RON FORD: THE EARLY DAYS by TIM SULLIVAN
Tim Sullivan is a science fiction writer (The Martian Viking, Lords of Creation), raconteur and all-around cool dude. As an actor, he can be seen in a multitude of pictures from the microbudget era, including Twilight of the Dogs, Hollywood Mortuary and Deadly Scavengers.He also wrote some scripts (V-World Matrix,Eyes of the Werewolf) and even directed a little (Vampyre Femmes). I asked him to write something about his work in those days and what he did instead is write this affectionate love-letter that touched my heart. I haven’t seen Tim in better than a decade now, and I often ache for his conversation and company these days.
Tim Sullivan with friend
I’ve known Ron Ford for over a quarter century, maybe closer to thirty years now. We first met while working on a movie called The Laughing Dead at Old Tucson, Arizona. Old Tucson was a full-service-Western-town-outdoor-and-indoor-standing set that had been built in the late thirties for a movie called Arizona with William Holden and Jean Arthur, and added to over the following decades. There was a Spanish Mission, complete inside and out, a town square, as well as the requisite main street with wooden sidewalks and saloon. By the time we shot there, Wild West Shows were staged on the streets and a national high school cheerleader convention once messed up our sound while the girls led cheers for imaginary sports fans.
Old Tucson
It was a great place to work. Unfortunately, Old Tucson burned down some years later, and as far as I know they haven’t rebuilt it. But in those days it was like living in a cowboy fantasy to be there. I’d seen so many Westerns shot on those sets that it was like being at home in some strange way. We had a blast.
Ron and I kept in touch when he and his wife Paula moved to LA, where I was living at the time. Not too long after it became apparent that The Laughing Dead would never find an American distributor (I hear there’s a Thai DVD available, but I haven’t seen it), Ron told me he was planning to make a shot-on-video feature with a guy named Mark Gordon, who would be a producer and shoot the thing as well. He had the equipment and knew how to use it, so we set out to make Alien Force, starring Tyrone Wade, an Australian body builder and all around nice guy, and the beautiful and talented Roxanne Coyne. Somehow Ron got the guy who used to play Robin to Adam West’s Batman (Burt Ward) to play an alien in a wild costume.
Agreeing to hold the boom, I enlisted my friends Marlene Resnick and Lee Boek to be in it. I ended up in three (count ‘em!) three roles myself. The less said about my performances the better.
The main problem, as seasoned actor Michael Wayne (who joined the cast to play the villain) pointed out to me one day, was two directors. For some reason, Mark kept butting in on Ron, even though Ron was well prepared and knew exactly what he wanted to do, was well liked by the cast, and had written the script.
Need I add that Ron started his own production company, Fat Free Features, as soon as possible?
Twilight of the Dogs, written by and starring Tim Sullivan
There he made his magnum opus, Hollywood Mortuary, in which Ron played a Bela Lugosi-like actor named Janos Blasko, and I essayed the role of Pratt Borokoff, lisping away as I’d been doing since first seeing Boris Karloff in the early sixties and trying to imitate his voice for the amusements of my classmates. It’s a film for fans of classic horror, and Randal Malone makes the most of his lead role as a makeup man who becomes an undertaker, Pierce Jackson Dawn. It was inevitable that he’d find the secret of bringing the dead back to life, of course, and he gets to work on Borokoff and Blasko pretty soon, making them do his evil bidding. He wants nothing less than fatal revenge on the studio moguls who ended his movie career.
I call him Janos to this day.
Ron Ford and Tim Sullivan as Janos Blasko and Pratt Borokof in “Hollywood Mortuary”
We had tremendous fun, even though much of Hollywood Mortuary was filmed during one of the worst heat waves I’ve ever suffered through. One thing you can always depend on with a Ron Ford Movie is a family atmosphere, and that was abundant on this shoot. Another thing you can always depend on is that he’ll get the picture made come hell or high water. Ron never quits.
And that’s not all. When I directed my own feature a couple of years later, Ron was there to help in every way he could. Did I mention his generosity and kindness?
Written by Tim Sullivan
Written and directed by Tim Sullivan
If it isn’t obvious by now, let me just add that I’m very happy and proud to call Ron “Janos” Ford my old friend.
