If you were lucky enough to attend Fango’s recently wrapped Weekend of Horrors, you hopefully were also fortunate enough to check out the phenomenal short INSATIABLE, which screened on Sunday. As much about vampirism and fetishism as it is about a dwindling marriage, the flick is a rare silent pleasure, harking back to the days when creating films was more about experimentation than making money.
“INSATIABLE really started out of my frustration from trying to sell a feature script of mine in 2004,” writer/director Scott W. Perry reveals. “I kept on inquiring to many production companies looking for scripts, but the answers were all the same: no vampires, because they’ve been done to death. I had just left a job at A&E, where one of my duties was to watch their prime-time programming before it went to air for quality control. Now, it was reality shit, but at the time there were some intriguing shows that profiled the minds of serial killers. To see what made those people tick fascinated me. Most were married, and all had one desire that they took to the extreme. What I did was take that pattern and add vampirism to it.”
As for why Perry chose to keep his characters silent: “In a way, it’s because whenever someone feels awkward, there’s always that uncomfortable silence which looms. Silence can speak much louder than words, and in part that was one of the reasons why INSATIABLE is a film without dialogue. The main reason is that I was intrigued with the challenge of telling a story completely without words.”
Sporting an impressive cast of indie faves like Mike Lane, as a serial killer of women with a bloodsucking fetish, Zoe Daelman Chlanda as his unsuspecting wife and Raine Brown as his potential next victim, the film is a perfect example of the family that the New York-area independent horror scene has become, with Perry dipping into the pool of talent he met on another noteworthy director’s shoot. “It all started with an invite to the set of Alan Rowe Kelly’s THE BLOOD SHED, and being impressed by the professionalism of the cast and crew,” he recalls. “They were dead on and everyone helped each other, but most importantly, they were all enjoying doing what they were doing. After attending a screening of THE BLOOD SHED, I kept in touch with Kelly and Jeremiah Kipp, who was the assistant director. I had also befriended Mike Lane, who I actually envisioned as the main character Derek as I was writing the screenplay. When Mike wanted to do it, it just set the wheels in motion. I felt it was important to have a cast and crew who were familiar with each other, which would make my life as a director easier. Zoe and Raine reacted strongly to the script, and agreed to do it.“Alan, in addition to being a great filmmaker, is a brilliant makeup artist, and did an extraordinary job, particularly with Raine’s character Infinity. It also helped having him on set, as ideas were bounced around and they all just made the film better. Bart Mastronardi, director of the terrific VINDICATION, also helped in the cinematography, and gave me lessons on the DVX that really made me feel more comfortable in shooting the movie, and in understanding the power of this camera. Henry Borriello also contributed to the effects and did a phenomenal job, particularly in the bathroom scene and in the dream sequence with the tubes sticking out of the victims’ necks.”
Featuring Lane’s character confronted by not only his wife but also those he has slain, and set in a deserted theater, the aforementioned nightmare conjures images of Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol, and is a stunning homage to the Expressionist films of yesteryear. “It was primarily edited that way as a tribute to classic horror, as I’ve always been a fan of films like the original NOSFERATU, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, M and the Universal horror pictures. It’s a nod to those films, yet serves as many metaphors. The fact that his wife is his vision of the ultimate vampire shows he still has feelings for her, and the scene’s conclusion foreshadows things to come.”INSATIABLE is set to hit DVD this fall, accompanied by Perry’s latest short, A SWEET KIND OF HOLLOW, starring Lane and Christine Spencer and named after an urban-legend-laden stretch in Long Island. “Sweet Hollow Road is supposedly one of the sites where the infamous ‘Mary’s Grave’ is, and there are numerous ghost stories that take place in that area, which is Melville in Long Island,” Perry says. “The idea for the film originated in 1996 while I was in school, and lingered for many years until I had the resources available to make it. One of the more popular urban legends is when lost souls are reunited, and that’s what mainly inspired the story. I met Christine on the set of SATAN HATES YOU and struck up a friendship. She really liked the script and her chemistry with Mike was good, so it was a fun shoot, just the three of us on an overcast late August morning.”
When questioned about what the prolific director has next up his sleeve, Perry is eager to share: “I’d like to use this article to announce my next project, JUST SOMETHING, which I will be shooting this August. The film will star Joe Zaso [from BARRICADE] and Jerry Murdock [from BLOOD SHED], and Alan Rowe Kelly will play a child killer. Jerry plays a victim’s guardian who seeks the aid of an old friend [Zaso] to kill him. It’s a thought-provoking horror film based on a ‘what if?’ question I received from my parents after seeing a news story on a convicted child murderer a few years ago. I hope to have it completed early next year. In addition, I’m developing several projects and have features written that are just waiting to be made.”Find out more about Scott W. Perry at www.slickdevilentertainment.com. You can also visit his extraordinary site, The Colonel’s Crypt, here. To view the trailer for INSATIABLE, click here, and to see A SWEET KIND OF HOLLOW, click here.
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