Zombie Grrrlz Productions Talk Dead Hooker & American Mary

Women in Horror Month with the tWIStED tWINS PRODUCtIONS, the Zombie Grrlz talk Dead Hooker in a Trunk and American Mary! Pick up Dead Hooker from the Monster store @http://monsterpictures.com.au/shop/dead-hooker-in-a-trunk/

"Happy Women In Horror Month! To celebrate this joyous time of year we are taking a close look at the works of Jen and Sylvia Soska with reviews of Dead Hooker in a Trunk and American Mary."

LISTEN HERE!

-Sylv 

Mary Comes Back to Perth

Perth Monster Fest started February 27th at the Luna Palace Leederville- Who is in? Grab tickets HERE.

-Sylvia

American Mary Posters For Your Home

Ladies and gents, interested in the stylishly rad Monster Pictures Australia American Mary poster, weigh in and get your own Mary for your wall. 

"We have had a lot of requests for American Mary posters! We have been trying to get a an affordable system off the ground for a while now, (so you guys don't have to pay with your 1st borns for small run printing) and we though't we try and run a pozible, if you donated 20 bucks you'd get the a1 sized poster (and we'd make up poster/DVD packs for higher donations, some signed stuff etc) Would you guys be interested in donating so we can get American Mary posters going? Or would you rather just pay more (50+) and we print on demand?"

Meme by KOM, James Thorpey

Let them know here.

-Sylv

Monster Brings You More Mary For the DVD/BD Release Down Under

The Monster Pictures Australia Aussie release of American Mary is jam packed with exclusive content inclusing the The Soska's Down-Under featurette! You also get Australian Exclusive 'No-Holds Barred' Commentary with Jen & Sylvia Soska, The Women of American Mary Commentary with Jen & Sylvia Soska, Katharine Isabelle and Tristan Risk, Behind-the-Scenes Featurette

and the DVD classic 'The Trailer" (which is just a film trailer BUT COOL NONE THE LESS) Sound like a good deal for just $19 smackeroonies? Then head over to the Monster Store @ http://monsterpictures.com.au/shop/

-Sylv

Aussies Get Their Mary!

Monster Pictures Australia releases American Mary today!!! Region free BluRay with two commentary tracks - including Katharine Isabelle and Tristan Risk's first feature commentary.

Also, it has two covers. Gotta ask, you lovelies, which do you prefer A or B?

-Sylv

Australia, You Can Take American Mary Home

This is fucking awesome - 

"Poet Jean Lorrain said "the charm of horror only tempts the strong". American Mary is an exciting, fresh & original horror movie. If you loved Excision, May or Dead Ringers then this is for you! Photo ID may be requested (take it as a compliment)."

-Sylv

Mary Is Coming To Australia!!

American Mary review in Video Ezy catalogue. Mary hits Australia through Monster Pictures February 21st!!

-Sylv

Two Twins, One Ben

‘APPEARANCES ARE EVERYTHING’ – THE TWISTED TWINS TALK AMERICAN MARY 

When I got the call to come meet Jen and Sylvia Soska for lunch soon after they’d landed in Melbourne for Monster Fest, I spent the entire time in the car on the way over repeating to myself ‘Be cool. Don’t get nerd goo on them. Be cool. Don’t get nerd goo on them. Be cool…” That mantra flew right out of my head the moment I met them. Talking to Jen and Sylvia is like hanging out with old friends you haven’t seen in a while. Old friends who understand that you’re a little creepy and have almost non-existant social skills and for some reason like you anyway. Old friends who laugh uproariously when the waitress at the restaurant you’re dining at forgets that you’re even there and walks off without taking your order. I knew then that I had met two very special people. 

And because it was like hanging out with old friends, I spent most of my time with them talking comics and bizarre internet porn instead of, say, getting an interview with them for the Monster Pictures website. So then I had the great idea of getting my very talented and hardworking colleague Zak Hepburn to come up with some interview questions that I could then take credit for and get the sisters to answer them while they were in Sydney, Perth or Brisbane, because you know, what is there to do in those cities besides sit in your hotel room and type stuff out on a computer? Of course none of that mattered because I didn’t email them the said questions until they were on the plane headed back home anyway. Lucky for me the twins are on the ball and I found all the questions answered and sitting in my inbox before anyone could get fired *cough* and now I present them for your reading pleasure.

READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW HERE! Also, it's no holds barred, so enjoy the brutal honesty and cussin'.

-Sylv

Y U NO PROMOTE AMERICAN MARY THEATRICAL?

If this is your banner. It means that you love me. 

If it isn't - Y U NO LUV SYLV? :*(

-Sylv

Father's Day Ban is Bullshit

FATHER'S DAY is banned in Australia two days before it's scheduled screening at Monster Fest. One of the most surprisingly warm hearted, dark gory satires to drop kick it's fucking spectacular ass out of Canada in a long time making fellow Canadians proud that these are our country men and giving film fans a new treat in the realm of fucking awesome.

