basis. I have absolutely no tolerance for what I call the “sausage factory” remakes — insults like the Elm Street remake. The folks who just churn out remake after remake with no passion or unique voice. It’s just about the financial return. But then you get something really quite good like The Crazies. So I can’t say I am against remakes in a broad statement. Just remakes that are made only with commerce in mind. Bottom line- horror films have been remade since the very beginning starting with Phantom Of The Opera… Great stories will always be retold in the language of the current generation.

PN: With the runaway success of ‘Avatar’ what impact is this going to have on the industry? Are you eager to shoot a 3D movie or do you believe this will be just another flash-in-the-pan?

TS: Pardon my French, but fuck Avatar. A two and a half hour CGI showreel, and now, basically, a tool to sell 3D televisions. I still think it’s a gimmick, and in the case of Avatar, smoke and mirrors to divert your attention form a mundane, cliché ridden script with some of the most God-awful dialogue I’ve ever heard. Sorry if I offend any of you Blue people out there, but I can only be honest with how I feel. And believe me, T2 is one of my top ten films of all time. But Avatar? Gag me. If the film is great you don’t need 3D. That’s what theme park attractions are for.

PN: ’2001 Maniacs: Field Of Screams’ received its World Premiere as part of the FrightFest event at the Glasgow Film Festival. How was that experience for you?

TS: Great! It was just a blast to go there and meet all my UK fans. I really enjoy traveling around the world like this and hope to do a lot more of it. As an indie filmmaker, every time you make a movie its like being in a band that juts put out a new album. You’ve got to go out and tour behind it.

PN: Speaking of which, you’ve been touring the film around various locations in the UK and USA. How important are these ‘roadshow’ events in the marketing of a film and do you enjoy the opportunity that this gives you to get up close to the fans?

TS: The most obvious benefit of these kinds of things is that you get to meet the fans up close and personal. It becomes a whole new kind of experience and gives you, the filmmaker, a refreshing perspective. You get to see people actually enjoying the thing you’ve poured your heart and soul into — what could be better than that? Movies are made to be seen in a movie theater as a communal gathering. And with an audience friendly experience like Field Of Screams, it can become quite a rock and roll experience.

PN: The London preview was hosted by John Landis who you’ve described as being your ‘mentor’. Can you talk about how you became such good friends?

TS: Back in 1988, I was a production assistant on Coming To America. I was in awe of John Landis. I mean, this guy has made some of my favorite movies of all time. It was impossible for me to hide my inner fan boy, so we started talking and bonded over Forry Ackerman and Famous Monsters magazine. I gave him a copy of my short film, he dug it and told me that if I ever moved out to LA, to look him up. Based on that, I literally sold everything I had and headed out to Cally within a year. True to his word, John hooked me up with PA jobs, and we’ve become friends ever since. He is my mentor, and more of a father to me than my real dad.

PN: Of course John Landis originally filmed a cameo as Professor Ackerman in the first film so did he ask you to do a cameo in ‘Burke And Hare’ which he’s been shooting here in the UK?

TS: No — John has better taste than that! Seriously though, John very kindly invited me to visit the set, where I got to meet Christopher Lee for the first time. That was a tremendous honor — getting to tell him how much those Hammer films he made with Peter Cushing meant to me as a kid.

PN: Finally, what’s next for you? Will we see more Maniacs or do you have other projects in development?

TS: Right now I’m doing a super TOP SECRET anthology project with three of my horror filmmaker buddies, (I’ll give you a hint who they are — Hatchet, Wrong Turn 2 and Detroit Rock City) and, believe it or not, I just played a killer transvestite nun who goes up against Reggie Bannister as a priest in Bloody Bloody Bible Camp. And starting August 9th, I can be seen regularly on the second season of VH1’s Scream Queens. So much going on after a bit of a drought, so I am very grateful. Anyone who wants to keep up with me can do so at www.facebook.com/NewRebellionEntertainment.

