When you sit down to write a remake for one of the most loved zombie movies of all time, made by *the* master of the genre, how much does that impact what you change about the original?

It didn’t impact it at all. I only thought about creating an interesting story. If anything, I wanted to change a lot more about the movie, because it was done so well the first time around.

You were fairly faithful to the premise of the original Dawn of the Dead and at the same time you introduced running zombies, added new events to the story and took other elements out of the story.

A lot of horror fans are opposed to remakes on the sheer principal of them. For the most part, they don’t live up to the original. Dawn is arguably one of the exceptions. When rumor of the movie featuring running zombies circulated on the internet, fans immediately started blasting it. Despite that it performed beautifully at the box office, and once the moviegoers got to actually see the running zombies, the complaints faded away for the most part. The idea of a running monster that never tires, never has to catch its breath or rest, even while the living do, is pretty creepy in itself. Was the idea of running zombies something in your head from the day you sat down to write the script or was it an afterthought?

And the cast? Well, that was the easiest part. I went for quality actors instead of the biggest stars. The acting is my favorite part of SLITHER, I think. Plus, they were just a great group of people to work with.

Was it as simple as moving production to Canada, where you could stretch your buck farther and rent things cheaper?

No. Canada provides some savings, but it also makes it a bit harder to make a good movie. We had to use almost all Canadian crew, and mostly Canadian actors. It’s not that there isn’t talent up there, but you have a much smaller pool of people to choose from. DAWN of course, was shot in Canada as well – and had over three times the budget of Slither.

Were you happy with the marketing of Slither? Why do you think it was so well received, but fizzled out at the box office? Do you feel that the recent trend of PG-13 horror movies put a damper on your film’s ability to succeed in the box office?

It didn’t so much fizzle out as never burn. No one went to see it, period, except for the very hardcore horror fans. I think your regular audience didn’t know what to expect from the movie. Is it a serious horror film or is it a comedy? The answer is it’s both. Also, our comedy wasn’t conventional comedy for a horror film. It isn’t a spoof. The humor comes from the characters. I knew from the beginning that SLITHER was going to be a hard sell – it was always sort of its own creature. People don’t normally want to own a platypus as a pet – they want a cat or a dog or a fish. And SLITHER is a platypus. Me, I love platypuses, and I’m happy with the movie.At the end of the credits we got a glimpse of the classic horror ending, the hint of the sequel. Is there any chance of this coming to fruition? If yes, would Bill Pardy and his beautiful fellow survivors make a comeback?

There’s an unwritten rule that a movie must make money for a sequel to be made, and SLITHER didn’t make money. It’s coming close now on DVD, but it still isn’t enough to really justify a sequel. If there ever was a sequel, there would, of course, also need to be a Pardy.

Slither had no nudity in it, was that a conscious decision or did it just happen that way?

Well, there actually is nudity in the movie. You get a glimpse of Kylie’s breasts in the bathtub. Overall, though, nudity didn’t fit naturally into the story, so I left it out. We had shots of Kylie’s breasts while she was spasming with the parasite in her mouth, but it completely distracted from what was truly going on in the scene, and just looked a little silly.

Do you feel that omitting nudity and sex from your flick you may have alienated some of the male viewers?

Nah. Maybe some people wanted more nudity in the film, sure. But that wasn’t what the film was about for me. I’ve had plenty of sex and nudity in other films, and will have more in the future, I’m sure.

Do you care that many guys were dissapointed that Grant Grant’s and Pardy’s love interest never got naked? Were you dissapointed that she never got naked?

Boy, this is a lot of nudity questions. The truth is, Elizabeth Banks won’t do nude scenes in films. And I’d rather have a quality actress like Elizabeth than have the nudity. Think about it: name quality actresses over the past few years who have done nudity in horror films. There are a handful, sure, but they’re few and far between. For Starla Grant, I wanted the best actress, period, whether or not she would do nudity. And the best was Elizabeth. By far.

