Marv Blauvelt has made his move from the body building industry to movie making and he's making an impact! His peers hold him in high regard and for a good reason, he's a cool guy. He produces, acts, writes and even casts for his projects, he's done it all and there's much more ahead. Check out the cool interview, we talk about his upcoming projects, cool stories behind the scenes and me getting my big break, with spiders?
Brian S- Hi Marv, please tell us about the "Psychostreet Anthology".
Marv- Hey Brian...thanks for taking the time to talk to me...."Psycho Street" is a horror anthology that I am coproducing with actress Raine Brown and writer Trevor Wright....it is 3 different styles of horror with a wrap-around story connecting them all together done by 3 different directors....."Psycho Street" takes place in the small, country town of "Kronanburg" and begins with the wrap around story "Come On Down" directed by Arthur Cullipher.....When new resident, Aubrey (Raine Brown) Harris pays a visit to her new neighbor, Leyla (Tiffany Shepis) Barker in search of her missing husband (Austin Dossey) who she sent over earlier to borrow tools...She finds happy, home-maker, Leyla (being the ultimate hostess) insist that she stay for a visit so she can tell her stories about the town of Kronanburg....and as her stories progress, we find out that Ms. Barker MAY not be the perfect house-wife she pretends to be....and that she holds a twisted secret in the basement of her home (Shepis expertly played this character like a psychotic, demented Marcia Cross from "Desperate Housewives").....the 3 tales are all very different styles of horror:
"Hypochondriac" (directed by Pete Jacelone) is an over-the-top horror-comedy about a germaphobic, LA doctor (played by me) who leaves his stressful practice in the city to practice medicine in small town Kronanburg,,,,but he finds the clinic, which is run by alcoholic, pill-popping Dr. Fixx (Carl Burrows) and ex-exotic dancer, turned nurse Amber Lovejoy (Raine Brown), is over-run with patients (led by the HILARIOUS Alan Rowe Kelly and Susan Adriensen) whose medical problems are FAR worse then anything he encountered in the big city and he finds that he may have made the biggest mistake of his career....and his life!.."Hypochondriac" also stars Zoe Daelman Chlanda, David Gilkey, Jeremy Mulkey, Harry Dugan, Edward X. Young and Colleen Cohan and has gotten AWESOME reviews and is now making the festival run....look for it at a horror festival near you.
"No Rest for the Wicked" (Directed by Raine Brown) is a dark, psychological horror film that deals with a young single mother (Brown) who makes a fatal decision when her musician boyfriend (Matt Bonicci) comes back into her life....and must pay the terrible circumstances of that decision. "No Rest for the Wicked" also stars Joe Zasso and Harry Dugan.
The final segment, "Lewis" (Directed by Anthony Sumner) is a 70's style occult film (influenced by films like "The Sentinal" "To the Devil...a Daughter" and the original "Wicker Man") which is the story of a young mother (Deneen Melody) who, after catching her cheating husband in the act (again, played by me) decides after the suggestion of her priest (Jerry Murdock) to takes a sabbatical with her young daughter to the town of Kronanburg.....but once she is greeted there by the seemingly friendly Sister Louise (Susan Adriensen) and her assistant (Nick Morano), begins to suspect the residents of this seemingly ideal country town have a deadly hidden agenda...that involves her and her daughter. "Lewis" also stars Taylor Metzger, Hollis Ireland, Michael Partipillo, Sara Kellett, Steve Spaulding, Jason Hignite, Phyllis Munro, Mike Watson, Nikki Watson among others.
We hope to have "Psycho Street" finished in post early next year in time to be submitted to film festivals in 2011.
Brian S- I've followed the making of Lewis and seen some behind the scenes pictures thanks to Deneen Melody, from what I've seen it looks awesome and I can tell everyone had a great tme making it. Can you tell us anything about this and any cool behind the scenes stories?
Marv- Well...EVERYONE involved with "Lewis" was AWESOME....Anthony Sumner and his crew work like fine tuned machines....and not only are they INCREDIBLE at what they do, but all of them are VERY fun to work with....Dominic Sivilli flew in from NYC to be part of the crew and he is AMAZING behind the camera (he also worked with Raine Brown and Jeremiah Kipp on "No Rest for the Wicked' which is going to be a beautiful, stylish piece....there work is TOP NOTCH!) And my cast ALL bonded and became GREAT friends on the shoot....Jerry Murdoch is an INCREDIBLE actor and VERY fun to work with....I have ALWAYS wanted to work on a project with him...he is a real pro....Susan Adriensen and I have worked (now) in 4 films together....she is like a sister to me, and we have become such good friends, that our rapport is amazing...I ALWAYS love working with Susie, she is an incredibly versatile actress and plays these crazy, over-the-top characters better than anyone I know....Deneen is one of the sweetest people I have ever met or worked with....she is an ultimate professional, and becomes everyone's friend...and NEVER complains about anything that is thrown at her (literally) be it extreme heat, or being covered with blood and gore...a TOTAL sweet-heart!....and I had several new-comers who were AMAZING (Nick Morano, Michael Partipillo, Mike Watson, Nikki Watson, Sara Kellett, Hollis Ireland, Steve Spaulding etc.)....My child actors were INCREDIBLE .and all my Indiana crew ROCKED it!!!...Jason Hignite and Leya Taylor and my SPFX crew (Arthur, Kirk, Shane, Dave) worked (like everyone) long, sleepless hours with little sleep...and NEVER complained...we all were having such a GREAT time, that things like lack of sleep and extreme heat never became an issue....gotta give EVERYONE a HUGE THANKS!!!
Brian S- Any funny stories you want to share with us?
