Editorials
Set Visit Part 1: Bloody Disgusting Heads to the ‘Predator’ Home Planet!
Back in December Bloody-Disgusting reporter Chris Eggertsen visited the set of Nimrod Antal’s upcoming Predators (releasing July 9th), shooting at producer Robert Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios in Austin, Texas. In this first of three parts, Chris tours the skull-ridden “Predator Camp”, gets a look at actor Carey Jones in full Predator getup, and is reassured that the film will indeed share very little (if anything) in common with those mostly-lame AvP debacles. Also, two words: Oleg Taktarov.
“My character kind of got like everything from everyone but mostly from Arnold. Like I got lines I say like, `What an ugly face you got. What an ugly motherfucker you are.’ I’ll say that in Russian and in English.” – Russian actor Oleg Taktarov (Nikolai), comparing his character to characters from the first film
If we have anything to thank the Alien vs. Predator movies for (which, frankly, isn’t much), it’s the fact that they’re responsible for reviving interest in the long dormant Predator series, which suffered a seemingly franchise-killing second installment in 1990 with Predator 2 ($30 million domestic gross). Thanks to the popularity of the sub-par AvP films (although I will admit I found the superior Requiem to be a fun little diversion), Predator fans can now look forward to the upcoming reboot of the franchise, Predators, which will hit movie screens this July. Don’t get me wrong – I’m just as excited as the rest of you. And based on my visit to the set in late December, we now have a reason to be. This flick has major kick-ass potential.
While much location filming had taken place in Hawaii previously, the set I visited was at Troublemaker Studios in Austin, Texas. For those in the know, Troublemaker is the production company founded by Robert Rodriguez and his ex-wife Elizabeth Avellan, which is set on a sprawling swath of land that was formerly home to the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport. The facilities are truly impressive – the lot includes five massive stages housed in former airplane hangars, extensive backlots, and several buildings housing offices, construction shops, a prop warehouse, and various other production-related facilities.
Our first stop on the tour was two sets constructed for the production: one a large outdoor “Predator camp” set, and the other a smaller one consisting of heavy, “jungle”-like foliage. Both were created by greens designer Richard Bell, a blonde, blue-eyed wisp of a man with an air of introverted soft-spokeness. Bell explained the extensive amount of work that went into transplanting the non-native plants to the Texas city, including efforts to keep them alive during the often-freezing/below-freezing Austin winter. The sets functioned as a stand-in to the Hawaiian jungle they had shot in previously, meaning that every tiny detail of that environment needed to be replicated as closely as possible.
Bell explained that unlike the first film, the environment was not a South American tropical location but rather an alien planet that a group of elite warriors (and perhaps some other, “non-Predator” alien life-forms?) are transplanted to in order to be hunted by the fearsome titular killers (and where they encounter a mysterious character named Noland, played by recent cast addition Laurence Fishburne, who we were not given the opportunity to interview). Truly, the design of the Predator camp was like nothing encountered on Earth – sparse foliage against a muddy, inhospitable environment, and – true to franchise form – skulls and bones scattered about, some of them displayed atop wooden poles to serve as grim trophies. In short: the perfect setting for a battle royale between man and alien hunter.
After a quick trip to the craft services cart, we were briskly introduced to actor Louis Ozawa Changchien, who plays the character of Hanzo, a Japanese warrior (samurai?) who knows his way around a sword. Changchien spoke a bit about his duel with one of the Predators. “It’s a great fight”, he said. “Nimrod our director is a big fan of Ken-do, and I’ve been practicing Ken-Do since I was five. So he was insisting that it be a real authentic Japanese sword fight with a Predator, which is a challenge to find out how their true fighting styles would meet up.” Which begs the question: what exactly is the fighting style of the Predators in this film? Can we expect more of the same, or a new breed? “The new Predator is a lot more agile than the original ones, but compared to a swordfighter I think he’s a little slower”, Changchien told us. “But he has a vicious blade; it’s a different design of blade.”
Just so you guys get a better idea of what the set visit was like, I have to admit it was a little intense – much more intense than the few others I’ve been on. During all of our conversations, most of the cast and crew members under interrogation repeatedly looked in the direction of the stable of jumpy publicists continuously hovering nearby, alternately typing furiously away on iPhones and Blackberries and eyeing the visiting journalists like wary jackals. It creates a rather unwelcoming atmosphere for a visiting reporter, but hey – it’s their job. And these particular publicists were very good at their jobs. Given the frazzled nerves on display, I couldn’t help but wonder about the life expectancies of those in their chosen profession – I’m sure it must be below the national average.
