CREATORS UNITE 10 PART 2

CREATORS UNITE 10 COVER

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CREATORS UNITE 10 MAGAZINES & BOOKS AD

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CREATORS UNITE 10 ISSUE 10 GLOBAL AD

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CREATORS UNITE 10 EDITOR’S LETTER We are delighted to present CREATORS UNITE #10: THE ESSENTIAL ISSUE, featuring exclusive interviews with Kelli Maroney, Lloyd Kaufman, Luigi Cozzi, and Kurando Mitsutake.

Kelli Maroney, the highly respected actress that many of us have admired for decades, is without a doubt, an exceptional woman who is loved by all. We invite you to join us in getting to know her.

Lloyd Kaufman, the creator of TROMA ENTERTAINMENT is the ultimate reference for filmmakers and independent creators. Lloyd’s influence cannot be ignored as the TROMA culture have permeated spirits in a profound and lasting way. We had the privilege of interviewing Lloyd, both in English and French (which he speaks without an accent). Check out our Masters at Work to learn more about Lloyd!

Luigi Cozzi, known for his films Starcrash, Hercules, and Contamination, is one of those iconic artists, who continues to create essential work against all odds. We met him in Rome at the PROFONDO ROSSO store, which he co-founded with Dario Argento. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into his world.

We also had the pleasure of interviewing Kurando Mitsutake, whose fascinating work restores a sense of prestige to cinematic art. Mitsutake's approach, both in substance and form, is a captivating blend of violence and aesthetics. His work is truly outstanding and transcendent.

To mark the release of our 10th magazine (and 28th publication), we bring you this special "best of" issue, dedicated to four exceptional artists, featuring exclusive interviews with each of them. We hope you enjoy reading CREATORS UNITE #10 as much as we enjoyed creating it.

THE ESSENTIAL ISSUE is available in digital and print formats (limited edition prints). You can find the e-book version on Issuu and hard cover books on Peecho.

A soft-cover magazine in four parts (each dedicated to a specific star) is also available on Issuu and Peecho.

DC Deever THE ESSENTIAL ISSUE

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CREATORS UNITE 10 TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE ESSENTIAL ISSUE Special Best Of Including Essential ITWS of Kelli Maroney, Lloyd Kaufman, Luigi Cozzi & Kurando Mitsutake PART 2: LLOYD KAUFMAN • •

Editor’s Letter - P5 Table of Contents - P7

Masters at Work 2 - Lloyd Kaufman - P8 • PASSION STORY P8: A tribute to Lloyd Kaufman by Todd Rigney • WEBTALK P22: Starter by Richard M. Martin. Interview with Lloyd Kaufman by David Dubrow et Emilie Flory • GUILTY PLEASURE P53: Filmmaking Schlock Horror & Gore! by Tony Newton Bonus Feature - P67 • MYTHMAKER: GEORGE A. ROMERO by Jason Figgis A short video essay for Creators Unite Magazine looking at George A. Romero's seminal classic horror film from 1968 - Night of the Living Dead. Written, presented and directed by Jason Figgis •

Special Thanks / Masthead - P64

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From Toxic Avenger To Blood Hook: How Lloyd Kaufman Shaped My Love For The Absurd.

by Todd Rigney

Movies have always played a role in my life.

For as long as I can remember, I've loved film. One of my earliest memories of going to the movies with my parents involved a horrifying experience watching E.T. on the big screen. When the beloved alien first pops out and screams at an understandably terrified Elliot, I threw my trusty blanket over my head and left it there for the rest of the movie. My parents said other moviegoers were amused at my admittedly embarrassing reaction.

I like to refer to it as self-preservation.

My parents had one rule regarding my habit: no horror movies. I could watch as many bloody R-rated action movies as I wanted, but scary flicks were off the table. I scared very easily, which meant they'd have to deal with the effects Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger had on my tender psyche. Of course, that didn't stop me from wanting to watch stuff like Child's Play, but they wouldn't budge. If I wanted to watch something scary, I'd have to do it at a friend's house - which also meant I had to pretend I wasn't completely terrified out of my wits in front of my pals.

