Yellow Ape
< Interview by Peter Syslo
Infernal Dreams:Jim, you’ve been a very busy man since we last checked in with you. Why don’t we begin by talking about your recently formed production company – Yellow Ape Productions (www.yellowape.net). Could you tell us a little about the formation of Yellow Ape? How has the experience been, thus far, and are you doing everything in- house (casting, filming, editing, distribution, etc.)?
Jim Haggerty:Well Peter, it's kind of like marrying the woman you've lived with for ten years - you're making it official, but not much is changing. I've basically always done everything in-house as far as casting and filming. The only difference is that my wife Susan is now doing the editing at our place so the turnaround time has improved greatly and we're doing our own distribution which just makes sense. Brick and mortar stores are disappearing at an alarming rate and those that survive are taking such a small percentage of what's released to DVD that it's sort of a dead issue. The business has moved online and anyone can partake in that marketplace, so why leave it up to other people who are certainly not going to care as much about your project as you do?
ID:Regarding Yellow Ape, are you planning to venture into other areas of media, aside from feature-length films (short-film, web content, audio, etc.)? Do you plan to produce or distribute projects from other filmmakers?
JH:I've never really seen the purpose of short films - if you're going to go to all the trouble of shooting something, why not make it at a length that you can do something with? I mean, every year on the Oscars they give an award for the best short film and every year I sit there thinking this movie just won an Oscar and yet if I wanted to see it I would have no clue how to go about it. Maybe sites like YouTube can help with that, but I think your movie that you're working your ass off on deserves a better showcase than being sandwiched between an old Wham! video and a camcorder video of some dude skateboarding off his roof.
My recent film 'Grave Danger' is an anthology of stories and we kind of shot them like short films and I'm working on a comedy now that's made up of lots of little sketches. It's fun to do, but that's probably the closest I would come to making short films, it would have to tie into a bigger picture.
As far as web content we do have our website www.yellowape.net that my very talented wife designed - she does so much of the work you should probably be interviewing her instead of me! It looks really great and we're right now expanding it a lot. I want it to be entertaining and interactive, not just a place where people go to buy DVDs - though I certainly want them to do that! But I want people to keep coming back and having it become one of their favorite sites. We're launching a new feature 'Yellow Ape Girl of the Month' which will feature sexy photos and witty interviews with some of our actresses, friends, and fans in various states of undress. Plus we're going to be posting interviews with some of the actors we've enjoyed working with so their fans can learn more about them and get their takes on the films they've made with us - and help them network to get other gigs. And there's more stuff we're coming up with to keep people coming back and telling their friends. It's really the best way to establish and build the brand name.
ID:You’ve got the premiere of WITCHMASTER GENERAL coming up on April 20th, 2009. This is the film debut of Phil Lewis, of L.A. Guns, and you’ve got several events planned. Tell us about the upcoming L.A. Guns performance, the premiere night, and the after-party.
JH:Well the L.A. Guns performance has nothing to do with me personally, the band are doing their area appearance at a local club in Long Island called the Crazy Donkey - I believe they're playing the classic album 'Cocked and Loaded' in it's entirety at the show. But I thought it would be a good time to do the premiere while they're in town because I really wanted Phil to have the chance to be there and see the movie with an audience since this is a new experience for him and he was so good and worked so hard on the movie.
After the movie the bar down the block - Willie McBride's - is having an after-party for us like they did after the "Grave Danger" premiere, which is becoming a nice tradition. And as we shot some scenes for "Grave Danger" and "Witchmaster General" at that bar it seems very fitting. The guy that runs the bar, Aidan, is a great guy and he's friends with my right hand man Dennis Newman which is how it all came about. It will be fun, there's usually karaoke. Maybe we can get Phil to give us a song!
ID:From what I understand, WITCHMASTER GENERAL is about a voodoo Witchdoctor, Dr. Gorgon (Lewis); in a way, he is a murder-for-hire type of character. What were some of your influences on the creation of the film? When you created the characters in this film, did you have a specific type of actor/actress in mind – like Phil Lewis, Colleen Marie, or Vic Martino?