PN: Many thanks for your time.

Anchor Bay will be releasing 2001 Maniacs: Field Of Screams on Blu-ray and DVD on 26th July 2010 and Chris and Phil will be reviewing the film in Podcast #38.

Chris and Phil Present… The Ultimate Movie Podcast, Episode 34.

Chris and Phil meet a man with a heart-shaped birthmark and have a nightmare with the new Freddy Kreuger. Phil talks to the directors of [REC] about their sequel, grabs his lucky crack pipe and spends a weekend at the Terracotta Far East Film Festival, whilst Chris looks back at John Lennon’s early years and consults the Highway Code over his latest moral dilemma. Don’t do the face Braff!

Podcast #34

There are a variety of other ways in which you can listen to Chris and Phil’s podcasts using the links below: subscribe via iTunes; listen online via Podcast.com; or use the RSS feeds option to listen online via FeedBurner or subscribe with an array of other web-based podcatchers.

Chris and Phil Present… The Ultimate Movie Podcast, Episode 33.

Chris and Phil discuss the afterlife with Goldy Notay, have a girlfriend experience and are charmed by The Railway Children. Phil goes in search of Alice Creed with director J Blakeson and stars Eddie and Martin, encounters some arthouse vikings and finds out what a foam party is, whilst Chris buys Mark Chadwick’s guitar and considers the sport of ping pong in Bangkok’s red light district. Other physics based podcasts are available.

Podcast #33

There are a variety of other ways in which you can listen to Chris and Phil’s podcasts using the links below: subscribe via iTunes; listen online via Podcast.com; or use the RSS feeds option to listen online via FeedBurner or subscribe with an array of other web-based podcatchers.

Chris and Phil Present… The Ultimate Movie Podcast, Episode 32.

In this special edition of the podcast Chris and Phil review the DVD release of Bitch Slap and talk to Erin Cummings (who plays Hel in the film) about making a fun, campy sexploitation flick, training with Zoe Bell (Death Proof), her hit US show Spartacus: Blood And Sand, and her upcoming role in series four of Mad Men. Well officer, it’s quite a story…

Podcast #32

There are a variety of other ways in which you can listen to Chris and Phil’s podcasts using the links below: subscribe via iTunes; listen online via Podcast.com; or use the RSS feeds option to listen online via FeedBurner or subscribe with an array of other web-based podcatchers.

As an extra bonus, here’s the Bitch Slap trailer to whet your appetite…

Chris and Phil Present… The Ultimate Movie Podcast, Episode 31.

Chris and Phil know all about the new Robert Carlyle film, compare Spielberg’s E.T. with the Panini version and introduce their new ‘pan’ or ‘flan’ DVD section. Phil talks to Robert Fucilla about The Big I Am, clashes with titans and keeps up with the Joneses, whilst Chris rages at JeeJa Yanin and auditions for The X Factor. They ought to put a picture of you on condom packets, you daft tart!

Podcast #31

There are a variety of other ways in which you can listen to Chris and Phil’s podcasts using the links below: subscribe via iTunes; listen online via Podcast.com; or use the RSS feeds option to listen online via FeedBurner or subscribe with an array of other web-based podcatchers.

As an extra little bonus, you can also enjoy the video that Chris has put together to accompany his audition for The X Factor, his unique interpretation of Paul Hardcastle’s chart-topping single 19. Enjoy!

Chris and Phil Present… The Ultimate Movie Podcast, Episode 30.

Chris and Phil voyage to Shutter Island, kick ass with Kick-Ass and find out which type of paranormal movie is the best. Phil sports a dread-ful jacket and heads to Brookside Close to talk terror with Salvage director Lawrence Gough, whilst Chris produces some high quality silence and walks the path to the dark side. Are they pipners?