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CREATORS UNITE 10 PASSION STORY The less said about my experience with Stuart Gordon's Dolls, the better.

However, my parents couldn't watch me all the time. When I got a TV and cable in my bedroom (minus the pay channels), I could consume just about anything I wanted.

During that time, I discovered USA's Up All Night. Although I enjoyed watching Gilbert Gottfried host the program, Rhonda Shear seemed to mesh well with the show's choice of offbeat cinema. Of course, being a boy quickly sprinting toward puberty, Shear appealed to me in a number of different ways.

Regardless, I'd come for the movies, and the kid who loved Garbage Pail Kids and low-budget sci-fi flicks discovered a side of cinema he never knew existed. I was immediately hooked.

Then I watched Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman's The Toxic Avenger, and it blew my tiny little mind.

My parents hit the hay around 11 p.m. every night, so as soon as I knew they were fast asleep (my mom snored notoriously), I'd turn on my little TV and tune in. That fateful evening, I'd stumbled onto The Toxic Avenger, a story about a love-struck nerd who becomes a rampaging superhero after falling into a vat of chemicals. Although I'd later learned that USA had removed a significant portion of the movie due to copious nudity and extreme violence, I didn't miss it at the time. Even in its neutered form, The Toxic Avenger felt dangerous, subversive, and a terrible secret I thought only Rhonda and I shared. It triggered something in me, and I was never the same.

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USA's Up All Night also introduced me to Surf Nazis Must Die, Blood Hook, and two Toxic Avenger sequels, though I'm sure my 40-year-old memory has forgotten one or two (or several more) movies that pushed me to investigate TROMA, the company responsible for these very odd and frequently deranged films.

Whenever I'd see a late-night listing for Blood Hook (a personal favorite) on Cinemax, I'd sneak into the living room in the middle of the night and watch it with the volume level turned down as low as I could manage.

If my parents knew what I was up to, they never let on, but I prefer to believe that my thief skills were maxed out and operating at the highest possible level. Doubtful, but it's fun to pretend.

When my parents finally relented and let me start renting horror movies, I picked up everything TROMA-related the video store had in its inventory.

I consumed anything and everything, and I started to become very familiar with Kaufman's work.

In the days before the internet, this meant I had to chat up the guy behind the counter at Movie Warehouse, who seemed more than happy to discuss TROMA and its head honcho, Lloyd Kaufman. He also suggested titles such as Street Trash, Brain Damage, and Basket Case, pretty much solidifying my love of gory, offbeat, New York City-centric 80s horror.

Still, I didn't know much about the man, and living in Lexington, Kentucky, at the time - a long way from the mean streets of New York City - that wouldn't change until I started using AOL dial-up in the 90s. In fact, one of my first visits on the World Wide Web was to the official TROMA webpage.

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CREATORS UNITE 10 PASSION STORY I read up on the company's origins, about Kaufman's history producing and directing films, and how the TROMA frequently acquired similar lowbudget flicks from aspiring filmmakers. While some people used the internet to research French cinema and avant-garde motion pictures, I used it to become a TROMA scholar. And I don't regret a minute of it.

Over the years, I've consumed everything about Kaufman I could get my hands on, from interviews to documentaries and behind-the-scenes featurettes. And while my tastes have fluctuated - I once spent over a year watching nothing but Oscar contenders and winners, which I now realize was probably a waste of my time - TROMA has remained an unwavering constant.

When there's nothing on TV and I'm not in the mood for anything remotely high-brow, there's always a Kaufman-produced movie in my collection that can fill the void, The Toxic Avenger 2 being a clear favorite.

Not surprisingly, my life-long love for the movies bearing Lloyd Kaufman's name has bled into my career as a writer. While a lot of my writing tends to skew toward serious characters, the situations they find themselves are seemingly lifted from an unproduced TROMA script.

