March 6, 2024 • 39 mins
We’re staring into the abyss of 1976’s The Omen to see what will gaze back. Today we are kicking off not one BUT two brand new series with the filmmakers of this year’s Horrific Hope (https://www.victimsandvillains.net/horrifichope) going through The Omen film series with us. We are joined by writer/director, Richard Elfman, and his leading lady, Anatasia Elfman, creators behind Bloody Bridget (https://bloodybridget.com/) to talk about the insane creation process of the film, Haitian history, film trivia on The Omen and more! Get your tickets for Horrific Hope Now: https://drafthouse.com/winchester/show/2024-horrific-hope-film-festival. Plus, we have music from Bend the Knee (https://bendthekneeva.bandcamp.com/).
Try Paramount+ on us: https://paramountplus.qflm.net/c/5051473/1001331/3065
If you or someone you know is reading this right now and struggling with suicide, depression, addiction, or self-harm - please reach out. Comment, message, or tweet at us. Go to victimsandvillains.net/hope for more resources. Call the suicide lifeline at 988. Text "HELP" to 741-741. There is hope & you DO have so much value and worth!
Abyss Gazing is a production of Victims and Villains and is written by Josh “Captain Nostalgia” Burkey (& produced by) and Mark Moore. Music by Kevin MacLeod, Purple Planet (https://bit.ly/ppcoms) & Bend the Knee.
You can now support us on Patreon. Help us get mental health resources into schools and get exclusive content at the same time. Click here (http://bit.ly/vavpatreon) to support us today!
Try Paramount+ on us: https://paramountplus.qflm.net/c/5051473/1001331/3065
If you or someone you know is reading this right now and struggling with suicide, depression, addiction, or self-harm - please reach out. Comment, message, or tweet at us. Go to victimsandvillains.net/hope for more resources. Call the suicide lifeline at 988. Text "HELP" to 741-741. There is hope & you DO have so much value and worth!
Abyss Gazing is a production of Victims and Villains and is written by Josh “Captain Nostalgia” Burkey (& produced by) and Mark Moore. Music by Kevin MacLeod, Purple Planet (https://bit.ly/ppcoms) & Bend the Knee.
You can now support us on Patreon. Help us get mental health resources into schools and get exclusive content at the same time. Click here (http://bit.ly/vavpatreon) to support us today!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Hey, you are listening to abiscazing, a horror podcast where we celebrate
all things spooky and mental health.And I'm Billy your co host. I'm
trying to co host. Josh Markis not with us, he is under
the weather. But we are joinedby our first feature film of this year's
Horrific Hope Film USTVLE. We're kickingoff not one series, but two series
(00:30):
uh this episode with our looks intothe omen and also introducing you guys to
the filmmakers that make up this year'sfor a Fic Hope Film Festival. And
I am joined today along not onlywith Billy, but also uh director behind
our first feature, Bloody Bridget,Richard Elfman and his wife and leading lady,
(00:53):
Anastasia Elfman. Hello, Hey,how are you guys this evening doing
well? I I just I haveto ask this right out of right out
the gate when it comes to well, before we started kind of jumping into
like the the craziness of this movieand like picking it apart, can you
(01:15):
just give us a brief like summary, like what this movie's about? Okay?
Well? Uh, A Haitian voodoodeity mistakes red haired burlesque answer for
his long lost wife and he turnsher into a Valentine vampire. Well what
(01:36):
is that? And you'll find outsucking blood only wets her appetite. She
must eat their beating hearts and theyall deserve it. Yeah, there you
go, There you go, Billy. When I take the first question,
sure, I want to ask whatmade you do a story dealing with the
(01:56):
voodoo and the Mama Bridget and thingslike that. Well it's actually, okay,
I'm a Latin percussionist, and whenyou get into the rhythm, you
actually get into African folklore and religionsand this and that, and just like,
okay, if you go to Jamaica, there's Rostafarians and they kind of
(02:21):
worship Highly Selassi from the emperor ofEthiopia in the twenties and the thirties.
Okay, so Highly Selass's name wasTafari and Ross is king, and that's
Rostafarian. That's where they came from. So in Haiti there's a similar kind
of call it cultural appropriation. FromIreland is Baron Salmudai, the deity of
(02:45):
kind of life and death, topHat cigar Roum women. His wife in
Haiti is the red haired Saint Bridgetof Ireland, who was originally the Celtic
goddess Bridget. So in the Haitianceremony, there's this red haired lady.
So this is kind of loosely inspiredby Haitian folklore. And the Haitians in
(03:07):
the film are actually played by Haitians. We're politically correct. That was gonna
be Actually one of the things Iwas interested about too was knowing when you
think of like specifically Haitian and Ijust feel like specifically with Haitians, the
subgenre often gets linked with is likezombies. You look at films like the
(03:30):
you know, White Zombie and TheSerpent in the Rainbow. But to juxtapose
that with a musical elements, burlesqueand vampires and kind of throw all of
this into just absolute like a fuelthrough like a fever dream. What was
the writing process like and the craftingthe story like for you to kind of
(03:53):
take all of those elements and dosomething as unique as Bloody Bridget. Okay,
now I have a very complex writingprocess. Okay, I have a
little Garrett on our roof deck overlookingthe Hollywood Hills of former tenant John Lennon
actually composed some music there, soit's a tiny garret with a window,
(04:15):
and I bring in a case ofScotch and a box of cigars, and
three weeks later I have a script. God, I love that. I'm
not joking. I've been writing fora long time. That's amazing. Did
(04:35):
you guys with you know, bringingon here? Obviously that first question kind
of unloaded into a lot of folkloreand a lot of history. Was this
a process that you were already familiarwith a lot of that stuff or did
you have a lot of time likeresearching it before actually like writing the script.
