October 9, 2009

On October 2nd, Brian Collins of Horror Movie A Day and the New Beverly Cinema hosted a rare Midnight screening of Wes Craven’s 1989 cult classic Shocker.

The film tells the story of convicted serial killer Horace Pinker (Mitch Pileggi), whom after being captured and sent to the electric chair returns to torment Jonathan Parker (Peter Burg), the teen responsible for his apprehension. Able to jump from body to body and even through electric currents, Pinker was poised to be the logical successor to Freddy Krueger, but alas… the character and movie didn’t quite catch on.

Regardless, 20 years later, Shocker unspooled for a nearly sold out midnight audience at the New Bev. In attendance for the event were actors Ted Raimi (Pac Man), Vincent Guastaferro (Pastori), Richard Brooks (Rhino) and the writer/director himself Wes Craven.

Below is the complete transcription of the Q & A that prefaced the movie screening. For those of you who couldn’t attend, enjoy!

Brian Collins: How long’s it been since you guys have seen the movie?

Ted Raimi: 20 years? I haven’t seen it since it came out, although I own it I think in every format. Beta Max? [Laughs] VHS. DVD. I haven’t really seen it recently. I’m afraid to see that guy!

Vincent Guastaferro: I have 2 sons and when they came of age, I showed it to them. It’s a regular in our house and on home video. I just saw it with my little niece, a 7 year old. [Laughs]

Wes Craven: I can’t remember. I think it’s been since when we made it, so it’s been a long time. The girl who Peter Burg stops, that’s my daughter. Oh, and my son gets shot in the park. I kill my two kids in the movie. [Laughs]

Brian Collins: You played a football player in the film and you actually tackle Vinny at one point, which I’d forgotten about until I rewatched it recently. Did you guys do a lot of your own stunts?

Richard Brooks: I think we did a lot of our own stunts. We had a lot of that, tackling people. Yeah, it was a blast. I especially liked all the stuff we did in the park. We had 3 or 4 different locations for the park.

Brian Collins: Now Vinny, you get possessed by Shocker at one point. Did you work with Mitch (Pileggi) at all or did you do your own thing?

Vincent Guastaferro: I know Mitch as an actor and we talked on the set, but we actually weren’t in any scenes together. I jumped into that lady and she kills us in the car…

Brian Collins: You’re spoiling it for the few people here that haven’t seen it… [Laughs]

Vincent Guastaferro: I’m ruining the hell out of the movie, sorry! But no, I know Mitch as a guy, I love him, I wish he was here tonight, but there ya go. I remember having a lot of fun with how physical the movie was. I remember Mister Craven here saying that doing a movie like this is like doing a Greek tragedy. You just let it hang and that’s pretty much what I think a lot of us did.

Brian Collins: The thing that resonates with a lot of people about the movie is that the killer comes out of the TV. But that’s actually more towards the end of the movie. Was that something that you had in mind when you started writing it, or was that something that came later?

Wes Craven: No, it was part of the concept of trying to be a similar thing to how Freddy (Krueger) is in dreams. I thought what is another netherworld that we all live in? And I thought music and television. I thought it’d be fun to have somebody who could go through wires and could come out through the TV. That started the idea in my head.

Brian Collins: Ted, why’s you character called Pac-Man? I never understood that?

Ted Raimi: I’m not sure! Because I think by 1989 that game was really on its way out. [Laughs] Because they had console gaming at that point, so I don’t know. Um, I think it was more of an endearing term they wrote for him. I think that’s it. I learned a really important lesson on that movie. It was the first horror film I ever did and I’ve probably done something like 50 pictures since then, but I learned this very valuable lesson – never die with your eyes open in a movie, because you’ll have to stay that way for every single shot! [Laughs] I remember that and it was a bad, bad idea I had. I’m a little upset at Wes that he didn’t stop me after the first take. I remember he laughed, he thought it was funny. I thought it was funny too for the first 10 minutes.

Brian Collins: Peter Berg is up in Seattle now doing a movie and he’s gone on to have an amazing directorial career. Can you talk a bit about working with him at the beginning of his acting career?

Wes Craven: He was the last person I expected to end up where he ended up. It’s a good thing. I think he had done one film before Shocker if I’m not mistaken. Before that he’d been a grip. So he was a really interesting guy, and he was just very natural, funny, loose. I remember we were doing this one shot, it was the bedroom scene where he’s in his underwear and we’re doing the scene, he looked down and his… schlong was hanging out! [Laughs] And he was like “Sorry.” And we carried on. He was a very interesting guy and I was very delighted to hear how far he’s gone.

