No one would ever believe what happened the night Jack Brooks witnessed the brutal murder of his family. His life destroyed, all he has left is an unquenchable fury he's now fighting to control. Now the local plumber, Jack continuously struggles with his memories as his life becomes a downward spiral until his girlfriend Eve convinces him to attend night classes. Little does he know that in that dank, tiresome classroom, his destiny awaits. Evil awakens as Jack unknowingly disturbs the grounds surrounding Professor Crowley 's dilapidated old home. Lured by this ancient demonic power, Crowley discovers a monstrous black heart that quickly forces its way into him. Possessed by the heart now beating in his chest, the Professor starts a slow, gruesome, transformation... One night, as Crowley bursts into a creature of legends, Jack finally discovers the true purpose of his rage as he attempts to save the lives of his classmates and learns that you can't run from your past...
BD: Where did you come up with the idea for jack Brooks?
JK: Trev and I were up at his cottage doing some brainstorming. After a few beers we came up with this idea of a giant tentacle monster attacking people. We started laughing and then just kinda ran with it.
After that it was like we were challenging each other on how we could add to the concept. Eventually we had a rough outline of the story. We then celebrated with more beer.
But once we added the anger management issue to Jack's character, that's when I personally became really interested in making it into a movie. Don't get me wrong, the monsters were a very exciting element, but giving Jack a "flaw" was what the script was missing. I think every great character should have a flaw and by adding that to Jack's character made it a lot easier to write scenes for him.
BD: What type of genre is the film? Comedy?
JK: It's an Action/ Comedy/ Horror, in no particular order.
BD: What films inspired you to make this?
JK: With writing and directing the film I tried to stay conscious of all the great horror films I grew up with. Cronenberg's "The Fly", was a big one as well as "From Dusk Till Dawn" and "Gremlins", and of course the "Evil Dead" trilogy. The overall style and feel of the film definitely came from films like those.
We also wanted to give it a kind of "Indiana Jones" feel, which is what inspired the book ends of the film.
I've never laughed harder then when I watch Adam Sandler lose it in "Punch Drunk Love". There was definitely inspiration there for Jack. P.T. Anderson nailed that one, as he always does with his films.
I absolutely love "The Maltese Falcon", especially Sydney Greenstreet's speech about the history of the Falcon. I just love how it has such an epic story behind it. I wanted to take a similar approach with the story behind the evil heart in Jack Brooks.
BD: Would you say Jack Brooks is the next Ash?
JK: Ha ha, there could never be another Ash! If Jack could become half of what he is I would be happy. But there is no doubt that Ash played a part in influencing the Jack Brooks character.
BD: Who did the FX work, what are some cool gags?
JK: Form and Dynamics did all the effects. David Scott was the head of the department. I can't say enough about that guy. Him and his team really went above and beyond with the creature FX. I almost felt bad with how much I was demanding of them, but they really came through. I'd work with those guys again any day.
One of my favorite gags they pulled off was a scene where the evil heart slithers down Robert Englund's throat. They had a fake neck applied to Robert's neck with air blatters inside to simulate the heart moving around under his skin. It was very effective.
There's one scene where Jack uses his rage to his advantage by crushing a Mutant's head in with a tank. It's super violent and gory and I was very pleased with how it turned out. The Mutant is repeatedly smashed in the face and at one point we swap out the stunt guy with a fake Mutant head filled with black ooze. Basically by the end of Jack's rage fit there's not much left of the Mutant's head. Good times I tell ya.
BD: How bloody is the movie?
JK: It definitely has it's fair share of blood as well as ooze and slime. We didn't hold back with the gore factor. Why would we? That's what everyone wants right?
BD: How was it working with Robert Englund, is he the lead?
JK: Working with Robert was incredible! I've been a fan my whole life so it was kind of a dream come true. He's extremely professional, and is always prepared. Some of my best memories are chatting with him about movies during lunch breaks. He's literally a walking encyclopedia of film knowledge.
He wasn't the lead but he plays a large part in the film and has quite a bit of screen time. I've always thought of his character as the second protagonist (next to Jack) but he slowly becomes the antagonist.
BD: Do you plan on making this a franchise?
JK: Well I guess we'll just have to see how people respond to the film. But I think Todd McFarlane could make some pretty sweet toys out of our monsters.
BD: What's next? More horror? Details!
JK: I'm always up for more horror; it's just so much fun. I'll never turn down a good horror script. But that's definitely not the only genre we want to explore. We're always bouncing ideas around here at Brookstreet. It's just a matter of buckling down and seriously developing one of them. Personally I'd love to do a detective flick, something like "Chinatown".
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