* * * *
Thank you, Pratt old thing. I feel the same way. A few editorial things: I am no longer married – not for 8 years now. Old Tucson was indeed rebuilt, and Tim was delightful in all his roles in Alien Force and all the pictures he appeared in. Don’t listen to his modest self-deprecation.
Jeff Leroy: Slugging it out in Microbudget
Jeff Leroy was an invaluable player in nearly all of my early Southern California movies. He shot most of them, always with style and aplomb, and always with an eagerness to take artistic risks. He also edited most of those movies, and provided digital and miniature effects as needed. He is one of the few DPs I have ever worked with who was as conversant with the history of film as myself. When I said I wanted Mario Bava-style colors in THE CRAWLING BRAIN, he knew just what I meant and delivered the goods without further explanation necessary.
Jeff is the epitome of the independent, grassroot, microbudget filmmaker guy. He is a one man band who creates over the top, effects laden marvels like nobody else is making. RAT SCRATCH FEVER is part Gerry Anderson, part Bert I. Gordon, part Sam Peckinpah, and all mind-boggling entertainment. Jeff writes, directs, creates effects, shoots and edits his own stuff. It’s a shame he isn’t more known, but kudos, he’s still slugging it out and making a living after 36 years of this.
Jeff Leroy
Jeff cites THE WAGES OF FEAR and THE WILD BUNCH as his two favorite movies. I can’t argue with those choices. But he also lists a diverse assortment of influences, and when you see his movies, they make total sense as the source of his muse.
“The Poseidon Adventure in late ’72 made a huge impression on me,” Leroy said. “I saw all those disaster movies and became interested in the combination of characters you actually care about combined with special effects. Particularly miniature destruction. Late 60’s early 70’s seem to be a really favorite time for me: PATTON, 2001, DEATH WISH, DELIVERANCE, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. STRAW DOGS, TAXI DRIVER. Sci fit v shows like STAR TREK, UFO, SPACE: 1999 (Season 1), BUCK ROGERS (season one). SUPERMAN 1978. – Where is all the fun in today’s comic book movies? Only GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY got it right.”
Jeff took those influence and, independent from the start, he raised funds and made his own movie.
“I’ve been making home movies since 1979. My first released film, CRACK UP, was completed in 1996,” Leroy said. “It was my loving homage to Sam Peckinpah. The 16mm film was kind of a mess, but coherent enough to get released. And the check didn’t bounce!”
[In 2001, the effects and action scenes from CRACK UP were used as the basis for Leroy’s entry into the “urban action” genre, CRACK.]
Jeff did get burned in other ways, however, and that cemented his conviction to do it all himself.
“On my second film, THE SCREAMING (1999), the co-producer promised this prop guy that worked on BABYLON 5 would build this great prop for my movie,” Leroy said. “He kept promising this prop right up to the minute we were shooting. Then. he finally admitted he didn’t even start building the prop while we were shooting. Since then, I’ve had a strong distrust of everyone. If you don’t handle it yourself, it will be screwed up. Since those days I’ve met some DP’s and producers I really like to work with and grown to trust them. And actors, too. Phoebe Dollar. Victoria De Mare. Tasha Tacosa. Rachel Riley to name a few.”
[This 4-movie package contains Leroy’s THE SCREAMING,]
Jeff has a philosophy about filmmaking, and it’s grounded in realistic commerce. That’s probably why he is still doing this, 36 years later.
“Unless you are independently wealthy, you are taking thousands of dollars from someone to make a movie that will hopefully make the money back and turn a profit,” Leroy said. “If you make some artistic masterpiece only you have the brilliance to understand, you won’t be in business long. Not everyone can be David Lynch. I attempt to make fast moving, fun, exploitation films that people will enjoy with some artsy touches. Movies that I enjoy watching and keep the producer in black ink. That’s about it.”
Jeff is staying busy with titles that would make any exploitation hound drool.
“[My 2006 film] WEREWOLF IN A WOMEN’S PRISON has two sequels coming! DRACULA IN A WOMEN’S PRISON and FRANKENSTEIN IN A WOMEN’S PRISON,” Leroy gushed. “I also have a very funny movie or web series called GIANTESS ATTACK that I’m working on. As you know, the market for straight to video movies is in the toilet. I am very grateful I can still do this and scrape out a living.”
