TTE:  When did you first get into the horror genre?

JM: Professionally, at 19, when I wrote some reviews and shorts for fanzines. But I've been into horror ever since I was 8 or 9. Very first thing I ever churned out storywise, on an old typewriter my Mom snagged for $5 at a garage sale? Yep, it was a horror story.

TTE:  Was there any specific reason that compelled you to do so?

JM: Horror just excited me from the very beginning, and I think that's what made me gravitate towards it. When you love something, you envision making a career out of it. Ever since I can remember, I'd loved to write and tell stories, so I knew that I'd probably be doing that all my life. Obviously, there were no guarantees I'd be able to do it professionally, but I knew that itch was always going to be there. Even though I've day-jobbed it at times, it's been a constant, and since horror is the genre I'm most passionate about, it's where I keep winding up.

 TTE: To date, what's your favorite project and why?

JM: Torn to Pieces, my first novel. I've been lucky. I've done a lot of things in my life and had a level of success with every one of them. I wasn't big into comics growing up, but I knew a guy who was, and we co-created Cry for Dawn, which took off to the point it made me a 'name' in comics. I started writing freelance adult stuff for a while, and I've been getting assignments ever since. I released a horror anthology, one of the stories got optioned for a TV pilot, and I got tapped to write the teleplay. But when you first start out, you always think, "I want to write a novel." There's just something special to writers about attaining that goal. For one, it's a massive undertaking, a piece of prose that large. For another, countless writers and wannabe-writers and dreamers start one…but never finish. I won't lie—it ain't easy. It takes commitment and a willingness to start over and over. But when you succeed, and strangers rave about it and compare you to some of your favorite authors? That's what sets 'Torn apart from everything else I've done.

TTE: WilL the comic Sick and Twisted ever see the light of day other than an acompany piece for THE BUNKER?

JM: Yes, but not any time soon. The thing about comics is, while I love the genre, financially it's almost always a suicide mission to try and do it in today's marketplace. I'd rather sink the money and time it takes to do a few issues of a comic into another film project, like REDEMPTION, which is a pilot I'll be shopping in 2015. I wouldn't mind doing something limited, or a short story or two as a work-for-hire in comics, but the risk-to-reward ratio is much better with a film.

 TTE: Speaking of,What kind of budget did you have on THE BUNKER?

JM: It started out at $7,500, most of that going into buying a Mac and Final Cut Pro so we could do everything in-house. Then, we had the opportunity to shoot on location in L.A., and then in NY, and well, you get the picture. When it was all said and done we spent over fifty on it, but after a week of meetings with distributors at the American Film Market in 2011, the general concensus was that we'd spent a hundred on it, so I was pretty happy we made that kind of impression.

 TTE: How difficult was it to direct being blind?

JM:I wish I had something to compare it with, so I could tell you if I had it that much worse than any other first-time director. Every time I see a documentary about a filmmaker who had a nightmare on a shoot, I can sympathize. I sit there and think, "Yeah! I know exactly how *that* goes!" I had a lot of those same difficulties. But, since I had to come up with every approach on my own, because no one had ever done it before, I tried to come up with the best possible work-arounds so my difficulties didn't translate into difficulties for everyone. Bottom line? Directing is hard as hell, but I didn't think it was impossible—which a lot of people did. That I won an award and got into a dozen different film festivals and scored multiple distribution deals? I think that says no matter how hard it was, it was worth it.

TTE: What was it like working with madman Terry West?

JM:Terry was my lynchpin. I wrote the screenplay with him in mind, though at the time I didn't plan on directing it. But when that decision was made, he was the first person I approached, because I knew he would make it easier. A: I knew he could act. B: I knew he could make the role his own without much interference from me. C: He's a director himself, so I knew I was getting an experienced pair of eyes on set. Anybody reading this who makes movies should know that Terry is pro personified. The movie wouldn't be half of what it is without him, and that's no exaggeration.

 TTE: On that note, how do you feel FLOWERS ON THE RAZORWIRE turned out?

JM:So-so. Average, at best. There were lots of problems, but worst was the casting. Yes, Flower is hot. But Hart cast a foreign actress who'd only worked in porn, which made it a lot harder on him getting out of her what we'd envisioned. The lead actor didn't know his lines, so for principal photography—the scenes in the elevator? The pages from the script are actually stapled to the wall. You can see them clear as day and in the Bonus Featurette. Flower is supposed to hunt her prey through the personals ads in the L.A. Weekly, so I wrote in a scene in the intro to establish that. But instead of actually picking up a copy and Photoshopping in an ad, Hart had her holding up typing paper. I mean, things like that drove me up the wall. It isn't hard to mock up a fake newspaper ad. They sell newsprint in stationery stores and arts and crafts shops. For $2.99, you print out what you want and it's *perfect*. It looks 100% legit and helps sell your storyline. The production value of the elevator is garbage, but that's the kind of thing that happens when sets are being built the night before, etc. When I shot REDEMPTION? We used a real elevator, and we built a set, to scale, in a warehouse two months before shooting. I built it to my shot list, so I could literally shoot from any angle—including from within the emergency call box. That's one of the best shots we got. I had roughly one-eight the budget Hart did for Flowers, but the people who've seen both tell me there's no comparison, and I think that's because of the preparation the team put in, instead of doing things flying by the seat of your pants.

