*Melantha Blackthorne, what an amazing actress. She has eclipsed the entire horror genre and worked on projects with no budget, to indie films, to even Hollywood blockbusters. But, don’t limit her to just horror – Melantha is also an avid lover of science fiction and even bigger lover of exploitation films. She is a force to be reckoned with in our genre and has even been called one of the greatest women in horror and scifi. From acting, to stunt work, to horror hosting, to owning her own production company – she’s done it all. Check out my interview with the fantastic Melantha Blackthorne below and read all of her interesting scoops including behind-the-scenes experiences from Deathrace, her past, present, and future roles, and why she has electric chairs in her dining room.
Q: As an introductory question, out of all the movies you’ve been in, which character that you’ve played most closely resembles you in real life?
M: I’d have to say Lucifer from She Demons of The Black Sun. Similar to that character, I can make women menstruate just by pointing at them. *evil grin* In all seriousness, the characters I’m known for playing are outlandish, for example, a sorceress assassin, a demonically possessed suicidal woman, an alien nurse with claws that resemble giant syringes, a necrophiliac cannibal, and the queen of hell. I certainly have a lot of fun developing these roles and consider myself lucky to have played such a wide variety of creative and strong female characters, but can’t really say that any of them resemble my real life. I’m actually a very quiet and shy person.
Q: You appeared in the 2008 remake of Deathrace as Pachenko’s Navigator, and you have a stunt credit with this film too. I loved this movie. What was the whole experience like for you?
M: It was an amazing experience! The character I was hired to play was a neo-Nazi death row inmate who navigates Pachenko’s (Max Ryan – The League of Extraordinary Men) race car. In all of the pre-production sketches I was drawn with classic skinhead looks – bald and bad-ass. It was made clear right from the get go that I would have to shave my head for the role, which I agreed to, but after the hairdressers saw the length and thickness of my hair they just didn’t have the heart to follow through. In total, I was on set for 1 month, and on the days I wasn’t acting I was required to join the stunt team for some high-speed car races. What an adrenaline rush!!!
On my last day of production, I was scheduled to crawl out of the final car crash and Frankenstein (Jason Statham – Crank) was going to hit and then run me down with his armor clad mustang. The production had the make-up FX team create a full body cast of me for this event. I even had to shoot a pre-visual of this sequence to convince the stunt coordinator that I was up to the job. Whenever something like this is needed, I call upon my Robomonkey Productions partner, Jason Cavalier (Immortals, 300), to help me out. So, he came over and strung up wires and pulleys to the structure of my house and we shot the sequence in my backyard. Unfortunately, like many movies, there were last minute changes. Statham felt that killing a woman wouldn’t look good for his character and I lost out on a memorable death scene!
Q: Countess Bathoria Graveyard Picture Show! Is this project horror hosting?
M: Yes! CBGPS is Robomonkey Production’s third film comprised of seven shorts by some of underground horrors’ most notorious directors including Jimmyo Burril (Chainsaw Sally), Mike Watt (The Resurrection Game), Justin Powers (Pot Zombies), Steve Villeneuve (Under The Scares), Kevin Woodhouse (Order of One), and newcomer Jan Pivon. I also contribute a short to the madness. I play the sinister hostess, Countess Bathoria, appearing before every short to introduce it and to commit some heinous homicidal crime. The introductions are also short films, giving insight into the creepy and perverted world of the Countess.
Q: Let’s go all the way back to the beginning, maybe around… The Night They Returned. Did you ever imagine at the beginning you’d have a long-lasting career in horror?
M: Although it’s listed on the IMDB as my first, The Night They Returned was actually the third film I starred in and it was a wild experience! I mean, who wouldn’t enjoy sharing intestines with their sexy cannibal co-star Suzi Lorraine?
