RE-POST: COMMITTED EXCLUSIVE: An Interview w/ Born Bad Writer/Director Jared Cohn!!!

With only a few days until The Asylum's next DVD release, the vicious thriller Born Bad, I wanted to re-post an interview I did with the film's writer/director, Jared Cohn. In addition to his work here, Cohn has also appeared as an actor in a few other Asylum productions, including Halloween Night, Legion of the Dead, Way of the Vampire and Alien Abduction. As you get amped up for the DVD release, enjoy the interview below, then come back tomorrow for the re-post of my observation notes on the film.

 

COMMITTED: How old were you when you decided you wanted to work in film? What spawned this decision?

JARED COHN: I was 18 when I was first introduced to the possibility of working in film when I moved into an apartment in college (Northeastern in Boston) and my roommate was an actor. We would mess around with video cameras and do some improvs and skits - just having fun. He wound up moving to LA and I visited him and got bit by the bug. Soon, I started writing scripts and reading about the industry and taking acting classes and auditioning. Next thing I knew, I was driving across country from NY to LA to pursue a career in film.

C: How did you come to get involved with The Asylum?

JC: I auditioned for Way of the Vampire and booked the part of Roman!  I was very excited and was lucky enough to continue to act in several more of their movies, all of which I am grateful and proud to have been a part of. 

C: In 2009, you started writing and directing. Was this always the plan, or was it something that evolved once you got into the industry?

JC: I actually started writing my first script before my first audition as an actor. I enjoy writing and there is only so much one can do to pursue a film acting career before going crazy, so in my spare time I would write. I would go on writing binges and work for days on end, sometimes 16-20 hours straight until my eyes would go blurry. The directing came next. I wanted to challenge myself in the hopes that it would make me a better actor and writer, and I feel to some degree I have grown from seeing things from the other side of the camera.  

C: What films have served as inspirations to you, as an actor as well as a writer/director?

JC: I love Val Kilmer’s performance in Tombstone. So good! Ed Burns inspires me as an actor, writer and director because he does it all and does it with style, and because he is also from Long Island.

C: Is there anyone you’ve worked with you looked to as inspiration when you started writing or directing?

JC: My friend Michael Nelson, who is a great writer, inspired me to really start writing the right way. We would work for hours and hours and bounce ideas around and discuss Aristotle’s poetics for the screenwriter and Syd Field's rules of writing. Also, Ed Erdelac, a great writer and director who directed me in Meaner Than Hell, a western that I starred in, he inspires me to write better and continue to write  Lastly, my writer/director friend Eddie Reyes keeps me motivated to keep acting.

C: How did the idea for Born Bad come about?

JC: I wrote a script for a location my father has. I was planning on trying to make the movie myself, but lacked the means, so I sent it out to David Rimawi at The Asylum and then he called me and told me he liked it, which was an amazing phone call to get!  Then, we wound up not using my father’s house to shoot, though, since that place is in NY. We shot it in SoCal. Which I was happy about, because the location and weather were beautiful. So, it all worked out!

C: How was it working on the other side of the camera for The Asylum?

JC: Great! Everyone there is passionate about film and everyone there is quality folk. I was excited in 2004 when I got to play in Way of the Vampire, and I was excited this year when I was able to direct Born Bad. The Asylum kicks serious ass. David Latt, David Rimawi and Paul Bales know what they are doing, so my cast was awesome and my crew was great. The whole experience was pure awesomeness .

C:  You’re also the CEO of Trap Light Media. Tell us a little about your company.

  

JC: Traplight Media is my company that I run. I shoot, edit and do after effects and some design work. I do music videos, commercials, TV shows, promos, trailers, whatever… I graduated film school (New York Institute of Technology) with a focus on production and post-production. I am also proud to be a director and shooter/editor for a very cool, growing TV show – "Live It Up" with Donna Drake. So, when I am not writing, acting, or directing, I am in front of my computer editing video or on location somewhere. Also, my acting site is www.Jaredmonline.com (if anyone is interested…) 

C: Besides Born Bad, of course, which of the other four Asylum productions you’ve been in (Alien Abduction, Legion of the Dead, Way of the Vampire, Halloween Night) was your favorite?

JC: Halloween Night, because my role was fun to play and the location was awesome, and we got to stay there for the shoot. The experience was fun and the movie came out cool! Also, the director/DP Mark Atkins is a very talented man and cool to work with.

C: Any Jared Cohn dream projects?

JC: I’ve got a action/thriller script I am pushing right now, can’t say too much, but I’m hoping it gets going sooner than later… Also, I would love to act a lot more. My original goal was to just make it as an actor and that is still very much my dream.

