Eric Stanze is one of the most consistently original
filmmakers on the indie scene. I first
became aware of him when I came across his criminally under-appreciated flick Scrapbook
while I was in film school. It blew me
away, and it has proven to predate a bunch of trends that took hold years
later. It was kinda August
Underground (which it is often compared to) before there was an August
Underground; but with an actual story, real tension, phenomenal acting,
violence that had an emotional impact…actually, nevermind. It’s nothing like August Underground. Anyway, he not only refuses to go with the
latest trends in horror, but he also refuses to make the same film repeatedly,
which way too many directors do. From
theological hallucinations like Ice From The Sun to sleazy extreme
exploitation like I Spit on Your Corpse, I Piss on Your Grave to
straight up horror romps like Savage Harvest 1 and 2, Stanze
never pulls his punches and always delivers the goods. The latest offering from Wicked Pixel Cinema,
Ratline, was an outstanding story of Nazis, immortality, and occult
artifacts. You can read my review
HERE. He also writes a blog over at
FearNet called “Surviving Cinema” where he discusses his favorite flicks and
gives us a peek behind the curtain into the world of making horror flicks. Go to his website HERE for more info on what
he’s up to. So Eric, tell us what
Halloween means to you...
”Halloween is the best holiday of the year. For me, Halloween represents
encouragement for children’s imaginations to run wild, as well as an invitation
for adults to rekindle their own imaginations. The holiday gives us permission
to take darkness and fears that surround us in real life and twist them into
something cathartic, thrilling, and fun. When I was a wee lad, long before I
was a filmmaker endeavoring to put shock and fright on screen, I was scaring my
mom with rubber snakes, dumping ketchup on myself to look like a corpse to
scare my little sisters, and using fishing line to make doors open and rocking
chairs rock to convince my dad our house was haunted. I managed to provoke some
genuine fright (my mom hates snakes), but mostly I triggered the rolling of
eyes and shaking of heads by family members. Halloween gives me license – in
fact encourages me – to again engage in such twisted behavior as an adult...
and that’s pretty cool... even though Mom and Dad are still rolling their eyes
at me.”
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