Film Name: Hell Nurse
Director: Bobby Blood
Writer: Bobby Blood
Starring: Nailya Shakirova, Brad Stein, Garvin Lee, Lauren Blood, Dorie Knutson Nichols
After three career criminals brutally attack a young caretaker and her patients, she offers her soul to Satan in exchange for the opportunity of revenge.
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds leading up to the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival, I got a chance to ask Writer/Director Bobby Blood a few questions about his film ‘Hell Nurse’.
‘Hell Nurse’ has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on Friday 12th January at 22:30 pm
Q. Your film Hell Nurse has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. Hell Nurse is a homage to 70s exploitation revenge-thriller grindhouse horror, with an 80s-style plot twist. One should expect extreme violence, sacrilege, desecration, nudity, and sexual content not suitable for children! Also for those with a sharp eye, almost unlimited easter eggs and tie-ins to other movies from the 70s and 80s.
Q. What were some of your influences when writing the script for Hell Nurse?
A. I Spit on Your Grave (1978) is probably the biggest subconscious influence, with Trick or Treat (1986) being the 80s twist influence.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. Suspiria (1977), Rabid (1977), Phantasm (1979), Halloween (1978).
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. Yes, due to the fact that part one and part two of Hell Nurse were written at the same time. I had a few mind changes during production about what needed to be established in case I ever film the sequel!
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. Since the film was 100% self-funded including all of the actors’ pay, there were limitations. My favorite part of filming was when Fiona Kennedy and I were shooting the cemetery scene near Los Angeles, we happened to drive by a huge closed hospital. We decided to get some establishing shots of it which did not make the final cut, but while we were there Fiona was checking doors and found a way inside. There were workers in there so her and I roamed through this hospital for a couple of hours getting different shots while hiding from workers and security. I also had to break into the property which served as Shady Grove Sanitarium. This is a place that any 70s/80s Horror fan should recognize! This included scaling a 10 foot fence with camera gear/ tripods etc and hiding out until night time. Not only was this unnerving from a legal standpoint, but having seen the film as a child that this property was from, it was impossible to not feel like I was actually in that movie and I admit it was quite scary.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. Many! One night we were filming in the living room of my house, which had been decorated to fit a 70s era decor. It was around midnight and there were just a few cast members with me. Out of nowhere, a woman that used to own my house walked through the front door and just started looking around and commenting on how the house was so much different than when she owned it. She seemed oblivious to the fact that there was blood and brains all over the walls. The biggest actual issue we had was filming the Hell Nurse Volkswagen up in the mountains. We had only one chance to do this because of the age of that vehicle and it had to be taken up the mountain on a trailer. I shot the driving scenes with a drone. Due to the altitude, just as we got the very last shot, my drone lost connectivity and literally just flew off and was heading over a mountain to nowhere. Once I couldn’t see it anymore all I had was the drones camera view to see where it was going. It got just above that mountain, then it decided to make an emergency landing. I watched it crash from the camera but really had no idea where it was. I had a view of some branches and knew which mountain it was. On top of this, I had painted the drone to look like it was a commodore 64 drone as a joke, but now it was earth tones and you could walk right by it. I needed that footage from the card in it since it was irreplaceable, so for the next week I would drive an hour out there and climb up different parts of this mountain looking for it. Miraculously, I finally did find it! I spent at least 40 hours on that mountain.
Q. What makes Hell Nurse stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. Hell Nurse really wasn’t designed to be anything different. I actually wrote it with the intention of giving it a high level of predictability. However, considering that we are in 2023, it could be seen as different in the sense of having what I intended to be a very 70s vibe. That’s not just throwing a filter on it, which I did not do by the way, but it has to do with the way I lit the scenes to get some natural grain, color grading, acting styles, overly clear dialogue, storyline, and the way it’s designed for a build up to the end. I even had to take some of my actors and bring their natural take on some of the scenes and bring it down a bit to fit the style of film I was trying to replicate.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. I just hope they have some fun with it and experience a bit of satisfaction with the fates of my characters including the protagonist. I’ve seen a lot of feedback saying the film was intentionally campy and humorous and that is great, even though to be perfectly honest I did not intend for this to be funny at all! Maybe a few chuckles here and there were intended, but this is definitely not supposed to be a horror comedy. However, I’m very happy for that because it’s still entertainment and I understand that for people to take 72 minutes of their time to watch my film is not a small amount of time. So I am grateful and happy for any level of entertainment people get from Hell Nurse.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. Yes, My next project is about a hatchet killer in the woods. It’s called Barry The Hatchet but there’s a good chance I’m going to shoot a short film first that is in tandem with Barry The Hatchet. Again, fairly predictable storyline as intended, but this time you will see much more modern cinematography and I will let my actors show their full abilities. I have shot some of it already, but I took 2023 to dedicate to promoting Hell Nurse and handling the business of it all.
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. The best advice I could give someone starting out is to keep the storylines as simple as you can and on the level of your directing experience. The reason for this is because it’s a lot more difficult to translate a story to the screen than it would seem. Even if you have amazing actors, it’s still your job to communicate to them the overall vibe of the film as well as their performance. Great actors like Brad Stein and Nailya Shakirova even asked for and pretty much demanded character treatments up front. So write those up front, and back to the storyline, a simple storyline can help your film because the audience doesn’t also have to try and keep track of what’s going on while dealing with the inevitable distractions of a low budget film which we all know is usually a challenge to sit through. It’s an ever-evolving process and I am still in the beginning levels of this. So when you finish your film, make sure you hold screenings and watch people watch your film. Make sure people you don’t know attend the screenings. It’s tough to see people not enjoying your film, but it’s the only way to get an honest take on where you are in your skills, and how to make your next film a level or two above. Also, this should go without saying, but treat the craft with respect and get some training before you just start writing and filming. Even if you have some natural abilities and creativity, my film instructor had a saying that you can’t properly do it wrong until you know how to do it right.
You can find out more on about Hell Nurse on www.HellNurseMovie.com and Bobbi Blood on www.BobbyBlood.com
You can also follow Hell Nurse on the following Social Media: Instagram – Facebook
‘Hell Nurse’ has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on Friday 12th January at 22:30pm
You can find out more about the festival and purchase tickets here:
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
