Katt Shea [Interview]

Welcome to Day 30 of Trainwreck’d Society’s Month of Horror Showcase. Every day during the month of October, we will have a horror related interview and/or film review for your fright-filled reading pleasure! The set up will be the same as usual, but the topics will be far more terrifying. Enjoy!

Today’s interview subject is a person who has found herself in the realm of so many things that we have always stated that are interesting and compelling to us here at Trainwreck’d Society. First of all, in order to not mask or talk around the obvious, Katt Shea is a brilliant writer and filmmaker, who is a woman. Now, as many of you may remember from past interviews with women who work mostly behind the screen, specifically last April during our Women of the Present Month….we feel like the gender of the creator should not matter, but sadly it is almost imperative that we showcase the fact that women are out there rocking it in a male-driven industry. And while progress does seem to be have been made, now is not the time to let up!

So with that being said, Katt Shea is an amazing artist who, besides being a badass female in the business, has also worked in other fields that we talk about relentlessly here at TWS, including the world of Roger Corman & Crown International, which is a world that is packed into our archives. She also happens to be the brilliant mind behind classic horror films like Poison Ivy and The Rage: Carrie 2. The latter being the main reason we wanted to showcase her during the big week of our Month of Horror showcase.

Katt Shea gives us some delightful, yet also a bit disturbing, insight into some of her past projects that we all know and love, and also lets us know what is coming up in this truly amazing collection of answers she has been so kind to give us. So ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy some amazing words from the legendary writer and filmmaker Katt Shea!

I have always been intrigued with the world of Roger Corman, and some of the amazing work that has passed through his offices. And you have been WELL versed in that world, writing and directing some incredible films The Patriot and Stripped To Kill. I always have to ask what it was like to work in the Corman world? And what did you enjoy about working in that breakneck pace and environment?

The Patriot (not to be confused with the Mel Gibson movie) was made by Crown International. I didn’t direct it but I wrote it with Andy Ruben. It’s incredibly difficult working on such tight schedules but I suppose the good thing about it is you don’t have time to second guess yourself on directing choices. I think our collaboration was great, the movies I made for Roger played several times at MoMa, The British Film Institute, and many art houses, Poison Ivy was at all of the above and Sundance – I find it all very gratifying and I am so very grateful!!!!

Your 1992 film Posoin Ivy was an absolutely incredible story brought to screen, and is a film that I can still go back to 25 years later and absolutely love. It is such a bizarre and unique story that I must as about its origin? How did you come up with such a brilliant story?

The film was made for New Line Cinema and it was actually based on a true life story of producer Melissa Goddard. Andy Ruben and I wrote the script that I directed and he produced. We changed the ending of Melissa’s story to have Ivy die, but I didn’t really want that. In reality the girl got away with it and I thought that’s how it should have been portrayed but the exec at New Line got her way and Ivy died – then they made numerous sequels even though the lead character had been killed off. I had nothing to do with the sequels because they made me kill her. We didn’t even shoot the ending until after the movie was edited because I was still fighting for her to live while we were shooting. I do like the ending we shot, but I just didn’t feel it was realistic, those kind of people get away with stuff. I wrote a novel called Batshit Black (named after a nail color) which is the Poison Ivy for today.

And when you personally look back on the film a quarter of a century later, what are you thoughts on the final product? Why do you think the film still resonates loudly for all of us? And if given the chance, what would you have done differently?

I think the film resonates for people because it was conceived and executed on a very deep level, a soul level if you will, but, as I said Batshit Black is how I would do it today.

And in 1999 you were behind the camera on The Rage: Carrie 2. What was it like to work on leaving your own mark in the world of Stephen King? What do you believe you personally did to make The Rage a Katt Shea story?

I just give whatever I am working on my truth. I think that’s all you can do.

What is it specifically about the world of horror that you find the most fascinating? And how does it differ the most from other projects you have been involved with?

Horror is so much fun to direct because it is so visual. As a filmmaker you are using all the visual components at your disposal to tell the story and scare the crap out of the audience. There’s nothing more fun than that for a director!

I’m a believer that we’ve lived many past lives and we were very badly behaved in them or we wouldn’t be here now. The soul remembers all that bad stuff and we like to reenact it on some level … Perhaps to clear it out? I’m not sure, but I have given this some thought!

What is your favorite scary movie?

I don’t have one. I don’t want to be scared. I like comedies or spiritual material.

What are your plans for this coming Halloween? Any traditions that you try to uphold each year?

I like to get a great costume and go to a party.

What does the future hold for you? Anything you think our readers should be on the lookout for?

My novel Batshit Black is on Amazon. It will blow your mind 🙂

What was the last thing that made you smile?

Answering your last question just did!