So what's the big fucking deal, guy? What's the big fucking deal in deed.

"Also frustrated by the decision are fellow Canadian filmmaking twin sisters, Sylvia and Jen Soska, who are currently in the country accompanying their newest horror flick, American Mary, a blood soaked revenge flick with a body modification twist, that’s set to close Monster Fest on a gory high note. The duo can definitely empathise with the situation as the pair’s debut feature, Dead Hooker In A Trunk – a low-budget cracker of a horror flick –was also initially banned in Canada. 

“I’ve noticed that horror has become a scapegoat for people’s frustrations for a long time,” Sylvia comments to Filmink. “But horror is supposed to have some sort of effect on you. And Father’s Day is clearly such a fun satire and it’s so sad that this is happening in Australia... Even the UK said that it’s okay!” 

Fellow Canadian horror buffs, the Soska sisters are big fans of Father’s Day, which they see as helping to usher in a new side to Canadian cinema. “It’s another Canadian doing something different that isn’t a sad movie in the prairies in the snow with a crying family. It’s nice to show that Canada has some diversity."

Read the whole article HERE. 

We're in a very special time right now. A time where we can say, fuck, no. I'm going to watch a film because I want to see it, and guess what, if I don't want to see it, I just won't fucking watch it. I don't need some fickle governing force to tell me what I can and cannot see. 

Talk about this. Voice your opinion. Throw your support behind Astron 6. These guys are the real fucking deal making some of the best original work on the scene today. We're huge fans and fans don't let this shit slide.

-Sylv

The Twisted Twins Down Under Fucking Rad Interview!

"Canadian identical twins Jen and Sylvia Soska stepped onto the horror film scene in 2009 with their debut feature film, ‘Dead Hooker In A Trunk’. Now the girls are in Australia to celebrate the release of their follow-up, ‘American Mary’, at the Brisbane International Film Festival. 

After the success of their debut, the Soska sisters took their collaboration to the next level and incorporated their company, Twisted Twins Productions. 

“Every time we try and do something normal it ends up really fucked up. Like 'Dead Hooker In A Trunk' was supposed to be like a fun road trip movie, and 'American Mary' is a romantic comedy, and everyone always looks at me like 'what are you talking about?' I think I might actually be fucked in the brain,” Sylvia explains. 

Jen continues: “I attribute a lot of that to growing up reading Stephen King novels — our mum was very clever in the way that she said if we read the book we'd be able to see the movie. So as a result, in elementary school, we would be reading these incredibly high-level Stephen King novels with our little thesauruses next to us — instead of, you know, Hop On Pop and Dr. Seuss and all of the normal, like, Lord Of The Flies shit that normal kids read. We were reading Stephen King and that just became natural for us, and I guess we were always sort of attracted to the dark side.” 

Their debut feature came about somewhat fortuitously, and was basically the result of not suiting the confined expectations of film school. So when it seemed as though film school just wasn't for them, they took the initiative to make things happen themselves. 

“We decided in the theme of Jason Eisener that we were going to make a faux trailer,” explains Jen “and the school, foolishly enough, had a list of things that you weren't aloud to put in your film, and it was very bullshit, censorship-ey. 

“It was like you can't use harsh language, no extreme violence, no gore, and they also had a few things like necrophilia and bestiality. So we decided 'we're going to do our own trailer on our own time, with our own resources, and we're going to put everything in that fucking list in it, 'cause fuck them!'”"

READ THE WHOLE FUCKING RAD INTERVIEW HERE!

-Sylv

Our Incredible Monster of a Journey Down Under

Official AMERICAN MARY Poster from MONSTER PICTURES

We've been back for a mere few days from our almost month long trek in the land down under courtesy of the outstanding folks at MONSTER PICTURES. They aren't only the ones unleashing AMERICAN MARY on Australia, but they're also the ones who released our first born baby, DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK across the UK and Australia. To say they always believed in us would be an under statement.

When we were first asked if we'd be up for coming down under to accompany MARY as she made her tour across Australia for 3 weeks, we replied with a resounding 'YES'. We'd never been to Australia, never thought we'd have the opportunity to hit up Australia, and we were dying to not only meet the people who came out to see AMERICAN MARY, we wanted to meet the people who'd been supporting a pair of crazy Canucks since DHIAT.

Neil Foley, Skye Medusa, Sylvia Soska, Jen Soska, Pork Hunt, Vesper White, and Robyn Hardie.

