Hot & Horrifying: The First Ladies Of Horror (13)
NVF Films Interview With Monique Dupree Good morning, Monique. It is wonderful to have you here. How are you? First, I just want to thank you for your time as I know we're both busy little bees. It's great to be here & I'm doing great. I color myself blessed. Thank you so much for asking. :) First of all, what was it that made you want to become an actress? I'm glad that you said "actress" and not "scream queen" which I'm sure we'll get into later. I guess it would be corny to say that it's always been within me to perform..period. I started entertaining the moment I could walk! Of course, instead of a television audience, I wowed a group of no more than 40 at a time (my family). But it was confirmed that acting was something I could not live without that first time I ever walked on a set of a film. That film was Lean on Me. The rush I got from that kind of work..it sealed the deal. I, myself, get a kick out of the term ‘’Scream Queen.’’ In your opinion, what best describes the general qualities and responsibilities of being one? I like to keep it simple..alot of people have alot of views on what they feel "qualifies" a scream queen to be..I simply say this: Sexy. Femme Fatale. Vulnerable. Clever. Unpredictable. Versatile . On a side note: For me, being a scream queen is only one facet of my abilities. I LOVE being considered a scream queen..esp since I LOVE horror first and foremost, but I'm just not limited to that. What is it to you that is so appealing about the horror genre? I love it, too. Do you mean as an actress or a fan? As a fan I love the gore..physical & sometimes psycholgical torture of it all. The artistry that some people have when it comes to filming & commiting brutal acts on film. To tell a story with a creature or an object..it's just great! As an actress, I get to play out things that I know I couldn't do in reality. I get to exercize my demons. I get to be other people. There's just no greater genre out there for an actress. Now, I know this may be old news, but I can’t resist asking: What was your film ‘’Pot Zombies’’ about? With a name like that, I almost fear to ask! LOL..well, the title pretty much says it all. Well, actually, to accurately depict what the movie is about, it should be titled: Colorful Naked, trippy zombies of Pot, lol. That explains the movie right there. I hope to be one of the colorful naked people in the sequel:Pot Zombies 2, More Pot less plot! How many ‘’Scream Queens’’ do you know personally? I know that may cover a lot of ground. By the way; do you know Debbie Rochon? The term "know" can be iffy. I've met and worked with alot of scream queens. I'm closer to some that others. I'm not sure if some of them consider themselves scream queens. I know Amy Lynn Best (and she is just the best!!) Nicola Fioree, who is just amazing and multi-talented as well. We've become close friends after working on For Christ's Sake. Then there's Sofiya Mina Smirnova, who is just one of the sweetest people I've ever encountered in my life. Tiffany Shepis!!! She's a gal after my own heart. I've worked with her, but we'd never been on set at the same time(Zombthology). We'd finally met at Chiller. It was a great weekend of breast grabbing, dry humping (well, I couldn't help myself)wine drinking and such..it was a wet dream, only I was awake. Other scream queens I've met include, Chainsaw Sally, Else McCain, Syn Devil, Rachael Robbins..and last but most assuredly not least, Linnea Quigley & Elvira. I do know Debbie Rochon. We've worked on a number of films together, including Cottonmouth, Bikini bloodbath Christmas, For Christ's Sake & Satan Hates You. I feel like she's responsible for my horror career taking off. She is such a beautiful, intelligent & strong Goddess. She's a shining example of what a scream queen should embody. Love you Debbie! I, myself, have always shared a passion for the horror genre with my interviewees. I believe us ‘’horror folks’’ are in reality, a very nice group of people. How about you? I would agree. I feel like, in general, we're like a big family "horror folks" Every horror set I've been on has been like a family reunion..even the conventions are like a big party and a chance to catch up with one another and see what everyone's up to.I never get to catch up with Tony (Todd) until we see one another at a convention. We always get to catch up on recent projects & if time permits, go and enjoy some music (preferrably blues/jazz) together. And may I say, Tony is one of the most intelligent, helpful, head on straight guys I've met in my travels as an actress to date. Now for some of my obligatory – and boring – Q&A: What would you say is your all time favorite horror film? How about book? Hmmm...That's really, really hard to say. I have more than one favourite horror film & horror book as well. As far as horror books..I have three..Two from Stephen King being, It& The Shining. A new horror author, Anthony Thomas has a book out called 666 Newark Avenue. That is one creepy book from another, seemingly creepy dude, lol.. As far as horror movies go..My favs are: The Fog( the original), Ichi the Killer, Audition(that's right Takashi Miike made my list) Nightmare on