Saturday
Aug282010
Exclusive Interview: Director/FX Artist Arthur Cullipher Vs. Brian S.
brians Exclusive Interview AAC Arthur Cullipher Clockwerk Come Dark Carvnival Exclusive Interview Horror indie short 2010-08-28T07:45:31-0700 I met Arthur Cullipher in Louisville, Kentucky at the Fright Night Film Fest this summer and have made a friend for life. One of the funniest and nicest guys you'd ever want to meet and he is talented too! He and his Clockwerk Pictures team have created one of the darkest and disturbing short films I've ever witnessed with 'Come', think Lovecraft and R-rated Twilight Zone episode mixed with a little Outer Limits, all on acid and then stuck in a blender, I haven't been lucky enough to witness more from him but I'm sure that day is coming. Arthur is a part of Clockwerk Pictures and even the Dark Carnival Film Fest. He's an FX artist, he writes, directs, produces, even makes action figures and can make you laugh in a second! Check out my latest "Versus" with Arthur Cullipher as he's invited all of us for a trippy wild ride inside his mind!
Brian S- First off Arthur let's talk about your FX and how you got in this.
Arthur Cullipher- I was pretty much weened on horror, sci-fi and fantasy films. I was a Star Wars kid, I loved E.T., The Exorcist scared the crap out of me. The Devil was my favorite character in the giant Bible I'd read from as a child. I've always loved weird creatures. Always thought there was no better holiday than Halloween. I was always encouraged to make my own things. Since I was 11, I've known that I had to make monsters.
At the end of 20 and 0, not long after the birth of my son, Tolling, my wife at the time, Shannon, had suggested that I finally go to that Joe Blasco Make-up School I talked so much about and really start taking this seriously. So we moved back to Orlando from Bloomington. I thought I was really going to have to bring my A game to this prestigious academy, so I studied the new materials and practiced things I'd been doing all my life. When I got there, most all of the students had never applied make-up to anyone, but themselves, some not even that. No one had applied so much as a bald cap. So I spent the first 'semester' helping the teachers teach. $9000 down the drain. Once we got into the advanced prosthetics and puppetry, then I felt like I was in school. They were great with job placement, got a few high paying gigs, but, ultimately, we hated Florida.
So we moved back to Indiana.
Not long after, Shannon saw an ad in the paper for someone holding auditions for a movie and said I should see if they needed a make-up artist. I invited my friend, Kirk Chastain to come along and audition. He got the part, I got the job and we worked on, still one of the best movies we've been with to date, Scott Schirmer's 'House of Hope'. Which is, and this shouldn't surprise the indie film crowd out there, only recently finished and, finally, ready for the festival circuit... this year! Keep your eyes peeled. We just did the (pretty darned insightful) commentary track for the DVD, some 8 years after the fact.
Arthur Cullipher- I was pretty much weened on horror, sci-fi and fantasy films. I was a Star Wars kid, I loved E.T., The Exorcist scared the crap out of me. The Devil was my favorite character in the giant Bible I'd read from as a child. I've always loved weird creatures. Always thought there was no better holiday than Halloween. I was always encouraged to make my own things. Since I was 11, I've known that I had to make monsters.
At the end of 20 and 0, not long after the birth of my son, Tolling, my wife at the time, Shannon, had suggested that I finally go to that Joe Blasco Make-up School I talked so much about and really start taking this seriously. So we moved back to Orlando from Bloomington. I thought I was really going to have to bring my A game to this prestigious academy, so I studied the new materials and practiced things I'd been doing all my life. When I got there, most all of the students had never applied make-up to anyone, but themselves, some not even that. No one had applied so much as a bald cap. So I spent the first 'semester' helping the teachers teach. $9000 down the drain. Once we got into the advanced prosthetics and puppetry, then I felt like I was in school. They were great with job placement, got a few high paying gigs, but, ultimately, we hated Florida.
So we moved back to Indiana.
Not long after, Shannon saw an ad in the paper for someone holding auditions for a movie and said I should see if they needed a make-up artist. I invited my friend, Kirk Chastain to come along and audition. He got the part, I got the job and we worked on, still one of the best movies we've been with to date, Scott Schirmer's 'House of Hope'. Which is, and this shouldn't surprise the indie film crowd out there, only recently finished and, finally, ready for the festival circuit... this year! Keep your eyes peeled. We just did the (pretty darned insightful) commentary track for the DVD, some 8 years after the fact.
