The Dark World of Steve Niles

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Welcome back to Nightmare Logic, the only podcast

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you’ll need to prepare you to survive 30 days

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of night. We’re your hosts, Christopher Smith.

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Peter Sawyer. And Taffeta Darling. And today,

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we are alone together, recording virtually because

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later on we’ll be joined by our friend of the

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pod, Steve Niles, to discuss his career as a

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writer and producer of horror movies and comic

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books. And video games. And video games. We just

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learned that, I think. We’re excited. First,

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I want to just start with a couple little show

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programming updates. So for you listening along

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at home, all of our super fans that don’t miss

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an episode, you’ll notice that you did miss an

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episode because we didn’t post one last week.

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And we were going to, but Taffeta came down with

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a bit of a cold and just due to some conflicts

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in scheduling, we couldn’t really find a time

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to do it. So apologies for that. And what you

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missed was going to be an amazing conversation

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about Tales from the Crypt and its adaptation

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from comic books to screen. And we’re still going

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to have that conversation, but luckily now we’re

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going to be able to do it with Peter. And that

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will be coming out in a future episode a few

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weeks from now. Also, Peter was out of town at

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a film festival where our film Last Call premiered

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and played the International Sci -Fi and Horror

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Film Festival. And he was awesome and recorded

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a festival log, you might say, while he was there.

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And we’re going to have that in next week’s episode.

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So tune in for that. But that’s a good place

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to start. You want to just give us like a 60

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second? How did it go, Peter? Yeah, but real

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quick, we should also address the not elephant

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in the room, but the elephant on the screen.

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We are now you can see our beautiful or ugly

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faces, whichever you prefer, as we’re recording

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this with visuals. This is the first time for

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that. So this I Christopher, this will be up

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on YouTube. Yeah, that’s the idea. So I tend

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to listen to podcasts while I clean and drive,

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but I know a lot of people listen to them or

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watch them. So you guys will get a chance to

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actually watch this one. Yeah. And we hope to

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do a lot more like this. And yeah. So if you’re,

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if you’re listening on a, on a normal podcasting

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app and you want to see what. Weirdos you’ve

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been listening to You can switch over to YouTube

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and find us there and subscribe while you’re

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there. So the Phoenix Film Festival I was there

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less than 24 hours So it was kind of a mad dash

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left Burbank at 730 got there 930 No left at

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930 got there at 1130 Got to the hotel met up

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with a zombie who was the production designer

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on last call and you know, had to baptism by

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fire it by getting all the information, figure

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out what movies I was going to see, all that.

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And yeah, it was it was kind of a very hectic

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day. Last Call played the last screening, which

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was the horror A block with a bunch of it’s an

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eclectic mix of short films. And it was sold

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out. And there was a Q &A. So I get to talk about

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it and meet some people afterwards. But hell,

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yeah. I was just pumping you up, man. That’s

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kind of the footnote of the footnote. But yeah,

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I recorded a little bit about it that will be

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attached to next week’s episode. So you’ll get

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to hear a lot more about it. What about you guys?

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Have you watched anything, heard about anything,

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done anything really cool in the last week? Yeah,

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I went and watched the new Mummy movie that came

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out, the Lee Cronin’s Mummy movie. I had an advance

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screening for that. And so that was kind of fun.

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It was different. I get how it’s heavily tied

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into the Evil Dead franchise. And I think it

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was kind of interesting the way they actually

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tied it to in some sort of like mummy itself.

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I mean, this isn’t like anything like, you know,

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Universal. It’s not like the, you know, Brandon

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Fraser movies at all. It’s heavy in body horror.

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And there’s a few times where I had to look away.

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I was like, holy shit, that’s so fucked up. But

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it was good. But it was also very gory. So, yeah,

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I got that, which was. Definitely recommend seeing

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it see it in the theater with somebody That way

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you can kind of watch them squirm too because

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I squirmed nice I I watched a couple different

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things I want to touch on So I follow this screenwriter

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who posts a lot of clips on Instagram about the

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industry and movies and whatnot his name is Nicholas

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Kurt Curcio, I think that’s how you say his last

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name and he made this post about in 80 seconds

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or it’s 81 second maybe short film that’s only

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one shot. It’s called Dead Grandma. And I watched

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it. It’s very impactful. Will not take much of

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your time as it’s one shot, 80 second short.

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And while perfection cannot be objective, this

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really feels perfect in execution. I can see

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people not liking the subject matter, but it

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really is someone’s worst nightmare. It’s done

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by Rachel Kompf and Nick Toddy. So if You’re

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a filmmaker. It’s it’s worth checking out. They

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knocked it out of the park and it’s it’s pretty

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bleak. Yeah, so we’ll we’ll we’ll make sure to

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include a link to that in the show notes so you

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guys can check it out. But it’s just it’s cool

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to see someone just do something in like a little

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over a minute and you’re just like, damn, you

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know, it reminds you you can really make short

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films that short. Right. And here we are struggling

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to bring ours down from what was the original

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cut 25 minutes to like try to get it below 15.

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And wow, it’s brutal. It is yeah, they they figured

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that they they went in with that idea. Yeah Yeah,

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obviously When you’re trying to tell a very complete

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story, it’s hard to do in a minute But if you

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had a really good concept that works like that,

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that’s it’s gonna work Right. And so there there’s

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two movies that I want to mention one is because

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of who our guest was or is that you guys will

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listen to I want to mention this movie. It’s

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called Dark Country from 2009, written by Tab

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Toe Murphy, who wrote Gorillas in the Mist and

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The Last Dragon, which is really awesome. They’re

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wildly different. And actor Thomas Jane directed

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and starred in it. So did Laura German, or she

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acted in it, and Ron Perlman. And it has nothing

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to do with the music genre, Dark Country, that

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I just learned. Existed it’s kind of like a neo

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-noir road trip from hell with horror elements

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It’s kind of like a longer episode of the twilight

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zone or tales from the crypt or something basically

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a newlywed and a couple of that are this couple

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out of Vegas take a road trip at night and are

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forced to deal with a verily very badly hurt

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person they come across While they get lost out

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in the desert And it was one of the first features

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shot on digital 3d using silicon imaging si 2k

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and red camera. So it kind of has a Sin City

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look. But while it’s like one of the on the forefront

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of shooting things that way, it kind of suffers

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a little bit from looking dated since we’ve advanced

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beyond that. But I believe Thomas Jane was actually

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interested in one of Steve’s projects, trying

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to get it off the ground. As I mentioned that

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he thought that was a call like Cal McDonald

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was trying to be a movie. So I thought that was

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a strange connection. Cool. But the other movie

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I watched is more recent, and it’s a film called

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Heel. And when I saw the trailer, it was initially

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called Good Boy, but it felt like it’s fallen

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through the cracks a little bit. And I just kind

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of want to put it out there because it was really,

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really good. It’s directed by Jan Kosama, and

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it’s written by Bartoszek. Negash Khalid, hopefully

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I said all their names, right? I can guarantee

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you didn’t but uh, but it’s not your fault. I

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don’t think it’s it’s yeah, it’s I think it’s

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like partially a polish Production but it stars

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Stephen Graham who you might recognize from the

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broding skinhead and this is England and it has

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Andrea rise burrow from Birdman and possessor

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and Anson Boone who was in 1917 and crawl But

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while watching it, I’m like, he looks like Billy

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Idol. Then I came to realize he looked like Billy

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Idol in a Billy Idol biopic. But he played Johnny

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Rodden on the show Pistol, so I thought that

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was kind of funny. But basically, his character

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is this heathenistic, partying shithead in London

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who has no scruples. He just gets blackout drunk,

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does horrible things, and is raising all kinds

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of hell. He wanders off into the night and wakes

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up, and he’s in a basement with a steel collar

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chained up to the ceiling, and he’s kidnapped.

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And it kind of goes from there. You don’t really

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need to know much more than that, but it really

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impressed me. Well, it’s not like a horror film.

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It just has all these fucked up moments. It’s

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kind of like a black comedy with a psychological

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thriller element, and it really has the heart

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of a drama. And it goes in a lot of unexpected

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places. I think a lot of people will like this

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if they get a chance to check it out. Highly

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recommend it. Cool. Cool. Yeah. And I, you know,

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I saw a couple of things. Well, last night, I,

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you know, since we’re interviewing Steve Niles,

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I did rewatch 30 days of night last night and

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God damn it holds up. It’s good. Great film.

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I also finally got around to seeing Bone Temple,

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but that was a couple of weeks ago. But since

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we haven’t had a chance to talk, I mentioned

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that which, you know, you guys know is great.

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Still catching up on something very bad is going

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to happen. I’m probably on episode four at the

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moment. Yeah, that’s kind of all I’ve been doing.

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Nothing that exciting. Oh, actually, I watched

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until dawn and, you know, it’s kind of like Groundhog’s

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Day, but horror. And yeah, it came out a few

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years ago about like a group of friends that

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gets caught in a time loop and, you know, each

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time they die, they start the time loop over

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again. And so they basically have a sort of a

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limited amount of respawns to figure out how

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to like survive the night. And if they survive

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till dawn, then they break the time loop and

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survive. I bet a lot of people who are listening

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to this know about it have seen it potentially.

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But, you know, I kind of went in skeptical because,

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you know, it gets like mediocre reviews, but

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I actually had a great time. I really liked it.

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And I even told Peter to watch it. I would imagine

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maybe you didn’t like it quite as much as I did.

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No, no, I liked it more than I thought I was

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going to. Because you’re saying it’s like Groundhog

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Day. So what Christopher, I think, means is like,

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you know, they’re repeating themselves over,

00:11:06.539 –> 00:11:09.080
like they’ll die, then they come back and they

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respawn or whatever. And but each time they go

00:11:12.200 –> 00:11:14.289
through it. it’s like a completely different

00:11:14.289 –> 00:11:16.210
threat they’re dealing with. So it really keeps

00:11:16.210 –> 00:11:18.190
you on your toes. And it’s a lot of fun. Yeah,

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they did it. They executed it in a smart way.

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And it was just really well edited. And the pacing

00:11:23.730 –> 00:11:27.009
was was tight and fun. And it was just like a

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fun horror movie. And I always like to think

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of it as like horror movies. They either need

00:11:31.090 –> 00:11:33.929
to be super scary or super fun. But if they’re

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not really either, that’s when they end up being

00:11:35.549 –> 00:11:37.250
kind of like mediocre or middling, you know,

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and. I think this one was more on the fun and

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it had like amazing Gore effects and surprising

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Gore effects. Yeah. I was racking my brain why

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people disliked it so much because I was like,

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that deterred me from watching it until you were

00:11:52.659 –> 00:11:54.000
like, no, man, you should check it out. So I

00:11:54.000 –> 00:11:55.980
was like, sure. Well, I think it’s based on a

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video game, if I’m not mistaken. Yeah. Yeah.

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And I think that, you know, gamers are very particular

00:12:00.580 –> 00:12:04.299
about their adaptations. So I think that probably

00:12:04.299 –> 00:12:07.789
had a lot to do with it, but. Okay, let’s move

00:12:07.789 –> 00:12:10.269
into the news section. Wait, wait, wait. One

00:12:10.269 –> 00:12:13.129
thing I wanna say too. Okay. We talked about

00:12:13.129 –> 00:12:15.889
this last time we recorded was the Lost Boys

00:12:15.889 –> 00:12:20.029
play adaption on Broadway. I have not seen it,

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but I think I said that like the soundtrack meant

00:12:23.070 –> 00:12:25.669
a lot to me, so I wanted to check out the music

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and it sounds like Christian rock. Like I could

00:12:29.330 –> 00:12:33.519
not. Oh no. Wholesome. It doesn’t not even satanic

00:12:33.519 –> 00:12:36.440
rock. I mean, come on. No, I mean, I don’t I

00:12:36.440 –> 00:12:38.080
don’t even know what Christian rock sounds like

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It’s just what I imagine Christian rock sounds

00:12:39.840 –> 00:12:44.100
like but it it did not capture the feel of the

00:12:44.100 –> 00:12:46.700
music from before I mean, they should have leaned

00:12:46.700 –> 00:12:50.779
into that 80s like Pop five or whatever had Cory

00:12:50.779 –> 00:12:54.519
Thelma at least I mean maybe some of the songs

00:12:54.519 –> 00:12:57.889
do But what I came across on iTunes, I was like,

00:12:57.889 –> 00:12:59.629
I’ll give this a shot. And I was like, you know,

00:12:59.970 –> 00:13:02.710
I think that’s a problem with it being a musical

00:13:02.710 –> 00:13:06.210
theater is that I feel like there’s like a musical

00:13:06.210 –> 00:13:08.490
theater aesthetic that they just can’t help themselves

00:13:08.490 –> 00:13:11.710
by like bring into like, you know, most productions.

00:13:11.970 –> 00:13:14.110
And but yeah, if they leaned into something completely

00:13:14.110 –> 00:13:16.470
different, maybe it would be different. They

00:13:16.470 –> 00:13:19.129
did have slash from Guns N’ Roses play guitar

00:13:19.129 –> 00:13:23.549
on one of the songs, but it still did not feel

00:13:23.549 –> 00:13:25.889
right. You know, there’s a story there. I mean,

00:13:25.970 –> 00:13:27.509
he has to know somebody involved. I mean, because

00:13:27.509 –> 00:13:30.789
that’s a weird he owed somebody a favor for sure.

00:13:31.009 –> 00:13:35.190
I mean, I don’t know. But yeah, so I don’t know

00:13:35.190 –> 00:13:38.529
if the play is any good, but I just that kind

00:13:38.529 –> 00:13:40.649
of was a red flag for me. I just was still gets

00:13:40.649 –> 00:13:43.610
great reviews. But, you know, also musical theater

00:13:43.610 –> 00:13:46.169
people are a specific audience. It might not

00:13:46.169 –> 00:13:48.649
be like fans of the movie that are giving good

00:13:48.649 –> 00:13:51.570
reviews. You know what I mean? So true. Well,

00:13:51.570 –> 00:13:54.250
let’s talk about the news. There’s A number of

00:13:54.250 –> 00:13:58.110
stories. Most of them. Well, a few of them are

00:13:58.110 –> 00:14:00.090
about trailers that have just dropped because

00:14:00.090 –> 00:14:03.690
CinemaCon was about a week ago. Probably the

00:14:03.690 –> 00:14:05.710
headlining trailer that people are talking about

00:14:05.710 –> 00:14:08.850
in our world is the Clayface trailer. And we

00:14:08.850 –> 00:14:10.809
actually dive a little bit into this with our

00:14:10.809 –> 00:14:13.289
conversation with Steve. But man, have you guys

00:14:13.289 –> 00:14:15.529
checked out the trailer yet? Oh, yeah, for sure.

00:14:15.659 –> 00:14:18.879
Yeah, I’m totally excited for it. And the fact

00:14:18.879 –> 00:14:20.480
that they’re leaning in heavily to the horror

00:14:20.480 –> 00:14:23.039
aspect of it is fucking amazing. And it seems

00:14:23.039 –> 00:14:25.700
like I just want to say really quick that Batman,

00:14:25.840 –> 00:14:27.759
the animated series is by far one of the best

00:14:27.759 –> 00:14:30.539
Batman adaptation adaptations and anything. Each

00:14:30.539 –> 00:14:33.360
episode really hits each fucking character and

00:14:33.360 –> 00:14:35.240
gives you like that insight and what became the

00:14:35.240 –> 00:14:36.759
character and why they are the way they are.