C: What’s next for you?

JC: Other than my action/thriller script, I’m working with The Asylum now in the early stages of another Lifetime type project that I am writing that I am hoping will get made. It’s currently in development but the concept is way cool. Also, hopefully Born Bad will be a big success and with a bit of luck that can open some additional doors for me which would be fantastic. Also, I’ve got Underground Lizard People, which I wrote and directed which is going to be released shortly. www.UndergroundLizardpeople.com. The movie Revenants was just released on VOD, a cool revenge/zombie flick in which I play the lead. I am also working as the director of photography on a post apocalyptic movie shooting in CT now, which I am also acting in. I’ve got all sorts of things going on, but am always striving for more. No rest for the weary!

No rest indeed. Tune in tonight,Tuesday, November 8th, when the see the fruits of Mr. Cohn's many efforts, Born Bad, hits DVD.

observation notes: Halloween Night

This film is based on the same true story that inspired John Carpenter's slasher-classic Halloween: the story of a kid who witnesses the brutal murder of his mother, gets committed to an insane asylum, then escapes years later on Halloween night, no longer a kid, but instead a big, angry, murderous psycho, a hundred times worse than the creep who did in his mom. Evil is exponential, people; just sayin'.

So a tie-in of sorts, The Asylum's take involves a gang of nubile and beefy post-teens who find themselves one All Hallow's Eve as the intended targets of a homicidal psycho's reign of terror when they decide to throw a costumed bash in the psycho's old house. The requisite bloodshed and nudity ensues. And how!

A handful of Asylum old-school regulars appear in this one, including Erica Roby, Rebekah Kochan, Amanda Ward, Derek Osedach and Born Bad writer/director Jared Cohn; let's break these performances down one at a time:

Rebekah Kochan (Pirates of Treasure Island, When a Killer Calls) as female lead "Shannon" is equally sweet and sultry, straddling the line between victim and heroine like she was walking a tightrope in the circus. I like to think of her as Ashley Tisdale meets Brittany Snow, but with, you know, soul.

Erica Roby (Invasion of the Pod People, Exorcism: The Possession of Gail Bowers) plays a libidinous, confidant lesbian seductress of some experience consumed with coaxing a comely newbie, played by Amanda Ward. It's a brave and bold performance for Ms. Roby, and all nudity and girl-on-girl smooches aside, it really is the best I've seen her perform: she's powerful here, brash and curt, unapologetically empowered, and it suits her. 

Ms. Ward (Legion of the Dead, King of the Lost World) as the above-mentioned comely newbie to lesbianism tackles her role with believable hesitancy, and even more believable eagerness.

Male lead Derek Osedach - an Asylum regular in front of the camera (Snakes on a Train, Pirates of Treasure Island, When a Killer Calls) and behind it (line producer on Pirates... and Dracula's Curse, second assistant director When a Killer Calls and Exorcism...) comes off a little scatterbrained and erratic, jumping in a little early on cues, but that may be his interpretation of the character and not a question of chops. To his credit, he does make the perfect too-cool-for-school dude you're dying to see...well...die.

And Jared Cohn (here billed as Jared Michaels)(Alien Abduction, Way of the Vampire) as rocker Daryll is appropriately cocksure, delightfully dopey, and gently aggressive, all while sporting a thoughtfully-nonchalant swagger and great hair. One would guess from his spirited performance that Mr. Cohn had a lot of fun with this role; I certainly had fun watching him.

Other cast standouts include Amelia Jackson-Gray, Nicholas Daly Clark, Sean Dury and Alicia Klein.

When all was said and killed, I found this film to be pretty faithful to both the root true story and the better-known cinematic version, right down to the white mask, though the killer's get-up here truthfully  reminded me more of Frankenstein from Deathrace 2000 than Michael Meyers. The script (penned by Michael Gingold - Leeches - from a story by David Michael Latt) was pretty elaborate for a straight-up slasher flick, with more twists than I was expecting. The kills were inventive, the pacing adequate, and the story had a classic feel to it; I was expecting a tangential tie-in, just an excuse to get a bunch of pretty young folk naked and killed, but this film retained it's timeless feel, though with modern murder sequences to satisfy the gorehounds. Halloween Night was directed - as usual with frightening deftness - by the great Mark Atkins.

