Interview with Ryan Nicholson - Live Feed
By: Marcus Ingelmo

Evil Dread: Hey Ryan, how are you doing?
Ryan Nicholson: I'm doing great! Just getting ready for Christmas and counting the days until my Son opens up his X-Box 360, so I can play "Gears of War"!

ED: Tell us a little about LIVE FEED - how it got started and what it is about etc.
RN: Live Feed is essentially your basic bare bones kill em all horror movie but excessive in nature. I put people into situations that are over the top and outrageous in the methods of their demise. A group of tourists visit a Chinese Night Market where they discover a culture that is very different from their own. Or is it? After a confrontation that starts with a racial slur and ends with a severed head rolling on the floor, the group of friends battle their way through impossible situations. Live Feed is fantasy fueled bloodbath that I wrote in the Summer of 2004. I had taken my girlfriend at the time to a porno theatre that rented "couples VIP rooms". I had heard about "live sex shows" and other deviant behavior at this cinema. My morbid curiosity led me to bare witness to the events that led to "Live Feed". I rented a VIP room for one hour but left after about five minutes. You had two choices with the room, either get locked in it from the outside or it's left unlocked unto which every pervert gathers and watches you with their pants around their ankles, tugging away like there's no tomorrow. I would have neither. The place was so creepy, I knew I had to shoot a horror movie in it, the real deal. You couldn't build a filthier set. That was the events that led to "Live Feed".

ED: How long did it take to make the film, all in all that is, and when looking back on it now after it has been released, how do you feel about it? I mean, if you could change anything, would you?
RN: I spent about two weeks writing it and another few months casting and crewing up the movie. It was a big deal for Plotdigger Films as it was our first feature. We shot the movie over three weeks of all-nighters. We had to load in our gear every-night, after the theatre patrons had "unloaded" their own gear. It was disgusting. But it was essential to shoot there. The actors needed to feel truly sickened to convey the mood of the movie, which is dark and filthy. It was a difficult shoot and ambitious. I loved making the movie through all the stages, prep, shoot, post and distribution. I had a great cast and crew. My best-friends helping me with the editing, the score and the production design. It was truly a team effort and it was made more enjoyable by the fact that I was able to work with my longtime band-mate "Snuff Maximus", Patrick Coble, to get an amazing score and sound-mix. I love making music as much as making movies, so it was awesome to do both with such gifted artists such as Pat, Dwayne Clare and Vince D'Amato.

The one big thing I did learn and would've done differently now, is shoot a "clean r-rated version" and then an "uncut version" instead of trying to edit down and censor massive scenes to appease the MPAA. It was a nightmare in post to optically blur the pornographic pictures plastered all over the toilet stall walls. That's one hell of a lot of poles and holes to cover!! It would've been easy if the actors stayed in one spot but as they move all over the place, we had to blur frame by frame as to not blur bits of them. It was a big extra expense that could've been avoided had I known to take the pics down for a clean take. Other than the R-rating, I really wouldn't have done anything different at all. It was a tough shoot and when you're shooting in the wee hours of the night into the morning, fatigue sets in. But the cast and crew never complained. They were all working for very little money but no one ever let that and the workload get them down. Actually, a few of the cast and crew cried when we did our last shot of the movie because we had all grown into a family and it was tough to know it was over..until the next one! Which is rapidly approaching.

ED: LIVE FEED has a helluva lot of gore in it. Was it hard making all the violence, gore and blood look realistic enough so it would be effective?
RN: Coming from a make-up fx background, I wanted to showcase the gore element of "Live Feed" because I knew with the ultra low-budget that we had, we needed to be excessive in the sex and violence area to sell the movie. At first I was doing all of the fx work by myself, the molding, the sculpting, etc..for weeks on end until my production team started saying "Ryan you're the director and we need you here, we need you there.." It was then I brought in some of my students at the time to help out and they did a great job seeing through what I started. There were certain fx that didn't work out. "The dog", it was literally made the night before the shoot and looked exactly like it. We couldn't shoot it, it just looked like a stuffed animal. But again, it wasn't the talent, it was the time. We also had an exploding head written into the script and on the day, "The Butcher's" head exploding so quick that it was vaporized within about 2 frames! We couldn't cut it into the movie, it didn't work.

We also had a seriously burnt and tortured "Seiji" prosthetic make-up that looked great but didn't photograph how I intended it to. It was too dusty and dry which was my fault. I liked the "charred" look of a burn make-up but so I had used some charcoal powder and baby powder to give it some highlights but on under the lights and on video you can see all this stuff floating around in the air. It didn't make sense and didn't work. I cut that scene out. One area I didn't hold back on was the blood. I love "Shogun Assasin", Monty Python and all the blood-spurting Lucio Fulci movies that I grew up on. I wanted some good spurts and sprays. After all, we are in a porno theatre right?

