Rapper-turned-filmmaker R.A. Thorburn, a.k.a. “The Rugged Man” and the producer/co-writer of Frank Henenlotter’s BAD BIOLOGY, dropped Fango a line with details and some gruesome set photos (see ’em below) from his first feature as a director. Titled GOD TAKE, GOD GIVE, it’s “an insane mockumentary,” according to Thorburn, based on the life of his father, Staff Sgt. John A. Thorburn.“He was a highly decorated war hero who survived many government-funded secret missions in Vietnam,” he tells us, “only to come home affected by Agent Orange, which caused serious complications with some of his children and grandchildren. The scene pictured is based on some of the wilder stories surrounding his life; it was once rumored that he escaped a mental hospital and went on a killing spree. I basically reimagined those rumors as an ’80s splatter movie; it’s basically my father going nuts while being interrogated by doctors and brutally murdering everybody, using machetes, swords, rocket launchers and his bare hands, ripping heads off and pulling out intestines.”
To give the sequence the appropriate vintage veneer, Thorburn eschewed the current hi-def cameras and shot it with an 8mm model. “I had a cast of professionals and two great camera guys—Nick Deeg, who shot BAD BIOLOGY, and Clay Patrick McBride, one of the best still photographers in the business—which made my directing job easy,” Thorburn says. The grisly mayhem was created by makeup FX creator Brian Spears, from I SELL THE DEAD and PLAGUE TOWN among others, with one exception. “There is a moment where my dad pulls out a rocket launcher [first photo] and blows up a female doctor played by Nash Zaman. I wanted all the effects to be practical like the ’80s, but we decided to do that digitally; it’s the only CGI effect in the sequence. For that, I reached out to veteran visual effects specialist Al Magliochetti, who I had met through Frank and Gabe Bartalos on BAD BIOLOGY.”
Among the horror-centric folks involved in front of the cameras was William Lustig (second and third photos), director of MANIAC and the MANIAC COP movies; he’s cast as Dr. Cordell, named for the villain of the latter trio. “I won’t deny that having Bill on the set was a little intimidating at first,” Thorburn admits. “I’m such a fan of Maniac; it’s such a sleazy and rough NYC classic, and the epitome of sick ’80s slasher flicks. I just love it.
“But he’d give me little tips,” the filmmaker continues. “He’d say things like, ‘I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, but what if you tried this or that?’ I don’t have an ego with this movie shit—I’m still learning—so I was just like, ‘Bill, whatever ideas you’ve got, just give ’em.’ He actually came up with one of the good, old-school gore gags; while my father is ripping Cordell’s intestines out and wrapping them around his neck, Bill said, ‘Shouldn’t I be spitting blood out of my mouth?’ I just looked at him and said, ‘Well, Bill, if you don’t mind, that’d be great.’ And the guy just went nuts, spitting up blood all over the place like a fountain. It was great.”
A couple of actresses with genre experiences took part as well: “Beverly Bonner [fourth photo] from BASKET CASE and Frank’s other movies plays one of the nurses, and she was hysterical,” Thorburn says. “With all of her hilarious line readings and insane facial expressions, she was the best person I could think of to get an DAWN OF THE DEAD/FRIDAY THE 13TH-style machete in her head. Rachael Robbins, who I know is a scream-queen fave, was funny as hell. The more killing Thorburn does, the more hot and turned on her character gets—and she’s definitely an actress you like seeing getting hot and turned on. We also had a talented newcomer named Britt LeFils; she didn’t have too many lines, but she was great at getting her ass murdered and having her clothing ripped off!”
For one last bit of ’80s nostalgia, Thorburn cast Andrew Cassese (fifth photo), best known as Wormser in the REVENGE OF THE NERDS movies, as Cordell’s assistant. “He was probably the best actor on the set that day. He gets murdered in a pretty nasty way: He gets a big knife wedged into his groin and bleeds to death on the floor.”
And who did Thorburn get to play the central role of his deranged pop? None other than Staff Sgt. John A. Thorburn himself, who appears as the junkyard man in BAD BIOLOGY. “He’s a natural character actor,” the filmmaker says. “He’s just such a personality, and could have definitely been a movie star if he wanted to be. He hammed it up and held his own with the veteran actors. I had him jamming his fingers in people’s eyes and cutting people’s throats and covered in blood the whole day. He’s a good dad to put up with my shit,” Thorburn laughs.
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