00:14:36.919 –> 00:14:40.740
And the clay face episode of that series. seems

00:14:40.740 –> 00:14:43.220
to be heavily influencing this movie, which I

00:14:43.220 –> 00:14:46.080
fucking love because it is poignant. It is dark.

00:14:46.120 –> 00:14:48.159
It is creepy. It is sad. I guess I’m thinking

00:14:48.159 –> 00:14:50.799
about it, you know, and that’s the kind of movie

00:14:50.799 –> 00:14:52.299
that I would want for this character because

00:14:52.299 –> 00:14:54.440
he’s on the Harley Quinn animated show and he’s

00:14:54.440 –> 00:14:57.659
funny and he’s a, you know, very jubilant, like,

00:14:57.659 –> 00:14:59.539
you know, jubilant character. But that’s really

00:14:59.539 –> 00:15:02.440
not the same. And to be fair with the animated

00:15:02.440 –> 00:15:04.240
series, Harley, every character is through her

00:15:04.240 –> 00:15:07.059
point of view. So she sees Clayface as is like

00:15:07.059 –> 00:15:09.200
bumbling, you know, fucking idiot. But anyways.

00:15:09.600 –> 00:15:12.500
So we haven’t had a really good adaptation of

00:15:12.500 –> 00:15:16.019
his core. So this trailer has given me all like

00:15:16.019 –> 00:15:18.659
the creepy like body horror stuff, all the eeriness,

00:15:18.799 –> 00:15:21.080
all the sadness, all the fucked up stuff that

00:15:21.080 –> 00:15:22.740
goes into becoming this character. And I’m fucking

00:15:22.740 –> 00:15:27.519
in. Hell, yeah. Yeah, it’s. Oh, it’s a very cool

00:15:27.519 –> 00:15:30.159
trailer. I honestly don’t know much about Clayface.

00:15:30.179 –> 00:15:32.960
I watched the Batman animated series and I agree.

00:15:33.100 –> 00:15:36.080
That’s my favorite Batman thing ever. Oh, yeah.

00:15:36.100 –> 00:15:38.659
This is the one, right? Like. Yeah, I was obsessed

00:15:38.659 –> 00:15:40.340
back then. Me and my friend used to, I mean,

00:15:40.360 –> 00:15:42.799
I was in middle school not to like, uh, so this

00:15:42.799 –> 00:15:44.580
is going to sound that weird, but like, you know,

00:15:44.580 –> 00:15:46.620
we used to like kind of play Batman a little

00:15:46.620 –> 00:15:49.080
bit after it’s or at least like, we were just

00:15:49.080 –> 00:15:52.179
so jazzed by the like show. Yeah. Well, the,

00:15:52.320 –> 00:15:54.580
the guy, the actor, I mean, he passed away. The

00:15:54.580 –> 00:15:57.279
guy who did Batman’s voice that that’s like the

00:15:57.279 –> 00:16:00.259
perfect Kevin Conroy is the voice of Batman.

00:16:00.500 –> 00:16:02.440
I will fight anybody who says that. Right. No,

00:16:02.539 –> 00:16:05.419
absolutely. Uh, so, so watching the trailer,

00:16:05.460 –> 00:16:08.679
I know nothing about Clayface. So that got me

00:16:08.679 –> 00:16:10.899
excited because I was like, OK, I’m in. Yeah,

00:16:10.899 –> 00:16:12.559
it’s it’s a really compelling. I mean, it’s been

00:16:12.559 –> 00:16:14.539
by Mike Flanagan, too, by the way. Yeah, which

00:16:14.539 –> 00:16:16.720
I was going to add threw me off. I knew that.

00:16:16.720 –> 00:16:18.580
But it doesn’t look like Mike Flanagan’s work.

00:16:18.639 –> 00:16:21.519
Well, I’m curious. I was actually going to bring

00:16:21.519 –> 00:16:24.600
this up as a talking point or a question for

00:16:24.600 –> 00:16:27.600
you guys. But what is like I’m confused by him

00:16:27.600 –> 00:16:29.960
because I mean, he’s like at the moment a bit

00:16:29.960 –> 00:16:34.019
of a star showrunner in Hollywood and like he’s

00:16:34.019 –> 00:16:36.580
still got time to like co -write a You know,

00:16:36.899 –> 00:16:39.159
a DC movie, which is sort of like, it’s interesting.

00:16:39.919 –> 00:16:41.779
I’m curious how much it’s going to get into that

00:16:41.779 –> 00:16:45.059
kind of telenovela style that he is known for,

00:16:45.120 –> 00:16:46.860
you know? I think the only main movie he did

00:16:46.860 –> 00:16:48.840
recently was with Tom Hiddleston, but mainly

00:16:48.840 –> 00:16:50.600
most of his stuff focuses on like, you know,

00:16:50.679 –> 00:16:53.700
those like, you know, extended series like Midnight

00:16:53.700 –> 00:16:55.759
Mass is like a comfort movie to me. Like Midnight

00:16:55.759 –> 00:16:57.919
Mass is one of my favorite like vampire series.

00:16:58.100 –> 00:17:00.159
So I am curious to see how it’s going to translate

00:17:00.159 –> 00:17:02.559
from his writing into these long series into

00:17:02.559 –> 00:17:04.480
like, you know, an hour and a half movie. So

00:17:04.480 –> 00:17:06.440
well, that and I mean, I guess just stylistically,

00:17:06.440 –> 00:17:10.400
you know, the Midnight Mass and all of those

00:17:10.400 –> 00:17:13.559
series he’s did for Netflix, they’re like very.

00:17:13.940 –> 00:17:17.920
You’re kind of. drawn out. Yeah, well, they’re

00:17:17.920 –> 00:17:20.380
like dramas, really, that are set in a horror

00:17:20.380 –> 00:17:25.240
space. What I mean by that is it’s so much more

00:17:25.240 –> 00:17:31.579
about the characters and there are lots of…

00:17:31.579 –> 00:17:36.619
What’s it called? A character has a really long

00:17:36.619 –> 00:17:39.759
thing of dialogue. Monologues? There you go.

00:17:39.839 –> 00:17:42.509
Lots of monologues. Yeah. It’s just that, you

00:17:42.509 –> 00:17:44.730
know, he’s known for like these really long monologues

00:17:44.730 –> 00:17:46.470
and characters are pining about things, which

00:17:46.470 –> 00:17:49.269
I actually generally like, but like he maybe

00:17:49.269 –> 00:17:51.329
goes a little like he’s like Sorkin. He has his

00:17:51.329 –> 00:17:53.269
own style when it comes to dialogue. And I’m

00:17:53.269 –> 00:17:57.970
just curious how that translates into other types

00:17:57.970 –> 00:18:00.809
of, uh, you know, content that he’s not directing.

00:18:00.890 –> 00:18:04.549
And so that would be interesting to track. Um,

00:18:04.789 –> 00:18:08.710
but what I thought was interesting was the conversation

00:18:08.710 –> 00:18:11.059
about whether this was going to be more of a

00:18:11.059 –> 00:18:16.220
superhero piece or a horror piece. And just recently,

00:18:16.420 –> 00:18:18.599
James Gunn came out and correct, you know, spoke

00:18:18.599 –> 00:18:23.380
about that and kind of elate everyone in our

00:18:23.380 –> 00:18:26.000
space, you know, our fears about it being more

00:18:26.000 –> 00:18:29.940
superhero superheroy than horror. And it turns

00:18:29.940 –> 00:18:31.980
out it’s a straight horror according to James

00:18:31.980 –> 00:18:34.440
Gunn. So that’s exciting. I’m really excited

00:18:34.440 –> 00:18:39.700
about this. Yeah, I hope it delivers the X -Men

00:18:39.700 –> 00:18:41.720
movie that came out a few years ago that did

00:18:41.720 –> 00:18:46.039
not do well What’s it called X -Men? Not what

00:18:46.039 –> 00:18:47.579
was it? Well, it’s the one where they’re it’s

00:18:47.579 –> 00:18:49.480
the kids. It was kind of like a horror movie

00:18:49.480 –> 00:18:52.759
Oh the mutants one. Yes. They was kind of like

00:18:52.759 –> 00:18:56.200
Nightmare on Elm Street 3 But it was it leaned

00:18:56.200 –> 00:18:58.339
really into the horror but it did not perform

00:18:58.339 –> 00:19:02.160
well So I hope this is not I hope this does you

00:19:02.160 –> 00:19:03.849
know what it needs to do? I think they’ll have

00:19:03.849 –> 00:19:05.809
better marketing with this when they have James

00:19:05.809 –> 00:19:07.549
Gunn at the helm, because with New Mutants, it

00:19:07.549 –> 00:19:10.509
is a very weird group of people to kind of spin

00:19:10.509 –> 00:19:11.970
off. And I don’t know if that was because of,

00:19:11.970 –> 00:19:14.049
you know, the the production companies or the

00:19:14.049 –> 00:19:15.809
the people who have rights or whatever. But New

00:19:15.809 –> 00:19:18.190
Mutants at itself is like the characters that

00:19:18.190 –> 00:19:20.009
they are are kind of like spooky, like, you know,

00:19:20.150 –> 00:19:23.029
weird, more gothic characters that aren’t seen

00:19:23.029 –> 00:19:25.849
as often. So I get that a lot. Not a lot of people

00:19:25.849 –> 00:19:27.849
knew what to do with that. But hopefully with

00:19:27.849 –> 00:19:29.369
better marketing, because that marketing for

00:19:29.369 –> 00:19:32.029
that movie sucked, I think. They’ll do better

00:19:32.029 –> 00:19:34.710
with this one, especially with James Gunn and

00:19:34.710 –> 00:19:37.450
DC doing so much better than Marvel in like every

00:19:37.450 –> 00:19:41.109
aspect. Oh, for sure. As I was about to say that,

00:19:41.150 –> 00:19:42.970
it’s just like the fact that it’s a DC movie

00:19:42.970 –> 00:19:45.130
and Warner Brothers, like they’re known to be

00:19:45.130 –> 00:19:47.650
risk takers. I think that that bodes really well

00:19:47.650 –> 00:19:50.549
for this. And despite the fact that I actually

00:19:50.549 –> 00:19:52.890
don’t like DC characters, generally speaking

00:19:52.890 –> 00:19:56.670
that much, I love their movies more than I love

00:19:56.670 –> 00:19:59.809
Marvel. I know, I know. But you know, I like

00:19:59.809 –> 00:20:03.170
I like. Batman, more or less. As a kid, I was

00:20:03.170 –> 00:20:05.789
always drawn to Marvel, but even more so Image.

00:20:07.329 –> 00:20:09.829
DC was my least favorite, but their movies are

00:20:09.829 –> 00:20:14.509
incredible. James Gunn also comes from trauma,

00:20:14.829 –> 00:20:19.549
so he is a horror guy. I think that really speaks

00:20:19.549 –> 00:20:21.029
to him. I actually did not know that. That’s

00:20:21.029 –> 00:20:25.769
cool. He wrote the Dawn of the Dead remake. He

00:20:25.769 –> 00:20:29.140
also did Scooby -Doo. The Monsters Unleashed

00:20:29.140 –> 00:20:31.160
movie, which is like the best Scooby Doo adaptation

00:20:31.160 –> 00:20:35.700
ever. So it heavily focuses on monsters. So he’s

00:20:35.700 –> 00:20:38.599
good with monsters and horror in any aspect from

00:20:38.599 –> 00:20:40.799
Scooby Doo to clearly is going to be Batman.

00:20:40.799 –> 00:20:43.279
So I’m stoked. Oh, yeah. All right. So we’ll

00:20:43.279 –> 00:20:44.859
have the link to that up on our show notes again.

00:20:44.880 –> 00:20:47.720
That was Clayface written by Hussein Amini and

00:20:47.720 –> 00:20:50.400
Mike Flanagan, directed by James Watkins, who,

00:20:50.619 –> 00:20:52.339
interestingly enough, comes from the horror world.

00:20:52.480 –> 00:20:55.359
He did Eden Lake was his first film and did an

00:20:55.359 –> 00:20:58.029
episode of Black Mirror, did a film called Speak

00:20:58.029 –> 00:21:00.970
No Evil that came out a couple years ago. That’s

00:21:00.970 –> 00:21:04.150
starring Eddie Marsden, Max Mangella, and Naomi

00:21:04.150 –> 00:21:06.369
Ackie. I also did not pronounce any of those

00:21:06.369 –> 00:21:10.690
right, I’m sure. Yeah, next I want to talk about

00:21:10.690 –> 00:21:12.670
is another trailer, which is the Evil Dead Burn

00:21:12.670 –> 00:21:16.710
trailer. This one also looks like it goes pretty

00:21:16.710 –> 00:21:19.089
hard like all the other Evil Dead movies in terms

00:21:19.089 –> 00:21:23.049
of gore and violence. Have you guys seen it yet?

00:21:23.750 –> 00:21:25.750
I didn’t know that was out. I haven’t seen the

00:21:25.750 –> 00:21:27.309
trailer for that yet, but I know that’s something

00:21:27.309 –> 00:21:30.329
that’s Right now it’s being tied to like I mentioned

00:21:30.329 –> 00:21:32.069
or the mummy because they’ve already said that

00:21:32.069 –> 00:21:34.609
that the mummy is supposed to be tied into this

00:21:34.609 –> 00:21:37.329
new Evil Dead genre Yeah, so I’d need to go watch

00:21:37.329 –> 00:21:39.190
Evil Dead burn the trailer at least just to kind

00:21:39.190 –> 00:21:41.630
of see yeah That was another cinema con drop,

00:21:41.849 –> 00:21:44.390
which is why you probably didn’t see yet Peter

00:21:44.390 –> 00:21:48.750
because there’s only like a week ago and People

00:21:48.750 –> 00:21:51.529
are calling it vicious relentless unapologetically

00:21:51.529 –> 00:21:55.069
brutal. I mean I’m a sucker for violence. I don’t

00:21:55.069 –> 00:21:58.190
know why, but we’ll have that trailer on the

00:21:58.190 –> 00:22:01.630
show notes as well. The next news topic would

00:22:01.630 –> 00:22:04.730
this is really interesting, actually. So there’s

00:22:04.730 –> 00:22:07.170
a movie coming out on May 15th called Obsession,

00:22:07.430 –> 00:22:09.950
which is getting rave reviews. And the director

00:22:09.950 –> 00:22:13.089
of that has been tapped to do a new change. Texas

00:22:13.089 –> 00:22:16.349
Chainsaw Massacre movie for a 24. This is not

00:22:16.349 –> 00:22:18.769
related to the series. It’s a whole new film.

00:22:19.670 –> 00:22:22.970
That’s interesting for both. Well, for fans of

00:22:22.970 –> 00:22:26.190
Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And also, I thought

00:22:26.190 –> 00:22:28.529
I find it interesting that, you know, this guy

00:22:28.529 –> 00:22:31.750
whose first film isn’t even out yet has already

00:22:31.750 –> 00:22:35.349
tapped to do something for a 24. So his name

00:22:35.349 –> 00:22:39.150
is Curry Baker and Obsession, which comes out

00:22:39.150 –> 00:22:41.990
next month. Sounds really cool. You guys know

00:22:41.990 –> 00:22:45.289
anything about it? I do. Well, Curry Baker did

00:22:45.289 –> 00:22:50.170
a short film you can find on YouTube called The

00:22:50.170 –> 00:22:54.250
Chair. that I liked. He did one called milk and

00:22:54.250 –> 00:22:58.329
cereal. I think cereal is spelled differently.

