Interview with Franklin Guerrero Jr. & Eric Williford - The 8th Plague
By: Marcus Ingelmo

Franklin Guerrero Jr. - Director
Eric Williford - Writer/Producer

Evil Dread: Hi guys, how are you doing?
Eric Williford: I'm doing great. Just staying busy and trying to get the word out about the Plague.

Franklin Guerrero: Fantastic, I'm sitting here at my workstation in an old leather chair, the most comfortable chair in the house. So yeah, I'm content.

ED: Tell us a little about THE 8TH PLAGUE - how it got started and what it is about etc.
EW: The idea came about because there was an abandoned prison by Frankie's old place. I would see it whenever I was going to his place. One day I just asked him: "What to you think about doing a horror film in an abandoned prison?"

FG: It was simply time to get started. I'd been doing shorts, music videos and industrial films for years. We kept telling ourselves that we needed to make a feature, but it's so easy to put things off. I realized that we needed to do something immediately or we'd wake up 20 years later realizing that we missed the chance.

ED: Going from the writing process to actually turning the script into a film; did you have a clear vision of what you wanted the film to look like and were there a lot of changes to the script along the way?
EW: There was a clear vision in terms of what we wanted to do. But one of the things I really learned is that the whole process is really organic. So as a writer, you have to sort of make your baby, and then give it up and let the artists raise it. There were definitely changes to the script. This kind of goes back to that whole organic thing. Things come up, or certain scenes don't really work, so you have to make adjustments. The idea is to make the best possible film; sometimes you have to kill your favorite lines of dialogue for the good of the project. When it comes to writing, always be prepared to kill your babies.

ED: What was the hardest part(s) of making THE 8TH PLAGUE come to life?
EW: Money! Money! Money! It's funny, I read articles where Cats (I won't name names) say things like, "I wish we had eighty million. Sixty million just wasn't enough to get my vision across." I guess it's always going to be an issue.

FG: I'll have to go with logistics of shooting in a defunct government owned structure. Apart from being expensive (relative to our meager budget) it really is abandoned, but it's recently been declared a historical landmark. I imagine up until it closed in 2000 the powers that be expended most of their energy keeping people from getting out. Nobody wanted in. Now it's the other way around, kids (saying that makes me feel old) try to break in to party. It's a big problem for the Lorton staff now, and as a result the security procedures made it very difficult for us. We lost a lot of valuable shooting time every day because of that. Plus there is no electricity or water so we had to pack to generators, gallons of water and propane heaters when it got cold. This is all on a tiny scale of course so imagine us carrying around a bunch of milk jugs filled with water and backyard heaters that you'd use when you're having a cookout in December.

ED: How long did it take to make the film all in all, from writing it, to shooting it, to the editing etc?
EW: What was it Frankie, like a year or something?

FG: July 2005 thru July 25 2006 - the date the deliverables were shipped to Anthem.

ED: I really liked THE 8TH PLAGUE and I have to say that it had some pretty good scares that were quite freaky. Was it hard to make the scares effective and do you think you have to be somewhat scared yourself when making it in order for an audience to later be scared by it when seen on screen?
FG: Thanks. I'm scared of my own shadow at night. I've been hungrily gobbling up horror movies for about 20 years now. With very, very few exceptions, horror movies don't scare me per se. Not initially. It's when I get up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water that all the old horror clichés fill me with dread. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I have to cut myself to make sure I can still bleed sometimes.

Fear is like a sense of humor. Everyone gets scared differently. One example: There were moments in the 6th Sense that scared the crap out of me, and a lot of people claim it wasn't scary at all. It's impossible to gauge, so I approach it like comedy. If it makes me laugh, go with it.. in this case if- when I detach myself and watch it- it's eerie and I jump at the right moments, then it's working. Be true to thyself.

Side note: I thought writing and directing a comedic piece that makes an audience of 300 people laugh hysterically and miss half of the jokes was cool, but there's no greater feeling than a packed theater full of people screaming in terror at your movie.

ED: Talking about the actual scares, I felt that the very scares at times had some similarities to what can be seen in some Asian type of horrors, I mean the creepy feel itself and the hardly visible faces to go with it. Were you somewhat influenced by Asian horror when writing those specific scenes and what do you personally find to be really frightening?
EW: Yeah! Those Cats are really doing their thing over there. I was knee deep in their films when we were talking about what we wanted to do with the Plague. I love those films because it's so effortless. Sometimes horror filmmakers are like "Okay, we're going to scare you. Are you ready to be scared? I'm gonna do it. Alright...Boo!" And as an audience member, you're like, "Wow, that was lame." But the most frightening thing to me is the idea of being at someone else's mercy and unable to save a loved one or help yourself. Ever seen Three Extremes? The idea of being tormented and not being able to defend yourself is something I lose sleep over.

