Hopefully everyone out there already knows who Charles B. Griffith is. If you’ve seen any of the early works of Roger Corman, then at least you’ve seen some of his work. But if not, then this is a perfect opportunity to learn about this very talented and very underrated man. This interview was conducted at the Cinema Wasteland Movie Memorabilia show on April 1st, 2007. He passed away later that September. He will be missed.
Kitley’s Krypt: How did you meet up with Roger Corman?
This interview was conducted at the Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors in Chicago, back on Feb. 24th, 2008, by Aaron Christensen.
Kitley’s Krypt: How did you two know each other?
This was another interview that was conducted at the Cinema Wasteland show back in October of 2008. Such a great show that was. We had the chance to sit down with this highly underrated and talented writer/director, Mariano Baino.
Kitley’s Krypt: You’ve often stated that H.P. Lovecraft was a big influence on you as a child. Who were the biggest cinematic influences on you in your youth?
Mariano Baino: I grew up watching the Italian stuff, of course, watching Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava’s films. But the reality of it was I watched a lot of American films. People are always surprised when I say that Steven Spielberg always remains one of my favorites. I grew up watching American films. Certain sensibilities and certain influences are very European. But at the same time, for example, it’s only afterwards watching some of my stuff that I think there’s as much Hammer influence in there as there would be Italian films of the 70s. When I watched some of the stuff from Dark Waters, I think, “God, this is like a Hammer film.”
Before we get to this interview, let me give a little bit of a background to it. Several years ago, I’d say around 2003 or 2004, I received an email regarding something I had mention on my site about Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. I don’t remember the exact details of it, but he said he was a huge fan of that movie, and it was signed Pete O’Herne. Now right away the name sounded a bit familiar but I couldn’t place it. But then I looked at the email address and saw that it was from New Zealand. Then it hit me. Could this be the very same Pete O’Herne that was in Peter Jackson’s crazy debut Bad Taste? After a quick follow up email, I found out it was.
This interview was conducted back in October of 2008, at the Cinema Wasteland show.
Kitley’s Krypt: How did you get into acting?
John Amplas: Oh, that was a long time ago. I was ten years old and my uncle used to do community theater and they needed a kid in a play. So I did a lot of community theater when I was kid and I just kind of got the bug early on from there. In 1963, when I was a teenager, I attended the Playhouse School in Pittsburgh and did that for about 3 years. I spent 3 years in the Army after I graduated from high school, then I studied theater at the same university, then college, to become an actor. In fact, the interesting thing about that, the last production in my senior year is when George Romero came to see it, which is how I got the job to play Martin two or three months later – we started shooting in the fall of 1976. Continue reading
Doug Hobart is a name that up until a couple of years ago, I had no idea who he was. But because of an unusual birthday cake my wife Dawn made for me, not only would I find out just who Doug Hobart was, but I would eventually get to interview him. Every year for my birthday, I screen two movies in our backyard for a bunch of friends. This one particular year, the films were two Florida based movies, ZAAT and Sting of Death. For the cake (pictured below), my wife made a battle between the two title creatures from these movies. It was such an amazing cake, that once I posted a photo of it on Facebook, it was getting a lot of responses, even from people like cult directors Frank Henenlotter, Fred Olen Ray, and even William Grefe, who directed Sting of Death. Well, Fred Olen Ray made a comment and tagged someone named Doug Hobart. So I looked up the name on IMDB and was shocked not only to find out that he was the guy who played the jellyfish creature, but was on Facebook as well. So I quicky sent him a note, asking if he’d be willing to do an interview with me. A short time later, I was on the phone with him, hearing some amazing stories of his life in show business, which you’ll find below.
This is one name that most of you are not familiar with. Which is a shame. But we hope to change that. Back in 2005, this writer / director gave us an incredible atmospheric and dark horror film called Isolation. Taking place on a cow farm in Ireland, not the usual setting for a horror movie. But with a great cast leading the way, O’Brien created an incredible moving and frightening film.
At the end of 2012, we were able to connect with O’Brien to get some more information on this film that has sadly fallen by the wayside, as well as what he’s been up to since then. With some great stories of dedication and endurance, O’Brien shares with us how this movie came about and the people involved. Hopefully this will spark more of you to seek out this underrated classic.
Kitley’s Krypt: Let’s start at the beginning. I’m assuming you are a fan of the horror genre? Any favorites? Continue reading
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