Friday, November 27, 2009

Trail of Blood: An Interview with the Guerrieri Brothers



Joseph Guerrieri (The Jackalope) and Justin Guerrieri are the brains and the legs behind horror film Trail of Blood. A film that is character driven, horrifying, and full of surprises, Trail of Blood is currently in post-production and searching for distribution. To be shown at film festivals beginning in 2010 the Guerrieri brothers have taken the time out from moviemaking to talk to me for all of you about Trail of Blood, the process of filmmaking, life and filming in the Angeles National Forest. Have a look at the interview below and prepare to be soaked in blood once the film is available to fans in 2010.

(Michael Allen) Hi Joseph and Justin thanks for talking about your film Trail of Blood.

(Joseph Guerrieri) It is our pleasure and thanks for posting an article of the film on your horror website.

(MA) No problem, can you tell me where your film company is based out of?

(Joseph G) We are based out of Los Angeles on the westcoast.

(MA) Great! I am on the westcoast as well. Let us talk about your newest horror film Trail of Blood. Where abouts in the production process are you?

(Joseph G)We are just putting the finishing touch on the film now. We are working with the special effects. So, there are a few things that we are dealing with. Other than that the film is basically done.

(MA) That sounds great. So, it sounds like the film will be available for fans soon. True? Have you found distribution for the film?

(Joseph G) We do not have a distributor yet.

(MA) Distribution seems to be part of the process of filmmaking along with film festivals. I think fans will recognize Robert Picardo from Star Trek fame. Can you tell fans what else Robert Picardo has starred in?

(Joseph G) He was on Star Trek: Voyager, he played the doctor. He has also been on Stargate: Atlantis. He has done a number of films with our executive producer Joe Dante including the Masters of Horror series (Homecoming). He was in Innerspace. They have done a lot of movies together. He was also Coach Cutlip on the Wonder Years.

(MA) Can you tell me who else is in the film that fans might recognize?

(Joseph G) The film also stars Kandis Erickson who you might recognize from the film Seance (200^). She is wonderful too and a great actress. There is another actor named Trevor Torseth. He has done a bit of television work. He was in a film called Lake Dead - he plays the villain. There is Maggie VandenBerghe and she was in a film called Aliens in the Attic. The film has a lot of young strong actors.

(MA) I have heard of Lake Dead- enjoyed it! Where did you shoot most of the scenes for Trail of Blood?

(Joseph G) We shot the entire film in the Angeles forest. It is right outside of LA'.

(Justin Guerrieri) It is pretty much a half hour outside of Los Angeles. Some of our shots were in higher elevations in the forest and the location was an hour outside of LA'. All the shooting was relatively close to LA', but we were trying to find locations that had a deep in the woods look. We found some cool locations for the movie.

(MA) I get lost in the woods all the time so this sounds horrifying already. How long was the shooting schedule?

(Joseph G) We shot it in two weeks or twelve days. It was six days on and one day off.

(MA) For fans who have not heard of Trail of Blood yet can you give them an intro' into the film and what to expect?

(Joseph G) The main character in the film is a young kid who has just enlisted in the Marines and him and his friends are going out into the woods. Along the way they encounter this ex-Marine who saw combat in Iraq and things take a turn towards the very ugly.

(MA) It sounds like this ex-Marine is a candidate for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Is that true?

(Justin G) Yes, essentially the film covers this ex-Marine with PTSD who accuses the kids of having killed a person in the woods. After, there are some bodies found in the woods. He accuses them of murdering these people and the movie changes into a hostage situation where the accusation fly back and forth. It is a psychological cat-and-mouse game between this ex-Marine and the young man who just enlisted in the Marines. They have a stand-off!

There is some mystery about who is doing the killing, but it really turns into a psychological thriller. The kids are trying to survive because the kids did not do it (murder).

Robert Picardo is an FBI agent who has a sixth sense and he kind of knows who the killer is, but he is kind of tormented by his own issues and his own demons. He has been following different murderers. He has a cool premonition about what is going on.

(Joseph G) We wanted to do something that was a genre film and then have a character driven story. It is a psychological journey not just a typical horror film. We wanted to make a smart film not just a popcorn movie. It is not a light film. It is a pretty serious film the way we undertook it. We crafted some cool characters and we wanted to watch the characters collide.

(MA) Okay, I think that is great introduction to the film and viewers can stay tuned as Trail of Blood develops over the next several months.

(Justin and Joseph G) Thanks a lot for talking with us and we will keep you up to date as the film develops. Thanks for the interview and take care.

Check out a second movie still from the picture here (click to enlarge):



And for those of you looking for more info' on Trail of Blood visit the film's homepage as seen here:

Trail of Blood Homepage

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