Death By Engagement: Writer/Director Philip Creage
By: Elaine Lamkin

After directing an AIDS comedy and an award-winning short, director Philip Creager decided to express through film what a lot of people have felt for probably centuries about engagement rings and weddings. But instead of a broad comedy like “Wedding Crashers”, Creager decided to write a horror film about a cursed engagement ring and what befalls anyone foolish enough to have anything to do with the incredibly gaudy thing. That film is “Death By Engagement”, a remarkably original and fun (while also gory) little indie that should get a lot of attention as more word gets out about it. Philip Creager has quite a bit to say about it right now…

BD: Hi Philip and thank you for taking time to speak with Bloody-Disgusting about your new film, “Death By Engagement”. First though, I need to get The Philip Creager Story – where are you from, where did you receive your education, have you always wanted to be a filmmaker? Just the usual exciting stuff people want to know.

PC: We moved around a lot when I was a kid, but I consider myself a product of the Detroit area—the same high school as Sam Raimi, actually. I was there after him so I didn’t know him, but my older sister said everyone thought he was kind of strange, always carrying an 8mm camera with him. Twenty years later they all want a do-over: Um, Sam, you’re not so strange. And can you introduce me to Sharon Stone?

I graduated from Michigan State with an advertising degree, which meant I could stay in Detroit and dream up creative ways to say “zero-to-sixty” or do something I actually liked. I moved out to Los Angeles to be a filmmaker.

BD: According to the IMDb, you had done two films prior to “Death By Engagement”, “Face Down in the Family Pool” in 1998 and “The A-List” in 2000. What are those films about and what did you do prior to making them?

PC: “Face Down in the Family Pool” is an AIDS “Brothers McMullen.” Right. An AIDS comedy. Apparently I was a bit misguided at the time regarding commercial elements. Still, I’m proud of what we did for damn near no money. “The A-List” is a satire short about the entertainment industry. It actually won an award or two, and caught the attention of a producer that wanted me to write and direct a horror. Which led me down a strange path, finally morphing into “Death By Engagement.”

Before those films I was the guy that stacked those wicker chairs two stories high at Pier One. And I was an undercover spy at Jack-In-The-Box. I’d write up reports on whether the cheese was melted on Jumbo Jacks and whether anyone was sneezing on the fries.

BD: Where did the idea for “Death By Engagement” come from? It’s quite an unusual take on, I suppose, the slasher genre. And the humor in it is so natural – the banter between Rikki and Cade, the reactions of the brides-to-be as well as the “guy talk” of the prospective grooms.

PC: I always found the idea of a huge gaudy wedding ring ridiculous. Think about it. You spend all this money on some stone someone dug out of the ground so your girl can show it off to her friends. Meanwhile the two of you are living in a Pinto. I think “Death By Engagement” gave me an opportunity to rant against all of that a bit. As for Rikki’s character, I hate the unoriginality of chick flicks and it was fun to have a woman railing against them. Cade was played by Aaron MacPherson, who has a great “guy” quality to him. He and Sascha are extreme opposites, and I think that helped make it work.

BD: How did you go about casting the film, especially getting P.J. Soles, one of the original Scream Queens, as her role is so “off-beat”. And Sascha Knopf, best known for her role as Tanya Peeler in “Shallow Hal”, Christa Campbell who was The Milkmaid in “2001 Maniacs”, Jilon Ghai from both “Boo!” and “Death Tunnel” and Iyari Limon who played Kennedy in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.

PC: The producer, Pennie Orcutt, and casting director Piper Norwood and myself sat through every audition, and we made decisions as a team.