Weirdos, freaks, and an assortment of grotesquely violent villains litter my stories, and when that's not enough, a heavy dose of sexual innuendo, bodily fluids, and an array of unseemly scenarios get smeared across the page. As much as I'd love to tell a deep, meaningful, straightforward story that would land me on someone's bestseller list, I can't seem to get the things I've learned from Lloyd Kaufman out of my brain.

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CREATORS UNITE 10 PASSION STORY Here's the difference, though: while I enjoy writing about people with misshapen penises trying to unlock otherworldly portals using their own cursed organs, Kaufman had a different agenda. At the end of the day, Kaufman's a businessman, and he scratched an itch few of us really knew we had at the time. And when he discovered people would gladly eat up everything from Toxic Avengers and Surfing Nazis to high schools filled with sexy ladies and deranged mutants, he began pumping these ultralow-budget films onto the market.

I'm writing stories because I'm a deviant guy with a very sick imagination; Kaufman created movies for sickos because he knew he could make lots of money. The guy's a genius.

Sadly, as a nervous, socially awkward kid, I didn't know anyone who felt the same way about the guy. However, when I started a film blog in the mid-2000s, I soon connected with folks who also appreciated Kaufman's work and the TROMA catalog as much as I did.

Perhaps the strangest aspect of the internet is that, if I were so inclined, I could log into Twitter and tweet him directly. Of course, that doesn't mean I'll get a response, but the kid who used to watch Kaufman's movies on Up All Night would probably die of a heart attack if he knew that, at some point in his lifetime, he could contact one of his heroes with the push of a few buttons (or keystrokes, or mouse clicks). However, I haven't mustered the courage to make that leap, and I don't know if I ever will. I guess some things never change.

The fact that so many people have been affected by Lloyd Kaufman and TROMA fills me with unbridled joy.

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CREATORS UNITE 10 PASSION STORY Although some people dismiss these films as simple trash for simple minds, I couldn't disagree more. Even if you hate the movies themselves, you have to respect Kaufman's business sense and his drive to cash in on a demographic that, apparently, wasn't satisfied by the stuff churned out by big-name studios. TROMA fans are a loyal, dedicated bunch, proven by the fact that the company still operates today. There's no denying the man's influence on countless novels, comic books, and movies, including my own. My name's Todd Rigney, I'm a proud graduate of Nuke 'Em High, and Melvin the mop boy's my best friend.

Todd Rigney

About Todd Rigney Todd Rigney was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. After writing for a handful of entertainment websites, he published the book Found in 2004. He followed up the acclaimed novel with a series of short stories entitled Twelve (Stories Concerning Love and Death) in 2011. Found would later be optioned by Bloomington, Indiana filmmaker Scott Schirmer as a full-length feature. The film debuted in July of 2012 to a packed house in Bloomington. The adaptation has since played at several film festivals around the world. In addition to releasing the books M'rth and Dancing on the Edge of a Blade, Todd would go on to co-write the horror/comedy Glorious with Joshua Hull. The film is based on his short story Old Glory from the 2017 anthology Taste Level Zero.

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Lloyd Kaufman - A Study

by Richard M. Martin All Photos Courtesy TROMA ENTERTAINMENT Stanley Lloyd Kaufman Jr., better known to us all as Lloyd Kaufman…

Today, I will explore a few things that have lead Lloyd to where he is today: a champion of independence cinema. A good place to start given today’s issue of Creators Unite Magazine (CUM! I think Lloyd would chuckle at that one) is at the founding of TROMA ENTERTAINMENT in 1974 by Lloyd and his partner Michael Herz. When discussing Lloyd’s career, it is sometimes difficult to separate him and his work from TROMA, as the two are so closely aligned, as before TROMA, Lloyd was already making movies (don’t mention “B-Movie” around Lloyd, I found out the hard way! See my interview attached).

