Last Updated on July 28, 2021

The Arrow
interviews Al Magliochetti

Visual
effect supervisor Al Magliochetti has worked on various, groovy genre
efforts. Think “Jason goes to Hell”, the cult classics “Brain Damage”,
“Basket Case 2”, “Frankenhooker” and the cheese-ball “Prom Night 3”.
Arrow recently had the opportunity to get into a verbal match with the man
behind the visual goodies and here was the result.

ARROW: What’s your
favorite horror movie?

AL:

Believe it or not, “Jaws,” if that counts. To me, a good horror movie
is one that steers the audience in the direction of a scare, rather
than just startling them with a quick “Boo” and I feel that film did
it admirably.

ARROW: What was the
trigger that launched you into the visual effects business?

AL:

I’d always been into effects to some degree, my first films were
cut out animations made in 6th and 7th grade not
dissimilar to the original South Park shorts. When I got into film
school I started using
effects to make my films stand out a bit from my other classmates and
somehow it was just something I
gravitated toward. Also, Star Wars came out when I was in film school
so it was a great inspiration at the time.

ARROW: You worked on Prom
Night 3. How was your stay in Canada and how would you describe your
experience on that picture?

AL:

What’s the phrase? If you can’t say something nice…don’t say
anything at all?  J

ARROW: You’ve applied
your craft on big and small budgeted films. Which ones do you
enjoy working on the most and why?

AL:

It’s kind of a trade-off. The smaller budgeted films are less
rewarding, financially, but generally they’re much more appreciative
of anything you can give them and they tend to let you input a lot of
creativity. Whereas the higher budgeted films help pay the bills a
lot better, but it’s sometimes far more frustrating dealing with the
plethora of egos involved. All in all, I prefer the lower budget
work, it’s generally far less stressful.

ARROW: As we all
know, effects are often created which might not make the final cut. Is
there a particular effect in which you participated that you were
really disappointed to see hit the editing room floor?

AL:

A few years ago, I would’ve said the ear-pulling scene from Brain
Damage, but happily that’s since been restored to DVD. Since effects
generally cost proportionately more than the rest of the film, it’s
fairly rare for them to be cut out altogether once the effect has been
completed, usually any hacking like that happens during the
budgeting phase and the effect is never shot in the first place. One
scene that comes to mind is a character from Basket Case 2, a
member of the freaks named Spider-Boy. He was originally supposed to
be a stop-motion character that crawled up the walls in a few scenes, I was really sorry to see that get dropped from the script.  Come to
think of it, Little Hal from Basket Case 3 was supposed to be a
stop-motion character as well.

ARROW: You’ve worked for
the great (in my mind anyways) Frank Henenlotter on Brain Damage,
Basket Case 2 and Frankenhooker. How would you describe your
experience working with the man on three of his most twisted and
unique films?

AL:

Frank is one of the more amazing filmmakers I’ve ever worked with his scripts were hysterically written and no matter how good they were
on the page there was always ten times as much detail in his mind that
he’d not have the room to write down. Walking onto a Henenlotter
set after reading the script was literally like walking through a
looking glass, no matter what you’d previously imagined it was
taken to a bizarro level you’d never have thought of especially
when Gabe Bartalos was involved!  It’s an incredibly creative
environment to be immersed in and I sincerely hope he’ll get to make
some of the other scripts he’s written, all of the ones I’ve read
so far are incredible.

ARROW: Of all the
movies to which you’ve contributed, is there one you wish you could go back
to and
do things differently?

AL:

Most of the visual effects shots in Brain Damage and Frankenhooker
were done only once, we never had time or money to tweak the
exposures or soften some of the mattes a second time so basically most
of what you’re seeing as a final product  is an educated guess on my
part. I wish I could’ve had a chance at doing a second or third take
on some of those shots just to make them a little better looking.

ARROW: What’s next for
you in terms of visual effect work? Any films on your “upcoming”
plate?

AL:

I have recently been talking with Sonny Chiba about making the
ultimate Samurai movie. I hope that one comes together.

ARROW: You had an
acting role in “Spookies” which you also worked on in terms of special

photographic effects. What was your part and how was the experience on
the other side of the camera?

AL:



In the original incarnation of “Spookies” when it was still called
Twisted Souls the character I played, Lewis Wilson,  was originally
killed by a flying squadron of ghosts, the strategy was that since
the death occurred by visual effects, it’d be more efficient if I
played the role.  I thought it would be a good experience to act if
just to help me direct actors better in the future, but it wasn’t
something I was very comfortable with, as you can tell from the
finished product.  If you’d like more insight on the Spookies
experience you can read some letters that both myself and director Tom
Doran wrote

HERE.

ARROW:
Is there a genre
film franchise that you’re dying to contribute to, but have yet to this
day?

AL:



I’d have liked to contribute to a Freddy movie, maybe it’s not too
late
J Actually, I think I’d really like to contribute to whatever the next
cool monster is, we haven’t had a good one in awhile. Although
wait till you guys see “Skinned Deep” when it’s released later this
year…

ARROW:

What is your
favorite and least favorite Friday the 13th film?

AL:



I liked the first Friday just because it came from out of nowhere and
scared the hell out of everyone, although I did also like the 3D
gimmick in part 3. As to my least favorite…why call it Jason
Takes Manhattan if he’s on a boat for the whole movie and it’s shot in
Canada ?

I’d like to thank Al for his time and for bringing the slick “Jason Goes to Hell” footage
to the last Fango Con in Jersey. It was much appreciated by many
Voorhees fans! Keep up the great work lad!