Pittsburgh 2026 Horror Realm Convention: All Interviews

The Fisch Bowl Podcast had the pleasure of attending Pittsburgh's 2026 Horror Realm Convention, and interview many actors and filmmakers behind the scenes of your favorite horror and sci-fi films! Now, all interviews from the convention conducted by The Fisch Bowl are here in one episode. Dive in and revisit our conversations with Andrew Divoff, Eduardo Sanchez, Clint Howard, Alan Howarth, and more!

Transcript

Welcome To Horror Realm Con

SPEAKER_10 0:00

Attention, all you fishes in the scene.

Andrew Divoff On Wishmaster

SPEAKER_09 0:03

Welcome to the Fishbowl with Sam Fish. Sam Fish, the Fishbowl, here at Horror Realm Con 2026 with the infamous, the villainous Andrew Deba. Thank you for taking the time to swim in the bowl with him. Thank you, Fish. Absolutely. As I started to tell you yesterday, I've literally been following your career since I was a kid. So many roles, not enough time to talk about everything. Number one, obviously, Wishmaster. Instant classic movie monster villain. Thank you. I've interviewed Robert Kurtzman, the director, and one of the masterminds behind the makeup and everything. Any stories from the set uh makeup process? You know, um, really the story, when especially when I think about Robert, was how we uh we sort of collaborated and and and the collaboration became really at first, it was the question, what do we do with the voice? And uh and uh with a bit of uh serendipity. So after after having first started taking my lunch breaks and and eating whole food and trying to get that into the into the mask, uh, which was uh apropos of that, but but one of the things that Robert said to me was we're really gonna have to exaggerate to make that mask move, and uh even the slightest gesture. So you'll feel like you're overacting, but really go for it. So we got that, but then I noticed after lunch that uh one of the most humbling things was uh was having the uh the makeup crew take out pieces of food from between the mask and my face, and I said, Well, we have to uh we have to stop that and we have to change it. And so what that became, my lunch essentially became a protein shake. And because of the whey and the protein shake, thankfully that uh that got the voice, it made the voice a little more gurgly. And so the first night we were down in Wilmington and we filmed uh the scene just outside of the well with Buckflowers at the dumpster and with Reggie Bannister in the pharmacy. And I think the end of that that whole scene was was uh Buckflowers running away after he sees that this is a monster. And I and I do that. Uh much one of my favorite quotes in the movie, which is Ram and Saint Robin. And so uh all I had to see was that Robert was quite pleased with that, and and so we knew at that point that we had the voice. We had gone, is it gonna be a British accent? And I thought whatever it would be, whatever accent wasn't the important thing, it was the fact that the voice kind of sounded like it was it was coming up out of the earth, you know, like from the bowels of the earth. I think we got that. Oh, 100%. The the voice is one of the most iconic villainous voices, especially for again one of the most iconic movie monster villains. One of my all-time favorites. Another film they've been playing it like crazy on, I believe, Showtime, another 48 hours. Oh, wonderful, man. What a what a what a fun thing that was. And the fun thing about that was that I got to write a Harley on somebody else's dime, essentially. So they put the gas in it, and all I had to do was uh you know crank the throttle. I had a lot of fun, you know, just working with that whole crew, being part of a of a movie with Eddie Murphy and Nolte. Uh, but uh but the funnest part of it was hanging out with the bad guys, my good friend David Anthony Marshall and uh Ted Markland. We you know, we we literally hung out together and we sort of became a gang so that by the time we got to that set in Baker on uh uh in Dumont Dunes out in the desert, you know, we we had sort of figured each other out. We we we were essentially we were we were a gang. And that uh I'll never forget that first day of shooting. I uh I remember my mom had passed away before we began uh uh filming three days before we began. Oh wow. And uh and so I was uh fortunate enough to to go see her. Uh she uh was an expat, having been uh uh part of a consulate in the embassy in Barcelona, Spain, long story short, and and uh Guatemala City, Guatemala. I was fortunate enough to uh visit her and be with her when she passed. And so uh that morning I remember when we started, it was December 4th, and I took a little bit of a walk into the uh into the desert, and I uh I just remembered uh I just remembered my mom. Another great uh villainous role I loved you in Air Force Watch. Oh, well, thank you, thank you. What a wonderful thing that was, uh, being able to work with uh Mr. Poor. What a brilliant guy and a and a generous guy on film, and uh and I think really after all, what what made him, if I can even say, uh, a small Andy fan was the fact that uh that we hit it off so well for the stunts. Uh that fight in the uh in the galley, I'll never forget that. And I'll I'll never forget, I mean, as far as I'm concerned, Harrison is the king of actors who do stunts. Uh and and he really, I mean, because for him, it's not it's not an ego trip, it's not about being able to say that, it's it's about the continuity of the character. And and he was that that was his thing, that was what he emphasized, and I could tell just by watching him. And so to be able to have a fight as a as a newbie with Mr. Ford made my day. And by the way, if he heard me call him Mr. Ford, he'd say, My my father's Mr. Ford. Call me Harrison or Harry. So love you, Harry. And I I just found this out uh not too long ago about Harrison Ford. Before he was known as Harrison Ford, he was a carpenter and a roadie for the doors. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 6:12

Holy goodness, man.

Caroline Williams On Chainsaw 2

SPEAKER_09 6:13

Yeah, yeah. Holy goodness, how cool is that? You talk about a cool background, man. Right, right. I would have would have liked to be a fly on that wall. Exactly, exactly. Another horror film that I love of yours, The Graveyard Shift. Oh, wonderful, wonderful. Yeah. I have uh I have good memories from that. I remember we were filming in Bangor, Maine, in this warehouse, in the basement of a warehouse, of a working mill, as a matter of fact. And so we were always told, uh, especially because the uh the mills were going to be working, uh and these things were like monsters in their own right. They had these claws that would that would shred the wool and separate uh you know the the grist, I guess, from what would become the wool thread. That was uh that was a trip, and they always told us when you walk by these things, be very aware and be careful because they'll eat you. And uh, and I remember one of the one of the quickest sides about that was uh was I remember Mr. King coming down to the set, and and I was at the craft service table and just kind of picking out, figuring out, and I looked up and I said, Oh, hey, Mr. King. And he looked over at me through the glasses and he nodded, which I I thought, oh wow. He nodded at me. So I was I was quite it was quite a beautiful, uh, beautiful film and a and a beautiful time. I uh I remember in in my days off, I would head down to Bar Harbor and just walk along that beautiful town and and breathe in some of that beautiful sea air. Never forget that. Good good memories for that. And uh, and at night, when we were filming at night, I remember we had buzz bombers, which uh they call black flies. Apparently those things never sleep, but uh but it was it was it was a beautiful time and a beautiful memory. One of my top favorite, I guess, monster movie, Stephen King films. The kind of the whole concept of like a giant like bat kind of rodent thing hiding in a uh you know graveyardist thing. It's it's be moving brilliantness. It is, it is, and I and I must give a shout out to Ralph Singleton. Uh this was, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, his first time directing, and he was wonderful. Uh it was wonderful working with uh with uh David Andrews and with uh with Stephen Mocht. What a beautiful human uh Stephen Mocht is, and and and and the fact that he got that accent down, not an easy accent to get that that Mana accent. Right, right. He uh he did it beautifully, and uh, and uh and was if I if I may say he was quite hated by the cast, as I suppose makes sense because of that character, tough character. A guy, a guy, if you were in the army, you wouldn't want him to be your staff. Right, right, right. Awesome, awesome. Andrew, thank you so much for taking the time to swim in the pole. If I may call you fish, absolutely, absolutely. I appreciate it. It was a pleasure. Sam Fish, the fishbowl here for around 2026 with the great and wonderful Caroline Williams.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Thank you, Fish.

SPEAKER_04 9:20

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_09 9:20

We're swimming, we're swimming in the bowl. Awesome. Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, my absolute favorite in the entire franchise. Thank you. I think we're talking about a possible remake, reboot.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

The reboot is definitely happening. Glenn Powell's Barnstorm Productions won the contest with Kim Hankles Vortex, which is the holding company for the IP. Uh JT Molner of Austin, Texas, is gonna be directing. He's terrific. He did Strange Darling, which is a terrific film.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Yes, that's a great one.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

I think the movie is gonna really fulfill Toby's original vision for the Texas Chainsaw Original, which is, you know, was inducted in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and then Chainsaw 2, where Texas is a character in the film. Absolutely. And I I I look forward to seeing that return because I think the franchise overall has lost most of its authenticity because of just simply the wrong locations.

SPEAKER_04 10:30

Yes, yes. I I mean part three, I think, was the last maybe like watchable, watchable one.

SPEAKER_09 10:38

As much as I like seeing Matthew Conaghai as a crazy psychopath, which I think he's really underrated at like not getting enough of those types of roles, like seeing him in the next generation. He was actually my favorite character in next generation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:55

Um, but as far as part two goes, the characters are so unique. There's something like really wacky, but like special and and artistic as well about uh part two and coming from Pittsburgh, the great Tom Savini effects.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

It was wonderful. Yeah, he's wonderful.

SPEAKER_04 11:18

Yes. Any stories about Toby Hooper or Dennis Hopper from the shoot?

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Well, I mean, Toby was really under the gun with Canon because he was editing Invaders from Mars at the same time that he was directing Chainsaw 2, our film. So I don't know that he was getting much sleep at all. I I know it was very, very challenging for him. Toby was always real simple about his direction: bigger, stronger, louder, smaller, make your crazy face, more screaming. I mean, it was always very basic, which works well for me. I don't want to hear a long psychological dissertation about things. I want to, we want to make our shots, we want to make our day. And the movie is very hard and fast. I'm in nearly every frame of the film. So my responsibility was huge. But I enjoyed it so much. I enjoyed the athleticism, I enjoyed the underground lair. It was just, it was play. I was playing and I was having a good time. As far as Dennis Hopper, you know, his filmography is so extraordinary.

SPEAKER_10 12:30

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

And to hear his stories about his friends, Natalie Wood, James Dean, Nick Adams, it was just, yeah, working for Nick Ray, working for George Stevens, hearing about Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson, and uh he he he was living Hollywood movie history. And he made history with his film Easy Rider.