ED: Would you call yourself a gorehound? What kind of stuff inspires you and what are you into when it comes to those kinds of things on film? Any nasty flicks to recommend perhaps?
RN: I'm an obsessive gorehound meaning I buy all the dvd's, doesn't matter what region or where it is from. I buy all the magazines and books, model kits and toys. I've collected Fangoria since I could read and to this day I still buy it monthly. I'm an avid reader of Rue-Morgue as well. Of late I've been buying Horrorhound and Horrorshow, two great horror genre mags. I also read Ultra-Violent and Deep Red. Where would we be without Chas. Balun?

I surf all of the horror movie websites and message boards as well. I've been known to verbally attack critics and horrorfans who have trashed my movie with insulting remarks but of late, I don't do that anymore. I don't have the time or energy to try and get someone to like my movie. I've learned just because I love it doesn't mean others can't hate it. I've felt awful a few times for attacking people who ended up being super cool horror fans and just didn't dig my movie. The staff of "Night of the Living Podcast" trashed my movie and I went about insulting them in a very immature manner and regret it because when all was said I done, I actually liked the show and the hosts. I was just too pigheaded to realize that "Live Feed" isn't on every gorehounds top ten list of 2006. I also made the idiotic mistake of arguing with one of horror's best loved critics "The Gore-met" from Rue-Morgue magazine. He didn't like my movie and with all of our similar tastes, I couldn't figure out why. I love his column and I love the magazine, it just hurt I guess to want him to dig it and he didn't. But that's the business we're in. You either love it or hate it.

I try to find the best in the worst movies myself. I love straight to dvd horror! If your movies budget is the cost of tapestock, I'll buy it because I want to support the little guys. Live Feed fits into that category. I always hear comparisons to "Hostel" but it's nothing like "Hostel". That movie had two things I didn't have, money and Tarantino. I'm a fan of Eli Roth and his work but I didn't rip him off in any way, shape or form. There's a public record of when Live Feed was announced, shot and released. The fact it hit the shelves a year after "Hostel", it gets suspect right there. But it was in fact made before "Hostel". It doesn't make it a better movie but this "David" has been pitted against the "Goliath" that is "Hostel" forever and will continue to be. I live with it. What else can I do? It's not a big deal, it's just I wish fans could remember the little guys. The guys that aren't backed by a studio or investor. Honestly, these direct to dvd horror movies nowadays are more entertaining for me. You see stuff that you simply won't see on the bigscreen. I just watched Brian Paulin's "Bone Sickness" and really got a kick out of the passion that went into making this awesome gory as all hell movie. It's the same on my end, you can tell the guys that put their blood sweat and tears into this stuff. It shows.

ED: What would you say was your goal when creating LIVE FEED, did you want to shock people, disgust them, make them excited etc?
RN: I just basically wanted to make a feature length movie and see if I could do it for myself. I had done a fairly well received short film entitled "Torched" and I wanted to take it to the next level. With "Torched", I had 4000 dollars and four days to make it. This included all post production as well. I figured with "Live Feed", I could do a similar thing, budget it out at around 1000 a day. Boy was I wrong!! What started out with a 25 k budget "Live Feed" quickly surpassed 100 grand. And with all the MPAA ordered post production, print and ad, travel and convention budgets across North America, tens of thousands of unanticipated monies and costs have been spent and incurred. But I always saw the Fangoria "Weekend of Horrors" as a must do situation. You want to get your movie out there and meet the people, the fans that will be renting or buying your product. I gave away hundreds of t-shirts, cd soundtracks, posters, etc. to fans at those conventions and every penny was a penny well worth spent! "Live Feed" has the greatest group of fans one could ask for. Even the horror fans that don't really like the movie seem to like what Plotdigger Films is trying to achieve and have said they'll stick around for the next movie. What else could I ask for. Horror fans are the best in the world, I should know, I'm a fanboy for sure.

