Exclusive: Greg Russell Tiderington talks The Horror Seasons !

Movies Online: I see that "The Horror Seasons" has a unique concept  that is different then most anthologies. Your concept is to use each of the four seasons and attach a different horror story to it.  How did that idea come about?
 
Greg Russell Tiderington: Well it was an idea I thought about alot. I enjoyed Stpehen King's and George A. Romero's anthology "Creepshow" and I was thinking "Hey why not make a chapter of a different story taking place each season?" Shawn Buffington and I discussed it and thought it was a great idea to do so i came on board as executive producer besides the star in it.
 
MO:  Can you give us a little insight on each of the stories: "Autumn: The Darkest Secret", "Winter: Santa Claws", "Spring: Easter Beast", and "Summer: Thirst for Blood"?

GRT: The "Darkest Secret" was originally going to be a short film I got Eric Morse to write. Eric was the author of 4 young adult novels of Friday the 13th based after the film "Jason Goes to Hell". He wrote the script for me and I kept it on the backburner till I ran into director/producer Shawn Buffington.

"Darkest Secret" is about a troubled man named Gareth Freeman (Which I play) who decides to rent a room on Halloween owned by an elderly lady called Mama Alice. Eventually he encounters his dead stepbrother Mark which Gareth thought commited suicide but he realises what really happens in the end. Gareth also encounters two zombies while living in the house as his guilt is creeping up on him. I wrote the story idea for this chapter. Plus I wrote, directed, produced and starred in a 5 minute horror short with was almost like a semi-prequel to the "Darkest Secret" called "Room for Rent" which will be playing at the Horror Dance Film Festival in Houston, Texas this January 15, 2005. You can see their site at www.horrordance.org

Now for the second chapter "Satan Claws". I got an idea off of this one from another horror anthology titled "Campfire Tales" which was hosted by Gunnar Hansen from "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" fame. One of the chapters took place on Christmas in that flick like this one and it was about people doing evil deeds and a demon names Satan Claus sacrificing them on Christmas. This one was fairly similar but with a new twist.The story is of a sleepy town of Madison is haunted by a demon named Satan Claws but however people thinks he's a myth but a preacher named Reverand Burbank tries to convince he's real at his church  but he is doing this just to get money and to posion people's minds. However people are being systematically slaughtered one by one with their intestines being ripped out and other gruesome stuff. The police thinks it's the reverend doing this.

"Easter Beast" is the dark comedy chapter in this horror anthology and is a silent flick since the director is a fan of Charlie Chaplin type films and he made it like a horror spoof out of it. The beast is not scary like people would think he is but he seeks revenge on her new boyfriend who is addicted to online pornography.

"Thirst for Blood" is about a woman named Angela who was bitten by a vampire and has to live the lifestyle of a vampire. She realises that she is not feeling like herself like she used to and hungers for human blood. I play a cafe owner in this chapter too and I had to grow a moustache for it which I did not like to do as I never liked wearing a moustache. Some of the same actors and actresses acted in different chapters and played different characters too like I did in a few of them. The wraparound story is about a French composer named Francois Dupius who introduces a different classical song during each of the chapters. The orchestra band is played by a local heavy metal band called "Live She Cries" (Which they also do a songtrack in a scene from "Satan Claws" and hopefully a rock video with clips from the film will happen. Go to www.liveshecries.com for more info).

Francois also realises in the end that his dark secrets behind his compositions are soon to resurface again. Francois was played by a screen and stage actor who is in the acting union named Phil Trasolini who did a great job. He originally auditioned for a part in the Satan Claws chapter but there wasn't a part for him in it and Shawn really wanted him in his film and found out that this character was perfect for him. Phil isn't French but is pretty convincing at playing one.

MO: Compared to making an regular feature film, would you say it was more difficult or easier to do a anthology type of film.  If so, in what ways do they differ?
 
