The Independent Film Corner: Amy Lynn Best

Amy Lynn Best is an actress, director and producer that has been working, in the independent horror film scene for over 10 years, while staring in such films, as "The Resurection Game" and "A Feast of Flesh" In 2002, she made her feature length, directorial debut, with a film called "Severe Injuries. Today, she is here to talk about her second film that she recently directed and starred in, "Splatter Movie: The Director's Cut".







Tell me about yourself?

I have been in the independent film industry for over 10 years. First just acting and then I added producing and directing. I also love watching movies, reading, playing with my cats and dogs, riding my horses and spending time with my friends. The horror industry wasn't something I grew up knowing I wanted to do. I kind of stumbled into it when I met Mike Watt and started helping him with his film school projects.

This was the third film that I've seen from your production company, Happy Cloud Pictures. Severe Injuries and A Feast of Flesh, the other two. Tell my how the production company was started?

Our production company started in 1997 when Mike Watt, Bill Homan and I joined forces to make The Resurrection Game. Since then we've made five features, 4 shorts and 2 documentaries. Through the years we've added and subtracted members of our production family. We've always worked with great people and I think that's why we've survived this long. What movies influenced you to the point that made you want to be both an actress and director in the horror genre, as there not many females that do both? I don't think I was influences by any movies to start directing. Except our own productions. It seemed like something I wanted to try. I really enjoy it when working with the crew and cast I normally work with. Everyone is very helpful and supportive. So when the opportunity presented itself I jumped at it. I'm lucky that I have Mike and others we work with helping me out and not letting me fall on my face.

Splatter Movie: The Director's Cut was an entertaining and fun film with a shocking ending. Tell my readers, about this film.

Splatter Movie: The Director's Cut started while Mike Watt and I were working on another project at the Haunted House where we filmed it. While we were wandering around we decided we had to shoot there. Mike got the idea for the script and we developed it over the next few days. He decided to make it a look at the horror industry from a filmmakers perspective. It came together fast and it was fun to shoot. We didn't have to worry about equipment in the shot or anything like that. It was a great experience and one of the best shoots we've had. You'll also the main star of the film. Tell me about your character" Amy Lee Parker" that you play in the film and does the character resemble you in anyway, since a lot of the characters in the film also has the same first name with the last name being different? Amy Lee Parker does resemble me in that we're both women trying to do the traditional men's role in the industry. Amy Lee is a bit more jaded than I am and also cares less about her production. Most of the actors in the film are either playing themselves or versions of themselves. We felt this would add to the surrealism of the film. It did get a little confusing, but it was fun.

One of the things that I liked with this film was the fact that the film had an interesting structure, as Part narrative, Part Mockumentry. How did you and screenwriter Mike Watt came with the story of the film?

Mike is the one who came up with the story. The location was so inspiring that Mike had a good outline in his mind before we left there the first day we were there. The rest of it wrote itself once he had the idea and the actors in his head. This film also goes a good job at looking at the behind the scenes of low budget filmmaking and the horror genre, in general.

What made you and Mike Watt want to explore that topic with this film?

The behind the scenes aspect of the film came out of the script. It's something that we felt that a lot of low budget filmmakers would understand and it might help people who are not in the industry get a sense of what happens behind the scenes of a low budget movie. A lot of people who like this film are in the latter category. We've had people who don't really like low budget movies tell us how much they like this one because it helps them understand some of what is done on set.

Another thing that I'd like was the style of directing that you used, as at times, it felt like a real documentary with the character interviews. What made you want to shoot some of scenes in this film, like a behind the scenes documentary that you would see on a DVD extra?

Mike was trying to create a real behind the scenes feel to the movie, so he added in the interviews. It helped move the story along and give you an insight into the characters in the movie. Some of the interviews were scripted with the actors having room to improvise if they wanted, others weren't scripted at all. The film also has some great kill scenes, which I won't talk about, as I want my readers to purchase the film. When directing scenes like that, tell me what looked for, especially with this film as there were a couple of very good kill scenes? When we did the kill scenes we had Eric Molinaris, our lead effects artist, there and looking through the camera and at monitors to help direct the camera placement and movement. I think it really helps having someone who knows what they're looking for as far as seems, etc, to give another eye and be a bit tougher than I would on the effects. Having multiple camera angles helped also. It gave Mike more to work with when he edited the movie.