Looking at the variety in your work, you have a beloved children’s franchise, a remake of a horror classic and a horror/comedy that worked. You don’t like to make it easy for yourself do you?

That IS easy. I get bored easily. I like change. It would be a lot more difficult for me to make the same type of movie over and over again.

Mixing comedic moments into a horror movie is a pretty tricky balancing act that a lot of directors fail at. Did you direct Slither specifically because a different director could have easily missed the mark?

No, the truth is I directed SLITHER because Paul Brooks, the producer wanted me to. I actually wrote it thinking someone else would direct it. I was attached to direct a very low budget feature at the time. But Paul put the money on the table and said we could start pre-production immediately, and that was difficult to pass up. It’s not that I didn’t love the script – I did.

Did you find yourself cutting things as a director that would have made you cringe as just a writer?

Absolutely. My writer and my director on SLITHER hate each other. It’s probably because I come from an alcoholic home.

Now for the miscellaneous questions and the mundane.

You went from working on Troma Films to Scooby Doo, How did that switch happen?

Well, there were a lot of things that happened between those two movies. The main trajectory was this – Jay Roach read my screenplay THE SPECIALS, and got Warner Bros to hire me to write a screenplay of SPY VS. SPY for him to direct. Although Warners never made SPY, they liked the screenplay and asked me to write SCOOBY-DOO. I said yes, and my integrity has been questioned ever since. Fuck it. I love dogs, and had a lot of fun doing those movies… well, the first one was a pain. I had fun doing the second one.

Did you prefer the independent writing experience or the mainstream writing experience more? What were the main differences between the two types of writing (independent and mainstream)?

Well, to me THE SPECIALS and SLITHER were independent writing experiences, because I wrote them on my own exactly how I wanted to write them. Overall, that path is preferable – and, now that I’m financially stable, it’s pretty much the only path I take. TROMEO and SCOOBY were a lot closer than you think, because I had to deal with studios (Troma and Warners) the whole time I was writing them. I didn’t get to do whatever I wanted. SLITHER was the best experience, because not only did I get to write the script I wanted, but I got to make exactly the film I wanted.

The state of horror in the last few years has been bordering dismal for many fans of the genre, how do you feel about the way horror has gone in the last decade?

I actually think there’s been quite a few good horror films over the last few years – THE DESCENT, SHAUN OF THE DEAD, TALE OF TWO SISTERS, and so on. However, we may not have had a CLASSIC American horror film for a long time. There hasn’t been a ROSEMARY’S BABY or an ALIEN – unless you think of PAN’S LABYRINTH as a horror film, which I don’t. That, of course, is disappointing.

Is there any advice you would like to give to anyone out there looking to write, direct or star in a film?

Read my blog at:
 http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=58119776&blogID=190150799&MyToken=74cda46d-15fb-4d69-aff3-7278a4dd2d9c Some folks have said I was mean in this blog, about what it takes to be successful. But, for better or worse, this is what I believe. In the end, you need talent, perseverance, and some amount of social acuity. If you have those three things, you can succeed. Luck may have something to do with putting some untalented people in places of power, but luck never stopped anyone with the right skill sets from making money in the entertainment industry.

If you could do an ensemble cast of your choosing with no limit on budget, who would you try to get? What genre would your film be?

What is your favorite Troma flick? Which one did you most enjoy working on?

TROMEO & JULIET, of course, which was the only one I worked on besides doing cameos. Well, unless you include LOLLILOVE, which my wife and I essentially made in our backyard, and is merely distributed by Troma. But I also like CLASS OF NUKE ‘EM HIGH, TROMA’S WAR, and CITIZEN TOXIE. Oh, and POULTRYGEIST, which has a musical number that is the best scene in any Troma movie ever.

How did you feel after Dawn of the Dead and Scooby Doo 2 hit theaters in consecutive weeks?

Fucking awesome, overwhelmed, and rich. I was more excited about DAWN, actually, because it meant I wasn’t going to only be offered live action versions of children’s TV shows for the rest of my life. No JABBERJAW or HONG KONG PHOOEY for me!!