(04:56):
Well, I've been into Afro Latinpercussion since I was fifteen, So
when you get into the music,like like the different rhythms actually come from
different deities from West Africa. Interesting, you know. So I held it
up, you know, through music, getting into the kind of ethno musicology
and the folklore and all all ofthat. Awesome. Yeah, so I
(05:21):
had a bit of a back abit of background in it. No,
I really liked the special effects inall how you were doing the hearts where
she'd take it out, eat theheart and everything. What was the hearts
actually made of that she was actuallyeating? Was it like food? Like
she was actually able to eat her. Was it just what you want answer?
(05:45):
Yeah, go ahead, Okay,Well I was told in the beginning,
because okay, so I'm a vegetarian. I was told in the beginning
they were gonna be kind of likea gelatine or something like that, because
we kind of shot all the killsback to back, so it was like
six kills in one day. Anduh so I was told it was going
(06:09):
to be like some kind of anedible thing like mold, but it ended
up being uh like latex and foam, and it was terrible, and like
one of the worst parts was thatit was huge and and and when I
couldn't I couldn't get my fangs intoit to rip it apart because it was
(06:30):
so thick, like they did likeseveral layers of latex over the foam,
and so they had to on onset, they had to like score it
open, so like they're making theselike millions of micro fibers of uh like
foam that get into my gums andget into my teeth. So it was
like a terrible, terrible situation,but we got the shot. It sounds
(07:00):
like it because yeah, that uhyeah, a good picture of this Okay,
So she's there and she's got likegorilla tape to hold like the tubes
for the blood and whatever. Sothen she has to do this and she's
almost wretching, throwing up, breakingher nails like trying to rip it off.
(07:21):
And then like we finished one,rush her into a rip off the
tape, rush her into a coldshower. Next action. Fourteen hours.
That's that's crazy, Thank you,thank you. Yeah. Yeah, it
(07:42):
was a I mean, luckily Ihad a really great effects crew who were
there and like completely had my backthrough it. But it was a lot
of back to back and it wasn'tjust like ripping. It was like ripping
through clothes and like you know,because we had like the dummy chest,
so it was gripping dude, likethick latex and stuff. And so it
(08:03):
was like I had to because mycharacter had nails, so I had I
wanted to make it a little bitdifferent for the when she became a demon,
so I had like fake longer nailsand so those would rip off and
then it would like rip It wasjust like it was so terrible, but
we got the shot and it's it'snow wonderful. Richard, you brought this
(08:26):
up originally that Anastasia's character in thismovie is a burlesque dancer who uh not
really giving away any spoilers, butthe opening number of the film is kind
of like this horror uh kind oflike number where it's hard to explain.
(08:46):
I don't want to Yeah, horrorburlesque. It is like the way I
get it. Kind of we kindof get to see like different like U
two, there's two or three differentshots in here that are each telling like
different stories. Is it the sameproduction or is this kind of like how
did you guys manage to separate thedifferent burlesque numbers from one another? But
(09:13):
I don't know. You know,we had on a choreographs and she had
another choreographer she was working with.I pretty much delegated that to the ladies.
Okay, that question goes to youlike action, Yeah, Well,
I mean my background is I've classicallytrained in ballet since I was three,
(09:35):
So I grew up in the theaterand so I have a huge dance background.
But for this, because we selffinanced the whole film, and so
I was also juggling like doing producersstuff, so it was like I had
to kind of give leeway to afew things that I usually handle myself,
like the choreography. So we hada wonderful choreographer and so so it just
(10:00):
kind of like Ricky likes to givekind of like jumping off notes and then
I don't even remember what the noteswere for that, but it was just
like wild stuff. Well I wantedI wanted to open with like some gooney
movements, which we did kind ofthat was my move. Yeah, yeah,
you can take credit for that.It was all happy or whenever you
(10:24):
see like stooge like moves in myfilms, I choreographed those myself. Well,
she answered one of my questions ifshe had a background with dance and
all that, because I was.I noticed, like the dance and everything
in there. It looked like stuffthat you know, Oh yeah, thank
(10:45):
you. And usually when we can, we like go to festivals and screenings,
I'll do like a wild bloody burlesqueto open up the film, and
there'll be like a victim in theaudience and I'll drag them on stage and
rip out his heart. So it'sit's been fun. Background along with classical
(11:11):
ballet and classical cello. She's froma marine family and was at Young Marine
camp every weekend of her youth.And she has almost like a samurai work
ethic, and she could get injured, she could throw up off the set.
She doesn't let me know. Shejust does the work. I've got
(11:35):
a warrior here he does Yeah,no, I always yeah. He got
away with a lot like with thisfilm, with the like the back to
back hills and everything. I don'tthink any actress, any other actress would
have done that because it was likeno southers, like bring in the next
(11:58):
bad guy, Okay, let's go. You know, some of the some
in in like twenty twenty four,some of the some of the bad guys
are like don't have like these likelines, like specifically like the you know,
the guy that essentially tries to pickBridget up as like a thinking she's
(12:18):
a prostitute or her boss. Alot of these guys are just like real
assholes, and so by the timethey start entering the phase of their demise,
it's it's well warranted. And thismovie with that element kind of almost
feels like a throwback to like alittle bit of like a simpler time when
(12:39):
we were you know, allowed tokind of build up the bad guys and
like make them really worthy of thedeaths. Yeah, go ahead, Okay,
Yeah, No, I was gonnasay that we actually let the bad
guys be bad guys so that theaudience is rooting for their death when it
comes. You know, it's likeI feel like a lot of times in
(13:01):
cinema, it's like everybody wants,you know, everybody to be comfortable.
But it's like you've got to beable to see a bad guy to warrant
the death. Or it's like,then, what, Bridget's the bad guy?
You know what I mean, Likeyou've got to give her somebody to
be vengeful and protect people from.I mean, also, it's fun to
see a really deserving bad person getit really badly. Yeah, it's very
(13:26):
satisfying in this movie to see someof the deaths that that occur in the
ways that they occur, and andto feedback some of the lines that they
give you where the bad guys havesaid something and you've turned around and twisted
it right back on him. Ilove that. Oh yeah, these like
one liners rickcause he is so funnywith writing these. They were so great.
