Kevin Lane's Spill Your Guts Kevin Lane's Spill Your Guts

Our guest today is a virtuoso of the genre having worked as either the producer, star, production manager, second unit director, or assistant director (sometimes a combination of a few of these roles) on a panoply of iconic films including several movies with the “Godfather of Gore” Herschell Gordon Lewis, “American Nightmare”, “Terror Train”, “My Bloody Valentine”, “Humongous” and the cult classic sequels to “Prom Night” that turned Mary Lou into a horror anti-hero. These and many, MANY more.

We are joined by the “Wizard of Gore” himself, Ray Sager.

Ray is a master storyteller on the making of independent films. His early career began working with Herschel Gordon Lewis, who became his mentor. He also starred as Montag the Magnificent in the classic Lewis film “The Wizard of Gore”. Many projects later, Ray established himself as a producer during one of the most prolific eras in Canadian filmmaking. The mid 70’s to early 80’s saw an unprecedented amount of films being made due to hefty tax deductions for film investors and Ray produced a slew of them. Sometimes as many as 3 three features a year. Ray knows every trick of the trade.

He’s one of the most dedicated producers to work in horror and generous instructor for how to avoid the many pitfalls of independent filmmaking. This episode is a must listen for our indie filmmaker listeners.

Let’s pull back the curtain and learn about the magic of horror filmmaking with celebrated producer Ray Sager!


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This episode continues our series of overlooked and underseen films. Last episode we spoke with Michael Bonini, one of the stars of the 2022 influencer-skewering (yep, that’s a pun) “#ChadGetsTheAxe" and in this episode we are joined by the films writer and director, Travis Bible.

Travis explains how a short film version of the feature length film closed the movies financing, how to plot out a well executed jump scare and believe me, this film has some great ones, finding a fair and balanced approach to commenting on influencers and why the film has a title that gives away a rather significant plot point.

There have been many genre films that have examined the role that social media and influencers play in our current media landscape but few have tackled the subject and found why it works in horror as well as “#ChadGetsTheAxe".

There are things far more terrifying for this group of influencers then whether or not followers hit the “Like” button so let’s take a look with writer/director Travis Bible!


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In our continuing series of under-seen or overlooked genre films, the next two episodes will be looking at the 2022 social media slasher “#ChadGetsTheAxe”.

Written by Travis Bible and Kemerton Hargrove and directed by Bible, #ChadGetsTheAxe is a razor-sharp, edge of your seat slasher that not only avoids the pratfalls of the overdone “influencer horror” sub-sub-genre but actually has a fresh perspective on those tropes while always remembering to honour the horror genre first with carefully constructed scares.

It’s a funny, surprising, biting movie that you might have missed.

In this episode we will be sitting down with one of the films stars. Next episode we are joined by the films director, Travis Bible.

In #ChadGetsTheAxe, he plays Spicy Steve, one of a group of 4 social media influencers that livestream their trip to the aptly titled “Devil’s Manor” and run afoul of a satanic cult. He can also be seen in the new horror film “Followers” which drops today, March 12th exclusively on Screambox.

Welcome Michael Bonini!

Michael has an impressive list of credits for a young actor. One might also notice the eclectic variety of genres and characters types that Michael has taken on. He’s a jack of all trades actor who brings something fresh and unexpected to whoever he’s playing. From network TV favourites like “The Blacklist” and “New Amsterdam”, the Netflix hit “The Night Agent” to beloved King of the B’s Charles Band’s “Bad CGI Gator”, Michael is always a welcome presence in whatever he’s in.

We sat down to talk about the pitch-black and meaty role he played in another under-seen thriller “Hurricane Aaron”, how “#ChadGetsTheAxe” found the right balance of social media commentary and suspense, what keeps his character Steve from being just another influencer dickhead and how you prepare as an actor for battling a floating CGI alligator for Charles Band.

Remember to like, comment and subscribe and lets try and survive our stay at Devil’s Manor with Michael Bonini!


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This episode is a continuation of our last episode with actor Devon Sawa as we continue to discuss overlooked or under-seen genre films. As a quick recap, Devon is one of the stars of the 2020 hinterland horror “Hunter Hunter”. When the film came out the pandemic cost it the opportunity to play festivals or have a premiere and sadly, the movie didn’t get nearly the attention it deserves. It’s a smart, taught, shocking film and one hopes in time more people will discover it.

In this episode we are joined by the films writer and director, Shawn Linden.

