No-budget horror in 10 easy steps
Myron St. John and Jeff Thomas talk about ‘Fallen Angel’
By CHRISTOPHER BORRELLI
BLADE STAFF WRITER
There will be blood.
There always is.
Without fail.
Find a bunch of local guys (and, yeah, it is always guys) who like movies and think they might be able to make one, too. Hand them a forest of boom microphones and professional lighting gear. Lend them a pricey high-definition digital camera. Watch them claw their way to a modest budget — lights, camera, action.
And what do they make?
A horror film.
Every time. Never fails.
They call and tell you they made a movie. And when you finally do meet them, they have this … look about them.
A scary conviction.
Glancing around Downtown Latte on St. Clair Street last week, it took roughly a blink to spot Jeff Thomas and Myron St. John. Thomas is 33, a native of Monroe, Mich., with the spooked, hyper-alert eyes of a man skilled at bomb disposal; and St. John, 47, a Toledo guy who lives in Maumee, has long lashes and jet black hair and the intense stare of a big-screen heavy. Both graduated from the University of Toledo, and both have made this new horror movie, called Fallen Angels.
Thomas wrote and directed; St. John was one of the producers. It’s about these demons and the seven deadly sins and it was shot primarily at the Mansfield State Prison in Mansfield, Ohio — the prison where The Shawshank Redemption was filmed — and let’s just let Jeff explain, because he’s got his Hollywood-speak down: “It’s not a slasher film at all. It’s a CSI-like murder mystery that concerns demons and the supernatural, but in a way it’s also a hybrid, a thriller with elements of drama as well.”
Fine, yes, OK.
But wait.
Unlike the million other regionally produced horror films made each year, Fallen Angels is actually getting distribution to retailers by a major studio distributor — a video wing of Warner Bros. no less. It was released on DVD ($19.99) Tuesday, but still. That’s a considerable achievement. And so, to an extent, is the film, which is something of a Horror Hollywood Squares meets The X-Files, brooding, atmospheric, full of moderately recognizable faces and names — from Adrianne Curry (America’s Next Top Model) and Christopher Knight (Peter on The Brady Bunch) and Ruth Buzzi (of all people), to Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) and Kane Hodder, who was under the goalie mask for the Friday the 13th pictures.
But not bad for two guys with few contacts in the film industry. And not without precedent, either. The history of regional filmmaking is spotted with occasional success that later blossom into a career or a box-office bonanza; the Coen brothers got their start with a grimy little potboiler named Blood Simple, shot on the dustiest stretches of Texas, and don’t forget the hand-crafted Blair Witch Project (shot in rural Maryland), George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (made outside Pittsburgh), or 1945’s Detour, shot around California in less than one week.
“You don’t need a major city or even a coast to make a movie,” Thomas said. Which may be old news to the industry, but has the ring of hard-earned wisdom. With that in mind, we asked Jeff and Myron to tell us what else they learned while making Fallen Angels. For instance, say we wanted to shoot a movie, too …
STEP ONE: I want to make a horror film. But I’m conflicted.
Jeff: Horror is a great genre to work in because you don’t need a big name to pull it off. You don’t need to spend $20 million on a Tom Cruise. The horror genre itself has a very built-in audience, a loyal fan base that will buy and go see the movie no matter what, as long as it has some appealing story line and effects. Pull it off relatively cheaply and you get a great return on your investment. But my dad introduced me to Jaws and Alien at a local drive-in and I was obsessed from a young age. I knew I wanted to do this.
Myron: Historically, it’s a successful genre. People want to see something they can leave behind [in the theater]. It’s escapism. I’ve always had an interest in horror and horror has always been good to me. I wanted to be one of the bad guys and now I get to play one of the bad guys.
Yes, but isn’t filming two people talking easier for me than filming two people exploding?
Jeff: By all means. Drama or comedy is a lot easier than horror. You set up a camera, then people are talking back and forth. But as audiences get more jaded — to create suspense, I see that as your greatest challenge, and it’s central to horror films.
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STEP TWO: OK, now how do I convince a cast of real actors?
Myron: It was easy enough to get Kane Hodder, for example, because I knew him, but there were others we had to go through a ringer for. There are people for whom you will have to deal with agents and stuff, and it becomes impossible to get certain people.
Jeff: Ultimately it comes down to one thing: the script. I’ll use Michael Dorn of Star Trek: The Next Generation as an example. I was talking to his agent and he said Michael is popular because people want him for sci-fi movies and the way they pick movies for him comes down to the script. And that’s it. You can know certain people but they have to believe the story and believe what you’re doing. Having a great script is the biggest thing.