Marv- Well, there are several...lets just say, we have an incredibly shocking scene that takes place in a small town butcher shoppe (which we actually were given permission to shoot in a small town butcher shoppe) and even though I wrote the script with Anthony Sumner and Trevor Wright....seeing it play out STILL shocked the hell out of me....I was INCREDIBLY worried that we were going to be kicked out ("YES" its THAT shocking!)....and the next morning, when we were shooting in the streets of that little town, the manager came out of the store to return a bloody fake body part that we had forgotten and left on the meat counter....just hope none of there customers saw it there when they were shopping....LOL....
Brian S- When can we be looking for this?
Marv- I am not sure if we plan to submit "Lewis" as a stand alone short in Film festivals late this year, or wait for the entire "Psycho Street" anthology to be finished....but the buzz on the "Lewis" project has been SO positive, that I am sure we plan to have it to the fans a quickly as possible.
Brian S- Is there any certain influence or person you try to follow with your work and writing style or do you just kind of do your own thing every time ?
Marv- As a writer, I am influenced everyday by others.....I am a HUGE life-long horror fan and I know what I like...and it is VERY diverse...I LOVE the Hammer films of the 60's and 70's....I also LOVE the occult films of the 70's....and the films of Argento and Fulci....I was a HUGE fan of the slasher craze of the 80's....and right now, I feel like the best stuff is coming from France ("Inside", "Martyrs", "Frontiers" and "High Tension")....and of course, Independent Horror cinema is HANDS down better written and edgier than anything coming out of Hollywood (PLEASE NO MORE LAME REMAKES!!!)....I have been VERY fortunate to work with Indie film-makers who like to push the envelope and not stick to a particular formula (Anthony Sumner, Alan Rowe Kelly, Arthur Cullipher, Jeremiah Kipp and Pete Jacelone to name a few) who KNOW that we, as horror fans, like to be entertained and shocked....and want intelligent scripts with great character development,,,,I have been fortunate enough to work with the VERY talented Trevor Wright on ALL of our scripts ("Sculpture", "Come on Down", "Hypochondriac", "No rest for the Wicked" and "Lewis') who NEVER ceases to amaze me with his talent as a writer....he can write something as zany and over-the-top as "Hypochondriac" then turn around in the next breathe and write something as dark and disturbing as "No Rest for the Wicked"....he is TRULY amazing....we are continuing to collaborate on scripts and have some great projects ahead....we are trying to get Trevor's script "Stronger than Death" off the ground to shoot early next year, which I believe to be his most powerful script to date (think "Requiem for a Dream" with a supernatural twist) and have ALOT of talent (in front of the camera and behind it) who want to be involved.....and we are talking about ANOTHER anthology down the road!
Brian S- I know you have been a casting director, I did a little acting myself in Jr. College you know! I make a great bumbling and clumsy yet sort of heroic victim!
Marv- Where do you live???? Can you send me some head-shots???? Do you mind getting bloody and gory???? Usually, there is nudity involved (and I can tell you a WHOLE lot of funny stories concerning that!)....How do you feel about working with: wild animals? Farm equipment? Explosives? Sharp Objects? Alien races OR demonic enitities? Would you sign a waiver dealing with accidental death, dismemberment or mutilation?...If you are cool with all this stuff...you are DEFINATELY in!!!
Brian S- Um, moving away from words like farm equipment and dismemberment. You are in a few other projects this year, can you tell us about them and your part?
Marv- ....Yeah...LOTS of stuff coming out this year....I was in the anthology "Terror Overload" for producer's Joe Knetter and Jason Stephenson which was just released in April and also stars Ari (Friday the 13th) Leman and Scarlett Salem....Also Pete Jacelone's "Sculpture" which I co-wrote, co-produced and co-starred in with Raine Brown, Misty Mundae, Alan Rowe Kelly, Dustin Kerns, Susan Adriensen and many more will be released on October 12th....and the film "The Green Monster" (I play a Southern cop) will be released later this year.....Anthony Sumner's bloody anthology "Slices of Life" (also with Deneen Melody) hits festivals this year....as well as Arther Culliphers bizarre, Lovecraftian short film "Come"....and of course, "Hypochondriac" is also hitting festivals this year.
Brian S- I have to say I'm personally really looking forward to the Psychostreet Anthology, Slices of Life and Don't Look in the Basement!
Marv- Yeah...I have to say that the Indie talent assembled for all those movies is AMAZING!!! Also, add in Alan Rowe Kelly's anthology "Gallery of Fear" (with Debbie Rochon, Alan, Raine Brown, Jerry Murdoch, Zoe Daelman Chlanda etc.), and we have an AWESOME Indie horror "Over-load'....the beauty of all 4 films is that we utilize MANY of the same talented actors, directors and crew in ALL films (Anthony Sumner has directed a segment in ALL 3 of the anthologies and is codirecting "Don't Look in the Basement" with Alan) much like the Hammer and Amicus films of the 70's utilized classic actors like Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Ingrid Pitt.
Brian S- Where can we find you at on the internet?
Brian S- Ok Marv, is there anything you'd like to say to our horror fans out there?
Marv- Well...I have to say that the Horror fans are the BEST and most accepting in the world,....where else can a former competetive bodybuilder be taken seriously as a writer, actor and producer and actually appreciated for his work (OK, I guess maybe AHNOLD did it in the action genre)...but honestly, the horror community is like a big family....most everyone is friendly and supportive and I wake up EVERYDAY in appreciation of being a part of this community...it is all kind of surreal to me, and I LOVE every second of it....I have made some incredible friends for life and I THANK everyone for your interest and support of our work!!!
Brian S- Thank you sir! Anything I can do for to help spread the word on your projects just let me know!
Marv- Brian...BIG thanks to you....you are the best and I will take you up on that.....NOW about that acting waiver...I have this project you would be PERFECT for!!!....how do you feel about being covered with spiders???
brians 
Reader Comments