SPEAKER_04 13:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

Now he was very much, and he had a long history of drug and alcohol use. And, you know, both of us were 18 months sober when we started making the film. So we really did have a lot of sobriety that we could that we could share with each other. One of my best stories that I have about Dennis, you know, he knew Miles Davis. He knew he knew Felonious Monk. I mean, some of the greatest saxophone players who ever lived. And I invited him to join me on 6th Street in Austin to hear of a saxophone player I love named Kirk Whelan. We go to the show, and you know, he reminds me, he knows all these world-famous musicians. We get there, Dennis is right in front of the stage. He is watching Kirk play. He is transported by this, he is digging the scene, he's into it. We go to work the next morning and he shows up and he goes, you know, I took Caroline to see this really great saxophone player I love named Kirk Wallam. So, yeah, exactly. You know, he was very charismatic. Everything I know about acting for film, I learned from him. And it was so illuminating and insightful to learn about lens sizes, composition, lighting, things I'd never really paid attention to. Because as an actor, you're sort of trained for stage, you're not trained for film. So it was an absolute revelation to have learned these things. And I I do think it informed my performance really strongly.

SPEAKER_04 14:44

Was there any type of like improvisation in Texas Part 2?

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Or well, not for me so much. My role, you know, I'm Dorothy in odds.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

And so, you know, being that principal character, you know, everything in my world is scripted, and all these crazy characters just revolve around me. LG, lefty, chop top, the cook, leatherface. Right, you know, I and my improvisational stuff was very limited. And plus my role is so physical. Yes. I'm always running, jumping, playing, falling down, fighting. It's always something. So, but it was fantastic to be surrounded by these great actors, especially Bill Mosley playing Chop Chop. Yes, because they just let him go. And he was feeling the character so much, he was enjoying the moment so much, and he kept coming, he kept embroidering. There was always more and more and more, and it gave me so much to work with and react to. It was, you know, it was the it was the role of a lifetime.

SPEAKER_04 15:56

Well, I have to say, and I'm I'm sorry if I'm giving away any spoilers here, but the chainsaw battle between Dennis Hopper and Letterface.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Oh my god, like Dennis Hopper had the most amazing stunt double. His name was Jim Stevenson. He was literally an acrobat. He could go from standing still to jumping up on top of that table, doing all the chainsaw stuff. He he was very powerful, he was very strong, and that certainly informed a lot of of Dennis's performance. My favorite scene in the movie personally uh is not even one of my scenes, it's the scene on the bridge.

SPEAKER_09 16:42

At the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

At the beginning.

SPEAKER_09 16:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

It's absolutely masterful because you've got the actor in the leatherface costume, but he's obscured by nubbins.

SPEAKER_04 16:53

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Built up on a platform on a truck. They're traveling at an extreme about 35 miles per hour on a bridge that is, in fact, very short.

SPEAKER_04 17:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

But Toby made it look like it was a mile long, and the way everything is edited together, I think it's one of the most exciting scenes in almost any horror film.

SPEAKER_09 17:14

I would agree, and it also has like the clock, what has become a classic trope where it's like you introduce a bunch of characters right off the bat of the beginning that you think are somehow could be, you know, the protagonists, and then you kill them off as like the first victims.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Exactly.

SPEAKER_09 17:35

You know, exactly. And I thought that was brilliant, you know, confusing the audience and into your character archetype, the the heroic, you know, female lead, and what just it's it's an amazing performance.

SPEAKER_04 17:51

And I also have to say, like, you mentioned something before about how it's very like bam, bam, bam the whole way through. Yes. And then the track that they play at the end when the credits roll. The only film that I can think of that pretty much copied like the same format was Reservoir Dogs.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Oh, I didn't realize that.

SPEAKER_04 18:14

It's well, in the sense of like the I had never thought of it before. The the I I kind of followed it because I remember like the time I was really watching Texas part two, and I was really getting re-familiarized with like Quentin Tarantino and his his filmography, and the way Texas Chainsaw like starts out, and then like it's very like bam bam bam, and then like almost like an abrupt ending. Sure.

SPEAKER_09 18:41

Resler Dogs kind of does the same thing, and then literally the climax, and then playing you know, the famous song at the end, which is going against the the tone of the film. You get this like heavy, kind of you know, in your face kind of thing, and then a like a mellow almost kind of song to kind of top it off, both ending kind of abruptly. So sure. That's just my own personal film analogy for uh Texas and Reservoirs, but another uh one of my all-time favorites is Leprechaun 3.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Oh, thank you. I love that film. Yes, it's had so much fun on it.

SPEAKER_04 19:20

I and I also have to say, no spoilers alert, but you have the best death scene in the entire franchise.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

To this day, it's one of the top five horror deaths, absolutely.

SPEAKER_09 19:32

And I had a chance to meet Warwick at one of the uh other conventions we had here in Pittsburgh a few years back. I've been a fan of Warwick probably as long as I've been a fan of yours.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

And I was wondering what was it like working with Warwick and how how much of the leprechaun is is like in the script, and how much is is is like Warwick's own contribution to the well as Warwick himself has said, you know, he's buried under pounds of latex and costume and his hat, and he's all the Warwick we know is is obscured by all these appliances. So, you know, he he basically just animates, you know, the makeup. And his job is very hard. You know, it's very hot under all that stuff, and he's always in motion, he's always doing something. So his challenge was really very challenge, playing that character very, very unique. You know, the rest of us got to be a little bit more kind of normal characters. I have to say, Brian Trentard Smith is masterful about telling the story, once again, with a lot of unique and interesting characters. And, you know, I got to do a transformation scene. You don't get to do that very much in the business. Go from this frumpy, frowzy, sad little person to being somebody really fabulous and then blowing up. So and I have to say, it's enjoying a lot of new life. We do a lot of screenings around St. Patrick's Day, uh, we do a lot of signings. The the character has really caught on again with the public. And when I come to the signing shows, people are really interested in Leprechaun, they really enjoy it.

SPEAKER_04 21:24

That's one franchise I would love. Uh only if Warwick would return.

SPEAKER_09 21:29

Like it wouldn't, I don't think it would be the same without Warwick. But like I I remember hearing that there were possible talks that the original creator was trying to get the rights back, and then unfortunately, I he just passed away.

SPEAKER_04 21:43

But I I give it to the in the right hands and get Warwick to come back. Let's let's get a whole new generation of Leprechaun fans and leprechaun reboots going.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

Like that's well, they did Leprechaun 10 and brought in somebody else that's newer and much younger. Physically speaking, I don't know that it's something he would want to take on again because he's gotten older and you know we all get a little we all get a little creaky but he's an utterly remarkable guy. We get creepy. That was Bill. That was my brother Bill Mosley. But yeah, I you know I've I've had a nice long career and you know taking a little uh sabbatical during marriage and motherhood but the last eight years I've been hitting it pretty hard and I've got six films that'll be out this year. One is going to festival will be at Fantastic Fest. It's called What Did You Do? It stars an incredible young actor named Johnny Stoddard. He's currently doing series television and it's a film noir we shot in Austin. Stephen Romano wrote and directed. I'm very excited about that. And we have a documentary about the making of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. That's going to be coming out from Heather Buckley. She's she did the short life and ghastly death of Al Adamson which is one of the all-time great horror kind of grindhouse documentaries. And it's it's a really cool thing. So it's it's going to be a fun year for me. I'm really excited about it. And I thank you so much absolutely for letting me take a swim.

SPEAKER_04 23:34

Thank you for diving in head first. Of course and we came out on top and uh we're riding the waves absolutely Caroline Williams everyone thank you so much.

Christine Elise On Chucky And Kyle

SPEAKER_09 23:44

Tune into the fish bowl Samfish the fishbowl here horror realm pond 2026 with the infamous fabulous pristine elise hi thank you for taking the time to swim in the fish bowl. No problem. We're diving in head first I hope the temperature is just right. Let's do it awesome awesome obviously number one child's play yeah child's play two chucky the series yeah the infamous Kyle yeah what was it like working on the franchise and the return and everything that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

And uh 1989 when I got Child's Play 2 was my first really big job we shot up most of it on the universal lot which is really exciting for me being around the old studio lots is really fun. And uh yeah and seeing Chucky come to life in right in front of you is incredibly convincing and compelling and really fun.

SPEAKER_09 24:41

Now Chucky is one of my all taught he's he's up there in probably my top favorite like 80s slasher franchise in my opinion there is no other killer doll besides Brad Doriff as as Chucky. Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Were there any like special stories with Don Mancini or people working on the set anything that was like no I mean Don Don um didn't get to spend much time on the set of the first one because it was a writer's trick as he wasn't allowed to be on the set so he was really excited to be on the set of the second one. He took tons and tons of like super eight movie back you know behind the scenes footage which he sort of leaks out little bits and pieces here and there and it's really funny to see. And every everyone asked me what it's like to work with Brad Dorf I never got to work with Brad I did a rehearsal with him with our dialogue together so he would know how I was going to read my lines because he quickly pre-records all his stuff before we start shooting and they play it back on set for us and we have his voice but he's never there. So I never actually got to work with Brad which sucks.

SPEAKER_09 25:41

But you're you're gonna be back uh the Skill Citicon uh actually next month with Brad and Don and I think Fiona is vote out so it's I think it's Brad and Don and me. Okay. That that should be amazing. I'm very excited for that there's gonna be a huge guest list there. That's what I know a lot of a lot of fun. Yeah what do you think of Pittsburgh so far?

SPEAKER_01 25:59

Is this your first time here or I drove through once I I was driving across country and we took a big detour to come through Pittsburgh at uh it's a city my stepfather's a big he's from Detroit he's a big fan of Pittsburgh too I'm from Boston so it's got a similar energy to the to Boston to the working class industrial sort of city.

SPEAKER_09 26:16

Right right I guess our football teams though yeah I don't I'm not a sports person you're gonna make nothing from me on that neither am I neither am I I also want to say I I really elect the performance and boiling point thank you that's that's that's one of my favorite I think underrated Wesley Snipes and Dennis Hopper movies as well as Vigo Mortensen.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

Yeah Vigo I'm a huge Vigo fan yeah and I did that with Vigo they wrote most of my part out but my stuff was going to be shot toward the end of the of the shooting schedule and uh they were of course over budget and over you know so they had to cut things and the stuff they ended up cutting was most of my stuff. They wouldn't even shoot it they just cut it before he even shot it. So Vigo requested that I be his wife in another movie with the Vanishing point. Yes and so Vigo requested me for that because he hadn't gotten a chance to work with me so much in the in Boiling Point. And I was happy to be on boiling point not just because of Vigo but because I'm I'm forgetting his name is it James Harris I think who is the producer of the Stanley all the Stanley Kubrick movies. Yes yes and he produced The Killing which is one of my favorite movies of all time so to work with a big a film noir guy like that and Vigo it's like a dream come true.

