Brand horror musical comedy Open House, billed as Texas Chain Saw Massacre meets Rocky Horror, starts its crowdfunding campaign today, and we got the chance to quiz director Ricky Glore about the film.
What can you tell us about developing the script for Open House?
In the past couple of years, I have realized a lot of interesting things about myself when it comes to writing. I can come up with a million titles, ideas, loglines, and pitches, but when it comes to putting my fingers to the keyboard and developing a script, I have about 100 (maybe an exaggeration?) scripts that never get passed page 10.
I say that, because what I’ve realized is that I have to be saying something personal, to some degree, in my stories, to really be compelled to keep going and finish it. Now, when you first look at the pitch for OPEN HOUSE, you’re probably thinking, “how is a story about a couple of deranged realtors who kidnap people and torture them in a basement of a house by workshopping their original musical, and eating their flesh,” personal? Well…I met my wife while living in Chicago, and after meeting her, she kind of became my muse, and I started writing and producing storefront musical theatre shows, where she would act in. So the realtor characters in OPEN HOUSE are really just a psycho, bonkers, delusional, homicidal, exaggerated version of what my wife and I were while performing in the Windy City.
How did the experience compare to All Your Friends Are Dead?
It was pretty much the same. ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE DEAD was extremely personal, and kind of a semi-autobiographical “what if” of my own life. So because I had this strong personal connection, both scripts just kind of poured out of me fairly quickly because I so intimately knew these characters and these situations.
The biggest difference between AYFAD & OPEN HOUSE is developing the original music that appears in the film, but because I’m working with composer/arranger David Kornfeld (who I previously worked with in Chicago), we have a shorthand and work pretty quickly.
What can you tell us about the perks of the upcoming crowdfunding campaign?
Nick Hiance (Executive Producer/Cinematographer/Co-Founder of NKY Films) and I both agreed to keep the perks simple like we did for ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE DEAD.
The people who contribute aren’t “donating,” they’re actually buying products in advance and producing the film. We are offering a pre-order of a special limited edition of a blu ray for the film (once it is completed), social media shout outs, the chance to have your name in the credits, a associate producer credit, a producer credit (all of which will appear on posters for the film and on IMDb), and two opportunities to be killed in the film!
You have described the film as Texas Chain Saw Massacre meets Rocky Horror and Waiting for Guffman, which sounds like a real melting pot of ideas. How did you look to mix these type of narratives?
Because there are musical elements mixed with cannibalistic gruesome horror, I thought TEXAS CHAINSAW & ROCKY HORROR seemed like a pretty good comparison. Where GUFFMAN comes in is a different angle on both horror and dark comedy. The awkwardness/neediness of our lead realtors is truly terrifying, but also with that community theatre, delusional mentality, comes a really dark comedic dryness and absurdity that is just so much fun to watch and sometimes feels like you’re watching a car accident about to happen. Not that car accidents are fun, but I tend to relate, as I think most do, to the Mel Brooks quote, that I’m going to paraphrase, “When I see you fall down a manhole, it’s comedy. When I get a hangnail, it’s a tragedy.”
What relationship do you have with the aforementioned films, I take it you are a fan of all of them?
Yeah, I think the original TEXAS CHAINSAW is still one of the scariest, most disturbing horror films. It’s very well made but has almost a documentary feel to it, with its rawness. I love the music to ROCKY HORROR and the cast in GUFFMAN is just one of the best comedic ensembles to ever be put on film.
Providing the crowdfunding is successful, when do you plan to start shooting?
We will begin shooting in Northern Kentucky on July 18th.
Have locations been sourced yet? And if so, what particulars were you looking for, for the house?
We are really fortunate to be filming a majority of the film in Wilder, Kentucky at the famed haunted bar BOBBY MACKEY’S. We’ll be doubling the basement there, as the torture basement of the house that the realty couple keeps people in.
Most of the rest of the film will be shot across different areas of the Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati area.
Support Open House on Kickstarter.
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