(13:56):
Was go ahead, Billy, Iwas going to say, I was
waiting for eat your heart out.But that was the other line I don't
remember hearing in there. Oh itmay have been, but I just I
mean, who's the diffest now?Yeah, now who's the picture and who's
the catcher? That's Southern cooking.That's the best one, I think one
(14:22):
of the one of the questions thatBridget has a very defining look when she
kind of gets into her quote unquotefinal form. It's one of the featured
on the poster, it's all ofthe marketing for the film. How was
that? What was the process likefor coming up with that finalized version of
the character. Was this was thatthe first one? Or did you guys
(14:43):
kind of go through different versions ofthat look before settling on the one we
have? Well, we worked withRoy Knar and Soda Facts. We had
a great practical effects team and thatnormally work on bigger films. But uh,
you know, we work something out. You know, I wanted something
where she could still be expressive withher face, you know, and then
(15:05):
we had the wig made on HollywoodBoulevard, some little shop. Yeah,
Rick had like very specific ideas andalso we were kind of looking at it
from a practical standpoint, team becausewe were shooting the kills on a green
screen, so we couldn't have likeit frizzy. We had to have these
like sharp points so that it waseasier for you know, the editing later
(15:28):
on with the VFX, and thenfor the look. I mean, I
come from a practical effects costuming allkinds of backgrounds, so I was working
with our team from Soda with KennethCalhoun and Jake Barber, and you know,
we kind of like came we connectedand came up with that and then
(15:54):
yeah, so there she is.Yeah. I remember getting this submission before
even like watching the film for thefirst time and just seeing that image and
just being like, what am Igot? What am I getting ready to
get myself into? And I rememberjust being like I cannot wait to watch
(16:14):
this with an audience because this movieis batshit insane. Like I don't know
how else to describe it. It'sthe climax of this movie alone is just
wow. Like we knew that wehad to make this one of our midnight
showings, and so this is happingoff our Friday Fevers block, which you
guys can get tickets for right now. But if you guys had to give
(16:40):
audiences a quote unquote warning of someof the craziness that Billy and I have
talked about during this interview. Whatwould be the warning or what would you
guys tell our audience that would becoming to see this. It's a fun,
wild film, all kick ass music. Uh, you know, it's
(17:03):
fun. It's uh, you know, underneath everything, uh is we're entertainers
and we like to create things thatare entertaining, and this is we We've
won fourteen festivals. We've been Canadato Brazil and everywhere in between. By
the way, she caused a miniriot in Brazil. She was mobbed by
(17:25):
women as well as men. Uhoh, my boyfriend that they're like super
supportive. They love me. There, can't wait to go back. I
love I love Brazil. But Brazilhad the better percussionists. Oh that's awesome.
(17:47):
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Who would have thought to learn
something new every day? Well,we're gonna take a quick commercial break.
What you guys are getting ready tohear? This is a band called Ben
the Knee. They are kicking theirco headlining our Sat Patti's Day celebration March
sixteenth year in Richmond at the GardenGrove Brewing Company. More information is going
(18:10):
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(23:11):
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(23:33):
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(24:00):
are listening, because once again youhave value a work, So please stay
with us. We are back withthe Elfman's and we are talking about the
Omen. We are kicking off ourOmen series running parallel with our Filmmaker Focus
series, the way that we didlast year with The Evil Dead. But
(24:21):
yeah, this, I'm new tothis franchise, so be gentle on me.
Yeah, Billy, why don't youkick us off? Man? No
problem. So for anybody that hasn'tseen the Omen, it's Damien being born,
the baby switched out and given tothe wrong family. Basically, and
(24:45):
there's nothing but trouble. From there, everything falls apart once he turned what
was it seven or nine? Yeah, yeah, I've seen them all.
Sorry, just rewatched a couple ofhours ago. So at five, everything
starts going for a turn. Oneof the things and I had to double
(25:10):
check on this was his original nanny. I didn't realize that because she looked
at the dog that the dog kindof told her gave her the hint to
go, you know, hang herself. Yeah, yeah, that one,
that one hit, especially when you'reon a podcast talking about mental health and
some sub prevention. Well, Iguess out there, like uh, out
(25:34):
there in Hollywood, what is y'all'slike relationship with the Omen? Why?
It was a great horror film.I saw it years ago, but you
know it stood out. I meanthat's a great fill of the Omen.
Yeah, classic classic horror story.Did you know the Omen actually came out
like on the heels of the Exorcist, that's they were expected to be huge
(25:56):
just because of that, was awareof it. Yeah. I think it's
like a two or three year difference. Uh. But yeah, this movie
feels almost structurally kind of sound likeit is, uh with with the Exorcist,
So it would be interesting to kindof juxtapose them back to back.
(26:19):
Well, I perform exorcisms periodically,please go on. That's very simple.
As I go into the thing,I blow cigar smoke and then I stamp
my feet and go. He doesthat. It works every morning. That's
(26:41):
how we wake up over here.Yeah, I bet that's gotta take them
getting used to who really I wakeup at the end of the night where
she levitates over me with the fans. That doesn't happen. He's fine,
look at him, me happy.That's as long as he's being good,
(27:08):
right, and he's not being onyour bad side. She she comes for
those that that treat her badly.So, you guys, rumor hasn't.
Like, I feel like the workspeaks for itself. Yeah. The Olemens
(27:29):
one of those. It's one ofthose hard movies to kind of talk about,
just just because I'm I'm kind ofcurious with uh, with you guys
in particular with a movie like TheExorcist and The Omens too, Like what
is what if you guys don't mindgetting a little bit vulnerable, a little
bit personal, Like what is yourbackground? Uh, with the subject of
like religion if you don't mind myasking. Okay, So I was born
(27:55):
on one hundred and third Street inwatts It was entirely African American except for
one other Caucasian family on the blackblock. And they were god, I
hate to use the term hill theleast from Arkansas. And they beat me
up for killing Christ. And Ididn't even know who Christ was when I
was four years old. Okay,so that was my introduction to religion.
