Spotlight: Eddie Ray, The King of Halloween
Interviewer: Maximillian Corwell
1. People call you the King of Halloween here in Atlanta, because you live it all year long. To those who don’t know you, tell them a little bit about you. How would you describe yourself?
A HALLOWEEN KID! Some people may like the season of Halloween, but I believe in it, there is a difference. I work for its success each year and I bust my ass for it. I start celebrating each year September 1st and then it ends for me on November 1st, and then I’m sad. I would die for Halloween if need be, so all you posers recognize. When all of you are still talking about summer time fun in July, I am waiting for the autumn wind to blow to let me know Halloween is near. I even have a tattoo that proves my allegiance to the season.
2. Throughout the years you have been making your own horror films, spoofs, comedies, and videos about orangutans. What made you get involved with becoming a local filmographer?
I have been filming since I was 10 years old and it’s something I feel strongly about. I love the magic of film and I love filming things of my own. I love talking about films, and it’s probably all I f**king talk about. I guess I love storytelling, and I make the films I make because they are not made. I love over the top characters who are fun to watch and fun to be with, like characters who you would want to be best friends with. Real life sucks; I am not interested in documentaries.
3. Do you have any new projects you are working on right now that you can tell us about?
I just finishing working on a new short film that will be entered into film festivals in the coming year called “SATANIC PANIC: BAND OUT OF HELL”. It’s a horror comedy about an electronic dance band that gets mixed up with Satan worshippers and they have to fight back. There will be a music video online in the next few weeks that will act as a trailer for the film. Yes, the characters are all over the top and you will wish you were best friends with them.
4. You have worked for the music industry in the past and now are at Adult Swim (part of Turner). There is never a creative shortage around you, so do people you are around inspire you or do you tend to keep your creativity to yourself?
I tend to be making up s**t all day and all night. I can’t help it, I just think of nutty s**t all the time. I know with ”SATANIC PANIC: BAND OUT OF HELL”, I took things I learned from my record label days and also from the cartoon “Jem and the Holograms”, but I surround myself with creative people like Twinhead Theatre, and friends like Matt Gallo, Kevin Vickery, Cherry DelRosario and Marlinda Phillips who love horror and help me come up with crazy ass ideas. It is really about people believing in me and supporting my dreams.
5. In the past year you have started working on a new website where you give movie reviews of newer and older films, and not PG reviews. What started off as a small project has grown to get some big attention in the last few months. What made you start doing these film reviews and what has the feedback been?
I actually used to write movie reviews for my High School newspaper, but didn’t for a long time after that, until a friend of mine named Merrill Hagan heard me discussing movies every week at work. He thought I had a voice for it, and that I sounded honest, you know with all the cursing and jokes, and he thought I should write them again. It lead to some other stuff which then lead to a blog. Now I write them all the time, and people seem to like them a lot. I guess because I am honest, and I try not to be pretentious about it. I just speak the truth, the rated “R” truth, but that’s just the way I talk. The world I live is in rated f**kin “R” not “PG”.
6. Name it, your favorite 3 movies and your favorite 3 directors.
1. Halloween: 1978 (best movie ever for a million reasons).
2. Aliens: 1986 (This movie has action, horror, drama, sci-fi, comedy, etc.).
3. The Transformers: The Animated Movie: 1986 (I know the entire script by heart).
1. John Carpenter: This man is brilliant to me. The way his films are shot, his scores, his actors, and his story lines. His films never get old to me.
2. James Cameron: The man is a perfectionist and his work shows. His worst film is better than most films EVER made.
3. Neil Marshall: As of late I have enjoyed every film of his and love how violent and exciting they are. His stories are fun and always make sense to me.
7. You have done work with many haunted houses in Atlanta, so are you getting ready to help out anywhere this year? Are you doing anything big for Halloween that you know about already?
I have worked at Chambers of Horror in Atlanta (www.chambersofhorroratl.com). I have also worked at Atlanta Zombie Apocalypse (http://www.atlantazombie.com) last year and will be back this year. This one is pretty incredible and is literally like being inside a zombie film. You are running for your life with soldiers who are trying to save you and they have to shoot zombies off of you. For me it is about living out a horror fantasy. I get to live out a dream come true. I love it.
10. You just recently hit over 1million total views for your films on You Tube. That’s insane. Who has helped you pave the way to being a success online?
I’d like to thank Samhain for getting me here, and if you don’t know what this word means then go to hell. My friends, actors, and my cousin, all of them have given their free time and talents in helping me make my dreams become reality. Also for not thinking I am insane. I can only come up with ideas, characters and stories. Humans have to play the parts. I can’t do it alone. There are so many people who help me and I love them all. You are all gifted as f**k and are real stars.
11. What song is stuck on repeat in your iPod right now?
“Cutie Patootie” by Eden Wood (she is on the TV show “Toddlers and Tiaras”),
and also the score to John Carpenter’s THE WARD.
For More Visit:
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/eddieray
Ebola Entertainment You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/EbolaEnt
Eddie Ray’s Movie Reviews:
http://eddieraysmoviereviews.wordpress.com/
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