SPEAKER_09 27:21

Awesome awesome another favorite of mine Body Snatchers yeah it's late great Stuart Gordon yeah um Abel Ferraro yes yeah there's so many people in that movie and and I think it's one of my favorite interpretations of the body yeah it's a good one. I think it really holds up well it's it's got a really really creepy feel we shot it in Alabama in Selma Alabama on an abandoned army base and I think it's the spookiness and the starkness it was wintertime it's February you know in Alabama it's colder there than you think and I I think it really holds up awesome awesome on the topic of horror movies and the Chucky franchise what would you say one is your favorite horror film or as the famous screen movies go what's your favorite scary movie and then what would you say is your favorite or most heartfelt like child's play installment my favorite horror movie of all time is The Exorcist I'm a fan of Caldechucky Cal de Chucky's my favorite of the movies but I actually think I prefer the series over the over the seven films and the series is really solid I'm really I'm a huge fan of the multiple Chucky's I know that's a controversial topic.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

I really like the fact that he can possess he possesses Nika and I I like those developments I think it opens up story possibility immensely and I also really enjoy seeing Chucky fight with Chucky.

Eduardo Sanchez On Blair Witch

SPEAKER_08 28:43

Chucky arguing with Chucky is always entertaining awesome awesome Christine thank you so much for taking the time to dive headfirst into the fishbowl uh we came up above water and we're riding the waves all right thank you so much thank you be safe out there thank you Samfished the fishbowl here at Horror Realm 2026 with Eduardo Sanchez most famous for the Blair Wish project thank you for taking the time to come to Pittsburgh and to swim in the bowl with me that's right man that's right let's do it awesome awesome a lot of questions about the Blair Wish project how did that whole idea even come about and what were some of like the I guess struggles making it and then the the end result with it becoming such a cult phenomenon that it literally inspired like the whole a whole new genre yeah I it was I mean you know it was my partner and I Dan Meyrick came up with the idea we were just like we loved the old like kind of fake documentaries but we loved this movie called Legend of Boggy Creek and we just thought that those kinds of movies and especially that show in search of were like it's so creepy the idea of like it being like a documentary even if it's not real right the idea of being a documentary was really scary for us. So we came up with the idea of like the filmmakers disappearing and then you know we uh oosed out for a while we were trying to graduate from film school and we had some other films that we were doing and then in like 96 or 96 we started producing it again we got a a couple of people involved that were very integral to the making of the movie and started rolling and the biggest you know the biggest challenge as always is is raising the money. Right. You know we made the money the movie for barely anything but even even just getting the$20,000 was like you know pulling teeth but we got the money and you know and and it was you know it was a fairly smooth process. Like there's a lot of like you know preconceptions that we had to kind of reevaluate as we went you know and kind of change we started off more as like a straight documentary and ended up as like just this found footage movie that you know nobody we had never seen anything like that before you know right and we kind of let it guide us you know and there's a lot of you know there's some times when we were like fighting against it and it would just keep pushing us in a direction and we kind of just gave in and we learned a lot from the movie of as far as like directing like sometimes you know letting the movie go where it needs to go is kind of the best thing you can do as a director. And then you know we get we got really lucky um you know just we had no idea what we were um kind of ragman gasped by just the reaction and just uh how it grew up worldwide and you know it kind of had some thing the kind of classic barbu you know um we never thought it would be anything like that. So um you know it was cool and then the whole idea of like it being you know one of the first British movies you know it's just it's just really cool that to be you know part of an inspiration for other frankmakers. You know there's so much talent out there and I never thought I would be like you know inspiring hate like you so it it's awesome to be at that position and yeah I just coming to places like this to conventions meeting people like you you really do get a lot of that love and I just really appreciate people you know digging the work so much.

SPEAKER_09 32:30

Absolutely and I mean what what involvement did you have or what's your thoughts on like the the two sequels that kind of the came out yeah you know book Book of Shadows was you know probably the most difficult one for us because it was right after our movie the company artists and really wanted another secret we didn't want to do it we wanted to kind of stay away from Blair for a little while and um they eventually went with Joe Burlinger and you know we liked Joe's movies.

SPEAKER_10 33:01

He was a documentary filmmaker like one of the best you know in that era and you know really great filmmaker.

SPEAKER_08 33:07

So we were really like kind of enthusiastic about what he was going to do. And it just happened you know I think what happened with Blair's book show is just that they didn't give him enough time they didn't give him enough creative license. They were just rushing they had like a release date before they even had a story. Oh okay um and I think that you know Joe I think kind of did his best but I feel like the movie I mean it's a it's a cool movie and I enjoy it but it has very little to do with it's it's kind of like a cousin of coach. Yeah I would say it's like a standalone kind of and then the the 2016 one was you know was really to me the true first true sequel in the timeline of Bill Witch you know um and I thought it was you know harrowing and freaking crazy and like just a really fun ride and claustrophobic and um and I you know really we we worked with Simon and Adam on a another project and we were real good friends with them. So it was very kind of a very fringe kind of situation where we really had a lot of faith in them. And I think they delivered a really crazy sequel and you know and I think that the only thing that that I felt was lacking from that one was I wish and I told him you know I told him this a little while I said I would you know I wish that that it would have uh gone beyond the house. Like I didn't like that it ended I I I wanted to see like a third act somewhere else. Like take it take take me elsewhere you know right right I thought it was very effective very well done and um you know unfortunately it didn't do uh as well as we wanted it to do but uh you know it it is what it is and uh you know it's uh you know we haven't quite found the right mix you know for a Blair Witch movie after the first one yet so you know we're hoping to get it right one day. Awesome awesome and how much of like the the witch like is that all fictional or was there fiction okay I mean a lot of it was taken from you know just the the local mythology and also I think like seven witch trials right that that whole kind of injustice the whole idea of like women be you know victims of you know male whatever you know just just male channel you know we we felt like the the the the mythology needed like kind of like a kind of justice you know to like kind of swap the the curse so you know we have kind of like say a lot of what happened with that and the idea that that that was probably happening all over the place you know right and um and then the rest of the mythology was just we just wanted it to feel real you know we wanted it we didn't want to go too crazy and we wanted to the stories to be like okay that might have happened or it might have been something else but you know it's creepy that happened but just believable enough to like think that that maybe it really did exist. So you know that was a lot of fun you know because we you know we we needed Heather to go into the woods for a certain reason so we had to create this myth. Right.

SPEAKER_09 36:23

You know I think well uh a lot of people you know uh you know uh brought in their talents and and uh you know brought in their their their skills and writing pathology and it was very much a group effort but uh you know I thought it was it it was just a cool exercise you know awesome absolutely and based on what you just said with like the kind of over delivery like expectation of it kind of the first one kind of going above and beyond like where you kind of thought it would it would kind of go just to start with when you start seeing you know spoofs of it with like scary movie and you know like is at that point are you like thinking I've really made it like that that's an honor or is it like the opposite?

SPEAKER_08 37:15

No no I mean the for me the the the parody that like really kind of that's two parties that I really like the Scooby Doo Project and then the Mad Magazine.

SPEAKER_10 37:32

I never thought that my birthday would be in you know in Mad Magazine.

SPEAKER_08 37:37

And then we were like characters ended up you know ended up in the story. That was when I was like oh my god this is something this is something out of the ordinary right right but no I mean you know I love the parodies it was an easy movie to parody and I do love that people were getting involved and just the the we we did get VHS tapes all the time of like just shopping that project you know just all the kinds of different parodies that the fans were sending us one time we had like a huge VHS tapes of all of the parodies.

SPEAKER_09 38:16

So it was cool I mean look you know we we had this being at Westream this weekly and it kind of caught a lot of people's imaginations about like you know so like the fact that people are making fun of it to me was you know it's like the ultimate form of flattery it was a wrong ride I never expected any of that shit to happen so it's really happening I I have to say when I saw scary movie one in in theaters and also the Wayans brothers what a blessed phenomenal family in general writers directors performers comedians shout out to uh Marlon Wayans who will be here I believe in September again at the improv doing stand up I for one am very excited to see the scary movie movies back in the right hands for this this new one that's they're supposed to come out you know this the the Wayans have their own flavor you know and the the the parody scene with Sherry O'Terry who also you know it it's it's part of her ex improvisation and execution you know of the scene but um I I a lot of talent a lot of talent in that for you it was so much fun to see that scene awesome awesome and closer question what are some of your favorite films and any other upcoming projects favorite films for me like of all time of all time yep um I mean like Star Wars yeah it wouldn't be a film I couldn't for Star Wars um Blade Runner Do the Right Thing like really changed my life and pretty much any Scorsese film you know from the 70s early 80s um you know Spielberg of course um uh you know as far as power films you know the Exorcist The Shining uh so yeah there's uh I mean I can keep going there's so many uh junks out there but right now I'm working on a movie called Entity that is about to start shooting sometime this way in Atlanta and my partner Greg Hale wrote it and we're very excited about uh I've been doing television for over ten years now and it's my first future in a long time and really excited about it and uh fantastic or I should say fantastic awesome and I just had I this is bouncing around in my head uh as we were talking and having you being like you know defining like a genre the other person that I would say has like a signature stroke for action movies that he started was Robert Rodriguez with Desperado with the famous like explode right and the the famous you know explosion where like Antonio Banderas and and Selma Hierka walking slow motion you see like the I I I saw like a behind the scenes where it was like he just needed like a quick you know a little extra something the pirate tenders could do and him being a a filmmaker said I can slow that down and have it be like this signature scene and now like every action movie has to have like the scene where like the explosion in the background and running at I just have like the comparisons you know you were able to you know essentially spawn really be like the godfather of like spawning found footage movies. You wouldn't have really any any major ones without the Blair West project and just just a little comparison I I wanted to throw in there. Yeah I mean look you know just any any comparison without regards is awesome.

SPEAKER_10 42:12

Yeah I mean you know it's like you know it's it's like you know Robert uh without Mariach to his first film that showed us that you know me and we had it with crew and we could kind of you know just be creative and uh we definitely like took uh the inspiration from that to do Blair Rich.