(28:17):
I suppose that's where uh you know, and then uh, okay, So
I grew up in the fifties andalong with racism, the anti Semitism was
virulent and it drove me over theedge for a couple of years where I
(28:37):
had like a very troubled teens andthen I got very athletic and I paid
the fuckers back. There we go. Makes sense, you know, it's
you know the world's a bumpy place, you know. But I was so
(29:00):
affected. I went from a straighta student into you know, kind of
rebellious. My parents can't control me, you know. But it was you
know, a crisis, you know, from being attacked, and it makes
sense. I survived, but youknow, I had a couple of bumpy
(29:22):
years there, Billy, what aboutyou. I don't think I've ever asked
you that question. I mean I'veI've gone to church and all that,
but I've never you know, deepin religion or anything. I mean,
my big thing was, you know, my dad was military, so we
moved around a lot. Every likethree four years we were moving, so
(29:45):
I got the bumps, the bruises, the new kid routine all the time.
So yeah, and that that thataffects you. You're growing up.
We don't realize the world's a bigplace. You're living in a fish bowl
and so that's your whole universe thatyou can't escape from. Yeah. Yeah,
and you could tell the difference.Like, for instance, I lived
(30:06):
in Germany for three years, sothe people over there were a lot different
than the people over here as faras the way they treated people, the
way they talk, and everything else. When we were there, the wall
was still up, the Berlin Wall. The month after we came back they
tore it down. Wow, thatgives your timeframe. But when we were
there, huge, huge. SoI mean that's a little bit about my
(30:29):
background. Not really much religion,but well, I don't know my family.
I call them secular Jews. Bothschool teachers. My mother was an
English teacher and she went on topublish sixteen novels too Emmy's Postage. So
the religion in the house was probablycharacter development and the story structure. Yeah,
(30:53):
I'm always fascinated to hear about,like movies, how different people interpret
movies like The Omen or The Exorcist, or The Nun or a lot of
the other films that we've seen conjuringits, particularly like the the subject matter
that this movie addresses, where you'rein the center of it. You have
(31:14):
a character of Robert Thorne that ispredominantly not a god fearing man, but
it's kind of almost like forced tobe that way when he's discovered that he's
he's basically lost his son unbeknownst tohim, and he's been replaced by the
Antichrist. You know, it's kindof that has that world shaken? That
(31:38):
happens? Yeah, yeah, isit? How do you recover from that?
You know? And then you diein the end, oh spoiler alert,
And the kid goes from being withthe politician to the president to the
(31:59):
President's kid. That point there yougo, I don't know if things are
getting any better. Get into thatthe prophecy does say that he will come
from the world of politics according tothis film's mythology, so one could only
(32:19):
or or no. So you knowit was rumored to be cursed at one
point, right. It is featuredon Yeah, it is featured on one
of shutters Cursed Films, a greatseries on Shutter. It feels very on
brand for them, just a littlebit. Yeah. I mean this movie
(32:42):
is pretty straightforward, Josh, Soyeah, well, I think it will
be a shorter episode this this timearound. You guys can join us in
two weeks when we jump into Damienthe Omen two and I lament my hatred
for that movie. I love thismovie. This equal is rough, but
you guys can catch Bloody Bridget.It is opening up our Friday Fevers block
(33:09):
on Horrific Hope twenty twenty four thisyear. You guys can go ahead and
get tickets now. Will provide linksin the show notes below. But Richard
Anastasia, where can people find youonline? Well, we're both on social
media, so we're both on Facebook. Richard Dolfman on a Seja Alfman.
(33:31):
The films that we have, theyall have their own pages. So Bloody
Bridget Forbidden Zone Aliens, Clowns andGeeks and on Instagram as well. So
Richard Dolfman, I'm kind of tricky. I'm under my stage name Dahlia Dumont.
And then the films, they allhave their own pages. Bloody Bridget
(33:52):
Film on Instagram and Forbidden on Aliens, Clowns and Geeks and yeah, we're
really active there. That's where wego touring with our films. We do
live pre shows, wild wild eventsand so follow us there and keep updated.
Yeah. If this, if theirsocial media coverage is even a quarter
(34:14):
as crazy as this movie is,highly recommend it. Fight links in the
show notes below. Billy, wherecan people find you online? Of course,
I'm on Facebook? W Tabor three. All right, well you guys
can follow me. I am onLetterbox in my cinema journey at Captain Nostalgia.
Once again, we are leaving youguys with Bend the Knee again.
(34:36):
You guys can check out our interviewwith them click the show notes below.
This song is called The Darkness ShinesYour Name And until next time, remember,
the longer you gaze into the Abyss, the more the abyss gazes back
into you. Well, don't forgethow to tell rash. Yeah, don't
(35:12):
right. I think I'm out thatevery time I got a rather tal right
slash from to white. What Igot sh don't turn off right so right.
You gotta tell you by yourself,that's all. That's all shot.
(35:35):
I got to tell you. Ah, No guy got as sorry right that
somebody why I got I go?You're telling I wanna stay, You don't
want I wanna stay, don't liketo say go, you know, walk
(36:00):
away? Let me we got screensstrange off my friend so walk my brother
(36:30):
say lay, I got day wadw glas Josie, I like I shot
jar so walk away from the wayon the stays web lies last show said,
(36:54):
let's I got shot show Ye're awall ride God got up well like
(37:16):
wow you're so war ride Wa WowGola di sis had to die. I
lost to your hoss go by.I shot yass to ja so West West
End color rather joys go the mossersall also will job Losa out like I'm
(38:00):
try Josh you want with let mewin this boy squarevicies and straying of my
(38:22):
so I walk away walk by andwe really called the city black boys black
side Sorr shot h
Hey, you are listening to abiscazing, a horror podcast where we celebrate
all things spooky and mental health.And I'm Billy your co host. I'm
trying to co host. Josh Markis not with us, he is under
the weather. But we are joinedby our first feature film of this year's
Horrific Hope Film USTVLE. We're kickingoff not one series, but two series
(00:30):
uh this episode with our looks intothe omen and also introducing you guys to
the filmmakers that make up this year'sfor a Fic Hope Film Festival. And
I am joined today along not onlywith Billy, but also uh director behind
our first feature, Bloody Bridget,Richard Elfman and his wife and leading lady,
(00:53):
Anastasia Elfman. Hello, Hey,how are you guys this evening doing
well? I I just I haveto ask this right out of right out
the gate when it comes to well, before we started kind of jumping into
like the the craziness of this movieand like picking it apart, can you
(01:15):
just give us a brief like summary, like what this movie's about? Okay?
