by 42nd Street Pete

It was about 4 years ago that I met Steve Villeneuve & Hugo Bissonet at Mike Watt & Amy Lynn Best’s Genghis Con. They were representing their company, Digger Films, and asked me if I would be interested in doing an interview for a documentary that would be known as Under the Scares.

Being that I was a ball of rage after an incident at a certain shitty convention, I vented my spleen about a lot of stuff that goes on in this business. That was 2005. I ran into Steve & Hugo at Monster Mania, Cinema Wasteland & other venues. They were working hard & logging thousands of miles to make this documentary a reality. This weekend all of their efforts came to the big screen in NYC.

This is not your typical documentary telling you how wonderful this business is. It is an unflinching look at the world of indy horror with some of the real greats in the business. The Godfather of Gore himself H.G. Lewis, Frank Hennenlotter, Brinke Stevens, Gary Jones, Robert Kurtzman, Debbie Rochon, Mike Watt, Amy Lynn Best, Tony Timpone, 42P, Jimmy O, and many others.

Just about every topic is covered; the transition from film to digital video, effects, budget, the internet, distribution, and more. The people interviewed really tell it like it is and pull no punches about how hard is it to make a buck at this, especially in today’s market. One over riding theme prevails here: The love of the business. Yes, you have to love this stuff to death, but never go in expecting to be paid. We at Scars, know this all too well.

Everyone involved comes off as completely honest & professional. They pull no punches, especially with internet ‘critics’ who now have the power to ‘make or break’ film before it is even released. So what was the reaction to Under the Scares? How about a standing ovation as the credits rolled. Even better, my girls showed up and loved the film. So here’s a demographic: I’m 57 and I ‘got it’. The girls are in their 20’s and they ‘got it’. So, in my estimation, the film succeeds on every level.

After the film, we went to a bar to hang out & talk about the film. It was all good. With all the negative shit going on in this business, it’s really refreshing to see something positive in this. Under the Scares will be making the rounds of film festivals & conventions this year. I would like to personally thank Hugo & Steve for including me in this project and doing a great job with this film.

Seems a lot of the convention promoters are down on me for various reasons. So are certain members of the so called ‘horror community’ on the east coast. I have been in this business for over 20 years now. I have seen it go from fan friendly to totally mercenary. Dealing with fans who are now agents, crooked promoters, promoters who make themselves stars of their own shows, utter thieves who just leech off of honest people, blatant bootleggers, and mercenary celebrities has hardened me a bit.

But then I think about the real fans of my work, the friends I have made over the years, the great relationship I have with After Hours, my girls, Scars, and the fact that I have never backed down when anybody else would have said “this is not fucking worth it”. It’s the love of the business that keeps me going and the real fans that come out to see me. That is better than being a corporate sell out in a business that should have never gone corporate. Go see Under the Scares, it will be a learning experience you won’t soon forget.

42nd Street Pete

Go to www.underthescares.com for a list of screening dates and to learn more about this film.

Tags: 42nd Street Pete, Under The Scares

This entry was posted by Matt on Sunday, May 30th, 2010 at 11:37 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.