- Hi Michael, Nice to talk with you tonight, why don't we start off with you telling me something about yourself?
Michael J. Hein, born in New York City, raised in New Jersey. I fell in love with horror films at 11 years old when I saw a double feature of George Romero's "Creepshow" and "Dawn of the Dead" in the summer of 1982. I was hooked from that point on.
- What inspired you to get started in directing / producing?
My love of the horror genre eventually blossomed into a love of film making and I eventually decided that's what I wanted to do with my life. Since horror was my passion, it was natural that I make a few horror films. I have worked a lot of other types of films; love stories, hard core drug addition dramas, etc. but horror is what I love doing.
- Tell me about some of the films you worked on, produced, directed?
Well, I've been working in the industry for fifteen years now, so I've worked on a lot of films and TV projects. Got my start doing special; effects make-up, worked on a few Troma films (The Class of Nuk'um High 2, among others) when I was a teen, then I went on to do a slew of horror shorts and features. in 1999 I started my own company Moodude Films (Moodude is my mom's nickname) and wrote and directed"Biohazardous" a very low budget zombie film.
Since then, I have produced many films including"Cyclone","This is how my Brother Died", "Glow", the very well received horror/comedy "Dead Serious" which stars genre scream queen Felissa Rose and the new one we are currently in post production on is "Devil's Grove."
- For the folks that don't know, tell us about the NYC Horror Festival?
I started the "New York City Horror Film Festival" because when I started making my own films, I quickly realized there were no serious genre film festivals in America. So with much determination and hard work from both me and special effects makeup artist Anthony Pepe, I put together the NYCHFF, which has since grown into the countries largest and most respected genre film festival. Here's a bit about this year's event which starts this Weds. October 18th and runs all week.
We have Tony Todd, Mick Gariss, Ken Foree, Jack Ketchum, Betsy Palmer, Jeff Lieberman, Bill Lustig, Michael Gingold , all coming and the films are stellar so it's going to be a great year!
- Do you have any future plans for another project?
The next thing I'll be doing is Co-producing and Directing my first drama titled"The Word." Based on the off Broadway play by Tom Cahill. It's about a priest accused of molesting a young kid. It's a really strong and important story and I hope I can do it justice.
- Have you also done any acting?
As a kid, both my brother Howard and I acted, so we sort of grew up in the industry. I didn't care for it, so never really perused it. My ass is better served "in the rear with the gear". I do have brief cameos in all the movies I make though. See if you can find me!
- And of course name 3 of your favorite horror films?
My absolute favorites are"The Exorcist", "Dawn of the Dead"(the original), and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" parts 1 and 2.
Thanks for having me.
- You're welcome Michael and keep up the great work.