JH:Well, I keep saying the movie is like an old Vincent Price movie on acid, which I think is the best way to describe it. I wanted to do this very classy, sprawling epic like you used to see from Hammer or even the AIP Roger Corman Edgar Allan Poe adaptations which were full of witches and warlocks in castles and dungeons and candlelabras and whatnot. But I wanted to also give it the more modern Jim Haggerty touch so we added the usual humor and sex and violence to make it our own. I think it worked great.
I'd say the casting in the movie is perfect. I really got what I wanted as far as the people in the movie. It's a great cast and it was so much fun to work with Phil, Suzi Lorraine, Vic and Colleen from Playboy and as usual it was great to work with my regulars in the Yellow Ape stable like Jae Mosc, Bud Stafford, Charlie Parshley, Debbie Kopacz, Kaitlin Owens and the usual crew - they're always fun, always dependable and always a pleasure to work with.
ID: You’ve also had the recent DVD release of GRAVE DANGER, which is an anthology film. What made you decide to work in that style?
JH:Well, I hadn't shot anything in awhile and it was the first movie I was working on with my wife, so I didn't want to dive into something too complex, so instead we shot the four segments separately over three months. Each one took about a weekend and it was great fun. Having not shot a movie in a few years it was a great refresher course for me to re-learn a lot about my craft. And people really dug it - I have gotten the best reviews of my career so far for that movie.
ID:Creating an anthology film always seems like an extremely difficult task, to me. Is it really challenging to interweave four separate stories into one film or does it sort of come together, naturally?
JH:I think it's actually pretty easy since you work on the stories separately and then put them together. You just have to decide which one goes in what order, but that falls together pretty naturally, I think. The one odd thing I think, and this really only struck me after the film was complete is that the stories are all pretty humorous and wacky - comedy/horror really - and yet the main wrap-around story is actually more like a pretty intense horror movie. I think usually it works the other way around, where the framing scenario is really just to connect the stories and isn't really to be taken seriously. It wasn't a conscious decision, it just worked out that way.
ID:We spoke a little about TOURIST TRAP being one of our favorite films and I actually felt that the story of Phinneas (in GRAVE DANGER) was sort of an homage to films of the 1970s/early 1980s. What were some of your influences on this tale and how did you develop the look, movement, and personality of Phinneas?
JH:I love Tourist Trap. Such a scary movie and still gives me the creeps. I really hope some nitwit doesn't remake it, but I'm sure it's in the works! Such a perfect scary movie and it absolutely holds up.
Actually Peter, pretty much EVERYTHING I do is kind of an homage to the 70's and early 80's (laughs). My films tend to have a very retro feel - not so much in the styles or the look as in the type of films I make and the vibe I go for. I think that was a much better time for horror movies and that movies were more scary then, now they're too flashy.
I think it's awesome that Phineas reminded you of Tourist Trap and I can definitely see what you mean. As far as the look, there is something inherently creepy about ventriloquist dolls - I mean I've never been personally freaked out by them but I know they're right up there with clowns as far as things that are supposed to be cute and fun but still evoke kind of a creepy feeling. So I'd always wanted to do something with an evil ventriloquist doll.
The look I have to credit my mother-in-law Katherine on as she painted him up and I think she did a great job. Shortly after she did it she was having nightmares about him so I knew we were on to something. As far as the movement I have to credit my brother-in-law Doug, he was the mechanical genius who got the dummy moving and working. He did a great job, I think it works really well.
A lot of people didn't like the voice of the dummy, but I can't picture how else he should sound. I always pictured him having this sort of cartoonish helium-voice but saying all sorts of nasty comments and curse words. If he had a monster voice I think it would have sounded hokey.
ID:You also have the upcoming release of FROM THE INSIDE. You said that it comes from a dark period in your life and it is more introspective in nature. What is it like finally seeing the completed film and what are your plans for the release of this film?
