Before there was Boulet, there was Benji.
Just two months before the Boulet Brothers unleashed Dragula onto the world, a very different – but very special – sort of horror drag star was born when director Heidi Moore premiered Dolly Deadly in August of 2016. Answering the question “What would’ve happened if Pink Flamingos-era John Waters made a horror movie?,” Dolly told the origin story of the titular slasher, who begins life as a sweet-natured orphan named Benji whose love of dolls and magic tricks make him the source of ire for his homophobic stepparents and the gaggle of abusive freaks that constitute his neighbors in the dilapidated trailer park he calls home. Screening at the inaugural Ax Wound Film Festival, Dolly became the event’s breakout film, launching Moore and her unique brand of twisted horror to immediate cult status. While she hasn’t released a narrative feature since (though she did produce the 2018 documentary More Blood! about America’s love of splatter cinema), that’s due to the size of her ambition rather than a lack of it. Not content to follow Dolly up with “just” another slasher, she’s been hard at work on Dolly Deadly 2: Kill Dolly Kill, which – taking a lesson from the anemic sequels of lore – ups the ante, plunging Benji into the world of drag shows, burlesque performances and musical theater for a rock-and-roll horror odyssey unlike anything we’ve seen in a long time. With COVID shutting down post-production, I took the chance to talk to Heidi about her experiences, influences, and the role the horror drag scene has played in her work.
Welcome to Fango, Heidi! Since this is your first interview with us, tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I'm Heidi Moore, director lady and owner of Wretched Productions. I make horror films that go beyond one genre; I like to add in comedy, drama and a whole lot of “WTF?”. I enjoy writing stories full of social commentary, and my favorite is to get creepy using deep, dark feelings.
And you're currently working on the sequel to Dolly Deadly, correct?
Yes indeed. I was doing an interview with the owner of Troma Entertainment, Lloyd Kaufman, for a documentary called More Blood!. At some point he mentioned that he watched Dolly Deadly and loved it, and wants to help produce the sequel. Working with Troma has always been a dream of mine, so of course I jumped on the opportunity.
How has working with Troma been different from making the first film on your own? From what I recall of the production you really handled everything yourself, without any sort of studio support or backing. What sort of opportunities has this afforded you, and how's that shaped this movie?
Troma is helping by co-funding and providing support where needed, so I am the main producer. That means I'm still handling most things myself. The difference this time is that I have more crew and other producers helping out. Tom Komisar was a fan of Dolly Deadly and wrote the sequel just because he wanted to. He's an incredible musician, so he wrote it as a horror rock musical – another dream of mine is to direct a musical! Tom got the production company he works with, HM&M Films, involved, so we all did our part to make this happen. Having Troma behind the film has helped a lot because more people want to be involved. On top of that, I was able to have several brainstorming meetings with Lloyd Kaufman on how to make the script and the film itself bigger and better. He is so creative, and it's been great to have someone like him have my back.
Tell us more about the musical aspects of the movie? "Horror rock musical" isn't a phrase we hear often outside of Rocky Horror Picture show or maybe Phantom of the Paradise.
Tom Komisar has a punk rock background, playing in the band Badtown Boys, and I grew up as one of the handful of punk rock kids in my small town. So naturally, Kill Dolly Kill is full of songs that are inspired by the music we grew up on. The main character is played by Donna Slash who is the lead singer of the band Homosuperior, and the film is full of performance artists from all over the country. Filming the musical numbers was a surreal experience. Every time, I was blown away by the talent of our cast.
What're the unique challenges of directing musical sequences versus a regular narrative feature?
I think the actors had a lot on their plates; getting into character, making sure they looked fantastic and performing... so often we were running into the issue of not getting all the lyrics right. Usually messing up a line is no big deal, but when you're doing a full-on musical number, we've got back up dancers, choreography, etc., involved. This means there's a lot to re-do. But to be honest, the musical numbers were the easiest parts of the production. Performing like that is where a lot of our actors are truly themselves. They went all out and shined like the stars they are.
Going back a second, tell us more about the cast.
We had people from all over the country. Tom Komisar was in it of course, and I mentioned the hairsprayed heavy metal horror queen Donna Slash. In addition to them we had the Las Vegas Men Of Burlesque, choreography by JP Nomi Malone, the incredible talents of Miss Savvy who had one of the funnest kill scenes I've seen in a long time, Mark Justice who took his character and ran with it like crazy, and the infamous Amy Vodkahaus played Slasherella, Dolly's nemesis. If you aren't familiar with these folks, I highly suggest you look them up. They're all very talented and have super entertaining acts.