Podcast #30

There are a variety of other ways in which you can listen to Chris and Phil’s podcasts using the links below: subscribe via iTunes; listen online via Podcast.com; or use the RSS feeds option to listen online via FeedBurner or subscribe with an array of other web-based podcatchers.

Dread is the eagerly-awaited new installment in Clive Barker’s Books of Blood franchise, with Anthony DiBlasi at the helm, directing from his own screenplay based on Barker’s original short story. Hot new US talent Jackson Rathbone (Twilight, S. Darko) heads a young cast which also includes rising British talent Shaun Evans (The Take, Telstar) and newcomers Hanne Steen and Laura Donnelly.

Phil visited Runnymede Campus in Egham, Surrey at the tail end of 2008 where the film was being shot, and then caught up with the Dread team again at FrightFest in August last year – where the film received its UK premiere – where he caught up with Shaun Evans, who plays the enigmatic Quaid, to bring you this short interview.

Evans was born in Liverpool and first appeared on our screens in Channel 4′s Teachers, before going on to star in such films as Cashback, Gone, Telstar and most recently, Sky’s mini-series of Martina Cole’s The Take where he starred alongside Tom Hardy.

Phil with Jonathan Readwin, Shaun Evans, Laura Donnelly and Anthony DiBlasi

PN: Hi Shaun! So how did you get involved with the film?

SE: Basically I was working with the producers on another film at the beginning of the year in Hawaii [Princess Ka’iulani], something very different, historical, based on a true story and essentially they said they were taking the Books Of Blood and turning them into a bunch of movies and they had a script for one of them which they’d like me to read. I read it and I thought it was awesome and then I met the director when I was in LA and we hit it off and it kind of snowballed from there really.

PN: Did you read the original short story?

SE: I did yeah, of course, I read it just before Anthony [DiBlasi] and I met, just after I’d read the screenplay. I thought it was a great short story, really cinematic, and actually out of all of the Books Of Blood that I’ve read Dread was my favourite. But I also think that the screenplay is brilliant, a screenplay that would stand alone, do you know what I mean?

PN: What appealed to you about the story?

SE: Loads really, I was really interested in the characters and I thought that Quaid was a really interesting beast and I thought that would be fun.

Shaun Evans in Dread

PN: Can you talk a little about the character of Quaid?

SE: Quaid is this guy whose parents were killed when he was a youngster, by an axe-murderer, and we revisit him like 15-20 years later when he’s a student. He’s at University and it’s about him, in a way, trying to deal with that but by getting a group of people around him and exploring what each of them is afraid of and then him ultimately exploiting what everyone is afraid of, in a nutshell.

PN: You shot most of the film in the one location, how was that?

SE: It’s been awesome because were all on base so it was easy to create a little family in that respect, so yes it was incredible really. We rehearsed in the evenings right through until 12 or 1 am and there was a really strange, quiet vibe around there in the evening so it was a perfect place, I couldn’t think of a more fitting place to shoot something like this, to get a small environment with people together, it was perfect.

PN: How did you get on with the other cast members?

SE: Awesome, they’ve all done brilliant work. Jackson’s a great guy and the two girls have done great stuff as well; Laura who plays Abby and Hanne who plays Cheryl have done some extraordinary stuff, Jackson too, so it was a great environment actually.

Shaun Evans and Jackson Rathbone in Dread

PN: How has it been working with Anthony on his debut film?

SE: Well, you know I always quite like that because there’s a freshness and a hunger which inevitably goes the more pictures that you make, and because he’s written it he knows what he wants. So it’s been awesome really.

PN: Has it been collaborative, were you able to share your own ideas on the character with him?

SE: Well, I think so, yeah. You know filmmaking is always like that, the casting can be a long process. I think directors and producers are very smart in what they want in their films and they want you for a specific reason and what you will bring yourself, so it has to be a collaborative thing because if you’re not comfortable then it’s not going to work, do you know what I mean?

PN: Obviously the theme of the film is dread, so what are your own fears?