GRT: Making any kind of feature is always difficult as funding is a real pain. Making an anthology is  a little easier cause we waited for like 4 or 5 months till we did the spring chapter as we were broke but Shawn and another producer named Samantha Seltenrich managed to work something out. It took us a year to finish post-production but we were filming the other chapters while post-production was in place. Making a regular feature film is extremely difficult cause you basically have to shoot it in like 3 months and that is terribly expensive with buying tapes, catering, equipment rental and so fourth. Alot of fundraising has to be in place for that. Shawn wants to do a feature horror flick in the future on film quality titled House of Evil (Film is alot more expensive) and hopes Horror Seasons will sell so he can do the flick. He now resides in Ottawa, Ontario and if the film happens I will have a part in it and he might fly down here to Vancouver, B.C. to do it.

MO: I saw that you came up with the story for "Easter Beast". Can you give us some insight and how the story came about?
 
GRT: Well after watching a chapter from "Creepshow" called "Father's Day" which was about a crazy rich father being poisoned by his family on Father's Day and returning from the dead to seek revenge I thought up the idea of "Easter Beast" but the story was changed around big time and it was very different.
 
MO:  Besides a quality movie, I'm all about "extras" on a dvd. What can we expect to see on "The Horror Seasons" dvd and is there any release date?
 
GRT: Shawn is already submitting the film to festivals and it will be released on DVD after it's showings at film festivals. A friend of Eric Morse plans to have a distribution company on DVD releases and his friend is interested in having Horror Seasons on DVD. Shawn and I already did the commentary for it and there will be some extras on it too including my 5 minute horror short Room for Rent, the theatrical trailer and hopefully some behind the scenes and outtakes.

MO:  Can you give us any news on any "upcoming projects" that you may be working on?
 
GRT: I'm acting in many short horror flicks with a company called Second Impact Entertainment at www.secondimpact.ca . One of them is a series of shorts called "Dusk".

Greg Russel Tiderington on the set of "Dusk".

Three chapters of that film is in post-production and more shooting for the other chapters is on it's way during 2005. Also, pre-production for a sequel to Room for Rent is also in the works and will be shot in the new year. I'm really excited about it! I also wrote another script about a vampire called "The Stranger" and I'm hoping SIE will do that one too but I will act in other horror flicks and some non-horror too. Plus I have done lots of theatre (Mostly musicals) and I am playing King Neptune in a play right now called Robinson Crusoe which is a pantomime. Pantomime's were traditional family British shows that perform ever year close to Christmas time. The dame in the show is played by a guy and the lead male by a woman. They are spoofs on fairy tales.

MO: I've read that you finally got your hands on a copy of one of the Eric Morse Friday the 13th books.  I've heard that they are really good.  Have you been able to get hold of the other 3? By the way, I've also had an eye out for them, if you have any good leads, let me know.
 
GRT: It was Eric's second novel called Jason's Curse and I found it on ebay for like 60 bucks! WOW! It is excellent. I am a huge fan of "Fear Street" novels by R.L. Stine as his books overwon readers over Eric Morse's novels but Morse's writing is just as great! If you find one of Eric's novels, buy it! You won't regret it! I found movies like "Scream" and I Know What You Did Last Summer very similar to Stine's novels and I wouldn't doubt that the makers of those films got their ideas from his books.

MO:  Lastly, do you have any advice for our readers who might be aspiring filmmakers, writers or actors?
 
GRT: Never let go of your dreams as they will eventually come true in a matter of time but it won't happen right away. You need to work your way up and it took me about 9 years or so to do my own projects. For filmmakers, organisational skills is always the best and having someone help you who knows what they're doing is the best too and less pressuring. Writing isn't my best qualities but for other writers, always keep ideas in your head which is what I did for Room for Rent and I find walking really helps as well as having personal experiences help too to make something good and try to be as original as possible. For actors, do lots of theatre as it's the true craft of knowing your stuff as an actor and always try different techniques and never let anyone tell you that you can't do what you want to do as there'll be viewers that like your work and viewers that won't but never ever let it discourage you. When you're new at acting always take what's offered to you until you have enough credits to be choosy for a certain role that you want. Go to my official site if you want to know more about me at www.gregtiderington.tk

Special THX to Greg Russel Tiderington, for taking the time to make this interview.

Greg also sent us lots of pictures, which you can watch at our "The Horror Seasons" Gallery here.

The official "The Horror Seasons" website: www.horrorseasons.tk

Source: Movies Online