00:22:58.630 –> 00:23:00.690
I can’t remember exactly the spelling. That’s

00:23:00.690 –> 00:23:02.109
supposed to be really good. But I was like, shit,

00:23:02.150 –> 00:23:04.289
this is like 40 minutes long. So I have not watched

00:23:04.289 –> 00:23:07.529
that. But at the Phoenix Film Festival, the horror

00:23:07.529 –> 00:23:11.049
people I talked to were raving about obsession.

00:23:11.569 –> 00:23:15.490
Like it played there. Unfortunately, not the

00:23:15.490 –> 00:23:17.859
day I was there, so I could not see it. Yeah.

00:23:17.859 –> 00:23:19.980
It was being talked up heavily. So I imagine

00:23:19.980 –> 00:23:22.660
it will be a hit. Yeah. And then the description

00:23:22.660 –> 00:23:27.440
of it is, uh, so Josh corn gut of dread central

00:23:27.440 –> 00:23:31.000
reviewed it. And, um, he said, curry bark, uh,

00:23:31.039 –> 00:23:33.259
curry Barker’s debut obsession is about to change

00:23:33.259 –> 00:23:37.140
the horrid genre game forever, which is huge.

00:23:37.380 –> 00:23:41.640
Uh, if true, huge, if true, it has all the thoughtfulness

00:23:41.640 –> 00:23:44.220
and precision of early eight 24, but it’s delivered

00:23:44.220 –> 00:23:46.720
without an ounce of pretense or overthinking.

00:23:47.380 –> 00:23:49.920
Once consent is breached the damage is done and

00:23:49.920 –> 00:23:53.980
there’s no going back. I mean I’m interested

00:23:53.980 –> 00:23:56.420
High praise, but that’s that might be setting

00:23:56.420 –> 00:23:58.059
the bar too high if you’re saying it’s gonna

00:23:58.059 –> 00:24:02.200
change horror forever Which Peter if somebody

00:24:02.200 –> 00:24:06.599
sets the bar high Peter automatically So I don’t

00:24:06.599 –> 00:24:10.160
expect you to like this one, but um, oh Well,

00:24:10.319 –> 00:24:14.859
no, I mean I like the trailer in the The people

00:24:14.859 –> 00:24:16.559
that were talking about this, I feel like I could

00:24:16.559 –> 00:24:19.980
trust their judgment. It’s not just, you know,

00:24:20.119 –> 00:24:22.160
someone, some writer, anonymous writer. I mean,

00:24:22.160 –> 00:24:24.099
I don’t know who praised it. I think he just

00:24:24.099 –> 00:24:26.460
said the guy’s name, but I’m not familiar. It’s

00:24:26.460 –> 00:24:28.359
I know Blumhouse picked it up, but I don’t think

00:24:28.359 –> 00:24:32.799
it’s like any Blumhouse movie. I don’t. Yeah,

00:24:32.799 –> 00:24:34.859
well, we’ll have the trailer for obsession on

00:24:34.859 –> 00:24:37.359
the show notes so you all can check it out if

00:24:37.359 –> 00:24:40.480
you haven’t already. And again, that’s coming

00:24:40.480 –> 00:24:43.900
on May 15th. But the news piece is that The director

00:24:43.900 –> 00:24:46.920
of Obsession will be directing the next Texas

00:24:46.920 –> 00:24:50.000
Chainsaw Massacre film for A24, which we know

00:24:50.000 –> 00:24:53.539
nothing about other than that. Also, in interesting

00:24:53.539 –> 00:24:57.680
news, Neon is going to be adapting a viral short

00:24:57.680 –> 00:25:02.220
film called Mora, and the director of Mora, Sam

00:25:02.220 –> 00:25:05.359
Everson, is going to be adapting it into a feature.

00:25:05.819 –> 00:25:09.750
Apparently he’s a VFX artist and he… has like

00:25:09.750 –> 00:25:12.390
a YouTube channel called Grimoire Horror and

00:25:12.390 –> 00:25:14.809
it’s a genre based channel and it has like 200

00:25:14.809 –> 00:25:18.230
,000 subscribers. The film centers around a displaced

00:25:18.230 –> 00:25:20.369
artist who becomes haunted by a mysterious woman

00:25:20.369 –> 00:25:22.869
after using an AI model corrupted by the dark

00:25:22.869 –> 00:25:26.289
web images. I don’t know. Sounds promising. We’re

00:25:26.289 –> 00:25:28.329
going to link to the short film, which I haven’t

00:25:28.329 –> 00:25:29.869
had a chance to watch yet, but it’ll be on our

00:25:29.869 –> 00:25:34.789
show notes. So stop by, check that out. And the

00:25:34.789 –> 00:25:36.930
last piece of news I just wanted to dive into,

00:25:37.069 –> 00:25:40.230
because we’ve been tracking this project, is

00:25:40.230 –> 00:25:45.170
Iron Lung and the YouTuber slash filmmaker Mark

00:25:45.170 –> 00:25:48.329
Plyer will self distribute it. And what he’s

00:25:48.329 –> 00:25:49.970
doing is really interesting, which is why I bring

00:25:49.970 –> 00:25:52.750
this up, is he apparently is going to be selling

00:25:52.750 –> 00:25:59.759
DVDs as well as doing a VOD. Purchase rental

00:25:59.759 –> 00:26:02.380
type thing through YouTube and my understanding

00:26:02.380 –> 00:26:05.420
is he’s trying to set it up in a way And I guess

00:26:05.420 –> 00:26:07.980
maybe they could do also do advertising But they’re

00:26:07.980 –> 00:26:10.160
he’s trying to set up in a way for other independent

00:26:10.160 –> 00:26:13.039
filmmakers to do the same thing which is why

00:26:13.039 –> 00:26:15.299
it’s taking a little while to hit the internet

00:26:15.299 –> 00:26:19.119
and If he pulls it off, it could be great because

00:26:19.119 –> 00:26:21.380
with all this consolidation going on in the film

00:26:21.380 –> 00:26:24.549
industry at the moment for Indie filmmakers,

00:26:24.549 –> 00:26:26.329
we don’t have a lot of options for distribution

00:26:26.329 –> 00:26:28.369
at the moment. And if this opens up a new one,

00:26:28.390 –> 00:26:31.990
then I’m all for it. So, yeah, no, that’s that’s

00:26:31.990 –> 00:26:35.849
certainly cool. I Christopher, I actually have

00:26:35.849 –> 00:26:38.650
a little bit of news as well. Breaking Peter

00:26:38.650 –> 00:26:44.529
laid on us. So. It was announced that Parker

00:26:44.529 –> 00:26:48.490
Finn, who you know from he’s behind Smile, is

00:26:48.490 –> 00:26:51.480
directing the possession possession. Fuck, I

00:26:51.480 –> 00:26:53.880
feel like I’m stumbling. The Possession remake

00:26:53.880 –> 00:26:57.400
with Margaret Qualley from The Substance and

00:26:57.400 –> 00:27:01.519
Callum Turner from Green Room. Are you guys familiar

00:27:01.519 –> 00:27:09.099
with Possession? I haven’t seen it. It was shot

00:27:09.099 –> 00:27:13.220
in… Fuck, was it Germany? It’s a pretty batshit

00:27:13.220 –> 00:27:15.900
movie. It’s completely bonkers and Sam Neal’s

00:27:15.900 –> 00:27:21.089
in it. It’s an early 80s movie. It’s basically

00:27:21.089 –> 00:27:24.150
a cult favorite, but it’s still sort of obscure,

00:27:24.289 –> 00:27:26.809
so I kind of understand why they chose this.

00:27:26.970 –> 00:27:30.450
It does not surprise me at all. I’m very curious

00:27:30.450 –> 00:27:33.869
how they will go about this, because it is a

00:27:33.869 –> 00:27:37.670
very crazy, hectic movie. Cool. Yeah, yeah. I

00:27:37.670 –> 00:27:40.230
mean, it sounds really great and promising. Daphne,

00:27:40.369 –> 00:27:42.869
you got any news you want to break? No, I don’t

00:27:42.869 –> 00:27:48.619
have any news. Nope, I don’t know. Stick around

00:27:48.619 –> 00:27:51.480
for our conversation with Steve Niles because

00:27:51.480 –> 00:27:56.420
we actually are breaking some like we scooped

00:27:56.420 –> 00:27:59.480
some breaking news from him. I don’t know if

00:27:59.480 –> 00:28:01.559
he knew this, but we’re kind of a big deal in

00:28:01.559 –> 00:28:04.940
podcast, you know, breaking news here. Last but

00:28:04.940 –> 00:28:06.960
not least, let’s talk about what releases are

00:28:06.960 –> 00:28:10.099
coming up this weekend on May 1st. The biggest

00:28:10.099 –> 00:28:12.779
one I think that we’ve also been talking about

00:28:12.779 –> 00:28:15.140
here and there is Hocum is dropping finally.

00:28:15.849 –> 00:28:18.250
And I think this is very anticipated. People

00:28:18.250 –> 00:28:21.269
are are I don’t know. It’s there’s a lot of buzz

00:28:21.269 –> 00:28:23.910
around it. It’s the new film from Damien McCarthy.

00:28:24.289 –> 00:28:27.410
And he also wrote it. It stars Adam Scott, Peter

00:28:27.410 –> 00:28:30.730
Coonan and David Wilmoot Wilmot again with the

00:28:30.730 –> 00:28:33.890
names. And yeah, I mean, I mean, look, we all

00:28:33.890 –> 00:28:35.589
know about Hokem at this point. We’ll have the

00:28:35.589 –> 00:28:37.529
trailer once again on our show notes, probably

00:28:37.529 –> 00:28:40.789
the third time we’ve posted it there. But that’s

00:28:40.789 –> 00:28:46.650
coming out. And so is Deepwater, which I don’t

00:28:46.650 –> 00:28:48.549
know that much about, but it’s directed by Rennie

00:28:48.549 –> 00:28:51.609
Harlin, written by Pete Bridges, Shane Armstrong

00:28:51.609 –> 00:28:56.369
and S .P. Krauss and stars Aaron Eckert, Ben

00:28:56.369 –> 00:28:59.849
Kingsley, who’s amazing, and Angus Sampson. And

00:28:59.849 –> 00:29:01.970
the premise of this is a group of international

00:29:01.970 –> 00:29:04.069
passengers en route from Los Angeles to Shanghai

00:29:04.069 –> 00:29:06.710
are forced to make an emergency landing in shark

00:29:06.710 –> 00:29:09.509
infested waters. Now they must work together

00:29:09.509 –> 00:29:11.410
in hopes to overcome the frenzy of sharks drawn

00:29:11.410 –> 00:29:14.309
to the wreckage. One more in the bevy of shark

00:29:14.309 –> 00:29:15.990
films we seem to be getting this year for some

00:29:15.990 –> 00:29:18.329
reason. But this one was also produced by, what

00:29:18.329 –> 00:29:21.390
is it, really quickly, Gene Simmons of Kiss.

00:29:21.869 –> 00:29:23.789
So can we just throw that in there and be like,

00:29:24.029 –> 00:29:27.049
that’s fucking wild. But yes. Wow. The trailer

00:29:27.049 –> 00:29:29.329
for that is out. And it’s funny because when

00:29:29.329 –> 00:29:32.109
I saw the trailer, I thought it was for the movie

00:29:32.109 –> 00:29:35.819
Shiver. which is now called Thrash on Netflix.

00:29:36.799 –> 00:29:38.700
I don’t know why they changed the name, but it’s

00:29:38.700 –> 00:29:41.059
yeah, it’s funny. It’s like the near dark Lost

00:29:41.059 –> 00:29:43.480
Boys thing, you know, two similar shark movies

00:29:43.480 –> 00:29:45.319
coming out in the same year. See, I didn’t realize

00:29:45.319 –> 00:29:48.619
that Shiver changed its name to Thrash. That

00:29:48.619 –> 00:29:51.400
was the same film. That makes more sense because

00:29:51.400 –> 00:29:54.299
I heard about Thrash and it’s, you know, got

00:29:54.299 –> 00:29:56.259
a lot of buzz since it just dropped like a week

00:29:56.259 –> 00:29:59.920
ago on Netflix. I watched it. It’s fun. It’s

00:29:59.920 –> 00:30:02.019
a lot like the movie Crawl, but with sharks.

00:30:02.509 –> 00:30:05.210
Right. It’s like the letterbox community is hating

00:30:05.210 –> 00:30:07.430
on it. I was like, it’s not, I didn’t think it

00:30:07.430 –> 00:30:10.369
was bad. It was entertaining. Um, kind of cool

00:30:10.369 –> 00:30:13.849
to see that situation. Yeah. Well, that’s great.

00:30:13.950 –> 00:30:16.730
One more shark movie. I like shark movies though.

00:30:16.730 –> 00:30:18.650
Like I love the shark exploitation movies, like

00:30:18.650 –> 00:30:20.509
dolls three. Oh my God. I can watch dolls three

00:30:20.509 –> 00:30:23.230
all the time. Deep blue sea people shit on that

00:30:23.230 –> 00:30:25.009
movie, but deep blue sea is fucking amazing.

00:30:25.009 –> 00:30:29.089
Like it’s so good. I love, I don’t love it for

00:30:29.089 –> 00:30:31.109
the plot. I don’t love it for like, you know,

00:30:31.150 –> 00:30:34.160
the, the the seriousness of it. I just love sharks

00:30:34.160 –> 00:30:35.960
fucking with humans. Did you see the shallows?

00:30:35.980 –> 00:30:37.500
That was another one of those. I did. God, that

00:30:37.500 –> 00:30:38.960
one actually creeped me out because I’m terrified

00:30:38.960 –> 00:30:41.759
of the ocean, even though I love it. This is

00:30:41.759 –> 00:30:43.599
why because of sharks. Yeah. Well, and then there’s

00:30:43.599 –> 00:30:46.240
the all time classic shark NATO, which our buddy

00:30:46.240 –> 00:30:49.839
Cody edited. I love those, too. I made it all

00:30:49.839 –> 00:30:52.500
the way to five. Taffeta, have you seen bait

00:30:52.500 –> 00:30:55.670
or bait 3D as it’s known? I don’t think I’ve

00:30:55.670 –> 00:30:57.670
seen bait three. It’s it’s it’s a lot of fun.