Many would be familiar with the debut of TROMA’s mascot Toxie in The Toxic Avenger (1984) but Lloyd himself has been directing since 1969 with his debut The Girl Who Returned. During his first few years as a young aspiring filmmaker, Lloyd directed under pseudonyms. Was he embarrassed by what he was producing? Given Lloyd’s pride in his work, it is hard to know why he used such aliases like Louis Su, H.V. Spyder, David Stitt and Samuel Weil.

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Many would see Lloyd as a director and producer but looking through his body of work you’d like to say he was an actor first and foremost having starred in over 300 productions to date; there are no signs of him stopping, however, having made 23 appearances in projects last year alone.

But who really is Lloyd Kaufman? What can we deduce from all the information available to us out there?

When posing the question “who are you?”, there is a lot to consider. It’s a question most of us would struggle to answer comprehensively. Anyone who has managed to write an autobiography, I have to commend them on that. I think in order to fully understand who Lloyd is, we need to dive deeper, we need to look at what was happening before TROMA, before the films even took shape. We need to go further back in time! *que TARDIS sounds and effects* (TARDIS -Time And Relative Dimension In

Space- is a fictional time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, Ed).

Mr. Kaufman graduated from Yale University and while he did major in Chinese Studies, he didn’t really pursue a career in anything Chinese, unless we’re talking mass production on the cheap! College is where Lloyd’s love of all things cinema really began to ferment to become an all-consuming lifelong mission to entertain us viewers who enjoy surrealistic, overtly sexual, and intentionally sadistic films. But why commit such feverous delights to celluloid? What is Man’s fascination with sex and violence? It is simple really, anyone of us who pretends to be a prude is in fact lying to themselves.

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Some of my own favourite stories revolve around, to put it eloquently, food poisoning.

“But why?” I hear you ask again. It’s relatable, toilet humour is simply relatable, we’ve all been there, breaking out into a sweat, not a lavatory in sight, the constriction and pain bubbling up from below, your feral instincts take over and you just want to shit anywhere to end the intestinal torment! Lloyd gets that and he is unashamed. We should all be unashamed, it is part of being alive.

You think a man with as much energy and get-up-and-go as Lloyd worries about what people think? Certainly not, this is the same man who joked about masturbating to the thought of me in my dressing gown, ME! Was I offended? Not at all, it was funny and contextual, we even got it recorded.

Back on topic though, the question still remains “why?”. There is a throwaway line in the depths of his WIKIPEDIA entry not often discussed about Lloyd.

In 1966, Lloyd went on a hiatus from his studies and spent a year in Chad for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as a pathfinder for the Peace Corps. Could this have been the catalyst for his complete disregard for cinematic reverence, which the film industry always tries to uphold? In an era of scandal and cover ups, the upfront nature of Lloyd's and TROMA’s history and body of work is to be commended.

I cast my mind to the character of The Comedian from Alan Moore’s The Watchmen.

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A man who has seen such atrocity he has deduced all life to be one big joke and has turned the world into his own amusement park. To me Lloyd is The Comedian, he has made light of a variety of topics for over 40 years. Countless parodies, innuendos and irreverent humour. What’s not to love about it, it’s relatable.

For me personally, Lloyd is someone to aspire to. He is one of the hardest working men I have ever witnessed. He absolutely wholeheartedly LOVES cinema. Lloyd will often help out aspiring filmmakers by making cameos in their films for a small fee or even for free. After all, he has been independent for over 40 years and knows all too well the trials and tribulations of the business. He is beyond generous with his time and appears seemingly from thin air on social media to join in the discussion while simultaneously promoting TROMA NOW (TROMA ENTERTAINMENT’s Exclusive Subscription Video On-Demand Service, Ed). Once a hustler always a hustler.