SE: None of your business! (laughs) I need to get a better answer for that, everyone keeps asking me!

Shaun Evans in Dread

PN: I hear it became quite gory on set, how did you find that?

SE: You know what, for the first three weeks it was really tame, there was very little of that and then we came in one day and did all the blood and axe stuff and it was awesome, I really enjoyed it. It was like nothing I’ve ever done before and it was brilliant because it reminds you what kind of movie you’re making. And also I love this genre, I love horror pictures, so it was brilliant to be pulling an axe out of somebody and to be hitting an artery and blood flying everywhere, I fucking love that shit! It was awesome, really great. But I think the gore has been kept to a minimum really compared to other pictures.

PN: Would you like to do more horror films in the future?

SE: Oh totally, if I’m interested in it then I’m totally up for it and if the people involved have a desire to make a good picture then definitely. As I just said earlier, I do really like horror films and so I’m definitely up for doing more.

PN: Thank you!

Lionsgate will be releasing Clive Barker’s Dread on DVD and Blu-ray on 29th March and Chris and Phil will be reviewing the film in Podcast #30.

For further information visit the film’s website at www.trailofdead.co.uk.

Chris and Phil Present… The Ultimate Movie Podcast, Episode 29.

Chris and Phil stay after class and survive an onslaught of the dead, crazies and Japanese emo wrist-cutters. Phil travels to Wonderland, El Superbeasto’s haunted world and Paris where he’s troubled by some facial fuzz, whilst ‘bubbly baby’ Chris talks to Mark Macready and enjoys a lunchtime table dance. Have you ever considered pageanting?

Podcast #29

There are a variety of other ways in which you can listen to Chris and Phil’s podcasts using the links below: subscribe via iTunes; listen online via Podcast.com; or use the RSS feeds option to listen online via FeedBurner or subscribe with an array of other web-based podcatchers.

Chris and Phil Present… The Ultimate Movie Podcast, Episode 27.

Chris and Phil get physical with Solomon Kane, shake their fists at ninja assassins and attempt to spend a long weekend together. Phil is impressed by Nelson Mandela, Eli’s book and a revolting youth whilst a young Chris discusses famine with Bob Geldof, explains why Danny Dyer is a national treasure and tidies his DVD collection. Never give Hooper a pound, he can’t be trusted!

Podcast #27

There are a variety of other ways in which you can listen to Chris and Phil’s podcasts using the links below: subscribe via iTunes; listen online via Podcast.com; or use the RSS feeds option to listen online via FeedBurner or subscribe with an array of other web-based podcatchers.

Chris and Phil Present… The Ultimate Movie Podcast, Episode 23.

Chris and Phil  have a look at Cameron Diaz’s box, spend another night at the museum and invite special guest Clifford Green to review Paranormal Activity. Phil goes caving with Shauna Macdonald and Jon Harris and snores at goats, whilst Chris brings food to the table and has a drink with Holly Valance. Would you like some kind of pie?

Podcast #23

There are a variety of other ways in which you can listen to Chris and Phil’s podcasts using the links below: subscribe via iTunes; listen online via Podcast.com; or use the RSS feeds option to listen online via FeedBurner or subscribe with an array of other web-based podcatchers.

Chris and Phil Present… The Ultimate Movie Podcast, Episode 22.

Chris and Phil go trick ‘r treating, get an education in panty-peeping and fall in love with a cyborg. Phil speaks to Megan about Jennifer’s Body and finds out if the fox is fantastic whilst Chris has a full GFE and dodges the charity muggers in the cultural quarter. All this plus the return of the space cowboy and Eminem does Dylan Thomas. It’s like a paper bag full of custard!

Podcast #22

There are a variety of other ways in which you can listen to Chris and Phil’s podcasts using the links below: subscribe via iTunes; listen online via Podcast.com; or use the RSS feeds option to listen online via FeedBurner or subscribe with an array of other web-based podcatchers.