INTERVIEW WITH NICHOLAS VINCE

SG: What made you interested in acting and join Mountview Theatre Academy?
NV: I was always interested in theatre, TV and films from a very early age. Around the age of 6 or 7, I played Peter Rabbit in a school production. My cardboard ears fell off in the watering can, whilst I was hiding from Mr McGregor, the gardener. It just grew from there. At age 11 my English teacher, Mary Salaman asked me if I’d like to play the boy’s parts in a Dickensian evening, such as Pip. This was done by the local amateur society in Horsham. I carried on doing parts with that society and Horsham Young Players. I guess I averaged half a dozen amateur shows a year until I went to drama school.

SG: How did you find the prosthetics in Hellraiser, was it hard to act in it?
NV: I couldn’t hear, speak or see in the original Chatterer mask. Also the leather costumes were very tight fitting. At a recent convention, someone commented how ‘meticulous’ Chatterer is in his movements. I thought that was very astute of them. Of course, this was simply as we had to rehearse my action very carefully. So, yes it was tough, as I had to have perfect movement recall, once I heard “Action!”.


SG: Are you still in contact with your co-stars from Hellraiser 1 & 2, or do you just see them at conventions and film screenings?
NV: Occasionally, we’ll meet up socially, but it’s mostly at conventions. That’s mostly because we’re based in different countries. Barbie Wilde is predominantly in France and Doug Bradley is usually in the USA. Simon Bamford and I have been lucky enough to be invited to a few Nightbreed : The Cabal Cut screenings, so I’ve seen quite a bit of him this year.


SG: Out of all the cenobites in the Hellraiser franchise, which is your favourite?
NV: You mean apart from Chatterer? Honestly, it would have to be Pinhead, as he gets all those really cool lines.


SG: The lost footage of Nightbreed was recently found, and edited into the film to make The Cabal Cut, are there any plans to re-master it, and might we see a DVD release?
NV: Yes, the plan is to release on DVD and Blu-Ray at the end of next year. Russell Cherrington has worked with VHS copies which turned up in Clive Barker’s study. However, he hopes to turn up the original film stock so he can work with that. For the most recent news on that, it’s best to head over to www.occupymidian.com.

SG: Since acting in Hellraiser 1 & 2, and Nightbreed, you changed your career path to writing. Why was this?
NV: I changed my career to writing once Nightbreed came out. I remember feeling then I was no longer interested in saying other people’s lines, and I wanted to say things for myself. So, I went into writing comics, short stories and interviews for various magazines. That lasted for three years, then all my comics projects were cancelled. I had to pay rent and so I eventually ended up working in computers. That ended in May of this year when I had a chance to return to writing. I’ve also been asked to consider some acting roles. As well as enjoying the writing, I’m really quite excited about returning to acting, as there’s talk about some very cool projects.


SG: What were your major influences when writing ‘What Monsters Do’?
NV: Clive Barker, of course. I’d be foolish to deny the massive effect Clive’s had on me as a person let alone a writer. The other great writer who I love is H H Munro, who wrote as Saki. He specialised in very short, short stories. They were mostly comedies of Edwardian manners, but he also wrote some very dark tales, such as: ‘Shredni Vashtar’.


SG: Do you have a personal favourite short story from ‘What Monsters Do’?
NV: Oooh. That’s like asking me to choose between my children. The feedback I’ve received is that people have different favourites, with no particular story being a winner over others. My favourite at any given time, is usually the one I’m working on at the moment. Though that depends on how well the writing is going on a particular day.


SG: Could you ever see the book becoming an anthology film?
NV: It would be great if it did. Perhaps more than one film as there are 7 stories and some would take 20 minutes to tell properly. I like the idea of the stories being translated into another medium. As well as films I’d also like to see them made into stage plays.


SG: Which do you think is scarier? Traditional monsters (vampires, zombies, werewolves etc), or human monsters, that have deep rooted psychological problems?
NV: I think the scariest things are the things which we can identify with. So, I like my horror to be as close to reality as possible. I read a very interesting discussion on facebook where someone pointed out they like to be disturbed and not disgusted.

