Although New Hampshire-based indy filmmaker Brett Piper has been shooting and producing lowbudget cult flicks since the early 1982s, I've not seen any of his films until quite recently, when I was lucky enough to score a brandnew DVD copy of Brett Piper's horror shocker "Drainiac" from a competition at Fearzone.com.

I really liked the film, so I took my chance to hook up with Brett for an interview and asked him a couple of questions about his filmmaking career in general and the making of "Drainiac" in particular. Be sure not to miss it, cause Brett's a really cool guy and his answers are well worth reading for oldschool horror fans and aspiring young filmmakers as well.. Enjoy!!

Hi Brett. First of all thanks for agreeing to do the interview. Before we come to speak about your horror film “Drainiac”, which has just been re-released on DVD through POP Cinema/Shock-O-Rama, I’d like to know when and why you decided to become a filmmaker.

Brett: I decided to become a filmmaker when I was eleven years old. Hard to say why. A general love of movies and monsters I guess.

What classics have had the biggest influence on your filmmaking career? Are there any films that you’d recommend EVERY aspiring indy filmmaker to watch?

Brett: Easy question: King Kong was the single biggest influence on me (as it was on many aspiring young filmmakers, including Harryhausen of course). After that came the original Universal horror movies, followed much later by the classic Hammer films. I don’t know if there are any specific films I’d recommend to indy filmmakers. There are a lot of great movies out there and you can learn a lot from any of them. Of course you can learn a lot from bad movies too.

You’ve shot your first feature film “Mysterious Planet” more than 25 years ago in 1982. What was indy filmmaking alike back then and in what way has it changed with the years? Would you say that it’s easier to shoot a film nowadays than in the early 80s, due to technological advances such as video camcorders, editing software for your PC, etc?

Brett: There really wasn’t much of an independent filmmaking movement back when I made Mysterious Planet. Those people who were doing regional films, like George Romero or Herschel Lewis, were very much exceptions. And I was further away from the mainstream movie business than any of them! Mysterious Planet was really not much more than a home movie. It’s a whole lot simpler (and cheaper) to make an independent movie now. Digital technology has changed everything, especially when it comes to post production. When I first started I could never have imagined having what amounts to complete post production facilities on a desktop. You can buy virtually everything you need to complete your movie for about what I paid to do the sound mix on my first two movies!

If you look back on all the films you’ve made so far, could you pick out one or two faves that you personally like best? Or would you rather say that all your movies are equally close and dear to you? If not, what are your fave Brett Piper flicks? Why?

Brett: I really don’t think most of my movies are very good, as movies anyway. All of them are considerable accomplishments in their own way, but that doesn't make them any more watchable. Only in the last few years have I started making movies I consider worth seeing. Shock-O-Rama is certainly my best movie, although the version available on DVD is a poor copy of the film I made. Bite Me is fun.

The only film I’ve ever seen by you is the low budget horror flick “Drainiac”, which I really liked a lot. Though it’s been shot in the year 2000, it totally looks and feels like a cult B-movie from the 80s. How do you manage to get such a retro look and feel?  Does it happen on purpose or by happenstance?

Brett: I think a lot of the reason it looks like an 80s movie is because it was made under many of the same restrictions as a lot of other “classic” movies of that period. It wasn’t particularly intentional.

Though “Drainiac” had been shot on a tiny budget of only 10,000$, you nevertheless managed to shoot on 16mm film and not on video. Why did you make that decision? And, more generally speaking, what would you say are the advantages of both formats, video and film? 

Brett: At the time I made Drainiac video technology was nowhere near good enough for feature films. It hasn’t quite reached the point where it looks as good as film yet, but it’s getting there fast. The main advantages of video are cost and convenience of course. Film is much more difficult to use than video and much, much more expensive, but it’s still aesthetically superior. For now.

One thing that I really love about “Drainiac” are the special effects. It’s unbelievable that you realized all those latex creatures and stuff like that on such a small budget. Did you build the monsters and that “wall of faces” exclusively for “Drainiac” or did you still have ‘em lying around in your basement from former productions?

Brett: All the creatures and props you saw in Drainiac were built specifically for that movie, In fact there were several more creatures built but not used (although they’ve popped up in many a Polonia Brothers movie since then!). 

Not only the latex monsters were great, but also the miniatures you’ve built of the haunted house and the car, for example. How the hell did you manage to make ‘em look that real?

Brett: The car was a bitch to build. I’d hoped to buy a commercial model to use but it turned out the car I had to match had never been licensed to any model companies, so I had to build it from scratch,. One thing I did to save time and enhance realism was to photograph the real car from all angles then photocopy all the small details, stickers, logos, license plates and such, and attach them to the miniature. The model house was built from the inside out like a real house, starting with the frame and working out to the siding, shingles, and miniature glass --- which was thin sheets of cast resin, individually made and “shattered” to look like the broken glass in house we used as a location.

Another effect I liked a lot was the water that disappeared in the corners of the room. I hope this doesn’t come across like a guy urging a magician to reveal all his favorite tricks, but I’d love to know how you made that effect.

Brett: That didn’t turn out as well as I’d liked. It was very simple: water was poured over the floor from outside the frame and then run backwards in post, and the walls were matted over that so it looked like the water was creeping “inside” the walls.

