Shit was getting hard.  And I was losing faith.  MOTHER'S DAY, 11-11-11 and THE BARRENS were all commercial failures...  It is my belief in large part to the movies themselves having little to no presence theatrically (let alone marketed).  I think MOTHER'S DAY was in two theaters, and THE BARRENS... I'm not sure it actually showed anywhere at all.  

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Getting a movie made is hard.  Fuck, it's damn near impossible.  So you fight, and you fight, and you fight to get something financed, and then you fight and you fight and you fight to get it shot and edited, and on budget.  And then, when the film is done, it could literally sit there, on a shelf for a year, maybe two before anyone sees it... It's demoralizing.  

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After my experience with THE BARRENS, I needed a change.  I was depressed and starting to believe that my movies literally did not have an audience.  I started to feel sorry for myself, and then, I became disgusted with myself.  

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No one is going to help me, if I can't help myself. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I wanted to make a statement.  I wanted to prove a point.  I wanted to show all the distributors and producers who were dumping my last few films that I COULD get people into a theater, and I could get a movie into a theater within the same year I shot it.  

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Terrance Zdunich, my partner on REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA, and I had been lamenting for years that we wanted to make another strange culty musical... NOW was the time. 

 

However, we went about this beast very differently than past films.  We wanted to make the entire ordeal of consuming it "an experience." 

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That, to me, was the hardest part about my last few films bypassing the cinema.  There was no experience.  There was no communal gathering spot for like-minded fans to congregate and share in the narrative.  

 

When THE DEVIL'S CARNIVAL was conceived, the first and most important aspect was how do we ensure we give our fans something unique, different.  Something that couldn't be downloaded.  

 

Therein was born the THE DEVIL'S CARNIVAL ROAD SHOW.  A madcap, insane, indefinable experience where the movie served as a backdrop in a night of debauchery.  

 

While I pride myself on the film, its music, and its eccentric casting... I am more proud of the relationships we as storytellers were able to have with our fans.