Holy cats, creeps, I can hardly believe my putrid peepers! None other than the diabolical duo Jen and Sylvia Soska have dropped by the ol’ Crypt o’ XIII to chew the fat and give us a look into what it’s like bein’ two of the most talented die-rectors in the horror biz!
Famous Monsters. We all know that you are rulin’ the fright flick universe these days from within the ebony walls of the Twisted Time Mansion™, but let’s cast our minds back across the aether of time and jaw a bit about how you got all entangled in the horror biz. Fer instance, when I was a lil’ ghoul, my putrid parents would let me watch quite a few horror shows, but they usually would draw the line when things got a bit heavy on the whole “special huggin” (hence the now legendary HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP whine-a-thon of 1980). What kinds of shock schlock were you exposed to growin’ up, and how did it help to influence your own aesthetics?
Sylvia. A lot of our horror education came from video rental stores. Our local store had a decorated horror section, and that is where you would always find us, looking over the VHS boxes and making up what we thought would happen in the films given the plot breakdown and the pictures that made the box. We had a bizarro idea of what happened in HELLRAISER, HALLOWEEN, and NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET until we were actually allowed to watch those films. POLTERGEIST was the first one that my mom watched with us, and we were hopelessly addicted. I remember there was a channel that showed Russ Meyers films, and I loved FASTER PUSSYCAT, KILL KILL!
Jen. Our mum was and is a total horror buff. She watched a lot of horror with us, and even before that she tricked us into being advanced readers. She had a collection of Stephen King novels and we wanted to read them because we wanted to be like mum. She told us if we could get through reading the books, we could see the films. So we sat there with our dictionaries and thesauruses reading PET SEMATARY, IT, THE SHINING, and CUJO. We just loved that stuff. She had Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, too. That was our TWILIGHT. Those were some pretty sexy, broody, violent vamps.
FM. As I’m sure all of the fiends and ghouls readin’ this well know, you die-rected your first fright flick DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK on yer own terms, and it met with acclaim among crazed critics and foam-flecked fans alike! How prepared were you for the film’s success, and what sage advice would ya give to any of our dear(ly departed) readers who want to follow in yer footsteps?
S. We were very humbled by the outpour of support. We put a lot of ourselves into making that film; it wasn’t easy, but it was life changing, and I’m grateful to everyone who talked about that film and forced it on their friends.
For aspiring filmmakers, I would say you must never give up. Pick a film that means something to you—you and your film will be together for a very long time—and focus everything you have on making it great. There are a lot of great films that were made for even less than DEAD HOOKER‘s $2500 budget, like Astron 6′s MANBORG and Jeremy Gardner’s THE BATTERY, which I think is a great inspiration for new filmmakers who want to go out and make a name for themselves. REBEL WITHOUT A CREW by [Robert] Rodriguez is a great book to read too, as well as Lloyd Kaufman’s MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN MOVIE series. Our technology has advanced so much that anyone can make a film now, so how are you going to stand out from the rest? It’s all about story, and that’s something unique that each individual has in them.
J. You have to go into every project believing it will be a success, and not just blindly. Be your own worst critic and look at your work honestly. Make sure you’re making something that people can enjoy or learn from or get provoked by. Some filmmakers and artists say you should make your work just for yourself, but I disagree. If you’re making it for just you, make that a hobby, not a career. Educate yourself about the film industry. Whoever your influences are, look into their work; listen to their commentary tracks, read their interviews, watch their BTS segments. And realize that you will never know it all as this business is constantly changing and evolving and that means you must, too. Decide if filmmaking is really for you. Is it what you love more than anything? If you want to be a filmmaker to get rich and famous, trust me, there are easier paths to both.
FM. Since ol’ HOOKER you have carved a gnarly niche in sinister sin-ema with top shelf titles such as AMERICAN MARY (seriously creeps, if ya haven’t feasted yer peepers on this lil’ gruesome gem, do so immediately… well, maybe after readin’ this interview… and tellin’ all yer friends to read this interview… and leavin’ me a nice compliment in the comments section below… oh fer fuck’s sake, just watch it soon), SEE NO EVIL 2, and e’en a nasty lil’ number for ABCs OF DEATH 2, all of which you’ve handled with a healthy dose of rad-assness!
S. Thanks, man! We really like the idea of tackling every sub-genre. We knew that we would have very little money for DEAD HOOKER, so we made it grindhouse style so it could be insane, but that was part of the film’s story telling. After that, we wanted to show off how polished we can be, so our medical horror, AMERICAN MARY, had to be very visually spectacular to show what our style with even a modest budget could be. After that, we got SEE NO EVIL 2, where we got to recreate Jacob Goodnight in a slasher film which was super fun for us. At the same time, we shot “T is for Torture Porn” (our ABCs 2 segment), which is completely batsh*t, but it was one of those rare full creative freedom opportunities and we couldn’t help ourselves. We have VENDETTA coming out this year, which is a crime thriller revenge action flick. I think people are going to be blown away by how violent it is, but people asked for a higher body count, so we delivered!
J. We love keeping our audiences guessing. Being identical twins, it’s so easy for people to try to label us, but we intentionally always choose very different projects that play with gender and role reversals to always bring audiences something that’s new and exciting. AMERICAN MARY is about as far as you can get from DEAD HOOKER; SEE NO EVIL 2 and ABCs OF DEATH 2 are pretty much opposites. We just finished our first non-horror movie, VENDETTA, which is an action film and also by far the most violent film we’ve made to date, starring Dean Cain and Paul “The Big Show” Wight like you’ve never seen them before. I’m so excited for it. It’ll be out later in 2015.
FM. E’eryone and their Aunt Bettie are re-makin’ the classics of yore with wild abandon these days. Is there any preternatural pictures from the past that you have wanted to put yer own spin on?
