Film Name: 4 Halloween
Director: Domiziano Cristopharo
Writers: Domiziano Cristopharo (story by), Sebastiano Tuccitto (screenplay)
Starring: Daniele Arturi , meghan Vigil, Puccy Polverino, Nicholas Sartori
In a new interview leading up to the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival I got a chance to ask writer-director Domiziano Cristopharo a few questions about what we can expect from the film 4 Halloween.
4 Halloween will be showing at Horror-on-Sea at 10:30 pm on Sunday 22nd January
Q. Your film 4 Halloween has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. I expect (or maybe hope) to entertain the audience with a movie made exactly for this pourpose: to have fun! We had lot of fun doing it, and never took ourselves in serious way.
In a new interview leading up to the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival I got a chance to ask writer-director Pedro Santasmarinas a few questions about what we can expect from his film Murder Scene.
Murder Scene will be showing at Horror-on-Sea at 3pm on Friday 13th January
Q. What was the process of working with Sebastiano Tuccitto when writing the screenplay for 4 Halloween?
A. This is not the first time we have colabroated, we did some time ago. He wrote the screenplay of a short film (unreleased for now) that after become the base for the feature RED KROKODIL. Sebastiano in the last has years became an appreciated well known writer, so I asked him to write few stories based on some ideas of mine, for this “anthologic” flick based more on surreal/horror/bloody situations than the “psychological drama currents” with deep meanings” that has spread in the genre in the last few years.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. All the B- Movies and Z movies from the 80’s, also some old horror comics… And TROMA films for sure.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. In a Low Budget movie, this not only always happens, but is also necessary for not be trapped in the “wannabe” result. We clearly have small budgets and it is good to adapt it in what we can really do in good way, than pretend to do miracles.
All of the last segment, for sample, was written to be filmed “on the road” but in the end we discovered that would be impossible for us obtain a good lighting and good FX with the time restrictions we had… So, fortunately we found a huge apartment/loft where we moved the setup (re-adapting the script of course)!
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. I really had fun filming all the segments… And this is ‘cause I always pay lot of attention to be sourrounded by the right people. I select good people, even if there are more qualified figures who have a bad attitude. I think I can obtain good things from good people, while professionals with bad attitude are always a pain in the ass that in the end makes even simple things more complicated.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. The only “issue” was to find the 2 extras that appeared in the street scene, they are crossing in halloween costumes to the lead actress. It was more hard to find the 2 extras than film the whole feature. In the end I had to ask actors from the other 2 segments (Nicholas Sartori and Daniele Arturi) to do it or… No scene! People nowadays really think they are so special, thanks to the social medias that turns “apparently” everyone into a star, so no one wanted to do a so short scene, especilaly with the mask (the covered face will not give them the fame they deserve!). Even the money (50 euros) just for for walk crossing the street was not enough for the new stars of the web! In the world we are living now…
Q. What makes 4 Halloween stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. It is not created to stand out or be different, it’s the opposite… As a recall of the gold era of the horror, contains all the stereotype of it. It is just a B-Movie born to entertain without involving too much of the brain. The only things that maybe make it different is the amount of FX make up (that I see used always less in horror movies) and all the crazyness appear in it not following one specific direction, but many from slasher until the sci-fi.
Oh, also I need to mention the amazing score made by 2 great musicians, the plury awarded Salvatore Sangiovanni and Susan Dibona (Theatre of Bizarre, Transparent Woman) I think that not many movies nowadays could have a such amazin soundtrack!
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. I’m completing my last movie, it is a secret project, and after it I’ll stop filming and dedicate myself only to distribution and production. I’m going to release in those days CONFESSIONS OF A NECROPHILE GIRL an exclusive for TETROVIDEO, and the prequel of the American Guinea Pig: SACRIFICE (That I have produced) titled WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, DANIEL? Starring Lynn Lowry (The crazies, Shivers)
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. Just keep believing in your dreams… This is enough to make them true, and dont listen too much to other directors/actors/critics opinions (even if they are friends): really believe in what you wanna do, and don’t do it to please someone else. If I had to listen to others, movies like DOLL SYNDROME, SACRIFICE, TORMENT and HOUSE OF FLESH MANNEQUINS would never exist now.
You can find out more about writer-director Domiziano Cristopharo on the website and follow on Facebook here:
4 Halloween will be showing at Horror-on-Sea at 10:30pm on Sunday 22nd January. You can purchase tickets and merchandise for the festival on the website 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!