We all probably have a picture in our head of what a man in his 70s is like, slowly shuffling along, hunched over a cane, no, not Lloyd. He throws himself at life and has the filthy mind of any young man. I think this is what my real take home point is about Lloyd. He has worked for every inch of his success and is still putting in those hours and not sitting back resting on his laurels. He is self-deprecating, quick to the joke or pun, and an all-around humble man. He supports the scene and the industry and has inspired and helped countless others.

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I think his most prized protégé is James Gunn [having wrote the screenplay for Tromeo and Juliet (1996)], going on to write and direct such films as Guardians of the Galaxy, which cameoed Lloyd as a prisoner some eagle eyed viewers might spot in the background.

To conclude, Lloyd Kaufman is a champion of the horror and independent cinema scene. He has helped and assisted creators uniting for the duration of his career. Without Lloyd we would not have seen half of what guerrilla filmmaking has come on to be and represent. It is at its core part of growth and exploration for young and first-time filmmakers alike. Get your ideas out there, do not let anybody tell you you can’t do it or that there is going to be no audience for your body of work. It’s all lies and jealousy. There is an audience for everything and everyone you just need to keep working hard and eventually something will stick. Without passion, there will be no glory. I raise a glass to Lloyd and all the people of TROMA ENTERTAINMENT who have helped shape and define what it means to be independent.

Richard Martin

About Richard M. Martin @TheFearMerchant Host of The Bazaar Cast, Richard M. Martin, AKA The Fear Merchant, is a Horror Reviewer, Commentator and a Contributor to Creators Unite Magazine.

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Exclusive Interview with Lloyd Kaufman

ThE WEb Talk Artworks: Dale Mike B., Penelope Cox, Sayuri, Ruede Bloch & Kopy Kat | Photos Courtesy: Troma Entertainment & ©GirlsandCorpses.com Once you enter the workshop of Creators Unite, you never come out the same again. As you drift past the paint-flecked easel by the window, the manual typewriter on the desk, the drafting table with the Tensor lamp, all bathed in the soft glow of multiple HD monitors showing multiple images, you become possessed. Possessed by the spirit of creation. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? The urge, the drive, the need to create. Even as it eats you, it gives you life.

TROMA ENTERTAINMENT’s founder, Lloyd Kaufman, fills the workshop with warmth, with energy, with an ebullient, infectious humor. He speaks French and English with equal facility, discussing the Tao Te Ching in one breath, then moving to Shakespeare’s The Tempest in the next. We were fortunate enough to capture just a little of Lloyd’s spark in a chat about filmmaking, writing, and TROMA’s influence on movies today.

Creators Unite: Thank you for sitting down with us to do this interview.

Lloyd Kaufman: Thank you for doing this issue on TROMA ; it’s my fiftieth year of making movies.

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CREATORS UNITE 10 WEBTALK Creators Unite: What are the differences you’re seeing in low-budget filmmaking today from the way you made films decades ago?

Lloyd Kaufman: We have a wonderful democratization of the making of cinema. You don’t need money anymore to make a movie. But due to the development and evolution of the movie industry worldwide into a cartel or almost a monopoly—an elite club—you cannot make a living. You cannot pay your rent or eat your food and make movies. When I started, if you made a movie that was entertaining, unusual, or commercial, there was no problem getting your movie into movie theaters.

There were many little studios and distributors when I started my movie company in 1974. Now they’re all gone. The industry has become consolidated, and now there’s a small number of Devil-worshiping conglomerates—and some governments—that pretty much control every movie that’s being financed. Because of that, if you’re going to make a truly independent movie (and you want to eat), you have to be partners with or become a vassal of one of those entities. Otherwise, you’ll end up like Uncle Lloyd, living under the overpass of Route 95 in a refrigerator carton, trading DVDs for bath salts.

Creators Unite: Would The Toxic Avenger achieve cult status if it was released today?

Lloyd Kaufman: The Toxic Avenger was ahead of its time thirty years ago.

