The Horror Revolution: First off, what’s your favorite horror movie? What movie scared you the most?
Tom Devlin: These are two very different answers. First, my favorite horror film would be Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I think it is a perfect work of art. And the stuff that scared me most when I was a kid was reality-based stuff, Silence of the Lambs or Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.
THR: The After Dark is a really interesting film. I believe I called it a punk rock vampire retelling of Romeo & Juliet. What inspired the film?
TD: Well, you hit it on the head there. Baz Lurman’s Romeo and Juliet was definitely an influence as well as the concept of Lost Boys versus Interview with a Vampire with just a sprinkling of Peter Pan in there.
THR: I loved the cast for the film. Was it easier choreographing fight scenes using a few actors who have been professional wrestlers, and how much of their expertise was used in crafting the way the scenes would run?
TD: I 100% cast wrestlers so they could help with the choreography of the fight scenes. Also wrestlers are really good with improv and when we’re making movies as quick and dirty as we do, it helps a lot that they can block their own movements and if we have to go off book, they usually have no problem.
THR: You’re an effects wizard, with a long list of films that you’ve provided the visual effects for. How has the transition been from effects work to the director’s chair, and how much of your skills in your “old job” have you been able to bring to your new one?
TD: I have done special makeup effects for 25 years now and I probably will for the rest of my career, but there has definitely been a shift in the tides. I fell in love with directing. I do definitely write movies around cool effects and monsters because that’s the stuff that I like and I love to help pull those together, but I lean on my team to pull it off while I’m directing.
THR: I’ve noticed that a lot of effects and makeup people eventually make the transition to directing. Are there certain things about that side of the crew that add themselves particularly well into making a film, or is it just familiarity with the process of filmmaking that helps people in your position become directors?
TD: The funny thing is I never noticed. Never understood why so many effects artists became directors like John Buechler, Greg Nicotero, Tom Savini, and several others. I was never searching to direct, but once I dipped my toes in the pool, I realized all the time I’ve spent on set working for great directors and producers alike I picked up many of the skills to create a great movie and a good story and it’s addicting.
THR: You also run Tom Devlin’s Monster Museum. Tell me more about that, it sounds amazing!
TD: At Tom Devlin‘s Monster Museum our goal is to preserve the art and history of practical makeup effects, something I am very passionate about. Everything within the museum is pretty much a one of a kind work of art that I created. There are a couple donated items that are important in film history like the Wishmaster appliances used in the film as well as the spider gremlin from Gremlins 2.
THR: If you could work with anyone in the industry, alive or dead, who would it be and why?
TD: I have worked with most of my heroes. I guess if I could work with anyone, I would have loved to get to put Warwick Davis into makeup as the Leprechaun. Also as a Director I would love to make a bio pic about the band, Social Distortion and I had always joked that I would have Henry Rollins play Mike Ness, that being said it’s not much of a joke. I think Henry Rollins is a great actor and I would love to work with him at some point.
THR: I know that you’ve spent the majority of your career working in horror, but if you could work in any other genre, what would it be and why?
TD: I have spent a lot of my career working in Horror, but I like all types of film. I love kids movies. I like comedy. Really there’s not a genre I would not want to work in. I would absolutely love to create a musical someday about my childhood in high school years.
THR: Horror remakes are a sensitive subject among fans, but there are some that work incredibly well even when the original is beloved. Do you dislike horror remakes, and if you could remake any film from the director’s chair, what would it be?
TD: I never hate a remake because it’s a remake. I hate a remake because it is a poorly made retelling of a story that was so good. If I could remake a film, it would be a lesser known movie like My Boyfriends Back. Or The Last Starfighter. I would be very respectful of the source material and the fan base surrounding which I think is sometimes forgotten. I will say one of my favorite remakes was The Hills Have Eyes. As well as John Carpenter’s The Thing.
THR: What’s next for you? Are there any exciting upcoming projects that you can talk about?
TD: We just locked up some locations for the end of September. We are going to start in on a Sasquatch film that we put off last year due to a storm taking out the location we were shooting in. We are going to get back to that but we have rewritten the whole script, so I think it will be better for it The movie is called Bloody Bluff.
THR: Finally, what’s the first concert you ever went to?
TD: Ha ha ha my first concert was Collective Soul in Kansas City, Kansas sometime around 1995. My first punk show was No Use for a Name at the Sherman theater in Stroudsburg, PA right around the same time.
