Richard Bates Jr Interview: Excision, Suburban Gothic, indie horror

Excision director Richard Bates Jr’s latest film was a hit at the Fantasia Film Festival.

Bates style is unmistakable, and hes surely on to something with his latest blend of horror and comedy.

I had the opportunity to meet with Bates after the premiere to discussSuburban Gothicand his upcoming projects.

Heres what he had to tell us.

The response from the viewers at the premiere was pretty phenomenal.

I was very happy.

When you make independent films, youre not doing it for the money.

That one night, thats everything Im doing it for.

Getting that response made everything work.

Its the best feeling in the world.

I heard there was a big line.

I had to go outside and check it out, because I was having an anxiety attack.

Its for the fans.

This movie is specifically to make myself happy again.

So it becomes this kind of mission to do the same for someone else, for another kid.

They have needs and desires, but they have no control over their lives.

The only way they can experience anything outside of their parents world is through movies.

Its really all you have at that age.

You have no experience.

Tell me about the development of the movie.

Wise said that Suburban Gothic was a horror comedy, but he also hinted that it was much more.

I approached Excision like this.

I think I approach everything like this.

Lets say youre listening to a rock album, for example.

I think that the fans of that music or of most music want variety.

They want all sorts of instrumentation.

If you dont do that, its frowned upon, almost.

Its playing it safe.

Why limit film that way?

It cant be a mess.

It has to be structured.

There has to be a through line.

If youre going to work with a lot of genre, you have to keep the tone.

You need something to ground it.

So, I put a lot of work in keeping it that way.

I dont think there is a right or wrong.

I wouldnt say that doing it one way is better than doing it another way.

There is no better.

Im the biggest movie fan in the world.

Suburban Gothicis not formula-based then?

It does not reference any other movie.

I was trying to feel like a kid again.

I had this overwhelming feeling of innocence about it, even when it got crazy.

That was a good fight.

I was testing things, trying to stay with innocence.

I used bad language, which was okay.

you might push it.

It can be fun, rambunctious and juvenile.

Then if you show violence, real violence, its immediately adult.

Youve lost [that innocence].

I love violence, but its not for this film.

Of course, because its a horror movie, people tell you, put nudity in.

We need tits, we need tits.

The furthest it could go was one dude masturbating.

A dude jerking off made sense to me while being in middle school.

I didnt have a girlfriend going through middle school.

I didnt get to kiss a girl.

And thats as far as can take it.

The whole thing had to feel like that.

It drove the message home that there wasnt going to be any sex in this movie.

You had to feel, even as an adult watching it, that youre a kid again.

Theyre all endearing in some way, even the father.

Going into this movie, I had to draw every single character before I went into casting.

Every one of them was an action figure.

Kat had a crowbar, which was her toy.

So I really wanted everyone to be his or her own character.

I spent a lot of time with the actors and I spent tons of time working on dialogue.

Its very important, but Im not too precious about it.

I let [the actors] bring their own stuff to the table.

For example, some of Rays best stuff in this movie is improvised.

I wrote a lot of great lines, they wrote a lot of great lines.

I cant take credit for everything.

I feel like I treat them like every character is the main character in the movie.

I want them all to be fighting for every scene, and they all give their best.

I also like to personalize everything.

The tone is like a live action cartoon in some places.

But the story is very personal to me.

I dont really know how to make a movie that is not personal.

Its so much work, and its so exhausting.

I dont see the point of not personalising it.

Its an independent movie, but it almost has the feel of a blockbuster.

It could be very popular.

I was so psyched.

That night made my life.

When that happens, it means everything.

Its the reason why I do this.

I dont want to jinx it.

Its not really for me to decide.

I did my job, now its out there.

I hope it means something to some kids.

Do you see this bang out of movie, this approach, as becoming something of a trend?

Im really confused because its all Ive ever done.

Yes, I think so.

I like the craft of filmmaking.

I dont want anything to turn into a giant mess.

There should be a plan.

I dont think anything should just be about one thing.

Why should we keep doing it that way?

There are so many more things we can do with film that we havent even tried yet.

What are you working on right now?

Im five pages into it now.

Whatever you want to call it, I guess its a mash-up of other genres.

Its probably the darkest one Ive ever done.

Its easier for me to do darker material when Im happy.

I do lighter stuff when Im sad.

They are my therapy.

There are so many great lines in the movie.

Tell me about the scriptwriting process.

I love the dialogue.

I co-wrote it with Mark [Linehan Bruner].

Mark would do most of the structuring, most of the writing.

It was my job to write the dialogue, the specifics, and all the scary scenes.

I guess he got left with a lot of the shit work.

Hes very much the unsung hero of the script.

I got away with most of the character and dialogue stuff.

They are all bits and pieces of people I know, things Ive heard.

Can we expect a very long gag reel on the DVD release?

I would love that, because I have so much good stuff.

If you enjoyedSuburban Gothic,you would get a real kick out of a gag reel.

It kills you in editing.

Its my job to make it tight for pacing, but it kills you to cut scenes.

There are a lot of movies out there where a teenager interrupts his parents intimacy.

I can only imagine how much fun it must have been to come up with it.

The best thing when I got to make this movie is that I had final cut decision.

I dont want to make an independent movie right now without final cut.

They are my babies.

Im certainly not doing it for the money, not much money, anyway.

Like I said, I make these movies for a younger me.

I would have felt way cooler about this if I had this movie to watch at that age.

This would not have been such a big deal, if I could have seen that in a movie.

I would have had something to identify with.

Studios dont really talk to me [laughter].

Do you think independent films will always offer more artistic licence?

Theyre not like that anymore, already.

Ive read a lot of scripts, and Ive talked to a lot of people.

Even independent film producers are trying to make big studio films without money.

You cant compete with those films in terms of special effects and so on.

you’re able to be more interesting, more special.

I saw some scripts, and theyre not even trying to be special.

This is the area of formulas.

You see a lot of notes, and notes and notes from producers.

It loses its focus.

Its not that single vision anymore.

That makes for a bad product.

There has to be some consistency.

What does it look like for a release ofSuburban Gothicat the moment?

This is the part where it gets even scarier.

Now I have to sell it.

My scripts dont pre-sale.

Its very hard for me to go to [producers].

I live in Hollywood.

I have had a few meetings, but Ive never been able to presale some scripts.

My entire life is riding on that screening.

We could sell in a week, or in two.

Its up to the sales agents now.

Any more festivals lined up?

I think we will do a bunch.

Ill have to travel, but I really want to get back to work.

There is one in France and one in London.

Typically, based onExcision, people in Europe like my films more.

Tell me about filming the scene with John Waters.

I have no idea why hes talking to me.

So I told him Id really like to have him in that movie.

He asked me what it was about, and I said Id send him a scene.

And only John, at his age, would read that scene and be down with it.

Richard, thank you for your time.

Suburban Gothics UK release date has yet to be announced.

Well be sure to pass one along when it becomes available.

Until then, you canread our review here.