A: I have been obsessed with films and filmmaking for as long as I can remember. My mother told me my earliest inclinations towards filmmaking were well before I was even in kindergarten. I went to film school with the desire to direct, but while there something else happened. I started getting cast in everybody’s student films. And when I say everybody’s I mean EVERYBODY’S!!! By the time I was done, I had acted in well over 300 student shorts. These ranged in quality from the most ambitious, well realized scripts, all the way to, “Oh shit…this is due tomorrow!”

          A: I play “Eddie” a former employee of the Oatmeal factory who has gone out of his gourd in the years since it closed down. Eddie is a mysterious character, who you never quite know his motives or where his allegiance lies. He was an absolute blast to play!

          A: The Oatmeal Man is a good, fun monster movie! There are a lot of great characters and great effects, with good humor and good gore. It’s along the lines of a lot of the films I grew up with like “Critters,” “Return of The Living Dead,” or “Killer Clowns From Outer Space,” which managed to perfectly balance their humor and their horror in their rollercoaster ride!

          A: Without giving too much away, I’ll say I have some really big scenes in this movie. Scenes, that while I read the script, I loved, but thought to myself, “Can we really pull this off?” It gets pretty darn epic towards the end.

          My first scene filmed was on a very hot day in the middle of the desert. While that usually makes shooting very difficult, it actually made performing this character very easy. I figured Eddie had been out here a very long time, letting his brain roast in the hot sun and not really caring. That is part of what made him crack. Being in the real environment like that really put me in the mind of the character, which continued throughout the shoot. And being very in tune with the character made blocking and shooting the more difficult dialogue and action scenes very, very easy.

          A: I had known the director Sean Gordon for a couple years, so I knew at least it would be a fun project because of the people involved. He called me one day and pitched the idea. I said “Yes” mostly to work with Sean and some other people involved.

          He sent me a script a few weeks later, and I read it, and thought it was great. Not just a cool B-Movie with some cool scenes, but the script itself was good. The dialogue was great, which is normally the weak point for lower budget horror movies. And the way the plot elements really came together, and then spiraled into chaos, really reminded me of a lot of those horror classics I mentioned earlier. The script was a page turner!

          The moment it really all came together was the script reading with the full cast. All the people came from different backgrounds as far as acting experience went. Some, like myself and Al Burke, were pretty seasoned horror veterans. Some were more theater actors. And some this was actually their first time performing. But when we read through the whole thing start to finish, it just felt right. Sean had picked the right people, and all of them were on the same page as to how this was to be played and what this was about!

          A: Sean Cain’s “Silent Night, Zombie Night” was a blast! I’m one of the main zombies in that one. A lot of really great people worked on it. I spent probably four days in pretty heavy zombie make-up, drenched in very sticky fake blood with a handful of other people who were also main zombies. So we bonded pretty hard! There were hordes of other zombies that came and went, but this core group was always there through the thick and the thin. My death in this movie is one of the bloodiest in the film, so zombie fans should love it!

          A: Low Budget Pictures’ “Filthy McNasty” was the first feature film I was in to receive distribution, and for that I am forever grateful. I found the film by being a fan of Debbie Rochon. One day while looking on her IMDB, I noticed all these crazy titles on her resume. “Anal Paprika”, “Scrotal Vengeance”, stuff like that. I had no clue what these were, but they were all by the same director: Chris Seaver. I found his webpage, and noticed the P.O. Box that you ordered the tapes from was at the Post Office right down the street!! He lived in my neighborhood!

          I wrote him a very enthusiastic letter. This was long before I moved to Los Angeles, so filmmakers were pretty rare, particularly those making feature films on a regular basis that gained distribution. I remember that I received a letter within a couple hours, saying he would love to have me in his next flick. The rest, as they say, is history!

          I am also in “Filthy McNasty 3” returning as my character “Chutney.” Shortly thereafter I moved out West and kind of lost touch with Chris for a few years. I knew he was around and still at it because he was on my MySpace and all that, but really hadn’t talked to him in awhile. But last time I visited my hometown I actually ran into Chris at a record store! He showed me some of his newer flicks, such as “Wet Heat” and “Terror at Blood Fart Lake.”

          I honestly loved both of these movies. Chris has really come a long way since our early days! I guess we both have. They are still the same raunchy jokes, but executed with a lot more flair and professionalism now. And the humor is up a notch or two. I hope one of these times I make it back East to do family stuff Chris is shooting something, because I would love to be in one of his newer movies.

