Last month I reviewed a refreshing Grindhouse-inspired comedy-action-horror flick, DEVILS OF WAR, a blend of what I’d refer to as Outpost meets Osombie. This fun-filled, tongue-in-cheek action film was brimming with filmmaking passion so I jumped at the chance to have a few words with the film’s director, Eli Dorsey.
Please can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m just the grown up version of a kid that spent all of his time thoroughly entrenched in a mountain of old horror films, Heavy Metal & Fangoria magazines.
How did the concept of Devils of War come together?
I was developing another film with the producers when they called me, really excited about making a grindhouse WW2 film. I, naturally, was excited about the prospect of making a down and dirty action film with some occult elements in it too. The project quickly escalated from there.
Had you previously directed, written or worked on movies prior to filming your screenplay, Devils of War?
This was my first full-length, but I’ve made some horror shorts and I’ve worked in the video production field for a while now. If I recall correctly, the first thing I ever made was a really crude, violent, stop-motion film with my mother’s Gumby figures
In my review, I mention how the style of the Nazi women resemble the iconic Ilsa character from Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS. Were you inspired at all by those films and was the name of Solvig’s No2, Thorn, a nod to Ilsa actress, Dyanne Thorne?
Yes, Solvig Van Bosch, was very much inspired by Ilsa, most notably in the wardrobe department. Thorn’s name was actually conceived as a kind of parody of the villains from the cheapo-barbarian films of the 80’s. We just thought he’d add a fun element to the occult angle.
Where did you shoot the film and how long did it take to make?
We shot the film with a pretty gruelling schedule in the country right outside of Portland, Oregon and a plywood factory in Linton. It was actually quite great, to be running around with guns and costumes in an abandoned industrial complex. It was quite like being a kid again, only with my producers and assistant director keeping me line.
How did you come up with the characters of the Chaplain, The Sniper and Black Hercules, in particular B.H’s backstory?
The characters in the film were supposed to be action-figure-caricatures of war film archetypes. They were much inspired by the Jack Kirby run of The Losers comic book. Black Hercules’ backstory was, simply, reverse engineered from the question “how do we get a black character in WW2 with a Katana?”
I believe Gerald del Campo was the occult consultant for the film. What ideas did he bring to the film?
Gerald provided us with the summoning verses that Thorn performs. I believe he actually translated some enochian for us, but don’t quote me on that, as I’m hardly a warlock. He also provided us with the awesome floor design that you see in front of that altar. He definitely gave us some great flourishes to work with for the occult stuff.
The film is rather tongue in cheek and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Did you always intend to create the movie this way and how hard is it to balance the subtle comedy yet maintain an action/horror genre movie?
Absolutely, this is a six-pack film, all the way. Our main intent was to make something that felt like an early 70’s Italian WW2 film with a little bit of a late-night-cable flair. A lot of my inspiration for the film was from remembering some of the weird, screwed-up scenarios I would come up with when I would play with my GI Joe figures. I don’t think Larry Hama ever intended for Lady Jaye to engage in sexual acts with a zombified (ie. oven-melted) Sgt. Slaughter, but during my tenure, as the cruel master of the GI Joe universe, that kind of thing was the norm. As far as the comedy goes, I felt the straighter we played it, the funnier it would end up, kind of like the characters think that they’re in Guns of the Naverone and are oblivious to the fact that they’re actually in a much cheaper film pulled directly from the dredges of a juvenile’s Cinemax* (editors note: in our case, Babestation) -pickled brain.
*(I don’t know if you guys have Cinemax, across the pond. If not, just replace Cinemax with whatever nudie channel you do have.)
I really like the FDR intro. I think Brendan Burke handed Barry Bostwick and Kenneth Brannaugh their asses as far as FDR portrayals go. Even without the fedora or cigarette holder, he just nailed it. I also really liked the exorcism scene and the scene between Ulf and the peasant girl. Probably my favourite scene to make, acting-wise, was the plane scene. That was one of the days when our schedule was a little more lenient and we were all able to really play the scene out.
What’s your favourite or funniest memory from the shoot?
I think the funniest story, for me, was during pre-production. I was driving to a potential location with my daughter and I just noticed that several drivers that were passing me were giving me the mean mug. An older lady looked at me with that “you ought to be ashamed of yourself” look, So, I flipped her off and kept going. Soon after, I heard my daughter singing “I’m the captain of the ship TOOT TOOT!”. I didn’t think twice about it until we stopped at a stop sign and I looked back at her. She was wearing one of the prop Nazi hats I had in the back of the car, she thought it was just some kind of boat captain’s hat. It was kind of strange trying to explain why she couldn’t play with all of these props I had around, lest I look like some asshole neo nazi. My brand new neighbours, probably already thought that after seeing me bringing in Nazi flags and hearing the impassioned, racist rants of Jer Grace as he was rehearsing scenes as his character, Jasper, on my back porch.
One of my favourite bits from the movie is when Claudia rides a motorcycle through the countryside to meet the U.S. soldiers. Did you decide on the rear projection effect to maintain an old B-movie style/feel?
Yes we did, I like the corny, spy vibe it gave to the scene. I wanted to actually use rear projection, but we ended up doing it with a green-screen.
Signature Entertainment released Devils of War on DVD and Blu-Ray in the UK last month. Is the movie available in the States?
Not yet.
Which filmmakers and writers inspire you?
I’d say Bob Clark, Paul Verhoven,, PT Anderson, and Guillermo Del Toro are some of my favourites.
Which is your favourite horror movie?
It’s a photo finish between The Wicker Man and Angel Heart.
What’s next for Eli Dorsey?
Right now I’m working on a serious, horror/action script that has the vibe of a terrorism thriller, ala John Frankenheimer’s Black Sunday but is about modern day witch hunting. I’m also working on another action film with Jer, the scrawny bastard that played Jasper. It’s going to be really effects heavy and kind of in the vein of Charles Band’s DungeonMaster. Sorry to be stingy with the titles, but nothing’s been registered yet.
We’d like to thank Eli Dorsey for taking his time out for the interview and you can catch DEVILS OF WAR on DVD and Blu-Ray now in the UK, courtesy of Signature Entertainment.
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