Back in early 2013 I met Steve Rudzinski when Dustin Mills announced that he would be working special effects for the film Super Task Force One which was directed by Steve. The film looked like it embodied everything I loved about my childhood minus the Pee Wee Herman references. I had to have this movie. I reached out to Steve and we started talking about the film and he was cool enough to let me review it with an online screener while my copy of the film was in the mail. I was floored by the film and since then I have called Steve a friend.
I met Steve face to face back in April at Cinema Wasteland where he was very warm and welcoming to me and my little family. Out of all the people I had finally met after months or years of online talking, he was the kindest of them all.
Steve has been making films in one aspect or another for almost ten years most of which are horror films. In 2006 he released Wolfster, Part one: The Curse of the Emo Vamp and Legends. In 2007 he releases Basic Slaughter before taking a small break until 2011 where he released Slasher Hunter and Everyone Must Die in 2012. 2013 saw the release of Super Task Force One followed bhy The Killer in 2014 along with Captain Z and Red Christmas. With that being said, my favorite two films of his are not horror. Anyway, this week we spotlight Steve and his unique career in indie film making.
Horror Society – You have been making movies now for almost 10 years according to your IMDB. Over the years you have released several films that draw inspiration from various genres. What inspired you to become a filmmaker and make the films that you do?
Steve Rudzinski – For my whole life I’ve wanted to create, from making elaborate ongoing plots for my toys, to wanting to be a comic book writer, to wanting to be a video game writer. But when I was 12 I saw Army of Darkness on the Sci-Fi channel and knew exactly what I had to do. That is when I decided to be a filmmaker and that’s why I still do what I do.
HS – Unlike most filmmakers, you refuse to let one particular film or sub-genre define who you are. All your films are different in almost every aspect. How do you go about writing your films and how are you able to make films that stand out from the last?
SR – Sometimes I feel that’s a conscious decision, because I like to push myself and try different things. It helps me grow a lot as a filmmaker, which leads to every film having it’s own unique taste while still having that distinct Rudzinski flavor. So I make a horror film like Everyone Must Die, but then my adventure/comedy Captain Z has horror elements. And they all have my comedy, because I like when movies make me laugh. But other times it’s really just as simple as me randomly going “I want to make this kind of movie” without caring what came before. I remember after the release of EMD everyone asked what I was doing next and I told everyone I wanted to do a Tokusatsu (Super Task Force One). Nobody knew why and they thought I was crazy, but I did it anyway.
HS – You are currently crowd funding for your new films The Survivors. Can you tell us a little about that and what the future has in store for you and your films?
SR – The Survivors is a short film that celebrates my 5th anniversary of my modern filmmaking (as opposed to my REALLY early stuff) coming out five years after Slasher Hunter. It is also the conclusion to what all of my post credit teasers have been leading to, which is a team of characters from all of my films teaming up to both fight the next generation of Slashers AND wiping out The Killers from EMD forever. It is a sequel to both Slasher Hunter and Everyone Must Die, while being a spin off of my other films. It’s both a team movie and also a parody of 90s Slasher Films, featuring parody versions of Ghost Fast, the Fisherman from ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer,’ Brenda from ‘Urban Legend,’ and the Candy Man. After this we’ll see! The biggest challenge with low budget filmmaking is getting the money together to make more movies, or finding someone willing to pony up a decent budget for a much better film. I would still love to make CarousHELL (as a feature, the short is still coming) and Captain Z’s Christmas Caper is still in the cards, but we have to see if the cash can come together to make them exist.
You can learn more about Steve and his films by going to the following links.
www.SilverSpotlightFilms.com
www.facebook.com/SilverSpotlightFilms
https://www.youtube.com/user/Zeolahn
