By JASON R. WALLACH
I grew up in the 1980s and was one of the VHS horror section frequenters at local video stores. I had a vivid imagination, and that section of the store always drew me in. Those freakish and evocative boxes with crazy artwork and who-knows-what on the cassettes! It was a thrilling experience because you were never quite sure what you’d get when you popped one into your VCR. It became a thing of myth, having kids on the bus whisper to me of films they saw their parents watching, things like Gates of Hell and Dawn of The Dead. I was riveted, and from then on it became my mission to seek out these movies out and watch as many of them as I could.
I recently saw a trailer for INFERNAL in a film group on Facebook, and it looked completely batshit crazy, as though you’d have found it on a VHS cassette in the video store horror section. The film was still raising money via Indiegogo for post-production costs. RUE MORGUE recently sat down with its director Eric Mathis who, much to our delight, was happy to spill his guts!
Eric, tell us a little bit about yourself in terms of how you got into filmmaking and your inspirations.
I was one of those avid video store kids. I was way too young, and I’d go to the video store and rack up armfuls of all the most awesome VHS boxes. I shop with my eyes, and just picked, because, you know, the cover art was such an important part for all of us and it was the first thing I saw. I would just go, and then binge watch as much as I could get, sometimes going back twice in a weekend. I just loved it! My interest in it grew more and more and as I got older, I would wonder, “How do they make this? How do they do this shot? How do they make these effects?” This is something I’ve carried with me since I was probably five years old, and as early as I could go in and get these incredible movies. I’ve taken that with me and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I came from a small town, and it wasn’t really an option where I grew up. Later in life, I joined the military – which took me to Vegas.
When I got out of the military I decided, after spending that much of my life not making films, that I would reach out and see if I could find other filmmakers that were making them. At some point I lucked out and started working on some super no-budget horror movies but had a blast and really got a taste for it. I got to see how it was done and what was possible. Through this, I built something of a name for myself and that led into music videos. I got to work for the Jackson family, which was kind of cool. That’s what gave me “legs” and pushed me into the next tier of things. From there, I had an opportunity to work for Charles Band at Full Moon. I worked with him on Evil Bong 7, and then Ouijasafter that.
That’s where I learned a lot of how to make films quickly and without a lot of money. That’s where I met my cinematographer, Howard Wexler, who’s been around for decades. He was working with Charlie Band doing all his movies. From there, I just started building my own team. I started as a production assistant, which is probably the most entry level that you can start at and then worked my way up to the camera department. I tried to learn every job, but I felt like I was fluid enough after that. I was ready to make films. I’ve used every minute I’ve spent on sets as an opportunity to learn. I absorbed everything I could, and then just jumped in and decided it was time to make one of our own. Luckily, the first time out everybody liked the idea and jumped on the crowd funder! We did well with that, and it was poised to be awesome … and then Covid hit. But that was the progression. I just worked my way up through it. I decided to take that first step and actively pursue it, and I didn’t stop until that door opened for me.
So, you went through a Corman-esque type schooling with Full Moon?
Yes, it was almost guerilla-style; get it done no matter what. There’s not a lot of money, but you get the right people, and you build a team who love it. Again, I just absorbed everything that I saw. People thought I was crazy when I said I was going to shoot INFERNAL in seven days. People said to me, “There’s no way you can do that, it’s physically impossible.” I talked to DP’s (director of photography) that wanted to scream at me and tell me that it simply isn’t possible. And I was thinking, well, you don’t know how we work. We’re going to shoot this in seven days, and we’re going to shoot it well. A lot of that came from my experience working with Full Moon and Charlie Band.
And did you shoot in seven days?
The film was shot in seven days. That’s it! INFERNAL was ninety something pages, which is unheard of, but we didn’t sacrifice anything. Everything was still next level and top notch, and we still maintained all the visual integrity. We rocked it out, the crew and the cast that I had on this thing were absolute monsters. They were the best! It was the best team experience I’ve ever had, and we just rocked it out!
Were you working around the clock to get this done?
We worked some long days! With SAG, the hard part is they work eight-hour days, ten if you pay overtime – and we went into overtime. We had some days where we would start at seven in the morning and, a couple of times, we finished at five in the morning. That was not every day, but sometimes we had long eighteen-hour days. But that’s indie filmmaking, you do what you need to and get it done.
Speaking of cast and crew, you have some big names in this film. How did you get in touch with these folks?
With the other projects that I was involved in, I met a lot of people. As I said before, I used every opportunity when I was on set to make myself available; to ask questions and discuss ideas. Working on some of those cooler movies, I started meeting different next-level people here and there. Sky Elobar, who was the star of Greasy Strangler, was a huge help on this film. My wife and I watched that, and we were cracking up and both loved his character in the movie. I was like, “We’re in the movie swing of things, I’ll find out if he’s on Facebook.” So, we hit it off, strangely, just from Facebook. He invited me to a horror con, and we hung out and he read the script and dug it. Pretty much everybody I reached out to and pitched the script to, they loved it and hopped on board because it’s so over the top. A lot of times, the bigger actors want those parts where they get to act, and this was one of those pictures. They liked what I brought to them, and I had a little bit of a name behind me and had the right project and the right crew and special effects. Having artist Joe Castro on board really gave the project legs when I approached people.