Brian S- Tell me some about Clockwerks and the team involved.
I'm afraid that's a bit more of a complex request than it seems. Bear with me.
Clockwerk Pictures was established in 20 and 7 with the production of 'The Adipocere Child', but the philosophy that shapes it was formed several years before.
Kirk and I were driving by one of our local video stores (R.I.P. Cinemat, we miss you) and saw a sign on the marquee that read 'Filmmakers' Meeting'. The meetings were run by Colleen Jankovic and John Landis (no, the other one), a couple looking to make connections and increase local filmmaking. This is also where we first met the amazing Dave Pruett, whom we would later partner with to build Dark Carnival. Together, we became known as The Cinephile Film Arts Organization. We put together a weekly fundraiser, through the grace of Cinemat owner, Steve Volan. We called it Atomic Age Cinema! A midnight horror movie/ spookshow, hosted live by real monsters, with door prizes, trivia and beer. Oh yeah, it's funny. The proceeds went toward filmmaking grants (trying to be altruistic, these were not solely for horror films) given out locally and a film festival to showcase the movies they helped produce.
Until we found that, really, nobody seemed to care.
Later, Dave and I decided to go where our heart truly was and just do a horror film festival. The funds from AAC! then helped finance Dark Carnival. After six years and, roughly, 300 shows, Atomic Age lost its venue. Now, Clockwerk Pictures produces AAC-TV! for VHS, DVD and ye olde internet.
Mainly just to prove that we have a sense of humor.
What we refer to as The DMYAYMDic Principle (the philosophy behind Clockwerk) began with an experimental occult film we did in 20 and 4, partly as a result of attending the Cinephile meetings. Along with our friend MyRK, we made a piece called 'Not Dead, but Dreaming', in which a magician undergoes a strange and transformative ordeal, summoning forth a dark deity. Without going into too lengthy of an explanation, through the process of capturing imagery for this film, the odd coincidences began piling up and, slowly, DMYAYMD revealed herself to us. We have come to know her as the Goddess of the Imprint, Empress of Media. She taught us how reality was split with the invention of the camera, into what we call the image and the experience. In this new aeon, with the image aggressively becoming the experience, it would be unwise to turn that power over to corporate structure and commercialism, when the potential is there for so much more.
Watching movies or television shows can put one in a dreamlike and receptive state. Most people don't think of things like product placement as spellcasting, or even hypnotic suggestion. That's part of why it works. 'Mainstream Corporate' media seeks control through a formula of symbolism, logos and jingles, that tie the viewer to a particular product on an emotional level, whether that product is a shampoo, a burger, an ideal, a political candidate or simply the program itself.
Clockwerk Pictures also utilize object and tonal placement, along with subliminal, or barely liminal, and obvious symbolism. Our purposes however, are not to tell the audience what to eat or wear, what to listen to or watch or buy. The drive behind The DMYAYMDic Principle is confronting viewers with all the social anxieties of horror to awaken them; to cause them to reflect on the nature of what it is they are actually experiencing. To become active, thoughtful participants. To know it is better to study than simply accept and to question why they hold the beliefs they do. We do this to help advance the range of the human perspective and the independent spirit in this coming age of immersive technology and entertainment, lest we become enslaved to it.
Thus, the Seal of DMYAYMD has become the defining symbol of our organization.
And, of course, we just love good horror. As a collective, we seek the Great and the Weird for the education they bring.
As a bunch of broke-ass filmmakers, we're just trying to make the movies that we would want to watch.
And it's a great crew.
Kirk has played an array of monsters, loves it, is fantastic at it and is one of the best writers and funniest people I have ever known.
Marv Blauvelt and Leya Taylor joined us the first year of Dark Carnival. Marv, initially met with Dave Pruett looking for a place to screen a film he'd acted in called 'BEEF'. Which, to be honest, is still one of the more disturbing things I've seen. Dave told him to submit it to our new festival and invited him to become involved. He's a great actor, a hell of a promoter and an awesome guy. I suppose that's why his indie horror career is booming. Leya started as an intern for college credit and we changed the course of her life. She has gone on to stock victimhood for AAC!, acted in and was our assistant director on 'Come', and together she and I wrote a film/ live theatre hybrid called 'Bloomington After Midnight', in which she also starred.
