An emerging talent on the indie scene, director David Kerr is off to a great start with his films Curse of the Slasher Nurse and the soon-to-be-released follow-up Return of the Slasher Nurse generating better reviews and feedback with each new review and write-up. Now, as he heads to the crowdfunding stage for his third film Bloody Summer Camp, I talk to him about his past films as well as what to expect with the upcoming film.
Me: Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this. First off, where did you get the urge to go into directing?
David Kerr: I became interested in all the aspects of filmmaking when I started making cheap music videos for my band. I would come up with the idea and I would film them and make the props and edit the entire thing together. Through a mutual friend, I became friends with an FX artist and we started making horror-themed music videos. My first film started with the idea I had for a music video.
DK: I’ve watched horror movies since I can remember. I was born in the late 80s so when I was a kid, the Slasher films like Halloween and Friday the 13th were popular so they’re kind of imprinted into me. I couldn’t tell you the first time I saw a horror movie. I always remember Freddy and Jason and Michael. I’ll watch movies that I think I’ve never seen before but once I watch them, I start remembering scenes. So the Slasher genre is a heavy influence on me and one that I probably have the most love for because it was my childhood.
DK: Curse of the Slasher Nurse was an experiment for me. I didn’t have any experience and we didn’t have any connections or support. Most people probably didn’t think we would actually make a film. I’ve seen so many terrible movies with hundreds of thousands of dollars for a budget and I never understood how you could make something that bad with that kind of a budget. So, my goal was to make a horror film with practically no budget and have it not be the worst film you’ve ever seen. I couldn’t find a camera guy or a sound guy or really any crew so the jobs got passed around between whoever was there at the time and I did the camera work with zero experience. Now, every time I make a movie, my goal is to make it better than the last. I learn from the mistakes of my previous film and I always try to make a better quality film. On our second film, Return of the Slasher Nurse, I found a cinematographer, got a sound guy, upgraded equipment and tried to improve on all the mistakes from my first film. I also learned to expect and work around unreliable cast members and unpredictable weather because they’re always gonna be a factor in indie filmmaking.
DK: Yeah it’s intentional. For one, when you’re working with a small to no budget, your best bet is to go old-school because I think it’s just the best set-up to compliment your budget restricted film. Plus, those are the films I love so those are what I felt I could make. Originally I wanted the Slasher nurse films to take place in the ’80s but it was too hard for us to get the locations and outfits to pull it off so we put it in modern time but tried to keep that same old-school Slasher feel.
Me: That brings us to your newest feature, 'Bloody Summer Camp.' Where did the inspiration for the film come from?
DK: I was tired of seeing all these horror films rebooted. I think like everyone else, I was torn because I love Slasher films but the only ones being put out now are the remakes. I wanted a new story. I always thought that summer camps were the perfect locations for Slasher films because of their isolation. After making Return, I decided that if I were to make a third film, I wanted to try to make the film I wanted to make rather than just making what my budget would allow me. So we crowdfunded for Bloody Summer Camp- A new Slasher story that takes place in the ’80s at a summer camp. A new horror film that’s inspired by the great original slashers of the ’80s.
DK: Some of the cast I have worked with in the past and I loved working with them so I wanted to bring them back. The rest of the cast, we did auditions for about 2-3 months. We tried to find local actors due to timing and budget but we did still end up with some people coming from out of state. Some of the characters I was willing to be open-minded about and we tried a lot of different people and variations for the parts and chose what we thought worked best but there were a couple characters that I just had to get perfect and those took quite a while to cast but luckily it paid off because when I saw their audition, they were perfect.
DK: All 3 of them very essential. Owen and I have developed a pretty good working connection with one another. When we get on set, he knows what needs to happen. He doesn’t just know what I have in mind or the shot but he understands the restrictions and the time restraints we’re up against. He never throws in the towel until we’re done. When he gets on set, he knows we’re not packing up until we got what we needed because he knows most of the time, we don’t have a second shot.
Amber Fulcher is not only my producer but she’s also my better half. Without her, none of this would be possible. What makes her great to work with is she’s the only one I know who isn’t afraid to tell me if I’m wrong or if I have a bad idea. She will challenge on anything and that’s good because I’m not always right. She also takes on many jobs in our films from helping out on set to doing the FX makeup and color grading.
Wayne, I met at the premiere of my first film and we connected over a love for the Slasher genres. Wayne acted in my last film but this is his first time being a producer on one. I felt he would be valuable as a producer in helping us keep the film true to the time period and the nostalgia around it because of his appreciation for the 80’s horror films. Working with me before, he knows how I work and I think he’ll be able to get a lot done because I think we’re on the same page as far as what we’re making.
DK: Our first crowdfunder was just to be able to make the movie so we set our goal at the minimum we thought we could make the movie for which was $10,000. Through the success of our crowdfunder, we were able to raise just over $12,000 which greenlit the movie. Now, we’ve started a second crowdfunder aimed at raising our target goal. We put $10,000 as our minimum goal but $20,000 was our target goal. The closer we get to $20,000, the more the film will turn out exactly how we have planned. Right now with the first campaign included, we’re at around $13,000. So, we’re only $7,000 away from reaching our target goal. Our crowdfunder is a flexible crowdfunder which means we keep and use whatever we raise because the movie is definitely happening now and any amount that we raise will help us get this movie made.
DK: We can tell you that the very lovely and very iconic Felissa Rose will be joining us in Bloody Summer Camp as Camp Director Michelle Crowell. We film with her next month and we actually have some Felissa Rose perks available on our latest crowdfunder on Indiegogo. Felissa was kind enough to allow us to offer some killer perks like signed posters and personalized video messages from her and even the opportunity for someone to have lunch with her on set.
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