JH:Well this is my 'lost film' - I'd shot this a couple of years ago and then it sort of got tied up in post for several years. Things like that were what made it necessary for me to take the reins and start getting everything done myself from soup to nuts.
It's not so much introspective, but it is kind of an anomaly as far as my films go. All my films thus far - even being horror movies - have a lot of humor in them. I like to think of my movies as fun and I think they are. 'From The Inside' is a lot more downbeat - there's no humor, it's gritty and sometimes ugly. I think it's a movie that's not always comfortable to watch.
I wrote the movie a long time ago when I was very unhappy with life and it shows in the story. Nothing in the story is autobiographical - thank God - just the overall concepts of hopelessness and fear of bad things happening and the sense that maybe people aren't generally good like I always hope they are. It comes from a low place.
I don't plan on making any more films in that vein, but I am certainly proud of it. I think it really works, it's perhaps the best script I've ever written and it's got some great twists and turns that keep you from figuring it out. Plus it's the sort of movie where I think the viewer is forced to put themselves in the story and wonder what they would do in the situation from both a survival standpoint and a moral standpoint. I'm really curious to how it will be received.
ID:I always like the fact that you take your time telling a story, with multi-faceted writing. You successfully combine horror, comedy, terror, suspense, and erotica. Without giving away your whole recipe, what sort of ideas do you have for your next film projects?
JH:Well Peter, thank you. That is a great compliment. Whenever I give anyone advice as far as filmmaking the first thing I say is you're telling a story. Before the action, before the special effects, before the costumes, before all the camera tricks you learned in film-school your story has to be there because as a filmmaker you are telling a story. If the audience doesn't understand what your movie is about it's not their fault, it's your fault. They don't have to be smart enough to pick up some film school horseshit you learned where 'the color red symbolizes evil' or some such nonsense. Your audience is the world, if you can't tell a story that everyone understands you're not a very good filmmaker - no matter how good your movie looks.
As far as what's up next, I'm shooting my first comedy - yes, an actual comedy, not just a comedy/horror film. It's called "Is This A Joke?" and it's coming along very nicely. My mom has been wanting me to make a comedy forever - though I'm sure she'll still gripe about it because it's raunchy as hell. But it's all in good fun and I think people will enjoy it.
After that I'm shooting an action movie called "Lenora Rose" which stars Nicola Fiore who's totally awesome - she's also in "Is This A Joke?" and she's so much fun to work with. Not only is she so beautiful and such a good actress, but she's just got such a great attitude and such spirit.
Nicola will be playing Lenora Rose who’s this ass-kicking female character who's being pursued by various thugs after her somewhat shady father is murdered. It's kind of a throwback to those great 'girls kicking ass' movies from the 70's and 80's like "Firecracker," "Lovely But Deadly," and even "China O'Brien." Like I said, everything I do is a throwback to the 70's and 80's (laughs).
But my horror fans don't have to worry - after that I come back to the horror genre with "Don't Go Out Tonight."
ID:What else do you have in store for Jim Haggerty and Yellow Ape Productions? Are you making any personal appearances and/or do you plan to attend any of this year’s horror festivals? Where and how can we purchase your films?
JH:I am eager to get out on the convention circuit and getting Yellow Ape out to the people. I'm sure people can care less about meeting me personally, but at least if they can start being exposed to the films I think we can develop a following. I'd like the company to start becoming like a Troma or Full Moon, where there's a built-in fanbase that know what to expect from their films and love it. I mean, guys like Lloyd Kaufman are absolute geniuses - every aspiring B-movie director should read 'Make Your Own Damn Movie,' it's a truly honest and funny guide to real do-it-yourself filmmaking. I'd like to do something along the lines of what he's done.
But as far as getting my films, right now folks can order or pre-order "Grave Danger" and "Witchmaster General" at www.YellowApe.net and in future months we will have "From The Inside," "Is This A Joke," and "Lenora Rose" available as well.
Thank you so much Peter for another great interview - it's always so much fun to talk with you and I appreciate all your continued support and I hope you and your readers will keep on enjoying my movies!