Horror movies &stuff talks "Evil Bong" with Charles Band
You gotta give Charles Band alot of credit, even though some of his film ideas may be a bit off the wall and out there, the guy certainly has a penchant for coming up with innovative and intriguing material. Charles next pic, due out this October in fact, is called "Evil Bong", and involves an evil bong which traps it's users inside a netherworld full of weird and odd sights. In this interview, Band talks about that film, as well as what else he's got on his plate at the moment.
MR. H:Okay so from the time we talked to you last, up until now...you've gotten "Gingerbread Man" completed and have even moved further into the realm of the "odd" with "Evil Bong". Where did the idea for a movie like "Evil Bong" come from?
Charles:Well I thought to myself what if we came up with this horror - stoner - comedy along the lines of "Little Shop of Horrors", or something along the lines of a film Roger Corman would do. We needed something original because the market is so crowded right now with slasher films, and so I came up with the idea of this Bong that pulls people into this creepy world, and that sounded fun. So we put the script, and characters together..we got Tommy Chong on board, and we made the movie.
MR. H:Are you surprised a movie like "Evil Bong" hasn't been done yet? With films like "Killer Tongue" back in 96', or the two "Jack Frost:The Mutant Killer Snowman" movies. Were you sort of shocked the idea hadn't been thought of by any B movie maker yet?
Charles:It's a really good feeling to come up with really original material, you know you spend your whole life making films, and you want to come up with as much original material as possible. I've got another film coming up called "DeadMans Hand", which is very original and I got that idea from the current poker craze, it's about a haunted casino and it's sort of similar to "The Shining".
MR. H:For those who don't know yet talk about the basic premise of "Evil Bong"
Charles:Well it's about these two stoners who're having a good time, and they come across this haunted 60's Bong that they see on the back of a "High Times" magazine. So they order it, it arrives, and the more they smoke from it the more it sucks them into this sort of alternate universe, and the more human the bong becomes. It eventually gets this sort of female, raspy voice. Tommy Chong plays Jimbo the hero of the film who comes to save the day because he knows what the bong can do.
MR. H:You got Bill Moseley for this picture, and the infamous Tommy Chong of "Cheech and Chong". Now I along with alot of other people of course know why Tommy was a perfect fit for this particular film, but how'd you manahe to get Bill on board?
Charles:Me and Bill go back many years actually, he's worked with me on a few other projects along with a few other people. He plays one of the characters in the Bong world where anything is possible, we also have alot of FullMoon characters making an appearance in the Bong world like Ooga Booga from "Doll Graveyard", Jack In the Box from "Demonic Toys", and GingerDead Man from "GingerDead Man".
MR. H:I notice in your films you always seem to get one or two recognizeable faces..like in "GingerDead Man" you had Gary Busey and in "Evil Bong" you have Phil Fondacaro who alot of horror buffs know from "Troll" and "Ghoulies 2", Tim Thomerson, and Bill Moseley. Do you feel it's really important in your films to atleast have those one or two actors that will make a person who's browsing the new release section as his or her local retailer...rent or buy your film based on those people being in it?
Charles:Actually I hadn't always had recognizeable faces in my films that fell into place just here recently but yeah I've been really lucky, and every film has a gimmick or something to entice the viewer and in our film we have Michael Berryman, and in "Dead Mans Hand" we have Sid Haig.
MR. H:Tell everyone about the Evil Bonf itself, what powers does it have, what does it do in the film, will it speak?
Charles:Yes it does speak, I won't give away too much but it does have powers and once it sucks you into the Bong world it pretty much you know, does whatever it wants with you.
MR. H:Did you guys film "Evil Bong" in L.A., and how long did the shoot last?
Charles:Yes we did shoot it in L.A., we worked some very long hours on the shoot which took about 2 weeks.
MR. H:Shooting a movie like this, there had to have been plenty of laughs because I mean you're shooting a film called "Evil Bong". so the atmosphere on the set must've been really lose and relaxed and fun. So were there alot of bloopers while shooting and will we get to see some or all of them on the dvd?
Charles:There were some but not alot, because the whole movie is basically one big blooper. Everyone was mostly focused on work but we had alot of fun shooting the film. You might see just a few outtakes and blopers on the dvd not many though.
MR. H:Speaking of the dvd what extras can we expect to see on the "Evil Bong" dvd?
Charles:Uh well there's going to be a 20 minute making of "Evil Bong" featurette with Tommy Chong that should be very fun. Also included will be trailers and a sneak peak at "Dead Mans Hand".
MR. H:You've got another horror film on the way called "Petrified" that involves a recently awoken mummy. Give us the scoop on that film, when is it due out?
Charles:That one is due out next month actually, it's about a mummy which wakes up and it's actually an alien that crash landed on earth, and can turn it's victims to stone which is why it's called "Petrified". If you look into it's eyes it will turn you to stone.
MR. H:You have a huge body of work up to this point, when you officially retire from directing films - if you ever decide to retire, how many films do you want to have directed before you hang it up for good?
Charles:I'm going to keep making films until until there's nothing left in me *laughs*..retiring is something that never crosses my mind actually. I've made about 270 films so far and not just directing, producing and other stuff. I couldn't be prouder than I am now and I enjoy working and doing what I love, which is my passion.
MR. H:The last time we spoke, you mentioned that you had "Puppetmaster 10" in mind for the end of next year. Is that still in the cards, and if so how's it progressing at this point? Can you give us some tiny details on what might possibly take lace in that film, or what the premise will consist of?
Charles:Yes it's still in the cards and we have a great script but we have such little money to make these films ya know? I mean we're still shooting movies on 35 mm so we're doing things alot of people aren't doing anymore. I want to make the film right, because I have alot of things I want to do with it, and I don't want to just shoot it on a small budget because I want "Puppetmaster 10" to be similar in style to "Puppetmaster 3" since it will be set during World War 2 like part 3 was.
Plus I have another "Subspecies" film I'm working on which will deal with Radu's backstory but I'd like to get "Puppetmaster 10" going soon and possibly have it out by next summer. I'm also going on my FullMoon Roadshow really soon and I'll be giving away some copies of "Evil Bong" on dvd so people can visit FullMoon Direct.com to get their tickets because I'm looking forward to seeing some of you really cool people there!
End.
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