ED: Tell us a little about that huge butcher fellow in LIVE FEED. I was actually shocked when he first appeared on screen. How big is he in real life and where on earth did you find him?
RN: There's two characters in "Live Feed" that kill for "The Boss". The one you're referring to is "The Giant", played to the hardcore extreme by a local Vancouver actor Mike Bennett. He's huge!! He played professional football and towered over everyone on the set. He really got into his character as well. We had all his fetishistic clothing made for him, the mask, the gloves, apron, etc..all custom. I wanted something that paid homage to the snuff executioners in David Cronenbergs "Videodrome" and the Samurai Killer in "Guinea Pig's Flowers of Flesh and Blood". I went to all of the fetish stores on Granville St. in Vancouver and there's one store in particular, Max's Leather, that is B&D, S&M heaven or hell depending on how you look at it! I saw items in there, outfits and gear that disturbed and fascinated me at the same time. I didn't find anything off the shelf to purchase but I was inspired to get one of my wardrobe gals, Mary Downs, to start stitching away, taking our conceptual art of "The Giant" and making it a reality. She did a wicked job, as did the other wardrobe designer Jenny Fabian-Pierce.

Onset, Mike Bennett couldn't see much out of his mask and it was hot as hades. But he was a trooper, never complained and executed his performance to perfection. He's intimidating in size so the actors that had to play off of him really felt his size, strength in the scenes. He doesn't even know his own strength sometimes. The scene after he's just killed "Mike" and he picks up "Sarah" and tosses her around like a rag doll, that was not actine, that was real. Ashley Schappert who played "Sarah" was fighting for her life with him, for real, it wasn't really a scene that we could rehearse over and over again. It was "okay, pick her up and place her against her will onto the couch". But Ashley fought him and didn't want to go onto the couch so easily. This was news to me and Mike, as he thought she'd be an easy pick-up and drop down, but she struggled to beat all hell, screaming and crying, kicking and squirming. The sounds of her screaming caused a few of our crew to really get bummed out and walk away for a breathe of fresh air. This was the first night of shooting and I'm glad we set the tone rightaway. The whole cast and crew knew that I wanted something harder than your typical Hollywood candy-flossed stalk and slasher movie, I wanted sadistic violence at as heightened a level I could get.

The other "butcher" in the movie was actually named "The Butcher". He slaughters the dog in the opening scenes and then cooks up "Mike" for "The Boss's" dining pleasure. He was played by Greg Chan who also served as Associate Producer, handling all of the Asian business end of things with locations, extras, cast, etc. He's a great man and a dear friend of mine. I can't wait to work with Greg again, the sequel/prequel perhaps?

ED: Where did you find the other actors for the film, did you have auditions or were they friends of yours?
RN: We held auditions for the movie through various talent agencies in town. I had known Kevin Ohtsji who plays "Miles/Seiji" through working on my close friends "Creepy Six Films" movies. He's a great actor and brought some great talent to the table. Kevin introduced me to Taayla Markell who plays "Emily" and he also brought in Darryl Quon, our stunt co-ordinator, into the mix. I had worked with Darryl on other movies, he's an awesome stuntman/actor and it was like a chain reaction from there, Darryl would bring on these awesome stuntmen who also played the hazmat suited "Clean-up Crew" in "Live Feed". I can't say enough great things about the Asian actors group in "Live Feed". They truly brought so much enthusiasm to the table and were the best group of professional actors I could ever dream of working with. The White cast in the movie was a mix of great friends and local actors. Rob Scattergood who plays the cheating bastard "Darren" is one of my best friends, he was "The Male Hustler" in my first movie "Torched". Ashley Schappert who plays "Sarah" is also a really close friend of mine.

I actually made another movie with Rob and Ashley that will be released for download only shortly. It's an exercise in extreme sexual violence that fans of "Torched" should enjoy. It follows the story of a prostitute who endures rapes and beatings at the hand of her "pimp" which escalates into abductions and grisly murders, with her "forced" to participate. It is untitled at the moment but the footage I've shot is currently being cut together by Jason Gavin who did the "Live Feed: Behind the Blood" promo on the livefeedthemovie.com site. He's a great editor and has got all these local death metal grindcore bands to donate songs to the yet unnamed violent piece of work. I shot the movie myself, all the camera work. It was fun to shoot these scenes in a unique fashion. I would write pages the night before shooting and the actors wouldn't know what to expect. I will say that it is truly a mean-spirited piece of work, something I'm not proud of making, it was going to be shelved until Jason got the tapes and started work on it. So fans of sick shit can thank Jason for saving the project.

