d3rang3d Interviews : Brian Paulin

His new movie Fetus is looking like a stomach churning outing to sicken and delight any gore fan, but in between the buckets of blood Brian Paulin kindly found a little time away from the carnage to share his thoughts with d3rang3d. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the films official site at http://www.morbidvisionfilms.com/ and watch the trailer.

Brian's a great guy with a lot of interesting comments to make, so I won't bore you all with any more of my blurb - without further ado, here's Brian Paulin of Bone Sickness and Fetus :

d3rang3d: Fetus is looking great - can you tell us a bit more about the movie?

Brian Paulin: FETUS started off as an experimental short film. I wanted to start filming something while waiting for Bone Sickness 2 to happen since I could tell it may take a while to get the budget together (which has fallen through since). The movie was inspired by the more extreme Asian cinema. I wanted to make something that would feel like a combination of Tetsuo: The Iron Man and the Guinea Pig films. Of course as we filmed, the movie took on a life of it's own. There was never a script written, I just had all these ideas in my head and just went for it. As more scenes were filmed the story kept growing the next thing I knew FETUS became Morbid Vision Film's next full length movie. It also has turned out to be the sickest thing I have ever done as well as having one of the best character stories I have put together.

d3rang3d:  The movies synopsis mentions the deliciously named "Infant Device" to contact and give birth to the dead. Can you tell us a bit more about it?

Brian Paulin: The Infant Device is an idea I came up with many years ago, but never had a movie that could use such a bizarre story element until FETUS came up. It is an instrument that uses vocal vibrations to channel spirit energy to contact the dead. The main character has to go through many grotesque acts until he can acquire all the elements needed to create the device. I decided not to release any pictures of it so that people will see it for the first time when they watch the movie.

d3rang3d: Fetus is really looking like it's going to shock - if you had to name one scene from the (finished) movie that you think will churn viewers stomachs, which would it be and why?

Brian Paulin: There are quite a few extreme gore sequences in FETUS as well as scenes of brutal attacks. One shot with a hammer actually made me wince for a second once the final edit was put in place. There is an infection scene that may make male viewers cringe. It's on the same lines as the worm vomiting in Bone Sickness, except we used different crawling things coming out a different part of the body. The tub abortion sequence has made a few people tell me that they won't watch the movie. There are many scenes in the movie that I do not want to give away because I do not want to ruin the shock value viewers will hopefully get when the see the movie for the first time.

d3rang3d: Fetus suffered a number of setbacks during production - including the theft of a camera and footage - but you're back on track now and confident you'll make the planned May '07 release date?

Brian Paulin: I'm hoping to have the movie completed by the end of May, but realistically, we are looking at June to have the dvds ready. We had another major setback when Bone Sickness 2 fell through because there was also a deal for FETUS where I was also going to have extra people to do the sound mix, and be able to hire someone to compose the score for FETUS. But that budget did not come through either so I now have to do all of these things myself which is going to take extra time. But I am used to doing these things and I am looking forward to doing the music for FETUS. I have some really good ideas and I have new equipment to record. Plus I think my playing has improved since creating the Bone Sickness score.

d3rang3d: A film isn't just the work of one man - any interesting stories from the set of Fetus you'd like to share with us, and/or anyone you'd like to single out for a special mention?

Brian Paulin: Our lead actress Nette DeTroy added so much more realism and seriousness to the movie. She was excellent and great to work with. Since FETUS was influenced by Asian cinema, I wanted to hire an Asian actress. The first time I talked to Nette, we talked on the phone for over an hour about Asian movies. I knew right away she was perfect. Yael Sanchaz was also an amazing find for the movie as well. She was up for anything I asked her to do, and she does some pretty outrageous stuff in this movie! A lot of people noticed that Rich George's name was missing form the credits during shooting. That was because he had just become a new father and stepped back for a few months while I was making, what was supposed to be a short movie. Once FETUS became a full blown project Rich joined the production and is still a major part of the company. Kevin Barbare from Bone Sickness plays a wacked out occult store owner and did an incredible job! Kevin could easily make it in Hollywood if he wanted to. He is a major talent and extremely funny!