P.J.’s daughter babysits for us, and P.J. fell in love with my daughter. So I told P.J. she’d never see my little girl again if she didn’t do the movie. Besides, she liked the idea of playing someone a little creepy. With Sascha we were looking for someone that was gorgeous but with a one-of-the-boys way about her. Christa was the last person cast for the movie. I was frustrated because we couldn’t find someone with true sex appeal that could act. And scream. She has just wrapped movies with John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, so I guess our secret is out: She can act. We wanted Jilon as soon as he read for us, but we actually had him cast for another role. Then the guy that was to do the sex scene with Christa backed out. Unbelievable. Did you hear that guys? He backed out! Anyway Jilon agreed to do it. SAG said we had to pay him, but come on, Jilon. Send the check back. Anyway, he was a pleasure. He’s a bright, funny guy with great ideas of his own. Oh, and Iyari was given the script by a friend of the producer’s. She is an absolute joy. Not a warmer human being on the planet. And beyond talented. With a lot of the actors, I just got out of the way.

BD: For those not in the know, would you mind giving a brief synopsis of the plot of “Death By Engagement”? And I referred to it as a “slasher” film – is that how you would classify it?

PC: “Death By Engagement” is about this young groom left at the altar who goes on a brutal killing spree to retrieve his mother’s heirloom ring as it bounces from one desperate-to-be-married bride to the next. The idea was to keep things moving fast, going to a bunch of different characters—a sleazy pawn shop, a corpse-raiding cop, and Bobo. If nothing else, you need to see Bobo. Played by Jeff Parise. Jeff describes Bobo as a pimp without hos.

How would I classify the movie? I don’t know. There are slasher scenes, but also laugh out loud scenes. I’m not great with the classifications. I mean, our Blockbuster puts “Pulp Fiction” in the comedy section. I consider that action/adventure. Or even a drama. You could put “DBE” in horror or comedy, I think. The only classification that matters to me though is whether you put it on the “entertaining” or “not entertaining” shelf at home.

BD: What was your shooting schedule and what kind of budget did you have to work with?

PC: We shot it over 18 days-- 6 days a week for three weeks. As for the budget, all I’m allowed to say is that the director of photography, Thad Wadleigh, did a whole lot with very little.

BD: I noticed that your Executive Producer, Pennie Orcutt, has performed in your other films as she also does in “Death By Engagement”. How long have you and Pennie known each other and do you plan to continue to collaborate?

PC: Pennie jumped in as the maid in “DBE” last minute because an actor flaked on us. She’s a very talented actress, but I think she tired of the audition treadmill. I’m lucky. She’s an even better producer.

BD: I mentioned this to Pennie so you may have already heard this as well but I was struck by the house used for Mrs. Starkington’s home as it was the same house used in “Shallow Ground”. And the resident in that film was also an off-balanced mother, played by former child star, Patty “The Bad Seed” McCormick. Were you aware of this when you chose that house, which I believe is located in Topanga Canyon?

PC: I wasn’t aware. You’re right that the house is in Topanga Canyon. The owner of the house gave us a partial list of all the shoots he has had there. At the time he said over 150 productions had used the house. We used it because the place is terrifying on its own, without special effects. The sun goes down there, and for the love of god, we couldn’t wait to get out. It’s kind of cool though, in that every now and again while I’m watching a late-night horror I’ll recognize parts of that house.

We had another good location. Turns out that the pawn shop we used for a day was the one used in “Pulp Fiction.” The owner had some colorful stories about Quentin and Bruce Willis. He told them slowly, which made us go slightly over-time, so he extorted an extra $100 from us.

BD: While not a splatter-fest, “Death By Engagement” is definitely bloody. Who did your SFX makeup as well as your SFX? And for the gore hounds reading this, what would you rate “DBE”, gore-wise, on a scale of 1 – 10?

PC: SFX makeup was J.P. Peterssen. He’s incredibly easy to work with. I liked him right away when he asked me what color blood I wanted. He describes his red blood as “Troma red,” and on the other end of the spectrum is his crimson blood. I thought the crimson looked the most real so that’s what we used.