          A: “Last Rites of the Dead” is a great movie, but I am barely in it! A “blink and you miss me” cameo as a lab tech. Basically, I was in NYC for another shoot and I saw director Marc Fratto posting on a web board that he needed actors for a shoot that weekend. I wrote him and said he would love to have me, so I stayed in NYC a couple extra days. The shoot was a blast, and my scene was with fellow cult actor Mike Lane who I was a fan of. And like I said, Marc did a great job with this movie, just grab your magnifying glass and keep your finger on the pause button if you want to find me!

          A: “Deadwater” is another very small cameo role. A little bigger than “Last Rites of the Dead” but not much. I play the first guy killed, a ship captain. I get my chest smashed in with my own binoculars, so that’s cool! My scene is with Lance Henriksen, who is a great guy and a lot of fun to work with. And it was produced by Ethan Wiley, who is responsible for the “House” series which have always been favorites of mine, so I really liked meeting those guys. “Deadwater” is called “Black Ops” on DVD if you are looking for it.

          A: I have done a lot of really good and interesting work in the last few months!

          I am in Caleb Emerson’s “Frankie in Blunderland”. It is a really crazy movie unlike anything I have ever done before. Don’t even know where to begin with what it’s about, but I can tell you its very, very weird. I play “Freddy The Holy Hobo” who is a bum who has vaguely clairvoyant powers. Or maybe he doesn’t. More info here: http://frankieinblunderland.com/

          I also did a pretty stand out role in Creep Creepersin’s “The Brothers Cannibal.” I don’t know what I’m aloud to say about this one, but its great. I play a pervert named “Stevie the Sleazy.” When I read the script, it felt like Woody Allen had written a gore movie! More info here: http://creepersinfilms.com/

          And last but certainly not least, I am in “The Gruesome Death of Tommy Pistol” directed by Aramis Sartorio. I have done a lot of crazy movies in my career, but this might be the craziest! My character goes right past crude and straight to lewd. It is absolutely vulgar and hilarious!

          A: Oh man, now that’s a question. There are sooo many!

          On the low budget front, I have always admired the work of James Fotopoulos and Andy Copp. They seem to really be pushing the boundaries of the medium, what independent filmmakers should do! On the more wacky side, I have always really liked Brett Piper’s films, and would love to be in one of those. And of course, there’s those tried and true B-horror guys like Fred Olen Ray and Jim Wynorski! I would love to be in one of their creature features! And one of my all time favorite directors is Frank Henenlotter! He hasn’t made many movies, but they are ALL good, and they are ALL crazy! So it goes without saying I would love to work with him!

          As far as more mainstream directors go, I am really ready for where ever things take me. I like everybody from Lars Von Trier to Clint Eastwood, from to the Coen Brothers to the Zucker Brothers! I have a really broad taste in movies and directors, so yeah, I’m up for pretty much anything. My all time favorites are John Waters, David Lynch, David Cronenberg, Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, etc. etc. etc… I could go on and on… If given the chance I would jump to work with those guys!

          A: Mainly, I look for interesting people to work with. Do I like them as people, and is their work interesting? I am a collaborator, so the people I collaborate with are pretty important to me. The material is important, but probably the originality of it is most important to me. “The Oatmeal Man” and many of the other films I discussed above aren’t really like movies I have seen before. There are elements that are similar, yes, you are going to have similar elements in any genre picture. But how you go about telling your story and shooting it, if its different than what’s already out there; if you have a distinct style to your work and what you are trying to do, that is very important to me.

          A: I watch a lot of horror, both obscure and otherwise! I like it wacky, I like it weird, I like it harsh…and I even like it good and old fashioned.

          Most recently I watched “ThanksKILLING” on a whim. It’s about a foul mouthed killer turkey! This is a low budget gem, a true backyard epic, and what these movies should really strive for…goofy fun without taking itself too seriously!

          On the sicker note, I saw “The Human Centipede” which I loved. It somehow managed to be a satire, a “Guinea Pig” type gross-out and an almost Hitchcockian thriller all at once. It’s not a movie for everyone, it’s gotten pretty mixed reviews even among fans of this type of thing, but I personally loved it!

          I also recently started getting into the films of Don Dohler. Not sure how I missed him my whole life, but somehow I did. He made all these kookie 16mm movies back in the day with really cool monsters and whatnot. I saw “Galaxy Invader” and “Nightbeast” on Hulu, and both are a blast! I also tracked his “Last House on The Left”-esque “Blood Massacre” down as well, and it is a hoot. Dohler’s movies are sort of an aquired taste, as they lack any and all logic, but they really are a lot of fun!

          As far as more readily available horror I have seen lately, I thought both “Martyrs” and “The Collector” were very well done!

          A: And thank YOU for making the obscure horror just a little less obscure!

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