Keeping Texas Spooky With Corey Trahan [New Blood Drops]
When it comes to Texas talent, it’s my pleasure to say there’s no shortage in the Indie Horror community. I mean, shoot, we’re covered plenty of it here over the years, especially on the short film circuit, not to mention a feature film here and there. In the Lone Star State, these artists are anything but solo.
Take today’s creator. Though I interviewed him alone, one thing is clear: whatever his name is on, you can bet he’s brought together a vibrant community to bring their nightmares to life. Hailing from the central-state city of Austin, we welcome filmmaker, musician, and theme park owner Corey Trahan to New Blood Drops!
To read the complete hour-long interview, be sure to head over to my website — www.giallojulian.com — where you can also read my Direction Dissection interviews with director Adam Simon, as well as my previous New Blood Drops interview with audio-drama creator Jack Austin, in their full length. With that out of the way, let’s see how Trahan manages to make the stars at night shine with blood-red light deep in the severed heart of Texas!
Dread Central: Well, first of all, I want to thank you for taking the time to talk to me this morning!
Corey Trahan: Same! Thanks for having me!
DC: Of course! Let’s start off with the basics. Tell us how you first got into horror. What twists and turns happened in your life to give you a love for the genre?
CT: So, I’m a fantasy guy. Always have been, you know? My friends and I played Dungeons & Dragons growing up, and I was always the dungeon master.
DC: I know that feeling.
CT: I just love telling stories… I loved fantasy, and being a curious person, horror always had a certain allure and mystery to me. Halloween night would come, and “the veil was thin.” Well, what is this “veil?” [What’s up with] spirits?
On the flip side of my life, I’m a scientist — a physicist — and so there’s this sort of inner curiosity that I have had ever since I was a kid. I like to attribute my love of horror — oddly enough — to that.
So [my passion for horror projects is] rooted in my love of storytelling, fantasy, and just curiosity of the unknown and the mysterious… As kids, me and my friends would go to the rental store and rent VHS. We were always watching horror films… These sort of inner curiosities and love for storytelling and fantasy is what drives the horror fascination that I have. Film and music, those sorts of things, fed that curiosity.”
DC: So you’re known for several different avenues in the local horror community, with the biggest one being your Halloween horror haunt — Bat City Scaregrounds. How did the Scaregrounds start? What inspired you to do it year after year?
CT: Yeah! Yeah, I asked myself that — What inspired me? [Laughs]
DC: [Laughs]
CT: I just always have been a fan of haunted houses and animatronics. As a physicist, I love robotics and microcontrollers. I met my business partner [Wes] while in Lubbock, and we were talking through a mutual friend… and he heard that I was thinking about opening up a haunted house.
Wes reached out and said, “I’m thinking about doing the same thing, too…” He’s a [well-known DJ] for most of the Panhandle of Texas, and his outreach was phenomenal, so it made a lot of sense. In 2006, I did some research, and we decided to open what I call a “theme park,” because it’s not just a haunted house — it’s multiple haunted houses. There are concessions,… entertainment, and [bands].
So we opened that up, and it was a struggle. We worked really hard. We had a lot of growing pains, but I loved it… This was a real passion for me as an artist, because these things, these sorts of parks… span different elements of art. You have makeup effects,… set production,… audio design,… light design. So for someone like me… I like to change things that I’m doing. You know? Interdisciplinary artists, I guess you would say.
It was really fascinating, because I could dabble in all these channels of art in the business. And any time you’re in a business, of course, it’s only as successful as the passion and the grit you put into it. So that business — Nightmare on 19th Street in Lubbock, Texas — did really well through the years. We grew, we were patient, and it started to do so well… that we opened up a park here in Austin, Texas — Bat City Scaregrounds.
I live in Austin… and I had been traveling to Lubbock a ton, so I was like, I want to do something at home… We bought 15 acres of agricultural property. It was crazy that there were still 15 acres this close to downtown.
DC No shit! Goddamn.