Anyway, next up was Russian UFC Champion/blowhard Oleg Taktarov, the self-professed most popular man in Russia or some such nonsense. On this basis, I’d venture he’s the closest we’ll get to our favorite Austrian in this one (unless, as has been conjectured, the Governator makes that hoped-for cameo), right down to the thick accent and sturdy, considerable build. Taktarov, who was actually very congenial despite a sense of (admittedly knowing and entertaining) self-absorption as massive as his brawny frame, plays Nikolai, another in the group of elite warriors deposited on the alien planet. When asked if his character was similar to Jesse Ventura’s from the first film, Taktarov described his role this way: “My character kind of got like everything from everyone but mostly from Arnold. Like I got lines I say like, `What an ugly face you got. What an ugly motherfucker you are.’ I’ll say that in Russian and in English. So some Jesse Ventura stuff and also Bill Duke…so [my character has elements of] those three characters.”
“He is a very heroic type guy in the movie”, Taktarov went on. “It’s the first time you get a really, really, positive, good Russian character in an American [film], I must say.” According to the Russian thesp/meathead, the shoot (in which he indeed uses some of his extensive mixed-martial arts training) was also nothing if not physically grueling. He went on to impart an injury he suffered during filming: “You can see a mark here that has healed up, I hit the steady-cam and I was bleeding. My face was bleeding and I didn’t want to stop, we continued because I had blood all over so we kept filming. It was a really great moment. When I get this moment, ugly motherfucker with a Predator, honestly I would probably choke him in real life. Because I could reach for his neck and it would be over. Predator or human it doesn’t matter.” Oh, Oleg!
Thankfully, we also had the opportunity to speak with fast-talking practical effects whiz Greg Nicotero, who gave us all the dirt on the shit we really wanted to know about – the Predators themselves. True to its title, Predators features not one but several of the alien hunters, of both the “classic” variety and a new breed called “Super Predators”, or “Berserkers”. Nicotero went on to explain that there are three different Super Predators in the film, each of which serves a particular function. The first, known as the “Dog Handler”, possesses all of the usual Predator accoutrements but also insanely cool “Predator dogs” (sort of bulked-up hyenas with rows of horns) that can he unleashed on the human characters. Luckily for us, nearby actor Carey Jones was suited up in the attire of just one of these Predators, and Nicotero referred to his costume when describing the Dog Handlers. “There are these alien hunting dogs that they used to flush out our heroes and track them”, Nicotero told us. “So with this guy, you can notice the armor on his legs and the armor on his arms is there, because the dogs have these big horns and spikes.”
Jones himself, an amiable giant of a man (6’7″ out of costume, 6’10 1/2″ in costume), had been engaged in some sort of photography session, in full mask and armor, when Nicotero called him over. Up close, the suit (made of latex and very soft to the touch) appears quite rubbery, but it’s painted to look “hard”. Indeed, from far away it looks just like a suit of bone-crunching armor. Mirroring Tarkatov’s experience, Jones described a bloody accident that occurred during filming when he and another actor in a Predator costume collided (intentionally) during an action scene. “I had to jump through a tree and then run full speed and tackle him”, he told us. “And basically, the impact [caused] the mask [to] hit me in the face, and cut me around the eye and the nose.”,
“They were moving so fast that the first take we did when they collided both of the masks flew off”, said Nicotero. “Carey had to run, jump on a log and land in a puddle. And then keep running at full speed…[so] he’s running and he lowers his head like a football player, and [they] just collided. And I watched the playback and I went, `Oh my God; that was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life.'”
The other two “Super Predators” (there are three in total) described by Nicotero sounded equally cool, including one dubbed a “Falconer”, which has “UAV falcons” that can be launched from his shoulders in order to track his prey aerially. Last but not least is Black, who in addition to being the “leader” and most fearsome of the Super Predator characters, will also be the only one in the film to boast an unmasked, fully articulated visage. As for the differences between the look of the “classic” Predator model and the “new-and-improved” Predators in this film, Nicotero gave us an idea of what to expect.
“Robert Rodriguez and Nimrod, when we first started the project, they used a really great analogy”, said Nicotero. “[They] said the classic Predator is a cassette tape and the new Predators are the iPod version. So that kind of triggered a lot of visual things in my head, in terms of making them taller, making them sleek and keeping the armor really close to the body. So that they are not bulky, because we wanted to get the idea that they are fast, and that they’re elegant and that they are efficient. Even in terms of like the dreadlocks and stuff…[for the Super Predators] we swept all the dreadlocks back. We made the face a lot longer. We just wanted everything about him to look more elegant, like a black widow. We wanted it to just be really deadly looking.”