Shawn and I discuss the major influence of dark 80’s fantasy classics such as "The Secret of NIMH" and "The Dark Crystal", the many hurdles he faced getting “Hunter Hunter” into production, how killing characters the audience expects to see save the day is effectively destabilizing and oddly not done enough and why audiences are far more comfortable seeing humans get killed on screen than non-human animals.

Let’s explore the savage and stark world of “Hunter Hunter” with filmmaker Shawn Linden!


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The holidays have come and gone and it’s a new year and we’re back at it, bringing you intimate one on one sit downs with the most exciting voices in horror.

2023 was a fantastic year for horror and 2024 doesn’t look to be slowing down so though the New Year is often a time for looking forward at what’s to come, it’s also a time for reflection. This season we will be spotlighting some of the genres great entires that you may have missed or that for a number of reasons (a global pandemic for example) didn’t get attention they so deserved.

The first film we’re going to delve into is the gripping and gutting 2020 film “Hunter Hunter” by filmmaker Shawn Linden.

“Hunter Hunter”, a raw and unforgiving survival story about a family living isolated in the wilderness, who begin to think they are being stalked by a rogue wolf but soon come to find it’s something far more terrifying, is a stark and nuanced genre film. Sadly, the pandemic robbed it of the ability to have a film festival run  (so important for indie films) and when the film was released in 2020, despite plenty of strong reviews from the critics, it came and went with not nearly enough notice.

I think it’s one of the best genre films of the last decade and deserved much much better.

With a stellar cast and taught lean direction, the film is equal parts terrifying survival story and intimate character work.

In this episode, I am joined by one of the stars of the film and one of the genres most beloved leading men. In our next episode, we will be talking with the films director, Shawn Linden.

Our guest today has been acting since he was a child and over the years, has become a horror household name having starred in films such as “Idle Hands”, “Final Destination”, “Black Friday” and the series starring everyones favourite Good Guy “Chucky”.

When I started this show I had a list of people I knew I wanted to talk to. People that have made major contributions to the genre. We’ve been fortunate enough to get to speak with most of those people but this actor was always right at the top of the list.

In today’s episode, we are joined by Devon Sawa.

Now most listeners of the show will be aware that our guests are generally joining us remotely but I had the great pleasure to sit down with Devon in person. We first me while he was attending the awesome horror convention “Frightmare in the Falls” in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada and at a later date we recorded our talk in a restaurant so you will hear a bit more background than usual.

Devon is a lovely guy. Warm and open and generous with his stories and insights.

We discussed the ups and downs of a being a teen heartthrob, why he veered away from genre films for a while, how starring in Eminem’s iconic music video “Stan” helped redefine him as an actor and why a show about a murderous doll is so important.
 
So lets get ready to sit down with the man who had the best battle with his own possessed hand since Bruce Campbell, thwarted deaths plan and been killed by Chucky more then anybody… welcome horror’s leading man, Devon Sawa!


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Happy holidays from all of us here at SYG! 
The winter solstice is upon and it’s one of the darkest times of the year. So as you're enjoying the lights on your Christmas tree and lighting your Christmas candles, just remember that though the holidays are a time for joy and cheer, it has a much darker history than that. This, our annual Christmas special, will be our final episode for the holidays but we’ll be back in a few weeks with more discussions with some of the luminaries of darkness.
 
Everyone has their favorite Christmas movie classics but perhaps the gold standard is Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Featuring Jimmy Stewart learning that every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings, it was only a matter of time before some master of the macabre took a stab at the setup for a horror film.
 
And boy are we lucky that that particular filmmaker happened to by our guest today, Tyler MacIntyre with his new film “It’s a Wonderful Knife”.
 
If you don’t love the title already you deserve to be boiled in your own Christmas pudding.
 
With a genre cast to die for, a razor-sharp script by Michael Kennedy (who wrote the genre hit “Freaky”) and a Christmas killer sure to join the ranks of the great Christmas slashers, “It’s a Wonderful Knife” has all the ingredients to become a Christmas horror fans tradition.
 
Tyler and I sat down to discuss the importance of inclusivity in modern horror, some tips of the trade for pursuing a career in filmmaking that are sure to be of great help for our aspiring filmmaker listeners, what he took from Hallmark when creating his own Christmas tale and how the film nods to “It’s a Wonderful Life” in some very sly ways. We also discuss the creation of Justin Long’s insane and wonderfully bizarre villain.
 
“It’s a Wonderful Knife” is available on Shudder, AMC+ and anywhere you rent your movies.
 
Okay, let’s sharpen our candy canes and get our wings with Tyler MacIntyre!


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