EXCLUSIVE: Ferrante talks about BOO

You better believe I'm going after this exclusive, duh

By Patrick Sauriol     November 04, 2003
Source: Anthony C. Ferrante, Graveyard Filmworks

When yesterday's story broke in The Hollywood Reporter that Cinescape Editor-in-Chief Anthony Ferrante was about to direct his first feature film -- a horror movie, no less -- yours truly was just as surprised as everyone else. If there's one thing Cinescape's print commander has in spades, it's maintaining journalistic integrity and avoiding conflict of interest.

Which is why directly after the news broke, it was up to me to strongarm Ferrante and get him to spill the details about BOO, his theatrical debut as a screenwriter and director. The word is out, isn't it? Fangoria got the exclusive last week, right? So all's fair in love, war and movie scoops I say, so spill the beans!

I asked Ferrante some questions about BOO, namely where the idea came from, why he's the guy to do it and why it's going to scare the hell out of you. In full, here are Anthony's answers to my questions and more exclusive information about the first movie coming out from Graveyard Filmworks...

Q: Where did the idea for BOO come from?

FERRANTE: I wrote BOO several years ago when I was supervising special make-up effects and second-unit directing on a film called PROGENY. The hospital we were using was abandoned but we were shooting it as an operational location. It's a pretty spooky place and I wondered why nobody used it for what it was -- a haunted old hospital. So I wrote a script around the location. People were interested in it over the years including Kismet. When I took [producer] David [E. Allen] down to the hospital that it was written around, he saw the movie that I wrote in the script and its potential and now we're making the thing.

Q: You know better than us right now, so explain in a little more detail why BOO is going to scare the audience. What's your film got that the others don't?

FERRANTE: Most horror movies are very frustrating because many times they rely on CGI effects and editing that befits action movies. So with the script, there's a lot of breathing room to build a mood and tone with suspense before the movie kicks into gear. Plus, we plan on doing most of the effects in-camera, which I think will make it even scarier for audiences. I think we also have characters audiences will care about, which is sometimes forgotten in many horror films but which is key to creating even more suspense and scares.

Q: You wrote the screenplay for BOO and you're also going to direct the film, your first feature. Why are you the right guy to direct this picture and not someone else?

FERRANTE: While I've been an editor for various magazines over the years, including Cinescape, my other job has been as a Special Make-Up Effects Supervisor and Second Unit Director. I really got first hand Roger Corman-like/low-budget training working for some really great filmmakers. Brian Yuzna who created the RE-ANIMATOR movies gave me my first big break in 1995 on a movie called THE DENTIST. I worked on four or five films with him and learned about film production from the effects down to the script. And since I had done my own short films over the years, I knew how to do things with very little money which continued to get me hired over the years. And recently I've been doing some extensive second unit directing which went beyond effects and into actual scenes and sequences. It helped me build up my reel and understand how to shoot a film fast and effectively which is what finally led me to the opportunity to direct BOO.

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Tomorrow I'll present what Graveyard Filmworks producer David E. Allen has to say about why he was attracted to BOO, his reasons for launching the company, what kind of films Graveyard will make, and even a little bit about Graveyard's second horror film, SERVANT OF THE DARK, which Allen himself will direct.


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