Interview with Jason Christ

by Rhonda Baughman

Christ is Coming! Run For Your Lives!

The title is too easy – especially when your subject is Jason Christ: crowned an alt-indie-punker of the most notorious extreme. And he’s cute, too! However, it’s actually his creativity and intelligence that drove me to interview him … but the cute factor never hurt anyone in this game.

1. What sets your film company apart from the rest of the indie pack?

Well, thanks to digital video, the home video market has been flooded in recent years by an endless onslaught of independent films. It’s really hard to make yourself stand out and be noticed. I think Wicked Pixel Cinema has built its fan base over the years because we try to go beyond what it normally expected from the independent scene. Hey, we all have to make money somewhere down the line if we want to continue making films, but we don’t make films with that sole purpose in mind. We make the kind of films that we want to make and we go to extreme lengths to produce quality films that will hopefully both shatter expectations from our fans and stand the test of time.

Over the years, I think Wicked Pixel Cinema has done a commendable job creating a professional image that has enabled us to collaborate with various people and companies in the larger filmmaking community. We’re not a bunch of uptight assholes or anything, but I think we take that image seriously and we do our best to extend that image in everything that we do, whether it’s talking to distribution companies or mingling with fans that dig our work.

2. How does it feel, really, to take the Lord’s name in vain?

What?!? Oh my goodness. I would never do such a thing cuz’ I think God is fucking rad!

3. Aside from acting, what are some of your other talents?

Talents? Well, that’s very nice of you to say that I have some kind of talent. Having worked in grassroots filmmaking for many years, I’ve found that I’ve become more well-rounded as a filmmaker by doing different things. For example, the more I learn about acting, the more insight I get as a screenwriter.

When I act in a film, I like to just focus on the acting (although as anyone that has worked on an indie film will know you usually end up juggling multiple production duties at the same time). When I set out to make a film, I usually turn into a bit of a maniac by doing as much as possible (directing, writing, producing, cinematography, editing, catering…). It’s not like I’m some kind of ego freak or anything. I find that the best way for me to get the ideas that are floating around in my head into the finished film is to simply exercise as much influence over the production as possible. That approach damn near killed me on SAVAGE HARVEST 2, but I’m very happy with how that film turned out. Even though I consider myself to be an introverted kind of filmmaker, I look forward to opening myself up to more people to collaborate with me in any productions that I work on in the future.

4. Please list your film history – and give us some juicy tidbits from the sets…

I’ve been working in the independent film scene for over ten years now, so I’ve been able to conjure up a decent body of work, both as an actor and as a director.

I got my start as an actor in ICE FROM THE SUN, which was a fucked-up acid trip from hell filmed on Super 8mm. I was very happy with how that film turned out and I’ve had a strong working relationship with that film’s director (Eric Stanze, who is the head cheese over here at Wicked Pixel Cinema) ever since. After ICE, I appeared in such films as BIZARRE LUST OF A SEXUAL DEVIANT, THE CHRISTMAS SEASON MASSACRE and THE UNDERTOW (which is a personal favorite of mine) for SRS Cinema, a company based out of New York. In recent years, I’ve appeared in DEADWOOD PARK and STUDENT OF LEISURE (which will hopefully be released later this year).

As a director, most of my work consists of short films. A couple of them, VICTIM and CURVEBALL: PILE OF JUNK, have been released on DVD on THE SEVERED HEAD NETWORK film compilation. My most recent short film, THE QUIET PLACE, is currently making the rounds on the festival circuit. I made my feature debut with SAVAGE HARVEST 2: OCTOBER BLOOD, which was recently released in a 2-disc special edition from Elite Entertainment.

I’m afraid I don’t really have a ton of juicy tidbits from the set to report. Indie filmmaking is a million miles away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood filmmaking, but I’ve definitely had my fair share of memorable experiences over the years. Back when I was directing SAVAGE HARVEST 2, I was about three months into the production and I was in pretty bad shape. With little sleep and a constant feeling that the production was going to crush me, I suddenly had my ass handed to me with a major, unexpected production problem that nearly threatened to throw the whole production off the rails. I was driving to Eric Stanze’s apartment to pick up my copy of the SCRAPBOOK DVD on the night before Thanksgiving in 2002 when I got into a major car accident. My truck was totaled, I got banged up pretty bad, and got sent to the nearest hospital. While I was grateful to still be amongst the living, I was feeling pretty shitty about the prospects of my film getting done. I soon forgot about all that once I got to the hospital. Since it was the holiday season, the emergency room was packed. The staff didn’t have any place to put me, so they put me in a padded room where they normally put mental patients or people with suicidal tendencies. I have a very distinct memory of sitting in that padded room covered in my own blood, laughing hysterically at the whole situation. I’m sure that I looked like a complete nutjob that belonged in that room! The production was delayed for a few months while I healed, then everyone jumped back into the movie full force and got it done. In the end, I guess all is well that ends well, but that was definitely a rough production snag to get myself through.

