Interview: Brian Clement
Ryan talks with indy sensation Meat Market's director Brian Clement.
Living-Dead.com: Brian, for all the people out there who are unfamiliar with you or your films, give us a little background information on yourself.
Brian Clement: Sure, I've been of course in love with movies for most of my life, being a "Star Wars kid". It seemed a natural progression to go from drawing pictures and writing stories to shooting crazy movies on the video camera. The early films of course were unintelligible, but it's been growing ever since, with the films becoming more and more polished and coherent.
I'm Canadian, and live in Victoria, BC, which for most of you who don't know, is near Vancouver, and I've lived here most of my life. After a year in Japan teaching English after high school, I decided making films was the way to go, and I wanted to take a stab at doing it for real and make features. Only in the last few years has that actually happened, with "Meat Market" (from 2000), and I made a promise to myself that I would quit my horrid day job if I could and make films full time. I've been able to do that this year and the new film is clearly showing a huge leap in quality as a result.
Living-Dead.com: 'Meat Market', 'Meat Market 2', or 'Binge and Purge'...Which are you most proud of, and why?
Brian Clement: Meat Market 2, since it is not only my personal favourite, but also the most well-received film. Meat Market (the first) was a subtle satire of exploitation film, and unfortunately not so many viewers understood it as such. Of course I don't care why people enjoy it, whether it's because they get the jabs at gratuitous nudity and pointless Mexican wrestler plot threads, or simply because they love gory zombie movies, but when critics hack it for being silly nonsense it is a little bothersome. The first Meat Market I will readily admit was not as technically accomplished as later films, which also detracts from my enthusiasm for it. (I am still proud of the long city destruction scene though, try that on a $2000 budget for the entire film). Binge & Purge likewise suffers from some uneven acting, and poor lighting which is my own fault and I beat myself up regularly for it. It had the problem (and this isn't a real problem, but anyways...) of the viewers expecting another zany Meat Market, while it is more of a dark thriller, with no epic destruction in sight. It has also suffered in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks on the US, since there's a subplot involving freedom fighters that are labelled as "terrorists" by the totalitarian government, and this seems to have stepped on a few political toes as it were. Meat Market 2, for me, has the best mix of horror, fun, social commentary, and a high level of craziness that I like to include. Plus I think out of the three film it has the best pacing, the most understandable story, the best editing, and the most revolting gore sequences.
Living-Dead.com: Who did the special F/x for each film?
Brian Clement: For the first Meat Market it was Nick Sheehan, the second it was mostly my friend Paul Semande plus Petrina Hildebrand, Jason Ward, and Vivian Kardoush. For Binge & Purge it was almost entirely Jason Ward with some of the gore done by myself (the melting head for instance).
Living-Dead.com: For those people out there who think it's easy to throw a bunch of images around on camera, and pass it off as a horror film, just how wrong are they? Just how much work is it to make a watchable motion picture?
Brian Clement: Clearly those who hate me and my work think that's exactly what I do...of course they're wrong. The making of one of these pictures consumes the better part of a year for me, and takes over my life. Especially now that I'm going full-steam on a film, and I want it to be perfect so I obsess over the tiniest details. In pre-production I have to worry about how much money I can spend, who to cast, what locations to use, and of course how to infuse the film with enough thematic significance that it isn't simply another assembly line gore-and-boobs highlight reel. During production the planning of each scene can take days, deciding how to light and block out the scene, rehearsing it with the actors, and then shooting it, making sure there's enough coverage, and getting it all captured. Because it's all very low-budget as well I have to haul all the equipment around myself (with the occasional gracious cast member assistance), and after the scene is shot I have to clean up and make sure the location is spotless. During post-production it's even more insane since I go nuts worrying whether to cut at this frame or that, and such small differences to me can be the line between mediocrity and perfection. After all that there's dealing with promotion, getting the word out, and organizing my own premiere night at a rented theatre. It can drive me nuts but I love it.
