Written By: Carol Sullivan
This past week I had the pleasure of speaking with Mike Turner, the talented Director of the award-winning short film, Dead Creek. The horror short is playing now at Film Festivals in cities all around the U.S. and is receiving rave reviews from viewers and critics alike.
Friendly and down-to-earth, Mr. Turner gave me an inside look into Dead Creek and just how much goes into being a filmmaker...
dystopia: All of us here at dystopia want to congratulate you on the success of Dead Creek.
Mike Turner: Thank you very much.
dystopia: The film has been winning so many awards lately; what has that been like? Did you guys celebrate?
Mike Turner: I was down in Philadelphia with Kerrin Jeromin, our lead actress, so we were able to celebrate when we were down there. It was really the first time the whole cast and crew could get together to celebrate and see the film with an audience. It was fun.
dystopia: I heard a little bit about the brownie mix story. Could you tell our readers about it?
Mike Turner: I tried to come up with a way we could do this little gag; where we would have the mud from the bottom of Dead Creek... Like they had been dragged to the bottom and when they come back as ghosts, they have this mud and they can't speak because they have this stuff in their mouths. So, I thought, what am I gonna use? After work-shopping it a little bit, I came up with using brownie mix; I just left the egg out, so it wasn't going to spoil. But, it was sweet, so it worked, but the brown color was not good...Okay, black, jet black, I thought...so we added some black food coloring.
dystopia: I spoke to Taryn Hough, one of the other actresses, and she said that using the brownie mix was hysterical; trying to hold it in their mouths without laughing...
Mike Turner: Yeah, we really didn't get any outtakes; we weren't running the camera too much when we weren't going for a real take, but there are a lot of photos of the girls with their black brownie mix.
dystopia: That's a great story.... I was curious, was their a defining moment for you, a situation or event that made you decide that making horror films was what you wanted to do?
Mike Turner: That's an interesting question. I had made some short films with my friends and then I thought 'Okay, now I want to make one that's good'. So we made Primevil. I said 'What the hell' and sent it out to a couple of film festivals and it won an award. I thought 'Wow, maybe I'm not wasting my time and I should really do something with this'. It was an encouraging step to keep going; make another movie. Take what you learn, make another one, do it better and hopefully people will like it. And that led to Dead Creek and here we are.
dystopia: Do you have a favorite horror movie?
Mike Turner: John Carpenter's The Thing.
dystopia: Oh, that's a great one!
Mike Turner: Yeah, I grew up in the 80's, I remember Freddy Kruger especially. When I was a kid, I was definitely more into science-fiction films. I grew up watching the original Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark. About 8 years ago, I tried to make a little science-fiction movie. My reach exceeds my grasp; I mean, I know how to build sets, but it was just too expensive. So, I ended up doing Primevil and Dead Creek which were set outdoors. I live in the woods....I go walking outside a lot with my wife and I just started thinking 'I've gotta remember this place, I might want to shoot something here someday.'
dystopia: Well, it shows; in Dead Creek there is some beautifully filmed scenery.
Mike Turner: Thank you.
dystopia: If you had an unlimited budget and access to everything, what classic horror film would you re-make?
Mike Turner: I'm for the most part anti-re-make....I know it's already been re-made, but I really like The Fog. But it's the kind of movie I think I could do. You know, it's more atmospheric than other movies.
dystopia: Could you tell us about your next film project?
Mike Turner: Right now, I've got two irons in the fire in terms of pulling off my first feature film. I can't say too much about that just yet, but I do have one short that I want to film, probably in January. I just bought a Victorian house and I thought 'This house would be perfect for that script I have'. It's a short film about a guy that's researching lucid-dreaming and he gets stuck between states; between being awake and being asleep. Simple premise, but it's somewhat original. I wrote it based on how I dream... Sort of a Cronenberg thing...
dystopia: Sounds interesting; does your film have a name yet? So we can keep an eye out for it?
Mike Turner: Yeah, it's tentatively called Beyond the Veil. It's something that's ready to go without mounting a huge production.
dystopia: Do you have any nuggets of wisdom, any advice, for aspiring filmmakers?
Mike Turner: Stick to it! I tried to be very organized and think ahead as much as I could and yet there were things that kept coming at me; things I could have never have predicted. I found that you just have to keep your nose to the grind-stone, keep going no matter what adversity you may face. You have to be passionate about it, because no one is going to be as passionate about it as you are.
dystopia: Absolutely!
Mike Turner: I wanted to thank you and dystopia Magazine; I appreciate all the support. Dead Creek was just a short film, so to be featured on your web-site... I mean to be on the home page next to these major releases like Zombieland...To get that kind of exposure, it's been great.
dystopia: Well, Dead Creek was really impressive and all of us at dystopia have enjoyed it. Thank you for letting us be a part of it. It's been exciting; watching it progress.
Mike Turner: Yeah, it's been pretty exciting. It's been a long time coming; it took a while to get the movie finished, once we shot it. Now, it's been 12 months, now it's out and people like it... Hopefully I can get a feature film out next year...
dystopia: Well, you'll have to stay in touch with us and let us know what's happening with you and your films!
Mike Turner: I sure will. Thank you.
I so enjoyed chatting with Mike Turner and I can't wait to see what he brings us next. Be sure to keep an eye out for Dead Creek at a Film Festival near you and check out our Ominous Events page for all of the latest events. You can also find out more about the film at DeadCreek.net.
Our congratulations and warmest wishes go out to Mike Turner and all of Dead Creek's cast and crew!
