My Interview With the Owner of: MORBID VISION FILMS

 A lot of you might not know who Morbid Vision Films is, but i can attest after this interview you'll want to go out and buy their DVDs.  So let's pick the brain of the man behind Morbid Visions Films.

Chris:      Brian, first please tell us a little about yourself, where are you from?

 Brian: I’m from Seekonk ,MA, which is a small town about ten minutes from Providence Rhode Island. This is where we shoot all of our movies for Morbid Vision Films. I have been obsessed with horror films since I first saw The Howling back when I was about thirteen years old. But even before that I was a kid who loved Halloween, ghosts, monsters and everything that was said to be lurking in the dark. I have always been fascinated by the unknown and the occult, which definitely inspires the kind of stories I like to tell.  Music is also very important to me. I have my own Black Metal project that I have been working on for years in which I will hopefully get around to recording some day.








 

Chris:  Who inspired you to become an indie horror filmmaker?

Brian: My interest was ignited the first time I saw the video Scream Great’s Vol.1 – Tom Savini back in the 1988. I thought it was a behind the scenes look at horror films, not realizing it was about a special make-up artist. Tom Savini’s work fascinated me so much that I started trying to learn how to do effects that weekend. I sold some expensive stuff and ordered everything I thought I needed to do make-up effects. The problem I had was that I quickly became bored with spending hours creating an effect then removing it after taking a few photos.
At this same time The Evil Dead had become my favorite movie and I was watched it over and over again. That movie inspired me to start writing and want to go beyond simply be a viewer and to take part some how. That’s when my friend Rich George and I started shooting short horror videos in 1990.






Chris :  Your films are always high on the blood and gore factor, do you pride yourselves on that as a company?
  

Brian: Absolutely. I’m proud of the fact that we have become known as one of the bloodiest film companies in America. It’s what got us noticed, especially after Unearthed Films signed us. I have always been a fan of extreme gore. I saw Peter Jackson’s BrainDead in the theater and it was one of the most fun theater experiences I have ever had. I enjoy shocking people and it’s fun to try to top ourselves with each movie. It’s amazing that we managed to build a fan base that waits to see what we are going to do next, and I think of them all the time while we make a movie. We could have finished shooting Cryptic Plasm by now, but I keep coming up with more over the top ideas and elaborate effects. And each effect is spewing over a gallon of blood on each take. We always do at least 2 or 3 takes each time. That is a lot of blood! We make movies to please the underground gore scene.

Chris:      You seem to get a lot of big name "indie talent" for your films, is that due to the high quality in your scripts?

Brian: It’s definitely not because of the scripts that’s for sure because I hardly ever have a finished one to show anyone! I’ve had the opportunity to meet quite a few people and people will usually get involved just from talking with them and asking them if they would be interested. If we ever get the opportunity to raise a budget we actually have the personal information of a lot of horror icons that said they would be in one of our films. It’s just a matter of being able to pay their fees, which we haven’t been able to do yet.

Chris:      For my readers out there dieing to get a look at your body of work, where can they a trailer or the like?

Brian:  Most of our trailers are uploaded on youtube. Cryptic Plasm, Bone Sickness, Fetus, BloodPigs are all there. As well as the foreign trailers for Bone Sickness. They can also go to our website and click on the trailers page at http://www.morbidvisionfilms.com

Chris:    As an indie horror director, what are your thoughts on the indie horror community versus that of Hollywood?

Brian:  That main difference is that the indie horror scene is more concerned with making a movie rather than churning out the latest assembly line product whose one goal is a big opening weekend. The indie horror scene is like one big fan community where the filmmakers themselves are fans as well and enjoy hanging out and talking movies with fellow horror fans. The indie horror scene has been a bit blurred now though with the internet, VOD, Netflix etc, because underground films are sitting right along side major films now.
Bone Sickness made it into three different major rental chains and was sitting right next to The Bone Collector on Hollywood Video’s shelves! I even received hate mail from people who were “20 year veterans of Hollywood” who were pissed at me because they thought I had no business being there when their “film” friends had 35mm films collecting dust in their closets. That was amusing.

Chris:      You do all your in house special effects, did you go to a school for that or learn it the classic way (on the job)?

Brian:  I actually learned most of the techniques by watching instructional videos. If you don’t have the money to go to a school, videos are a great learning tool. The best video I bought was called Michael Burnett’s Techniques of Special Make-up Effects Vol. 2. It taught you from start to finish how to create a facial foam latex appliance. I also signed up for Dick Smith’s Advanced Special Make-up Effects course and learned a lot. I had the opportunity to speak with Dick Smith on the phone a couple times. He is an extremely nice person.

Chris:      What is your main goal with your company, do you want to go bigger? 

Brian:  My main goal is to be able to make this company profitable enough to be able to turn making movies into a full time career, and for me to be able to hire my friends that volunteer their time to work as crew. I would love to go bigger because I have some ideas that are large scale and will take a lot more money to be able to pull off. As long as I am still free to make the kind of movies I want to make, there is no reason for us to stay underground. Movies should be seen by as many people as possible. If they can stomach them that is. The one thing I will never give in to though is using cgi for creatures and gore. Morbid Vision Films will always remain a practical effects company.

Chris:      What was your favorite movie, or movie monster tv show as a child?

Brian: Growing up in the early eighties in Massachusetts, we had Creature Double Feature on Boston’s Channel 56. This was the best show ever! Every Saturday afternoon I would be in front of the television set watching Godzilla, Daimajin, Gamera, War of the Gargantuas, Reptilicus! It was one of the best parts of my childhood that probably had a huge impact on what I do today. Godzilla vs the Smog Monster was probably my favorite movie that they played.

Chris:      Thank you for the interview Brian, if you have any websites or movies you'd like to plug now, please do so sir.

Brian:  Thank you for your interest! You can find us on Face Book under morbidvisionfilms and our dvds are for sale on Ebay and www.morbidvisionfilms.com And watch out for Cryptic Plasm to be released on dvd around Halloween 2012.