Despite the fact that Predators is a “re-imagining” of the franchise, Nicotero was also quick to point out that capturing the spirit of the iconic first film in the series is a major goal of theirs, and that they are intentionally attempting to stray from the look and feel of the AvP series. “You know, when you watch the last AvP movie it’s like a Freddy vs. Jason movie”, he said. “So it’s really going back to the spirit of what the film was originally intended to be…it was really the first time that we had seen this classic Predator look since the first movie, because the designs had changed [in the AvP movies]. And everyone put their fingerprints on it here and there. So it kind of went back to the beginning.”
Of course, with respect to modern sci-fi/action films there always seems to be one big question on everyone’s minds: is there CG in the movie, and if so, how much? With Predators the answer seems to be mixed, although it would appear to fall much heavier on the practical effects side (fingers crossed). “No CG in the Predators”, Nicotero stated, while hastening to add: “Only when they cloak and de-cloak. When they’re cloaked and they’re running and jumping and leaping, those will be digital, because you’re only going to be able to see the outline of them.” Notice, though, that Nicotero said no CG in the Predators. As far as the visual landscape of the planet, he indicated that there would be some digital effects on display.
“I’m sure when I see the movie still be some weird things slithering through, where I’ll think `Hey, I don’t remember that'”, said Nicotero. “Once we wrap [physical production], we go away. And then the visual effects guys take over. And then they add all those little bits and pieces.”
Truthfully, after speaking with Nicotero – a man of boundless energy and with a showman’s flair – I very nearly forgot that we still had a few more people to talk to. One of these people included genre favorite Danny Trejo (aka “Machete”), who made an unexpected visit to the set that day. We cornered the actor out in the studio’s parking lot to talk about his role as Cuchillo, an assassin/drug dealer who is forced to team up with the other “hunted” characters in order to survive the onslaught of the alien beasts.
Be sure to check out Part 2 of our set visit, where we continue our behind the scenes tour of the production, including interviews with Danny Trejo and Nimrod Antal!
College kids, strippers and vampires—those were Donald P. Borchers’ only requirements when he approached Richard Wenk about writing and directing a movie for New World Pictures. As requested, Wenk cooked up Vamp (1986), a tailor-made blend of the decade’s teen movie craze as well as its horror boom.
Grim and earnest stories were still very much a part of the ’80s horror landscape, yet Vamp is something of a comedy. One difference between it and, say, Saturday the 14th, though, is the former avoids using schtick. Wenk’s movie proves that horror comedies also don’t have to subtract thrills from their recipes. Of course, it takes a minute before reaching that point; college antics and culture shocks preface this one macabre misadventure.
Vamp‘s initial setup is apt for a typical college-set, sex-driven comedy; to bribe their way into a fraternity house, two pledges (Chris Makepeace, Robert Rusler) go looking for some adult entertainment. Without wasting time on any further exposition, the characters embark on an all-in-one-night trip that quickly detours into terror.
To procure their elusive MacGuffin—a stripper willing to gyrate for some frat boys—Keith (Makepeace) and AJ (Rusler), plus a third wheel named Duncan (Gedee Watanabe), trade the safety of their remote college campus for the seediness of some unnamed city. The setting is recognizably L.A. by day, but as soon as night falls, downtown, along with the characters, slips into a kind of surreal universe. Director of photography Elliot Davis gave this early entry on his prolific résumé an unusual yet distinctive look; that Mario Bava-esque, magenta-green lighting is omnipresent, so much so that it’s almost its own character.
Chris Makepeace and Robert Rusler in Vamp
The faint comparisons to Martin Scorsese’s After Hours are merited, although not just because of Vamp’s distinguishing nighttime aesthetic. Save for the primary characters, the supporting roles in Wenk’s movie are also quite colorful and transactional in their behavior. The difference here, though, is the additional urge to ruin Keith and his friends at every turn. Some of that harm is humorous and tolerable enough, whereas the moment Vamp dishes out its first fatality, it’s abundantly clear how this movie qualifies as horror.
Vamp falls into that category of horror movie that reveals its genre with a scream rather than a series of whispers. The opening scene can function as a hint of what lies ahead—things are not at all what they appear to be—but otherwise, Wenk is more than happy to hold off on the horror. When that time does come, though, it catches the viewer off guard. In addition to the pure shock value is that sudden decision to upend the movie’s foremost feature. Or so it would seem.
If afraid of major spoilage, those new to Vamp would be wise to stop reading here. There’s just no skirting around the fact that the central fellowship in this buddy movie hits a serious snag when AJ is killed. That development causes the story to become more of a “long, bad night” journey for Keith and his romantic interest. So while Wenk scores points for subverting expectations, there is also a touch of sadness in his decision. Because if Vamp does anything well, it’s making the characters likable.