The guys who made Deadpool are TROMA fans. I’ve never met them, but they talk about TROMA all the time. Many of the elements of The Toxic Avenger, like breaking the fourth wall: we used to be criticized for having the characters talk to the audience. Deadpool does that.

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CREATORS UNITE 10 WEBTALK It’s Brechtian: Berthold Brecht. Thornton Wilder, Andy Warhol. Now having characters break the fourth wall is very chic. We were doing it thirty years ago, but nobody liked it. Thirty years ago, we were putting in rock and roll songs because we couldn’t afford to hire a Bulgarian orchestra to make the soundtrack. Now look at James Gunn, who worked for us: his soundtrack for Guardians of the Galaxy is heralded because it uses source music. Guardians of the Galaxy is a wonderful movie. A masterpiece. Most of these baby food movies are copying James Gunn and putting in source music. Our problem is that we were a little too early.

Creators Unite: Who are some indie filmmakers we should be paying attention to? Who’s not getting the attention they deserve?

Lloyd Kaufman: If you go to TROMA NOW, the exclusive streaming service, you can see over 100 world premiere movies. Some of them are made by the James Gunns of tomorrow. For example, Fear Town, USA and The Slashening, both written and directed by Brandon Bassham, are terrific: funny and scary. Brandon also teaches at the Upright Citizens Brigade, a comedy group like Second City. We’re writing a new movie that will hopefully begin shooting this summer. We’re doing our version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

Creators Unite: You’ve successfully made the jump from filmmaker to author with your Make Your Own Damn Movie book series. Tell us about your experience writing books.

Lloyd Kaufman: The first book I wrote was my memoir, written with James Gunn in 1994: All I Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned from The Toxic Avenger.

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CREATORS UNITE 10 WEBTALK It’s totally useless as far as learning anything about filmmaking, but it’s kind of inspirational. I’ve written seven books, one of which was a novel called The Toxic Avenger, in which you learn all about the history of Tromaville, including the Tromahawk Indians, who show up in the movie Poultrygeist. I just finished a novel titled Pests, a serious, dark horror book along the lines of American Psycho. That just came out in hardcover., I’ve written a lot of books; most of them are Make Your Own

Damn Movie, Direct Your Own Damn Movie, Produce Your Own Damn Movie, Distribute Your Own Damn Movie.

Myself, Michael Herz (my partner of over 44 years), the whole TROMA Team: we really want to encourage young people to do what they believe in. That’s not to say they shouldn’t go to film school. I’m agnostic about film school, and I don’t mean that they shouldn’t try to be in the mainstream. If they want the Oscar and they want the cocaine and the mansions and the hookers, they can do that and still be wonderful people. In my experience of 50 years, 99.9% of the individuals in this industry are scum of the Earth. They’re horrible people. But that one tiny little percentage, they’re the best people. James Gunn is the best. Jon Voight is the best. Michael Herz is the best. My wife, who’s produced movies, is the best. And Eli Roth. I can go on and on. They’re wonderful.

They love cinema and you can talk to them about cinema.

Creators Unite: The advent of electronic publishing has had a democratizing effect on books with distributors like Amazon and Smashwords. Is there any similar way for an independent filmmaker to get eyeballs on his or her movie?

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CREATORS UNITE 10 WEBTALK Lloyd Kaufman: Yes. There are many YouTube stars creating entertainment on the internet and they’re getting millions of eyeballs.

The Angry Video Game Nerd is one. There’s a French DJ named The Toxic Avenger with a bigger following than TROMA. The internet is the last democratic medium. It allows us at TROMA to communicate with our fans and present entertainment. We own about 1000 movies, and we’ve put 400 of them on our channel free to watch on YouTube to thank our fans for decades of support. The reason why we have such a following is because we provide something the public likes.

Creators Unite: Thank you very much for your time. We really appreciate it.

Lloyd Kaufman: Thank you.

A Very Special Thanks To Thom DeMicco, Cathy MacKay & Hayden McComas.