I was initially inspired by the true story of a local pig-farmer turned serial killer of 50 plus prostitutes. He would chop up their bodies, freeze the parts, then run the pieces through his woodchipper, feeding the "evidence" to his hungry pigs. He was a frequent user of drugs and prostitutes, his murderous rampage went undetected for years, but a few people believe the police knew about this and didn't do much to stop him. I wanted to do something that looked at the neglect and the feelings that these girls "deserved it" and "wouldn't be missed" but after shooting hours of sickening rape and violence, I really couldn't get over the fact that these women were someone's daughter, mother, sister, wife..so I switched gears and took the project into a different fictional path. The results will be even a surprise for me as I've handed over all of the footage and it's out of my hands. Besides, someone else has already made the bio-pic on this guy and the controversy wasn't good for it or the company that made it. I don't need that kind of bad press hanging over me.

ED: Sounds great though and definitely something I'd wanna check out! Tell us a little about your company PLOTDIGGER FILMS, what it is and when it started out. Do you have any future plans for the company?
RN: Plotdigger Films is myself, my Father Roy Nicholson who also co-wrote and produced "Live Feed". We make horror movies that we want to see. No one tells us how to make them. We fund them ourselves and have complete control over all artistic decisions. This is my creative outlet. I still design make-up effects for other peoples movies, but I get more satisfaction from writing/directing my own.

Plotdigger Films has numerous projects on the go. "Gutterballs", our bowling alley giallo gorefest is in pre-production and "Done to Death", our hooker zombie std bloodsoaked orgy of violence is also in pre-production. 2007 will be a crazy year, I have the "Live Feed" sequel/prequel screenplays in the works but I want to let "Live Feed" really get off the ground worldwide before revisiting those characters. The sequel/prequel that is in my laptop is brutally hardcore and fans of "Live Feed" will love what happens and what took place.

I'm excited for "Gutterballs" and "Done to Death" right now and there's a fanbase already waiting for these uncompromised gorefests. That's my priority right now. Getting those two shot and into the post-production stage. I'll feel more accomplished when our next movie is out. And Plotdigger Films will start to make a mark in the horror genre. "Live Feed" is only the beginning.

ED: LIVE FEED has been compared to HOSTEL quite a lot. What is your personal view on that and did you like HOSTEL as a film?
RN: I hear that all the time. It doesn't really bother me, it's like comparing apples and oranges. I guess it's better than being compared to "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians"!! The formula I used for "Live Feed" is as old as the "Hills Have Eyes"! Roth's movie uses the same tried and tested formula as well. You take a group of people, put them into foreign surroundings and do mean spirited things to them. Get them fighting for their lives and returning the violent behaviour at their attackers. The whole "back-packer" thing isn't new either. "An American Werewolf in London" had the two US backpackers in trouble long before "Hostel" saw a movie screen.

I can say this though, there are no backpacks in "Live Feed". Just horny couples that want to get it on in VIP rooms. They are visitors in a foreign land but it's as simple as US citizens driving a couple of hours North into Canada for a trip into our famous Chinatown in Vancouver. It's all North America. People get very confused as to where the story takes place. China? Thailand? Nope, just your average ordinary big city Chinatown. I gave it all away with our alternative ending, the police car drives under a bridge that has a sign reading "Leaving Historic Chinatown". I cut it out because I wanted people to wonder where this was and come to their own conclusion be it right or wrong, it's less in your face. Audiences don't need a big fat sign to spell it out.

As for "Hostel", I really liked it and I'm a fan of Eli Roth's movies since "Cabin Fever". I liked that one bigtime. I consider it a compliment to be compared to his stuff. But really my movie has nowhere near the production value of "Hostel", so that's my only gripe. "Live Feed" is shot on digital whereas "Hostel" was shot on 35mm and it's hard to put them side by side if you're looking at them from a technical standpoint. Although I do think we did a great job with what we had to work with money wise.

ED: What kind of movies would you like to be making in the future? Are raw gore-flicks your cup of tea or are you into other things as well?
RN: I love horror movies. I don't think I'll stray from the bloody path. I like comedy but as I did with "Live Feed", I can incorporate funny dialogue into a gory horror movie. "Aww, no White dicky roll? I love that two balls and dicky". See to me, that's a funny line. How can anyone not laugh at that when a severed penis is served up tempura style? Gory movies are in my blood and unless I get a transfusion, it will stay that way.

ED: Which are the best horror films you've seen and what makes them so good?
RN: I watch anything and everything horror. I love straight to dvd titles like "Live Feed". I buy and rent. I buy everything Blue-Underground puts out as well as Synapse, Mondo Macabre, Shriekshow, Unearthed, No Shame, Cult Epics, AnchorBay, Barrell, Elite, etc. I also rent all the straight to dvd Lion's Gate stuff. I just watched "The Feeding" awhile back as well as "Fear of Clowns". I found both movies highly entertaining. I like nudity in movies, the more flesh the better the movie. That's me though, I know a lot of hardcore fans don't feel the same way, they want a plot, some depth, Oscar winning performances, etc. If I want that, then I'll put on something by Scorsese of Coppola.

