Last week, I was able to sit down with Jeremy Garner and Thevocab
Ulariast, the team behind All Hell Breaks Loose, which has its Portland
premiere at Cinema 21 on Friday, October 3, at 10 pm.
The Shadow Over Portland: I’m talking with the creators of the exploitation tribute,
at least that’s what I assume it is, All Hell Breaks Loose. Now, I know this is a Portland
premiere, but is this bigger that that?
Or have you shown it elsewhere?
Jeremy Garner: The world premiere was in Eugene (Oregon),
where the majority of the cast and crew are from. This is the Portland premiere.
TSOP: Vocab, this is the first movie you worked on. Where did you find the inspiration for
the script?
Thevocab Ulariast: Well, a friend of ours, Joseph (he plays
God in the movie), he rides a motorcycle.
And he asked Jeremy if he wanted to make a biker movie. We had the resources, and had
been working on some short films, so Jeremy asked if I wanted to write a biker
movie.
In my style, I wanted to be left alone with it as I wrote
it. And the only thing Jeremy
asked is to have a séance in it.
And that drove to me where I went with it.
I didn’t want it to be like Sons of Anarchy, or Dear God,
No. So I came up with an amalgamation
of the movies that I love, enjoy and think are funny.
TSOP: Jeremy,
you produced and worked on special effects on several films shot in
Eugene. Is this your first time
directing?
JG: This is the first feature film I’ve directed. I’ve directed shorts, which no one ever
saw, but it’s my first feature film.
TSOP: What was
the difference between producing, or working on special effects, and directing?
JG: It was
pretty crazy. We didn’t have much
of a budget and everything you’re doing is tenfold.
As far as locations, casting, what I had to prepare to do
for effects, it was hard. Everyone
involved in production had to wear many different hats, which was
difficult.
TSOP: Vocab, were you working on the film as well?
TU: Like Jeremy said, everyone was wearing a bunch of hats
and I helped out with every aspect of the film, except for editing and sound
effects.
When I was on set, I’d try to work with the actors on their
lines and try to make sure they hit them right. A lot of the jokes in the script are about the timing and
the way the lines are delivered. I
think we did a pretty good job with that, and the actors responded to that and
that was my most important part on the film, other than being around and doing
all sorts of little things on the set to make it work.
TSOP: Jeremy, you said you didn’t have much of a budget, but
you have some really nice bikes in the movie. Did you find people who had them, or did you know of actors
with bikes and told them you were making the film?
JG: Like Vocab said, Justin Sullivan, who plays God in the
movie, he rides and is in a motorcycle club. He was able to put us in contact with a large motorcycle
club in Oregon that was willing to help us out.
TSOP: Where you able to find enough actors in Eugene, or
were you able to pull from actors in Portland?
JG: As I said, we’ve been working on short films for a
while, so we have a pretty good core group of people we work with on a regular
basis. And for some of the larger
roles, like Statch, we did a Portland casting call and were lucky to find the
perfect people for it.
TSOP: The movie has an obviously intentional warped sense of
humor. Vocab, did you find
yourself reigning in the humor?
Did you ever think you were going too far? Or did you just decide to go as far as you can?
TU: My intention with everything I write is to go as far as
I can. In my dealings with
scripts, it limits the people willing to take a chance on it. Jeremy’s one of the few people I know
that says, “I like that, let’s do it.”
And the film is pretty close to what’s on the page. We didn’t really cut anything out, other
than for time, or the end standards not being what we wanted. Everything that’s in the film is on the
page.
There were a couple things the actors added in, which were
pretty hilarious, like the scene where the bartender keeps getting slapped on
the butt. It wasn’t planned, I
didn’t add it in there, but it adds a nice touch. The actors put their own flavor into their roles and got
into the hilarious meanness of the movie.
I’m pretty happy with it.
And no, I never had to reign myself in on anything.