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CREATORS UNITE 10 GUILTY PLEASURE

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CREATORS UNITE 10 GUILTY PLEASURE Lloyd Kaufman has had a significant influence on filmmakers and independent creators. We bring you here an exclusive interview of Tony Newton, an independent filmmaker who produced horror anthologies such as Grindsploitation (distributed by TROMA).

by Tony Newton I started out writing horror film scripts and, being a ghost-writer and script doctor on a few projects over the last ten years, it was my love of horror films that spurred me on to get into indie film making. Since then, I have made horror films, horror anthology films and VHS documentaries.

I also write horror books.

I watch Horror films every chance I get, I listen to horror soundtracks (the Suspiria soundtrack composed and performed by the Italian band Goblin is the most played album in my house!), I collect skulls (I think at this point in time I have more skulls than a graveyard!), and my latest venture is creating a cabinet of curiosities (so, basically anything creepy ranging from dolls heads to mummified fairies to Cthulhu statues, old rocks, vampire killing kits and old medical equipment)…

Apart from that, I collect horror VHS tapes and vintage horror toys and play horror movies on VHS and super 8! I'm obsessed with schlock horror and B movies so much that one of my film companies is now called SCHLOCK FILMS!... I also own VESTRA PICTURES and BODY BAG FILMS.

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CREATORS UNITE 10 GUILTY PLEASURE I love the medium of film for telling stories. I don't think anything else comes close. I watched the Evil Dead when I was 5 years old; my parents won a VCR player in the early to mid-eighties so, every night they would rent the latest video nasty to cult classics like Friday the 13th film series, all the Nightmare on Elm Street films etc. Watching horror films at a young age literally makes you get scared. You experience real terror and fear. You wouldn't need to explain to a rationally thinking 19-year-old that Freddy Krueger wasn't going to kill you in your sleep… but to a 10year boy, it's a different story!

Over the last decade there has been some really crazy and bizarre horror films; it seems like they have to break the rules, then, take a shit on them as well. One thing is for sure, by doing this, not only will the film get exposure (although not always for the right reasons), but the viewer will be left thinking, and in most cases left in a state of shock.

I look out for unique films which offer unforeseen twists. I enjoy the use of unique camera angles and effects to create ambience, suspense and fear, as well as the various ways in which each director endeavours to build suspense. The writers and directors of the horror genre have the opportunity to unleash their full potential, creativity and imagination to impress, shock and terrify the viewer whilst providing unforeseen twists and turns. Ninety nine percent of horror films are made with the sole intention of scaring the audience. The reason for our global love of horror films is they bring audiences pleasure, suspense, and inspire the viewer to unleash their own creativity in the genre.

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CREATORS UNITE 10 GUILTY PLEASURE Horror films can even help the viewer deal with issues like grief and overcoming fears and phobias.

It sounds old fashioned just the old git "They don't make them like they did in the good old Day's" but I'm a lover of the classic video nasties; they were fresh, they were new, they were breaking the rules and making new ones along the way. I crave for an era in film like it again.

A lot of today's horror films like Hostel, Paranormal activity and even The Blair Witch Project started out as great ideas and were very entertaining horror films but copycat filmmakers re-hash the same ideas and have since been milked to death, though they still pull in large numbers at theatres and then DVD sales.

The strange thing is that there’s far less to the story, plot and characters in these modern studio produced horror films, than there was in the classic independent video nasty films in the eighties.

There is nothing I would like more than being given a huge budget to make a really great horror movie, though I think my dream movie to remake would be Zombie Flesh Eaters or something like Driller Killer.

The Indie film scene literally is blood sweat and tears. At every level, you are going to get knock backs... Indie filmmaking isn't easy, it's not pretty.

You have to be a die-hard fan, have a passion for the craft, enjoy what you are doing, be it writing, directing, producing, editing (among other jobs) and, 99 % of the time in the indie horror world all of the above working with a very small or no budget.