FG: There's some definite Asian influence in there. I'm a fan of the dread they create at a slower pace. The overall influence is kind of an Asian/Italian hybrid. I did a lot of the music that Paul Jessen didn't do, and there is a definite Asian horror influence there as well.

ED: THE 8TH PLAGUE was pretty darn gory and violent, did you feel that violence and gore was important factors for the film to be able to work as a whole?
EW: Frankie really put me on to some of the "not so mainstream" horror films. That really opened my eyes to what you can do if you're bold enough to go out onto that ledge. Sometimes it's not enough to push the envelope, sometimes you have to rip it, burn it, and then pee on it. Did I take that too far? Regardless, trust me folks, it's only gonna get crazier. Make sure you stay tuned, we'd love to have you out on this ledge with us.

FG: I've got to admit, I'm a huge fan of violence and gore in cinema. I don't see it as violence though; it's just fun theatrics. For instance, I don't like Faces of Death movies, or real life violence. There's an absurdity to cinematic violence that entertains me to no end. Sometimes it's kind of a punch line. I grew up - in addition to splatter flicks - on Weird Al and Monty Python to name a couple of influences. Those are perfect examples of gore as a punch line. Even in the most serious context, if you go onto any set where gore is being filmed, the entire crew is snickering at the 8 gallons of blood that just exploded as they cover themselves with tarps as if at a Gallagher concert.

But, Important for the movie? Hmmm tricky question.. (he said ambiguously, and then changed the subject).

ED: How was it to work with the splatter effects and all the blood? Was it hard to make it look believable and realistic?
FG: When you've got the budget we had, gore is not very easy to work with, simply because of the mess. You've got to think about footprints, protecting equipment, continuity etc. That said, it is fun. The really fun part is trying to wrap your brain around how to create these effects out of thin air. As a kid I made dozens of little horror movies with my friends, and that was always the best part: "we've got no money, how are we going to make Joey's disembowelment look convincing?". I have that experience growing up to thank... as ridiculous as it seemed at the time.

On the 8th Plague we also had a great makeup guy, Paul Goldblatt, which was an important factor, but there were a lot of things in there that I just had to improvise. The eyeball for example.. we shot the scene, but when I looked at it, it just wasn't selling it the way it needed to play for such an important moment. I ended up shooting a lot of that moment at my editing workstation by myself with what I had around the house at the time. I figured I'd experiment, and if it didn't work out, I'd go to the art store and get proper supplies to make it work. However, the end product was pretty darn cool and disgusting, so I didn't change a thing. I'm not going to say exactly how I did it, but I assure you that the absurd simplicity of it would probably cause your sides to split.

In short, problems solved creatively usually turn out better than when you throw a bunch of money at them.

ED: How has the response been so far and what kind of expectations did you have to begin with?
EW: The response has been great. For me, I just wanted to be part of a movie that 12 year olds had to watch when their parents went to bed because they weren't allowed to see it.

FG: Overall I've been pleased. Some people aren't digging it, but a lot of others like it plenty. I guess that's to be expected. Just as long as we are pleasing a good chunk, that's cool with me. I actually have learned from some of the criticism. We really just set out to scare some people and get the opportunity to do so in perpetuity.

ED: I liked that abandoned prison environment a lot, so obviously I would like to know where you shot the film? Was it hard to find the location or did you have that very place in mind from the beginning?
EW: We shot the film in Lorton Prison in Northern Virginia.

FG: Yeah, like he mentioned before, it's up the street from my old condo right off of a main commuter road. They've been tearing a lot of it down, so our big concern was to shoot it early in case they tore down something we wanted to use.

Actually we kind of had a similar problem, because at the last minute they told us we couldn't shoot in certain buildings we wanted to use. It seems the military was doing a training exercise for the first 3 weeks in some of the parts where we wanted to shoot. Supposedly it was "top secret" and we weren't allowed anywhere near those buildings. We just had to improvise.

ED: When looking back on things now, did THE 8TH PLAGUE come out the way you first had thought it would? If you could, would you change anything? I mean, there are always small things I guess, but anything bigger?
EW: I'm very proud of it. I wouldn't change a thing. Most of all, I'm happy because our entire cast and crew worked so hard on it, and let's face it, we weren't exactly throwing money around. But they were great! If you guys are reading this, thanks for everything!

FG: For the most part I'm pleased with the final product considering how little we were working with for something so ambitious. I was new to the whole budgeting for a feature film thing, so I would have re-arranged a lot of the financial priorities. I would have tried to get more shooting days since our work hours were extremely prohibitive. Then we wouldn't have had to try to cram soooo much into so little time. We rushed through so much of it that really needed more attention. Which kind of hurt us. Also I would have allotted more for a larger crew. Ours was tiny.