James Stroman and David Hancock were first fans, then regulars, then members of the live AAC! shows. David is a talented artist and mechanical engineer for our Clockwerk Creature Company and James assists us in video effects and does many of our promotional graphics. Shane Beasley and I had been acquaintances for a number of years and I had always enjoyed his art, but didn't really get to know him until the second year of Dark Carnival. Now he is our Jack-of-all-trades. It would take too long to tell you all the many, many things he does.
Jason Hignite climbed onto the Dark Carnival caravan in our third year and has been an incredible boon ever since. Acting, producing, directing, promoting... he's there when we need him. Jason was the brains behind The Vampira Tribute at HorrorHound, the largest gathering of horror movie hosts to date, and has partnered with Marv Blauvelt to create Muscle Wolf Productions.
So, as you can see, most of Clockwerk Pictures, Dark Carnival Film Festival and now Muscle Wolf Productions, are fairly interchangeable. We are a tight group and do everything we can to help each other personally and professionally. And we are always on the lookout for qualified individuals who can do amazing jobs without having to be jerkasses about it.
I'm afraid that's a bit more of a complex request than it seems. Bear with me.
Clockwerk Pictures was established in 20 and 7 with the production of 'The Adipocere Child', but the philosophy that shapes it was formed several years before.
Kirk and I were driving by one of our local video stores (R.I.P. Cinemat, we miss you) and saw a sign on the marquee that read 'Filmmakers' Meeting'. The meetings were run by Colleen Jankovic and John Landis (no, the other one), a couple looking to make connections and increase local filmmaking. This is also where we first met the amazing Dave Pruett, whom we would later partner with to build Dark Carnival. Together, we became known as The Cinephile Film Arts Organization. We put together a weekly fundraiser, through the grace of Cinemat owner, Steve Volan. We called it Atomic Age Cinema! A midnight horror movie/ spookshow, hosted live by real monsters, with door prizes, trivia and beer. Oh yeah, it's funny. The proceeds went toward filmmaking grants (trying to be altruistic, these were not solely for horror films) given out locally and a film festival to showcase the movies they helped produce.
Until we found that, really, nobody seemed to care.
Later, Dave and I decided to go where our heart truly was and just do a horror film festival. The funds from AAC! then helped finance Dark Carnival. After six years and, roughly, 300 shows, Atomic Age lost its venue. Now, Clockwerk Pictures produces AAC-TV! for VHS, DVD and ye olde internet.
Mainly just to prove that we have a sense of humor.
What we refer to as The DMYAYMDic Principle (the philosophy behind Clockwerk) began with an experimental occult film we did in 20 and 4, partly as a result of attending the Cinephile meetings. Along with our friend MyRK, we made a piece called 'Not Dead, but Dreaming', in which a magician undergoes a strange and transformative ordeal, summoning forth a dark deity. Without going into too lengthy of an explanation, through the process of capturing imagery for this film, the odd coincidences began piling up and, slowly, DMYAYMD revealed herself to us. We have come to know her as the Goddess of the Imprint, Empress of Media. She taught us how reality was split with the invention of the camera, into what we call the image and the experience. In this new aeon, with the image aggressively becoming the experience, it would be unwise to turn that power over to corporate structure and commercialism, when the potential is there for so much more.
Watching movies or television shows can put one in a dreamlike and receptive state. Most people don't think of things like product placement as spellcasting, or even hypnotic suggestion. That's part of why it works. 'Mainstream Corporate' media seeks control through a formula of symbolism, logos and jingles, that tie the viewer to a particular product on an emotional level, whether that product is a shampoo, a burger, an ideal, a political candidate or simply the program itself.
