BAND APART

The Los Angeles Times has called him the straight to video “leader of the pack.” But in many ways Charles Band is even more than that. It’s almost as he is the George Lucas of low budget horror. As founder and chairman of Full Moon Features, Band has directed close to thirty films and is closing in on the 300 mark as writer and producer. Many of his films have spawned a number of sequels, lines of dolls and various other merchandise. “Trancers,” “Subspecies,” “Puppet Master” and “Demonic Dolls” being some of the better known serials Full Moon has released. His movies are hardly ever intended to be stand alone visions. They are more like television pilots testing to see what works best. With a slew of exciting things happening in the next several months (the Full Moon Horror Road Show, DVD box sets, the Tommy Chong film “Evil Bong” and the Sid Haig project “Dead Man’s Hand”), I was actually surprised Band was able to take time from his busy schedule to have a phone interview with me, but he did and here is how that went. Band talks up the who and the what of the second edition of his tour, which is essentially covering the country in the short span of two months and sounds somewhat like a “Rocky Horror Picture Show” experience on crack. He also talks his new movies, a possible Las Vegas casino ride or attraction of some sort and shares a bit of his thoughts on today’s horror genre.

Charlie and his Full Moon horror factory.

CCF: First off, to tell you the truth, I had never heard of the Full Moon Horror Road Show before. This is the second year, so I must have missed it the first time around. Why don’t you tell me what it’s all about?

CB: Well, it’s something I invented just because I was trying to find a way last year to get out on the road much like a rock and roll band goes out, plays tunes and turns people on, hoping they go buy or download their music. I’ve been an independent filmmaker for many years, specializing in horror, sci-fi and fantasy and as the world has shifted way more towards huge mega budget movies many are now in this category and they didn’t used to be. So I figured it was time as an independent making five to six movies a year to sort of do the same thing as a band. I’m kind of unique in that I’ve specialized in a genre for decades and I’ve got a lot of fans who love the movies, so I figured, well, we’ll see what happens. It was very successful. It wasn’t huge, but we had anywhere from 300 to 500 people showing up at every city last year. It’s a bit of a demented Ozzfest. I do everything you could imagine. Some of it is informative and I also talk about making movies and experiences with people, many that have become stars. But it’s also fun. I have audience participation stuff. I just have fun with the genre and fun with the fans who enjoy the movies. I have guest celebrities. I bring movies and merchandise that are tied to the films. Having learned from the first 18 city tour last year of what the fans are looking for, which is even crazier stuff - hot chicks and God knows what else - this year I’ve sort of grafted more of that into the show, including an on stage guliotene or head chopping expercince in every city which should be fun. It’s a bit of everything. It’s a fun interactive two and a half hours. It’s actually a show that is really tricky to describe. I become sort of a standup guy or a magician, maybe a bit of both. The reviews were all good from the people who saw it last year. They like it and I’m looking forward to it again.

CCF: Where the hell did you get the idea for the live decapitations gimmick?

CB: (LOL) I’ve been a fan of magic and magicians all my life. I have a collection of magic posters. I thought well, I’m kind of doing what the guy did a hundred years ago. I’m doing a tour and taking my bag of tricks city to city. So why not do somthing that’s an illusion that’s some what germane to the movies I make? I just thought, wouldn’t it be great to do a decapitation. I did the research and I can’t say whether it will be a real decapitation, that will be for the fans to figure out, but we’ve got a pretty convincing illusion.

CCF: That won’t be with audience participation will it?

CB: Well, I think it will be. We’ll choose someone from the audience and chop their head off.

CCF: Okay.

CB: Hopefully, it works or it will be a very short lived tour.

CCF: (LOL) Yeah, I guess if it goes wrong...

CB: If it goes wrong it will be a different kind of head line.

CCF: (LOL) Also, you are letting people win a chance to be in one of your movies?

CB: Yeah we are doing that and there are probably twenty different moments in the show involving the audience in different ways. Yeah, that is one of them. Luckily there are a lot of Full Moon fans out there. One of the other things I am doing is bringing four to six original puppets or dolls from these movies and they will be auctioned off, giving someone a chance to have an original Blade or Tunneler from “Puppet Master,” Jack in the Box from “Demonic Toys” so we have some of that going on. It’s a real smorgasbord of stuff hopefully the audience will enjoy.

1992’s “Demonic Toys”

CCF: Is that going to be just one person over the course of the entire tour that will get a chance to be in one of the movies?

CB: No we will do more. We are just figuring that out. There’s the logistics involved in how to make that work, but it will be way more than one. It won’t be twenty. Maybe five or six. It just depends on how we set it up. That’s just one of the notes in the show. I want to say, if nothing else, this is some what of a burlesque and a lot of people haven’t seen anything quite like it. Sort of a live event that trades on this history of horror films. Again, we have guest celebrities, even ones that have become well known that have been in my movies are coming and joining. It depends on what cities as to who will show up.

CCF: As far as the guest appearances are you not revealing who will be where?

CB: I know as best as anyone will know. It’s hard though because when you have actors that are working a lot, Sid Haig is an example... I can publish where I think people will probably show up, but it is really hard to know for sure. It’s so likely to change. My experience last year is almost all of it changed. I better not say and leave it at there will be at least one surprise guest celebrity per city.

CCF: People like Sid Haig though are who will be popping up?

CB: Yeah, Sid Haig, Michael Berryman, Tim Thomerson, Jeffrey Combs, there’s a lot of well known actors that have been in my movies.

(Continued - Click to read Part II)