Tommy Lee Wallace On Halloween 3

SPEAKER_09 42:32

The fact that Larry Rich was the first you know a kind of stuff with five original movies um you know it was it's a it's an opera I mean it's like it's um it's crazy to think that uh you know movie that I get that you have been you know inspired uh still inspires people inspires cool and he has a story about it you know again I was we're blessed I was a part of it uh happy still and still kind of uh taking advantage of the very much juice you know exactly exactly well thank you so much for taking the time to swim in the fishbowl with me we we we dove in headfirst we dove in headfirst we c rose above the water in the waves you know yeah right out of dry ourselves all right thank you so much for taking the time to swim in the bowl with me Samfish the fishbowl here at Horror Realm Con 2026 with one of my all time favorite childhood hero filmmakers Tommy Lee Wallace I'm doing great thank you for taking the time to swim in the fishbowl with me I hope the temperature is just right excellent just great excellent first off huge huge fan Halloween three, one of he's my my favorite in the franchise. Thank you. Absolutely. I I think I mean Michael Myers is is great, but I think I think the the tone and storyline of Halloween three was a little it's it's like deeper rooted and well it's funny the Halloween, I'm immensely proud of Halloween, and I had a lot to do with its success. But Halloween was originally called the babysitter murders. And really, when you get down to it, it's not that much about Halloween, right? Whereas Halloween 3 is all about Halloween. Exactly. And not to mention the great uh Tom Atkins. Yeah. Pittsburgh Local. Yeah, yeah. Local boy makes good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've had the pleasure of uh interviewing Tom a good while back, and we had a discussion about Halloween 3 and some of the other films, Escape from New York and The Fog. Fine actor, good man. Absolutely, absolutely. And I I think his role in Halloween 3 really is part of the reason. And uh was it a Dan Dan O'Hurley, yes, yes. His character, and also I just I spoiler alert, I love the concept of having Stonehenge. Yeah, you know, so a little far-fetched, but hey, you know, right. So you know, I'm it probably goes with the territory with being a horror fan, but I'm I'm also very much into like urban legends and you know big foot aliens, you know, all that stuff. Sure, but when I saw that the first time, one, I was absolutely terrified. So you did your job. Good, good. That was that was what we were supposed to do. But then I I would re-watch it and then I'd really look at the story and the concept, and really I it's it's a phenomenal film. I think it stands on its own, but also can be part of the collective. And like I would love to see, you know, as much as they've been remaking Michael Myers movies, I think the one pivotal story point is to do a sequel to to Halloween 3 if they ever did one. I've been shown a couple of scripts, and uh to me that's a hard, that's a hard movie to work out. I've given it a little thought, and I I can't solve that problem. It's fun to think about, but right. I personally wouldn't be a good writer for that movie. I just can't think of how what that would do, how it would be. It would be challenging. I I could see sort of like if they fast forward the present day, you know, and it was like kind of with like John's later films, where it was like end of the world sort of scenario, you could do kind of something with like kind of like how in the mouth of madness ended, you know, where you could have like a dark exactly how how three ended. Like it, yeah. Did it did it, did were they able to stop the the jingle from turning you know the children in, you know, stuff or of course that's the beauty of any fiction like that. You can your audience can draw its own conclusions. Some people think it's the utter apocalypse. I have my own opinion. It was a fiendish plot, but did they get that last channel off or not? That's a nice question. Suppose that killed off a few million kids, right? That's not the end of the world, but it put a big scar in, especially in the USA. Right, right. But did it kill off everybody? I would probably be more interested in the psychological impact of having such a disaster and what it meant. But that then that becomes kind of a political film to me. That that takes you in that direction. It's no longer a horror movie. Right, right. Unless Connell Cochran comes back and hey, sorry, but Dan O'Hurley, he's dead. Right, right. Unfortunately, yeah. Another fantastic sequel that I am fiendishly in love with is Friday Part 2. Thank you, thank you. It is everybody watch for it. This spring, we're getting a 4K. At long last, it will be visually represented for the really good-looking movie that it was, thanks to Mark Irwin and Dean Cheddar, the DP and the production designer, respectively. A pretty movie, a good-looking movie, widescreen. So I'm excited about this coming release. Oh, I thought it's thrilled. Commentary. I think the package would be nice. Awesome, awesome. Was there any like what was like the I guess the the origins for Friday Night Part 2 and the additions to like not just the goal and the vampire, but you also had the werewolf and you know, like additional monsters like put in. Well, I which I think also adds to the flavor of uh the film. Uh the idea of a sequel to Friday Knight came up, and at that point I had not seen the original, so I watched it right away, as soon as it became clear that I was a candidate for the for the gig. And I just loved it. I thought it was original and fun. And Fright Knight, it it sits on that little fence between horror and comedy, which is so hard to do. You can do a comedy that has horror elements, or you can do a horror movie that has a sense of humor, but to really land it right in between the two is a hat trick. And so I admired Tom Holland's idea and the work that they did. I loved the idea that they were bending all kinds of rules about vampires and whatever else. I mean vampires turning into this stuff, these untold monsters. So I really carried that ball to its limit. I thought, okay, if that's it, when this fabulous long-lost sister comes along, exotic in the guise of performance artists. I thought that was a pretty good neat idea. That is hiding in plain sight. I'm a vampire, but everybody thinks I'm just this is performance art. Right, right. I thought she needs a posse. And so we can have a lot of fun, but just who what are these things, you know? Right, right. Boz, for example, the driver, is like, what form of monster is he? So I I thought that all worked out very well. The magnificent four, you might say, when they're revealed, the elevator reveal uh door opens, and there's Charlie sitting there looking at these rock star kind of people. Right. It's like, oh my god, that's cool. So we had a lot of fun with that. Awesome. One of my favorites of all time. Another one I have to talk about and throw in there is the, in my opinion, the one and only original It. Yes, thank you. I think the secret weapon of it, my version, was the casting. I mean, not only we had great TV stars, good actors, but we cast very carefully for the children, and I believe that those children grew up to be those grown-ups. I think that's not an easy thing to pull off. Right. And if the heart of that movie, you know, special effects for me, neither here nor there. They were fun, and some of them gave off a sense of like an old 50s movie, which I really, to be honest, was accidental. It's just a matter of budget limitation. But I thought it worked for the movie. But uh, I think the secret weapon and really what's going on with Stephen King a lot of the time, it's not the gore, it's not the horror, it's the children, it's childhood, it's the rite of passage, it's secrets told, bonds formed, getting through hard times together. That really touches the heart, and I think Stephen King is very, very good at that. And that's where I think we really hit it out of the park, was in that part of the story. Absolutely. And I I have to ask this question what was Tim Curry's audition process like? There was no audition. All of the adult actors were, that was telephone casting. Just sitting around with the producers, house numbering who we'd like in the part, and saying, Wow, you think we could get Tim Curry? Well, call his agent, let's see. We can get him. Okay. The adult casting for that movie was effortless. No auditions required. Wow, amazing. And and Curry's performance. I mean, I I I have to tell you this. I I had because of it and killer clowns from outer space, I have what has become recurring killer clown phobia, recurring phobia, killer clown dreams. We ruin it, we pretty much ruined clowns for a lot of people. And also, I have to say, Tim Curry's penny wise is so much scarier, so much more diabolical than the Bill Scarzgard. It's interesting because I think Tim had the ability to be charming and friendly, and I believe that kids would be drawn in. The Skarsgard look was artful and clever, but he looked too scary. I can't, I couldn't buy that any kid would go near that preacher. Right. It's too he's just too scary looking. And another thing I'll say is your version of it, the original version, in my opinion, the one and only version. Thank you. Absolutely. It it from the book, Pennywise is supposed to be more of like a cosmic monster. Right. He's an entity of the city. Like an interdimensional monster. Yeah, whatever. And I thought your version of it really encompassed that and also like held such potential to like go beyond the miniseries. And I think the the newer it's they whether it's production, producer, studio interference or whatever, I feel from especially the part two, that their Scar Scar's version of Pennywise is more like Freddie Coover. Yeah. You know, it's not it totally loses that what I think is a much scarier kind of concept. You know, there's only one Tim Curry. Yes. I'll tell you a story. He uh, as soon as we knew Tim was gonna do the part, we went to work on some uh sketches and uh visualization for what he was gonna look like. And the whole, based roughly on the Bozo the clown coming from that end of the clown spectrum, we designed a bulbous forehead, these very sharp cheekbones, a chin piece that extended his face. And when Tim actually came in, he really objected to that stuff because, well, actually he'd done creature, not to was it creature? What did he do? That was he was covered in legend. Legend, sorry, yes, legend. He was covered in rubber, and he was so sick of it that he started campaigning to not have all of that apparatus. And I got him to agree to try it once, and it looked pretty awesome, but it was like he was right. We removed the tin piece, we removed the cheekbones. I insisted he keep the big bulbous forehead. But the fact is his own face was more than enough. Right, right. His acting ability, and especially in that regard, in white face, uh almost a mind troop sort of uh approach to the part. He just brought so much to it. Uh he would do the script as I asked him to, and then I would let him take off, you know, improv. And he just always delivered something original, and that hat trick of something original and scary and macabre, but also funny. Yes, yes. That man, not not just anybody can pull that off. So kudos to Tim. And I want to tell you, everybody knows Tim had a terrible stroke. Yeah, fortunately. But he is hanging in there and getting actually better, improving, his health is improving as of this date, anyway. So this is for Tim. Thank you, Tim, for your amazingly terrifying performance. You have instilled clown nightmares for me that'll never go away. Yeah, it's infinite, it's there forever. Uh and I just also have to say there's only been two movies to really like the first time I watched them, I couldn't make it the whole way through. Really? And that was You're It and the first time I saw Kuprix the Shining. Oh. The Shining didn't do much for me. I I thought a much scarier movie was the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Great Fell. Which is my all-time favorite horror movie. And actually kind of ties to Halloween 3. I can see that. A lot of a tribute to the original invasion and an homage, in a way, to Don Siegel, the director, because they forced a bookend ending on the original invasion that softened it for people. It was supposed to end with Kevin McCarthy saying, You're next, you're next, right in the camera. That was supposed to be the dead cut ending, and they made him bookend structure into the thing where, oh, he's on the phone and it's gonna be alright, and then let's see audience on the book. Oh shit, I hate that. So that our ending for Halloween 3, Tommy Atkins, stop it, stop it. That's an absolute direct tribute. Uh writing a wrong, if you ask me. Let's get that dead ending. And we get we got pressure to uh soften that also. And uh John left me with the final say on it, which was a great privilege. John was behind the scenes, he was the producer, one of the producers, and he had final cut, and he just gave it to me. So talk about a privilege for a first-time director. Yeah, he said, uh they want us to change the ending. He said, but I'm gonna leave it to you. What do you want to do? And I said, I thought about it for maybe eight seconds, and I went, nah, nah, let's leave it the way it is. And he said, You got it. There it is, ladies and gentlemen, all my guppies in the sea. You heard it first from Tommy Lee Wallace himself. It's in it's in the book. I wrote a book about this. H3, the subtitle of which is Where the Hell is Michael Myers?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:56

Fantastic. Or fantastic, I should say.

SPEAKER_09 1:01:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:01

Tommy, thank you so much for taking the time to swim the ball with me. Thank you. Thank you.