In 1999, I created the Countess Bathoria persona who symbolized my love of erotica, darkness and horror. Almost overnight, the character and the website became popular. There are a lot of fans who share my love of the genre, and soon my website gained over 100,000 hits a day. It wasn’t long before I was asked to play a vampire in a local independent film. The director’s goal was to eventually sell the finished film to my fans; however, the outcome was disappointing because the film contained no “genre elements.” I met my partner Jason on this film and we soon discovered that we had a couple of mutual interests: filmmaking and exploitation cinema. We both felt that my fans would be terribly disappointed with the vampire movie and knew that we could do a much better job, and that is how Robomonkey Productions came to be. Shortly thereafter we created Sinners and Saints which was my second feature film and directorial debut.
Did I ever imagine that it would lead to a long career in horror? Yes, every day ;) The combination of passion and determination is simply magical.
Q: Ok, you’ve mentioned Robomonkey a lot. What are your hopes for your production company in the future?
M: Jason and I continue to create films that appeal to our creative desires and that give us an outlet that mainstream cinema sometimes cannot fulfill. Robomonkey is currently in the development stages with two films. The first is Death House Dolls. It’s our homage to 70s exploitation women-in-prison flicks. Grind-house meets gritty realism with wall-to-wall action! I developed the story with my friend Zachary Park and the screenplay was written by the amazingly talented Andrew Jones (Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection). I fell in love with Andrew’s work after reading the script for The House At the Edge of The Park II. He is simply incredible! Zachary and his father have been hard at work constructing stellar electric chairs which currently reside in my dining room. It will be nice to finally put them to work.
The second film we are developing is The Forsaken Sideshow. This double feature will be Robomonkey’s first collaboration with Crow-Nan productions. Countess Bathoria will be back as the film’s hostess! My long-time friend and writer extraordinaire, Rodrigo Gudino, will help write the Countess’ wrap-around segments. Our humor and vision are quite dark and I believe we make for a great mix that will appeal to the senses of many horror fans. The Forsaken Sideshow will have intersecting storylines with themes of acceptance and rejection, bullying and the perception of societal norms. This will be Tim O’Hearn’s (Crow-Nan) directorial debut and my first foray into straight dramatic storytelling.
Q: How did it feel to be interviewed in The Greatest Women of Horror and Scifi?
M: It was an absolute honor! Robert Noel Gifford is so much fun and such a generous soul. I look forward to future projects with him and of course his DVD releases of The Greatest Women of Horror and Scifi and No Strings II, which I was a part of as well.
Q: Anything you’d like to wrap up this interview with? Future plans?
M: I do have some exciting announcements! Please keep an eye out for Jeff Robert’s Aversion as it will be doing the festival rounds this year. Jeff shot this gem on 16mm film. Who says film is dead? I had the pleasure of working alongside Andrew Roth who is such an amazing talent. The film was an all around great experience.
This spring, I’ve been slated to reprise the classic role of Frankenstein’s Bride in Emil Novak’s Frankenstein’s Patchwork Man. The film will explore Clarice’s (The Bride’s) passion for life before her untimely death and subsequent resurrection at the hands of the mad doctor.
Also, this Summer I’ll be playing Doctor Headie in Wayne Clingman’s tribute to Russ Meyer’s Go Go Girls vs. The Nazis. One of my inspirations for this character will be Ilsa: She Wolf of The SS I’m also honored to announce that I’ll be joining director and longtime friend Dean Meadows of Pentagram Pictures to help bring his feature film Friday’s Child to life! We’ll be shooting this action packed flick in the UK.
I am also on board to appear in Jonathan Moody’s Scream Queen Campfire anthology film and Greg Lamberson’s Scaremonger.
Q: Links?
Facebook ~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melantha-Blackthorne/8484338228
Official Site~ https://www.melanthablackthorne.com
Production Company~ https://www.robomonkey.net
IMDB~ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1520852/
Q: Favorite horror film?
M: Favorite? Yikes! That’s a tough one. To name a few, José Mojica Marins’ At Midnight I Take Your Soul, Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s A L’Interieur, and William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist III.
*Thank you for taking the time to chat with me, Melantha. You are very unique and simply one of the greatest. Best of luck in the future!
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