00:30:57.809 –> 00:31:00.150
It’s sharks in a supermarket after like a tsunami

00:31:00.150 –> 00:31:03.609
hits it. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yes. And yeah,

00:31:03.730 –> 00:31:05.049
they’re just it’s all flooded waters and they’re

00:31:05.049 –> 00:31:06.329
just in the store and they’re trying to stay

00:31:06.329 –> 00:31:09.450
on top of the the one the yeah. Yeah. There’s

00:31:09.450 –> 00:31:11.190
also like Santa shark. So I don’t know if you

00:31:11.190 –> 00:31:13.869
guys have seen that, but it’s a literal Santa

00:31:13.869 –> 00:31:16.930
shark. He has a hat and everything. What? See,

00:31:17.069 –> 00:31:19.269
I can’t I can’t do that. It’s a little to give

00:31:19.269 –> 00:31:21.819
you for me. But you know what I can do that’s

00:31:21.819 –> 00:31:24.140
also coming out this weekend is Devil Wears Prada

00:31:24.140 –> 00:31:27.700
2, which I’m pumped for. I know make fun of me,

00:31:27.720 –> 00:31:28.880
but I was a huge fan of the original. I’ve never

00:31:28.880 –> 00:31:30.319
seen one, so I can’t make fun of it. There’s

00:31:30.319 –> 00:31:32.859
no devil in the movie. What the hell? The devil

00:31:32.859 –> 00:31:35.579
is the movie. The devil is the movie. I’ve seen

00:31:35.579 –> 00:31:37.940
the original. I’m just making a bad joke. The

00:31:37.940 –> 00:31:43.920
devil is Helen Mirren, who is, you know, Anna

00:31:43.920 –> 00:31:46.900
Wintour, Peter. Come on, breathe between the

00:31:46.900 –> 00:31:51.029
lines. So we are about to talk with a really

00:31:51.029 –> 00:31:54.609
great guy, Steve Niles and Taffeta. I believe

00:31:54.609 –> 00:31:56.930
you’re an old friend of his. Is that right? I

00:31:56.930 –> 00:32:00.910
am. I met him years ago at Fan Expo in an after

00:32:00.910 –> 00:32:05.250
party at the the hotel and I was I’d had a lot

00:32:05.250 –> 00:32:07.769
to drink and I was still wearing my costume from

00:32:07.769 –> 00:32:10.210
earlier that day. And he was absolutely delightful

00:32:10.210 –> 00:32:13.240
to have me and my good friend just. you know

00:32:13.240 –> 00:32:15.480
rush them as fangirls drunk in these onesies

00:32:15.480 –> 00:32:17.680
and our makeup smeared everywhere and we looked

00:32:18.900 –> 00:32:20.740
Absolutely ridiculous. And he was the kindest

00:32:20.740 –> 00:32:22.720
person to be like, yes, I’ll talk comics with

00:32:22.720 –> 00:32:25.819
you. Why we were just like, oh, my God, Steve,

00:32:26.039 –> 00:32:27.740
like again, our makeup and our hair, we looked

00:32:27.740 –> 00:32:29.259
like we literally just like, you know, falling

00:32:29.259 –> 00:32:32.400
out of a plane. We looked atrocious. And I look

00:32:32.400 –> 00:32:34.160
at those photos now. I’m like, oh, my God, Taff,

00:32:34.160 –> 00:32:36.640
you were like, just, hey, let’s be friends looking

00:32:36.640 –> 00:32:38.500
like this. I don’t think that’s possible. You

00:32:38.500 –> 00:32:41.720
probably looked great. This is my fiance is the

00:32:41.720 –> 00:32:43.099
same way. She’s always like, I look terrible.

00:32:43.119 –> 00:32:45.579
I’m like. I don’t know. Like you got a few minutes.

00:32:45.660 –> 00:32:48.400
Let’s like, uh, let’s go find a closet somewhere.

00:32:48.720 –> 00:32:55.319
You know, anyways, um, no, I just definitely,

00:32:55.339 –> 00:32:58.099
I wasn’t a onesie. I wasn’t, I look like an oversized

00:32:58.099 –> 00:33:00.779
child trying to talk to this man seriously with

00:33:00.779 –> 00:33:03.759
like scotch in both hands. So thank you, Steve,

00:33:03.799 –> 00:33:06.519
for being absolutely kind and courteous and just

00:33:06.519 –> 00:33:08.680
humoring me and being friendly with me for all

00:33:08.680 –> 00:33:12.180
these years after that. All right. So at a minute

00:33:12.180 –> 00:33:15.400
we’re going to transition. into speaking to a

00:33:15.400 –> 00:33:17.420
very cool guest that we’re excited to have on

00:33:17.420 –> 00:33:20.160
the show. He’s multi -talented, and you may know

00:33:20.160 –> 00:33:23.519
him from film, TV, comic books, or even video

00:33:23.519 –> 00:33:25.859
games. If you’re a fan of vampires, you know

00:33:25.859 –> 00:33:28.519
him as the creator of 30 Days a Night. If you’re

00:33:28.519 –> 00:33:31.400
a gamer, you might know him from Fear. If you’re

00:33:31.400 –> 00:33:33.700
a fan of comics, you might also know him from

00:33:33.700 –> 00:33:36.460
Batman Gotham After Midnight. And if you’re a

00:33:36.460 –> 00:33:38.920
fan of punk rock, you might know him as the bassist

00:33:38.920 –> 00:33:42.049
of the Washington DC band Grey Matter. I’m, of

00:33:42.049 –> 00:33:44.490
course, referring to none other than Steve Niles.

00:33:46.789 –> 00:33:49.309
Hey, Steve, thanks for joining us with this.

00:33:49.390 –> 00:33:53.250
This is very exciting. So I guess what we should

00:33:53.250 –> 00:33:55.970
start with is a little bit of background, like

00:33:55.970 –> 00:33:58.690
your origin story and what people know you from.

00:34:01.049 –> 00:34:05.650
Well, I’m a writer. I primarily do comics and

00:34:05.650 –> 00:34:08.489
I’m probably best known for 30 days at night.

00:34:10.250 –> 00:34:13.610
Yes, yeah, that’s oddly that was my introduction

00:34:13.610 –> 00:34:16.530
to you even being from DC and being into the

00:34:16.530 –> 00:34:20.170
punk scene So it was it was very cool there learn

00:34:20.170 –> 00:34:22.230
a bit more about you, which I think a lot of

00:34:22.230 –> 00:34:26.010
the listeners are gonna kick out of So do you

00:34:26.010 –> 00:34:28.409
did you know from a young age you wanted to be

00:34:28.409 –> 00:34:32.630
a storyteller? I Didn’t know what I wanted to

00:34:32.630 –> 00:34:35.190
do initially, but because I started out. I wanted

00:34:35.190 –> 00:34:39.099
to do special effects So I was buying like foam

00:34:39.099 –> 00:34:42.000
latex and making up my friends and making you

00:34:42.000 –> 00:34:44.039
know, this will date me But I was making super

00:34:44.039 –> 00:34:49.119
eight movies So yeah, I was really into it, but

00:34:49.119 –> 00:34:51.460
it took me a long time to figure out that I wanted

00:34:51.460 –> 00:34:55.420
to be a writer Primarily because I loved comic

00:34:55.420 –> 00:34:57.340
books and it wasn’t till I was like a little

00:34:57.340 –> 00:35:00.559
kid and I read about the Marvel bullpen I was

00:35:00.559 –> 00:35:03.380
like, oh my god people make these things, you

00:35:03.380 –> 00:35:05.360
know, that’s that’s that means I and that means

00:35:05.360 –> 00:35:09.239
I can So I started getting more and more into

00:35:09.239 –> 00:35:11.980
that. You know, actually, that’s funny because

00:35:11.980 –> 00:35:14.179
that’s kind of my origin story a little bit too,

00:35:14.300 –> 00:35:16.480
is I wanted to get into filmmaking through special

00:35:16.480 –> 00:35:19.159
effects initially. My problem was I was terrible

00:35:19.159 –> 00:35:24.659
at it. Like how terrible? Pretty bad. Couldn’t

00:35:24.659 –> 00:35:28.000
sculpt to save my life. So did you, when you…

00:35:28.000 –> 00:35:30.099
Like we’re like, okay, let me try this writing

00:35:30.099 –> 00:35:32.579
thing. Were you, did you immediately try to figure

00:35:32.579 –> 00:35:34.639
out how to write comic books or you started with

00:35:34.639 –> 00:35:38.739
short stories or what? I would do, I kind of

00:35:38.739 –> 00:35:40.800
did both. I would do short stories. And then

00:35:40.800 –> 00:35:43.440
I remember my first story I wrote was actually

00:35:43.440 –> 00:35:47.000
a script. It was like a handwritten screenplay

00:35:47.000 –> 00:35:51.260
that I did when I was a kid. And that sort of,

00:35:51.260 –> 00:35:53.280
that got me more and more interested, but I sort

00:35:53.280 –> 00:35:55.900
of jumped back between doing pros and comics

00:35:55.900 –> 00:36:00.340
as a kid. That’s awesome. Did you, if you’re

00:36:00.340 –> 00:36:02.400
saying the first thing you tackled or tried to

00:36:02.400 –> 00:36:05.440
tackle was a script or a screenplay, did you

00:36:05.440 –> 00:36:07.960
have access to them? Because before the internet,

00:36:08.079 –> 00:36:11.039
it seems like where would you get them? Exactly.

00:36:11.039 –> 00:36:13.360
I had never seen a screenplay before, so I had

00:36:13.360 –> 00:36:15.760
no, again, I didn’t really know what I was doing.

00:36:15.800 –> 00:36:18.739
I was just describing things, putting in dialogue,

00:36:18.960 –> 00:36:20.880
describing things. You know, I was doing what

00:36:20.880 –> 00:36:24.960
I imagined they would be like. Right. Now, makes

00:36:24.960 –> 00:36:28.289
perfect sense to me. So I guess if we get into

00:36:28.289 –> 00:36:31.710
your creative process, I’m assuming that it’s

00:36:31.710 –> 00:36:34.889
changed over the years. Like if you were to come

00:36:34.889 –> 00:36:36.849
up with a, you have a comic book you want to

00:36:36.849 –> 00:36:38.269
write or a screenplay you want to write or a

00:36:38.269 –> 00:36:41.530
novel, do you think of a character or a premise

00:36:41.530 –> 00:36:44.949
first or how do you get ideas, would you say?

00:36:45.510 –> 00:36:48.230
Kind of both. You know, sometimes I get a plot

00:36:48.230 –> 00:36:52.150
idea, sometimes I’m working on a new thing with

00:36:52.150 –> 00:36:55.909
an Italian artist and we started with the character.

00:36:56.739 –> 00:36:59.340
You know, and then I built a story around it,

00:36:59.340 –> 00:37:01.579
but most of the time it’s it’s coming up with

00:37:01.579 –> 00:37:04.739
an actual plot first Right, you know like well

00:37:04.739 –> 00:37:07.300
30 days a night 30 days a night I came up with

00:37:07.300 –> 00:37:10.219
the concept and then years later I came up with

00:37:10.219 –> 00:37:15.199
the story With 30 days a night that that is such

00:37:15.199 –> 00:37:17.940
a high concept and it’s like it’s it’s really

00:37:17.940 –> 00:37:21.059
it’s genius It’s it’s perfect for a horror story.

00:37:21.179 –> 00:37:23.679
How did that where did you come up with a concept?

00:37:23.699 –> 00:37:26.940
Did you know? about, was it Barrow, Alaska? Is

00:37:26.940 –> 00:37:30.579
that where it is? Yeah, it’s Barrow, Alaska.

00:37:31.440 –> 00:37:33.820
And it’s the same at the time it was newspapers.

00:37:34.400 –> 00:37:36.420
But they would every every year there would be

00:37:36.420 –> 00:37:38.800
a little human interest piece about, oh, this

00:37:38.800 –> 00:37:41.599
town goes dark, you know, for I think it was

00:37:41.599 –> 00:37:45.659
actually 60 days. But that sounds terrible. So

00:37:45.659 –> 00:37:50.000
I just I remember tearing out the newspaper article

00:37:50.000 –> 00:37:52.659
and just writing vampires in the corner. And

00:37:52.659 –> 00:37:55.849
then I just sat on it for years. That’s smart.

00:37:56.829 –> 00:37:59.389
Yeah, I was curious. Just as a little side question,

00:37:59.670 –> 00:38:02.590
did they film on location in in Barrow? Because

00:38:02.590 –> 00:38:04.949
I watched it again last night just to re -familiarize

00:38:04.949 –> 00:38:07.230
myself with the movie. And I was like, wow, this

00:38:07.230 –> 00:38:09.110
and I looked up pictures of Barrow and I’m like,

00:38:09.130 –> 00:38:11.130
a lot of these buildings look pretty similar.

00:38:11.909 –> 00:38:13.969
Yeah, they built they built that whole set in

00:38:13.969 –> 00:38:17.829
New Zealand. Wow. Wow. But they did they model

00:38:17.829 –> 00:38:19.670
it on the town and really try to get like some

00:38:19.670 –> 00:38:22.659
of the actual buildings like. Yeah, they did.

00:38:22.739 –> 00:38:25.400
They did a lot of research and they built the

00:38:25.400 –> 00:38:29.360
town. Wow, that’s cool. What I had heard about

00:38:29.360 –> 00:38:32.340
30 Days a Night was you had the script, you tried

00:38:32.340 –> 00:38:34.579
to pitch it, no one was interested, and then

00:38:34.579 –> 00:38:38.679
you wrote the comic. Is that accurate? Almost.

00:38:38.699 –> 00:38:41.420
I had the pitch. I hadn’t written the script,

00:38:41.420 –> 00:38:45.639
but I had a pitch. And basically it was my backup.

00:38:46.320 –> 00:38:48.659
So I would go around to the studios and I was

00:38:48.659 –> 00:38:54.039
pitching Cal McDonald at the time. And basically,

00:38:54.119 –> 00:38:55.760
there’s always a point in the meeting where they

00:38:55.760 –> 00:38:58.239
go, so what else you got when they’re not interested?

00:38:58.699 –> 00:39:02.059
And I would describe 30 days a night, but I never

00:39:02.059 –> 00:39:05.199
got even the slightest bit of interest. Wow.

00:39:06.099 –> 00:39:08.699
That blows my mind, given they love like high

00:39:08.699 –> 00:39:12.059
concepts. I think, you know, a lot of people

00:39:12.059 –> 00:39:14.980
thought, like, when I said, oh, vampires in Alaska,

00:39:15.539 –> 00:39:18.159
they pictured, like, an army of bellagoses running

00:39:18.159 –> 00:39:20.619
across the snow or something, you know, silly

00:39:20.619 –> 00:39:24.480
like that. I’m not really sure, but they absolutely…

00:39:24.480 –> 00:39:26.820
Yeah, I know, but they absolutely didn’t bite,

00:39:27.280 –> 00:39:30.860
ever. I really want that, though, a bunch of

00:39:30.860 –> 00:39:34.719
bellagosas running in the snow. We’re, uh, when

00:39:34.719 –> 00:39:37.039
they, you know, after the comic book and then

00:39:37.039 –> 00:39:40.159
they were, you had producers… coming due, I’m

00:39:40.159 –> 00:39:42.340
guessing, right? They had interest in trying

00:39:42.340 –> 00:39:45.280
to make the movie. Imagine that was very exciting

00:39:45.280 –> 00:39:49.280
for you. It was it was crazy. I mean, the first

00:39:49.280 –> 00:39:52.340
issue came out and initially the orders are really

00:39:52.340 –> 00:39:56.000
low. We only sold about four thousand forty five

00:39:56.000 –> 00:39:59.699
hundred copies. Well, but as soon as it came

00:39:59.699 –> 00:40:03.360
out, the producers and producer assistants and

00:40:03.360 –> 00:40:05.840
everybody started going to the comic stores and

00:40:05.840 –> 00:40:08.380
they would call us. you know, asking if we’d

00:40:08.380 –> 00:40:10.019
sold the rights yet and all this. And it just

00:40:10.019 –> 00:40:13.199
it turned into like a feeding frenzy. And I had

00:40:13.199 –> 00:40:15.099
I didn’t have an agent. I am a lawyer. I didn’t

00:40:15.099 –> 00:40:17.280
have anything at that. So I went up getting an

00:40:17.280 –> 00:40:20.480
agent. And that’s when we turned it into a pitch.