Don Shanks On Playing Michael Myers

SPEAKER_09 1:01:08

I could knock off there, so that's nice. I'm a huge fan. It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much. Sam Fish, the Fishbowl, here at Horror Realm Con 2026 with Michael Myers himself, Don Shanks. From number five. Number five, right, right. Thank you for taking the time to swim in the bowl with me. Well, I'm glad to be here. Absolutely. Let's talk about Halloween since we're at uh a horror convention. Okay. Obviously, a lot of physical demands come with those types of roles. What would what what would you say your overall experience was working on Halloween 5, and what were some of the difficulties, constraints, any special stories with the cast, anything like that? Well, I mean, it pretty much is what I figured it was going to be. Okay. The mask is difficult because you can't see out of it very well. You know, so a lot of the, you know, you have to take into consideration you gotta do this, that, you know, for safety reasons. You know, but uh it was a lot of fun to do, you know.

SPEAKER_08 1:02:18

It was very physical, but that's what I do.

SPEAKER_09 1:02:21

Yeah. One of my favorites in the franchise, it's it's like I considered one and two, like obviously part one, part two. Three is you know, stands on its own. And then four and five was essentially another part one, part two. Um did did you get to work with Donald Pleasance at all? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Any any stories about uh Donald or anything? Well, he was very much the gentleman, right? We're doing the scene on the staircase, and I mean, I literally was being mesmerized by you know what he was saying to me. It's like uh go and then snap back into it. Yeah, he was just a very consummate actor. We were doing the scene where I wrecked the car, I'm chasing him with the car and whatnot, you know. And he has a scene after that, and they had wrapped me. And he came to my dressing room and he knocked and he said, Could I ask a favor of you? And I go, Yeah, okay. And he goes, Uh, would you mind being just standing out there that I so I know that you're there?

SPEAKER_08 1:03:29

I go, Yeah, okay. You know, he goes, That you don't have to do anything, just need to know that you're there. I go, okay.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:37

So I started putting the wardrobe on. He goes, Well, you don't have to do that. I go, no, it's fine, you know. But I mean, he was just so polite and so, you know, could you do this for me? Happy to. Awesome, awesome. Donald is was in so many fantastic roles. Oh, yeah, so many great films. Well, Peter O'Toole, this is one of his stories, yeah, that he was offered Herendal play. And he said, Well, you know, I really appreciate you asking me, but I think the only person who can play this part is Donald Pleasant. Because, in my opinion, he's the finest actor in England. And you know, he, you know, very understated, you know, very slow, but then he could build it in such a way, you know, that you just start listening to him, listen, then he comes back at you. Exactly. But he was he was very, very good at all. Any stories with Daniel Harris or well, you know, she was she was like my buddy, you know, we're working all night and stuff, and you know, she's trying to keep her energy up, and you know, we just had a great time, you know. The little scene in the laundry chute, you know, that was kind of a hit and miss type of thing, you know. We had to work it out, you know. She had a stunt double, but she wanted to do it, you know. And she did an excellent job. Awesome, awesome. Were you familiar with any like the the prior installments or was it? Well, I had seen one and two, and I saw three, and four hadn't come out when we were shooting five. And I asked them if they wanted me to go see it, and Dominic uh goes, no, I want you to bring what you're gonna bring. I I can see that because it's just like with Jason, it's you can see each each actor's performance of of Jason and Meyer.

SPEAKER_10 1:05:44

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:05:45

Like and I think that's what makes those films and each installment so unique is that like you get Michael's the same, but it's not just like the actors difference, like the physical demands, the the embodiment. Movements, you know, it's like each person who encompasses those those characters makes it their own. Well, they're gonna have certain characteristics, you know, there's certain physical things that you do, you know. I mean, when I double somebody, I was telling this earlier, that I'll watch them from afar, and it's like, okay, do they put their hands in their pockets? Do they stand with this put forward, you know, and you start taking on those characteristics, you know? Right. Right. I was doubling Rutker Howard, told this story too. Yeah. And I'm just watching him, and you know, it's okay, this and that, you know. And so the scene came up, and they go, Okay, we need Rutger. You know, hey Rutker, we need you over here. Hey, Rutker, we need you over here. And they came over and they go, Oh, Don. You know, but I've been standing there in such a way that they thought I was Rutger Howard. The performances he put on. I know. Incredible. Yes, yeah, and he's a very physical performance. Right, right. And I just found out in the last couple years that the whole monologue he does right before his character in Blade Hunter like shuts down or you know, dies, especially. Because he just starts to die, right, right, and he lets the bird go. Right. It was apparently he wrote that as a poem himself, literally, like right before they're about to shoot the that scene, and he came to Ridley Scott and was like, I like to use this in the scene. He reads it to Ridley, really goes, is just like blown away in awe of like this. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_10 1:07:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:43

Another favorite horror villain role of Ruckers, The Hitcher.

SPEAKER_10 1:07:49

What?

SPEAKER_09 1:07:49

The Hitcher. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I like it. I I think that film is so well done. Eric Red, phenomenal filmmaker, and someone to have a tone, unique tone to all his horror films. Uh, you know, the another one I'll throw out there of his Bad Moon, one of the best, in my opinion, werewolf movies to come out. But with Halloween, do you do you like admire any of the past and future or I guess post your performances, Michael Myers?

SPEAKER_06 1:08:29

Do you is is like do you admire like any like you said, each one brings a certain you know presence to it.

SPEAKER_09 1:08:36

You know, we were working on Married with Children, Dick Warlock was on that. And I went over to him and I said, you know, we played the same character. He's like, yeah, right, right. You know, he's like five, seven, yeah. I go, no, I did the Michael Myers. No, no, you know, this is I said, Have you ever done any of the personal appearances? He goes, What do you do? I go, Well, you bring pictures and you sign them, and you know, this and okay. Anyway, so it's like a few months after what we had done, and I had uh I'd already booked an appearance, and someone had called me and I said, Well, you know, I have someone else who might be you know interested in doing it. So I gave him a call, and he goes, Really, you're gonna do this? I go, Yeah, you know, and so I like the next time I saw him, he had the banners, he had the pictures, you know, he's getting other people involved, you know, and you know, I really enjoyed his performance. I you know, Nick Castle's the first one. I enjoyed his too. You know, I like horror films, and I think the Halloween's the Friday the 13th, you know, they brought a certain thing, I mean, that people still like, and that's why they keep doing more and more because but I mean in the beginning, I I saw Texas Chainsaw Master. They had they brought out King Kong, an uncut version that hadn't been out since 1939. And so I'm sitting there and they're showing Texas Chainsaw Master, and I was like, oh, this is pretty good.

SPEAKER_08 1:10:14

Hey, this is you know, you know, really got, you know, I loved it.

SPEAKER_09 1:10:19

You know, and I didn't know anything about it. I hadn't heard anything about it. It was, you know, just in one of these art things. Right, right. Here's a question. I I I heard a while ago there was uh uh another interviewer, I think they were interviewing uh either Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig when he was taking over the role of 007. And I'm gonna ask the same question, just rephrase uh instead of it being, is there a 007 club? Is there a Michael Myers club of all the actors that have played Michael Myers over the years?

SPEAKER_08 1:11:00

Well, you know, it's we know each other.

Alan Howarth On John Carpenter Scores

SPEAKER_09 1:11:04

You know, I like all of the guys, you know, Chris, you know, Brad, James. I mean, everyone brings something to it, you know. The last three, I think, have been really, really good. You know, I'd have to pick out one and two in the last three. You know, I think it's you know, it's gonna, you know, excellent. Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to swim in the bowl with me. Okay. I hope the temperature was just right. We dove in head first, we came out head above water, and now we're riding the waves. All right. Sounds great. Thank you so much. Samfished the fishbowl here at Horror Realm Con 2026 with the great and wonderfully talented Alan Howart. Hey, how are you? Alan Howarth here. We're at uh Horror Realm 2026. 2026. And I see that the festival is growing, but not outgrowing. Yeah. It's just really nice. It's it's it's casual. You get to spend time with the people that come, tell our stories. It's not like there's a line of 100 people that you've got to blow through and they're they're waiting three hours, you know. So it's my it's it's an ideal situation for what I think. It's it's a wonderful experience where we can chat about working with Carpenter and some of the amazing scores that have been made over the years. Timeless scores. First of all, huge fan. I'm I am a very avid, I can kind of consider myself a music aficionado. And one of the reasons I think Carpenter resonates so much with me, and I and I'm sure uh with the rest of his fans, is that he did everything. Yeah, he was a Renaissance man. Yes. He's uh there's words for this, super talented, genius, whatever you want to say, but yeah, he does everything. So for me to work with him, consider this. I'm in my studio, I had all the toys.

SPEAKER_08 1:13:06

So he came over to my house. He didn't want to know about the technology. I said, that's your job to keep it all running, everything in tune. I just want to play. So John's usual thing was we'd come in, sit down. Um, in the beginning, we didn't even have videotape. We were just like stopwatching. Right. Eventually I put dialogue on one track so we could hear the from the dialogue where we were in the scene. But shortly after that, I got videotapes and we could run a videotape. He called it electronic coloring book.

SPEAKER_09 1:13:32

Because from the stop actually watching the movie and playing to it. So that's what it was. We improvised the whole thing. Because he wrote it, directed it, edited it, he took the first pass. So most of those classic themes are his compositions. Awesome. He was a great, great talented person. His father was actually a professor of music. Oh, wow. A concert violinist. Amazing.

SPEAKER_08 1:13:56

So he had a musical education coming up just because of his dad. Right. But then he had this affinity for film. So it was kind of like, hey dad, thanks for all the music stuff, but I don't want to make movies. But now it's included in his toolkit. Right. And he always jokes that why does he do his own music? He says, because I'm the cheapest part. But that's his excuse. He wrote to do it.

SPEAKER_09 1:14:17

And as you see now, after you know, decades of movies, he's still making more music. Right. That's his outlet. He likes it because it's a smaller production. We're talking about, you know, less than five to ten people. His son Cody and his godson Daniel are the band. There's another bass player, like a six-piece. He's been out touring, playing this music that was created for his movies. Well, I'm doing the same thing.

SPEAKER_08 1:14:41

In fact, I'll take credit for getting him off the couch and doing it. Uh, the first time it happened was in the Halloween 35 convention. They wanted me to talk about Halloween music.

SPEAKER_09 1:14:50

He says, You want to talk about how do I play? And they go, You could do that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I set up my keyboard, my MIDI, and they there was a little, somebody did it on their iPhone and put it out there, and I started getting traction playing this music. I just I could hear Cody saying, Dad, that was out there playing your guys' music. Why don't we do that?