Well? Uh, A Haitian voodoodeity mistakes red haired burlesque answer for
his long lost wife and he turnsher into a Valentine vampire. Well what
(01:36):
is that? And you'll find outsucking blood only wets her appetite. She
must eat their beating hearts and theyall deserve it. Yeah, there you
go, There you go, Billy. When I take the first question,
sure, I want to ask whatmade you do a story dealing with the
(01:56):
voodoo and the Mama Bridget and thingslike that. Well it's actually, okay,
I'm a Latin percussionist, and whenyou get into the rhythm, you
actually get into African folklore and religionsand this and that, and just like,
okay, if you go to Jamaica, there's Rostafarians and they kind of
(02:21):
worship Highly Selassi from the emperor ofEthiopia in the twenties and the thirties.
Okay, so Highly Selass's name wasTafari and Ross is king, and that's
Rostafarian. That's where they came from. So in Haiti there's a similar kind
of call it cultural appropriation. FromIreland is Baron Salmudai, the deity of
(02:45):
kind of life and death, topHat cigar Roum women. His wife in
Haiti is the red haired Saint Bridgetof Ireland, who was originally the Celtic
goddess Bridget. So in the Haitianceremony, there's this red haired lady.
So this is kind of loosely inspiredby Haitian folklore. And the Haitians in
(03:07):
the film are actually played by Haitians. We're politically correct. That was gonna
be Actually one of the things Iwas interested about too was knowing when you
think of like specifically Haitian and Ijust feel like specifically with Haitians, the
subgenre often gets linked with is likezombies. You look at films like the
(03:30):
you know, White Zombie and TheSerpent in the Rainbow. But to juxtapose
that with a musical elements, burlesqueand vampires and kind of throw all of
this into just absolute like a fuelthrough like a fever dream. What was
the writing process like and the craftingthe story like for you to kind of
(03:53):
take all of those elements and dosomething as unique as Bloody Bridget. Okay,
now I have a very complex writingprocess. Okay, I have a
little Garrett on our roof deck overlookingthe Hollywood Hills of former tenant John Lennon
actually composed some music there, soit's a tiny garret with a window,
(04:15):
and I bring in a case ofScotch and a box of cigars, and
three weeks later I have a script. God, I love that. I'm
not joking. I've been writing fora long time. That's amazing. Did
(04:35):
you guys with you know, bringingon here? Obviously that first question kind
of unloaded into a lot of folkloreand a lot of history. Was this
a process that you were already familiarwith a lot of that stuff or did
you have a lot of time likeresearching it before actually like writing the script.
(04:56):
Well, I've been into Afro Latinpercussion since I was fifteen, So
when you get into the music,like like the different rhythms actually come from
different deities from West Africa. Interesting, you know. So I held it
up, you know, through music, getting into the kind of ethno musicology
and the folklore and all all ofthat. Awesome. Yeah, so I
(05:21):
had a bit of a back abit of background in it. No,
I really liked the special effects inall how you were doing the hearts where
she'd take it out, eat theheart and everything. What was the hearts
actually made of that she was actuallyeating? Was it like food? Like
she was actually able to eat her. Was it just what you want answer?
(05:45):
Yeah, go ahead, Okay,Well I was told in the beginning,
because okay, so I'm a vegetarian. I was told in the beginning
they were gonna be kind of likea gelatine or something like that, because
we kind of shot all the killsback to back, so it was like
six kills in one day. Anduh so I was told it was going
(06:09):
to be like some kind of anedible thing like mold, but it ended
up being uh like latex and foam, and it was terrible, and like
one of the worst parts was thatit was huge and and and when I
couldn't I couldn't get my fangs intoit to rip it apart because it was
(06:30):
so thick, like they did likeseveral layers of latex over the foam,
and so they had to on onset, they had to like score it
open, so like they're making theselike millions of micro fibers of uh like
foam that get into my gums andget into my teeth. So it was
like a terrible, terrible situation,but we got the shot. It sounds
(07:00):
like it because yeah, that uhyeah, a good picture of this Okay,
So she's there and she's got likegorilla tape to hold like the tubes
for the blood and whatever. Sothen she has to do this and she's
almost wretching, throwing up, breakingher nails like trying to rip it off.
(07:21):
And then like we finished one,rush her into a rip off the
tape, rush her into a coldshower. Next action. Fourteen hours.
That's that's crazy, Thank you,thank you. Yeah. Yeah, it
(07:42):
was a I mean, luckily Ihad a really great effects crew who were
there and like completely had my backthrough it. But it was a lot
of back to back and it wasn'tjust like ripping. It was like ripping
through clothes and like you know,because we had like the dummy chest,
so it was gripping dude, likethick latex and stuff. And so it
(08:03):
was like I had to because mycharacter had nails, so I had I
wanted to make it a little bitdifferent for the when she became a demon,
so I had like fake longer nailsand so those would rip off and
then it would like rip It wasjust like it was so terrible, but
we got the shot and it's it'snow wonderful. Richard, you brought this
(08:26):
up originally that Anastasia's character in thismovie is a burlesque dancer who uh not
really giving away any spoilers, butthe opening number of the film is kind
of like this horror uh kind oflike number where it's hard to explain.