00:40:21.039 –> 00:40:24.019
So we went out to all the studios and pitched.

00:40:24.739 –> 00:40:26.719
And it actually wound up there was a bidding

00:40:26.719 –> 00:40:31.010
war between three studios. And one of them was

00:40:31.010 –> 00:40:34.309
Sony and it was linked with Sam Raimi. And I

00:40:34.309 –> 00:40:36.050
just said, go with Sam Raimi. I don’t even want

00:40:36.050 –> 00:40:40.349
to hear the other off. Makes sense. Yeah. So

00:40:40.349 –> 00:40:43.750
is that, did you guys do that strategically where,

00:40:43.909 –> 00:40:45.489
you know, you’re getting fielding calls from

00:40:45.489 –> 00:40:47.789
people, but you thought if you did a formal pitch

00:40:47.789 –> 00:40:49.909
that maybe you could kind of gin up a more of

00:40:49.909 –> 00:40:52.510
a bidding war. Was that the strategy there? That

00:40:52.510 –> 00:40:54.610
was, I think that was the agent’s idea. Yeah.

00:40:54.710 –> 00:40:57.110
Yeah. I could see how that would make sense.

00:40:57.190 –> 00:41:00.690
When you saw the movie, was it like surreal to

00:41:00.690 –> 00:41:02.570
you? You’re like, holy shit, this thing I wrote

00:41:02.570 –> 00:41:06.550
and we do it. Yeah, it’s still surreal. You know,

00:41:06.610 –> 00:41:08.550
you just you never get used to something like

00:41:08.550 –> 00:41:11.889
that. But I was so happy with it. You know, I

00:41:11.889 –> 00:41:14.929
thought David Slade did a great job. He really

00:41:14.929 –> 00:41:18.269
he protected the story. You know, I mean, they

00:41:18.269 –> 00:41:20.869
were believing I dealt with some producer notes

00:41:20.869 –> 00:41:26.059
you wouldn’t believe. And he kept the whole thing

00:41:26.059 –> 00:41:29.099
on track. Nice. So by the time it came out, I

00:41:29.099 –> 00:41:32.880
was very happy with it. That’s awesome. That’s

00:41:32.880 –> 00:41:36.960
really cool. I’ll tell you, after it came out,

00:41:36.980 –> 00:41:40.840
I was a big fan of it. And that Halloween, maybe

00:41:40.840 –> 00:41:43.519
it was the Halloween after, I went as Marlo for

00:41:43.519 –> 00:41:45.460
Halloween, you know, with the blood going down

00:41:45.460 –> 00:41:48.300
his throat and a black pea coat. And I had like

00:41:48.300 –> 00:41:51.780
black contacts. And people recognize it immediately,

00:41:51.800 –> 00:41:56.639
so it’s very iconic. So you made something that

00:41:56.639 –> 00:42:00.539
people dress up for, for Halloween. I don’t know

00:42:00.539 –> 00:42:02.579
if you’re aware. I love that. I love when people,

00:42:03.460 –> 00:42:05.280
every once in a while somebody will come up at

00:42:05.280 –> 00:42:08.119
a convention, you know, and or they’ll send me

00:42:08.119 –> 00:42:11.340
pictures. There was a group of cosplayers actually

00:42:11.340 –> 00:42:15.840
did a did total reenactments. And they would

00:42:15.840 –> 00:42:18.780
send and they would send me the staged photographs.

00:42:19.360 –> 00:42:23.659
It’s really cool. Wow, that is that is that’s

00:42:23.659 –> 00:42:26.219
very cool. Yeah, I’m curious. Since we’re on

00:42:26.219 –> 00:42:28.719
the topic of kind of like how it was came to

00:42:28.719 –> 00:42:32.920
be, you know, we there’s a lot of comic book

00:42:32.920 –> 00:42:36.579
movies and particularly, I think it kind of started

00:42:36.579 –> 00:42:39.480
around this era, right, where they really were

00:42:39.480 –> 00:42:42.380
taken off. So I’m wondering, like, was there

00:42:42.380 –> 00:42:46.400
a conversation about whether this would feel

00:42:46.400 –> 00:42:49.840
more comic or more horror? And Was that always

00:42:49.840 –> 00:42:51.559
part of the pitch and the vision? And did you

00:42:51.559 –> 00:42:53.400
have to push back against trying to make it feel

00:42:53.400 –> 00:42:55.519
more comic or anything like along those lines?

00:42:56.039 –> 00:42:58.599
I think everybody really wanted a good horror

00:42:58.599 –> 00:43:01.440
movie. Everybody wanted a scary vampire movie.

00:43:01.440 –> 00:43:05.059
That was so much of the motivation that there

00:43:05.059 –> 00:43:07.579
wasn’t. I know, you know, Slade worked in some

00:43:07.579 –> 00:43:10.199
some nods to the comic as far as the visuals

00:43:10.199 –> 00:43:12.579
are concerned. There’s there’s a few shots in

00:43:12.579 –> 00:43:15.039
there that are, you know, right out of Ben’s

00:43:15.039 –> 00:43:19.440
artwork. But. The idea was always to just make

00:43:19.440 –> 00:43:21.940
a good horror movie. That’s great, because this

00:43:21.940 –> 00:43:23.659
this conversation is coming up again, actually,

00:43:24.159 –> 00:43:28.039
with the Clayface trailer that just dropped,

00:43:28.039 –> 00:43:30.420
you know, and a lot of people are wondering how

00:43:30.420 –> 00:43:32.760
comic versus how horror. And actually, James

00:43:32.760 –> 00:43:34.599
Gunn came out and clarified that it’s like a

00:43:34.599 –> 00:43:37.619
horror film. So, you know, I think that a lot

00:43:37.619 –> 00:43:40.800
of horror fans that also know that the properties

00:43:40.800 –> 00:43:43.159
come from the comic book world are worried about

00:43:43.159 –> 00:43:46.780
it. The comic bookification of. you know, horror

00:43:46.780 –> 00:43:49.539
as a genre. Yeah. You know, I was just saying,

00:43:49.579 –> 00:43:51.619
I thought the Clayface trailer was really interesting.

00:43:51.860 –> 00:43:54.559
I think it looks really cool. Yeah. Yeah, it

00:43:54.559 –> 00:43:59.059
certainly does. Steve, so I have to ask, do you

00:43:59.059 –> 00:44:02.440
have any favorite vampire books or movies? I’m

00:44:02.440 –> 00:44:05.119
just curious because he came up with such a cool

00:44:05.119 –> 00:44:08.639
concept. Number one, I Am Legend. I Am Legend

00:44:08.639 –> 00:44:14.559
is my number one novel. You know, I’d love, that’s…

00:44:14.079 –> 00:44:16.860
not only got me reading as a kid, it was one

00:44:16.860 –> 00:44:18.920
of the books that made me want to write. And

00:44:18.920 –> 00:44:22.320
I fell in love with Richard Matheson. But that’s

00:44:22.320 –> 00:44:26.380
one of my favorite vampire books. If I had to

00:44:26.380 –> 00:44:29.980
pick a movie, I always pick I love Werner Herzog’s

00:44:29.980 –> 00:44:34.699
Nosferatu. Ah, OK. Yeah, it’s very I just love

00:44:34.699 –> 00:44:40.460
that one. Klaus Kinski. He looks like him. Yeah,

00:44:41.019 –> 00:44:45.059
yeah, it does. I want to inject something really

00:44:45.059 –> 00:44:46.360
quick. I want to talk to you about the video

00:44:46.360 –> 00:44:47.780
game that you had kind of teamed up a little

00:44:47.780 –> 00:44:49.760
bit with John Carpenter. Was it like fear three

00:44:49.760 –> 00:44:51.960
a little bit after days of night or anything

00:44:51.960 –> 00:44:55.260
about that? Because you had a very it was just

00:44:55.260 –> 00:44:57.920
a few years after 30 days and nights. And this

00:44:57.920 –> 00:44:59.420
was like the third installment, I think, of the

00:44:59.420 –> 00:45:01.360
video game. How different is it writing comics

00:45:01.360 –> 00:45:03.739
and then having to transfer that into video games?

00:45:03.739 –> 00:45:05.619
And also, how was it teaming up with John Carpenter?

00:45:05.679 –> 00:45:10.630
Oh. Well, I had I had worked with John before

00:45:10.630 –> 00:45:16.329
we had actually worked on a movie for The Weinstein’s

00:45:16.329 –> 00:45:19.789
I forgot their company already But it was with

00:45:19.789 –> 00:45:24.190
them. So oh Miramax. No, was that it? Well, there’s

00:45:24.190 –> 00:45:26.389
Miramax. Yeah that it was Weinstein company Yeah,

00:45:26.829 –> 00:45:29.809
so I had already known John and I knew that he

00:45:29.809 –> 00:45:34.530
spent a lot of time playing video games so when

00:45:34.530 –> 00:45:38.380
they they Yeah, he loves video games. So when

00:45:38.380 –> 00:45:42.519
they hired me to do fear, I just I suggested

00:45:42.519 –> 00:45:45.599
John right away, you know, as I because I wanted

00:45:45.599 –> 00:45:48.460
to work with him again. And he was just a blast

00:45:48.460 –> 00:45:50.719
to work with. We would just meet weekly at a

00:45:50.719 –> 00:45:53.420
restaurant and go through all the notes. But

00:45:53.420 –> 00:45:56.940
to answer your initial question, I probably will

00:45:56.940 –> 00:46:00.619
never write a video game again, because by the

00:46:00.619 –> 00:46:04.719
time it was done, I had I had about a three foot

00:46:04.719 –> 00:46:08.570
stack of paper. There is it’s so much writing.

00:46:08.769 –> 00:46:11.130
You have to write for every possible option.

00:46:11.889 –> 00:46:15.369
And you can just imagine, you know, especially

00:46:15.369 –> 00:46:20.070
in an open world story. It was so hard. And,

00:46:20.070 –> 00:46:21.789
you know, and plus you have to work with a lot

00:46:21.789 –> 00:46:24.289
of producers and you have to, you know, it’s

00:46:24.289 –> 00:46:27.369
their product. So you have to follow what they

00:46:27.369 –> 00:46:30.349
want to do. But, you know, I was pretty, you

00:46:30.349 –> 00:46:33.469
know, for I like first person shooters. So I

00:46:33.469 –> 00:46:36.050
thought. But for that, it came out pretty good.

00:46:37.070 –> 00:46:39.929
Do you write other things as well, like in novels

00:46:39.929 –> 00:46:43.329
or anything like that? Yeah. Yeah, I have a series

00:46:43.329 –> 00:46:46.690
of books. I do the character Cal McDonald that

00:46:46.690 –> 00:46:50.530
was published under Dark Horse as criminal macabre.

00:46:52.070 –> 00:46:55.110
So I have a new collection coming out soon. But

00:46:55.110 –> 00:46:59.269
I actually I write a lot of prose before I do

00:46:59.269 –> 00:47:02.289
a comic. I like to write a prose version of it

00:47:02.289 –> 00:47:05.019
because You just get into the head better. You

00:47:05.019 –> 00:47:08.260
get all kinds of great narration. So I actually

00:47:08.260 –> 00:47:10.360
will, you know, for a short, I’ll write a short

00:47:10.360 –> 00:47:14.019
story and then adapt my own story into a comic.

00:47:14.340 –> 00:47:17.820
Wow. That’s real cool. Yeah. Taffet is the comic

00:47:17.820 –> 00:47:21.719
expert out of the three of us. So I’m going to

00:47:21.719 –> 00:47:24.719
put your brain here and I can ask a question

00:47:24.719 –> 00:47:28.239
real quick. That’s I’m sure like a very basic

00:47:28.239 –> 00:47:30.380
thing that. people in the comics don’t understand.

00:47:30.840 –> 00:47:34.059
But do you as a writer of comics, do you write

00:47:34.059 –> 00:47:36.059
a lot of the description that and the artist

00:47:36.059 –> 00:47:39.619
takes and or like how what’s that relationship

00:47:39.619 –> 00:47:41.940
like and how much input do you have on the visuals

00:47:41.940 –> 00:47:47.260
of it? I write. pretty detailed scripts, but

00:47:47.260 –> 00:47:50.039
I always encourage the artist to, you know, add

00:47:50.039 –> 00:47:52.420
panels, change, you know, whatever makes the

00:47:52.420 –> 00:47:55.280
story flow better. But I, you know, I always

00:47:55.280 –> 00:47:57.780
feel like my job writing a script is sort of

00:47:57.780 –> 00:48:00.199
the cheerleader for the artist, you know, get

00:48:00.199 –> 00:48:02.699
them excited, get the pictures in their head,

00:48:02.960 –> 00:48:05.960
you know, and, and hopefully when you get the

00:48:05.960 –> 00:48:09.000
art back, it’s what you pictured. Right. So in

00:48:09.000 –> 00:48:11.659
a way you’re kind of influencing the film version

00:48:11.659 –> 00:48:14.380
then, because it’s like, you’re kind of influencing

00:48:14.380 –> 00:48:18.139
the comic art, which then influences the cinematography.

00:48:19.079 –> 00:48:24.179
That’s cool. Right, right. I like that the cheerleader

00:48:24.179 –> 00:48:25.940
for the artist, that’s a really cool way to look

00:48:25.940 –> 00:48:31.239
at it. Steve, our friend Lars, who did the score

00:48:31.239 –> 00:48:36.000
for this podcast, mentioned he’s a huge fan of

00:48:36.000 –> 00:48:39.820
Cal MacDonald, the novels, and apparently that

00:48:39.820 –> 00:48:42.289
was supposed to be a movie too, right? are they

00:48:42.289 –> 00:48:45.829
were trying to oh is that is that we’ve sold

00:48:45.829 –> 00:48:49.550
we’ve sold it about three times oh shit uh they

00:48:49.550 –> 00:48:53.039
they just they can’t get it I don’t know what

00:48:53.039 –> 00:48:56.260
the idea, you know, what the problem is, because

00:48:56.260 –> 00:48:58.900
it’s just it’s pretty much your standard hard

00:48:58.900 –> 00:49:01.920
boiled detective with. But instead of, you know,

00:49:01.920 –> 00:49:04.739
with drinking and drug problems and all that.

00:49:04.739 –> 00:49:08.519
And it’s from his perspective. So it’s very smart

00:49:08.519 –> 00:49:11.420
ass. It’s a kind of more Mickey Spillane than

00:49:11.420 –> 00:49:14.980
anything else. And for some reason, they’ve just

00:49:14.980 –> 00:49:17.849
never been able to. to get it. I’ve read many

00:49:17.849 –> 00:49:21.090
treatments and scripts, and it just hasn’t come

00:49:21.090 –> 00:49:24.429
together yet. I’m sorry. That’s frustrating.