TSOP: Jeremy, where did you find the locations? There’s a scene in a bar. What did you do to get that location?
JG: Goggle Earth was my friend. I scoured the state looking for the perfect locations for
the riding sequences, which, if you watch old biker films, always have an
Arizona/New Mexico look to them.
And the great thing about Oregon is you’ve got deserts, you have
mountains, you have the ocean. You
have every thing you could possible need in this state.
The exterior of the bar we found in this logging town called
Noti. I called up the owner and
they were awesome. They let us
come out and take over the place for an entire weekend. We shot all of our exteriors
there. For the interior, we used a
motorcycle club’s clubhouse.
TSOP: I called this an exploitation film homage, and it
looks it. You put a grainy texture
into the film. Was that
purposeful, or were you just having fun?
And what did you do to make this look like a movie you’d see in a
grindhouse theater?
JG: Well, I didn’t want to take the Rodriguez/Tarantino
approach and overdo it. I wanted
to give it the look of being period dated, but not really. I added the things I enjoy about
watching old films, like the 35mm grain and dust on old prints. But I purposely stayed away from doing film
burns, scratches and hair, because I don’t want to have people comparing my
movie to Planet Terror. And I
didn’t want it to come across as gimmicky.
But, at the same time, I’m a fanboy. I wanted the film to have to have that
look, without being in your face.
TSOP: Vocab, do you plan to write another script in the near
future?
TU: I have scripts out there, but they’re all like All Hell
Breaks Loose, weird and quirky. I
had one reviewer call the film “uncategorizable,” which is how all my scripts
are, weird, funny violent and unique.
All Hell Breaks Loose is an exploitation biker film, but I don’t think
you’ll find someone to write it like I did, with the weirdness, humor and
oddball jokes here and there.
I try to sell my scripts, but people don’t get them. The one time I had someone try to buy
one from me, they had me rewrite it, and it took all the heart out of the
script. That really killed me and
made me done with Hollywood. I
only want to work with Jeremy, or any other director that might understand what
the hell I’m trying to do. That
one experience of cannibalizing my own work really pissed me off and I’m not
into it.
TSOP: It looked like the film poked fun at some other movies. For example, the holy water in the
condoms sequence seemed a little joke at the moment in From Dusk Till
Dawn.
JG: There’s only so much you can do with holy water. Just the fact that the priest is an
alcoholic pervert made the condoms come across as the perfect vessel for his
holy water.
TSOP: I just
loved the fact that the condoms wouldn’t break on impact with the bikers, which
makes sense. I was watching the
scene and thinking, “Oh, that’s good.”
TU: I was playing with that, like it could be a weapon. But in reality, you have to fill a
condom with a lot of water to make it break on impact. And I think that’s funnier, that it’s
realistic. We have so much silly
stuff going on, when that dose of realism hits, it become hilarious.
JG: The first time I read that, it was Vocab’s personality
coming through. His humor is to
add insult to injury. That
describes it perfectly.
TSOP: Jeremy, the film uses both practical and CG
effects. Did you try to stay with
practical as much as possible, or was it based on the film’s budget?
JG: It was a little bit of both. Everything was planned out for us to do the effects
practically, but on set, we were all wearing different hats. I planned on doing all the effects, but
we had a three-week shooting schedule on this feature film. And a lot of the effects ended up looking
like garbage. We had to go to
digital to add to the practical effects that didn’t quite come across the way I
wanted them to. Every effect in
the film is practical, but with digital overlaid to complement it, except for a
few shots that weren’t obtainable with our budget.
It was a lesson learned, you can’t do everything
yourself. Directing is a big
enough job. I can’t wait for the
next film. There will be a crew,
effects and makeup artists.
I’m not totally against digital effects. I think they can be nice, and add to practical
effects, if you can get them mixed properly.
TSOP: Vocab, you take some pretty humorous potshots at
religion in this film, especially with the end. And let’s not spoil it! Where did that part of the film come from?
