Dave Parker Takes Us Through Tales of Halloween
Matt Boiselle
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The recently released Tales of Halloween (review) has been receiving some rave reviews from viewers, and we here at Dread Central recently had the opportunity of speaking with ONE piece of the Halloween candy directorial grab-bag, Dave Parker.
His short “Sweet Tooth” warned against the ills of eating too much candy, and he was able to spill a little blood about the film and his future projects, so settle in and enjoy!
Dread Central: Dave, can you tell us a little about the short you directed, “Sweet Tooth?”
DP: It’s about a young kid that’s just gotten home from trick-or-treating, and his babysitter and her boyfriend tell him a story of “Sweet Tooth” – this local ghost story that’s told around this town, and it’s about this kid who always went trick-or-treating, and his parents wouldn’t let him have any candy, so one day he decided to see what they did with it all (which was eating it all). He plots his revenge, and in doing so, he becomes this evil spirit for Halloween called Sweet Tooth. You have to lay out some candy for him, or else he’ll take it… even it you’ve already eaten it. It’s a sort of cautionary tale that ultimately proves to be true.
DC: What was it like to work on a film of this magnitude, considering how many horror heavyweights were connected to it?
DP: It was really cool, mainly because we’re all friends that started up this project – all collaborating together and giving our opinions on the scripts and everything. I was the next to last to shoot, so I got to see everyone else on their sets working, and part of it was a little intimidating because people were definitely giving it their all, so you don’t want to be lesser than, so that combined with the time pressure and having two young kids was tough, with the hours you’d be shooting – everything was very compressed. It was one of those things where as soon as you’d get on set, every shot had to count, and the clock was always ticking, and you’re dealing with effects, creatures, makeup – there was very little room for error, and you had to be very precise.
DC: So, all of the other cast and crew were able to watch each other’s work?
DP: Yeah, we were all centered around this three-block radius in this town in L.A. called Eagle Rock. It was this neighborhood that was gracious enough to let us kind of overtake them for most of the shoot, so there would be one shooting while the other was prepping, and there would be a day in between to swap out equipment, while some crew members would be shared, and it just became this crazy thing where everyone was busy at all times. We’d all come down and check out each other’s sets, more to just be supportive of each other, or sometimes playing a dead body in someone else’s short – that was pretty cool. So part of mine was shot in New York because I needed a more modern looking house to be different than the flashback house. The whole thing was cool, but you never really get to enjoy it because you’re running around so much – you’d be able to say “hi” to someone, and then you’d be running around again. There was never anyone standing over your shoulder saying, “Come on; hurry up!” because we were all offering to help each other in different ways – it was great.
DC: Lastly, what’s coming up for you next on the work slate?
DP: Just working on some new scripts and trying to get some other scary projects off the ground. It’s always a constant learning curve, so it’s taking what you’ve learned from this experience and applying it to the next one. It’s also very important to try not to do the same movie over and over again, so I’m always trying to see what new aspect of the genre excites me now – what am I into, or what would I want to see?
Categorized:News