I’m about to watch ‘Dead of Night’ (1945) again, which is one of my favourite movies, as it’s deliciously creepy. It starts with a man who believes he’s reliving a dream and is disturbed by this, as his dream doesn’t end happily. It’s also a portmanteau film with four stories.

I like the original Wolfman as it presents this terrible moral dilemma that the wolf man can only be killed by someone who loves him. That’s something which I missed in ‘American Werewolf in London’. It would have had far more emotional depth if Jenny Agutter had to kill her new boyfriend for him to be released from the curse.

I like horror which makes me think.


SG: If you could only read one book again for the rest of your life, which one would it be?
NV: Good question. It would be both volumes of The Collected Writings of Nichiren Daishonin. He was a 13th Century Buddhist monk, who set out to work out how everyone can become happy.

It also contains a horrifying description of the ‘Hell of a Blood Red Lotus.’ In this hell, the sufferers are so miserable that they crouch down and pull their heads forward. They do this to such an extreme that eventually the ribs are pulled from their spine so that their backs open like the petals of a lotus flower.

SG: What are your plans for 2013, can we look forward to anymore books from you?
NV: I’m working on the next volume of short stories, ‘Other People’s Darkness’. I’m also hoping to do some acting and a lot more convention appearances, particularly in the USA.


Thank you for speaking to us and I wish you best in your writing!

LAID TO REST (2009)

LAID TO REST is a low budget horror/thriller film, from the mind of one of America’s top special effects artists; Robert Hall. The film opens with a girl (Bobbi Sue Luther) trapped inside of a coffin, she forces her way out, and due to a traumatic head injury she doesn’t remember anything – not even her name. Her abductor ‘Chromeskull’ (Nick Principe) appears, and tries to capture her again to finish what he started. She soon realises that he is hunting her down, and tries to survive the night in a very isolated town. The rest of the film is basically an 80 minute chase scene, in which she comes across a fair few other characters that try and protect her.

I was disappointed at the amount of stupid decisions that characters made, instead of running away from Chromeskull and into a populated town, they kept going back to the same buildings they encountered him in. The main three characters were definitely some of the most dim-witted I’ve seen in a film. Even for a low budget horror film, it was bad. In the first few minutes ‘The Girl’ keeps calling the coffin a ‘dead box’ and only knew the number to call 911 thanks to a handy post-it note on the wall. I mean, she couldn’t remember these small things, yet she remembers how to drive a car. A reason that she came across so unintelligent was because the actress who played her was incredibly bad. Her performance wasn’t very believable and she spent the majority of the film crying, or screaming out for help. Needless to say, it was still interesting to watch.

Although there is no back-story given for Chromeskull, he is hinted at being a surgeon a few times throughout the film. Even though a back-story would have been nice, (because I would have liked to have found why he’s going around killing everyone in sight); I feel that the mystery works better in this case, even better than the mystery of Michael Myers in HALLOWEEN. Knowing that Chromeskull is some kind of professional and that he may well have been saving lives every day makes his past so much more intriguing. I also love the fact that his face is never shown in full, we just see parts of it and of course, his infamous mask.

The greatest and best part of the film was BY FAR the visual effects and how amazingly thought out the kills were. Although the majority of killings were done using the same knives, each of them was unique and entertaining. The best ones included a face being split in half from the mouth, a face being filled up with liquid then exploding from the pressure and a man’s skin literally being peeled off. Thankfully, Robert Hall has spent the last 16 years doing special effects exclusively, so the effects in LAID TO REST are almost faultless, and extremely stunning. The scene that involved the demise of Chromeskull reminded me of old Troma films and b-movies, except it was of a much higher quality, which was definitely fun to watch.

Even though this film has a lot of bad acting, a lot of bad decisions and not much explanation for Chromeskull’s actions, I sill thoroughly enjoyed the film as a whole. It was mainly down the brilliant screenplay and Chromeskull’s mysterious character. This film wouldn’t be for every horror fan out there, but definitely the hardcore slasher fans that enjoy a lot of gore.

AMERICAN MARY (2012)

I was lucky enough to see the UK premiere of AMERICAN MARY at Frightfest this summer. I decided not to look into the film too much before watching it, all I knew was that it was about underground surgery and that alone sold me on it. Turns out it was one of the best decisions I’ve made, there were so many twists and turns - I was captivated from start to finish.