You’ve said in the director’s commentary that almost all of the actors were high school kids with hardly any or even no acting experience at all. What was it like to work with ‘em? And do you prefer to work with “dark horses” in general or did you just have to cast kids, who’ve hardly ever acted before, because of “Drainiac’s” small budget?

Brett: I enjoyed working with the cast of Drainiac. I mostly used actual high school kids for authenticity --- I didn’t want older actors playing kids if I could help it (although Georgia Hatzis, who played Julie, was 23. I’d have preferred a younger actress but I think she did an excellent job.)

As far as I know the film came out on video first. What company did release the film back then? And do you know how many copies they’ve sold all together? Did “Drainiac” make its money back and maybe even earn a small profit?

Brett: Drainiac was originally released by a company called American Film Partners. To this day I have never received a complete accounting of the film’s sales. In fact toward the end of our contract the distributor refused to communicate with me at all, in spite of many attempts to contact him by phone, e-mail and registered mail. This kind of thing is, unfortunately, more the rule than the exception in the movie business.

For the POP DVD you’ve even re-cut and re-worked parts of the film. In what way is the new version different from the old one and would you say that the POP version is the ultimate “Drainiac” version or could you imagine to work on it again someday in the future and make it even better?

Brett: One of the ways the Pop release of Drainiac is an improvement is that it’s shorter. Mike Raso considers anything over 70 minutes to be feature length so I got to cut out a lot of scenes that I thought dragged and generally improve the pace. I also did a lot of work on the audio and improved it greatly, although the sound on the DVD release is so poor that you really can’t tell. I also tweaked some of the effects. For example, in the original version I had no way to make the full size props of the demon (the tentacle that gropes the kids, etc.) match the look and texture of the miniature. I managed to correct that this time around. It was a lot of work, and I don’t imagine ever returning to Drainiac for a third version. The movie simply isn’t worth it.

So far, I’ve read a lot of raving reviews for “Drainiac”. What do you think is the film’s special something that makes lots of people like it so much?

Brett: I’ve read some good reviews of Drainiac but I’ve read quite a few reviews that trash it also. I think those people who do like it are responding to the fact that it isn’t a glossy mega-budget Hollywood movie. It’s cheap and it looks it (although it doesn’t look nearly as cheap as it actually is) and that gives it simplicity and a sincerity that some people can relate to. I tend to appreciate that kind of thing myself. Also there’s the “retro” feel. Even though, as you pointed out, the movie was made in 2000 there’s still a certain nostalgia element to it.

Do you already have another project up your sleeve that you’ll be working on in the near future? If so, what will your next film be all about?

Brett: I have several screenplays I’m trying to get off the ground. I was supposed to be doing a movie for Fred Olan Ray but for reasons of his own he backed out, claiming my script wasn’t “serious” enough (this from the man who gave us Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers!) Maybe in response to this my current screenplays are getting even wackier. No one’s going to tell me I have to make serious movies!

If I’m not mistaken, all of your films so far have been at least to some extent horror-related. Could you imagine ever doing a non-horror project like a drama, for example, or a comedy?

Brett: As I mentioned above I think a lot of my work is comedy. Bite Me certainly is, and so is the zombie episode of Shock-O-Rama. I’m not real interested in making a straight drama, although I have always wanted to do a movie about the origins of the film industry. There’s a lot of fascinating material there but something like that is far beyond my resources, now or in the foreseeable future.

Do you still watch a lot of movies in your spare time? If so, what do you think about the current status of the horror genre? Do you like the new films as well as the old classics or do you think that they’re in some kind of way missing the magic of the 80s b-movies? And are there any current horror flicks that you’d like to recommend to our readers?

Brett: I watch a fair number of movies but mostly older ones. I’m still trying to catch up on some of the drive-in “classics” I missed as a kid. I recently watched Mario Bava’s Planet of the Vampires, which is a wonderful movie. I don’t watch many contemporary horror films. They’re not fun, unless you’re some kind of latent sadist. Slasher movies have ruined the “horror” genre. What pass for horror movies now are really about torture and mutilation and not much else. You couldn't pay me to sit through that crap. That said, I really enjoyed Slither and I loved Shaun of the Dead.

What would you say is the best way to stay up to date about your filmmaking career? To be honest, I found it quite hard to get into contact with you and ask for this interview and it only happened by chance that a friend of mine forwarded my email to you. So I wonder if there’s an easier way for all the other Brett Piper fans out there to get in touch with you.

Brett: Man, I wish there were. I ought to have a web site but I’m embarrassed to admit I don’t have the slightest idea how to create one. While I was working with Pop Cinema you could keep tabs on my latest work by visiting their site but those days are over. Maybe I should hire a press agent.

Thanks for the interview, Brett. “Drainiac” is a killer movie that no b-movie freak should miss. Of course I’ll check out more of your flicks in the future. That’s it for now. I say bye now and leave the famous last words to you.

Brett: I’m glad you liked Drainiac and thanks very much for your interest in my work. When you toil at the bottom of the movie biz, trying to overcome all the roadblocks and obstacles that are constantly thrown at you, every little bit of encouragement helps!
 

Questions: Juli 2008 by Tobi
Answers: Juli 2008 by Brett Piper
All Screenshots taken from the "Drainiac" DVD on Shock-O-Rama