SPEAKER_08 1:15:08

Well, he got serious about it. Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_09 1:15:10

They're out doing it now. But where I was going with this, so imagine I'm I'm in the studio with John Carpenter. We're young guys, I'm like uh 31, 32, same, we're the same age, so there's different. And I'm sitting with the group with the guy who wrote it, directed it, da da da da da da da. Wait, watching him make the music for his own movie. Talk about custom. Right, right. Crafted. So all that music. And he always he always felt the music, he used to refer to music as carpeting. Right, right, right, right, right. Something that the whole movie sat on and kept the mood going. And so I got it, I was like the apprentice, right? I got to sit with him for almost nine years on nine movies doing that. So that's that's my takeaway. Uh, I I get that that the greatest gift anybody could give to another person is to teach them how you do it. Absolutely. And talk about not just like the films being classics, but like I kind of consider the scores as like its own entity. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's what we're doing, is we're separating the music from the movie and just listen to the music going, hey, that's some pretty good music. Yeah. Yeah. And and yeah, it's like I did a concert here last night, right? Right, right. And I played a medley of music cues, but only the music and the image. So now you watch the movie with music only, and you see how custom the music is. But at the same time, the style of music strung together makes this incredible musical journey. Going from here to here to here to here, to fight to scare to to run to to kill, and the music that goes with the stuff. And I kind of made it into a concert now. And so I run the track and stuff, and then I literally improvise on top of the score, real-time extra score. Awesome.

SPEAKER_10 1:17:05

It's way fun.

SPEAKER_09 1:17:06

Right, right. I mean, now obviously Halloween is is an infamous score and an infamous film and a Halloween tradition at this point. For me, though, I think my favorite scores would have number one would have to be Escape from New York and Escape from LA. I we talked about this yesterday, but Escape from LA was the first Carpenter movie I was old enough to go see in theaters. Oh, it's okay. Interesting entry point. Right, right, right. And the whole story I told yesterday about how you know I was super young at the time, but my I told my dad there's this movie Escape from LA coming out. He's like, no, you must mean Escape from New York. This was in the days of Blockbuster, so immediately he's he educated me on Escape from New York. Then we went to see LA, and then I remember I think the next one we saw after that was In the Mouth of Madness and then Vampires. Vampires, James Woods' character in that movie is fantastic. The score, though, for that film, talk about blues and guitar, and but but Escape from New York and I Have to Throw In There, Big Trouble in Little China. What an amazing score. What was like your I guess take and experience creating the stuff that like those memorable scores, and what kind of differentiates, I guess, the process from like horror to sci-fi to a martial arts almost like black comedy sci-fi. Well, all right, so the the mouth of madness and ghost of marsh, I wasn't part of that. So John now collaborated with uh Dave Davies, the guitar player from the Kinks, and now Dave Davies' son is John's godson. So they really became buddies. So he likes to collaborate with somebody and and be really personal. It's not just like a doctor's office, right? We're gonna get to be buddies, we're gonna do stuff, we're gonna get to, we're gonna share a vision. Obviously, his the primary vision because he made it, right? But he wants you to bring you know bring your stuff in. So so he opened up the door for me to do that. The best score I've ever done with Carpenter was Big Trouble. A couple reasons. One, the movie itself. In a Halloween, you've got this dark in the basement, look out for the knife, da da da. So you do Halloween.

SPEAKER_08 1:19:32

But Big Trouble had Chinese fight music, it had pork chop express rock and roll, it had mysterious stuff, it had Kung Fu fighting.

SPEAKER_09 1:19:41

So each of those scenes asked for a different piece of music. So as the quote, the electronic music producer, because Carpenter's gonna just out and play, push the black white off. He doesn't know shit about that, he doesn't even want to know shit about this. A couple times I tell him about something technically, I don't know about what we I don't care about. You want to just show up and do this thing. So I was I was creating the colors. And so at that time, there was another technology that was added to my synthesizer studio called MIDI.

SPEAKER_08 1:20:16

And this was a it was called the musical instrument digital interface. So it used to be you'd have a couple of patch cables and one synthesizer and another. Now, digitally, you could hook up like nine synthesizers at once, play one keyboard, and they all play.

SPEAKER_09 1:20:28

So now we've got these what I call MIDI stacks, where each synthesizer has its element of the what you're hearing. And and we I went from used to be that you'd print each synthesizer on a tractable tape recorder and run out of tracks, and it's over. Well, in this case, I was now printing what we call stems. So I was taking nine synthesizers, making them stereo with each one in its own little part in the stereo mix, and then putting reverb on it and printing the whole thing.

SPEAKER_08 1:20:54

So if you were to go back to the tapes from Big Trouble on, you'd literally put the fader straight across on the console.

SPEAKER_09 1:21:02

That's the mix. Awesome.

SPEAKER_08 1:21:03

So it was built custom as it went. So that the technique expanded.

SPEAKER_09 1:21:10

The third part was we were supposed to get 10 weeks to do it, and there was a change in the schedule. We got an extra month. Oh wow. So when we thought we were done, I had a whole other month to go back and really produce it in the way that a record producer does for a hit. So those three things combined, Big Trouble is just fantastic. Big Trouble is one of my all-time favorite scores, one of my all-time favorite Carpenter films, just like you said, with a mix of rock and roll, comedy, martial arts, fighting, and and mysticism and everything. Like it's a very unique film among Kurt Russell being in one of his best carpenter roles. Yeah, actually, you just remind me about the different kinds of music. That that was there's one scene where they're about to go into the the fight with with Lopin. Right. And they have the little potion they're gonna drink.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:22:08

And they're they're getting ready to go to battle. And there's this heroic piece that goes with that.

SPEAKER_08 1:22:12

We never did any music like that, but that movie asked for heroic music, so we bowed it up. So the music determines what the score is doing.

SPEAKER_09 1:22:21

Exactly, exactly. On the topic of music and being a musician, uh composer, what would you say your musical influences are? Well, I'm a child of the 60s and 70s. I'll be 78 in August, so 1969 was the apex of all that stuff, but I sort of got bit by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and the whole English invasion. And then later on we got the flower power, and it was Chip Shen Airplane, the Quicksilver Vestim, and the Doors. Yes, and the American silent, and then of the my favorite bands, I was a Pink Floyd for sure, Genesis, then other Jeffrey Tall, and there was another one called Gentle Giant, and uh ELP for sure, and and then Tangerine Dream, which was the other synth guys from Europe, but they had all the big modulator blade runner, yeah, yeah, and then and Ben Jellis for sure. Yes, Ben Jellis, right. But Tangerine Dream did um Legend though. Right. Legend was a great, great score. They did a couple other ones I remember, but I'm a big fan. I I view composers as the modern day Beethoven's and Wagner's and you know, like that that's that is the current living entity of composed music, you know.

SPEAKER_08 1:23:47

Yeah, right. And well, let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_09 1:23:48

So everything I did was just me and John in the studio with machines. However, the reason that orchestras still are active is because of film music, Hollywood. Exactly. And hiring a real orchestra to do this, which there's no question about it. Here's what happens when me and John do it, it takes us a long time because we are the only musicians who keep making tracks and tracks and tracks.

SPEAKER_08 1:24:13

Whereas in an orchestra, you got 60 people put them in, and boom, it all goes down in one shot.

SPEAKER_09 1:24:20

Exactly.

SPEAKER_08 1:24:20

And the musicians are interacting, and the emotions, it's it's a powerful, powerful tool of real music.

SPEAKER_09 1:24:27

So, yes, for sure, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Danny Elfman, James Honer, Alan Sylvestri, Stovestri, and then prior to that, you know, Bernard Herman and Corn Gold and these eyes were before them, they used orchestras for a purpose, being the news. Consider this though, in the Renaissance, what was the purpose? You either wrote music for the king or for the church, exactly. So that was your purpose. So these symphonies, these great symphonies from both prototype, they were making music for God. Right, right. And they rose to the occasion, they did. You know, it's great music. Exactly. And and so in some ways, the their movie was talking to God. Now you put movies in front and say, Oh, we're doing other stuff too, or you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:18

Right, right.

SPEAKER_09 1:25:19

Yeah, and and on the topic of some of the bands you mentioned, I have to get your opinion on I guess he's considered now the Mozart of rock and roll. Don't go where the huskies go, don't you eat that yellow snow. Um the famous, infamous Frank Zapman. Yeah, well, Frank, actually, I have a Frank Zapman story if you want. Yeah, yeah. Alright, so so I was working for this jazz band Weather Report, and I was the setup guy for Joe's Avenue. So I was like the butler. I had like all these synthesizers to be set up and get them all in tune, and then we do a show. Well, one one of the one of the road guys worked for Frank, too. And so there was a time when I was considered possibly moving from Weather Report to working for Frank. So I walk into Frank's studio, and they had just put this emu big modular synthesizer that just got delivered, and it wasn't dialed in yet. So Frank goes, ah, show me something. Oh wow. So I'm there and I'm dialing up some sound, and I I get something going, but because I had no reference, the the way I set the oscillators, they were like two octaves too high. So it sounded good down here, but over here it was really too high. Well, Frank walks up to the machine. He looks at me and goes, not bad for parakeet music. He was so quick. Wow. And witty. And he didn't need to get high, he was already there. There was a great picture of of Frank Zappa in his yearbook from from Toronto. He graduated from there. Right. And in the picture, his instrument is the bicycle wheel.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:04

Yeah, I just saw it was on some. And he was serious. He tuned the smoke.

SPEAKER_08 1:27:09

And he played it like a harp.

SPEAKER_09 1:27:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 1:27:11

That's how you talk about Soteric.

SPEAKER_09 1:27:13

Right. He was so out. I I I just saw it was either on Facebook or Instagram. His appearance on I forget what talk show it was, but him actually showing in how he could make the bicycle into a musical instrument. The guy was so ahead of his time, not just with music, philosophically, politically, like everything. He's one of my heroes.

SPEAKER_08 1:27:39

Yeah, and the work with it was not a piece of cake.

SPEAKER_09 1:27:41

He was tough on everybody. Yeah. But hey, you just got hired to do that. I remember it was a rehearsal when they were using all the people that eventually became missing persons, right? So it was Terry Bozito and Tommy Mars was the keyboard player. And Frank puts this piece of music down in front of him to play. Tommy goes. Frank, that's really hard music. Well, that's your job. I made this for you to play. Learn it. Right, right. Don't look at me in. He's I I I look forward to every single time a new live album of his comes out. I just just in time for Halloween this this past year was, I think it was 76 or 77. Four disc set came out. Phenomenal. One of my top favorite artists of all time, but Alan, a huge fan of yours as well. I have another short story you like this one. So I also worked with George Duke. Yes, yes. Right. And so in the 90s, I was pioneering multi-channel audio for what is now Dolby Atmos. I was already doing that like 15 years before. Oh. For theme parks. Right, right.

SPEAKER_08 1:28:52

And so we were demoing it.

SPEAKER_09 1:28:55

So I was going to show it to George Duke, because he was a subset of Frank, and I thought I'd find my way to get Frank to come if I got George excited. Right. And so I showed George. It was amazing. It is amazing.