The film starts out seemingly normal with a medical student Mary Mason (Katharine Isabelle), trying to find ways to get extra money so that she can stay on her course. As a bright and talented student, she gains unwanted attention of her teacher, which leads her to become involved in the underground world of extreme body modification and plastic surgeries. As Mary’s reputation grows in her new job, she finds her fan base growing each day; this is until a Betty Boop wannabe (Tristan Risk) gives her an offer she can’t refuse.

As soon as I met the Twins and started talking to them about their films, I realised just how passionate they were about filmmaking. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who could top their enthusiasm for the industry. In this film especially, the two girls have done their research to the maximum level and it definitely shows. In most films dealing with extreme body modification, the individuals with alterations to their body tend to be shown in a bad light or made out to be outcasts. In AMERICAN MARY however, we are shown that they are just normal people who want to express themselves through their skin. Furthermore, in some scenes the people with body modifications are seen to be better than normal people without it. It’s very interesting to watch – particularly as most of the modifications are real, and not just made up for the film.

This film is miles apart from the Soska twin’s first feature – DEAD HOOKERS IN A TRUNK. As much as I liked their debut film, AMERICAN MARY was elegant, stylish and extremely polished in comparison. Almost every detail in the film was an enormous improvement, especially the character development. The character study of Mary Mason was one of the most impressive I’ve seen, especially in a horror film. At a first glance she’s just a normal girl with unfortunate circumstances, but later into the film, the audience are invited to take a deeper look at her and they will be surprised with what is shown. She is definitely one of the most complex and well written characters I’ve ever came across.

Being a film made by women and about women, there are a few hints at feminist ideology throughout - the most noticeable one in Mary’s rape scene. Most rape scenes in horror films show a lot of nudity and the person doing the raping, enjoying it. Not in this film though, there is minimal nudity, just enough to show what is going on. The scene also concentrates on Mary’s pain and suffering throughout, with a few close-ups of her face. This definitely would make the viewer uncomfortable and subconsciously feel bad for her. It’s great to see things from this perspective and show rape in a totally different way from usual.

My favourite aspect of the film was the impressive visuals - each and every location was set up great and looked stunning on camera. In the more tightly fit settings (such as Mary’s apartment), there is always something in the corner of the screen that adds that little bit extra to the narrative. It takes more than one watch to notice everything that is hidden in the background. Another thing that I loved was just how realistic the film actually was. At no point during the film did I think that the events on screen couldn’t happen in real life, and that’s made it so chilling.

There’s only one criticism I have about the film though, and that is because you’d expect a film of this nature to include a lot of gore, but it doesn’t. The majority of the surgical scenes show Mary setting everything up, but then it cuts to after the surgery and the outcomes of it. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though, as it makes the film more accessible to the horror fans that aren’t big on excessive gore. Who’d have thought that a scene in which a woman gets her nipples cut off and her vagina sewed up could look so classy? If this scene was shown in full, complete with the procedure, then it could well have been one of the most notorious and controversial scenes ever.

AMERICAN MARY is certainly one of the most original and well-written films that I have ever watched. So much so, that in the future I can see it on ‘essential horror films to watch’ lists all over the world. I’m not the only one who sees this though, as Universal Pictures have picked up the film for international distribution. If you haven’t seen this film yet, then I suggest you see it as soon as possible!

THE GHOSTMAKER (2012)

From the mind of Mauro Borrelli, comes THE GHOSTMAKER (renamed from BOX OF SHADOWS), a supernatural thriller highlighting the thin line between life and death. A group of college students come across a coffin like no other, it was made in the 15th century by an inventor that liked to experiment with torture devices. Once they start to test the machine, they soon realise it causes near death experiences, allowing them to wander the mortal world as ghosts.

What makes this b-movie so fascinating is the way that the story is told. There was not one moment when watching this where I felt bored, or thought that parts were starting to drag on. The script was extremely well written, blending the horror and fantasy genres together perfectly. It was excellent to see that it didn’t rely on gore and jump scares to scare the audience too. Suspense was one of the main techniques used to make this film so thrilling. There was one scene in particular that dealt with the subject of rape, and it was built up absolutely flawlessly. It was one of those ‘sitting at the edge of your seat, wanting to know what happens next immediately’ kind of moments.