 

TTE: Do you do anything with Hart Fisher any more?

JM: Not a thing, and not ever again.

TTE: Can we expect more films from you in the future?

JM: Well, I haven't shown off anything but clips from REDEMPTION, but that's finished and ready to shop. I'd like to shoot two more episodes, so that if we can't get a deal as a series, I can package it as an anthology film and release it that way. So yes, something else is coming, it's just up in the air when that might be. Right now? I'm focused on the writing more than anything else.

 TTE: what can you tell us about monsterthology?

JM: Well, since GRAVE CHOICES has been released, the cat's out of the bag, so I can say that I co-wrote one of the stories with my buddy Franklin E. Wales, under a pseudonym. Other than that? I was disappointed with the final product because the editing isn't sharp and that's always a killer in the e-book market. People might forgive a clunker of a story from a crop of largely-unknown authors, but when you have grammar and punctuation and spelling errors? Ugh. That, no one forgives. Had a load of fun writing the stories though, both of which I'd given thought to long before, but Monsterthology gave me a reason to finally get 'em done.

 
TTE- are any of your comics available and if so where can they be obtained?

JM: Well, the limited edition preview of Sick 'N Twisted only comes in The Bunker DVD. That's available on Amazon and through my sites. The Night Terrors, which I did with Bernie Wrightson, Bill Stout and a couple of other horror-lovers might be available in a few specialty comics shops, but that sold out pretty quick, so ordering direct is the only way to get one now unless you find a collector. Same with Zacherley's Midnite Terrors. Those three issues are only available through the site. Since it's been a while since I've published anything new, people can contact Diamond through their comic book shop, or have their retailer get in touch with me through e-mail. I still sell direct to a lot of shops I've dealt with for over twenty years, so anything that isn't gone-gone, just get in touch.

 TTE- what do you think of the bombarding of self published writers?

JM: It was inevitable when ebooks finally found their foothold and nobody had to spend any money. Like the big comic book self-publishing boom in the '80s/early-'90s, there's some great books being released that mainstream publishers wouldn't take a chance on, and then there's crap. Unfortunately, there's a whole lot of crap, which leaves a bad taste in peoples' mouths about self-publishing in general. That's why reviews and ratings from readers are so important to newcomers, or even established writers who are now going the self-publishing route.  That's the big difference between ebooks and other types of self-publishing. Yeah, anybody with a couple hundred bucks and stick figures can self-publish a comic, but there's still an investment involved. With film, it's even tougher, because it's almost impossible to produce a film for nothing and make it available unless you get a distribution deal. Otherwise? You're just another guy selling it on his web site. But an ebook is text. It doesn't cost anything to produce, and plenty of times writers aren't even paying for an original cover. A striking font and flat background color is all you need. 20 years ago, you'd have had to go the vanity publishing route with physical copies to take to conventions, but now? People bang out whatever they want, run a spellcheck and 'publish' it with the click of a button. That hurts writers who actually take their time and use beta-readers and get real help with the final edit before even thinking about releasing it. Sadly, a lot of really good writers are getting lost in the mix because there's so many people out there releasing junk hoping to make a buck. Meanwhile,  readers get turned off and go back to reading established writers from mainstream publishing companies. And—there's nothing wrong with that—it's just that there's not enough room for mainstream publishers to publish every talented writer. Self-publishing allows you to find those authors, but you have to be willing to wade through some drek to do it.

 TTE- Who would you most like to work with writing a novel and in films?

JM:If I had to pick one guy I thought my writing style would fit well with to co-write a novel, it would be John Connolly. He's got a sort of hybrid mystery series featuring private investigator Charlie Parker and a supporting cast of really wild characters. One of my favorite ongoing series. But there's a supernatural element to the work that lends itself to the kind of stuff I most like to write. Plus, a very close second to horror for me is mystery. It's why I chose to make my debut novel a mystery—I love the genre, and it was the most mainstream thing I've ever done, so it lent itself to a wider audience. So, if I had the chance to kidnap one best-selling author whose work knocks me out? If John ever goes missing, my garage would be the first place to look. As for film collaborators, I'll throw out a couple of actors, because that's who I'd most like to work with. Tiffany Shepis would be at the top of my list for actresses. She's rock-solid, she tries hard with every role she gets, and I'm not going to lie—she doesn't always get the greatest material to work with. But she makes the parts worthwhile, and that's more important to me as a director than anything. I have two scripts with roles written specifically for her, if financing were to fall into place. As for actors, I can't single anyone out, mainstream or indie, but there's a lot of character actors I would love to get in front of the camera. Angus Scrimm (one of the scripts I just mentioned has a great role for him). I think it'd be a blast working with Dennis Leary on a horror film. Hell, I might not even direct. I'd just tell him, "Be yourself. Be sarcastic and obnoxious and pretend you're being even more underpaid than you are." And then say "Action!" I've got a script we discussed with Martin Landau's agent and he liked the concept, and it's a significant role, the key would be getting LOIs (letters of intent) to show to financers. Michael Rooker would be high on my list, too. People like that would be great because while having blockbuster names is nice, I'd rather craft a good old fashioned scary, gritty, moody horror film than rely on big names to make people watch it. Give me Lili Taylor over Meryl Streep any day.