Its two weeks later and my interviews from the 2014 Blood in the Snow Film Festival are still rolling out. Today, I have my conversation with writer/director Kyle Hytonen, producer/actor Dean Young, and actor Nigel Grinstead from the 1980s slasher homage Massacre at Femur Creek, which had its Toronto Premiere as part of the Short Film Showcase and also won the award for Best Poster. Before moving on to the interview, I thought that I should mention that, even though I ended up being personally a bit underwhelmed by the tone of the film (which I saw before the interview), I still still had an enjoyable time talking to these guys about their inspirations behind it. Also note, that the interview might include a few SPOILERS for the short. Sean Kelly: How did you get the idea for the short? Kyle Hytonen: It was just a love letter to making all the horror movies I watched when I was a kid, such as the Friday the 13th movies. When I had a film last year playing the festivals, it was a more serious film and seeing how the comedy horror movies worked and how people just loved them, that what sparked wanting to write a comedy. And then having connections with these guys, knowing I could get laughs out of it for sure, that is basically how it all came to be. Sean: It was very obvious that it was a homage back to 1980s slasher films. Were you a fan of those types of films? Kyle: Oh yeah, absolutely. I grew up on them I saw my first naked woman thanks to Friday the 13th. Like I say, its a passion project more than anything and just to be able to get out there and say that these are the movies that I grew up watching. This is the love letter, like I said. Sean: What specific films inspired you? Kyle: All the early Friday the 13ths, New Years Evil, Terror Train. Any movie that had a serial killer with a plastic mask basically. Nigel Grinstead: Halloween III? Dean Young: My first naked lady was Jaws the It Hurts lady, who gets eaten at the beginning. Kyle: Youre putting death and naked ladies together. Dean: I know. Dont do that! Sean: What made you decide to go for a more comedic tone for this? Kyle: Getting an audience reaction was a big part of it. To do low budget horror films really well to scare the s*** out of people you have to have a really high concept or a hell of a lot of money or whatever. So, to do something on the low, on the cheap and still get laughs get a reaction out of people that was kind of what it was. And then, like I say, having people love the movie. Its a t-shirt movie basically its a movie you want to put on a t-shirt. Hence right there (points at Deans t-shirt). Dean: Literally, yeah. 
Sean: Its definitely my favourite poster of Blood in the Snow. Kyle: Oh yeah? Nice. Sean: Its a very interesting design for the killer. How did you come up with that? Kyle: The mask I found in a Halloween store, like one of those stores thats only open for a month in October, and it was just hanging on a rack. I was originally going to use mosquito net masks. That was the original idea and I thought something funny like that, but then I saw that mask and, like I say New Years Evil, Terror Train, Halloween III all those beautiful plastic masks and thats kind of where it came from. It just looked good. Dean: It would be timely if you did one of those plague doctors with the bird mask. Nigel: Just a put a pyramid on his head. They never done that before. Dean: Back to Femur Creek? Kyle: The Ebola mask. Sean: The film also plays with the whole thing that the killer never stays dead. Kyle: Yeah, you cut the guys d*** off and hes still going to come at you basically. Sean: How much was the budget, since theres some pretty decent gore effects? Kyle: The whole thing was raised on IndieGoGo money. Sean: Actually, I found that IndieGoGo campaign when I was doing a little research on the film. Kyle: Nice. So, the whole thing was raised with that and I passed the initial goal, which was $1100, and every dollar that it raised and raised, I was able to up the ante on everything up the ante on the talent, up the ante on the props, the locations, and the gore as well. But really, the gore was like some plastic tubing that I bought at Walmart, a big-ass syringe that I bought on eBay and a collage kit to pump it out. Thats really all it was. Its old school right? Like Tom Savini in Friday the 13th just squirting blood out of Kevin Bacons neck. It worked then, still works now. Sean: I love the behind the scenes on Friday the 13th. Like for Kevin Bacon, his whole body was not real. Kyle: Yeah, at least these guys didnt have to do that. Dean: Yeah. Kyle: I think you had the tube running up your arm. Dean: Yeah, but I did get covered head to toe for sure. I didnt mind. Kyle: It felt nice and warm in that summer wind? Dean: It did yeah. Sean: Then theres the music, which is like an 1980s score. Dean: The music for it was amazing. Kyle: There were two guys that did the music. One guys name is Greg Barnes and hes based out of Michigan. I found him on YouTube, because I was looking for synth guys and YouTube is a great way to look for indie artists that dont have exposure or anything like that. So, I found him and then, when the IndieGoGo campaign was running, I found Thomas Jupiter-8 from France. He contacted me, because we spammed the same websites when we were doing our campaigns, and said I do synthesizer music, I love John Carpenter. I went OK, sure let me see what you got and his stuffs amazing and you can tell obviously in the movie.
BITS 2014 Interview: Kyle Hytonen, Dean Young, and Nigel Grinstead on Massacre at Femur Creek
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