A major theme throughout the film was addiction and it came in two forms – Kyle’s (Aaron Dean Eisenberg) addiction to crystal meth, and the group of friend’s addiction to the coffin. It was great to see some in depth character development in a film of this genre. The only criticism I have about the characters is that even though some back-story was given, I felt that there needed to be more. I would have liked to have seen the start of Kyle’s downfall and why he started taking drugs, also how Sutton (J. Walter Holland) became wheelchair bound.

For a film of this calibre, unfortunately even with the one million dollar budget, the special effects were quite dire. When the characters changed into their ghostly counterparts, they just turned blue and had an ethereal glow around them - it didn’t look convincing at all. At least their eyes were pure white, so it looked creepy in some way. The antagonist of the film was a steam punk looking demon, who was actually the creator of the coffin. He lurks around the characters homes, and without actually being a real threat to them (as he doesn’t try and harm them), the characters get scared in the most overdramatic way possible. It’s understandable when the demon is following them around, but not when it’s just sitting in the corner of their room, doing nothing at all. Also, the aesthetics of the demon were questionable. It was a great idea having its face made out of cogs and wheels, but whenever it appeared, it looked like it belonged in a different film. The demon just didn’t unite with the background, so it was as if it was just stuck over the top of the film at the last moment.

However, from start to finish I was captivated by the strong narrative, interesting characters and creepy music. This isn’t just a film that wants to entertain; it deals with real life situations and is filled with important moral lessons.

TREASURE CHEST OF HORRORS (2012)

TREASURE CHEST OF HORRORS features four short films, from three of America’s most indie directors. It starts with Percival the Pirate (Paymon Seyedi), hunting around an empty beach for his grandpappy’s hidden treasure. Very quickly he finds it and inside the chest there are four VHS tapes, which are the four short films that are being featured.

The first segment was Doug Waugh’s ROTTEN CLASSMATES, a tale of a student being tormented by a quartet of bullies. This is until another student who witnessed the bullying changes into his alter-ego, which can only be described as ‘Gas-Man’. He then stalks the bullies and kills them in quite interesting ways. I don’t think I’ve ever seen (or imagined) someone have their face compressed by a mop wringer before. There was little to no speech in this short film too, I really enjoyed this aspect as it made each characters actions so much more enjoyable.

Next up was VAMPIRE LUST, from duo; Shawn C. Phillips and M. Kelley – both directing and starring in the film. Kelley plays a 28 year old man still living with his parents, until one night, he gets bitten by a bat. The rest of the film shows his transformation into a vampire, which was actually really funny. Comedy was the only thing this film had going for it though. The make-up was ridiculous and smeared down Kelley’s clothes, the acting was so bad, I was cringing every time someone spoke and the plot was all over the place.

Doug Waugh’s second short film, RESIDENT EMO, is about an ‘emo’ that cuts himself with a cursed blade and then turns into a zombie. I found this short to actually be highly offensive when dealing with the topic of self harm. I know its part of a bizarre horror/comedy anthology, but even so, it just went way too far with its alleged humour, and ended up being distasteful and degrading. There were only two aspects of this film that I enjoyed, and that was Lloyd Kaufman’s cameo and the toilet humour. In one scene, Saree Waugh (who is credited as ‘The girl who shits everywhere’ on IMDB), gets diarrhoea, rolls around in it, then proceeds to throw it off a zombie to protect herself. Incredibly funny.

Lastly was MAMA IT’S A MANNEQUIN, from Doug Waugh and it was definitely the best segment out of the four. It’s set around a girl’s 18th birthday party, the mannequin she wants as a present and her family being terrorised by it. The best scene in this short is when Murphy (Doug Waugh), tries to rape the mannequin and he calls it by the wrong name. By doing so, the dummy comes to life and rips his balls off, which is always entertaining. Unfortunately (and this goes for the rest of the shorts in this anthology), there was a lot of corpsing from the actors. It’s expected in a film where the actors are all mainly amateurs, but it really puts the viewer off and makes it substandard.

For a film that was made on literally no budget, it didn’t turn out too bad, but only fans of this subgenre should watch this. It does have some original ideas, but with a bigger budget, it would have been so much better.