Amen Jeff. You’ve done a valiant job of it. Keep it up. You are an inspiration to the rest of us.
HOLLYWOOD MORTUARY – Stars aren’t born… They’re embalmed.
HOLLYWOOD MORTUARY was my first vanity project – that is, one that I completed as a personal project and not as a paid assignment. It, if anything, is my signature project. People who call themselves Ron Ford Fans (God help them) probably came there thorough this movie, or at least heard of me first through its word of mouth.
In 1996, Kevin J. Lindenmuth (of VAMPIRES AND OTHER STEREOTYPES fame) was putting together his CREATUREALM projects: horror anthologies with the segments farmed out to Kevin’s many filmmaking friends across the nation (Kevin deserves a lot of credited for his networking, bringing us all together as a nation-wide community of digital movie guerrillas). I was asked to contribute a segment, so I started looking around for an idea of something impressive I could produce without a real budget.
It started with the title.
Randal Malone (whom I had just worked with on ALIEN FORCE) – never shy about pushing starring vehicles for himself – pitched me an idea he called HOLLYWOOD MORTUARY. Then he proceeded to tell me the plot of the “Incredible Dr. Markesan” segment of the Boris Karloff-hosted THRILLER TV series he has seen the night before on Nickelodeon. What he didn’t know is that I had watched it too. I told him I loved the title but that the story needed to be more original.
So I reworked the story into a new plot about Pierce Jackson Dawn, an obsessive make-up artist whose career is on the skids with the end of the horror cycle of the thirties. So he uses black magic to resurrect two rival horror stars (one of whom he murdered) in order to revive interest in the horror film. But the egos of the two late Hollywood rivals threaten to disrupt all his plans.
It was over a year later, after the film was released, that a critic pointed out the plots similarity to the 1950s schlock-fest, HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER – a film I watched many times as a youngster. I probably had ripped it off sub-consciously. Let’s call it “unintentional homage.”
Randal Malone is a friend to many aging Hollywood stars, and I had access to them through him. I also had a few semi-celeb friends myself that I enlisted to play themselves in interview segments. Framing the story with real celeb interviews, as if they actually knew and worked with this character Peirce Jackson Dawn, I felt would add class, production value and prestige to my no-budge masterpiece.
I wrote fake interviews for Margaret O’Brien, Conrad Brooks and film director David DeCoteau. They were all marvelous, and all donated their work. I think I may have given Conrad fifty bucks.
Silent movie star Anita Page, however, was another matter. She was in her nineties then and unable to memorize lines. Reading from cue cards looked too unnatural. So I hit on the idea of asking her about the silent movie icon Lon Chaney (the Man of a Thousand Faces) and his facility with character make-up. Page knew him well and worked with him more than once. So when she talks about Pierce Dawn’s make-up skills, she was really talking about Chaney. The conceit worked beautifully, because her reminisces were passionate and honest.
HOLLYWOOD MORTUARY became part of the second CREATUREALM anthology film, FROM THE DEAD. I liked it fine for what it was, but it also left me unsatisfied. I wanted more! In short, it screamed to be developed into a feature. So, one year later, when the rights reverted back to me, per my contract with Lindenmuth, we expanded it. I wrote some new characters in. My friend film historian Tim Murphy played a sardonic version of himself, and actor Joe Haggerty played Morry Mackerman, a disruptive fan based loosely on fandom icon Forrest J. Ackerman. We also shot many new scenes, expanding the zombie killing spree sequence so integral to the plot. We also reshot the cheesy effect at the end, and I cut it into a feature film that made me happy. Still does, in spite of its crudeness. It is sincere and charming and funny, and pretty much the picture I set out to make.
HOLLYWOOD MORTUARY: THE FEATURE premiered at the Monster Bash convention in Monroeville, IL in the summer of 1999. It was the hit of the festival and I sold every one of the dozens of VHS copies I brought along for that purpose.
It was released on DVD by Dead Alive Video in 2000, with the short CREATUREALM version included as an extra.