00:49:26.190 –> 00:49:29.550
Yeah. Lars was saying it’s kind of like noir

00:49:29.550 –> 00:49:32.710
meets horror. Is that a fair assessment? Yeah.

00:49:32.730 –> 00:49:36.650
Absolutely. I joke. I really love Angel Heart.

00:49:36.769 –> 00:49:41.090
I love that blend. I tend to call it noir, if

00:49:41.090 –> 00:49:45.599
you will. Right. Well, actually, it’s kind of

00:49:45.599 –> 00:49:47.960
like our we we just did a me and Peter co -directed

00:49:47.960 –> 00:49:51.840
a short horror film that’s more of a psychological

00:49:51.840 –> 00:49:55.159
horror, but it is like got a noir esque to it,

00:49:55.380 –> 00:49:59.469
too. So yeah, I just. When I was when I was growing

00:49:59.469 –> 00:50:02.250
up I just I loved Raymond Chandler and Dashiell

00:50:02.250 –> 00:50:05.309
Hammett Jim Thompson, you know all those guys

00:50:05.309 –> 00:50:08.389
I just loved it. So really when I started writing

00:50:08.389 –> 00:50:13.610
Cal I was pretty and I was still a teenager I

00:50:13.610 –> 00:50:15.329
was pretty much just trying to rip off Raymond

00:50:15.329 –> 00:50:17.570
Chandler and then you know, I was like, well,

00:50:17.570 –> 00:50:20.369
I’m just I’m just imitating them So I threw you

00:50:20.369 –> 00:50:22.710
know, I had a love of horror. So I started throwing

00:50:22.710 –> 00:50:26.559
in monsters And the whole the whole thing changed.

00:50:26.579 –> 00:50:29.380
And eventually I found my own voice. It seems

00:50:29.380 –> 00:50:30.940
like a lot of your stuff that in your earlier

00:50:30.940 –> 00:50:32.780
stuff seems to be kind of centered around maybe

00:50:32.780 –> 00:50:34.780
like a nor like detective stuff. You’ve got,

00:50:34.920 –> 00:50:36.400
you know, dead, she said. You’ve got the goal

00:50:36.400 –> 00:50:39.940
and Macabre. And I like that that you kind of

00:50:39.940 –> 00:50:41.719
have like this hard boiled like, you know, essence

00:50:41.719 –> 00:50:44.920
within like all the horror itself. And also,

00:50:44.920 –> 00:50:47.039
yeah, I just talk about Bernie Wrightson here

00:50:47.039 –> 00:50:49.800
in a second, too. We’d be remiss not to mention

00:50:49.800 –> 00:50:51.780
the master of Macabre. We’re talking to Steve

00:50:51.780 –> 00:50:57.019
Niles. Sorry. Yeah, I just, you know, I was very,

00:50:57.360 –> 00:50:59.699
very close with Bernie. And, you know, it was

00:50:59.699 –> 00:51:01.780
really funny because when I first met him, I

00:51:01.780 –> 00:51:04.760
didn’t ask him to do any work. I was so happy

00:51:04.760 –> 00:51:08.380
to know him, you know, and be hanging out. And

00:51:08.380 –> 00:51:12.219
it was actually a few months after we were just,

00:51:12.219 –> 00:51:13.739
you know, we just go out and get beers and hang

00:51:13.739 –> 00:51:17.079
out. And and he brought up he’s like, I think

00:51:17.079 –> 00:51:20.039
he just had done this Simpsons treehouse of horror

00:51:20.039 –> 00:51:23.699
with Len Wein. And he was It’s like I’m kind

00:51:23.699 –> 00:51:27.400
of interested in doing comics again. So it was

00:51:27.400 –> 00:51:30.340
sort of it was his idea. And that’s when we started

00:51:30.340 –> 00:51:33.039
doing City of Others. Yeah, yeah. That was like

00:51:33.039 –> 00:51:35.579
his big return kind of back to you doing a regular

00:51:35.579 –> 00:51:38.780
comic and stuff like that, which is just incredible.

00:51:38.820 –> 00:51:40.559
And you guys just had like the anniversary of

00:51:40.559 –> 00:51:43.019
Frankenstein alive alive, which I picked up that

00:51:43.019 –> 00:51:45.480
the book, which is an incredible book. His Frankenstein

00:51:45.480 –> 00:51:48.159
is iconic. It’s legendary. And just thinking

00:51:48.159 –> 00:51:49.980
about it makes me just like it’s very poignant.

00:51:49.980 –> 00:51:53.869
Makes me weep inside. Yeah, and I’m, you know,

00:51:54.090 –> 00:51:56.929
I’m so happy about that book, not only because

00:51:56.929 –> 00:51:59.150
Kelly Jones finished it and we were able to put

00:51:59.150 –> 00:52:01.150
it because initially we weren’t going to be able

00:52:01.150 –> 00:52:03.190
to put it out because he was unable to do the

00:52:03.190 –> 00:52:06.070
last issue. But Kelly Jones came in and finished

00:52:06.070 –> 00:52:09.349
it. And I’m just so happy because I think it’s

00:52:09.349 –> 00:52:11.510
some of this find that Bernie’s finest work.

00:52:11.929 –> 00:52:14.030
I mean, there’s some there’s some spreads and

00:52:14.030 –> 00:52:16.550
splashes in there that are just absolutely unbelievable.

00:52:16.780 –> 00:52:19.780
Yeah, this was his last work, too, which I also

00:52:19.780 –> 00:52:22.559
think it’s very sweet that Kelly Jones, who is,

00:52:22.559 –> 00:52:24.780
you know, a good friend of yours and also a collaborator

00:52:24.780 –> 00:52:27.880
and an intense Batman horror artist, one of the

00:52:27.880 –> 00:52:31.159
best, you know, long cowed, pointy eared Batman

00:52:31.159 –> 00:52:33.559
artists out there. And so the fact that he was

00:52:33.559 –> 00:52:36.300
able to jump in and finish those off so beautifully

00:52:36.300 –> 00:52:39.000
in like his own way, but still mimicking Wrightson’s

00:52:39.000 –> 00:52:42.119
line work and everything is just so great. Yeah,

00:52:42.119 –> 00:52:45.019
I was I was so happy about that. And Bernie picked

00:52:45.019 –> 00:52:47.579
him. We were like, what artist would you like?

00:52:47.659 –> 00:52:51.940
And he said, Kelly Jones. Fuck yeah. It worked

00:52:51.940 –> 00:52:54.780
out really well. But yeah, working with Bernie

00:52:54.780 –> 00:52:57.159
was the thrill of a lifetime, because I was a

00:52:57.159 –> 00:53:00.579
big fan of his as a kid. He was very influential.

00:53:01.139 –> 00:53:04.199
Frankenstein just knocked me out at a very early

00:53:04.199 –> 00:53:07.780
age. So getting to meet him, be friends, and

00:53:07.780 –> 00:53:12.050
then work with him just couldn’t be better. And

00:53:12.050 –> 00:53:13.909
there’s just a reverb left from him and like

00:53:13.909 –> 00:53:16.190
almost every aspect of horror, whether it’s film,

00:53:16.190 –> 00:53:18.090
whether it’s comics, whether it’s books, whether

00:53:18.090 –> 00:53:21.050
it’s video games, you can find a lot of his influence

00:53:21.050 –> 00:53:23.010
and just about anything horror. And I think that’s

00:53:23.010 –> 00:53:26.809
really sweet. I do, too. And who do you think

00:53:26.809 –> 00:53:29.809
is doing really good work right now? Like, who

00:53:29.809 –> 00:53:32.570
are you looking to that that you really are inspired

00:53:32.570 –> 00:53:35.949
by and kind of makes you want to create? Oh,

00:53:36.090 –> 00:53:38.909
you mean artists? Yeah, I mean, it could be artists,

00:53:38.989 –> 00:53:40.670
could be filmmakers. I mean, take it any way

00:53:40.670 –> 00:53:45.230
you want to go. Well, I actually I thought there’s

00:53:45.230 –> 00:53:47.510
been some really great creative horror movies

00:53:47.510 –> 00:53:50.789
coming out like weapons. I thought that was I

00:53:50.789 –> 00:53:54.570
thought that was really great. Artist wise, you

00:53:54.570 –> 00:53:56.989
know, I really get inspired by the people I work

00:53:56.989 –> 00:54:01.280
with. I do a lot of stuff with Damien Worm. Who

00:54:01.280 –> 00:54:05.579
is a Spanish artist? We did October faction together,

00:54:05.679 –> 00:54:10.179
which was made into a Netflix show And he’s just

00:54:10.179 –> 00:54:13.360
he inspires me every day because he just he works.

00:54:13.500 –> 00:54:15.960
He’s really fast, but it’s just his beautiful

00:54:15.960 –> 00:54:20.360
work I like guys like Patrick Reynolds. I’d love

00:54:20.360 –> 00:54:22.880
to work with him, and I think he just was doing

00:54:22.880 –> 00:54:26.800
the Gunslinger Spawn, I guess he was doing with

00:54:26.800 –> 00:54:29.739
Jimmy Palmiotti. I love his stuff. I absolutely

00:54:29.739 –> 00:54:33.139
love his stuff. Nice. So I still get a lot of

00:54:33.139 –> 00:54:36.420
inspiration from the guys I grew up with, like

00:54:36.420 –> 00:54:39.739
George Romero, John Carpenter, Bernie Wrightson,

00:54:39.940 –> 00:54:42.460
Richard Matheson. Those are the names I always

00:54:42.460 –> 00:54:44.579
those are the names I always go to. Yeah, it’s

00:54:44.579 –> 00:54:47.920
a deep well to go back to, for sure. Yeah. Yeah.

00:54:47.960 –> 00:54:51.909
So and I presume your first love is. comic books,

00:54:51.909 –> 00:54:57.389
but is that still the case? Like if you could

00:54:57.389 –> 00:54:59.570
only choose one kind of medium to work in, would

00:54:59.570 –> 00:55:02.730
that be it? Probably. I feel the most comfortable

00:55:02.730 –> 00:55:05.769
writing comics. You know, I still do screenplays

00:55:05.769 –> 00:55:10.269
and I write a lot of prose, but my comfort zone

00:55:10.269 –> 00:55:14.110
is comic books. One thing I wanted to ask you

00:55:14.110 –> 00:55:16.570
about, Steve, was you wrote an episode of Fear

00:55:16.570 –> 00:55:19.579
Itself, which was From what I understand, like

00:55:19.579 –> 00:55:22.980
Mick Garris had Masters of Horror and then it

00:55:22.980 –> 00:55:26.639
pivoted to I think network television and we

00:55:26.639 –> 00:55:29.139
kind of created itself as Fear Itself or something

00:55:29.139 –> 00:55:33.059
like that. Your involvement with it, were you

00:55:33.059 –> 00:55:35.460
hand selected or do you pitch to Mick Garris

00:55:35.460 –> 00:55:38.960
or how did you get involved? I’ve known Mick

00:55:38.960 –> 00:55:41.519
for years and he called me and just said, do

00:55:41.519 –> 00:55:44.320
you want to do one of these? And he showed me

00:55:44.320 –> 00:55:47.619
the story called New Year’s Day by Paul Kane.

00:55:48.610 –> 00:55:51.610
Absolutely love the story. And then I wrote the

00:55:51.610 –> 00:55:55.250
script and you know, one of my I’m just obsessed

00:55:55.250 –> 00:55:59.809
with accuracy. I grew up, you know, my first

00:55:59.809 –> 00:56:01.869
jobs in the industry were actually adapting other

00:56:01.869 –> 00:56:06.090
writers. So adapting his story to a TV show,

00:56:06.150 –> 00:56:09.389
I was I really wanted to make it just like the

00:56:09.389 –> 00:56:11.809
story. And I got the script done and Mick loved

00:56:11.809 –> 00:56:16.380
it. And then the writers strike it. And. All

00:56:16.380 –> 00:56:19.760
the scripts got sent to Canada and everything

00:56:19.760 –> 00:56:26.760
got rewritten. Oh, shit. I so yeah. So I I was

00:56:26.760 –> 00:56:29.119
so I remember the worst part of it was I was

00:56:29.119 –> 00:56:33.420
reading a British fan, you know, movie magazine,

00:56:33.739 –> 00:56:36.539
and basically it said, like, fear itself. You

00:56:36.539 –> 00:56:38.519
know, this episode didn’t really work. Who’s

00:56:38.519 –> 00:56:45.909
to blame? Steve? Oh, God. Like oh my god, I didn’t

00:56:45.909 –> 00:56:49.789
even do it Yeah, so are you ever attempted to

00:56:49.789 –> 00:56:52.769
like get your name taken off things or you know

00:56:52.769 –> 00:56:56.510
in scenarios? We don’t have control Not really,

00:56:56.510 –> 00:56:58.869
you know, I just had a thing Rodney Barnes just

00:56:58.869 –> 00:57:04.420
did 30 days and I loved it. I loved it. I love

00:57:04.420 –> 00:57:07.099
Rodney and I thought he did just a great job.

00:57:07.320 –> 00:57:09.960
And I was a consultant on it. It was the easiest

00:57:09.960 –> 00:57:12.920
consulting job ever. You know, because it’s like,

00:57:12.920 –> 00:57:17.239
love it, love it. And they initially they put

00:57:17.239 –> 00:57:20.820
my name on the cover. I was like, that’s not

00:57:20.820 –> 00:57:23.960
really too right. I don’t like that too much.

00:57:23.960 –> 00:57:26.079
So that’s probably the only time I’ve ever asked

00:57:26.079 –> 00:57:28.820
my name to be removed. But it was just like to

00:57:28.820 –> 00:57:31.449
not take away from Rodney. You know, he was doing

00:57:31.449 –> 00:57:35.690
all the work. How did that come about? How did

00:57:35.690 –> 00:57:39.030
it come? They wanted to do more 30 days and I

00:57:39.030 –> 00:57:42.250
wasn’t really feeling up for I’m a little burned

00:57:42.250 –> 00:57:45.670
on vampires. You know, I just I’ve written a

00:57:45.670 –> 00:57:49.190
lot of vampire stories. So, you know, like I

00:57:49.190 –> 00:57:51.869
love Rodney, I love what he does. So I suggested

00:57:51.869 –> 00:57:54.170
and he came with a pitch and they bought it.

00:57:54.889 –> 00:57:56.329
I’ve been reading that and I really love it.

00:57:56.429 –> 00:57:57.710
That’s one of the main ones I was pushing when

00:57:57.710 –> 00:57:59.909
I when I go out and talk about horror comics,

00:58:00.449 –> 00:58:01.849
because I thought it was interesting because

00:58:01.849 –> 00:58:03.949
it is your title. And the fact that you were

00:58:03.949 –> 00:58:06.269
like, yes, is this going to keep going? It’s

00:58:06.269 –> 00:58:07.889
going to be Rodney Barnes. And I was like, hot

00:58:07.889 –> 00:58:11.489
damn, that’s that’s genius. Yeah. And he did

00:58:11.489 –> 00:58:13.469
a great job. I think he just knocked out Park.

00:58:13.570 –> 00:58:16.690
The art looked great. I was very happy with it.