Elm Street& my all time favourite is Evil Dead. Anything else exciting to tell us? I surely do! As I write this, I'm expecting my 7th child (and the answer is yes..I'm crazy, lol), still filming and doing photo-shoots. Some of my upcoming projects include: Plan 9(remake brought to you by Darkstone Entertainment), The Campire Chronicles:Have a nice dayfeaturing James Russo & Holly Weber, Night of the living dead: Resurrection, Spirit & Post Mortem, America 2021just to name afew. I'm doing alot of alternative modeling now as well as moving more into television shows. I just finished working on a tv pilot called "Royal Pains" and that's only the start. I'd also like to say that if you hear people referring to me more & more as GATA, that's just my nickname and title that I use in my band Negro Childe(www.myspace.com/negrochilde) as well as my alternative modeling. GATA is just spanish for cat...so MEOW! Well Monique, it was a real thrill to have you drop in, and please, in the future, don’t be a stranger! Thank you so very much and I thank you so very much for taking this time to interview lil ole me. You're a doll David! How could I resist you?!! *** 1st Ladies Profiles: *** Nicole Kruex Nicole was born in Loretto, Minnesota, a small town 30 minutes west of Minneapolis and grew up in the North Hennepin County suburb of Brooklyn Park. The oldest of two and a victim of divorce she spent most of her childhood with her loving mother, younger sister, and a well used Nintendo. But regardless of her family status all of her talents were nurtured; she attended school in dance, art, music and performance. In her teens she became obsessed with Hollywood, but especially action and horror. She adored classics like The Shining, Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser, Hong Kong action, and "Shoot Um Up" Guy Richie styled film; but she also held a deep passion for the true classics of film history such as Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, Greta Garbo and the talented Shirley Temple. In addition to having been involved in 40 films, she has had the time to create Triwar Pictures, so we will be hearing a lot more about her in the future. *** Rachel Grubb Rachel Grubb appeared as Amy in Shadow Creek Studioʼs The Monster Of Phantom Lake. Since then she has acted in numerous independent feature films such as UNHOLY REUNION, TALES OF THE DEAD, TERROR OVERLOAD, and CAVE WOMEN ON MARS. She played a creepy ghost in Dav Kaufmanʼs 13 HOURS IN A WAREHOUSE, and she played the lead role in JP Wenner's RETINA, which appeared on THE HORROR VAULT DVD. She recently finished directing her first feature film WHY AM I IN A BOX? from Silent-But-Deadly Productions, the non-profit all female production company she runs with her friend Brooke Lemke. Rachel has been an in-studio guest on Maxim Radio's "Hotties Of Horror" week, and writes a regular Scream Queen Guest column for The Chainsaw Mafia. *** Dai Green Dai Green Managing Editor and Columnist of HorrorNews.net Former runway and hair model Former Model for various bands Former Song writer for various bands Former staff writer for Pretty-Scary.net Featured woman in Reyna Young's WELCOME TO MY DARKSIDE: WOMEN IN HORROR Actress and Special Features Coordinator in H.G. Lewis' BLOOD DE MADAM (Pre-Production) Actress and Special Features Coordinator in Travis Miller's BAD GIRLS BURN IN HELL (Pre-Production) Also involved in about 8 other projects in development. "Cassie" of Hack/Slash comic book issue 26. Art by Nick Percival Featured in interviews ranging from web and radio interviews to magazine interviews. *** April Burril { filmography} Actress: In Production 2000s The Good Sisters (2008) (V) (post-production) .... Kindra Good Corpus Kristi (2008) .... Doris A Feast of Flesh (2007) .... Madelaine Countess Bathoria's Graveyard Picture Show (2007) .... Mommy Chainsaw Sally (2004) .... Sally Diamon Silver Scream (2003) (V) (as April Burril) .... Clamidia/Babysitter/Witch #1/Dancer Costume Designer: Chainsaw Sally (2004) (as April Burril) Silver Scream (2003) (V) (as April Burril) Producer: Silver Scream (2003) (V) (producer) (as April Burril) Make-Up Department: Silver Scream (2003) (V) (assistant makeup artist) (as April Burril) Art Director: Silver Scream (2003) (V) (as April Burril) Art Department: Silver Scream (2003) (V) (property master) (as April Burril) Self: Blood Bath: Blood Wrestling Volume I (2007) (V) .... Herself *** Denise Gossett Denise moved to Los Angeles from Orlando, FL. Denise has been in the entertainment business for over 16 years primarily as an actress. She can be seen in "The Last Ride" with Dennis Hopper and on such tv shows as "The New Adventures of Old Christine", "Samantha Who?", "Veronica Mars","Fashion House", "Believers Among Us", "Superboy","Guilty Or Innocent", "The Life of Tonya Harding", "What Should You Do?", a recurring role on "Zoey 101", "Drake & Josh", "Untold Stories of the E.R", The Michael Jackson Trial on E!", "Scene of the Crime", and "The Great Imposter". Denise has also had lead roles in many feature films. Denise started this film festival after starring in the horror film "Chain of Souls". She can also be seen in the SciFi film "Decaying Orbit" and the horror films "La Llorona", "Carnies", "M", and "Fright Club." *** Lillith Stabs Lilith Stabs is an actress and model known mostly for acting in b-horror movies. Including Vampire Callgirls, Cremains, Severe Injury, the Bad Movie Police series and Showtimes documentary Something to Scream About to name a few titles. She has been featured in various magazines like Femme Fatales, Spains GQ, Draculina she also helped the comic book character Razor battle demons in the London Knight Studios comic book. She has appeared at various conventions around the U.S. She is also known for her little bunny sidekicks who often accompany her at conventions and appear with her in various photos, films, etc. She also has various other projects like music, clothing and jewelry design, photography, pinup modeling and writing. *** Reyna Young Reyna Young has been labeled by press as “The Queen of Horror in the bay area” She was born and raised in San Francisco! She is currently working in Independent Horror as a Director, Producer, Writer, Model, Actress, and Horror Host in San Francisco. Ever since she was a little girl she remembers seeing her first horror movie: John Carpenters "Halloween." It was at that moment she fell in love with being scared. She then decided she wanted to give back to the Horror community and make her way into the Genre she bleeds for. Reyna began following around her film buddies and helping them out on set and acting in their films. She bought books and relied on the internet to teach her everything she needed to know. From there she created her production company Last Doorway Productions in hopes of bringing a little more horror to the world (never a bad thing). Since then she has written feature scripts, and created a series of short films, which she has Produced, Written, Directed and even starred in. Aside from her film projects, she has also created a show for Independent Horror in the Bay Area. The Last Doorway Show. A show dedicated to Independent Horror which she hosts under the pseudonym Miss Misery. Helping out the Independent Horror Artist and helping filmmakers get their short films shown. If you thought that wasn’t enough she also Directs her own Short Horror Film Festival in San Francisco called “A Nightmare To Remember” which has twenty minute and under Horror shorts, Prizes, raffle for the audience, guests and sneak peek trailers. Reyna young is making her way into the Horror World with a bang. Expect to see more of this pretty/bloody face in the future. *** Mo Dragonfly { Maureen Whelan } Maureen "Mo" Whelan is a former automotive gear-head turned animation geek, filmmaker and actress. Mo started her career when she was a teenager, as an animator at a small L.A.-based game design company. She also began modeling at that time, shooting with local photographers. In the past few years, she’s worked at various production and post-production studios in Los Angeles in jobs ranging from a computer graphic artist, technical software geek, DVD / VOD account manager and a post supervisor. In addition, she was the Director of Marketing and Autodesk / Discreet Training Center manager for DH Institute of Media Arts, a visual effects and animation computer training center located in Santa Monica, Calif. She has advised many students on their career paths, academic facilities on their curriculum, a few studios on their production pipeline and PR tactics, and even the City of Los Angeles on the reorganization of their Electronic Arts Academy Program in 2001. Mo is currently is in charge of Film Licensing and Acquisitions for AWNtv.com, a freelance writer , a traditional artist, an independent film actress, a non-nude alternative model, an occasional "Corpsepondant" for comedy/horror magazine Girls and Corpses Magazine and a producer, actress and public relations manager at Probell Films. Her first traditional art exhibit was in March 2009 at the Ruin in the Los Angeles Monte Cristo. Some of her onscreen non-acting feature credits include South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and Purgatory House. She is currently a producer and co-star of the indie horror/thriller film Client 14, Probell Films' first venture. *** Monique Dupree Who’s the greatest actress you’ve never seen? Monique Dupree (The Original Gata) that’s who. You may not know you’ve seen her, but you have… she’s been here and isn’t going anywhere but up. As far back as Lean on Me, and as recent as American Gangster , she has been a main stay in the back drop of American Cinema and a force of nature on the very ‘B’ indie straight to DVD scene. With nearly a dozen movies waiting to be released, Monique is a continuum of balance between pure talent, presence, personality and easy on the eye movie star/rock goddess looks. Darling to Fangoria and Troma alike, she is more commonly known as “The First Black Scream Queen”. A title she continues to earn in front of the movie cameras, photos, endorsements and convention appearances. She’s also the lead singing voice for an all out balls to the walls band by the name of Negro Childe. Love her, hate her or merely wait to see what the hype is all about, you’ll remember Monique Dupree. *** Zoe Chlanda
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