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CREATORS UNITE 10 GUILTY PLEASURE There isn't much return for indie films filmmaking and most of the time you are self-funding projects.

When I'm not doing my day job, I'm editing, writing, filming something, networking, non-stop.

I write daily mainly horror film scripts and VHS, trash cinema and B movie reviews. I also produce feature films and write horror books. I wrote The Zombie Rule Book and I'm Zombie. Both zombie books are out now via COSMIC EGG BOOKS. Horror is like Marmite, you either love it or you hate it. Horror has dedicated fans unlike fans of any other film genre; they’re great, passionate people. When you are a horror fan, you're a horror fan for life!

Remember: #creatorsunite!

Tony Newton A Very Special Thanks To Vestra Pictures, Trash Arts, The Enchanted Architect, Troma Entertainment, SRS Cinema, Sector 5 Films, World Wide Multimedia, Body Bag & Schlock Films.

About Tony Newton @TonyNewton1 Owner of SCHLOCK FILMS, VESTRA PICTURES and BODY BAG FILMS, Tony Newton is an indie filmmaker and a Contributor to Creators Unite Magazine.

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CREATORS UNITE 10 MASTHEAD

CREATORS UNITE MAGAZINE Darlene C. Deever Editor-in-Chief & Publisher Roy Bheer Executive Editor Emilie Flory Creative Director Eleanor Fawcett Consultant Editor Lorenza Florida, Biscuit C. Translators

Cover and End Cover Kelli © Harmonie Le Clair. 2023 The Essential Issue © Dale Mike B. 2024 Contributing Artists Greg Palko, Chantal Handley, Franchesco, Jumpei Tainaka, Harmonie Le Clair, Dale Mike B., Penelope Cox, Sayuri, Roda, Ruede Bloch, Jiéxī, Kopy Kat, Mark Berry, Dub Meter & AStyanaX. Contributing Writers Christopher Zisi, Laura MacLeod, Matthew Kirshenblatt, Todd Rigney, David Dubrow, Richard M. Martin, Tony Newton, Maria Cristina Mastrangeli, Tony Gpuk, Christopher Bourez, Sooz Webb & Jason Figgis.

Photos Courtesy Masters at Work 2: Troma Entertainment, ©GirlsandCorpses.com All rights reserved, Mark Berry ©GirlsandCorpses.com All rights reserved Masters at Work 3: Andrea Galeazzi Masters at Work 4: © FukuzoProductions, © Kurando Mitsutake, © MAXAM, Inc., © Torin

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CREATORS UNITE 10 MASTHEAD Special thanks to Robert Rhine, “deaditor” in chief of Girls and Corpses, to Miss Mosh, and Mark Berry, to Cathy MacKay, Hayden McComas, John Ferri and Thom Demicco.

ARTWORKS COVER by Harmonie Le Clair | END COVER by Dale Mike B. Kelli’s cover, Lloyd’s cover, Luigi’s cover and Kurando’s cover by Dale Mike B. Kelli’s Webtalk & Showroom posters by Dale Mike B. and Penelope Cox Supertreat poster by Penelope Cox Kelli’s Presentation poster by Franchesco Lloyd’s Webtalk poster by Dale Mike B. Passion Story poster by Penelope Cox Guilty Pleasure poster by Sayuri Troma’s Polaroid Posters by Ruede Bloch & Kopy Kat Luigi’s Webtalk and Showroom posters by Dale Mike B. Luigi’s movies posters by Dale Mike B. Exhibition Hall poster by Dale Mike B. Kurando’s Webtalk and Showroom posters by Sayuri and Dale Mike B. Karate Kill poster by Roda Gun Woman poster by Dale Mike B. Lion Girl and Maniac Driver posters by Kopy Kat Tech Secrets poster by Sayuri Arsenal poster by Jiéxī George A. Romero’s poster by Roda Bonus Feature & VHS posters by Penelope Cox

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