Something that comes easily to Vamp—and other teen horror movies from this same era—is its ability to invent young characters worth caring about, or at the very least, are interesting and not so immediately off-putting. More impressive is how Wenk did all this without actually fleshing out those characters. Still and all, Keith and his kind are a grade above cookie-cutter, and in some cases, aren’t completely devoid of growth.
Grace Jones in Vamp
Vamp appeals with an assorted cast of characters. No two are the same, nor are they operating on the same wavelength. The cinematically extroverted AJ, whose actor conveyed charm and vulnerability in near equal amounts, comes alive when he’s at his most undead. Makepeace then makes the chronically cautious Keith a sympathetic fellow, even as he’s more and more affected by the night’s bizarre events. Meanwhile, Duncan is indeed the designated loser of the whole bunch, but Watanabe still manages to humanize him. As a bonus, the role didn’t require him to pull a Long Duk Dong.
As for Dedee Pfeiffer, she is plain adorable as the mysterious After Dark server nicknamed “Amaretto”. She spends all night fixing her dress strap while at the same time trying to get Keith to remember how he knows her. As their offbeat romance grows, it becomes another highlight of this movie. Whether or not Pfeiffer’s character is really a vampire also creates some welcome tension in the story.
Like a lot of its contemporaries, Vamp went on to become a bit of a cult classic. That current status is determined by several factors, but without a doubt, the casting of Grace Jones is the most considerable. The image of her writhing on that unique-looking chair, a Keith Haring original, springs to mind whenever this movie is brought up.
Chris Makepeace, Billy Drago and Paunita Nichols in Vamp
Prior to that first display of unequivocal horror, local vampire queen Katrina (Jones) took to the stage and delivered a strip show like no other. One would expect nothing less from that renowned model and performance artist. By now reports of Jones’ tardiness on set are no secret, yet it’s also hard to deny her commitment to the part of Katrina. It was, in fact, Jones who took charge of her character’s appearance—on top of Haring painting her body and that now-iconic chair, she had Andy Warhol handle her costuming. And not too many actors could seize a room’s attention without saying a single line of dialogue.
In 2022, Vamp received a retrospective novelization from Encyclopocalypse. This literary union of preexisting source material—Wenk’s original screenplay—and new ideas from author Christian Francis amounts to a more comprehensive visit to the After Dark Club. The basic story there is no different than what’s shown on screen; however, Francis gets creative with the characters’ origins and designs, and he enhances a number of key scenes.
The novelization expands on the urban and social decay of the main setting, and supplies a background for the After Dark Club. Sandy Baron’s character, Katrina’s emcee and familiar, is given ample motivation for sticking around; up until the fiery end, he is loyal to his friend and former business partner “Squeak”, who looks like he was “fed through a combine harvester, and left as nothing more than a heap of mangled remains”. Then there is Billy Drago’s character Snow, the leader of a street gang called The Dragons. His reason for menacing Keith and AJ is more altruistic than in the movie; he and his peers act tough to scare off any potential food for the vampires.
Lisa Lyon in Vamp
If not for all the backstories, Francis’ Vamp would be a hell of a lot shorter. Instead, this tie-in read dives into how AJ met Keith—the orphaned Anthony Joseph hailed from a broken home back in Brooklyn—and how their friendship flourished over the years. Keith’s archership is no longer just an assumed part of his entire being; it’s a confidence-building extracurricular for a boy who got picked on before coming into the protection of the new kid in town. These supplemental, in-depth looks at the protagonists, plus their close connection, are maybe unnecessary. The movie already did a fair and concise job of addressing their platonic intimacy without the need for flashbacks and insights, specifically in that scene where AJ lays it all out as he sacrifices himself.
Where the novelization gets off course is its approach to the minor characters. Intermittently backstorying the likes of Katrina’s indentured servants, Seko (Leila Hee Olsen) and Vlad (Brad Logan), ends up disturbing the flow of the writing. Was it absolutely essential that readers know Vlad was the Grand Duke of the House of Romanov, or how Snow’s accomplice Maven (Paunita Nichols) became so dentally challenged? No, not really. However, one’s mileage with these random biographies may vary.
The novelization is a more substantial experience, but for a movie like Vamp, less is more. And as plentiful as they are, it never simply coasts on its campy charms, either. The character work sits comfortably in that realm between cursory and meticulous, the script is sharper than first realized, and Greg Cannom’s vampire makeup is straightforward yet effective. Most of all, the movie didn’t squander its out-of-the-box concept. Richard Wenk made his vision of a “comic nightmare in which just about anything that can go wrong does” come true, and it is very enjoyable.
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