SPEAKER_08 1:29:09

The idea was we'd put a speaker like pixels across the whole room. And you would paint across a soundscape of speakers. So there was no more left and right. Right. All they were in directions. And also the reflections, a sound we hear, but you'd reflect it off the wall back here. So it was spatially correct. Way cool. Ultimate sound design trip.

SPEAKER_09 1:29:32

But so I showed this to Frank, to um to George. He goes, Oh yeah, Frank was doing something like this. He says, What are you thinking? Well, he Frank wanted to be in spatialized sound.

SPEAKER_08 1:29:43

So he he had these hoops that the musicians would play in, and there would be six microphones on the ring, and the sax player was intended to play to different microphones so he could steer the music in the world.

Clint Howard On Comedy And Cult Films

SPEAKER_09 1:29:57

Oh wow. Amazing. So each musician became his own spatial mixer as part of performance art. This is the guy. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. Amazing. Always experimenting. Always. Yeah, whatever we got. Well, there's got to be more. Let's just keep looking. Right, right. Oh my god. I I wish we could talk like literally all day. I I I'm gonna have to have you come back, take another swim in the bowl. Yeah, well, we can always do a zoo or something. Yeah, yeah, uh, we'll definitely have to. I got lots of stories. A friend of mine, Mike Atkins, says, here's a way to go, Alan. He says, details tell, but stories sell. Exactly. And you want to hear the story behind that Profit 5 synthesizer, the day we used the taper. The day we I I was recording underwater for Hunter October, and instead of using hydrophones, I used my expensive studio mics to put condoms on them to put them in the water. There's stories, we'll talk about it. Awesome, awesome. I I cannot wait. Zoom sounds great. I will definitely be in touch. This this is this is exactly what uh I love to have stories from multiple different aspects, not just the film side, but the music side. And exactly what you're talking about. The different perspectives. Yes. You know, five of us see a car accident, we all saw something different. Exactly, exactly. Same accident and and just that it's our interpretation, exactly. Our personal lens, right, how we look at life, right? And people want to share that. Exactly. And I I just again think film and music go hand in hand, along with incorporating every aspect of the arts into making the film. I I took I have a short so the simplest definition of art. Art is a communication, yes, and now as an artist, you choose your media, yes, you're telling you're making your art with an images or sound or music or dance or poems or visual effects. Movies do all that at once, exactly, and that's why movies are so powerful that they pull from all these other media, have hundreds of people work on it for thousands of hours, and it's like the finest whiskey. Exactly. It's all distilled to just exactly that that's that's where Carpenter comes in and and collaborations and every everything you've worked on. You touched on this. So the expertise of John Carpenter is to tell a story, yes, utilizing all those media and having personal expertise in a lot of them to integrate. Exactly. That's why that's why we're still talking about it 30 years later. Exactly. 50 years later. Master filmmaking, master music making. Alan, thank you so much for swimming in the bowl with me. I hope the temperature was just right. Oh, my circle was just long enough. Well, we made it, we dove in head first, we rode the waves, and we're above water. All right, we'll hit the showers. Thank you so much. You're welcome, Greg. Absolutely. Later. Sam Fished the Fishbowl here at Horror Realm Con 2026 with one of my longtime heroes, legends in the business, the infamous Clint Howard. Well, it's good to be here, Sam. Absolutely. Thank you for taking the time to swim in the bowl with me.

SPEAKER_06 1:33:35

Okay. Is that what we're doing? Swimming in the bowl?

SPEAKER_09 1:33:38

We got our floaties on, we're doing the backstrokes.

SPEAKER_06 1:33:40

As long as we don't poop in the bowl.

SPEAKER_09 1:33:43

Exactly. You know, then then people will say it's something smells fishy. Yeah, there you go. Awesome, awesome. Clint, I have been following your career literally since I was a kid. My dad, as we talked yesterday, introduced me to you and your brother and the whole family. So much we could talk about, short amount of time. I want to cover a few roles that are all special to my my favoritism. In the name of our ice cream man. Yes. Such an infamous film, and I think Eli Roth is supposed to be remaking it or doing. I don't know.

SPEAKER_07 1:34:19

I don't know if it's well, you got the wrong information in the fishbowl.

SPEAKER_09 1:34:23

Okay, okay. Send me straight.

SPEAKER_07 1:34:26

I have nothing to do with the Eli Roth show. He's making a movie that's called Ice Cream Man. Actually, my myself and my wife Kat and Norman Epstein, who is the original director of the original ice cream man, we're making a film called Another Ice Cream Man. That's going to be the real genuine article. I'm playing an ice cream man. I'm not playing Gregory, I'm playing another ice cream man.

SPEAKER_09 1:34:50

Fantastic. I cannot wait for that to come out. Another role that actually I went to school for screenwriting here in Pittsburgh, and this is a movie that I was watching along with some other films as like inspiration. The Wraith.

SPEAKER_07 1:35:06

Yes. Well, The Wraith was a very memorable experience for me. I met a lot of longtime friends. Charlie and I are friends, Dave Sherrill, Jamie Bose, and Nick Casavet's. That movie holds up remarkably well. I mean, it's a it's a B action movie, sci-fi, but it's just for whatever reason it resonates with the fans, and I fully appreciate when people embrace Rughead.

SPEAKER_09 1:35:32

Absolutely. That's that's an amazing film. It I was trying to encompass the racing road rage, but that that film encompassed, though it did its job. Another two films working with Adam Stanler, The Water Boy and obviously Little Nicki. What was it like working with Stanler and creating those characters?

SPEAKER_07 1:35:54

Well, Stanler's a champ. Standler is a very, you know, he's a guy you just want to hang with. And he he takes his job very seriously. He has fun. He's not a megalomaniac or anything like that. He's a good dude and he's very creative. And I'll I'll tell you one little story about Waterboy. Well, little little Nikki, we worked on Waterboy, and then little Nikki came along and he says, I got a part for you. Are you interested in doing it? And it was, you know, it was nipples, the transvestite. And my line of saying, I don't need it, like I'm good, is one of the great lines I've ever spoken in any movie. But the thing about Adam is Adam has a great sense of humor. He doesn't, it's not that he's trying to be funny all the time, but he just knows what is funny. And we were acting together, me and Alan Covert, and this the thing about the Joe Montaigne line came up.

SPEAKER_09 1:36:45

Right, right.

SPEAKER_07 1:36:46

And I went, you know, to Adam. I went, you know, can we find a better line than that? Because I don't think it's very funny. And Adam just looked at me and he goes, trust me, that that line's gonna kill. So I did. I said the line. I honest to God didn't really believe that it was gonna work, but sure enough, it's one of the highlights.

SPEAKER_09 1:37:04

Absolutely. But my family and in me go back and forth quoting that movie because we're of this the prime Sandler generation.

SPEAKER_07 1:37:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:37:15

Love his films. Another one, Austin Towers.

SPEAKER_07 1:37:18

Yeah. Just a great experience to work on those films. Jay Roach, the director, you know, he I worked with him a long time ago on a show, and he called me and said, Hey, would you want to participate in this one? First, it was one, and it worked, and then of course, we did another one, and then we did a victory lap.

SPEAKER_09 1:37:36

Awesome.

SPEAKER_07 1:37:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:37:37

Uh the those films are from what I've heard Rob Lowe talk about working on Austin Powers despite Shagny. Is it true that like we were basically witnessing like the improv of the improv like genius of like Mike Myers?

SPEAKER_07 1:37:54

Well, yeah, he's a smart man. Smart man like Adam, he knows funny. Mike Myers knows funny. And I tip my hat tip tip my hat to him. Uh, you know, I I've been very fortunate in my life to get to work with a lot of very cool people, and I would consider Adam, I would consider Mike to be right there near the top of the list.

SPEAKER_09 1:38:13

Fantastic. Yeah. Last question. You and your brother, obviously, and Bryce now carrying on a legacy. Are there any memorable experiences working with Ron and just like family dynamics and just I've had a I've had a lifetime of wonderful experiences working for Ron.

SPEAKER_07 1:38:37

And also I've had a chance to work for Bryce. She's directed me in a thing, and she's a great director, and I'm really looking forward to the you know, the rest of her career because she's a dynamic filmmaker, and and I, you know, I believe in it. Also, one thing, we're making another ice cream man. Yeah. Bryce's sister, Paige. Bryce has two sisters. One of them, Paige, she is an actress, and she's gonna be in another ice cream band. So stay tuned for that.

SPEAKER_09 1:39:05

Fantastic news here. You heard it from Clint Howard himself. Clint, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for taking the time to swim in the bowl with me. We dove inhead first, we rose above the water, and now we're right on the waves.

SPEAKER_05 1:39:19

There we go. I like it. I like it, man.

SPEAKER_09 1:39:22

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_05 1:39:23

Okay, bye-bye.

SPEAKER_09 1:39:25

Sam fished the fishbowl here at Horror Realm Con 2026 with the great, infamous, talented William Cat. Sam, thank you for taking the time to swim in the bowl with me.

unknown 1:39:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_09 1:39:38

I I hope the temperature is just right. Yeah, it's it's just right. I feel I feel just like a guppy. That's all my guppies in the sea. Okay. Awesome. First, I just want to say I'm a huge fan. I've literally been following your career since I was a kid. I guess on the subject of horror, two of my top favorite horror films. You're not gonna say you're horrible. No, no, no. You're you're wonderful. Okay. Carrie and probably a little more dear to my heart, House. Oh, House. Yeah. Carrie, though, probably considered the first major Stephen King adaptation, and I honestly think they haven't made a better version since.

SPEAKER_11 1:40:24

They've made a bunch of them, they have, they have.

SPEAKER_09 1:40:27

Now Mike Flanagan is making uh a part series. Yes. Yes, and they also did a mini-series which was like back in the I think the late 90s, early 2000s. Yeah, I think so. I think Angela Bettis, I'm not sure if that's she played Carrie, but no one's replacing Sissy Spaces. Uh it's hard to beat Sissy. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That was a great cast. Absolutely. I mean, it's one of the cards. Tiger Laurie and John Travolta and uh yeah. And one of his early, early roles. It was, I think he had just done one season of Welcome Back Potter at the time. Yeah, yeah, before the whole Grease Lightning thing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, any stories working with the Palma and just the casting. Oh, Brian. I I I feel so blessed to have been a part of that production. You know, originally we did we we screen tested George Lucas. I screen tested for uh for that for Star Wars, and I screen tested for Brian, and uh lucky enough I got I got one of them. You know, so I felt very lucky. Brian gave me my whole career.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:32

Yeah, absolutely. And what an amazing film.