CT: What keeps that park going year to year is the drive to build, and this crew. I have a great crew. They’re very passionate about horror, and whatever the art form they do—production design, sculpting, or whatever—is a great canvas.
You know these things when you’re an artist—if you’re a horror artist, in particular. That’s what I often tell people, “It’s a canvas! Let’s work together on a concept, and then you do your thing. Be inspired, and go out and create.”
DC: So, when can we expect Bat City Scaregrounds to open this year? And are there any new bits you can give us a sneak peek at?
CT: “The first open day is September 27th… the last Saturday of September. That day is a great day to come out, actually, because there are no lines, and the actors are raring to go by then.
We’re open every weekend in October. As the month progresses, we start to open up on Thursdays and Sundays. And, of course, no matter what day Halloween falls on, we’re open.
As far as new stuff… we’re enhancing our midway significantly this year… A majority of the time, people at Bat City Scaregrounds or Nightmare on 19th Street, they’re in the midway. They’re either eating, or hanging out, or watching music, or in line for attractions. So… a lot of our efforts this year will be creating really cool photo-ops, and a more immersive midway… My constant quote is, “I need it to feel like it’s Halloween Land as soon as you walk into the gates.”
So it’s this ever-present thrust to create a midway that’s more and more immersive into this fantasy world of, you know, Tim Burton-y, Halloween Land kind of thing… We’re going to add a traditional “haunted house” facade… that you could take pictures [in].
DC: The way you’re saying the midway is going to be like entering into a new realm, a new fantasy realm, reminds me of Suspiria. Where Suzy Bannion… she’s walking down the hallway to the exit of the train station, [and] every time the doors open, you hear fantasy music playing, and every time they close, the music stops… That is the entranceway to the new world of horror, and fantasy, and witches, and all that stuff.
CT: Like a transition.
DC: Yeah. I love it. So you’re also a filmmaker, directing such films as The Black Quarry and Damsel of the Doomed. How did all that come about? What challenges have you faced in the indie [film] scene? And did your experience with the Scaregrounds help make these films?”
CT: I can start with the last question first. Directing a theme park is very similar to directing a film, and for a long time, I never considered the fact that I was a director at a theme park. Because as a business owner, you’re just doing what it takes for your business… It wasn’t until later that I realized I’ve been directing makeup effects,… wardrobe,… actors,… operations essentially for almost twenty years now.
So I’m like, Cool, let’s make some movies! I wrote The Black Quarry, and we shot that film. It was meant to be an anthology film—a two-part Creepshow-style anthology where Scarah, Damsel of the Doomed, is our host, and she’s kind of like the Crypt Keeper. She introduces us to two stories that have a sort of overarching connection.
We shot The Black Quarry, we finished it, we edited it, and then we moved on to Damsel of the Doomed… The Black Quarry ended up being 50 minutes, as expected… Damsel was quite a long film. It was an hour and twenty minutes, and it was like, “This is too long to be a two-part anthology. This will be an over two-hour-long film!”
It was clear that it was able to be a standalone film, and I’m like, “Well, why not just release them both as standalone films instead of a combined anthology?” So that’s what we did.
That’s some good ol’ fashioned Texan Indie Horror cooking right there. If you have a hankering for more, mosey on to the full interview here to get all the fixings, including:
- The dichotomy (or lack thereof) of science and the supernatural.
- The growth and strength of the Austin Indie Horror scene, supported by the local horror, goth, and music communities.
- The merits of professional filmmakers and natural storytellers.
- Trahan’s Indie Horror punk-pop band, The Immortalz.
- And much more!
If you want to get tickets to this year’s Bat City Scaregrounds, you can do so on the website here.
To watch Trahan’s film The Black Quarry, you can do so here.
Trahan’s other film—Damsel of the Doomed—has a planned October release date, so be sure to check back in for updates.
With a whole wicked world of Indie Horror creators, there’s no shortage of guests ready to appear on the series. So stay tuned, Blood Babes! See you soon!
Categorized: Interviews