Everyone that helped out on the movie was great to work with, plus we found a couple more horror fanatics that love helping behind the scenes. So Rich and I have recruited Joe Olson and Rich Caron who were both a great help on the set. I'm hoping they will return for more projects. I prefer working with true horror fans on the set rather than film students or career film people. There are no egos to deal with that way. You know everyone is there because we love horror films.

d3rang3d: You've definitely set out to shock with Fetus, but is there any theme/idea that you think would be going too far and wouldn't use in one of your movies?

Brian Paulin: I'm up for anything except animal cruelty. There is no excuse for it and I won't even write in scenes where an animal is killed using special make-up effects. I prefer killing people.

d3rang3d: You and Rich George have done a number of great looking shorter movies in the early 90s that have never made their way to dvd, but I'm sure loads of people would like a chance to view. Any plans for a compilation dvd maybe, or a releasing a couple online?

Brian Paulin: I want to put together a couple dvds with the early movies on them. Call them something like "The Early Years". I have received quite a few emails asking for them and I'm thinking that I might release them as commentary only versions where you can still hear the soundtrack in the background. Make them fun and funny to listen to. I just can't see charging people for the original versions because they are completely amateur and pretty bad. Once FETUS is finished I'll be able to look into more seriously, but it is something I do what to do.

d3rang3d: Apologies for this question - ignore it if you like. One of our chatroom guys is a huge fan of Erin Brown (Misty Mundae) who you directed in Mummy Raider. He just asked what she is like to work with/in real life (although I'm sure he was thinking something less polite)?

Brian Paulin: I loved working with Erin. She is great to work with and she is a very down to earth person as well as a complete professional once the camera is on her. I was really impressed by how she would look at a page of dialog for a few minutes then say, "ok, I'm ready" and just nail it. I thought she did a great job in "Sick Girl". And I'll admit filming her nude scenes in Mummy Raider are some of my fondest memories from making movies. And I'll pass on the information that I have been talking with Erin about her being in one of my upcoming movies.

d3rang3d: Away from your own movies for the moment, what films have really hit the spot for you recently and why?

Brian Paulin: Neil Marshall's The Descent blew me away. I bought the British dvd as soon as it was released and the movie scared the shit out of me. I loved it! I thought John Carpenter's Cigarette Burn's was excellent and made me wish the movie La Fin Absolue du Monde really existed. Takashi Miike's Imprint was excellent as well. I seem to be one of the few who really liked Hostel. The idea of a place like that really existing is intriguing. Not a whole lot else in the past couple years. I've hated all the remakes and I missed Nacho's Cerda's The Abandoned unfortunately.

d3rang3d: What's next for Brian Paulin? You're aiming at a May 2007 release date on Fetus, so what's next on the drawing board?

Brian Paulin: I have a couple of ideas that I am working on. One may be a quick slasher style shoot that we will do to experiment with an organized one week shooting schedule. All our movies take about a year to make so we want to try out the "official" way of making a movie. It will have to be a slasher style movie because creature effects take too long. And the next big movie will include demons, tentacle rape and maybe some nunsploitation. I'm going to go all out on that one and make it one of the goriest and most outrageous movies ever made in the US!

d3rang3d: And, finally - the open non question. Your chance to say anything you like about any subject under the sun - thank the fans, cuss the critics, plug your favourite beer. Anything goes, so any final words?

Brian Paulin: Thank you for your interest in Morbid Vision Films and FETUS! I hope the movie lives up to, and splashes beyond people's expectations. And a huge thanks to everyone that has supported us. Horror fans are some of the coolest people around and the fact that fellow fans are finding our movies entertaining is awesome! Random thoughts? Let's see...Hollywood should stop remaking films, grow a brain and come up with original ideas, CGI effects suck!, I'll drink what ever beer is around, the black metal song at the end of Bone Sickness was recorded by me, look for a cd in the future, and we will keep the gore flowing! Cheers.

d3rang3d: Many, many thanks from myself and everyone at d3rang3d.com for taking the time out to give us this interview. From myself, and everybody here, best wishes for the future, and here's to many more great and gory films for us all to enjoy. Thank you.