TU: I’m not quite sure where it came from, other than the
fact that I’m not really religious and the idea of superhuman beings deciding
the fate of our lives is pretty humorous to me. Because I’m a non-believer, I find humor in religion. And twisting religious ideals to mess
with an audience makes me laugh on the inside.
I know the people who watch our movies won’t be the most
religious people, so I felt I was safe.
I’m not trying to offend anyone, it’s just my personal humor and I think
horror fans will get it.
TSOP: So, what’s next for you guys?
JG: Our next big project is Desecration.
TSOP: Is that one you wrote, Vocab?
TU: No, and I want to give the writer credit, but I can’t
remember his name.
JG: It was Michael Shelton. We purchased the script and, with his approval, rewrote it
to fit our style.
TU: I took what was a really nasty, brutal script and
injected humor into it. It’s
irreverent, weird and, once again,
“uncategorizable,” which is a weird word to say. But that’s what I like. I’ve done movie reviews before, I’ve
done a lot of studying into what makes a cult movie, and I have a certain
philosophy I write by, because my idea is to make everything a cult movie. Make it so weird, so bizarre, yet so
accessible that people will enjoy it, even if they didn’t think they would.
With All Hell Breaks Loose, you say it’s a biker
exploitation movie and people will say, “It’s not really my thing.” Than they watch it and enjoy it because
it has elements that are funny and enjoyable. So with Desecration, I feel I took that script and did the
same thing. It remains to be seen
how we shoot it.
TSOP: When does shooting start?
JG: It’s all about money at this point. We have to recoup some of our funds
from All Hell Breaks Loose, and as soon as we can do that, we’ll get started.
TSOP: What was your biggest difficulty in getting All Hell
Breaks Loose filmed?
JG: The biggest difficulty I had was having such a large
cast that was unpaid, or underpaid, and getting all these people together at
the same time. Everyone has day
jobs, everyone has families. I
needed three weeks out of their life and that was difficult.
TSOP: So this was shot in three weeks, not over a series of
weekends?
JG: No. I’ve
worked on plenty of feature films that have stretched out over a year, shooting
on weekends, because the filmmakers are working with low budgets. I didn’t want to fall into the pitfalls
involved with that, so I decided whoever was cast would have to guarantee me
three weeks time, so we could get the film shot and done.
TSOP: All Hell Breaks Loose screens at Cinema 21 at 10
pm on October 3. How do you think the screening
will go?
TU: I think
we’re gonna pack the place. There
will be lots of beer around, lots of laughs. I think it will be great.
One thing I want to point out is, this isn’t a movie where
you sit and watch quietly. This is
rough and rowdy. Go to the movie
drunk, laugh and scream and have fun.
That’s what we want to see.
TSOP: I assume you both will be at the screening. Will any members of the
cast be there as well?
TU: I think the majority of the cast will be there. Definitely Ehren “Danger” McGhehey will
be there. Nick Forrest, who plays
the hero, and Joseph Sullivan, who plays God, will be there. April Mai, who is our wonderful
kidnapped stripper will be there.
So, if you want to meet everyone, be there. October 3, 10 pm at Cinema 21.
TSOP: Will you be selling DVDs at the screening?
TU: Probably not.
Right now, we are looking into different genre distribution companies
that might be interesting in the film, so we’re holding off on selling any
physical copies at this time.
TSOP: Where can people find you on the web?
TU: I run a website called moviecynics.com, and my
information is on the website. I
have a Facebook page called Thevocab Ularious and on Twitter I have @vocabularious.
JG: I’m on Facebook.
You can find search All Hell Breaks Loose film and look us up under Frenetic Films Production on Facebook.
TSOP: Well,
thank you both for your time and I hope the screening of All Hell Breaks Loose
is a success.
TU: Thank you.
JG: Thanks.
The Portland premiere of All Hell Breaks Loose takes place
at Cinema 21 on October 3 at 10 pm.
