INT: Matt Cunningham & Erik Gardner

Last Updated on July 28, 2021

The
Arrow interviews
Matt Cunningham and Erik Gardner

Writers,
Producers and Directors
Matt Cunningham and Erik Gardner
have been long time work partners. Over the years, they’ve
tackled a slew of genre TV shows/films (Troma’s Decampitated being
one of them) under various “hats”. The boys are presently wrangling
their biggest project yet, a second sequel to The Mangler named
MANGLER REBORN.
I know what you’re thinking: “After the blah first one and the puke
inducing sequel, who needs a Mangler Part 3?” To be honest, I
thought the same thing. But through my chit-chat with the two lads,
I was swiftly won over by their “fan boy” love for horror and the
potentially visceral direction that they’re taking with their new
baby. I’m actually looking forward to it now! Read for
yourself!

Hey guys! So, Mangler
Part 3, how did the
project come about?

MATT: It was offered to
us. I actually work for the company that purchased the rights to it
and Barry (Barnholtz) had actually produced the second Mangler. I
got to watch that get made and I was like “Oh No”! The first one was cool but not great and the second one, well when they
started doing the whole virus thing, I wasn’t into it that much.
Barry knew he could get the rights so he bought them and said I
think you and Erik (Gardner) should write and direct the thing. So
we said okay, read the original story and really tried to pull stuff
out of there that we thought was good. You know King is very vague
in the story but at the same time he’s kind of telling you “it could
be this, it could be that, this is how the machine could’ve have
been possessed”. So we kind of tried to play with that a little bit.

ERIK: The second
one was a “steamer” as Matt calls it.

Yup big time!

ERIK: Now, the two movies that influenced us the most over the last
few years were an Asian film called Kairo and Haute Tension; talk
about awesome! So we asked ourselves: how are we gonna make this
thing cool? After reading King’s original story which everybody kind
of strayed away from, we thought: “What if the steam
machine was a person? What if Hadley Watson (the lead
character/killer) was an incarnation of
the machine? What if he needed to take humans and feed the machine
in order to stay alive? That’s kind of the gist of the story we’re
telling.

So what kind of machine are we talking about for this second sequel?

MATT: It’s kind of this hybrid
machine created by Hadley Watson
who happens to be a washing machine
repairman. He likes to take antique things and put them together. So
he tries to put together a new machine that is going to be built from
parts of the original Mangler (from the first film).

That’s a pretty kool
sequel concept!

MATT: Thanks! Then what happens
is that he becomes obsessed with building this machine and the
machine eventually eats him and spits him back out. As a result, he
becomes an extension of the machine.

ERIK: What
specifically happens
is that he’s wrenching on the machine, his shirt gets caught and
he gets sucked into the machine. The next time you see him you know
that something is amiss. He starts decaying throughout the movie and
you know that “Oh Shit” he’s gonna have to find humans to shove into
the machine and rejuvenate himself.

So he’s somewhat
possessed?

MATT: Yeah, he’s not
gonna have machine parts on him or anything like that. We’re
thinking more a supernatural approach while playing it all in the
vein of High Tension or Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

So you’re not trying
to do a dark comedy with this at all?

MATT: No. when you watch
films like Chainsaw and all of that; you’re kind of like “wow this
is relentless, will it ever give me a break” that’s what we’re going
for.

ERIK: This is the
darkest movie we’ve ever done together; this is the first one that’s
so bleak and serious.

Are you at all
concerned by the incredibly negative reaction to Mangler 2 affecting
your own eventual sales?

ERIK: Yes, but in
all honesty we’re just trying to make a movie that’s going to be
totally different than any of the Mangler movies. I think that if enough people out there see it, people like you and all the fans,
they’ll realize that we’re trying to make something that will blow
those two other movies away.

What kind of cast can we expect in the film? Teens or older?

ERIK: Everybody
will be like 25ish and older. We even have one part who is around 50 years old.

Well that’s refreshing
to hear! In terms of gore; are
we talking suggestive or graphic?

MATT: They’re will be a
lot of scenes that will be suggestive and they’ll be a few that will
have a graphic payoff. We don’t want to overkill it you know. Like
take Halloween or Chainsaw, everybody thought that those movies were
so bloody, you hear that all the time.

And they’re not at
all; they suggested and your mind gapped the rest.

MATT: Yeah, you watch the
thing and you’re like “wow, it so bloody” but then you go back and
see that it wasn’t. It was crafted so well that you did think
that it was very violent and bloody. That’s what we’re aiming for, a
Carpenter and Hooper kind of thing.

ERIK: I think a
lot of time “suggestive” is better; there’s is a lot of gore in this
but a lot of stuff is going to be cheated. Honestly, in movies like Kairo,
we don’t see gore and that’s what great about it where I swear I
jumped out of my skin about 7 or 8 times in that movie. We’re
definitely not the “gore guys”! Most of the stuff is: “Something might be
lurking behind that corner and is it gonna get ya?” type of approach. I think implied stuff is definitely scarier

Casting wise, anything
you can divulge yet?