I had a lot of fun watching this one, and the ensemble cast is one of the best I've seen from The Asylum. And if all the above isn't enough to convince you to see it, perhaps my final sentence, below, will:

By the way, the topless-lesbian-vs-serial-killer-punch-out scene is one of the most awesome things I've ever seen in a direct-to-DVD film. I'm serious - it's Hall of Fame shit.

Enjoy!

observation notes: Evil Eyes

This film marks a pair of big debuts: not only is it the first film directed by Mark Atkins (Battle of Los Angeles, Haunting of Winchester House, Halloween Night, etc.), it is also the first film written by Naomi Selfman (Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, #1 Cheerleader Camp, upcoming Barely Legal). And as debut go, on both accounts, Evil Eyes is a good showcase of two burgeoning talents destined for B-movie greatness.

When a screenwriter (Adam Baldwin, "Firefly") is hired by an ominous producer (Udo Kier, Andy Warhol's Dracula and Frankenstein, Suspiria, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective) to write a film about a real-life slaughtered family, things get fer-reaky when the grisly murders he scripts begin to happen in the real world. 

I was surprised to find this film much more cerebral than I expected. That's not a slam or anything, I just expected a high-octane relentless assault of gore and violence, and what I got was a suspensefully-paced intellectual thriller with supernatural undertones.

Adam Baldwin as the screenwriter was his usual gruff, gritty, and unapologetically-independent self. And just as this attitude made him a formidable space mercenary, it is also an appropriate balance of brashness and swagger for a big-time Hollywood screenwriter (I don't actually know any to verify this, but I trust what the movies tell me about the people who make them.).

As for Udo Kier, what can I say about this true cinematic treasure that hasn't been said a million times before? I don't know what it is - his creepiness, his charm, his thick accent, the copious amounts of turtlenecks he wears - but there's something about this guy that  have always liked; he's like a European Steve Buscemi. Here he inhabits the role of producer as militantly fragile, commanding but not in command, if that makes any sense whatsoever. He might be a little stiff in scenes, but his mere presence makes a scene foreboding, so, mission accomplished.

Rounding out the cast is a Ms. Jennifer Gates as AB's long-time GF. This was Ms. Gates first film as well (and in fact one of only two features she's been in), but she never came across as a rookie to me, holding her own in scenes with the more accomplished actors. She played the part as diligently doting but never docile; she was sweet, demure, dangerously devoted and overall endearing.

In a nutshell, then, I found this one to be an great concept - a kind of In The Mouth of Madness Asylum-style - that builds its suspense well, is always thrilling while not resorting to the cheap and easy scares, and is definitely a smarter-than-average-axe-murderer-movie. The film is subtle, restrained and savvy, in script and direction. Add some truly inventive kills and well-developed characters and the result is an above-average thriller. If it was my studio, I would have given Atkins and Selfman copious work as well; these two are true All-Stars.

What else can I say? Let's see...there are shades, in my opinion, of Lost Highway, to the point the word "Lynchian" is even in the script, and it totally works in this surreal, cerebral, non-linear-yet-frightening-cohesive film. 

There are hidden gems in the Asylum's catalog, and I fell as though I may have just discovered the brightest one.

inmate profile: Jared Cohn

It's still a good long while until Born Bad hits DVD - November 8, to be precise - but it's never too early to start ramping up the hype for this destined-to-be classic tale of a good girl's world shattered by a really bad guy. And where better to start, I thought, than with the man responsible for Born Bad both on the page and behind the camera: writer/director (and accomplished actor, inside Asylum walls and out), Jared Cohn.

After graduating from the reputable New York Institute of Technology with a BFA in Communication Arts, Cohn switched coasts and found acting work with The Asylum, making his motion picture debut in 2005's Alien Abduction, also writer/director Eric Mega Piranha Forsberg's first Asylum feature. Cohn would act in three other Asylum productions - Way of the Vampire, Legion of the Dead and Halloween Night - as well as a slew of other productions including Blood Predator, Teary Sockets, Plaguers, and, most recently, Revenants (he also acts under the name Jared Michaels).


As a writer/director, Cohn has another project already under his belt, The Carpenter: Part 1 - And So They Die, which I haven't seen, but you gotta respect the ambition of that title.


With a resume like this, and a look at the photos on his website, it seems Jared Cohn isn't a squeamish guy. What does that mean for Born Bad? Well, by all accounts, this is a straight up thriller - no monsters or creatures or other supernatural bent - so I would say we're in for some good, old-fashioned brutal violence, the kind of shit that makes the throat-rip from Roadhouse look like the puck-catch in Untamed Heart (work with me on that one...)


And though, as mentioned, we've got a while until the film is released, I'm willing to bet it's worth the wait.