The

DREADCENTRAL.COM

Q&A with

​CRYPTIC PICTURES​​​



​

 

​

​

​

​

Below is the extended version of the Dread Central Interview March 2013:

​

Q:  Tell us a little bit about Cryptic Pictures?



MARK:  Although we are a very young, emerging film production company, Chris
(the co-founder) and I have been in the film business, to varying degrees, for quite some time.  I run two other production companies, as well as teach film, and I was once a screenwriter by trade with one competitive award under my belt. Chris' legacy is as a film historian, screenwriter and makeup effects specialist that has worked on numerous studio films.  So although the company is young, the body of work behind it has allowed us to settle into to this new business venture with great ease. 



Q: Where did you two meet?



MARK:  Our back-story, which is briefly mentioned in our

new film, is the straight truth.  Chris and I met in high

school when we were very green, budding film makers. Our

love of film has held its bond between us for some 25

years since. 
CHRIS:  For better or for worse. (laughs)

​

Q: You laugh Chris? I sense there is a story there.

​

CHRIS: I like to think of us as Lucas and Coppola. He’s the

analytical, frugal half of our symbiotic brain, and I’m the

creative lunatic. If I say, “I need 25 people in monkey suits

tomorrow!” he’ll come back with “Okay, I can get you 3

suits, but go ahead and find a dozen people and we’ll make it work.” In the final cut, you’ll never notice that there are three monkey suits in the foreground and nine people in brown pajamas running around behind them. And it does work. I don't know how, but we work.

​

​Q:  What is your new film, Mortal Remains, about?



MARK:  Mortal Remains is what I like to call a 'shockumentary'.
CHRIS:  I prefer "docuthriller".
MARK:  Yeah… try selling that moniker to a studio exec or advertising department.  Anyway… I don't suspect that many of your readers will have ever heard of the name Karl Atticus before.  He was a young horror filmmaker from the late 60s early 70s, who died under mysterious circumstances and whose body of work remains elusive or has otherwise been lost.  Those fans who do know about him, consider his film Mortal Remains  to be , sort of, the holy grail of horror films.

CHRIS: Ever hear of the urban legend about the film that was "screened only once and drove its audience mad"?  Well this,  perhaps, is where it all began.  Over the years, there have been books and films based on the "idea" , but nothing that pin points Atticus as being the origin story 

from which this has all  evolved.  So little reference material exists that his story is considered apocryphal now.

MARK:  In fact, there are those within the industry who attribute Atticus with being the godfather of the 'slasher' film movement. He was putting out some of the most distasteful and graphic films the public had ever seen,  and this was long before folks were throwing up in the aisles at viewings of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre, or  running to go to confession after seeing the Exorcist.  He was clearly instrumental in the genre, yet most film goers don't even know he existed.
CHRIS:  Our film ventures the question, 'why has this man's story been lost'?  We kept digging deeper and deeper until we uncovered the real bones of this story. We were shocked at some of what we found.
MARK:  Thus the moniker "shockumentary".

Q: How did you all come to discover the filmmaker Karl Atticus in the first place?

​

MARK:  Our introduction to Karl Atticus came out of an interview with film director Eduardo Sanchez (Blair Witch Project, Exists).  We were working on a BWP 10th anniversary DVD retrospective when the topic came up.  After we wrapped the shoot, we found ourselves talking with Ed more about Karl Atticus then about the Blair Witch Project. From that point, we just had to know more about this guy and why we had never heard his name mentioned before.
CHRIS: And the more we learned, the more compelling the story became. He seemed to be much more than just an amateur filmmaker. He had very strange sub plots of his life unfolding just before he passed away.  In fact, he was about to be formally arraigned when he apparently committed suicide.  Shortly thereafter, his life was sort of loosely wrapped up and forgotten about. However, some people didn’t forget. Our film picks up this thread; these loose ends that have been ignored for some 40 years now.



Q: What more can you tell us about turn of the century author Vernon Blake, who also fairs prominently in your story?



CHRIS: Like Karl Atticus, Vernon Blake is a very mysterious figure with a shadowy and elusive past. The few people we contacted who really knew anything about him gave us what they had, which was very vague information. The guy wrote maybe a dozen books, and several short stories which were mainly published overseas, typically under pseudonyms. Very graphic stuff, very explicit in terms of detail. It leaves you thinking, “Jesus, who was this guy? What inspired him to write stuff like this?” In the end, you just have to chalk it up to a vivid imagination, albeit one that wandered in bizarre directions.
MARK:  It's almost as if the two of them (Blake/Atticus) planned it this way. Their art is rare and seemingly inaccessible, unless you literally 'dig' for it. Perhaps that says as much about their art as it does about them. I am not sure either ever wanted to be found.  But that is what  makes for an intriguing film, if nothing else.



Q: How long was your film in production?



MARK: Roughly, three years from the first time we heard the name 'Karl Atticus' to the point where we began solicitation. Very early on we piqued the interest of a studio exec by showing him an early trailer.  From that point forward we knew we were on to something.