Film Name: The Omicron Killer
Director: Jeff Knite
Writer: Jeff Knite
Starring: Bai Ling, Felissa Rose, Lynn Lowry, Rob Emmer, Paugh Shadow, Jeff Knite
Attacked by vicious thugs, left severely wounded and hospitalized, a serial killer known as The
Omicron Killer vows vengeance as he embarks on a new reign of terror.
In a new Exclusive Interview on Blazing Minds ahead of Horror-on-Sea I got a chance to ask Writer/Director Jeff Knite a few questions about the film ‘The Omicron Killer‘
The Omicron Killer will play at Horror-on-Sea on Friday 17th January at 12.30pm.
Q. Your film has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us what we
can expect?
A. You can expect a good time. I set out to make a fun film above all. Some critics label it a parody, but it’s absolutely not a parody. We’re not making fun of horror films. We’re making Horror films that are fun. In the same vein as say Evil Dead or Scream or even Guardians of the Galaxy. No one labels those films parodies. They take themselves seriously, but there’s humour in the situations and interactions that the characters have with one another. Our humour comes from the same place. Funny things happen to characters in the story, but the story is meant to be taken seriously.
We don’t have The Omicron Killer slipping on banana peels. So if any critic watched this film and thinks it’s a parody, they should quit being a critic immediately.
Q. You co-wrote the script with Johnny Careccia and Paugh Shadow What were some of your influences when writing the script and what was your process for writing together?
A. To be clear, they were not my co-writers. They are credited as Contributing To Treatment because they contributed ideas to the treatment, which I used to write the screenplay. Not to take anything away from Shadow because he did contribute quite a few ideas from his real life experiences, and Johnny only came up with one idea, which was that we should have a cult, that’s it, that was his idea.
As for influences. The first film was my influence. I made a lot of mistakes with the first film because I collaborated with a douchebag who hijacked the film and steered it in the wrong direction. So I partnered with Shadow to try and fix that film, which we did. It’s not the greatest film, but we salvaged it, and in the process came up with the idea for The Omicron Killer. This became Shadow and I’s baby, which over the course of the last few years we nurtured and raised it to become what it is today. We are proud parents.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. We wanted the film to have an 80’s feel, but not look like it was set in the 80’s. So we were going for a sort of future retro look. As if in an alternate universe the world did not progress as much as it did in real life. If that makes any sense.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. I made a lot of changes, but not to the story. Mostly extending scenes to flesh out the story more, and changing dialogue to match the ever changing zeitgeist that was going on in the world at the moment.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. Bonding with my cast and crew during downtime. We really became a family on that set. Most of us speak with one another on a weekly basis. Also, Happy Accidents. A phrase my DP Brad Reeb came up with, which would describe some unfortunate incident that occurred on set that we or the film benefited from. For example, in one of the scenes we had to blow someone’s leg off and I was going to use a green sleeve and have a SFX artist CGI it in post. But right before we were ready to set up the shot, an actor was playing with a Nursing Manikin (that’s the actual correct spelling) and bumped into one of the crew. Someone seen this and suggested we use the leg of the Manikin, so we did, and it worked out great.. Happy Accident.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. I can write a whole other film about issues that we experienced on set. We went though 3 DP’s, 2 sound guys, rotating actors, extortion, and more Diva’s then you can shake a stick at, both male and female. Just to name a few.
Q. What makes this film stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. I would say the comedy. As I mentioned before, there have been plenty of horror films that have comedy, but our film does it different. I can’t explain it. You just have to experience it to understand, and it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but comedy never is.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. I hope they see that we made a film about a guy that was fed up being abused by society and decided he’s going to take matters into his own hands, literally. That’s not to say that what he was doing was justified, because it most certainly is not. We’re just trying to say, sometimes society creates these monsters, who are not supernatural or magical. They’re regular people just like you and I that broke too many times and can no longer be fixed. They’ve devolved back to their animal state. That is why the Omicron does not speak. He is animal.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. Yes.. We are currently in pre-production on a spin-off film called Krazy Klowny. Starring Weston Cage, Danny Trejo, Lin Shaye, Bai Ling, Felissa Rose, Lynn Lowry, Rob Emmer, Tony Diaz, and of course Paugh Shadow.
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. Shoot some short films first to gain experience and build a crew of people you can trust to help you. Find people with the same goals and visions you have. Because to be honest, without my film family, I would not have been able to make The Omicron Killer as good as it came out. They helped out artistically, financially, physically, mentally, and most important, management wise. They were doing things behind the scenes that I didn’t even know was happening, like booking flights and hotels and making sure people got to the set and were fed, securing locations, handling meltdowns, etc. They did a lot. So if someone thinks they’re going to write and direct their own film with no major help from anyone, they’ve already failed.
The Omicron Killer will play at Horror-on-Sea on Friday 17th January at 12.30pm.
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!