ED: What kind of budget did you have and was it hard to get someone to finance the movie? I must say that it looked a lot better than I first had expected with really good photography as well.
EW: Thanks. Sometimes people don't recognize the Camera Dept. In terms of money, anytime you're trying to sell people something they don't need, it's tough. It wasn't quite like selling knife sets door to door, but it's close. Not to mention a little more risky. I hear those knives really hold their value.

FG: The budget was extremely small considering the scope of the project. At first I was asking people to invest, but in the end I realized that this would take too long because I'm poor, ergo I only know poor people. So I went to plan B.. enormous personal sacrifice. I basically refinanced my condo to get cash out. It was a huge gamble, but you can never truly grow without sacrifice (puts hair on the chest, albeit gray hair). At the end of the day, I'm happy I did it.

Thanks for the kudos. I knew we just had to make the most with what we had or risk homelessness. It's a good motivating factor.

ED: Where did you find the actors for the film, did you have auditions or were they friends of yours?
EW: Auditions. Some sent tapes, some came to open calls. We were beyond lucky with the results.

FG: Eric actually has a couple of cameos. That's his voice you hear on the camcorder talking to Nikki and Deanne. Also, he stood in for Hollis Zemany in the scene that takes place in the living room when Launa is trying to leave in the middle of the night. If you look closely, Hollis is a black man for a brief moment.

I was Jonathan Rockett's butt double.. okay, not really.

ED: Franklin Guerrero Jr, I believe this was your first time directing a film and I think you did a great job. Did you feel comfortable with the role and was it hard to have full control over things?
FG: Thanks again! Call me Frankie.
It's always a scary thing to jump into directing any project. For me anyway. I'm usually a very passive guy, an introverted observer with horrible social skills. When I direct I have to completely 180 my state of being. Suddenly I'm the big boss and I must force myself to become a functional human being. But it's a blast once I get in the groove. Everyone I work with respects me (I think), it's mutual of course, which is important. They know that I know what I want and they're willing to give it to me. I don't like to really think about it as having control over things. The only way to have control of anything is to stop trying to control everything. Especially in movies since it's such a collaborative effort and should be its own living organism. Free to thrive. I don't like the thought of bending people to my will; I just try to guide them in what seems to be the right direction.

Another aspect of this is that things constantly go wrong on a set whether it be equipment, acts of God or an actor dislocating his shoulder. These are things that no matter how hard you try you have no control over. Plans always get scrapped. I learned long ago not to over-plan. I just play each minute how it comes to me and ride the wind.

ED: Which are the best horror films you've seen and what makes them so good?
EW: I really like all the films that take the conventions of the genre and then do something cool with it. Right now Eli Roth is really doing his thing. But in terms of individual films, I'd have to say, "Shaun of the Dead" and "The Descent."

FG: That's a tricky one. This could be a three page rant. I'll keep it simple, just name a few and stay away from clichés even though I love a lot of the 101 stuff.

Cemetery Man/Dellamorte Dellamore shows us the beauty in horror. Probably one of THE best openings in horror movie history. (I'm so glad this FINALLY got released on DVD. I've missed it so).
The Incredible Melting Man: A horrible movie that's just absurd enough to fascinate me.
Jacob's Ladder: Dark and disturbing riddled with hidden layers. There's something new in it every time I watch and it stays with me into the night.
In the Mouth of Madness: There's something about this film, it somehow manages to get in my head and freak me out long after I watch it.
The Re-Animator: Mad science at its best. It manages to be strangely hilarious yet truly grisly.

ED: Are you currently promoting the film or have you moved on to new things, let us know what you guys are up to.
EW: This is a crazy time for us. We're promoting The 8th Plague but we're also in post on our next film. It's called CARVER. Remember that envelope I was blabbing about earlier? Frankie wrote and directed it so I'll shut up and let him tell you about it.

FG: The 8th Plague had such a serious tone. I wanted to do something a little more fun in nature. It's about a group of people that come across a chest full of 8mm snuff films in a shack in the woods and soon find themselves the subjects of the newest installment. It's not fun as in "horror-comedy". It's pretty dark and has a couple of scenes that will almost certainly make a few people too disturbed to continue watching. However it's got a darkly humorous edge to it. We're all pretty excited about it.

Right now I'm about halfway through post production. It's looking very cool. My mom's gonna hate it. "Frankie, why don't you do a nice family picture?"

ED: Sounds great! Anything else you want to add and say to the readers before we wrap this up?
EW: Thanks for the support! You guys have been showing us a lot of love on the festival circuit and on the web. We really appreciate it! And keep coming to Evil Dread, these guys know their films!

FG: I apologize for the lack of special features on the DVD. Also, Sorry for being so long-winded, I don't get out much.

ED: Thanks a lot guys! Good luck with THE 8TH PLAGUE and the forthcoming CARVER, I look forward to seeing it!