Warner Home Videos new label, Raw Feed, has been making quite an impact this past year as they’ve been striving to bring quality horror back to home video. I don’t know about you guys, but Im sick and tired of being ripped off by these little indie films that have nothing to offer other than to make the distributor a few bucks. As much as I wasn’t a huge fan of the first few Raw Feed offerings, they were still pretty damn good and worth a rental. Last week we broke the news on the latest entry, OTIS, which is a black comedy-horror film being directed by Tony Krantz – today we hit up the set here in Los Angeles to take a peak. What did we discover? Read on and find out…
When B-D landed on set Krantz was already deep into a sequence that was taking place in Otis’ garage. He has a duel HD camera set up on a track shooting two separate actors simultaneously. The fact they were shooting on HD let them reset shots immediately and do multiple takes… more than you’d expect on a low budget feature film.
The garage was decorated with all of the typical rustic garb, there was a dirty mattress, deer head on the wall, old dolls, fans, neon signs and other crazy stuff (see BDTV video for footage). In the middle of the room Otis’ brother Morton (Kevin Pollak) was tied to a chair and beaten up pretty bad - there was blood all over him. Why was he there? Well let’s explain what OTIS is about first.
The authorities are baffled. A half-a-dozen strikingly beautiful teenage girls have disappeared, only to be discovered a month later -- murdered and mutilated almost beyond recognition. When a new victim, 16-year-old high school cheerleader Riley Lawson (Ashlee Johnson), finds herself trapped and tortured in a basement prison by the psychopath Otis (Bostin Christopher), she resolves to do WHATEVER she has to in order to stay alive. By chance she escapes and Riley
informs her relieved parents (Daniel Stern and Illeana Douglas) and younger brother (Jared Kusnitz) where she was held. Bypassing the FBI agent (Jere Burns) assigned to the case, the Lawson’s conspire to take their revenge and kill the madman who kidnapped their daughter…but circumstances begin to spin beyond their control when Otis’s brother (Kevin Pollack) arrives on the scene.
So back to set, where Morton is tied up; Riley’s parents, Daniel Stern and Illeana Douglas, are on the scene along with her brother Reed (Jared Kusnitz). They are in the process of torturing him and attempting to get their revenge. Illeana is screaming at him referencing Albert Fish, the Brooklyn Vampire. “
These serial killer perverts are all the same,“ she exclaims, “
Did all the blood go to your lower extremities?” Taking the comedic moment one step further she scream, “
You might actually like wires up your ass… maybe you’d like a needle in your meat beater!” Meanwhile Daniel Stern is attempting to plug a cord in the wall, which results in a shock for Morton. While Illieana heads back to a workbench to find another torture tool, Jared walks over with a 5 iron and taunts the tied up Pollak.
It might sound as if OTIS is a violent torture porn-esque flick, but it’s not. Director Tony Krantz tells Bloody-Disgusting that “
OTIS is a satire and a black comedy… it’s not a farce or a spoof.” He elaborates by explaining that he’s “
not stopping down to telling a joke [and] it’s not a sitcom” As much as the film isn’t just outright telling a joke, Krantz reveals that the film carries a huge comedic twist that “
puts our parents in an interesting situation.”
As for the level of blood and violence Krantz explains that the film is truly a “
response to the torture porn genre,” and that he believes we’ve had our fill as fans. If that’s true you guys won’t mind that he’s “
not actually showing any of the specific torture,” explaining that, “
it doesn’t work in this type of movie.”
We also sat down with Bostin Christopher - the man who plays the title character - to talk more about the development of Otis. “
I’m a pizza delivery guy – my brother Elmo found me these various jobs,” he continues, “
I’m kind of loner, a loser living in my parents house… generally lost in life and trying to recapture the idealized life of my brother.”
“
The victims I capture I make them call themselves Kim and I call the families and try and get permission to take them to the prom.” Christopher also talked a bit about what goes on in the garage of mayhem, “
Im actually making my own movie inside my garage, cutting it together to make me look great…. The movie is called Sweet 16 and I have my own disco ball and my own Camaro.”
In terms of the film being a comedy Bostin tells us that there are “
hysterical moments that take this genre and turn it on it’s ear.” He explains that what’s so great is that we don’t need to find out who OTIS is and know from the get go, which leads to some serious character development. “
[It’s] not a chase to find out who I am, so you get to see a lot more psychological moments… Otis has a lot of different levels, we see him mad, with brother and on the phone with the parents,” he explains, “
In all of it you see the humanity of Otis.”
But even with the humanity and the gore it comes down to the laughs – just how funny is it? Christopher finishes, “
Seeing a six foot four 300 pound man in powder blue tuxedo is pretty funny.” It probably is… until he’s torturing you.
Watch for OTIS in 2008 from Raw Feed.
