The First Monster You Have To Scare

I Have A Lot Of Fans Who Are People Of Color. I Think, If Nothing Else, I Kind Of Understand That Sense Of Being On The Outside Looking In, Culturally.

I Wasn't Allowed To See Movies When I Was A Child. It Was Against The Religion I Was Raised In, Fundamentalist Baptist. I Didn't Go Into A Commercial Movie House Until I Was A Senior In College, And That Was On The Sly. It Wasn't Until I Was In Graduate School That I Immersed Myself In Films. Then, I Went To See All The Films By Bergman, Fellini, Etc.

I Wrote, I Think, Half A Dozen Films That Were Completely Out Of Genre. Comedies, Love Stories, Even One Serious Film About Vietnam, And We Couldn't Get Backing For Any Of It. And We Both Sort Of Drifted From Making, At That Time, Serious Money On Last House To Going Through It All In The Course Of Almost Three Years And Only Getting Offers To Do Something Scary Again.

I Came To Terms With Living Mostly In A World Of Horror Pictures Or Genre Pictures. I Have Had A Few Chances To Get Outside And Do Something Different, Like Paris, Je T'aime Or Music Of The Heart, But Mostly It's Been My Lot. And To Have Created, With A Few Shocking Films, An Awareness Or A Perception Of Me As Somebody Dangerous And Scary - That Can Be Sold, But Trying To Sell Me For Some Other Kind Of Picture, Like Music Of The Heart, Was Very Difficult.

My Mother Wouldn't Even Let Me Read Dc Comics.