Ted Raimi: I do remember that because that was the first movie I’d done, I thought all directors were like Wes. So I came away thinking all director’s were mellow and good with actors and didn’t yell and knew just what to tell their crews, so in that way it was a bad movie to start with. It really was. [Laughs]

Vincent Guastaferro: Peter Berg was a lot of fun. I saw him the same way. I think he was an ex-jock – Didn’t he play hockey in Canada or something? He had this horrible joke where he’d say “look at this? Look at this? Look at this?” (Motions his finger behind his ear) And then he’d scream “Ahhh!” I think he called it “dog neck”. And he would do that right before a take just to scare the hell out of you. [Laughs]

Richard Brooks: Well, he was my boy in this movie so I didn’t think about him as anything other then a good friend. I was really impressed with him. I thought he was really, really great. At the time, I thought he was really cool and I learned a lot from him.

Vincent Guastaferro: I remember on the set, he came up to me and he had seen a movie I did where we played a bunch of cops walking down the hallway with a lot of dialogue being bantered back and forth. And he said, “You know, I’d like to see something like that in a hospital.” And then a couple years later, wasn’t he a regular on ER?

Brian Collins: Chicago Hope.

Vincent Guastaferro: Right, Chicago Hope. So I don’t know if he had anything to do with the concept of that show when it was developed but it just seemed odd that he had an interest in that and then was on that kind of show for a while.

Richard Brooks: Actually, the only Peter Berg thing I remember was the water was so cold, you know in that love scene in the park? Regardless, he kept jumping in there and acting natural. I was teasing him about that.

Audience member: Question for Wes. Did you intend to make this movie funny as well as scary? When you were writing it, did you intend some of this to come off as funny as it did?

Wes Craven: I can’t help myself. [Laughs] I tend to be funny sometimes. Yeah. It’s just a style and I don’t like to play things totally super straight. Most of the films I’ve done have a bit of humor in them, whether it’s recognizable of not.

Brian Collins: You just mentioned the lake before. Was it all shot in Los Angeles? Any specific locations, so Shocker nerds like me can go look at them? [Laughs]

Wes Craven: I can’t remember. The narrows? Down by a railroad tracks? It’s been a long time!

Audience Member: What’s everyone doing now?

Ted Raimi: Right now, I’m directing a web series at the moment. In all seriousness, Vinny had a lot to do with my career, because during this movie, I remember this. It was my first movie and I was going bananas. I was 22, I had just gotten out of school and I couldn’t control myself. I was like “Wow, Wes Craven!” I’d seen Vinny in a lot of things at that point, especially Things Change which I had watched a million times. And I was walking to set, and he was walking off and he said to me “Ted…” And I said (enthusiastically) “Yeah???” He said, “Calm down. Take it easy. Focus. And relax.” And I thought, “Oh… that’s really good advice.” [Laughs] But as for what I’m doing now, I’m just directing.

Vincent Guastaferro: I’m working on a film now which is being directed by Jason Gedrick. I believe he was on Desperate Housewives for a bit. He’s a really good guy and I’ve known him most of his life, so I’m working with him. I’m doing a guest spot on a TV show, Criminal Minds later this week. So, I stay active and I’m a lucky guy. I go away and do Broadway, I come back and do off Broadway. I do a little bit of TV, a movie here and there and I stay busy as an actor. I’m very fortunate. I also teach at an acting studio in North Hollywood called The Sport Of Acting.

Wes Craven: I’m just hanging around. [Laughs] Actually, this year, I started in the business in 69, so this is my 5th decade in film. [Applause] Just about finished with a movie called 25/8, about 7 kids born on the same night of a serial killers’ death. It’s being done for Universal and Rogue Pictures, it should be coming out in the Spring. I’m very excited because it’s the first thing I’ve written and directed since New Nightmare. I hope you’ll all come see it.

Richard Brooks: Well, I have to say, doesn’t Wes look exactly the same as when we did the movie?

Ted Raimi: He does!

Richard Brooks: Talk about not aging. You look great, Wes. So, for me, I’m the same as all the other actors. I’m working and doing a bit of film, a bit of television. I’m doing a little directing and writing and I have some music coming out. I’m working on an album that should be out early next year.