5. Idols/influences?

I’m definitely a major fan of David Cronenberg. I absolutely loved his approach to filmmaking back when he was making horror films. He treated horror with genuine intelligence and respect that I found very inspiring. Films like RABID, THE BROOD, SCANNERS, VIDEODROME, and THE FLY (and even Cronenberg’s more mainstream work outside of the horror genre like A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE), showed me it's possible to make films that can give the audience a gut-wrenching visceral experience with gore and special effects (particularly VIDEODROME) while framing that carnage within an intelligent and thought-provoking narrative.

I'd have to say that Eric Stanze himself has been a great influence on me and my work. I find it truly amazing to see the various styles of filmmaking that he utilizes on each film that he does, from the wild and hallucinogenic acid-trip visuals in ICE FROM THE SUN to the slow-burn narrative and visually-intricate atmosphere of DEADWOOD PARK. The aspect of Eric's approach to filmmaking that I find especially intriguing is the fact that he doesn't let budget dictate his creativity. He's never had a substantial budget throughout his entire career, and yet he uses his innovation and intuition to create films that are both truly memorable and that excel far beyond his financial constraints. I can't think of a better source of inspiration than that.

6. With whom would you like to work with?

I would love to be able to work with Cronenberg. That would definitely be a fucking dream come true, but I would also dig collaborating with filmmakers such as Darren Aronofsky and Hal Hartley. I really admire both of those directors immensely and I think it would be great to work with them in some capacity.

When it comes right down to it, I’m down for working with anyone that has a drive to do good work. In recent years, I’ve been impressed with films from indie directors such as Fred Vogel (THE REDSIN TOWER) and Alan Rowe Kelly (I’LL BURY YOU TOMORROW); filmmakers that go that extra mile to create films that go beyond the norm.

Of course, I’d want to continue my working relationship with Eric Stanze. Our collaboration over the years has been one of the best working relationships in my career. He’s a great friend and we share a lot of common ground when it comes to filmmaking, so it just makes sense to keep that collaboration going.

7. With whom would you never like to work with again?

Well, outside of my work with Wicked Pixel, I’ve been pretty selective with people that I’ve worked on films with. St. Louis has an alarming amount of wannabe filmmakers that talk a good game, but more times than not, turn out to be full of shit. I guess I’ve either been intuitive enough or just damn lucky to have steered clear of people like that, so I don’t really have a hit list of people that I’d never want to work with again. I try my best to cut out the bullshit from the get-go so I don’t have to deal with any unnecessary problems during a production. Of course, you can’t always avoid that, and there have been working relationships that have soured during the production of a movie, but I try to conduct myself in a professional manner and just let that particular relationship fade away….unless they fuck with me repeatedly. In that case, I’d just fucking kill them and bury them in an unmarked grave.

8. What future projects do you have coming up?

As I write this, we’re nearing the completion of our latest production, RATLINE. I co-write the script with Stanze, who is directing the film, and I play one of the leads. I’m pretty excited about how the film is turning out. It’s a hard-edged mix of crime drama and supernatural horror. With our last film, DEADWOOD PARK, we went more for a suggestive tone and concentrated more on atmosphere than gore. With RATLINE, we’re still concentrating on the atmosphere, but we’ve ramped up the gore significantly. It’s a pretty harsh film. It’s the cinematic equivalent to a swift, hard kick in the balls! It should really please fans of some of our earlier films, like SCRAPBOOK and ICE FROM THE SUN. We’ve had an amazing cast for this one, with some Wicked Pixel vets like Emily Haack (SCRAPBOOK, SAVAGE HARVEST 2) and DJ Vivona (ICE FROM THE SUN) and some fresh faces like Sarah Swofford, Amanda Pemberton and Alex Del Monacco all thrown into the mix. We’ve also had a kick-ass crew that managed to pull off some movie miracles with minimal resources. This has definitely been one of the most challenging films that I’ve ever worked on. I’m really looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.

As RATLINE begins the post-production phase, we’ll be hitting the convention circuit to start promoting the film. One of our first stops will be the Texas Frightmare Weekend, which will be going down May 1-3 in Dallas. You can go to http://www.texasfrightmareweekend.com for info on the convention. Eric Stanze will be one of the featured guests, so swing on by the Wicked Pixel table and say hello.