MATT: No, there are
people we’re going after but the offers haven’t been sent out yet
and nobody is locked.

ERIK: We actually
had one actor locked, “the killer’, and now that could change to a
name-actor. Which is a bummer for me where if you look at somebody
that’s supposed to be scary and you recognize him, that lessens the
fear factor. We’re gonna have to fight the producers on that. It
stinks when you’re not Sam Raimi!

With a strange face,
you believe the character more, no distractions.

MATT: Exactly; if you saw
like Michael Madsen as the killer you’d be like, there’s Madsen!
We’re trying to go back to the old school days I guess and keep the
killer unknown.

Have the foreign distributors pitched you names of their own?

ERIK: Yes, lots of
horror icons name are on that list. We put together our own list of dreamy
people we would want in the film, off our favorite horror movies. From The Evil
Dead to Re Animator. We want to go with a no-name as the killer but with all names around that
character. We’ll see what happens I’m sure stuff will be decided in
the next week or so.

You got Ashley Lawrence in there? Come on! She rocks!

ERIK: She’s on our
list, you name a great horror icon and we’ve put them down on. But unfortunately what it boils down to is what the foreign
guy can sell.

What’s the
distribution status? You have anything locked?

MATT: It’s going through
Lion Gates.

I’m assuming that’s only
North America; what about foreign?

ERIK: We have some
foreogn and it
possibly won’t even go there as Mangler Reborn. They want to
change the title to an original title. Here in America it will
most likely be Mangler Reborn, unless Lions Gate makes us change
that, and foreign, we gave them a list of titles. “Welcome to
the Machine” is what we had written on a draft written for our
manager. So that’s still up in the
air.

What will you shoot
the movie on?

MATT: Right now
we’re leaning more towards HD but at the 11^th hour that
can change.

When’s your start date
in terms of shooting?

MATT: My guess is middle
of March.

And release date; any
clue?

MATT: My guess is that it
will be December.

Straight to DVD I
assume?

Pics and design courtesy of Jason Shulman.

MATT: Yes, but we might
want to release it bigger, maybe a very small theatrical.

Have you started
thinking of DVD extras already and what you’d like to do with that?

MATT: We’re going to
actually shoot the whole process of making the film from beginning
to end. Like starting with the guys at the effect house, the
casting, shooting all that stuff to keep people in the loop where
many never get to see that stuff.

Who will be doing the
gore effects on the film?

MATT: We got these guys
onboard, they’re called Evolution Effects. They’re a bunch of guys
that came from Stan Winston and I think Steve Johnson. I know for
sure they did a lot of stuff with Stan and went to Savini’s effects
school. They’re hardcore horror geeks which is great! It’s
awesome to work with the same type of people that love it as much as
you do. That’s really what we look for when putting a crew
together. Do they love the genre as much as us? It’s kind of like a
screening process that Erik and I go through with people. That’s
what we want, especially on a tight budget.

Now I have to ask
because I and at least half of my readers want to know; female
nudity… are we talking about it or not?

MATT: Yes we are.

If it would be up to
you though, would you include the female nudity in the film? Are you
just putting it in there because you know it will help with foreign
sales?

MATT: Honestly, we’re
doing it from a foreign sales standpoint.

ERIK: We’ve never
written anything like that in any movie we’ve ever done.
In this one there’s a shower scene. We didn’t even write
"nudity" in the script, it could play in there if we need to do it.
The scene in
question is at the beginning of the movie, so if it happens, we get
it out of the way fairly quickly. But we always think that when you
start seeing that stuff in there and it has nothing to do with the
overall story, it’s pointless. Form a
horror movie fan standpoint, I think that kind of stuff doesn’t make
your movie better. Unfortunately we most likely will need it but
fortunately I won’t be the one telling the actress to take off her
top.

Creatively; are you at all forced by the
“suits” to go one way or another? How much freedom do you have?

MATT: Honestly it hasn’t
been “too many hands in the cookie jar”. We got a few notes here and there but otherwise it hasn’t been painted
like you would at a Studio or something.

ERIK: Right now
the script is locked and no one is going to say to us: I think
you should do this. For example, we’re gonna have a scene where a girl is getting
hit in the back of the head with a two-by-four with a nail sticking
out of it. Sure we’re gonna shoot it a bunch of different ways
but when all else fails; we’re gonna get that in there. It’s an important scene and scare. She gets hit in the back of the
head, then she starts to run away and gets stuck through a door jam.

Sounds like fun times to me man! So this will be the first time that you guys direct a feature
together.

ERIK:
We’re stoked man; its going to a very John Carpenter type of
movie, lots of “masters”. Although we really love that Raimi kinetic
stuff, this one is gonna be mostly about tone and scares.

How do you predict the co-directing process to go down?