(08:46):
I don't want to Yeah, horrorburlesque. It is like the way I
get it. Kind of we kindof get to see like different like U
two, there's two or three differentshots in here that are each telling like
different stories. Is it the sameproduction or is this kind of like how
did you guys manage to separate thedifferent burlesque numbers from one another? But
(09:13):
I don't know. You know,we had on a choreographs and she had
another choreographer she was working with.I pretty much delegated that to the ladies.
Okay, that question goes to youlike action, Yeah, Well,
I mean my background is I've classicallytrained in ballet since I was three,
(09:35):
So I grew up in the theaterand so I have a huge dance background.
But for this, because we selffinanced the whole film, and so
I was also juggling like doing producersstuff, so it was like I had
to kind of give leeway to afew things that I usually handle myself,
like the choreography. So we hada wonderful choreographer and so so it just
(10:00):
kind of like Ricky likes to givekind of like jumping off notes and then
I don't even remember what the noteswere for that, but it was just
like wild stuff. Well I wantedI wanted to open with like some gooney
movements, which we did kind ofthat was my move. Yeah, yeah,
you can take credit for that.It was all happy or whenever you
(10:24):
see like stooge like moves in myfilms, I choreographed those myself. Well,
she answered one of my questions ifshe had a background with dance and
all that, because I was.I noticed, like the dance and everything
in there. It looked like stuffthat you know, Oh yeah, thank
(10:45):
you. And usually when we can, we like go to festivals and screenings,
I'll do like a wild bloody burlesqueto open up the film, and
there'll be like a victim in theaudience and I'll drag them on stage and
rip out his heart. So it'sit's been fun. Background along with classical
(11:11):
ballet and classical cello. She's froma marine family and was at Young Marine
camp every weekend of her youth.And she has almost like a samurai work
ethic, and she could get injured, she could throw up off the set.
She doesn't let me know. Shejust does the work. I've got
(11:35):
a warrior here he does Yeah,no, I always yeah. He got
away with a lot like with thisfilm, with the like the back to
back hills and everything. I don'tthink any actress, any other actress would
have done that because it was likeno southers, like bring in the next
(11:58):
bad guy, Okay, let's go. You know, some of the some
in in like twenty twenty four,some of the some of the bad guys
are like don't have like these likelines, like specifically like the you know,
the guy that essentially tries to pickBridget up as like a thinking she's
(12:18):
a prostitute or her boss. Alot of these guys are just like real
assholes, and so by the timethey start entering the phase of their demise,
it's it's well warranted. And thismovie with that element kind of almost
feels like a throwback to like alittle bit of like a simpler time when
(12:39):
we were you know, allowed tokind of build up the bad guys and
like make them really worthy of thedeaths. Yeah, go ahead, Okay,
Yeah, No, I was gonnasay that we actually let the bad
guys be bad guys so that theaudience is rooting for their death when it
comes. You know, it's likeI feel like a lot of times in
(13:01):
cinema, it's like everybody wants,you know, everybody to be comfortable.
But it's like you've got to beable to see a bad guy to warrant
the death. Or it's like,then, what, Bridget's the bad guy?
You know what I mean, Likeyou've got to give her somebody to
be vengeful and protect people from.I mean, also, it's fun to
see a really deserving bad person getit really badly. Yeah, it's very
(13:26):
satisfying in this movie to see someof the deaths that that occur in the
ways that they occur, and andto feedback some of the lines that they
give you where the bad guys havesaid something and you've turned around and twisted
it right back on him. Ilove that. Oh yeah, these like
one liners rickcause he is so funnywith writing these. They were so great.
(13:56):
Was go ahead, Billy, Iwas going to say, I was
waiting for eat your heart out.But that was the other line I don't
remember hearing in there. Oh itmay have been, but I just I
mean, who's the diffest now?Yeah, now who's the picture and who's
the catcher? That's Southern cooking.That's the best one, I think one
(14:22):
of the one of the questions thatBridget has a very defining look when she
kind of gets into her quote unquotefinal form. It's one of the featured
on the poster, it's all ofthe marketing for the film. How was
that? What was the process likefor coming up with that finalized version of
the character. Was this was thatthe first one? Or did you guys
(14:43):
kind of go through different versions ofthat look before settling on the one we
have? Well, we worked withRoy Knar and Soda Facts. We had
a great practical effects team and thatnormally work on bigger films. But uh,
you know, we work something out. You know, I wanted something
where she could still be expressive withher face, you know, and then
(15:05):
we had the wig made on HollywoodBoulevard, some little shop. Yeah,
Rick had like very specific ideas andalso we were kind of looking at it
from a practical standpoint, team becausewe were shooting the kills on a green
screen, so we couldn't have likeit frizzy. We had to have these
like sharp points so that it waseasier for you know, the editing later
(15:28):
on with the VFX, and thenfor the look. I mean, I
come from a practical effects costuming allkinds of backgrounds, so I was working
with our team from Soda with KennethCalhoun and Jake Barber, and you know,
we kind of like came we connectedand came up with that and then
(15:54):
yeah, so there she is.Yeah. I remember getting this submission before
even like watching the film for thefirst time and just seeing that image and
just being like, what am Igot? What am I getting ready to
get myself into? And I rememberjust being like I cannot wait to watch
(16:14):
this with an audience because this movieis batshit insane. Like I don't know
how else to describe it. It'sthe climax of this movie alone is just
wow. Like we knew that wehad to make this one of our midnight
showings, and so this is happingoff our Friday Fevers block, which you
guys can get tickets for right now. But if you guys had to give
(16:40):
audiences a quote unquote warning of someof the craziness that Billy and I have
talked about during this interview. Whatwould be the warning or what would you
guys tell our audience that would becoming to see this. It's a fun,
wild film, all kick ass music. Uh, you know, it's
(17:03):
fun. It's uh, you know, underneath everything, uh is we're entertainers
and we like to create things thatare entertaining, and this is we We've
won fourteen festivals. We've been Canadato Brazil and everywhere in between. By
the way, she caused a miniriot in Brazil. She was mobbed by
(17:25):
women as well as men. Uhoh, my boyfriend that they're like super
supportive. They love me. There, can't wait to go back. I
love I love Brazil. But Brazilhad the better percussionists. Oh that's awesome.