Clockwerk Pictures also utilize object and tonal placement, along with subliminal, or barely liminal, and obvious symbolism. Our purposes however, are not to tell the audience what to eat or wear, what to listen to or watch or buy. The drive behind The DMYAYMDic Principle is confronting viewers with all the social anxieties of horror to awaken them; to cause them to reflect on the nature of what it is they are actually experiencing. To become active, thoughtful participants. To know it is better to study than simply accept and to question why they hold the beliefs they do. We do this to help advance the range of the human perspective and the independent spirit in this coming age of immersive technology and entertainment, lest we become enslaved to it.
Thus, the Seal of DMYAYMD has become the defining symbol of our organization.
And, of course, we just love good horror. As a collective, we seek the Great and the Weird for the education they bring.
As a bunch of broke-ass filmmakers, we're just trying to make the movies that we would want to watch.
And it's a great crew.
Kirk has played an array of monsters, loves it, is fantastic at it and is one of the best writers and funniest people I have ever known.
Marv Blauvelt and Leya Taylor joined us the first year of Dark Carnival. Marv, initially met with Dave Pruett looking for a place to screen a film he'd acted in called 'BEEF'. Which, to be honest, is still one of the more disturbing things I've seen. Dave told him to submit it to our new festival and invited him to become involved. He's a great actor, a hell of a promoter and an awesome guy. I suppose that's why his indie horror career is booming. Leya started as an intern for college credit and we changed the course of her life. She has gone on to stock victimhood for AAC!, acted in and was our assistant director on 'Come', and together she and I wrote a film/ live theatre hybrid called 'Bloomington After Midnight', in which she also starred.
James Stroman and David Hancock were first fans, then regulars, then members of the live AAC! shows. David is a talented artist and mechanical engineer for our Clockwerk Creature Company and James assists us in video effects and does many of our promotional graphics. Shane Beasley and I had been acquaintances for a number of years and I had always enjoyed his art, but didn't really get to know him until the second year of Dark Carnival. Now he is our Jack-of-all-trades. It would take too long to tell you all the many, many things he does.
Jason Hignite climbed onto the Dark Carnival caravan in our third year and has been an incredible boon ever since. Acting, producing, directing, promoting... he's there when we need him. Jason was the brains behind The Vampira Tribute at HorrorHound, the largest gathering of horror movie hosts to date, and has partnered with Marv Blauvelt to create Muscle Wolf Productions.
So, as you can see, most of Clockwerk Pictures, Dark Carnival Film Festival and now Muscle Wolf Productions, are fairly interchangeable. We are a tight group and do everything we can to help each other personally and professionally. And we are always on the lookout for qualified individuals who can do amazing jobs without having to be jerkasses about it.
Brian S- Could you say hey to Dr. Calamari for me! The ladies love that guy!
Arthur Cullipher- Speaking of jerkasses...
Well, as he says, I suppose the advantages of a tentacled man are obvious. I wouldn't know. I don't really know him that well. We only ever see each other in passing and I don't think he likes me very much.
(For those who don't know, and he would assure you that there aren't many, Dr. Calamari is a famous, tentacled charlatan (caveat emptor), one of the faces of Dark Carnival and the first monster host of Atomic Age Cinema! Now, he shares his hosting duties with a raunchy band of booze, blood and drug addled naredowells. In order of appearance: Baron Mardi (a drunken Voodoo priest), Basement Boy (a sensitive serial killer), Reverend Polypus (United Reformed Esoteric Order of Dagon) and Woody (well, he... he grows on you).
Brian S- You've done FX work for a number of films, can you tell me about any of these and what we all have to look forward to? You know the gore, the blood and guts type stuff.
Arthur Cullipher- We worked on three of Scott's films, House of Hope (incestuous, deformed father memories), Full Moon Sonny (young werewolf) and The Day Joe Left (personal demons manifested). Some blood, but not a lot of gore. Really, the bloodiest thing we've worked on so far has been Lewis. Lewis, directed by Anthony G. Sumner, starring Jerry Murdock, Susan Adriensen and (sigh) Deneen Melody, is one of the stories in the upcoming 'Psycho Street' anthology, for Muscle Wolf and Rainey Daze Productions. I directed and CCC did the effects for the wrap around story with Tiffany Shepis and Raine Brown. Some nice gore and cool make-ups, but it definitely has more of a Creepshow feel.
The butcher shop scene in 'Lewis' is gonna blow your mind! Not to mention, the formidable Lewis, himself.
