Walter Ruether is someone I met through the internet last year after reviewing his previous horror anthologies. His films have a low budget punk rock feel that are raw, witty and almost always play out like a classic moral tale. He was also my very first interview. Most people may know him best as his alter ego Scarlet Fry. An evil, demonic undead horror host. You can read that interview here. Today Scarlet Fry is busy at work on his latest project- "Scream Machine". A new wave of nightmare that celebrates the regenerated media of VHS. A classic medium that quite frankly deserves more respect than it gets.
"Scream Machine" is an anthology a bit different than Fry's previous films, most notably this time around there is a noticeable absence. No horror host guiding us through the twisted tales. "Scream Machine" takes a step up and forward into it's story telling by wrapping the shorts with grounding tale of terror that will lead us through these dark worlds of horror and gore. I recently interviewed Scarlet Fry about this latest project which has him super-excited and amped about it premiere at the Phoenix Comic Con in 2013 and the fact that among many other cult actors "Scream Machine" will feature Tyler Gallant.
ASouthernLife: How are you doing this morning?
Scarlet Fry: I am doing good.
ASouthernLife: Where did the concept for "Scream Machine" come from?
Scarlet Fry: I wanted to do another anthology but I didn't want to have a host. I thought it would be more interesting to have a story tie it all together. We (Walter and partner David Sabal) came with an idea about a group of kids who rent an old VCR that comes with some tapes. Each tape is a story in this anthology and after viewing each story they become sicker. There is something very evil about this particular VCR. I don't want to give too much away.
ASouthernLife: How long have you been working on "Scream Machine"?
Scarlet Fry: We have been shooting for about a year. It will be done in time for the Phoenix Comic Con on January 31st. It has already been accepted. Last year we entered two of the shorts into the festival and they received great response. This time we will show the full feature length film. We will also have an appearance by cult star Shawn C. Phillips plus more.
ASouthernLife: How did Tyler become involved in the project?
Scarlet Fry: He is a good friend with our Director Of Photography. Tyler will be in a short titled 'Lepus' about a rabbit serial killer. It is very very bloody.
ASouthernLife:Among the shorts there is Lepus, Kim, Christmas Crampus, Regenerate and Suburban She Freak. Who came up with concept for these stories.
Scarlet Fry: I came up with the stories except the ones for Lepus,written by Jacob O'Neal w/ Brian Smith and Regenerate which was written by Richard Stoudt. The wrap around was my idea but was written by Laurence Holloway who is currently working on a film called "Voices From The Grave". We have a lot of talented guys onboard.
ASouthernLife: What is the synopsis for 'Kim'?
Scarlet Fry: Kim is a zombie love story that is heart wrenching. It is about the last man on earth who finds his wife transformed into a zombie. He decides to commit suicide so that he can be with her forever. Once he turns they hook up and eat bodies together. It was originally going to be called 'Zombie Picnic'. It will be the only black & white piece in "Scream Machine". It is very gory.
ASouthernLife: The black & white looks cool based on the stills and 'Kim' makes a better statement than 'Zombie Picnic'. Shows intimacy. So there is a lot of gore in this short then.
Scarlet Fry: Yeah, the gut eating scene is awesome. They share a corpse together. They eat a lot of intestines, ripping them from the stomach of the dead pedestrians. It is amazing.
ASouthernLife: Sounds graphic, I love those moments in movies. The story that really hooks me to this project is 'Christmas Crampus'. I love a psycho santa. What is the story about?
Scarlet Fry: It is about a 'white trash' abusive married couple whose son is mentally challenged. Of course the parents ruin the kid's Christmas so he wishes that they were dead . His wish is granted and an evil santa shows up and kills them. The santa then gives their heads to the boy as a Christmas present. They boy tells santa "this is the best Christmas ever!" It is the only story that has that classic 'Scarlet Fry' humor in it.
ASouthernLife: HA! I love it. The crampus makeup is awesome. One of my favorite Holiday icons of all time.
Scarlet Fry: Thanks. We did a great job on this one. We really took our time with the make up.
ASouthernLife: Now Regenerate as you said is kind of like "Re-Animator". So what is the synopsis for this short?
Scarlet Fry: This is one of my favorite shorts. I play an abusive husband. My wife is confined to a wheelchair. She confides to a friend, who works in a lab, that if she could get out of her wheelchair she could leave me. Her friend returns the next day with a drug that allows her to walk again but it only works for three hours. We have a fight and I kill her. The medicine then activates her bringing her back from the dead. She stabs me to death with a butcher knife. 'Regenerate' will eventually be turned into a feature film. Imagine "Black Swan meets Re-Animator". I don't want to give much away just yet.
ASouthernLife: That sounds cool. You're making it into a feature so it must be impressive. A moral tale and bloody. I like it. Have you got a name for the feature version?
Scarlet Fry: I will probably keep the "Regenerate" title. I will give you a hint though about the film, she is a ballerina who has an accident which causes her to become paralyzed. Then all the subplots will induce a lot of the regeneration story for her revenge.
ASouthernLife: So tell me about 'Suburban She Freak'. What is that one about? I love the title.
Scarlet Fry: If you know Herschell Gordon Lewis' film "Something Weird" then 'SSF' is a little like that one. HG is my favorite filmmaker of all time. My story is about a disfigured woman who orders a potion online that will make her beautiful. It wears off unless she sucks the blood from victims. Each time she returns to her beautiful self. It is a cross between "Something Weird" and "A Taste For Blood". There is a really cool Hammer Films vibe to this one.
ASouthernLife: I love Hammer Films stuff. There is just something about the tone of those movies. So 'Suburban She Freak' will have that Hammer feel. It sounds good. Will there be a lot of blood and gore in this one?
Scarlet Fry: This one won't have as much as the others but it is very atmospheric. There will be blood, every short has at least 1-3 kills in them. 'She Freak' has a good vampire scene and a great scene where she kills her first date in the car. Plus she has a horribly disfigured face in between feedings.
ASouthernLife: There seems to be a lot of variations in the stories for every horror fan to enjoy. So what is the wrap around story about?
Scarlet Fry: Similar to the wrap around in "V/H/S" which tripped me out because I conceived "Scream Machine" before I heard of that film. I liked "V/H/S". Except my story is about a group of kids that rent a VCR that comes with tapes. After watching each tape they get sick. They are unable to stop watching the tapes and become even sicker as the movie goes on. I don't want to spoil the end but let's just say that the VCR has a voodoo curse attached to it.
ASouthernLife: "V/H/S" was a great anthology, but "Scream Machine" has a big enough difference to stand alone. I like the sound of what I hear about this one.
Scarlet Fry: Yes it does. I just love the similarities between the two projects. I am a big fan of the that movie and Ti West.
ASouthernLife: VHS as a medium is greatly under appreciated.
Scarlet Fry: Agreed! I would love to release "Scream Machine" on DVD with special collector's VHS copy as well.
"Scream Machine" can be found on Facebook and Indiegogo. The film will premiere at the Phoenix Comic Con in Memorial Day Weekend, May 2013 and hopefully I will have more information about that film festival by January when everything is solidified as far as festival events and info. Walter Ruether a.k.a Scarlet Fry is also the twisted mind behind "Nightmare Alley", "Junkfood Horrorfest" and "Horrorama".
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