(17:47):
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Who would have thought to learn
something new every day? Well,we're gonna take a quick commercial break.
What you guys are getting ready tohear? This is a band called Ben
the Knee. They are kicking theirco headlining our Sat Patti's Day celebration March
sixteenth year in Richmond at the GardenGrove Brewing Company. More information is going
(18:10):
to be in the lot in thedescription below. This song is called Prodigal
Son, And we will be rightback to talk about the omen. Howad
I died? Right up? Way, guy, are the words I love?
By the way? Up to theside, dog yeah the last?
(18:37):
Tell me what is right up?Jot to tied of the bloody tide side?
What a spec try put at job, shut out back. I can't
(19:07):
play, I can't send my passaway. Tell yo, am bars the
serpent shorted cat, tell five alladvos. Let's see. Let's see.
(19:29):
Let's see what you can't do?They say, they say, they say
me listen to do. Let's see. Let's see. Let's say why cokay
(19:53):
fu what lay? It's a boyby hurts not wid my chest? My
day? What died? More?O, my gosh? What your father?
(20:15):
I saving that shot us? Isaid, no hurt. She walked
out the wrong my swearing boys whileafter god, what is the F she
(20:36):
calls? I w I spread outmy god? Boy. She was bad,
she said, my bag lash outup. She's like my dad talk
bad bad brock gop by tad jpb h I'll send my friends away.
(21:10):
Tell the end. Of the Year. E Brosser Sort Jack tell my all
my gods. Let's say let's saylet's see what your kids do. They
say, they say, they say, hey, listen. Still, let's
(21:33):
say let's say let's say like yourgod abrather draw your father short George,
(21:55):
Dog the brother a roll all lod. If you were someone you know is
(22:25):
listening to this podcast right now andyou're struggling with suicide, addiction, self
harm, or depression, we encourageyou, guys to please reach out.
This is the heartbeat or why wedo what we do. Suicide is currently
the tenth leading cause of death inthe United States, and as of this
recording, there are one hundred andthirty two suicides that take place each and
(22:48):
every day on American soil, andwhen you scale back internationally, there are
eight hundred thousand successful suicides. Thatis one death roughly every forty seconds.
So if you were so you knowis struggling, you guys can go to
Victims and Villains dot Net, forwardslash hope that resource is going to be
right in the description wherever you guysare currently listening or streaming this, there
(23:11):
you'll find resources that include the NationalSuicide Lifeline, which is one eight hundred
two seven three eighty two fifty five. You can also text help to seven
four one seven four one. Ushave a plethora of other resources, including
churches, getting connected with counselors,LGBT resources like the Trevor Project, and
(23:33):
also a veteran hotline as well.Please, if you hear nothing else in
the show, understand that you,yes, you listening to this right now,
have value and worth. We getit. Suicide, depression, mental
health. These are hard topics andthis stigma around them doesn't make it any
easier. But please consider the resourcesright in the descriptions below wherever you guys
(24:00):
are listening, because once again youhave value a work, So please stay
with us. We are back withthe Elfman's and we are talking about the
Omen. We are kicking off ourOmen series running parallel with our Filmmaker Focus
series, the way that we didlast year with The Evil Dead. But
(24:21):
yeah, this, I'm new tothis franchise, so be gentle on me.
Yeah, Billy, why don't youkick us off? Man? No
problem. So for anybody that hasn'tseen the Omen, it's Damien being born,
the baby switched out and given tothe wrong family. Basically, and
(24:45):
there's nothing but trouble. From there, everything falls apart once he turned what
was it seven or nine? Yeah, yeah, I've seen them all.
Sorry, just rewatched a couple ofhours ago. So at five, everything
starts going for a turn. Oneof the things and I had to double
(25:10):
check on this was his original nanny. I didn't realize that because she looked
at the dog that the dog kindof told her gave her the hint to
go, you know, hang herself. Yeah, yeah, that one,
that one hit, especially when you'reon a podcast talking about mental health and
some sub prevention. Well, Iguess out there, like uh, out
(25:34):
there in Hollywood, what is y'all'slike relationship with the Omen? Why?
It was a great horror film.I saw it years ago, but you
know it stood out. I meanthat's a great fill of the Omen.
Yeah, classic classic horror story.Did you know the Omen actually came out
like on the heels of the Exorcist, that's they were expected to be huge
(25:56):
just because of that, was awareof it. Yeah. I think it's
like a two or three year difference. Uh. But yeah, this movie
feels almost structurally kind of sound likeit is, uh with with the Exorcist,
So it would be interesting to kindof juxtapose them back to back.
(26:19):
Well, I perform exorcisms periodically,please go on. That's very simple.
As I go into the thing,I blow cigar smoke and then I stamp
my feet and go. He doesthat. It works every morning. That's
(26:41):
how we wake up over here.Yeah, I bet that's gotta take them
getting used to who really I wakeup at the end of the night where
she levitates over me with the fans. That doesn't happen. He's fine,
look at him, me happy.That's as long as he's being good,
(27:08):
right, and he's not being onyour bad side. She she comes for
those that that treat her badly.So, you guys, rumor hasn't.
Like, I feel like the workspeaks for itself. Yeah. The Olemens
(27:29):
one of those. It's one ofthose hard movies to kind of talk about,
just just because I'm I'm kind ofcurious with uh, with you guys
in particular with a movie like TheExorcist and The Omens too, Like what
is what if you guys don't mindgetting a little bit vulnerable, a little
bit personal, Like what is yourbackground? Uh, with the subject of
like religion if you don't mind myasking. Okay, So I was born
(27:55):
on one hundred and third Street inwatts It was entirely African American except for
one other Caucasian family on the blackblock. And they were god, I
hate to use the term hill theleast from Arkansas. And they beat me
up for killing Christ. And Ididn't even know who Christ was when I
was four years old. Okay,so that was my introduction to religion.