SPEAKER_09 1:41:36

I mean it's it's I think the Palmas carry is still way scarier, way more terrifying than really any version that's that's been done since. It has that it has the 70s encapsulament of it, but also that like you know, he he he did a couple of films that, and I think Tarantino refers to Blowout as one of the best uh films he's done, as well as Travolta's performances.

SPEAKER_11 1:42:05

Yeah, yeah, I had seen a few of his films, Greetings, Hi Mom, that Brian did prior to doing Carrie, but I think that Carrie was for him, and I think he admitted it, it was a seminal film in his career.

SPEAKER_09 1:42:21

And it really, it really uh did the trick of making him an A-list director that film for whatever reason. I don't know. I think I did it. I think it's all you know, the film is all you. Yeah, yeah, he didn't give me enough credit, but uh I'll take it now. I'm giving it to you, it's all yours. Awesome. I'm such a dick, aren't I? Another favorite horror film of mine, total fan of Fred Decker, House. House is one of I think the most underrated horror films in of a unique storyline and concept that really was executed so well that it played on like the terror level, the psychological level. Well, well, Sean Cunningham had uh produced several terrific horror films before, but it didn't have that same comedic element to him, you know, and then yeah, you had uh Steve Minor, which was so wonderful to work with as a director. Right. He was really always left of center, and a lot of the humor, a lot of the humor from House was because of him. And look at who we cast. He cast George Wendt and Richard Hall and Kay Lenz. Yeah, it was just it was it was uh really well done, underrated film, I think. Using George Wendt recently, great guy. Any any like special stories, anything? Still to this day, I I've told it many times. One of my favorite scenes as an actor was working with George Wendt. He he had such a way with his dry sense of humor.

SPEAKER_11 1:44:05

We we did a scene upstairs when the monster comes out of the closet, and I and I give him a harpoon, put goggles on his head, and I said, in the closet, there's a big raccoon, and I want you to shoot him when that closet door opens. And uh he didn't have much to say, but he was just all you have to do is look at George. Right, right. And you just want to laugh. Right. He's got so much going on inside of him.

SPEAKER_09 1:44:30

Exactly. Wonderful to work with. I actually got my name Sam from my parents watching Cheers. Did you really? I did I did, yeah. Yeah, he was great. He was great.

SPEAKER_11 1:44:39

I miss him because he used to come out and do these uh shows every year for many years.

Jeffrey Kramer On Jaws And Legacy

SPEAKER_09 1:44:44

I I was fortunate enough to meet him at a different convention here in Pittsburgh, but nothing but kind, wonderful things to say about him. Wonderful guy, wonderful guy. What are what do you consider some of your favorite films of all time? That I've been a part of? In general, what what what do you swim towards? David Lean, John Ford. I'm kind of old school, you know. I loved the recent Frankenstein. I mean, it was like watching a painting. Yeah, yeah. Uh the the production design, this uh the cinematography, and uh all aside from the wonderful actors, the whole look of it was just that's what filmmaking should look like. Awesome. Well, William, it has been a pleasure having you. Take the time to swim in the bowl. We dove in head first, we came out above water. Yeah, now we're riding the waves. Yeah, I I I I totally feel like a mermaid now. Thank you so much. Absolutely, thank you so much. Bye, you guys. Thank you. Here we are with Jeffrey Kramer at Horror Realm Con 2026. Jeffrey, thank you for taking the time to swim in the bowl with me.

SPEAKER_11 1:46:01

My pleasure. The fish bowl.

SPEAKER_09 1:46:04

The fish bowl. I hope the temperature is just right. It's good for me. Awesome. On the subject of fish in the bowl, Jaws, Jaws and Jaws, too.

SPEAKER_11 1:46:17

Jaws. Jaws was a uh a perfect creative storm, nothing worked. I mean, nothing worked, and at one point we thought they were gonna pull the plug, but it was over budget, the shark didn't work, which helped me a little bit because my part got a little bit bigger when they shot out all the cover and they had to shoot something. But when the end came and it all came together, it was stunning. The music, the editing, the uh all together, a perfect creative storm. And who knew? I mean, how blessed are we to be in the first blockbuster? Yes, you can't plan that stuff.

SPEAKER_09 1:47:04

It's it's what's considered a perfect film.

SPEAKER_11 1:47:07

For sure. Well, well, I get it, it truly is. And Steven was still Steven then, right?

SPEAKER_09 1:47:13

Right.

SPEAKER_11 1:47:14

Yeah, he's a one-word Spielberg now.

SPEAKER_09 1:47:16

Exactly, exactly. So many things about the first film. I mean, everybody's performance, Rob Schneider. Oh, fabulous, right?

SPEAKER_11 1:47:26

Ricky Dryfus. They were just great.

SPEAKER_09 1:47:29

Everybody, yes, yes. And any like memorable stories or anything working with Steven or the stories were I loved Murray Hamilton.

SPEAKER_11 1:47:39

And one night we're walking home from the bar, and we've had a couple cocktails, and Murray goes, here, kitty, here, kitty. And he he bends down to pet this cat, and he is skunked. Oh my god. He got skunked. We rode back to the hotel, he refused to go to his room and slept on the couch in the lobby of the Harbor View Hotel, and by the next morning it was almost uninhabitable. Truly, truly, it's so much fun.

SPEAKER_09 1:48:14

Awesome, awesome. What did you think about like the sequels and also the fact that like Jaws literally spawned the the, I guess, quote unquote, killer shark like genre.

SPEAKER_11 1:48:28

That was kind of you know, Wendy Benchley has become one of the great voices for shark preservation. And Stephen was upset, I think, when people started killing sharks at the jaws, and they kicked off a big movement that is crucial. I mean, it's their turf.

SPEAKER_09 1:48:52

Right, right.

SPEAKER_11 1:48:53

You know, we're just guests, exactly. And they don't really want to eat us, and they're it's but it it I think it was truly important, and what happened with going out and slaughtering sharks, it was yeah, it really was unfortunate. But the sequels, I love Jaws too. John O'Swart was one of my dear, dear friends, and all the kids are still my friends, we're still close together, and and it was lovely. Uh, the sequels, well, my dear Joe Alves did the three, and I looped it. But I I four and five, I don't really know.

SPEAKER_09 1:49:31

Right.

SPEAKER_11 1:49:32

To be honest with you. I haven't seen them.

SPEAKER_09 1:49:34

I I think they uh they cut it off at four when it was the revenge.

SPEAKER_11 1:49:39

I get it. There was a five, right? I don't know. Well, there was the but I love Lorraine Gary.

SPEAKER_09 1:49:45

I think there was because in uh Back to the Future Part 2, when they when Marty goes to uh Future, they have uh draws oh, was it like 20 or 20 or 25 or something? You know, I I always remember.

SPEAKER_11 1:50:00

And if Lorraine Gary was in it, I adore Lorraine Gary. I think she's one of the nicest human beings I know. And she was just delightful. Smart, talented, lovely.

SPEAKER_09 1:50:11

Awesome. Awesome.

SPEAKER_11 1:50:13

Lovely.

SPEAKER_09 1:50:13

And and what are some of your favorite films and I love the 70s.

SPEAKER_11 1:50:18

I love, you know, the films of the 70s, The Godfather, Jaws, Star Wars, you name it. Those were the great ones. But you know, I'm I'm getting up there in age. No, and nobody cares what an 80-year-old thin.

SPEAKER_09 1:50:34

I I do. I do. You know, I I personally think the 70s, 80s, and 90s is where it's at.

SPEAKER_11 1:50:42

But Jaws has affected everything. I stopped at a stop sign in LA years ago, and the cop pulls me over. And he says, You know, you went to the stop sign. I said, I'm so sorry. I went a foot over. I apologize. He goes, Why are you wearing that hat? He says, Amity police. I said, I played the deputy in Jaws. He goes, Oh, I love that movie. Don't do it again. So now I wear it every day like it's going to protect my life forever.

SPEAKER_09 1:51:13

It's your get out of get out of shark.

SPEAKER_11 1:51:15

That's exactly right. Exactly right.

SPEAKER_09 1:51:19

Awesome, awesome. With with Jaws and the impact that it's had, as well as being introduced to ongoing new generations. Right. And it's, I mean, I guess younger people could say maybe the shark, you know, doesn't hold up as much.

SPEAKER_11 1:51:35

Well, it looks a little bit rubbery now, but it still works.

SPEAKER_09 1:51:39

That's what I think.

SPEAKER_11 1:51:40

And people come to these conventions with three and four-year-olds. I said, Oh, have they seen it? They go, Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:51:47

Exactly.

SPEAKER_11 1:51:48

I said, I should call social services on you. I mean, that's bad.

SPEAKER_04 1:51:53

You might have to call it on my dad because he uh let me watch, he let me watch Total Recall and the show.

SPEAKER_11 1:51:57

Do you know what you find out at these? The love of this movie and the love of her, it's genetic almost.

SPEAKER_10 1:52:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_11 1:52:04

Grandparents hand the love down to their kids, they hand it to their kids. And it's a family bonding, it turns.

SPEAKER_09 1:52:12

It's wonderful to see. It's it's a film that is a true classic. Yeah, it's generational, it's it's timeless.

SPEAKER_11 1:52:20

How blessed was I to be in it.

SPEAKER_09 1:52:23

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_11 1:52:23

I mean, I'm so grateful, but I think gratitude's the key to aging.

SPEAKER_09 1:52:28

Exactly. Exactly. Well, Jeffrey, thank you so much for it.

SPEAKER_11 1:52:33

Dr. Fish.

SPEAKER_09 1:52:34

All good.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:35

Thank you for taking the time to swim in the bowl with me. You got it.

SPEAKER_09 1:52:39

We dove in uh head first and we came out above water. You bet. Thank you so much. You got it.

Merch Support And Where To Buy

SPEAKER_04 1:52:46

Hey there, all my fishes in the sea. Thanks for tuning into today's episode and for being a subscriber. Your continued listenership and support means the most and helps keep the show growing to deeper and deeper depths. I want to let all my gubbish in the sea know the Fishbowl has now officially partnered with FastCustomshirts.com, where they're now selling custom Fishbowl t-shirts under their podcast and website section. Every t-shirt that's purchased helps and goes a long way to keep the show growing to deeper and deeper in higher, higher depths. I also now have custom hats, beanies, handbags, pens, mouse pads, everything to make you look like the coolest looking fish in the sea, which you can DM me directly on Instagram at the Fishbowl88 or on Facebook at just the fishbowl, or you can friend request me, Sam Fish, directly and get yours today. Your continued listenership and support again means the most. It's the most important fishes that flock together. We are a school of fish and we keep the unit going. Let's all keep swimming upstream.