By Anthony O'Connor
There’s a moment in director Gary Doust’s documentary Horror Movie: A Low Budget Nightmare where the subject of the doco, Craig Anderson, is dealing with the stress of being a first time feature director, attempting to raise further funds and having a circumcision as an adult man (due to a fairly common but nightmarishly-timed condition). Later in the piece he laments that because of this, he can’t do “the one thing” he normally would to relieve some of the tension and pressure he’s feeling. It’s a funny observation, but more than that it’s an honest, intimate moment in a film that absolutely overflows with them. Horror Movie is the story of a man who makes it through the filmmaking process literally by the skin of his dick.
We managed to get both director, Gary Doust and subject of the documentary and writer/director of Red Christmas, Craig Anderson to talk about low budget filmmaking, horror movies and Dee Wallace.
How do you two know one another?
Gary: Craig and I have known each other for a while. There was a certain period when we were both entering a lot of short film festivals, but we didn’t know each other that well then. But then I was doing a documentary series called Next Stop Hollywood, and entering a casting process, and I had this hunch that somebody like Craig would be great for the show because I knew he’d bring a lot of comic aspects to the idea of trying to knock down doors in Hollywood.
I can definitely see the appeal from Gary’s perspective, but Craig: why on earth would you let someone film the insanely stressful journey of directing your first feature film?
Craig: Well Gary’s a friend and I thought it would be a bit like keeping a journal. I like to document anything, really. But also one thing I learned from doing [Next Stop Hollywood] was that I was a loser there. But because of this show I had a second life where I wasn’t a loser. Everyone used to say, ‘oh I liked you on that show, you were the funniest person… it was a lot of fun watching you go through something bad’. So [Horror Movie] was like a consolation prize to feel good about, like, well at least I learned something and people can learn something from my mistakes. I didn’t think I’d make so many mistakes…
Why make a movie about a killer fetus?
Craig: As I tell it, when I do festivals, it was pretty much the stupidest idea for a movie I could think of: a pro-life slasher movie – it’s a walking contradiction. I wrote one script that was very silly, like it was just a puppet that was killing everyone – like an early exploitation movie – but then I did lots of research into reproductive rights and I realised I didn’t want to make that statement. I became fascinated with both sides of the argument because this is a big thing that people don’t talk about and horror, technically, pretends that it does taboos. But it really just does safe taboos.
Gary, when you’re making this, did it ever worry you that you might be filming the literal emotional collapse of a fellow human being?
Gary: I was probably the most worried on the first day of shooting because it was a bit of a shock to Craig about not having enough time and not having a proper crew around. I hadn’t expected that to happen so soon and I found it particularly hard filming that because I felt really bad as well. I guess the difference is that Craig is a friend, you know? And so there’s two things going on: I’m making a documentary and from the documentary’s perspective I should be going ‘yes!’ on the inside, because this is great material, but on the other hand it’s very hard to watch something that I know Craig was so passionate about be under threat. So yeah, I thought Craig might have been in danger of snapping.
So other than the idea that ‘making movies is hard’ being reinforced, the doco made us realise that Dee Wallace (The Howling, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial) is kind of a legend!
Craig: Yes, she was very good. I was worried after the first day that she was going to leave. And then by, like, the second or third day I realised ‘she would have left by now’ if she’d hated it…
Gary: It was very scary. The first couple of days you could just feel it, I think we all noticed. She was being very professional, but I think between takes the look on her face was a ‘what the hell is this?’ sort of thing. But as you see in the documentary there was a very genuine journey for her that occurred throughout the film, and I think it’s a credit to Craig – and also the film itself. [Dee] even says in the documentary that doing this film renewed her faith in herself and her acting ability, and that’s amazing.
How do you pitch the documentary to people?
Gary: It’s called Horror Movie: A Low Budget Nightmare, but it’s not really a film that’s just about the making of a horror film. It’s about an underdog type character who is passionate to do something and is putting everything on the line to follow a dream. I think that a lot of people would relate to that. On a personal level I relate to the story as well, because this film was sort of a ‘do or die’ moment for me as well, just to see if I could make this work and if I should keep going and make films or not. So I relate to Craig’s journey on a personal level and I think a lot of other people will too.
A very special double feature of Horror Movie: A Low Budget Nightmare and Red Christmas followed by a Q&A with both Gary Doust and Craig Anderson is taking place on Friday, December 1, 2017 at Event George St. For more information, head to the website.