Living-Dead.com: What's your biggest issue when it comes to making a film? When I say this, I mean, what hinders production the most?
Brian Clement: Other than the obvious budgetary constraints, such as not being able to afford to shoot in certain locations, not being able to pay actors and so on, scheduling is the worst. Getting unpaid actors all together at a certain date and time can be a nightmare, and it's made all the worse if there's one loose link in the chain in the form of a flaky hung over actor, or a broken down car or similar nuisance.
Living-Dead.com: In your opinion,what horror film in the past 50 years has influenced the horror genre the most, and why?
Brian Clement: I would say Night of the Living Dead. It's basic premise of "get out alive" is brought right to the front, the premise of being trapped somewhere and stalked, the graphic nature of the film as well, all have contributed immensely to horror cinema. Of course there are similar forerunners, but this film set the standard for the latter half of the 20th century.
Living-Dead.com: What kind of things do you have lined up for the future?
Brian Clement: Currently I'm in production on "Exhumed" a three-part anthology, each story dealing with the undead in a different time period and portrayed in a different cinematic style. They consist of samurai, 40's film-noir, and post-apocalyptic gang war stories. Thematically it deals with the post-modern phenomenon of "exhuming" old films and recycling them. I'm not a fan of the po-mo outlook myself but this film is as much a criticism of post-modernism as it is an examination of it. After that I'm set to make a heavy metal horror movie with up-and-coming Canadian metal band Three Inches of Blood. Cam, the singer, has appeared in most of my films and I'm eager to work with them in developing a high-energy, very dramatic picture.
Living-Dead.com: How do you go about finding cast members for your films? Are people rareing and ready to go?
Brian Clement: Generally people are very enthusiastic since they're not getting paid and something has to be driving them forward. For this last film I held auditions, advertising for parts in the local entertainment weekly paper. Unfortunately this resulted in a high "wacko ratio", with various flakes and nuts showing up, but from the group I was able to select a really choice cast and I think the film has benefited greatly from having more professional actors in it.
Living-Dead.com: Lucio Fulci or George Romero?
Brian Clement: George Romero...someone who has been so thoroughly beaten up by Hollywood it's about time he got some kind of payback. The Dawn of the Dead remake is such a repulsive bucket of vomit on that man's head it's infuriating.
Living-Dead.com: Out of all the actors/actresses in the B-movie industry, which would you like to work with the most, and why?
Brian Clement: Maybe Brinke Stevens, she seemed really nice when I met her at a convention, and she gave me free comic books when I gave her a copy of Meat Market.
Living-Dead.com: What was the most abundant 'gore' product used in your films. For example, Kayro Syrup, Latex, ect?
Brian Clement: Corn syrup, we went through bottle after bottle of it. I think in Binge & Purge I finally got the colour of the blood right too.
Living-Dead.com: Like every filmmaker, bad reviews are bound to surface about their films. How does it make you feel to hear bad reviews about your motion pictures? What would you like to say to them?
Brian Clement: Of course it's upsetting but if there's a compliment hidden in there ("I didn't enjoy it but he has talent") I can deal with it more easily. Usually I'll write a polite email letting them know why I think they're mistaken, maybe they didn't know the budget was so ridiculously small, and so on, and of course tell them that I know not everyone will like it so I'm cool with a bad review. The only review I've found so far that was really insultingly and arrogantly negative was posted on amazon.com, and even for that one I wrote the guy apologizing for not doing something he enjoyed more. Not surprisingly I didn't hear back.
Living-Dead.com: And last but not least, what's your favorite horror related website with 'All the Best Horror movies....and the Others Too...?
Brian Clement: Gee, aside from the obvious Living-dead.com? Gorezone.net is great for information and reviews, plus the webmaster digs what I do which is a plus.
Living-Dead.com: Be sure to visit the Frontline Films website at http://www.frontlinefilms.net and purchase your copy of Meat Market, Meat Market 2, and Binge & Purge today!
