STRANGE DAZE

To me Kevin Strange is pretty damn funny. The writer, director, editor and star of “Dream Reaper” is actually a riot. I’m not just kissing his ass. Think about it for a second, what the hell would I get out of complimenting a guy with absolutely no connections who directs movies on a camcorder for a couple of hundred bucks? “Yeah, I think I’ll suck up to him. Maybe he’ll put me in one of his movies. He’ll make me a star. Here Kevin direct my screenplay. Don’t worry, we’ll use a fire cracker for the big explosion at the end and my grandma has volunteered to do the nude scene.” No. No. No. Simply put, the guy makes me laugh. But more than that Kevin Strange is an inspiration. For those that have never tried to film a movie in your backyard with a bunch of freaky next door neighbors, it’s not as easy as Hack Movies makes it seem. Intrigued with this mythical man, I decided to do a Q&A. Here are the results. From gay porno mags, to where he gets his ideas, to the top five most precious gifts in the world, to drinking toilet paper, to Richard Linklater and “Power Rangers.” Take a peek inside the weird world of Strange.

Kevin Strange

CCF: Why don’t we start with you filling us all in on who Kevin Strange is and what Hack Movies is all about?

KS: Kevin Strange is just a fat guy with and over-active imagination and too much time on his hands. Hack Movies is where it’s at. We weren’t the first to do no-budget, shot on video, horror comedy, but our name will be synonymous with the genre, I promise you that. Our goal is to bring you the sickest, most entertaining bloody, sexy, offensive movies for as little money as we can possibly spend. Why? Cause we’re a bunch of talentless hacks, that’s why.

CCF: Where did “Dream Reaper” come from exactly?

KS: Ok, now here’s how I came up with the idea to make “Reaper.” I often walk around malls, or Wal-Mart, or just the streets with my friends scheming up ideas for movies. One day I was at the mall and I saw the “I Heart Dick” shirt on clearance. For whatever reason, I immediately thought of the montage training scene at the end of “Nightmare on Elm Street 4” where Alice puts on the pieces of clothing from her fallen friends and then shadow boxes with herself. I though it would be hilarious to do a “Nightmare” parody. A female character in the movie wears the dick shirt, then later the male hero of the film has to wear it while he fights the bad guy. That’s just my kind of retarded humor. All it took was one tasteless gay joke, and here we are. Startling isn’t it?

CCF: Quite interesting. Ever check out Goodwill and places like that to see what scary thoughts run through your head for a movie?

KS: Shit yeah, man. We scour flea markets and Goodwills. We’re always looking around at crap saying, “This would look great around my penis in the next flick!”

CCF: Did you actually only have a 30-page script for “Dream Reaper”?

KS: Yes. I am a bad writer.

Kevin Strange at a red carpet premiere

CCF: (LOL) You said on the commentary to go the day after Halloween and buy props, is that you speaking from experience or you just trying to convey to people how cheap it can be to get props?

KS: Experience. If you go to Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Johnny Brocks, Spirit, all the Halloween chains on November 1st, you can get some killer deals! For a 20 dollar bill you can buy enough monster masks to last you 10 movies. That shit is hella cheap.

CCF: What ended up being the final budget breakdown for “Dream Reaper” including any props you used?

KS: I don’t know the exact breakdown, but we spent roughly 200 dollars on the production of “Dream Reaper.” That 200 was for Digital8 tapes, gore, porn mags, costumes and props. The gore consisted of bottles of Karo Syrup and food coloring and was the bulk of the cost of production. A one-pint bottle of syrup was like five bucks, and we went through that shit like water. Aquarium tubing and two cheap, plastic pesticide sprayers were used to spray the blood. The tubing cost $2.50 for an 8-foot tube, the pesticide sprayers were 15 bucks each. I also purchased two pink nylon stockings for 33 cents each and a bag of polyfill for two dollars to do the gut ripping scene. The reaper costume was under 20 dollars, the scythe was five bucks, and the big stupid sword was 25 bucks. The porn mags were expensive as hell, too. They were like eight bucks each! Who pays eight bucks for a jerk mag?

CCF: It was four porn mags, right? Something about big black butts, some gay one, “Plumpers” and “Hustler.” You mean those magazines weren’t from your collection?

KS: Well the gay one and the “Plumpers,” but the others we had to buy. (LOL)

CCF: Somebody said on the audio commentary all the guys were scared to buy the gay magazine and you made one of the ladies do it, is that right?

KS: Yeah! I bought the “Plumpers” and the big black butts, but I just couldn’t bring myself to go that far. I worked at a porn shop for six years. I’ve heard every excuse for people buying weird ass shit, so I knew there was no way a clerk was going to believe me if I went in there talking about, “Yeah I’m a, uh, filmmaker. I, uh, need this magazine with a huge man-erection on the cover for my new movie!”

CCF: (LOL) Also, you said you paid $25 for the sword. I saw it bending a few times. You should try to get your money back. Can that prop be brought back in another Hack Movie or is it trashed?

KS: Well it’s sitting over in the corner by my bookshelf. It’s got some cracks in the blade, but nothing a little duct tape couldn’t fix. I’ve got a better idea though, how ‘bout I throw it up on eBay and see if I can get some crazy fan to pay like 300 bucks for it? Fuck making movies, I’m gonna to become an eBay retailer!

The crew

CCF: Ok. Now you’re getting a bit carried away... You’re going to have to at least autograph it to get $300... Seriously though, how long a shoot did you have on this film?

KS: “Dream Reaper” took about three months to shoot. My crew was one hundred percent brand new. None of them had ever worked in film prior to shooting “Reaper,” so it was really a bunch of my friends standing around looking at me like, “What the fuck did I just agree to do?” I’m certain that as we continue to make movies, the shoots will get shorter and shorter.

CCF: Speaking of that, some of the stuff you do in the film and you make others do, how the hell are you able to with a straight face and without completely being embarrassed?

KS: Cause we’re goofy asses man. We don’t give a fuck. This shit is fun as hell. Making people laugh is the most precious gift in the world. We’ll, I’d say being able suck your own cock is the most precious gift in the world, but making people laugh is definitely in the top five!

CCF: If those are two of the top five, what are your other three?

KS: Blowjobs, anal, and “Star Wars.”

CCF: (LOL) Back to the commentary. You said you barely go to school and you are mentally handicap. Can you expand on these a little for me?

KS: (LOL) OK. I’ve dropped out of college at least three times in the past eight years. I’ll probably never get a degree because I get bored easily in the academic environment. I have every intention of taking notes and paying attention, but 30 seconds later I’m thinking about tits and it’s all out the window. And when I keep saying I’m mentally handicapped in the audio commentary of “Dream Reaper,” I’m simply trying to get across that I am in no way the smartest or most clever person in the world. There’s no reason why people who talk about making movies, or playing in a band, or writing novels, or whatever their interest happens to be, shouldn’t be doing it. It frustrates me to see people waste their lives working shitty jobs, barely getting by when, if they would just ignore the fear of failure, they could be the next Peter North, popping obnoxiously-large loads of semen onto coke-filled, bleach blonde, fake titted whores. I’m not that funny of a guy. I’m not that smart of a guy. I just took a chance and didn’t fuck it up too bad. Now I have a movie and a production company and an awesome crew and a dedicated fan-base and I’m here doing this interview with you. There’s nothing special about me other than I followed through with the mad amounts of shit I talked.

(Continued - Click to read Part II)