Is begging involved?
Myron: No, it comes down to scheduling. The almighty dollar.
Jeff: We didn’t beg.
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STEP THREE: How do I raise money for my horror movie?
Jeff: That’s the hardest part. You have to go after people who have some familiarity with what an entertainment investment is. Or you should be able to educate them and explain what the return on their investment will be. By having done a first independent film, I had an idea of what where I could go, and from there you knock on a lot of doors. You get a lot slammed in your face, but it’s all a matter of being persistent and going on to the next person. With Fallen Angels, we raised $100,000 out of the Midwest, then through a connection we met producers in California and was told they were interested in seeing the investment package we worked out. I sent it and within days they said, OK, let’s make it. The rest [of the $500,000 budget] was raised in California with them.
Myron: Talk to people who know they can afford the risk. Talk with doctors, layers, venture capitalists. Sam Raimi made The Evil Dead with help from a brother who was a dentist.
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STEP FOUR: The pitch. I assume I need to develop a pitch.
Jeff: When we first decided to do this, we went “Let’s get a bunch of horror icons from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and cast them together for the first time” and that became our marketing plan. It’s our love letter to horror movies.
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STEP FIVE: How do I find the right locations for my film?
Myron: Well, I do a haunted house at the prison, so there wasn’t a lot of scouting on this. I took Jeff out there one day and he said there are just not enough places that look like this, and so that was it. In California, our producers helped. We shot one week there, but the bulk was two and a half weeks in Mansfield.
Jeff: Use places you know. Logistically, it saves time. A film set is an open wound of cash. You just hemorrhage thousands of dollars a second. So we tried to stay in as concentrated an area as possible. You think, how do we make this part of the prison look like part of the town in the film? That sort of thing, so the crew isn’t spread too thin. How do we make this prison look like someone’s house or bedroom?
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STEP SIX: Now I’m on the set. How do I get people to listen to me? I’m no Steven Spielberg.
Jeff: Working with a professional cast and crew, it’s a given that the director calls the shots. On my first day of shooting in California, I dropped a pen and three people jumped to get it. They know you’re in charge. But at the same time you have to be humble, though you’re in a position of power. You have to keep a team motivated. We were shooting 22 hours a day and it was very tiring, so lead by example.
That in mind, I am on a budget. Should I let my cast get seconds at the craft services table?
Myron: We were a [Screen Actor’s Guild] production, so we had to provide two meals a day.
Jeff: When you work with a cast of this caliber, you become a SAG production, and at that point, union rules dictate some of the details, like the catering.
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STEP SEVEN: I need a lot of fake blood. Where do I get it?
Jeff: Make it yourself. Basically, it’s syrup and red food coloring.
Myron: Some companies will sell you stage blood, but the cheapest way is syrup, red food coloring, and add some water to it so it doesn’t get super sticky.
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STEP EIGHT: Wow. That was fast. I’m done already. OK, now how do I get distribution?
Jeff: This is the big question. You could work through a sales agent who would take it to different distributors and basically say, “Here’s new product.” You can arrange screenings. But the best way is to build up as much press as possible, so they come looking for you. Take it to film festivals. Win awards at those festivals. Warner came about for us through festivals we played.
Myron: And we screened it for Lionsgate and others, so you have to play the game. As far as Warner goes, somebody knew somebody, then set up a deal.
But I’m bad with rejection.
Jeff: Develop a thick skin.
Myron: Just move forward. Odds are someone won’t like it. Others will. Play to those people.
But I’m really shy.
Jeff: You can’t be.
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STEP NINE: How do I go about promoting my movie?
Jeff: Shamelessly as possible. Look for a niche and attack that.
Myron: Press releases. The nice thing about the computer is you are your own press agent. There are Web sites that are devoted to horror movies and they’re always looking for stuff.
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STEP TEN: Cool. I’m fabulously wealthy. Tell me: How do I deal with new-found success?
Myron: We’re not there.
Jeff: We’ve had people who connect with the film and say it touched them and ultimately that’s what it’s about, connecting with people and telling a story.
Fine, but do I go with the black BMW or the white BMW?
Jeff: Well, really, you need to make someone else money before you call yourself a success.
Myron: If you want to be successful, the guys at Warner Bros. should go “What else do you have coming?” If you’re not successful, they won’t touch you with a ten-foot pole anyway.
Yes, but black or white?
Jeff: Black
Myron: Black. Something to match my Hummer.