Film maker Phil Herman
By AL J. Vermette
AL: Please tell our readers how you first got into film making?
Phil: I Have been making movies since I received a video camera for my 14th
birthday. I had always loved horror movies and was a big fan of Halloween and
Dawn of the Dead. Plus all the 70's grindhouse and hammer stuff. From the time I
was around 8 I wrote stories. A few times I was able to shoot them on Super 8 but
never developed them and the owner of the camera never did anything with them.
So that Christmas I started shooting. At first I ran around the house killing Mom
dad and other members of the family. But when spring came around I was out
there shooting and killing all the neighborhood kids and whoever stumbled on my
shoots. That was the beginning, most of the movies were shorts. It was just the
beginning.
AL: What are some of the films that you have created?
Phil: Our first full length movie was called Hell On Earth. It was sort of a Road
Warrior, Last man on Earth type of film. Which was followed by Jacker, Burglar from
Hell, Jacker 2, Tales Till The End, The Midnight Hour, Horrortales.666, Around
Midnight, After Midnight and Always Midnight.
AL: When making a new movie how long will it take from start till viewing?
Phil: When we make a movie, the first few weeks everything always goes fine. But
then the no shows, weather, script problems, budget problem personality problems
all start. So it usually takes about a year to do a movie. Our biggest problem is
securing an editor. We have been blessed with all great people but to get them
takes time. Editing is a difficult time consuming talent and our budget is very low.
Our best editor to date so far has been Chris Kahler. He suffered through us for
two movies Around and After Midnight.
AL: What was the biggest film to date that you have worked on?
Phil: Our Biggest film was Called HOE: Arena of Death. It took us 5 years to do.
The movie was all on location. An old WW II army base. It was the ultimate place to
film. Cause it is a national park now. But the old bunkers and mess halls and
assorted house are there. We also used a Bathhouse that was under renovation
for the Arena. Now all this was done with no permission. Just shoot and run with
casts sometime of 20+ people. Dressed up in rags and monster faces, barbaric
weapons and other assorted scary things.
We would enter innocently and transform into the beast and characters in the place.
We had secret places to hide the clothes, weapons, alcohol (for fires). We went in
small groups and met up. We had a ball. What made this such a long shoot was
that we had to actually construct in abandoned houses, jail cells. They were
constructed of old bed frames and pallets. That took almost a month.
They when shooting in the Arena one of the cast members had the great idea of
turning the lights on the perimeter of the place and attracting the local park police to
stumble in on us. They surrounded the place and they didn't notice 20 people slip
out a secret door we had made into the parking lot. But they saw us driving away
and gave chase.
What did I say, are you guys filming this? Unfortunately that was not filmed and they
could only identify one of us. So he was arrested, we bailed him out and lie low for
a few years. So we were filming a year then stopped for 2 then finished and then
took a year to edit cause we had 8 hours of rough footage. Wooh just got a
flashback and got dizzy.
AL: What movies have you watched over the years that you find slipping
into your own work?
Phil: I can't really say one specific movie. But you can see Night of the Living Dead,
Halloween, Creepshow, Road Warrior, Nightmare on Elm Street and..and it's so
hard. I make all different type of movies. Everyone looks different and there not all
horror.
AL: What movie have you yet worked on that would be the dream project
that you would most like to see come to the light of day?
Phil: My dream project I am shopping around is a movie Called "Shellville." A group
of college kids from upstate NY making their way to a Canada film festival, which
they have won. They land up in the wrong town on the way up and suspense and
chill pursue them though the end.
This will appeal to the teen audience of horror movies. It is sort of "Wrong Turn"
genre stuff. But the characters are real. And it is an indy horror movie about indy
horror movie makers that finally get there dream of success and it is ruined on their
way to cash in. It is very brutal and suspenseful.
I have had more foreign companies interested than US. I guess cause of the
material. It is not a shy Hollywood horror movie but it is like the gore of High
Tension, Wolf Creek and Hostel. Brutal! All my movies sell pretty good overseas.
But we do have a big following here.
AL: For all the young film makers out there wondering how to get into the
craft, what would you say to them to help get them started?
Phil: Try to go to a filmmaker school where you can try to do well and get your foot
in the door. This level of filming is hard work and no money what's so ever. We all
keep hoping that someone will see something that no one else has and say,"Man
you guys are good here is 1,000,000 go make a movie your way. But you know
what we get to do what we want, how we want and have fun doing it.
AL: Please tell us where new fans can find your films and where to find
them?
Phil: All my films and info can be found here:
http://www.geocities.com/pharmpon/Falconenterpage.html?1129884932930_
(http://www.geocities.com/pharmpon/Falconenterpage.html?1129884932930)
That is were you can find all our movies. Pictures and synopsis and ordering info. I
always love hearing from our fans and thank you for doing this interview! Our
movies can also be bought and viewed here;
_http://www.wavemovies.com/other_producers/falcon/index.html_
(http://www.wavemovies.com/other_producers/falcon/index.html)
following interviews
Interview with Paul
Dale Roberts,
Paranormal Investigator
Interview with Jeff
O'Brien, Screenwriter
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