As for the gore scale, well, it’s hard for me to rate. I’ve seen true, true slash fests that I consider the real 10’s of gore. But they are almost to the point of being un-real. We used gore when gore is called for. And J.P. really delivered. I definitely give J.P. a 10. But gore is not a toy; gore is a responsibility.

BD: I love the one-sheet as well as the tag line: “Stay Single”. I know a lot of people who should take that advice seriously. How did you and, I assume, Pennie come up with that tagline as well as the whole Press Kit, which was quite impressive.

PC: I get to take credit for the “Stay Single” tagline. Since all that wear our ring in the morning are stalked, I look at it as a warning, as in “don’t accept that ring, don’t give that ring. Stay Single.”

But after the tag line, I need to get the hell out of the way because Pennie has done EVERYTHING after that regarding the promotion of the movie. She is tireless, relentless, and creative. Besides that, she has great legs. That’s her leg dangling out of the trunk on the poster.

BD: How did the shoot go as a whole? I have heard of films having everything go wrong – some stories very funny, some not so funny – did you have any “problems” during “DBE”?

PC: Thad and I spent a lot of time on the shot list, and I think we were well prepared. But one night we fell pretty far behind, and I had to beg Iyari to come back the next day. Actually, that’s not true. I simply had to ask her, but I was prepared to beg. She was great about it. And I will always be in her debt. So now that I think about it? Jilon, send your check to Iyari.

We did have a run-in with the police during the shoot. It happened when I drove the car home that we used for the brutal bludgeoning of the bride and bridesmaid. I parked it on the street at my house and dragged myself up the stairs and forgot about it. The next night I was driving home from the set late at night and I got a call from my wife saying the cops had the “blood car” surrounded. It seems a neighbor out for a walk saw all the blood and shattered windows and thought it was a murder scene. Apparently the rookie cop that answered the call thought the same thing when he saw it, because he called his captain in on it. So there are two cop cars at my house, red lights flashing, and I’m racing home because I want to get video of the cops being fooled. They finally found part of a shooting script in the back seat, and figured it out before I could get home. So. Apparently J.P’s Crimson Blood really is more realistic than Troma Red Blood.

BD: What sort of reaction have you had to “Death By Engagement” so far? I know “The Ladies of Death By Engagement” have been popular at conventions like NecroComicon and you recently attended HauntX – how did things go for you at that convention?

PC: Let’s see. Christa Campbell, Julian Berlin, Edie Dearing, Sascha Knopf, Iyari Limon, Jodie Tate, and P.J. Soles in various “Stay Single” t-shirts. They were very, very well received. Those that have seen the movie seem to think it’s a fast, fun ride. And that the cast is incredible.

BD: Do you have a release date for the film yet? Will it have a theatrical release or a DVD release?

PC: We’re in negotiations now, but I think we should have something finalized real soon. It’s too early to tell whether there will be a theatrical release.

BD: Do you already have some new projects you are working on and can you give us a sneak preview of any of them?

PC: I’m a week or so away from finishing the next screenplay we plan on shooting. It’s a horror/thriller—Then again, Blockbuster would probably put it in their comedy section.

BD: What are some of your favorite horror movies?

PC: I like the older horror movies because they tend to make you scare yourself. You know, they don’t show you too much. Your imagination is stronger than a bad special effect or something too graphic. My favorites are “Halloween.” “The Exorcist.” “The Shining.” And anything Vincent Price. Maybe his “House on Haunted Hill.”

BD: Do you read any horror fiction and if so, which authors do you enjoy?

PC: The King of course is Stephen King. But I tend to read more non-fiction than anything else.

BD: Is there anything you would like to add that I haven’t asked?

PC: Horror is alive! I’m amused that when a horror fails at the box office, then horror is suddenly dead. Then there is a horror hit, and suddenly horror is alive. You breathe in, you breathe out. Silence, then a Boom! Even when horror is holding its breath or silent, there is still a pulse. I want to make horrors that have heart.

BD: What is one thing about Philip Creager that no one knows but you think they should?

PC: I hear voices.