ERIK: Matt and I will
storyboard the whole
movie, every shot is going to be on a paper and we’ll also work the actors
together. We’re
definitely going to know exactly what we want before we get out
there. We’re not gonna
have a B Camera, no second unit; it’s a small and contained shoot.
Most of the money is going to go into camera and our name actors.

I know this kind of
pre-mature but Mangler 4?

MATT: Not that I know of!

ERIK:
Not in our minds yet.

Do you already have your
next project in mind?

MATT: Yes we’ve got a
couple of things going but you never know! We have a werewolf script
that has gotten lots of interest but at the same time I don’t know
when it would happen.

ERIK: Its a Lost
Boys with werewolves type deal, its a gas, totally old school
werewolf movie. And we’re working on other stuff. Anything that
addresses religion, demons or ghosts scares the crap put of us.

I’ll finish off with a
couple of silly questions!

MATT: Of course!

Favorite horror movie?

MATT: So many to name;
the one’s that influenced me the most were Sam Raimi and Evil Dead.
Erik and I came together because of our mutual love for that film.
Argento’s early stuff too like Suspiria. Night of the Living Dead
was also a movie that turned me around when I was 8 or something. That’s the one that changed me. I was like
“Oh I got to see more of
this stuff”. The Howling and Carpenter’s stuff was also a huge influence on
me.

ERIK: I was
at a funeral and I had to get up and speak, out of respect for my
grandma. I remembered when I was like 8 years old, she took me to see
a double bill of King Kong and some other movie with coach roaches. That movie scared the hell out
of me! I had nightmares about it! Its called BUGS and it’s about
nuclear cockroaches that have minds of their own. They crawl on
people and set them a flame. For my entire life that movie has been
etched in my brain. That was the start of the horror scare inside
me. I never knew this but it’s a William Castle movie.

Sounds like fun cheese to me!

ERIK: It is! And of
course The Evil Dead. The Exorcist, Re Animator, Night of the Living
Dead and TCM. More recently
Session 9 totally freaked me out! I love being scared and
love watching a movie that makes me doubt reality.

Your favorite drink?

MATT: Hmmm, I’d have to
say, it’s probably a Lava Flow.

ERIK: Right now
I’m really into Captain Morgan rum and Diet Coke

NICE! Not Coke…DIET COKE…I respect that!

ERIK: You have to
watch that weight! I love them,
I could drink them till there’s no tomorrow. I also
like wine; I have a huge wine collection.

Blondes or brunettes?

MATT: Brunettes, my wife
is a brunette.

ERIK: My
girlfriend is a brunette but she does the blonde thing in her hair
but I’m definitely a blonde guy. I do love my significant other
though.

That’s so sweet! I’ll keep that in the interview for you to rack up
some Brownie Points!

ERIK: LOL!

Lastly; what’s your
perception on the remake craze that’s going on and more specifically
what’s your take on the whole Evil Dead remake?

MATT: You know what? I was
really hesitant about the Dawn of the Dead remake and then I saw it
and liked it. Chainsaw I thought had some kool stuff in it. I’m a
big fan of the original. Evil Dead, I don’t know, I’m worried about
it but you’d be surprised, if they’re involved with it; and it comes
out, it could be bigger….

Well I doubt we’ll get
the tree rape scene in there.

MATT: It will definitely
be watered down in that sense…personally I’d rather see new and
fresh stuff . But the business is that Studios are doing
that because it’s a safe bet and it works. Also there’s a younger
generation that’s never seen those movies.

Yes but unfortunately
our generation…

MATT: …is stuck seeing the
same movies over and over again…

Exactly, we get the
shorter end of the horror stick.

MATT: It’s hard but then
again we’re doing a sequel.

Yes but they are two
kind of sequels; sequels that solely repeat what the original did
and then sequels that try to do something new even though they’re
somewhat limited within the confounds of being a follow up to an
original.

MATT: That’s true.

How do you feel about the Evil Dead remake Erik?

ERIK: I’m bummed
about it but I understand why they’re doing it.

Money.

ERIK: Yes, but I
don’t think that Sam really wants to make another Evil Dead movie. I
use to work on American Gothic (which
Sam executive produced) and everybody used to say how Sam
always wanted to make those huge Blockbuster type of movies. He
wanted to be like Spielberg and he’s doing that
now. He’s also the nicest guy in the world! He was always cool, he used
to come up to me and say “Hey buddy how ya doing?” and shake my hand. I was just this
long haired kid from Jersey and I’d be shaking. I wish they wouldn’t
remake The Evil Dead though, where I’m not a big remake lover. I did like the look of
the TCM remake but I wish they wouldn’t remake them. Even the
Asian movies man, we just don’t know how to read into them.

Well I’m done! Thank
you
for your time Matt and Erik!

MATT: Thanks John!

ERIK: Thanks a lot!

I’d
like to thank
Matt and Erik
for the extensive bla-bla session and would like to wish them some
“ass kicking” on Mangler Reborn! Bring it on guys! I’m game!

Help me forget Mangler Part 2!
PLEASSSSE!