MORE SLAMDANCE INTERVIEWS: JON KNAUTZ, PATRICK WHITE, TREVOR MATTHEWS JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER

Sat, Jan 19th, 10:45pm

After witnessing the brutal murder of his family, plumber Jack Brooks is left with an unquenchable fury that he is constantly fighting to control. One night, Jack attempts to fix a professors old, rusted pipes, but unknowingly awakens an ancient evil.

Where were you and how did you react when you were told you’d been accepted to Slamdance?

White: I was at a shopping mall in Vancouver and I was thrilled we had gotten in, I then immediately called Jon and Trevor to share the news, and started thinking what could we do to stand out at the festival.

How were you able to find financing for the project?

White: We had private investment and we were very lucky that our investor believed in us and supported us.

What debt does the film owe to the tradition of schlocky horror cinema? What film or filmmakers provided some influence?

Knautz: The film was certainly influenced by classic 80’s horror films such as They Fly, Gremlins and the Evil Dead Trilogy. We wanted to make something reminiscent of those kind of movies so CGI was out of the question.

How did Mr. Englund become involved?

Matthews: Robert was our number one choice for the role, we knew that he had a big following from Freddy Kreuger and we were all hugely influenced by Nightmare on Elm Street. We sent him a demo and he enjoyed our short film “Still Life” we then sent him a draft of the script and he signed on.

What were your biggest challenges when constructing the film in post-production?

Knautz: Shooting the monsters was difficult. Though they looked great, there were certain things I needed them to do that would unfortunately make them look corny. So the biggest challenge in post was to hang on the monster shots long enough so that they would feel menacing, but not too long so that they would feel fake. There were times where my editor and I just had to bite the bullet, for the most part I feel the monsters work well.

Any other projects in the pipeline?

Matthews: Currently we are developing several original ideas into scripts, we are also looking into doing a remake as well as optioning some books. We will be producing a new feature film this year.