Our next Clockwerk project is called 'Roses'. Written by Terrence Dellinger, 'Roses' won the short screenwriting competition at Dark Carnival last year. The prize being that Clockwerk Pictures would produce the film. Since it is in collaboration with Dark Carnival, this will be the first in an ongoing series known as 'Dark Werk'. It will premiere at Dark Carnival this year.
Also, Dark's Grand Guignol Theatre will present Bloomington After Midight: The Second Hour. Of course, when it's at the Horror Society Film Fest in Chicago this fall, it'll be called Chicago After Midnight, and so on with each town that it visits.
We have a 'lycanthology' coming up with Muscle Wolf in the winter and we finally begin shooting for the long awaited Holstenwall Project; a continuing series of tales set in the town where The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari takes place.
We have a lot of things in the werks for next year, including my own 'Disconnected', a surreal, telemarketing horror feature.
By 2012, if we don't all die, production will be in full swing on our stop-motion epic, Buttons and String, about a war between crows and scarecrows.
We'll be producing multiple episodes and webisodes of AAC-TV! throughout and... if that's not enough...
The Clockwerk Creature Company is also available for hire.
Arthur Cullipher- Speaking of jerkasses...
Well, as he says, I suppose the advantages of a tentacled man are obvious. I wouldn't know. I don't really know him that well. We only ever see each other in passing and I don't think he likes me very much.
(For those who don't know, and he would assure you that there aren't many, Dr. Calamari is a famous, tentacled charlatan (caveat emptor), one of the faces of Dark Carnival and the first monster host of Atomic Age Cinema! Now, he shares his hosting duties with a raunchy band of booze, blood and drug addled naredowells. In order of appearance: Baron Mardi (a drunken Voodoo priest), Basement Boy (a sensitive serial killer), Reverend Polypus (United Reformed Esoteric Order of Dagon) and Woody (well, he... he grows on you).
Brian S- You've done FX work for a number of films, can you tell me about any of these and what we all have to look forward to? You know the gore, the blood and guts type stuff.
Arthur Cullipher- We worked on three of Scott's films, House of Hope (incestuous, deformed father memories), Full Moon Sonny (young werewolf) and The Day Joe Left (personal demons manifested). Some blood, but not a lot of gore. Really, the bloodiest thing we've worked on so far has been Lewis. Lewis, directed by Anthony G. Sumner, starring Jerry Murdock, Susan Adriensen and (sigh) Deneen Melody, is one of the stories in the upcoming 'Psycho Street' anthology, for Muscle Wolf and Rainey Daze Productions. I directed and CCC did the effects for the wrap around story with Tiffany Shepis and Raine Brown. Some nice gore and cool make-ups, but it definitely has more of a Creepshow feel.
The butcher shop scene in 'Lewis' is gonna blow your mind! Not to mention, the formidable Lewis, himself.
Our next Clockwerk project is called 'Roses'. Written by Terrence Dellinger, 'Roses' won the short screenwriting competition at Dark Carnival last year. The prize being that Clockwerk Pictures would produce the film. Since it is in collaboration with Dark Carnival, this will be the first in an ongoing series known as 'Dark Werk'. It will premiere at Dark Carnival this year.
Also, Dark's Grand Guignol Theatre will present Bloomington After Midight: The Second Hour. Of course, when it's at the Horror Society Film Fest in Chicago this fall, it'll be called Chicago After Midnight, and so on with each town that it visits.
We have a 'lycanthology' coming up with Muscle Wolf in the winter and we finally begin shooting for the long awaited Holstenwall Project; a continuing series of tales set in the town where The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari takes place.
We have a lot of things in the werks for next year, including my own 'Disconnected', a surreal, telemarketing horror feature.
By 2012, if we don't all die, production will be in full swing on our stop-motion epic, Buttons and String, about a war between crows and scarecrows.
We'll be producing multiple episodes and webisodes of AAC-TV! throughout and... if that's not enough...
The Clockwerk Creature Company is also available for hire.
Brian S- What's the grossest FX you've done so far?Arthur Cullipher- Making Marv masturbate.
