Son Of Celluloid's Video Interview With Fred Vogel

It was getting close to midnight on a cold Sunday night in February.  The madness that was Days of the Dead Atlanta 2014 was over.  Most of the celebrities were on their planes home and the unconventional conventionalists had returned to their lairs to sleep off their buzzes and gush over the treasures they purchased.  Those of us left at the hotel were brutally tired.  The walking dead weren't all on TV that evening.  I can't speak for everyone, but I was in that weird space where you're simultaneously hung over from the previous three nights and still drunk from that day.  It was at this bleary-eyed witching hour that one of the coolest events of the weekend occurred.  

I had been trying to get together with Fred Vogel, who I refer to as the Patron Saint of the Underground, for an interview all weekend.  He was busy as hell, as was I, so the calm after the storm proved to be the right time to sit down for a chat.  If I need to explain who he is, then report to Remedial Independent Horror101 on the double.  Few people embody the SOC battle cry of "SUPPORT INDEPENDENT HORROR" like him.  Fred (along with his lovely wife Shelby), is the mastermind behind TOETAG Inc.  He's been spreading the sickness for almost a decade and a half with movies like Redsin Tower, Sella Turcica, Maskhead, Murder Collection, and the infamous August Underground trilogy.  
The original plan was to chop this interview up and incorporate it into episoides of The Son Of Celluloid Show, but since the show is taking so long and this interview is too good to hack up (although that would be kinda fitting), I decided to go ahead and put it out there.  My only regret is turning the camera off.  Once the official interview was over, he hung out and shot the shit for about an hour, all of which was a golden education in the world of indie horror.  Talking to Fred was a true pleasure, and I think you'll dig the video.

 

For all of your TOETAG Needs, go to http://www.toetag.biz/

What Halloween Means To Me '13 Day 21: Fred Vogel

There aren’t a lot of bigger names in underground horror than Fred Vogel.  He and his TOETAG INC. compatriots have been turning out extreme cinema and gut-churning effects work for over a decade now.  His infamous August Underground trilogy is still routinely named on “most disturbing movies” lists (particularly Mordum).  I think that Fred’s influence on independent horror is more widespread than he often gets credit for.  I personally know of quite a few filmmakers who picked up a camera at least partially because they were inspired by what TOETAG accomplished, and the influence is obvious in the work of many, many more who won’t admit to it.  I hope to meet the man at Days of the Dead Atlanta in February and maybe ask him a few questions, but for now I only have one… Fred, what does Halloween mean to you?

Fred as the Frankenstein Monster - 1983

“I knew at an early age that Halloween was my favorite holiday. To me it was better than all the gifts you get on Christmas or all the Chocolate Bunnies you can eat on Easter. It was a holiday that let me express my love for the macabre. I was into horror at an early age being influenced by James Whale’s 1931 classic Frankenstein. The Frankenstein Monster was my go to costume. I would spend hours in my bathroom practicing in the mirror making myself up with grease-paint. It was the beginning of me honing my make-up skills. I couldn’t wait to unveil my costume to my friends; I would stay in character all night going from house to house. I might be to old to Trick or Treat nowadays but that doesn’t stop me from dressing up in costume to celebrate my favorite night of the year, Halloween.”

 10 more days ‘til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween.  10 more days ‘til Halloween, Silver Shamrock.