00:58:16.829 –> 00:58:20.400
Yes, that’s that’s very cool. Steve, would you

00:58:20.400 –> 00:58:23.380
share some like insight to your creative process

00:58:23.380 –> 00:58:25.619
or was there any kind of like epiphanies you’ve

00:58:25.619 –> 00:58:27.480
had when you’re writing? You’re like, oh my God,

00:58:27.539 –> 00:58:30.460
this just like unlocked a whole new way I can

00:58:30.460 –> 00:58:34.000
approach the craft. You know, the only thing

00:58:34.000 –> 00:58:36.420
that I’ve sort of grown into, I used to like

00:58:36.420 –> 00:58:40.039
wait for inspiration, you know, and I would sit

00:58:40.039 –> 00:58:43.300
around for days and not write. Now I get up every

00:58:43.300 –> 00:58:47.869
morning early. and I sit down and before anything

00:58:47.869 –> 00:58:49.909
else happens, before I even have breakfast, I

00:58:49.909 –> 00:58:54.530
start writing. And that seems to be the trick.

00:58:55.250 –> 00:58:58.510
I catch a rhythm, and if it’s a good day, I’m

00:58:58.510 –> 00:59:01.869
there for four or five hours. Were you just fed

00:59:01.869 –> 00:59:04.590
up being a night owl, or were you just like,

00:59:04.650 –> 00:59:06.309
you know, let me just try the early morning thing

00:59:06.309 –> 00:59:09.949
and see how that works? You know, what happened

00:59:09.949 –> 00:59:13.869
was, aside from getting older, we live out on

00:59:13.869 –> 00:59:17.119
a farm. or a ranch up in the mountains. We have

00:59:17.119 –> 00:59:20.679
tons of animals, including four dogs, and the

00:59:20.679 –> 00:59:24.199
dogs wake you up. The dogs wake us up at like

00:59:24.199 –> 00:59:27.920
five, six in the morning every day. So I blame

00:59:27.920 –> 00:59:33.199
the dog. Yeah. We have a couple of cats who wake

00:59:33.199 –> 00:59:36.079
us up all night long. Yes, that’s what he does.

00:59:37.380 –> 00:59:40.440
Yeah. You said the mountains though, what state

00:59:40.440 –> 00:59:43.420
are you living in? I’m in California. I’m about

00:59:43.420 –> 00:59:48.099
an hour and a half from LA and in an area called

00:59:48.099 –> 00:59:51.280
Jennifer Hills. So we’re up in the mountain.

00:59:51.400 –> 00:59:54.059
We’re at about 4 ,500 feet. So it’s really nice

00:59:54.059 –> 00:59:58.619
because we get snow. We all live in LA. I don’t

00:59:58.619 –> 01:00:00.920
know if you knew that or not. Oh, I didn’t know

01:00:00.920 –> 01:00:05.809
that. I saw the 703 area code. So I thought you

01:00:05.809 –> 01:00:11.269
were in Virginia. That’s me. But it’s funny that

01:00:11.269 –> 01:00:13.650
Christopher and I are both from the DC area and

01:00:13.650 –> 01:00:16.570
came up with the punk scene. And Taffeta is also

01:00:16.570 –> 01:00:20.949
a punk, so we owe it to everyone, especially

01:00:20.949 –> 01:00:23.250
if they’re not familiar with the band Gray Matter

01:00:23.250 –> 01:00:25.949
and your involvement in the DC punk scene to

01:00:25.949 –> 01:00:29.670
kind of talk on that. You know, I was just a

01:00:29.670 –> 01:00:32.309
kid. We were still in high school when we put

01:00:32.309 –> 01:00:36.219
out our first album. So I sort of grew up making

01:00:36.219 –> 01:00:40.119
music with these guys and you know did it for

01:00:40.119 –> 01:00:43.960
a long time put out three or four records and

01:00:43.960 –> 01:00:47.400
And then you know, I’m still we’re friends for

01:00:47.400 –> 01:00:49.619
life. We’re actually I’m going to Washington

01:00:49.619 –> 01:00:53.659
DC next week and We’re gonna record a new album.

01:00:53.659 –> 01:00:59.760
Oh That’s awesome. Congrats. Yeah. Is this breaking

01:00:59.760 –> 01:01:03.440
news? Oh, yeah. I haven’t really said it to anybody.

01:01:04.159 –> 01:01:07.280
So, yeah, we’ve been actually we’ve been doing

01:01:07.280 –> 01:01:11.400
this crazy thing where they practice every Sunday

01:01:11.400 –> 01:01:17.360
without me. And I go in on Zoom and I play along.

01:01:17.920 –> 01:01:19.820
They can’t really hear me. And then Jeff and

01:01:19.820 –> 01:01:22.960
I, the singer guitar player, we have a little

01:01:22.960 –> 01:01:26.809
private Zoom sessions, because for some reason,

01:01:26.849 –> 01:01:29.329
when we connect, there’s no delay. So we’re able

01:01:29.329 –> 01:01:32.030
to play. Nice. That’s awesome. We’ve been we’ve

01:01:32.030 –> 01:01:35.710
been we’ve been writing songs over Zoom. I love

01:01:35.710 –> 01:01:38.170
that so much. Very cool. So punk rock. That’s

01:01:38.170 –> 01:01:40.710
so it is. It’s still it’s, you know, do it yourself.

01:01:41.210 –> 01:01:44.329
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And it really what

01:01:44.329 –> 01:01:45.969
you said resonated with me, actually. So Peter

01:01:45.969 –> 01:01:49.070
and I both played in punk bands in D .C. in high

01:01:49.070 –> 01:01:51.909
school, and that’s actually how we know each

01:01:51.909 –> 01:01:54.820
other. Not necessarily through the bands, but

01:01:54.820 –> 01:01:57.739
but we used to play together and stuff. And,

01:01:57.739 –> 01:02:01.900
you know, and here we are 25, 30 years later

01:02:01.900 –> 01:02:05.219
doing a podcast and making movies together. And

01:02:05.219 –> 01:02:06.619
there’s something nice about the punk scene,

01:02:06.679 –> 01:02:09.440
right? We talk about this somewhat often on this

01:02:09.440 –> 01:02:13.340
podcast, just about how many people in the creative

01:02:13.340 –> 01:02:16.000
industries came from the sort of punk scene and,

01:02:16.000 –> 01:02:18.539
you know, probably because the DIY nature of

01:02:18.539 –> 01:02:22.900
it and how, you know, we just sort of like. just

01:02:22.900 –> 01:02:25.239
jump in two feet into things and say, why not?

01:02:25.280 –> 01:02:28.000
Why can’t we do this? You know? Yeah, well, that’s

01:02:28.000 –> 01:02:29.780
I mean, I’m sure you remember everybody put on

01:02:29.780 –> 01:02:32.500
their own shows. You know, we put out our own

01:02:32.500 –> 01:02:34.780
records. We would do we would have, you know,

01:02:34.980 –> 01:02:37.679
record sleeve folding parties and things like

01:02:37.679 –> 01:02:40.460
that, you know. And for me, you know, just the

01:02:40.460 –> 01:02:43.349
punk rock scene, it was just. It’s cooperative

01:02:43.349 –> 01:02:45.849
and supportive, you know, which I really love

01:02:45.849 –> 01:02:48.170
that because I’m just I’m not into competition

01:02:48.170 –> 01:02:51.429
I just especially be an art. I think it’s kind

01:02:51.429 –> 01:02:56.110
of silly So that’s really what I got out of the

01:02:56.110 –> 01:02:59.429
DC scene to aside from the DIY You know because

01:02:59.429 –> 01:03:02.349
when I did start doing comics, I started my own

01:03:02.349 –> 01:03:07.610
company at a very young age and I was just totally

01:03:07.610 –> 01:03:11.519
following me the DIY model Right. Yeah, I mean

01:03:11.519 –> 01:03:13.559
do you have discord records who put you guys

01:03:13.559 –> 01:03:17.860
out and that was the DIY so is Well, here’s a

01:03:17.860 –> 01:03:21.239
question because You guys were playing at the

01:03:21.239 –> 01:03:24.119
time that now in hindsight gets labeled kind

01:03:24.119 –> 01:03:26.559
of his emo Even though that’s be kind become

01:03:26.559 –> 01:03:30.260
its own thing were people calling it in the like

01:03:30.260 –> 01:03:34.619
84 85 revolutionary revolution summer You know

01:03:34.619 –> 01:03:38.159
who we have to blame for that is Brian Baker

01:03:40.300 –> 01:03:43.679
He made it up as a joke because at the time it

01:03:43.679 –> 01:03:45.920
was like right to spring embrace gray matter

01:03:45.920 –> 01:03:48.619
Beefeater and there was just a lot of emotion

01:03:48.619 –> 01:03:52.739
going on people were It was changing the what

01:03:52.739 –> 01:03:54.380
people were singing about. It was a lot more

01:03:54.380 –> 01:03:57.460
emotional, you know about about life and whatnot

01:03:57.460 –> 01:04:02.219
and so he came up with emo core and And he was

01:04:02.219 –> 01:04:05.820
teasing people. Yep, and it’s stuck. It’s stuck

01:04:06.119 –> 01:04:08.960
Well, I was in an emo band too, so we got that

01:04:08.960 –> 01:04:12.099
coming. I wasn’t really in an emo band. I was

01:04:12.099 –> 01:04:15.099
in a ska band, but I can appreciate, you know,

01:04:15.260 –> 01:04:17.420
Brian Baker’s, you know, sprinkling on that because

01:04:17.420 –> 01:04:19.460
I am a fan of Minor Threat and Bad Religion,

01:04:19.699 –> 01:04:25.059
so. Do you work with people now that, you know,

01:04:25.199 –> 01:04:27.119
were also kind of came up from that scene as

01:04:27.119 –> 01:04:29.559
well, like who share that kind of like history

01:04:29.559 –> 01:04:33.619
with you? Not so much in comics, but like I said,

01:04:33.619 –> 01:04:35.900
I’m still very much in touch with the DC scene.

01:04:36.340 –> 01:04:38.539
Those guys are all still, you know, we’re all

01:04:38.539 –> 01:04:41.579
really close. You know, we have a running text

01:04:41.579 –> 01:04:43.579
talk every day, even though everybody’s sort

01:04:43.579 –> 01:04:46.300
of there in DC. Mark’s in Baltimore. I’m out

01:04:46.300 –> 01:04:50.199
here, you know, but so we keep in touch, but

01:04:50.199 –> 01:04:52.940
not so much in the comic scene as I’d like. I

01:04:52.940 –> 01:04:57.820
wish there was more. Steve, so I think I mentioned

01:04:57.820 –> 01:05:00.119
this when I was sending you. some of the questions

01:05:00.119 –> 01:05:02.099
to kind of get your head around what we might

01:05:02.099 –> 01:05:04.739
be talking about. But I always thought the the

01:05:04.739 –> 01:05:07.059
gray matter art was very cool for the record

01:05:07.059 –> 01:05:09.900
covers. And it kind of almost has like a horror

01:05:09.900 –> 01:05:13.219
aesthetic. Were you behind that or or was that?

01:05:13.739 –> 01:05:19.460
Yeah. Yeah. I did the album covers and the the

01:05:19.460 –> 01:05:22.159
single, you know, the double seven inch and all

01:05:22.159 –> 01:05:25.579
the flyers. Right on. So because the flyers were,

01:05:25.579 –> 01:05:28.639
you know. I mean, you know, I was I was using

01:05:28.639 –> 01:05:31.639
old famous monster magazines and stuff to find

01:05:31.639 –> 01:05:34.739
pictures. So so, you know, and they were cool

01:05:34.739 –> 01:05:36.300
with it. They’re like, yeah, this looks bad ass.

01:05:36.300 –> 01:05:39.199
Let’s go with it. They were cool till I did an

01:05:39.199 –> 01:05:41.380
X -Men one and then they were like, you know,

01:05:41.500 –> 01:05:45.800
too much, too much. Yeah, that was like I crossed

01:05:45.800 –> 01:05:49.179
the line there. So who did you have on the X

01:05:49.179 –> 01:05:52.960
-Men one? It’s the John Byrne picture of all

01:05:52.960 –> 01:05:57.239
of them running at you. Hey, it looks like a

01:05:57.239 –> 01:06:02.260
cool fire to me The thawed record cover is especially

01:06:02.260 –> 01:06:05.739
fucking crazy who is who did that it looks like

01:06:05.739 –> 01:06:10.559
a photo It’s JK Potter and that’s all done in

01:06:10.559 –> 01:06:13.800
a lab, you know with double exposures and this

01:06:13.800 –> 01:06:18.659
is That was pretty Photoshop. Yeah. And so he

01:06:18.659 –> 01:06:21.860
used to do Stephen King books and Clyde Barker

01:06:21.860 –> 01:06:24.059
books. You know, he was sort of he would do limited

01:06:24.059 –> 01:06:28.800
edition, you know, art for people. Unfortunately,

01:06:28.960 –> 01:06:33.019
yeah. I mean, his, you know, his art sort of

01:06:33.019 –> 01:06:36.900
got canceled out by technology. It’s such a cool,

01:06:37.099 –> 01:06:40.539
striking image. It’s really cool. And the color

01:06:40.539 –> 01:06:44.519
palette. I love the sort of. greenish, de -saturated

01:06:44.519 –> 01:06:48.139
vibe out of this guy. Yeah. Well, here’s another

01:06:48.139 –> 01:06:51.840
kind of fun question for you. Being a punk in

01:06:51.840 –> 01:06:55.119
the, you know, in the 80s, you had movies like

01:06:55.119 –> 01:06:57.539
Suburbia and Return of the Living Dead and like

01:06:57.539 –> 01:07:00.119
maybe Night of the Demons coming out that are

01:07:00.119 –> 01:07:02.639
kind of tying into the whole punk thing. Were

01:07:02.639 –> 01:07:05.360
you like, this is not DC punk, what the hell

01:07:05.360 –> 01:07:08.010
is this? Or were you like, this is awesome? Well,

01:07:08.010 –> 01:07:10.429
especially like Return of the Living Dead. I

01:07:10.429 –> 01:07:15.210
was just like, Oh God. You know, it seemed more

01:07:15.210 –> 01:07:17.989
like a parody of punk than actual punk to me.

01:07:17.989 –> 01:07:20.650
It’s like most movies in that era, whenever they

01:07:20.650 –> 01:07:23.230
portrayed punk rock, it was always like a little

01:07:23.230 –> 01:07:27.050
caricature, you know, of it. It’s yeah. But it’s

01:07:27.050 –> 01:07:29.590
like the reason I’m asking is coming to being

01:07:29.590 –> 01:07:32.550
a bit younger when you when you turn 12 or whatever,

01:07:32.570 –> 01:07:34.389
you start watching these movies and you think

01:07:34.389 –> 01:07:36.780
that that’s punk. It’s appealing because it’s

01:07:36.780 –> 01:07:39.119
fucking crazy, you know, and then you get a little

01:07:39.119 –> 01:07:40.980
older and you’re like, it’s not exactly that,

01:07:40.980 –> 01:07:45.820
but yeah. Well, that’s it. I just did a comic

01:07:45.820 –> 01:07:49.760
that’s an autobiography. biography about my days

01:07:49.760 –> 01:07:52.460
playing music as well as just life in general

01:07:52.460 –> 01:07:55.639
and I had the hardest time finding an artist

01:07:55.639 –> 01:07:58.780
because whenever you say punk to somebody it’s

01:07:58.780 –> 01:08:00.940
all of a sudden everybody has mohawks and you

01:08:00.940 –> 01:08:03.579
know it’s like no DC scene wasn’t really like

01:08:03.579 –> 01:08:07.159
that so I wound up finding this an artist his

01:08:07.159 –> 01:08:10.630
name is Brian Walsby And he does T -shirts for

01:08:10.630 –> 01:08:13.789
everybody. He’s a total punk rock artist, you

01:08:13.789 –> 01:08:15.750
know, does all kinds of stuff, works with the

01:08:15.750 –> 01:08:19.369
Melvins, all these kinds of people. So I asked

01:08:19.369 –> 01:08:21.930
him and he so he just did his first comic with

01:08:21.930 –> 01:08:27.109
us. That’s awesome. That’s real cool. Yeah. It’s

01:08:27.109 –> 01:08:29.989
it’s coming out in September. It’s called Take

01:08:29.989 –> 01:08:33.810
It Back. Cool. Which is one of our albums. Right

01:08:33.810 –> 01:08:37.270
on. So do you keep in touch with other like like.

