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By: Marcus Ingelmo
Evil Dread: Hi Efram and Kyle, how are you doing?
Good evening, Marcus. It's awfully late to be conducting an interview. Couldn't this wait until morning?
How did you get my home number?
ED: Sorry guys, it just cannot wait. Tell us a little about HELLHOLES, how it got started and what it is about etc.
I was having a beer with Megan O'Neil, one of the people at Atomfilms who finds films to exhibit, and she mentioned they were getting into funding filmmakers to make original pieces. Since it'd been floating around in my head for a few weeks, I pitched a series about a guy who buys a mobile home... not knowing it's a gateway to Hell. I told her to think of it as "Evil Dead" meets "The Big Lebowski." She asked for a treatment and the greenlight happened very quickly thereafter.
ED: You've released HELLHOLES as web episodes over at Atom Films. How many episodes will there be all in all and will you ever release HELLHOLES on DVD, as a full-length feature?
There will be four episodes. I'd be stoked to see it on DVD one day... I can't see it as a feature film, but I can certainly see it as a weekly TV series.
Evil Dread: Have you finished filming all of HELLHOLES or do you make new episodes as you go along? When can we expect to see the next episode?
We've already shot the whole thing, that was the easy part. Efram does all the editing and visual effects himself... that's the hard part! He's been working in his home, alone with his computer (dunno if he showers or shaves), since September first. He probably won't wrap the last episode until late January. In the next episode, Guy's put through the ringer -- the limits of his already feeble mind are put to the test... and one of our favorite actors of all time, Ray Wise, will HOPEFULLY provide him some assistance.
ED: You're mixing horror and comedy as well as other genres. Was that something that was hard to accomplish, I mean, making all the genres stand out and work?
We knew from the outset that the trailer and the evil inside it would need to be real & that the humor would come from the characters that found themselves trapped inside. We're both big fans of Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead 2", which is a great example of what I mean. There aren't any funny demons in that movie. By and large the threat is real and scary. The humor comes mostly from watching Ash wrestle with situations that are completely f-ed up. Tonally it's consistent with the horror genre, but it's very funny nonetheless. Had the score tried to signal a 'funny' moment, or the demons become overly silly, I suspect it wouldn't have worked nearly as well.
Yeah. Genre isn't something I ever think about while writing... but the line is very thin between being so scared you could piss yourself, and laughing uproariously. That's just a really fun place to create stuff from.
ED: Tell us a little about the actors, where did you find them?
Corbett Tuck (the Coffee-shop girl) I found through "Now Casting.com". She came in for an audition and was perfect. The little Demon Girl (Pauline Cohn) is the daughter of the owners of a coffeeshop I write in in Topanga, CA. I was in there one Sunday, working on Hellholes, and she came over and told me she wanted to be an actress. My first response was "whatever, kid", but as she walked away I thought "wait a minute!"
And we always knew Kyle would play Guy, a character he portrayed in a film we made 5 years ago. The cast member we're most excited about is our friend Ray Wise, who plays a significant role in the series. He's immensely talented, great to work with, and he just commands so much attention when he's on-screen.
ED: How has the response been so far? And what were your expectations from the beginning - has it been better or worse?
We've been really pleased with the response.
Yeah, totally stoked. So glad people are digging it.
ED: I've only seen the first episode, but it looked really amazing. Tell us a little about the effects and how you have worked with that.
Everything from the editing, to the effects, to the final sound mix, were all done on one computer. It's crazy what can be done on a home PC -- virtually anything these days. All of the effects were created using Maya and After Effects.
ED: How many people are behind/working on the project?
Efram is the last man standing now -- doing the post and effects. I work with Kim Carroll, the Composer (who's awesome), to finish the music, but that's really it now. When we shot... we had a crew of about seven.
ED: What, if anything, has inspired/influenced you to make HELLHOLES?
I used to live in the trailer where it was shot. I still rent it (as a writing office). It's a creepy little place -- late nights alone in there... seeing and hearing things that weren't there... that was the inspiration!
ED: What did you experience as the most difficult thing when filming, if anything? And also, what has been the most fun when shooting HELLHOLES?
Shooting inside that little trailer was the hardest. We had to block out all the sunlight, since it's perpetually nighttime. There was no room to move and it got pretty stuffy! The most fun stuff was anytime we got to shoot outside the trailer -- either other locations or on a green-screen. But shooting comedy is always fun; you get to laugh a lot.
ED: What types of movies are you into and are you fans of horror films, if so, what are your favorite horror movies?
I grew up loving adventure film, sci-fi, fantasy, comedy. My type of horror includes Alien, The Exorcist, Evil Dead 2, Poltergeist, Shaun of the Dead.
Fave horror film... "From Justin to Kelly"?
ED: Anything else you want to add and say to the readers before we wrap this up?
The readers and I aren't speaking.
Thanks for watching.
ED: Thanks a lot for taking time to do this interview, it's much appreciated. Good luck with HELLHOLES and everything else!
Thanks, Marcus. Hope you like the next 3 episodes!
ED: I'm sure I will!
You can check out the pilot as well as the forthcoming episodes of HELLHOLES over at AtomFilms!
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