You have Courtney Gaines from Children of The Corn, but who else do you have appearing in the film?
Hunter Moeller from Rob Zombie’s 31 and 3 From Hell, and Mark Torgal from The Toxic Avenger. I’d say 95% of the cast were all professional SAG actors. They were all rock stars!
What was your inspiration for INFERNAL?
It’s based on a lot of strange people that I’ve met, and crazy people that I’ve seen. There’s a lot of trauma processing in the film as I’m, in my own way, making jokes about things like addiction and alcoholism. It’s a bit of a societal parody where everybody’s at their worst. I thought about all the wildest and craziest interactions I’ve had with people in life and just built characters out of those insane traits. And I love heavy metal and monsters, and I married all of that to a trio of wacky characters. The outlandish behaviors coupled with the special effects and the monsters in the middle. It was a match made in heaven, and it all went well together.
Tell us a little about a little bit about the synopsis of the story and the direction it took.
It’s a lot like the tale of Faust. You sell your soul to the devil for things that you think you want and, of course, he always finds a way to turn those wishes against you. It’s very much in that vein. I’ve always liked the idea of Faust and the devil as an ultimate villain. You don’t have to follow the specific rules of reality. You can do anything in a supernatural horror movie. That’s why I really have started to build my brand on that, because it’s so much fun and it’s over the top!
It starts off with three friends who go to a record store and their buddy works there. He’s got this imported record, which is Haxon Sword from Deathgasm. It’s an official crossover that I worked out with (Deathgasm director) Jason Howden. I wanted to tip my hat to the people who have done the genre so much excellence. That’s why I reached out to Jason to see if we could work that out. So, they buy the record and summon the devil. He shows up, batshit crazy, in corpse paint. Then he morphs into this super cool persona like, “Alright, let’s get down to business. What can I do for you?” He makes the main character kill his two friends who then come back undead. That’s Sky Elobar bar and Steve Bridges, who’s a big TikTok star. This is his first movie, and he came in and killed it!
Did you get what you we’re aiming for in terms of the effects when you brought Joe Castro on board? I’ve seen some images of the creatures and the effects that he’s done for the film, and some of them are off the chain.
Joe is a next level, in a league of his own, effects artist! I wanted the gore and the kills to be super realistic, and I wanted the creatures to have a pro-Hollywood look. We didn’t shoot this thing to look campy at all, and it really plays like a beautifully shot, cinematic Hollywood movie. That’s the professionalism and the art that Joe Castro brought. I had super high expectations, and he shattered them to levels that I didn’t know I could expect of him. He is so creative and such a talented artist. He really created some things that will make people question how we shot this film for a modest budget because it looks like we shot it for ten times what we paid. And I love metal so much! One of my favorite records, probably my favorite from the old thrash days is Slayer’s Show No Mercy. It’s like this is my heavy metal monster movie and I wanted to build the Buffamot Minotaur from the front of that album as one of our monsters. So that’s what we did. We built the Slayer Minotaur and had him go and rip people up in the movie. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life – to see that alive in in my movie.
As far as CGI goes, I’m sure you had to use some to maybe supplement the practical effects. But what’s the ratio that you’re working on within the film?
The CGI is very minimal. If you saw in the trailer when a monster scratches a guy’s neck out, that was built and created practically. I think Joe adds a little bit of CGI on top of that but it’s very little. It’s probably 98% percent practical with two percent CGI.
Will there be a lot of gore in INFERNAL?
Yes, definitely! We made the kills huge and super realistic. I’m sure you saw the guy’s face ripped off in the trailer. The way that happens is really over the top and gory. Joe’s very anatomically correct. He’s had some of his medical friends see that trailer and they confirm it is real-to-life accurate. I would tell him what I want, and he would send me real photos that he has. The gore and the kills are next level and over the top crazy. INFERNAL, when it’s funny, it’s funny, but when the horror kicks in we put the throttle all the way forward. We didn’t hold anything back. It’s definitely a gore-fest!
How long did it take you to write this film?
I wrote the original script in a couple of months. Then I spent a year adding to it and developing the characters because I wasn’t ready to pull the trigger on making anything yet. You’ll be the first to know that this film is hilarious and very vulgar on top of being a heavy metal monster movie. It’s going to leave a lot of jaws on the floor because I wrote the characters as everybody at their worst. There were times when I was sitting with Josh Williams – our executive producer and camera assistant – and I could not stop laughing! The actor’s abilities brought the script to exactly where I hoped it would be.
What is your goal in terms of having a release, and does that include a physical release?
We’ll do a physical release. My plan is to do a festival run where we’re going to hit the bigger festivals like Sundance … Chicago International Film Festival has already reached out to me and requested the movie. That’s massive! Also, Telluride Film Festival and South by Southwest Film Festival and build it as big as possible. Then the hope is that distributors will come along, and we’ll find one that’ll make the right deal. Then we’re hitting the monster conventions and the horror cons and stuff like that. We’re going to try to put it everywhere. We feel the production value and the product value is there and we can put it in those next level places and not just throw it on Amazon and forget it.