The film has a very good cast that underground horror fans know and well like Debbie Rochon, up and coming scream queen Elske McCain, Tom Sullivan. How did they become involved with this project?

Debbie has been in just about everything we've done since we started working in the industry. She's been a great friend and supporter of our. Elske we met at a convention and thought she would fit well with the cast and do well in this movie. Tom Sullivan we met years ago at a convention and see every April and October at Cinema Wasteland. We've been talking to him about working together and this project we were able to work out a schedule and he really added to the cast we were assembling. What was the atmosphere like on the set, as this seems like this was a fun movie to work on? Overall the atmosphere was great. We had a wonderful cast, a fantastic, talented crew and the people that owned and worked on the location were so nice and accommodating. The biggest challenge was working around the crew of the Haunted House while they were getting it ready for the upcoming season. It never did become a big issue but it was difficult at times.

Tell me, how my readers can find this film and have there been any major distribution plans for the film?

Right now we're selling the pre-release copy off of our site http://www.happycloudpictures.net/ As for distribution, we've sent it to a few places but we decided to go the self distribution route. With the state of the market now and the prices of pressings these days I think we'll do better in the long run. It'll be tough, but I think we're up for it.




You and your production company have another film coming out soon called "Demon Divas and the Lanes of Damnation", which I'm very excited for. Tell my readers about this film and when we can expect that film to come out.

Demon Diva's and the Lanes of Damnation came about when my friend Tara's Mom told us she wanted us to shoot at her bowling alley. From there Mike and I put together our dream cast and came up with an idea. Mike then wrote the first draft in a couple of days while I started making the cast and crew come together. We knew we had to do HD and contacted our friends from DiggerFilms, a canadian film company, to come down and shoot for us since they had the equipment and experience with the HD cameras. There were a few snags with our dream cast, schedules, family problems, etc, but we managed to pull together Brinke Stevens, Debbie Rochon, Lilith Stabs and Robyn Griggs to join me at the Demon Divas. Sofiya Smirnova and Nikki McCrea were cast at the plain girls who need to get things going and Aaron Bernard was cast as the nice Frat guy. Stephanie Bartoni, Rachelle Williams (another of our usual cast), Tabatha Carrick and Tara Cooper were cast as the sorority girls. Mike Barton and Jeff Waltrowski rounded out the Frat Guys. Bill Homan, Stacy Bartlebaugh-Gmys and Gwendolyn show up as a book club and we added Henrique Couto and Gary Ashley as the Pin Boys to really give ourselves and insane cast size. The feel of the film we tried to keep as an 80's film, which is my favorite time frame for low budget films, and we again had Eric Molinaris leading our effects crew. This really was our biggest production to date and our shortest preproduction time. Right now we're in post and there should be a finished project by the end of Spring 2009.

Also, are there any other future Projects that you or your production company are involved in that you can talk about?

Right now we're working on a few different projects. We have a comedy in the works as well as a western, straight out horror movie and a few other things. We're also looking at putting out some books on our films and some novels by Mike and others.

Before I end this interview, Tell me your opinion, on the state of the horror genre today.

I'm not real happy about horror these days. I'm tired of J-horror remakes, I'm tired of the nasty shock value gore movies, I'm tired of remakes and I think the consumer end of horror is really down. I'm hoping that things turn around but as long as people keep going to see Saw # whatever (get it see-saw ha ha ha) and supporting remakes I don't see anything changing.

I want to thank you Ms. Best, for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk about your latest film "Splatter Movie: The Director's Cut" and good luck with this film and your future projects.

Thank you!

To purchase a pre-release copy of "Splatter Movie: The Director's Cut, you can goto the Happy Cloud Picture website at: http://www.happycloudpictures.com/.

Also, you visit Amy Lynn Best's official website at: http://www.amylynnbest.net/

You can also catch my interview with Amy Lynn Best's co-star Elske McCain at: http://www.filmarcade.net/2008/10/independent-film-corner-elske-mccain.html

To read my review of Splatter Movie: The Director's Cut, you can goto: http://www.filmarcade.net/2008/10/splatter-movie-directors-cut-review.html

Uniti next time, my name is Anthony Thurber. Have a good day.