Horror Highlights: IMPROVISED BUFFY Live Show, DIS Trailer, [CARGO] Q&A with Writer/Director James Dylan

2018/11/29 17:10:23 +00:00 | Tamika Jones

Performing vampire slayings on the spot? Yes, please. A trailer and details for Improvised Buffy at the High Stakes Theater Company in NYC headlines today's Highlights. Also: DIS photos and trailer and a Q&A with writer and director James Dylan for [Cargo].

Improvised Buffy and Ticketing Information: "Join us on our very own little slice of the Hellmouth. Buffy fans gather on the first Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. to watch a group of skilled actors and Whedon fanatics make up a live episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the spot. Grab a drink at "The Bronze" bar and get ready for vamp dustings, apocalypses, wiggins, and more!

More Information:
https://www.highstakestheatercompany.com/improvisedbuffy/

Tickets:
improvisedbuffy.com"

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DIS Photos and Trailer Revealed: "An ex-soldier with a criminal past takes refuge in the woods. A demonic figure seeks the seed of killers and the blood of the damned to feed his mandrake garden. DIS is an infernal descent into the root of the mandrake legend and a man who wanders too close to that legend and the unnamable terror behind it. What you sow you will reap…

Cast
Bill Oberst Jr. - Ariel
Lori Jo Hendrix - Sophia
Peter Gonzales Falcon - Orlando
Manuel Domínguez - The Figure
Anne Voitsekhova - Dancer

Crew
Director of Photography: Rodrigo ‘Rocco’ Rodriguez
Production Design: Marilu Aldama
FX Supervisor: Jorge Siller
Editor: Priscila Sanchez
Sound design: Kirby Meador
Produced by: Beatriz Barradas and Adrian Corona
Written and directed by: Adrian Corona."

Q&A with [Cargo] writer and director James Dylan for [Cargo]: "James Dylan talks about his Buried-esque horror-thriller [Cargo], which is now available from Wild Eye Releasing.

Why movies? What was it about film that had you jumping through fiery hoops to be a part of them?

James Dylan: Why movies? I’ve always loved films, loved movies. They were a great escape. I was a fan of big-budget blockbusters, art-house films, independent films, off the wall horror and science fictions films, you name it. Finally, I decided I had to try making my own.

And was this a film idea you’d been toying with for a considerable amount of time?

James Dylan: I thought of making a one-man thriller after seeing multiple one man films like Locke, All is Lost, Castaway, Buried, Brake, Phone Booth, Evil Dead 2, The Omega Man. Some of those have more than one actor in them – yet on a certain level, I consider them all one man films.

How did you get it up? What hurdles had to be overcome before you rolled an inch of the film?

James Dylan: Viagra usually helps. All kidding aside, the biggest hurdles are locations, finding the right cast and crew and of course funding. Having a talented producer that’s got your back also helps. My friend and producer J.C. Macek III collaborated with me on the screenplay. He gave me a lot of good ideas and ended up writing and publishing the official [Cargo] novelization for UK publisher Bloodhound Books.

Getting a good soundtrack was also a challenge. I ended up advertising for a Tangerine Dream type score and needed a composer to write me one.

The lead man of Tangerine Dream saw this ad in Berlin and ended up getting in contact with me. He made the soundtrack with his separate band Picture Palace music and Hoshiko Yamane, his fellow Tangerine Dream bandmate.

https://www.amazon.com/Cargo-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack/dp/B07CX6D2DK/

Thorsten and Hoshiko actually performed the entire [Cargo] soundtrack with Picture Palace music at the Electronic Music Circus in Germany in September 2018.

http://www.electronic-circus.net/2018/06/main-act-ec-2018/

Tell us about the types of films you sat down to watch before getting going with this? I imagine some D.O.A? maybe Buried?

James Dylan: Yes, films like Locke, Phone Booth, Buried, lots of one man films were influences. Including other films by directors such as the Coen brothers, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Sam Raimi.

The role of the lead, I imagine, would’ve been difficult to cast. Can you talk about how you found the perfect man?

James Dylan: I’d been a fan of the rotoscope rock film American Pop. Actor Ron Thompson played two roles in the film, Tony and Pete and we combined those names to create the name for his corrupt millionaire businessman character in [Cargo], Anthony Peterson. I always wanted to do a film about an antihero and this turned out to be the film that was just right for such a character.

The role was written with Ron Thompson in mind. We’d met some years ago on Facebook and actually met for the first time at a 2011 Cirque de Soleil show called Iris, the show had a great Danny Elfman score and was performed at The Dolby Theater. The theme of the show was the cinema and oddly enough the theatre is next door to the Grauman Chinese Theater where American Pop premiered in 1981 roughly thirty years earlier.

Most filmmakers write about things they’re afraid of -or maybe even experienced. Is that the case here? –

James Dylan: I’m afraid of enclosed spaces or being trapped in them. A horror movie called The Descent had some truly frightening scenes for me. It’s about a group of women who explore underground caves filled with monsters. Some of those scenes with people squeezing through small passages and almost getting stuck and not being able to get out. Terrifying for me. I can’t think of anything more horrifying really.

Luckily the cargo container we shot [Cargo] in had a lot more breathing room.

About the Author - Tamika Jones

Tamika hails from North Beach, Maryland, a tiny town inches from the Chesapeake Bay.She knew she wanted to be an actor after reciting a soliloquy by Sojourner Truth in front of her entire fifth grade class. Since then, she's appeared in over 20 film and television projects. In addition to acting, Tamika is the Indie Spotlight manager for Daily Dead, where she brings readers news on independent horror projects every weekend.

The first horror film Tamika watched was Child's Play. Being eight years old at the time, she remembers being so scared when Chucky came to life that she projectile vomited. It's tough for her to choose only one movie as her favorite horror film, so she picked two: Nosferatu and The Stepford Wives (1975).

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