01:08:37.310 –> 01:08:39.710
Did you know and keep in touch like Dave Grohl

01:08:39.710 –> 01:08:44.689
from that era in D .C.? I knew I knew Dave. I

01:08:44.689 –> 01:08:46.529
probably the last time I talked to him was like

01:08:46.529 –> 01:08:49.250
10 years ago. Right. But I thought, you know,

01:08:49.390 –> 01:08:52.250
you and Mackay still keep in touch and we write

01:08:52.250 –> 01:08:54.630
every once in a while. And, you know, I mean,

01:08:54.729 –> 01:08:57.250
when I go back to D .C., I see everybody because

01:08:57.250 –> 01:09:00.170
our drummer owns the Black Cat Club. Oh, yeah.

01:09:00.310 –> 01:09:03.479
Cool. Yeah. Which is where everybody plays. Yeah.

01:09:04.039 –> 01:09:07.800
Yeah. So yeah. Yeah. Dante’s our drummer. So

01:09:07.800 –> 01:09:10.880
when we go back, you know, I see everybody. Yeah.

01:09:10.880 –> 01:09:13.380
That’s great. That’s great. Um, yeah, I think

01:09:13.380 –> 01:09:16.060
it wasn’t also, I guess it wasn’t Dave Grohl,

01:09:16.180 –> 01:09:18.460
like a part owner of black cat at one point or

01:09:18.460 –> 01:09:21.180
something. He was, he was the, he helped, he

01:09:21.180 –> 01:09:24.180
helped get it started. Right. Right. Cool. Yeah.

01:09:24.279 –> 01:09:26.060
Sweet. I still probably the best club in DC.

01:09:26.319 –> 01:09:30.399
I think one of them. Oh, easily. I’d never been

01:09:30.399 –> 01:09:36.260
to the new 930. It’s not as cool as the old 930,

01:09:36.279 –> 01:09:40.859
but it’s cool. It was the West Center. Did you

01:09:40.859 –> 01:09:43.100
go to the West Center back when they had shows

01:09:43.100 –> 01:09:45.779
there? I think I did. That’s what it became.

01:09:47.140 –> 01:09:49.560
So you’ve bedded there in a different iteration,

01:09:49.579 –> 01:09:54.680
I guess. Right. Before we let you go, could you

01:09:54.680 –> 01:09:58.479
talk about the band 3 a little bit? Ian was in

01:09:58.479 –> 01:10:02.380
that band as well briefly, right? Well, it started

01:10:02.380 –> 01:10:08.819
out, it was me and Jeff Turner, and then Jeff

01:10:08.819 –> 01:10:11.340
Nelson, who was the drummer in Minor Threat,

01:10:11.760 –> 01:10:15.619
and Ian. And we played around for about three

01:10:15.619 –> 01:10:18.119
or four weeks. I remember I learned some fugazi

01:10:18.119 –> 01:10:21.680
songs and some egg hunt songs, songs that would

01:10:21.680 –> 01:10:26.010
become fugazi songs. Ian just decided he wanted

01:10:26.010 –> 01:10:29.109
to do something different. So he went on and

01:10:29.109 –> 01:10:33.149
formed Fugazi and the three of us stuck together

01:10:33.149 –> 01:10:35.289
and Mark wound up joining us. So it was essentially

01:10:35.289 –> 01:10:36.989
it was gray matter with a different drummer.

01:10:39.010 –> 01:10:42.649
But Nelson is such an amazing drummer. It really

01:10:42.649 –> 01:10:46.470
significantly changed the sound. So we lasted,

01:10:46.689 –> 01:10:51.010
we lasted about eight months. Uh, it was, and

01:10:51.010 –> 01:10:53.189
put out one album and played some shows, did

01:10:53.189 –> 01:10:56.449
little mini tours. Uh, but then it just puttered

01:10:56.449 –> 01:10:58.850
out and we wound up getting gray matter back

01:10:58.850 –> 01:11:01.510
together. Ah, okay. Cool. I got, so it’s your

01:11:01.510 –> 01:11:07.449
second reunion. Exactly. Cool. And, uh, I know

01:11:07.449 –> 01:11:09.270
you got to get going soon, but did you have any,

01:11:09.270 –> 01:11:11.989
um, projects that you’d like to talk about or

01:11:11.989 –> 01:11:16.060
highlight a particular? The three things I have

01:11:16.060 –> 01:11:18.659
going on right now is I’m doing a book with Damien

01:11:18.659 –> 01:11:22.979
Worm called Heartbreak Manor. It’s a ghost story

01:11:22.979 –> 01:11:26.479
that takes place in 1912 New York and we’re doing

01:11:26.479 –> 01:11:30.210
it through Zoop. I’m trying Zoop out. So I’m

01:11:30.210 –> 01:11:33.369
going to start being really annoying online and,

01:11:33.369 –> 01:11:36.649
you know, campaigning as much as I can. And then

01:11:36.649 –> 01:11:39.289
take it back. The Grey Matter book is coming

01:11:39.289 –> 01:11:43.989
out in September from Die Wolf Publishing. They

01:11:43.989 –> 01:11:46.449
do nothing but punk rock books. So it’s actually

01:11:46.449 –> 01:11:48.590
being done outside the comic industry. And I’m

01:11:48.590 –> 01:11:51.689
trying to figure out how to, you know, get some

01:11:51.689 –> 01:11:54.210
in comic stores. But so far, you know, like we’re

01:11:54.210 –> 01:11:56.729
going to be distributed by Discord. Oh, wow.

01:11:56.729 –> 01:12:01.239
Things like that. Yeah, the sort of like record

01:12:01.239 –> 01:12:04.720
store route might be an interesting Approach

01:12:04.720 –> 01:12:07.039
that’s kind of what we’re doing cool. Yeah, we’re

01:12:07.039 –> 01:12:09.260
gonna hit up the music scene Yeah, yeah, and

01:12:09.260 –> 01:12:11.340
then hopefully we can get some interest in the

01:12:11.340 –> 01:12:14.539
comic scene And then last I have a new cow McDonald

01:12:14.539 –> 01:12:18.079
collection coming out I got a cover from Joe

01:12:18.079 –> 01:12:21.560
Jesko and all kinds of, I got 10 different artists

01:12:21.560 –> 01:12:26.579
on the inside with 10 new short stories. So I’m

01:12:26.579 –> 01:12:30.619
doing that through Clover Press. Okay. Very cool.

01:12:30.619 –> 01:12:33.079
Those are the images you sent the email, right?

01:12:34.119 –> 01:12:37.739
Yes. Yeah, yeah. The art’s striking. It’s very

01:12:37.739 –> 01:12:40.600
cool. That’s awesome. Steve, one last question.

01:12:40.640 –> 01:12:43.159
What’s the new Grey Matter record gonna be called?

01:12:43.439 –> 01:12:49.380
Can you relay that? We don’t know. On the very

01:12:49.380 –> 01:12:51.800
first album, we had a song called Oscar’s Eye

01:12:51.800 –> 01:12:55.960
that was like just something we wrote when we

01:12:55.960 –> 01:12:57.359
were in high school. We were just little kids.

01:12:57.399 –> 01:13:00.079
So we were thinking about Oscar’s Revenge, but

01:13:00.079 –> 01:13:02.199
we’re not sure. Might want something a little

01:13:02.199 –> 01:13:03.880
better than that, because that was the one thing

01:13:03.880 –> 01:13:07.600
about the Thog album. Everybody hated that title.

01:13:09.600 –> 01:13:13.670
It’s a strange word for sure. Yeah. And where

01:13:13.670 –> 01:13:16.109
can we where could people follow you and you

01:13:16.109 –> 01:13:21.529
know all your creative endeavors? Instagram Facebook

01:13:21.529 –> 01:13:26.050
and blue sky Excellent excellent, and we’ll include

01:13:26.050 –> 01:13:29.130
all of that in the show notes along with some

01:13:29.130 –> 01:13:32.550
of links to some of your prior work and Stuff

01:13:32.550 –> 01:13:35.930
that we mentioned in this conversation Excellent

01:13:36.779 –> 01:13:41.819
I gotta get to practice. Which means I have to

01:13:41.819 –> 01:13:46.260
switch screens basically. If you guys happen

01:13:46.260 –> 01:13:48.699
to take a selfie or something at practice, you

01:13:48.699 –> 01:13:52.739
should send it to us. I try to get screen grabs

01:13:52.739 –> 01:13:58.279
whenever we’re jamming. I’ll send you one of

01:13:58.279 –> 01:14:01.560
those. Awesome, Steve. Well, thank you so much

01:14:01.560 –> 01:14:04.340
for joining us. This has been a treat. It has.

01:14:04.560 –> 01:14:06.359
Thank you. Yeah, this was awesome. This is really

01:14:06.359 –> 01:14:10.000
fun. Cool. Well, looking forward to the album

01:14:10.000 –> 01:14:13.819
and all the different work that you have coming

01:14:13.819 –> 01:14:16.500
out. I’m going to pick all that up. Great. Thank

01:14:16.500 –> 01:14:18.720
you so much. Thank you. Hope to see you sometime

01:14:18.720 –> 01:14:25.119
in the future. Thank you. Okay. Bye -bye. Want

01:14:25.119 –> 01:14:27.460
to give Steve a big thank you from all of us

01:14:27.460 –> 01:14:29.500
for tuning in to chat with us. We had no idea

01:14:29.500 –> 01:14:31.899
we’re going to be getting a scoop and breaking

01:14:31.899 –> 01:14:35.699
news about a gray matter reunion. Hell yeah.

01:14:35.779 –> 01:14:41.859
And album. And yeah. So thanks, Steve. And you

01:14:41.859 –> 01:14:43.460
guys got any plans this week? You going to do

01:14:43.460 –> 01:14:47.500
anything fun? I have a lot of writing to catch

01:14:47.500 –> 01:14:53.680
up on, as always. I think that’s the only thing

01:14:53.680 –> 01:14:57.199
in my purview at the moment. Coming up is Free

01:14:57.199 –> 01:14:58.779
Comic Book Day, so I’ll be doing a lot of that,

01:14:58.800 –> 01:15:00.300
but this will actually be hearing after Free

01:15:00.300 –> 01:15:03.180
Comic Book Day. So I’ve got that going on. And

01:15:03.180 –> 01:15:05.000
then there’s also Star Wars Day that’s happening

01:15:05.000 –> 01:15:07.920
May 4th as well. So I have a lot. I have a lot

01:15:07.920 –> 01:15:11.199
of nerd shit going on. What are the like for

01:15:11.199 –> 01:15:14.399
May the fourth? What’s the like? Are there events

01:15:14.399 –> 01:15:17.359
and things that people do? And there are events

01:15:17.359 –> 01:15:20.699
and things. My guy, Ken, is actually doing a

01:15:20.699 –> 01:15:22.220
Star Wars theme comedy show at the end of May

01:15:22.220 –> 01:15:24.020
to kind of celebrate the whole Star Wars thing.

01:15:24.479 –> 01:15:27.840
I’ll be going to the Grove to have a sneak peek

01:15:27.840 –> 01:15:30.079
of The Mandalorian and Grogu. They’re having

01:15:30.079 –> 01:15:31.739
a bunch of that stuff, but never behind the scenes

01:15:31.739 –> 01:15:33.979
and behind the scenes stuff for that. Different

01:15:33.979 –> 01:15:36.100
comic shops will be doing different things for

01:15:36.100 –> 01:15:37.500
free comic book day, but also tying a little

01:15:37.500 –> 01:15:39.420
bit of that into Star Wars, but giving away like

01:15:39.420 –> 01:15:42.199
freebies and stuff like that. I’ve seen there’s

01:15:42.199 –> 01:15:43.739
like different. bars who are having different

01:15:43.739 –> 01:15:47.180
events and stuff. So, you know, I it’s my first

01:15:47.180 –> 01:15:49.239
Star Wars day in L .A. and I’m very overwhelmed

01:15:49.239 –> 01:15:51.420
because there’s a lot of fucking shit going on.

01:15:51.560 –> 01:15:55.260
Nice. Has anyone combined it with the Jawbreaker

01:15:55.260 –> 01:15:57.659
Day because they have the song Sluttering? Yeah,

01:15:57.800 –> 01:16:00.619
yeah, no, but really should the May 4th episode.

01:16:00.640 –> 01:16:04.819
We should just call that sluttering. I’m just

01:16:04.819 –> 01:16:06.880
so busy with work. I’m not really going to have

01:16:06.880 –> 01:16:08.899
an opportunity to do anything. I randomly have

01:16:08.899 –> 01:16:12.699
like four different. video editing projects for

01:16:12.699 –> 01:16:15.220
different brands do this week and stuff like

01:16:15.220 –> 01:16:18.539
that. So it’s going to be an editing this podcast.

01:16:18.600 –> 01:16:22.079
So it’s going to be, well, very boring week,

01:16:22.079 –> 01:16:25.420
I think for myself. But until next week, I guess.

01:16:25.739 –> 01:16:28.199
Thanks for tuning in. We had a great time chatting

01:16:28.199 –> 01:16:31.779
with Steve and we’ll catch you next week. Thanks

01:16:31.779 –> 01:16:34.800
for listening. Bye. Thank you guys. That’ll bring

01:16:34.800 –> 01:16:36.640
us to the end of today’s episode of Nightmare

01:16:36.640 –> 01:16:39.180
Logic. We hope you enjoyed getting to know Steve

01:16:39.180 –> 01:16:41.319
Niles and his body of work as much as we did.

01:16:41.800 –> 01:16:44.460
For today’s show notes, go to our website at

01:16:44.460 –> 01:16:47.619
nightmarelogic .net or follow us on Instagram

01:16:47.619 –> 01:16:50.579
at nightmarelogicpod. We’d like to give a big

01:16:50.579 –> 01:16:52.739
shout out to our composer Lars Lange -Peterson

01:16:52.739 –> 01:16:56.079
for an awesome score. And next week, check back

01:16:56.079 –> 01:16:57.960
in because we’re going to have a pretty interesting

01:16:57.960 –> 01:17:00.920
conversation about Tales from the Crypt and how

01:17:00.920 –> 01:17:04.039
they evolved from comic books. Until then, take

01:17:04.039 –> 01:17:04.300
care.