We also had a few actors return from Dolly Deadly as different characters. Rock Bottom the wacky comedian from the first movie is back as Maxwell Weiner, Dolly's public defender. I think I should mention that Dai Green played three different characters in Kill Dolly Kill. She's a good friend of mine, so I made her fill in wherever I could fit her in.
Dolly Deadly ends with Benji becoming a drag star; where did the idea for that come from, and how have you incorporated that element into this movie?
I recently released a short film called Dolly Deadly 1.5 that explains Benji's transformation a bit. I am a big fan of the art of drag, and wanted to include friends of mine who were drag queens. As Lloyd Kaufman mentions in his book, "Make Your Own Damn Movie"; when making independent films, you need to work with what you have access to. I know a huge amount of performers from all kinds of backgrounds, so I wanted to write in something that could utilize their talents.
That's really intriguing – the Boulet Brothers and Dragula have shown there's a big crossover in horror and the drag world. Did you incorporate any of that connection into the script?
I didn't know about the Boulet Brothers when I made Dolly Deadly. The fame of their show Dragula is a fairly new thing… I love their show and hope to work with them and the contestants one day. What I do is take a look at what is going on in my world and use it to inspire me. I am surrounded by performance artists, dancers, side show performers, drag queens and all kinds of things in between. So they always come to mind when I'm making films whether it's horror or not. In addition to the positive, artsy things going on around me, I also pull inspiration from all the not so savory characters I've met and dealt with in my time. Might as well get something out of the experience, right?
What are some of your other inspirations?
I like to observe people and their feelings. Pretty much everything I write about digs into why people are doing the things they do. When I'm making horror, I generally go for fears that come from within. I want people to feel uncomfortable from watching someone suffer and react based on their emotions. There's a saying "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" or something in that ballpark. I don't believe that. The way people are treated shapes them... how it shapes them depends on the person. Cruel words stay with me forever, and I know that in theory a lot of people would rather die than be destroyed emotionally. That is what inspires me when trying to scare someone.
Even though ostensibly our sympathies are supposed to be with the victims in horror movies I think a lot of viewers end up identifying with the monster instead. There's something really powerful about bringing that identification back around to human suffering
I have always identified with the "Monster". It's important to dig and think about who is actually the monster in the story. So often, the supposed "good guy" is pretty terrible. If fairy tales, they are always the ones stepping all over others to get what they are after. Don't get me started here, I tend to get pretty intense and can talk with you for hours about who is good and who is "bad". I used to use the story of Frankenstein to teach my kids about acceptance and bullying.
Would you say that's the monster that's been most influential to you as a creator?
Yes, definitely. People all throughout history have done horrible things in the name of good that are actually incredibly evil. It's not fair to say that people who are victims can't be the monsters as well. I think about this all the time, to the point where it gets silly. Once at Disneyland I saw two ducks chasing another duck. I wasn't sure if the one duck was being a jerk and the other two were defending themselves, or if the two ducks were being bullies. So... I didn't get involved.
Taken in that context, how do you see Benji in Kill Dolly Kill? Is he the monster, the victim, both?
I wrote him as the victim, but it's all up for interpretation. It's up to the individual how they react to their surroundings. It's kind of creepy to think that every person you've ever met has their own perspective of you. So to some people you are terrible, to others you are fun, caring, sexy, dumb, whatever. I love hearing other people's interpretations of the film and how they relate to it. That's what keeps me going as an artist; learning how my work is seen through others. So to answer your question, it's not all black and white. There are too many things to consider. It's in the eye of the beholder!
I know that Coronavirus has put a stop to a lot of productions, but, where will you be when the film world returns to "normal"?
We're very close to having Kill Dolly Kill finished, so I will be ready to release the film, and tour. Besides that I have a few things cooking, but am taking this time to refresh emotionally, and not get devoured by existential dread. You better believe I've been taking note of the human behavior going on these days, and it will show up in whatever I do next.
Any future projects you want to tease?
After Kill Dolly Kill, I'm hoping to get hired to direct other people's films for a change. So, hello world, I'm here for your director lady needs! Let's get creepy and weird.
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Fan of Dolly Deadly? Watch Dolly Deadly 1.5 here!
Find Heidi Moore and Wretched Productions on YouTube, Facebook and at Wretched Productions.
