Director of Sin-Jin Smyth Exclusive Interview

What Greetings film fans! It's your old pal the Dude here, doing an actual, real live interview, with a human being! A human being who isn't my roommate! Or a girl I was hitting on only to be subsequently smacked in the face.

Ethan Dettenmaier: Writer. Director. All around fun guy. And a chatty kind of guy. Once he starts talking, get ready for a good time. He is currently hard at work on his feature film "Sin-Jin Smyth". It is a film wrapped up in much secrecy, and for a good reason. (The man talks, but try to get any plot details out of him, and you get nothing. Yet.) It sounds like Ethan has a really kick ass movie on his hands, and he'll be damned if he's gonna ruin the surprise. I can't wait to see it when it comes out next June.

Mr. Dettenmaier (Ethan, as he insists I call him, after smacking some sense into me) was kind enough to sit down and answer some of my questions concerning this new kind of horror movie. We started in his office in Hollywood, but quickly moved to the cafe across the street for a bite to eat, and some much needed booze for myself. It should be noted that we talked for quite a long time, so all you're getting right now is a mere taste. Well, more like Part 1 of a longer interview. Enjoy!

The Dude: Mr. Dettenmaier...

Ethan Dettenmaier: (Smacks me upside head) Call me Ethan, please.

Ethan, i would like to thank you for taking the time to chat with me and all the voracious readers of Horror-Movies.ca

E.D.: Don't mention it. It's an honor to talk with such a reputable man as yourself.

Damn straight. First question. What can we expect from your film, "Sin-Jin Smyth?"

E.D.: (Long pause) It wouldn't be much of a service to the audience to discuss the backbone of the story, or specific plot points. I can't describe it as to do justice for what you need. But it's also not fair. I mean, do you want me to use my words to tell you the movie right now, or do you want to see the film?

How about some hyperbolic description, so that people can see what sets this apart from other films out there? Like a good reason for them to see "Sin-Jin Smyth" over another film?

E.D.: Bottom line: We are trying to make one of the meanest horror films that we can. We're striving to emulate the greats, like Tod Browning, James Whale, William Friedkin with the Exorcist. A horror film can still be a great film and we are trying to do the best movie we can in that genre.

(prying) So, again, what can we expect?

E.D: Again, that's giving away too much. I don't want to ruin what you can expect. But...

How about what we won't expect when it comes out. You know, like bunny rabbits or 3-D dancing girls?

E.D.: There are no 3-D dancing girls. There are no bunny rabbits. At least, I think not. You'll have to check with the production team on that one. I'll tell you what you can expect. You can expect a hard hitting, kick your teeth kind of horror movie with a heavy action element.

And you know what else you can expect, we are going to be one of the first movies to feature 7.1 surround sound, as opposed to standard 5.1 sound. It's hard, lots of planning has to go into the sound design and sound track. Really, it's not about blowing the audience through the back wall of the theater so much as it's about us wanting to rip the roof off the [expletive deleted]! Full throttle! I hope the audience will like it because it's an added dimension that you wouldn't get with a lot of those other films out there. We want to light it up! We're not making some crap movie, right?

Chantel (cute server girl who's number I should have gotten): Right!

[Expletive deleted] YEAH!!!!

(Laughter and high fives all around. Chantel, having brought me a frosty beverage, departs).

Next question. How did this project come about?

E.D.: After optioning quite a bit of horror work to other production companies and having them be dismantled, we decided we needed to take the law into our own hands, damn the system, and make the movie. We have a great concept: Federal marshals transporting a prisoner who has no identity. I thought that, this is the kind of movie you'd hope to be able to direct. Not some movie with a bunch of sorority girls in their underwear playing Yahtzee, waiting to be hacked to death with a machete by the local college dean, who has two personalities, one the dean and one the lunatic...

Who's also the janitor...

E.D.: (Laughs) Right!

You're reluctant to cut a full trailer, so as not to give anything away. Have you run into difficulty with this idea?

E.D.: Not wanting to cut a trailer that gives the movie away was basically starting World War 3! (Laughter from both) I didn't want the trailer to give away anything but the legend the story is backbone to, and the images. It's best to just surprise you. Our film has a lot of surprises in it, so it's like "What do you want me to cut? What do you expect me to put in there? The ending?" But I think there's sort of an unimaginative format to trailers, as well as movies, that do just that.

Let me ask you something. War of the worlds trailer. Spielberg's like "I'm not gonna show you the aliens, I'm not giving away the ending, etc" And he gets that. Yet, you want to do the same thing, and you're getting flack for it?

E.D.: Its because of the track record. Spielberg knows what he's doing, and they know this. I'm unproven. It's business. I don't take it personally, but from an artistic standpoint, it's worth fighting for. Because you don't want to go and see, I dunno, Princess Diaries 3, (not that you would see it) and then see the whole story of Sin-Jin Smyth in a 2 minute trailer. Maybe that's why movies aren't doing so well. I mean, would YOU pay to see the movie when...

Not when I've just seen the whole movie as a trailer. And on the internet, no less.

E.D.: Have you gone to the website? ( www.sin-jinsmyth.com ) On it is our version of what we'd like the trailer to be.

How does Sin-Jin Smyth compare to traditional Hollywood films? Like the "horror" movies that are coming out now?

E.D.: I wouldn't... It wouldn't be a fair comparison because we're independent, artistically. We don't have some suit saying "You have to do this, because this is what made the first week's returns on House of Wax so good." We operate with what we'd like to see ourselves, not what some scientific theory in some publicity office tells us.

You're a real buck the system/damn the man kind of guy, huh?

E.D.: If it keeps going the way it's going, pretty soon, we're not gonna be able to see horror films in the next year or so. They're killing it, and it's killing everyone who goes and pays to see the films as well.

How did you go about casting the film with who you have?

E.D.: As far as casting the film, it was really fairly simple. I know who I wanted to use.

And you got them?

E.D.: And I got them. The script did all the talking. They were all about once they saw the page.

And no resistance at all?

E.D.: From the studio part, we took a lot of heat. No studio really wanted to lock and load with us. there were lots of suggestions for actors that wouldn't be right. For this kind of movie especially, set in the badlands of Kansas, all at night, under severe weather conditions, you need the special kinds of people and presences that can stand out against these things. I'm always asked this question, it's funny. (Laughter)

Truth is, I know these guys. You want the kind of guys who are going to jump in the trenches with you. People you can depend on to do the good work. You want to go in with these guys you like.

Did you write it with them in mind, specifically?

E.D.: No, not with them specifically. But these guys are genuine actors. Versus stars. These guys will take the script and morph to what the character requires, as opposed to the star who will take the script and morph the character to what they want to be. These guys, you can give them a role, whether it's bad guy, good guy or Shakespearean player, and they will find a way to get their homework in and become these things. And that's who you want to make a movie with, I think.

Thus ends part one, kiddies. Part two shall continue soon, and will include more insights on the production of the film. As well as a special surprise visit from Richard Tyson, one of the many talented people involved in this film. (And a man I was petrified meeting because of Three O Clock High).

Thanks real quick to Ethan for spending so much time with me and letting me in on some juicy tidbits. And a hell of a fun afternoon. Dude out, for now.......