Naked Zombies a Go-Go!

By Alix Lakehurst

Albuquerque-born filmmaker Scott Phillips has been a B-movie fan since birth. His passion led him to running a video store before hightailing it to Hollywood, where he wrote the script for the beloved cult martial-arts favorite Drive (1997).

Scott also worked as a make-up artist, sound technician, production assistant, and movie critic en route to writing and directing the wild sex-among-the-living-dead zombie opus The Stink of Flesh (2005) (Picture: 1 - 2).

The multitalented Mr. Phillips's upcoming epic, Gimme Skelter, ponders what might have become of the mysterious offspring fathered by hippie murder freak Charles Manson.

In addition to his own movies, Scott writes about all sorts of others in his funny, informative volume Unsafe on Any Screen, and he also authored an official Jason Voorhees novel, Friday The 13th #1: Church of the Divine Psychopath.

These credits are very much in keeping with MrSkin.com. It was a pleasure to sit and talk with Scott about all this and more.

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Tell us about your days in Albuquerque with the drive-in theaters and late night TV. Give me some fond memories and favorite shows.

Oh man, I could go on and on about the glory days. See, I was an accident, which meant that my two brothers were both a lot older than me, so I got hauled to the drive-in a lot as a kid. My mom and dad liked to go to the drive-in too, because they could smoke.

As for my love of late-night TV, I think that all began with Creepy Creature Feature, a local movie show. Saw lots of Godzilla and stuff on there.

Do you remember the first movie nude scene you ever saw?

I think the first naked girl I ever saw was in Vanishing Point (Picture: 1). I was visiting my oldest brother, who was going to college in Boulder, Colorado. We went to the drive-in with his roommates and I got all weirded out when the naked chick rides around on the motorcycle.

I also bought my first-ever issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland--it was #100--on that same trip, so it was definitely an important moment.

Did you lose your virginity at a drive-in?

I wish! Instead it happened inside a closet, atop a pile of laundry and a vacuum cleaner. The vacuum cleaner did not take part.

What is it about vintage B-movies that you find especially appealing?

I don't know how to answer that, really. I mean they're sleazy and lurid and cool in a way that even modern B-movies tend not to be.

What made you decide to close down your video shop and move to L.A.?

I just decided it was time to stop messing around and throw myself into the movie-making world. I had written a pile of spec scripts, including the one that became Drive, and felt like I was ready to give it a real shot. Fortunately it worked out pretty well.

Out of all the work that you did in L.A. what did you have the most fun with?

Well, I'm still doing stuff in Hollywood even though I don't live there anymore, but I'd have to say Drive was the most fun.

I also enjoyed working as a makeup effects guy on Not of This Earth (Picture: 1) and Beastmaster 3. Right now, I'm having a great time on the TV series I'm writing for, Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight.

Is there anyone specific you looked up to, that you learned from?

My buddy Kenneth J. Hall, director of The Halfway House (Picture: 1), was a big help to me, he took me around town and basically got me hired as an effects guy, so I owe him a lot. Kenneth has a cameo in Gimme Skelter and he's terrific in the flick.

Another guy who was a big source of inspiration and guidance is C. Courtney Joyner, a screenwriter and director who's done a ton of great B-movie stuff. He's one of the best out there. There were plenty of other folks too.

You didn't stay out in L.A. very long. Why?

To be honest, I really enjoy visiting L.A.--for one thing, Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles is my favorite restaurant--but I hated living there. I was always broke and felt like there were a hundred things going on that I wasn't cool enough to be a part of. Plus it's really hard to get laid there, particularly if you're a screenwriter.

Tell us about The Stink of Flesh.

When I decided to try and make a no-budget movie, I figured since I had never done a zombie flick, that's what I'd tackle.

Keep in mind, this was before the recent wave of zombie movies, so I definitely wasn't trying to cash in on that. I had a treatment for a zombie script lying around, but it was too big to pull off on our tiny budget. However, there was a scene in it that involved a swinger couple and I realized I could expand on that.

I just wanted to do something different, tell a different story than zombie movies usually deliver. I've said it many times, but whenever you make a zombie movie, you're playing in George Romero's sandbox whether you want to admit it or not. I feel like there's a lot more going on in that sandbox than we tend to see in most zombie movies.

As for having help, while I wrote and directed the flick, there's no way you can do something like this without a dedicated cast and crew, so I had plenty of help!