One of my favorite movies of late was "Murder Set Pieces" by Nick Palumbo, who also is one of my best friends. I found MSP to be one the sickest most depraved movies of all time and the fact Nick shot it on 35mm only makes it better. I'm dying to see what Nick has up his sleeve next.

Nick, myself and my Father Roy Nicholson have recently formed a production company called "Fearmongers" which is a hardcore 13 episode series with some bigtime horror directors already attached. As usual, we want to do things uncompromised, as do the directors that are attached. This is easier said than done so we're just taking the time we need to ensure that these episodes are done the right way. 2007 will see "Fearmongers" move closer towards a startdate. We may shoot on film or hidef. I'm a digital guy myself, I like film but for me and what I need to do with my movies, the digital format works out much better. Nick is and will be a film guy until the day he dies. He loves 35 mm and MSP shows his love for the hardcore horror genre. Although there's tons of shot on video stuff that packs a big punch as well.

Fred Vogel just sent me his new movie "The Redsin Tower" and I was blown away at how it was directed, shot, lit. The gore was very well done and the depravity of the movie shocked me. He's one to watch for sure as is Brian Paulin who did "Bone Sickness". That movie was truly disgusting and the zombies were great! I also like what David Quitmeyer of "Slaughterdisc" did with hardcore porn and gore, it was a wicked movie and I think it's getting an R edit as well. These guys are all true artists and film-makers. David just shot a new short entitled "Mr. Buttons". He sent me over some pics from the shoot and it looks awesome! Keep an eye on all these guys, they are the new breed of true horror.

ED: What do you have coming up next, are you working on something new right now and are you still promoting LIVE FEED?
RN: "Live Feed" just came out in the UK on Dec.26th so I've been trying to promote that UK Film 2000 release bigtime on the net. It's totally UNCUT which is amazing. I thought the UK would excise at least 5 minutes and resemble the US R-rated version but Film 2000 put it out UNCUT! That's great news for the UK fans. I know "Live Feed" has sold in Greece and Thailand although I don't know when it will be coming out there and if it will be uncut. There's other countries working with my international distributor, locking down deals but until a deal is done, I won't speculate.

"Live Feed" came out in North America Oct.03rd so it's still really new and needs daily promotion to reach the masses. I hustle everyday. I get a lot of help from close friends spreading the bloody word of "Live Feed". Killjoy of "Necrophagia" posted a new Blog on his myspace about "Live Feed". That goes a long ways. He's one of my best friends and he's a true gorehound. I love his music and will always showcase it where I can. "Torched" contained a lot of "Necrophagia" and "Ravenous". His metal is insane. If you love death metal and very well produced metal, go and pick-up some of Killjoy's many cd's. I think redstream.com carries most of his "Necrophagia, Ravenous, Enoch, Viking Crown" cd's.

Another band that I'm close with is Macabre. They are all into serial killers and gore, the music is so wicked and so well produced. They provided all the music on the feature length "Behind the Blood: The Making of Live Feed" which is on every dvd release to date. Macabre has help tremendously with "Live Feed". But it's an everyday thing, spreading the word about "Live Feed". And everyday I find new people that haven't seen it and want to see it. Making the movie is the easy part, promoting the movie is the harder part. In the end, it's pretty much word of mouth, that will get the movie seen. If people like it, they will tell someone, who will rent it, etc.

ED: In short words - why should people watch LIVE FEED?
RN: Gratuitous sex and violence! Enough said!

ED: Anything else you want to add and say to the readers before we wrap this up?
RN: I would just like to thank the cast and crew of "Live Feed" for the untiring effort that was put into making this movie. A special thanks to Patrick Coble of epicenteraudio.net for his amazing soundtrack and post work on "Live Feed" as well as a special thanks to Dwayne Clare of dwayneclare.com for his always wicked graphic design and artwork for any and all projects.

And I want to send a big shout-out and very special thanks to all of my fans of "Live Feed", "Plotdigger Films" and my movies, fx work, you keep watchin' 'em and I'll keep makin' 'em! You are the greatest people in the world, the most twisted to! And thank-you Evil Dread for a kick ass website and an awesome interview!! All the best in 2007! Let the blood flow freely!! RY.

ED: Cheers for the answers Ryan and good luck with your future projects as well as getting Live Feed out there!
For more information on Live Feed check out the film's official site livefeedthemovie.com