THE NINTY-NINE PERCENT SOLUTION
Not so long ago, filmmaking was a rich man’s game. A member of the economic 99 percent had little chance of getting his or her movie made without the patronage of some one-percenter.
Truth be told, in the mainstream, that is still the case. However, thanks to game-changing technological advances, those with less-than-unlimited resources do have a pathway to get a film made and to have it seen by thousands worldwide. In the final shuffle, the hope is that talent and craft will win out over expensive flash.
In 1989 I dreamed of someday having the resources or the patronage to make my first film. A decade later I had five features under my belt as writer, producer and director, and all had been distributed around the globe. I did not become any wealthier in the intervening years, nor did I find a sponsor with deep pockets. No, digital video simply progressed to the point that it spawned consumer-level digital video equipment. The technology since has improved vastly, and become even more affordable.
That innovation began a revolution of folk like myself who had the hubris to challenge the reigning gods of mainstream cinema with their home-made, no-budget movies. And somehow, they succeeded – to a degree. For a time, those plucky cineastes contributed content to the Sacred Shelves at Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. 
Titles like “Vampires and Other Stereotypes,” “”Feeders,” “Things,” “Rage of the Werewolf,” “Riddled with Bullets” and “Shatter dead” shared space on those shelves alongside mainstream Hollywood movies, sorted alphabetically, with no assumption of lesser-value.
Names like Kevin Lindenmuth, Jeff Leroy, Todd Sheets, Hugh Gallagher and the Polonia Brothers, Mark and John, to name a few, started developing fan bases. Lindenmuth could be counted on for dark, character-driven horror dramas. Gallagher specialized in over-the-top gory erotica. Leroy had a penchant for elaborate miniature effects and action. Sheets was pure splatter, and the Polonias, probably the most prolific filmmakers of the era, covered just about every sub-genre in horror and science fiction.
It was a time of fearlessness and naiveté, walking hand-in-hand. It was a unique time in cinema history, when the mainstream had its first skirmish with upstart startups, vying for the same inches on the Sacred Shelves. Upstarts with less polish, but chutzpah to spare.
It was, in fact, the birth of crowd sourcing media content, which is rapidly becoming a formidable force in media marketing.
This blog exists to celebrate that time and its players in the brief, ambitious, naive period I am calling the era of Grassroots Cinema. Each post will highlight some movie or some filmmaker from that era, and maybe some interviews and guest posts as well.
NEXT: The making of “Hollywood Mortuary.”
SCREEN BABY
There is little about me that is not a products of media.
As a child I had little interest in sports. Make that no interest. Trees and birds and the outdoors all looked better when shot properly. The kids in sitcoms were much nicer than the aggressive ones at school. Monster roamed the world, sure, and occasionally destroyed cities. But how much more preferable they were to the real monsters on the playgrounds.
In short, if it didn’t exist on a screen or on a page, it left little mark on me. Today that has all… well, it’s pretty much still so.
In the mid to late 1990s consumer digital video equipment hit the market and changed the world. I, along with a handful of other ambitious, like-minded film geeks, armed ourselves and started making movies in our backyards with the hubris and no money, and we got them distributed world-wide. Like most of us, I never made a bucket of cash off of them, but my movies flooded the video store shelves. Now, the VHS graveyard is littered with Ron Ford product.
My first vanity piece, Hollywood Mortuary, developed a cult following that continues to this day.
Like musicians, we digital video pioneers were nearly always the victim of distributors, who took the fruit of our creativity and sweat to line their pockets, while tossing us tokens and scraps.
Hollywood producers have treated me no better. In 1994 I was hired to write a horror movie called The Fear, which was produced at a budget of around ¾ million. It grossed millions worldwide and actually pulled its distributor, A-Pix, out of the red for a time. I, however, was paid but a pittance of the contracted amount. I successfully sued the company, but was unable to collect from an already-dissolved LLC. — What Price Hollywood?
Today, it is a do-it-yourself world. The corporate Jabba the Huts eat all the pizza, if you offer them a slice. We digital pioneers had the right idea. We now live in a world where you can control your dream, from inception to exhibition. It is perhaps the only way for an individual artist to survive and remain an individual.
This blog is a step in that journey to own my own creativity, and to profit from it.