(28:17):
I suppose that's where uh you know, and then uh, okay, So
I grew up in the fifties andalong with racism, the anti Semitism was
virulent and it drove me over theedge for a couple of years where I
(28:37):
had like a very troubled teens andthen I got very athletic and I paid
the fuckers back. There we go. Makes sense, you know, it's
you know the world's a bumpy place, you know. But I was so
(29:00):
affected. I went from a straighta student into you know, kind of
rebellious. My parents can't control me, you know. But it was you
know, a crisis, you know, from being attacked, and it makes
sense. I survived, but youknow, I had a couple of bumpy
(29:22):
years there, Billy, what aboutyou. I don't think I've ever asked
you that question. I mean I'veI've gone to church and all that,
but I've never you know, deepin religion or anything. I mean,
my big thing was, you know, my dad was military, so we
moved around a lot. Every likethree four years we were moving, so
(29:45):
I got the bumps, the bruises, the new kid routine all the time.
So yeah, and that that thataffects you. You're growing up.
We don't realize the world's a bigplace. You're living in a fish bowl
and so that's your whole universe thatyou can't escape from. Yeah. Yeah,
and you could tell the difference.Like, for instance, I lived
(30:06):
in Germany for three years, sothe people over there were a lot different
than the people over here as faras the way they treated people, the
way they talk, and everything else. When we were there, the wall
was still up, the Berlin Wall. The month after we came back they
tore it down. Wow, thatgives your timeframe. But when we were
there, huge, huge. SoI mean that's a little bit about my
(30:29):
background. Not really much religion,but well, I don't know my family.
I call them secular Jews. Bothschool teachers. My mother was an
English teacher and she went on topublish sixteen novels too Emmy's Postage. So
the religion in the house was probablycharacter development and the story structure. Yeah,
(30:53):
I'm always fascinated to hear about,like movies, how different people interpret
movies like The Omen or The Exorcist, or The Nun or a lot of
the other films that we've seen conjuringits, particularly like the the subject matter
that this movie addresses, where you'rein the center of it. You have
(31:14):
a character of Robert Thorne that ispredominantly not a god fearing man, but
it's kind of almost like forced tobe that way when he's discovered that he's
he's basically lost his son unbeknownst tohim, and he's been replaced by the
Antichrist. You know, it's kindof that has that world shaken? That
(31:38):
happens? Yeah, yeah, isit? How do you recover from that?
You know? And then you diein the end, oh spoiler alert,
And the kid goes from being withthe politician to the president to the
(31:59):
President's kid. That point there yougo, I don't know if things are
getting any better. Get into thatthe prophecy does say that he will come
from the world of politics according tothis film's mythology, so one could only
(32:19):
or or no. So you knowit was rumored to be cursed at one
point, right. It is featuredon Yeah, it is featured on one
of shutters Cursed Films, a greatseries on Shutter. It feels very on
brand for them, just a littlebit. Yeah. I mean this movie
(32:42):
is pretty straightforward, Josh, Soyeah, well, I think it will
be a shorter episode this this timearound. You guys can join us in
two weeks when we jump into Damienthe Omen two and I lament my hatred
for that movie. I love thismovie. This equal is rough, but
you guys can catch Bloody Bridget.It is opening up our Friday Fevers block
(33:09):
on Horrific Hope twenty twenty four thisyear. You guys can go ahead and
get tickets now. Will provide linksin the show notes below. But Richard
Anastasia, where can people find youonline? Well, we're both on social
media, so we're both on Facebook. Richard Dolfman on a Seja Alfman.
(33:31):
The films that we have, theyall have their own pages. So Bloody
Bridget Forbidden Zone Aliens, Clowns andGeeks and on Instagram as well. So
Richard Dolfman, I'm kind of tricky. I'm under my stage name Dahlia Dumont.
And then the films, they allhave their own pages. Bloody Bridget
(33:52):
Film on Instagram and Forbidden on Aliens, Clowns and Geeks and yeah, we're
really active there. That's where wego touring with our films. We do
live pre shows, wild wild eventsand so follow us there and keep updated.
Yeah. If this, if theirsocial media coverage is even a quarter
(34:14):
as crazy as this movie is,highly recommend it. Fight links in the
show notes below. Billy, wherecan people find you online? Of course,
I'm on Facebook? W Tabor three. All right, well you guys
can follow me. I am onLetterbox in my cinema journey at Captain Nostalgia.
Once again, we are leaving youguys with Bend the Knee again.
(34:36):
You guys can check out our interviewwith them click the show notes below.
This song is called The Darkness ShinesYour Name And until next time, remember,
the longer you gaze into the Abyss, the more the abyss gazes back
into you. Well, don't forgethow to tell rash. Yeah, don't
(35:12):
right. I think I'm out thatevery time I got a rather tal right
slash from to white. What Igot sh don't turn off right so right.
You gotta tell you by yourself,that's all. That's all shot.
(35:35):
I got to tell you. Ah, No guy got as sorry right that
somebody why I got I go?You're telling I wanna stay, You don't
want I wanna stay, don't liketo say go, you know, walk
(36:00):
away? Let me we got screensstrange off my friend so walk my brother
(36:30):
say lay, I got day wadw glas Josie, I like I shot
jar so walk away from the wayon the stays web lies last show said,
(36:54):
let's I got shot show Ye're awall ride God got up well like
(37:16):
wow you're so war ride Wa WowGola di sis had to die. I
lost to your hoss go by.I shot yass to ja so West West
End color rather joys go the mossersall also will job Losa out like I'm
(38:00):
try Josh you want with let mewin this boy squarevicies and straying of my
(38:22):
so I walk away walk by andwe really called the city black boys black
side Sorr shot h
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The Herd with Colin Cowherd is a thought-provoking, opinionated, and topic-driven journey through the top sports stories of the day.