Matt: Your a small VHS well I can say VHS/DVD and Cassette label putting out wacky Trash horror releases where did it all begin?
TMV: Well, I guess it all began in Viola, DE, where we grew up. Trashmonger is a (mostly) three man operation, consisting of myself, Trevor Bather, my lifelong friend Ben Kepley and our other more or less lifelong friend Tyler Antoine. Ben and I have been watching horror movies together since we were 8 years old. Tyler came along in high school and joined us in watching loads of movies, horror, art-house, sex comedies, action, exploitation, whatever tickled us. We were always interested in film, all three of us, and with age the obsession increased. Not too long after high school, we became aware that there were all these great movies from the 80's and 90's that were made by passionate, film obsessives like us with no budgets (the same as we had) on video equipment that by now had become obsolete thrift store fodder. One of the big reasons we had never given any serious thought to the idea of making movies was a lack of interest in the way DV and HD looks, especially in a genre context, so when we got turned on to the whole SOV thing, we made our first movie not long after. That was about 5 years ago. After we made a few shorts, the project kind of got derailed for a while. Then last year, we regrouped, re-edited our original shorts into one feature film called Scrapbook of Blood and commenced to move forward from there
Matt: So its been a roller-coaster year with a lot of amazing releases can you give us your feelings on how it has gone any highs and lows ?
TMV: It's gone great! We went three years without filming at all and that was a bummer so it's good to be back to it. The time away, I think, also really shed some light on what kind of movies we really wanted to be making, and I think the stuff we're doing now is exactly what we want to do, which is the goal. In terms of one year as a video releasing entity, that's been a lot of fun too. We've had some positive feedback on our releases, and met some really nice people along the way. All highs, no lows.
Matt: Have you came across any imitations filming on vhs, i.e. sound or lighting problems ?
TMV: The only limitations we've found are the limitations limitlessness brings, painting ourselves into a corner of freedom so to speak. Sound is wonderful, colors and lights pop in a way that only video allows them to. We love VHS because it treats us so well. As a filmmaker, when you know you're shooting on a format with the kind of idiosyncrasies that video has, you just work it into your gameplan to counter those things. Stuff like shooting outside, shooting in rooms with windows, capturing live dialogue, none of those things are difficult if you factor them into the way you shoot.
Matt: How quick is a films complication from ie to final edit?
TMV: That's been different on every film. Scrapbook of Blood took us 4 years or so. Fine Housekeep took us probably 4 months, Demonator 4 somewhere between those two. It can be a little lengthy sometimes because we do everything ourselves, but I think we move at a pretty decent pace.
Matt: What are your Favourite SOV Movies and Directors?
TMV: I like directors who are driven by passion, whose films are a reflection of their own idiosyncrasies and personal obsessions. In the SOV arena, that translates to people like David 'Rock' Nelson and Nick Millard and Chester Novell Turner, three filmmakers that I connect with a lot and look up to. I find all three of their catalogs to be an everlasting supply of inspiration. The movies that really connect with me are the weird ones, the personal ones, movies that are less interested in re-enacting Hollywood formulas. Carl J. Sukenick is another filmmaker who exists completely in his own universe, never really coming in contact with our "real" world at all, which is why his movies are so exciting and strange. SOV can be pretty tame and, often, lame when it just tries to be a straight detective tracking a serial killer style slasher. Chances are I'm still gonna watch it, but it won't stick with me like Splatter Farm or Pieces of Darkness will.
Matt: How long as directors have you been making films ?
TMV: Give or take five years or so, with some extended downtimes in the mix.
Matt: Do you have any earlier work and also any idea if you will ever release it ?
TMV: Ben and I made a feature film when we were in high school for my film & video class called 'The Mangled Baby Massacre' that almost got me expelled from school. The title is much better than the film, which features only one mangled baby and an entirely improvised script. It's a dreadful movie and will never be released, though we might chop it up and use some of the better parts of it at some point. I haven't ruled it out just yet.
Matt: What are your media backgrounds as everything seems to be all done in-house ..
TMV: Honestly, the only one of us with any media background is Ben, who does all of our video covers and gore effects. He has a degree in graphic design. Apart from that, our only experience comes from watching a ton of movies.
Matt: What was the first SOV movie you watched ?
TMV: I can't remember exactly what the first one was, but I remember the first three. I know Redneck Zombies and The Last Slumber Party were ones we saw before we even knew what the term SOV meant. They were just movies we picked up at thrift stores, but it was pretty obvious there was something a little different about them. Then there was Criminally Insane 2 (along with the Death Nurse movies) from Nick Millard. Again, I had no idea that these were shot on video, I just knew I wanted to see where the Criminally Insane saga went after the first one and ended up getting more than I bargained for. After those three, the floodgates were open.
Matt: What does the next year hold for you guys ...?
TMV: We're in the middle of production on our next original feature film, Mondo Absurdo, as we speak. That'll be another anthology film like Scrapbook of Blood, but with more of an emphasis on horror than satire, not that the satire is going anywhere anytime soon. We're also planning to release our next Carl J. Sukenick title, Bloody Death/Wizard of Violence 2 in August. We have a lot of Sukenick titles to get around to releasing, but we're really excited about this one. We've also got the OST cassettes for our films Fine Housekeep & Demonator 4 coming out next month. Lots more creative things on the horizen, video essays, film collaborations, a sitcom, a graphic novel, even our own line of breakfast cereal. We're looking into it, anyway.
Thank you again guys for everything you have done and will be getting all of these new releases when they come everyone give them some love on facebook ...
Trashmonger Video
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