S. HIGHLANDER. I would love to continue the story. I love those movies!
J. The main reason I’d like to remake anything would be to extend its life. Young ‘uns these days don’t sit down and watch BRINGING UP BABY, and there are some true horror classics that I fear may vanish without an update. One of my favorite horror stories and film series is RE-ANIMATOR. I love Hebert West. Like, restraining order kind of love. I’d love to write something right now to, shall we say, give him life? [laughs]
FM. Movin’ on to another “What If…?”, since I know you are deep into the four-color fantasies, if you could direct a flick based on any comic e’er created, which one would it be and how would you tackle it?
S. DEADPOOL, but I think Tim Miller has that covered right now. They are even filming in Vancouver! Spider-man would be amazing, but it’s because I’m a huge Spidey fan and I just want an honest to goodness adaptation. With the success of DAREDEVIL, hopefully everyone sees how good something can be if it’s loyal to the original source material.
J. It’s pretty fair to say that we’re massive Deadpool fans. I mean, he’s Canadian, hilarious, and totally awesome—what’s not to love? They’re shooting the Deadpool movie right now, so we won’t get first crack at it, but maybe at a later date. Anything we tackle graphic novel wise would have to be loyal to the fans and respectful of the original content. Some of the greatest stories ever told and characters ever written have been in graphic novels, but unfortunately not everyone enjoys the medium, so the film adaptations have a responsibility to the honor the original content.
FM. Now that you’re workin’ on the adaptation of Jimmy Palmiotti‘s comic series PAINKILLER JANE, as well as VENDETTA—both prime examples of that other hoary ol’ chestnut of our beloved exploitation genre, the action film—will you still put the graphic in graphic novel adaptations and fist-to-face flicks, or can we expect a different approach?
S. We have had stunts in every film that we have done, but there is something utterly cool about an action film because you can get even more high action insanity than other genres of filmmaking. With VENDETTA, we have just gotten started on how much high level action and violence we can get into a film. There have been some insane sequences that we have been dying to put in a film; it’s only a matter of time and project now.
J. VENDETTA is, by far, our most violent film to date. I love action films. A good action film is what I like to refer to as a “f*ck yeah” film. It’s a film that leaves you feeling cooler having seen it. VENDETTA is really our version of a Punisher film. Go in thinking that.
FM. Taking a quick pit stop to seriousville, I really want to mention your work rallying the horror community to become aware of the need of blood donors through the shorts you create for Women In Horror Recognition Month! Give us all the gory (I just can’t stop) details on how you came to be involved in this crimson crusade!
S. Thank you for stopping in seriousville about this topic. I’ve had loved ones in the hospital and I have seen how much blood donation helps families. I know no one likes to deal with a small prick but this is an opportunity to literally save lives, and the number of donors has been steadily dropping every year. The idea of the Massive Blood Drive was from Jen, she wanted to show that Women In Horror isn’t a charity—we want to give back to the community!
J. We were approached by Hannah Neurotica back when she was just founding the month and came on to it with our Women In Horror Massive Blood Drive event. Basically, we encourage people to donate blood all month long. We do so through events, articles, and blood drives, but most famously in our annual anthologies. Every year we invite a group of female filmmakers to join us in a themed series of shorts that we release collectively online on February 1st each year.
FM. I’ve noticed you are creatin’ t-shirts and such featurin’ different artists’ takes on yer viscous visages. Are these images commissioned by you, or is there a way super sexy and talented writer (who can also draw) for famous horror publicati…err, I mean, fans can submit designs?
S. I think I would die of happiness from a Famous Monsters T shirt with Jen and me anywhere on it. The T shirts come from various artists—Atomic Cotton has this killer Mary Mason T shirt. Laura Rawn designs Twisted Twins Army tees featuring the Demon Twins of Berlin. Chirality Nail Polish has a holographic black nail polish called Soska, and there are so many more! I love it so much. There’s nothing as cool as artists being inspired by your work to create even more art!
J. Oh, it’s such an honor! They send them to us. I just love them. I love that we inspire people artistically. I’m always down to see some fan art. It’s just the greatest feeling ever to get or see stuff like that.
FM. I saw you attended this year’s AVN awards, and this clunky segue is going to lead to a question on the minds of the entire nation: how would you feel if one of your films was e’er givin’ the ol’ Adult treatment, and which one do you think would make the easiest transition?
S. I want to so badly! I would love to write and direct the AMERICAN MARY Porn Parody with Tommy Pistol as Billy Barker. I would direct and write ‘em all, but hopefully some brave auteur goes and makes it so! VENDETTA would be a super sexy one—it does take place in a men’s prison. But we are producing a porn doc that Nicole McClure is directing and Tommy Pistol is starring in called THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BONING, which is made by people in the industry for a really beautiful, intimate look at the men and women redefining the industry and the humanity there. We’re in it too, as the AVNs are a big part of the film. I think people are really going to dig it!
J. I love adult films. I hope if any of our films are made into a porn parody version that it’ll star Tommy Pistol. He’s my favorite and would do any of our characters justice. I’m greedy. Hell, I’d love to see all of our films made into porn parodies. I imagine AMERICAN MARY would be the best, though maybe not the easiest, to parody. I can’t think of a clever title. With DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK I imagine you wouldn’t even have to change the title! [laughs]
FM. From porno to promo—where can all of your rabid and rapacious fanatics keep up to date on all of yer horrible happenings?
J. [laughs] If you can’t find us, you’re not looking for us. We’re on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Vimeo, Flickr, Instagram. Search “Twisted Twins” or “Twisted Twins Army” and you’ll find us. And we’re pretty loud on social media. Maybe getting away from us would present more of a challenge.
S. Jen stole my answer!