Dexy and Nathan--the swinger couple in The Stink of Flesh--add a very interesting twist to the movie with their alternative lifestyle. Do you think they cast alternative lifestyles in a negative light?

Well, I don't necessarily see it as putting alternative lifestyles in a bad light--it's more about people who define themselves and their lives by one thing so much that they start to lose sight of what's going on around them. In the case of The Stink of Flesh, it's sex, but it could just as easily have been playing checkers or working on the car, you know?

The character of Sassy, who has a mutant sister growing out of her stomach, is especially fun. And how do you explain why the zombies are taking over?

Well, see, Sassy is played by Kristin Hansen, who is the niece of Gunnar Hansen--Leatherface from the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I knew Kristin was going to play the part, and when you have the niece of Leatherface in your movie, you have to do something crazy with her. That's pretty much where the parasitic twin came from--it was my sacred duty to help carry on the Hansen family legacy! The funny thing is, Kristin and Gunnar are both in Gimme Skelter, and Kristin probably plays the most normal character in the movie.

As for why the dead are walking, I chose not to explain that in the movie--I feel like so many other movies have explained it, I'd just let audiences pick their favorite and apply it in this case. Also, I'm really glad you liked that the movie doesn't spoon-feed everything to the audience--some people have complained that it doesn't give you all the answers, but I like that you have to think about what's going on.

Do you think today's movies underestimate their audience and make their characters one dimensional and use all the money on flash rather than good acting?

Absolutely. That's why I tend to watch older movies more than the current stuff.

What do you hope for with Gimme Skelter?

Like I mentioned earlier, it's all about delivering the groceries, so my main hope is that we did that and that people will be entertained by the movie. Of course, it would be nice to see Skelter receive a wider release than The Stink of Flesh has had, and so far things look pretty good for that possibility.

What kind of reaction do you think you will get from the basis of the plot--the Manson-children idea?

I think a lot of people will come into the movie expecting something different than what we're delivering, but hopefully they'll dig it. There's certainly a bit of a "message" behind it, although I try not to be heavy-handed about that sort of thing, and the truth is, I think some people will miss what we were getting at--not because it's oh-so-clever or anything, but because they'll be kind of looking in the wrong direction--if that makes any sense.

Do you think there are really Manson children running around?

Oh yeah, it's a fact. Charlie Manson fathered at least one for sure, and there were plenty of other Manson girls who got knocked up in those days.

Can MrSkin.com fans expect a lot of nudity in Gimme Skelter?

I'm very pleased at the insane amount of nudity on display in Gimme Skelter--and so is my producer! I think there are something like six different pairs of naked breasts within the first twenty minutes of the movie.

Can you tell me some of your favorite nude or sexy scenes?

I always liked Kirsten Baker (Picture: 1 - 2) in Friday the 13th Part 2, especially when she goes looking for her lost dog and winds up skinny dipping. She was also in Gas Pump Girls.

Can you tell me your favorite sexy actresses?

Pretty much any girl from any Russ Meyer movie would make the list. I also like Katee Sackhoff, who plays Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica, and Scarlett Johansson (Picture: 1). And of course all the girls in Gimme Skelter!

About your book, Unsafe on Any Screen--what are the Apes and Bourbon points relating to? I tried to find an explanation but I missed it.

It's explained in the introduction--basically the Greased Ape Scale represents how many greased apes I'd wrestle to see a particular movie, and the Cheap Bourbon scale represents how much liquor one might want to consume in order to properly enjoy a movie.

How did you pick the movies, I mean you explain it in the intro, but I flipped through and saw huge hits like Streets of Fire (Picture: 1), Shallow Grave, and Porky's (Picture: 1) and then total unknowns like Mother's Day (Picture: 1), Forbidden World (Picture: 1), and workout videos (Cindy Crawford and Linnea Quigley). Plus, you also have blockbusters like The Rules of Attraction (Picture: 1), Showgirls (Picture: 1), and Mars Attacks. What was your motivation behind the final list?

When I was writing for the Weekly Alibi, they allowed me to review whatever I wanted to, so it's really just whatever I was watching during that period. I never really bothered to review stuff I didn't like, though (with the exception of The Rules of Attraction)--I was more interested in spreading the gospel of the good cheese to my readers. It's the same way I ran my video store--if I liked something, I wanted other people to know about it so they could enjoy it too!