Brian S- What? Ok Arthur, I have watched your short film 'Come' several times now, the first being at Fright Night Film Fest. Tell me about how you came up with the idea and how it all came about.
Arthur Cullipher- The film, itself, really started because of Dark Carnival Film Fest and because of HorrorHound Weekend, which was the first horror convention we'd ever been to. Kirk and I realized we didn't have a submission for our own festival. We had tons of molds for masks and just thought, surely, there's a monster here somewhere. I had been making some cryptozoological dead things in jars to sell at the convention. They, kind of, surrounded us as we sat in the kitchen and began to think of things we'd seen in movies we'd loved, devices that frightened us. We settled on something passing by the window and a creature in a jar. The whole film is really built around those two concepts.
I had a story published in a now, sadly, defunct fiction magazine known as Cthulhu Sex, which focused on blood, sex and tentacles and was the only magazine that ever wanted my stuff. (The stars are right for this sort of thing now, so would-be publishers take note!)
The story is called 'The House on Cutter Lane' and deals with a young boy, who stumbles on a town secret. Many of the men in town are making visits to the local brothel to see a freak prostitute known as Pussyface (spit twice). She transmits a sort of supernatural disease to the men, who, in turn, infect their wives. This is most certainly not the last we will see of her in the Clockwerks.
She is part of a much larger mythology, several stories telling of the rise of a child god, Vrt Lrh, and it's effect on all we are and all we are becoming. 'The Adipocere Child', is also part of that mythos.
As we began talking about the story for what, then, didn't have a title, She wove herself into it. When we felt we had a good concept, it also became apparent that Marv Blauvelt was the man to play the lead.
To be honest, no one was crazy about the script I had written. They thought the dialogue was too thick and they didn't like the title I'd 'come' up with. So, I broke up the dialogue a bit, without really changing it and insisted on the title. Although, the film has elements derived from a 1785 Japanese woodcut by Utagawa Toyokuni, I didn't think this should share its name, i.e. 'The Hell of Great Heat' or 'Cunt Hell of Great Searing Heat'. If we were to make a film by that name, and we may yet, it would be something very different. I knew that if we were ever going to make a film called 'Come', this is what we would make.
After multiple scheduling nightmares, editing nightmares and interoffice conflict, I think everyone involved is proud to have been a part of it. It premiered at Dark Carnival last year. Of course, no one else has told their parents about it, but my mother is well aware that she raised a whacko so, y'know... she gets a copy.
Brian S- Will 'Come' be showing at anymore fests or cons this year?
Arthur Cullipher- Yes, but we warn you... it has already caused someone to have a seizure. That's not a joke.
You can get 'Come' in your eyes and ears at these fine festivals:
Killer Film Fest in Foxboro, MA
Texas Bloodbath in Dallas
Horror Society Film Festival in Chicago, which we will definitely be attending
HorrorHound Weekend in Cincinatti, also definitely attending
But here's some weird irony for you... THEE, ABSOLUTE, NUMBER ONE WORD that has been used to describe this film is...LOVECRAFTIAN.... and yet, I just received word that we were not accepted to the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, OR.
(Arthur shrugs)
Kirk thinks we might be a little too Lovecraftian.
Brian S- Where can the fans find and purchase 'Come'?
Arthur Cullipher- We'll be traveling the convention circuit to some degree, always hocking our wares.
Arthur Cullipher- We'll be traveling the convention circuit to some degree, always hocking our wares.
Or...
www.clockwerkpictures.com (hopefully) or email us at [email protected] and we'll put 'Come' in your hands.
Brian S- Would you like to tell the cool horror fans out there anything?
Arthur Cullipher- Make good movies. Hollywood is drowning in its own vomit and they want the brains of our children as flotation devices. If you make movies, get an editor that knows the difference between a short idea and a feature idea and believe them when they tell you 'your feature is a short'. As a festival organizer and film screener, I'm thinking about keeping butts in seats and far too many 'features' are padded out shorts in hopes of a distribution deal. Sometimes they get it. That doesn't make them good. The technology has reached a level of such accessibility that you can make nearly any idea you can think of.
Think and cause others to do so. Push the envelope. Give us your money. Vote Calamari.
Think and cause others to do so. Push the envelope. Give us your money. Vote Calamari.
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