We flew out, quite fittingly, on Halloween night. In case you're wondering, it's a 15 hour plane ride from LAX to Melbourne which you barely notice if you remain barely conscious throughout the flight. Melbourne was to be our first stop and we were treated to a few festival days at Monster Fest before the film's Australian premiere at the 16th Canberra International Film Festival. Australia is a beautiful fucking country with very warm, very Canadian~esque people. One thing you may not know about November, Melbourne, and the what's to do down under, is that they love their horse races. We quickly realized that the Melbourne Cup was under way and, no, all the ladies in fancy dresses with matching extravagant little hats weren't all part of some massive bridal party. They were there for "the race that stops the nation". And it's true. It really does.

The horse to win big, by the by? This adorable little mo fo, Green Moon.

First things first, announce that the Soska Sisters are in town and hit up Monster Fest and all the events. HARD. We got to chat it up all over the place including their local and most cool radio station, RRR. 

Us with the AMAZING Isabel Peppard

We got to meet a FAN~FUCKING~TASTIC artist who we are both now deeply in love with, Isabel Peppard. Her short film, BUTTFLIES, which was the lead into AMERICAN MARY had the both of us in tears. It's just an astounding film that touches the hearts of every artist who sees it. It was created in TWO years with stunning stop motion and with every character and every detail pain-stakingly designed and carefully placed and planned. The result if one of the most beautiful films we have ever seen. Isabel also created the Monster Fest Promo Video below which is all kinds of badass.

 

We did arrive to hear some most unpleasant news. That old cunt bag censorship had reared her fugly head and fellow Canadians, the badasses of Astron-6, had had their film, FATHER'S DAY, banned in Australia just 2 DAYS before it was meant to have its Australian Premiere at Monster Fest. This ruling is complete bullshit. Though the reasons were yet to be revealed, it's assumed that a little male nudity may be the culprit, which is ridiculous in a world where female nudity is just considered the norm and barely even gets an eye batted in reaction. Further insulting is that anyone could deem FATHER'S DAY anything but another brilliant, horrific, and hilarious film from the talented Canadian filmmaking group. If you've been lucky enough to see their MANBORG (which we enjoyed giggling like mental patients at the fest), you know what I'm talking about. There is no rational way to conclude that the filmmakers are anything but satirical. Not to mention the film already passed careful censorship inspection over in the UK which is known to be the strictest of the strict. If you haven't seen MANBORG, go see MANBORG.



Honestly, the whole thing stunk of centipede. HUMAN CENTIPEDE 1 & 2 were released also by MONSTER PICTURES and if you don't recall the brain explosions from the censorship boards over those two, welcome out of your cave. It's nice out here in the world. I have a sneaking suspicion that this was little more than scrutiny against MONSTER for their previous releases. Yet from this tragedy came one unexpected happy outcome. DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK stepped up to have an impromptu screening in place of FATHER'S DAY. It would be the first time that we had EVER been present at a festival screening of the film.



It was pretty fucking amazing. But that was just a warm up of awesome. The films playing at Monster Fest were fan~fucking~tastic. And the events? For starters, there was the night of GORE~LESQUE. Anyone that knows us know that we rarely take a break from work and leave the house, but when we do, Tristan Risk is performing her to die for burlesque some place. The Australian troupe was magnificent. Vesper White, Miss Nic, Betty Grumble, Betty Blood, Dusty Vagine (oh my...), Tank, Emily Badsville, Anthony De Masi, Legs 11.11, Slap N Tickle, Kerry X, all hosted by Renny Kodgers.

Before AMERICAN MARY hit Monster Fest, this Twisted Twosome was off to Canberra for the 16th Canberra International Film Fest where festival artistic director, Simon Weaving himself, was kind enough to grab us at the airport and warmly welcome us to his city. Canberra, is the capitol city of Australia, as Sydney and Melbourne couldn't play nice and decide who gets to be it, so they decided to make neither city happy and select Canberra. It's a beautiful, natural city. Upon mentioning that we had yet to see a Kangaroo and it was our dearest Australian wish to, publicist Tritia Evans was sweet enough to take us up the mountain hunting before our round of local press. Seeing our wardrobe and foot wear, she warned us we'd be going in "the bush" and we smiled back saying, "yeah! That's why we wore our walking heels."

Kangaroo seeking, dressed to impress any and all Roos.

Canberra brought a much different audience than we were used to. Often those watching AMERICAN MARY are a collection of sick fucks. You know, like us. And you hear devious laughter and chuckles throughout. This screening brought several gasps. One walk out and one run out. We were greeted by a roaring applause at the end of the film and the audience retold how scared they were and how hard it was for them to watch some of the scenes. We headed out after and spent the night with the wonderful fans who came out until we shut down the pubs. It was back to Melbourne in the morning and we snuck in a few much needed "zzz's" before our adventure back. 

How many radio interviews can we do without our dear friends, "fuck" and "cunt"?

Pre~screening at the 16th Canberra International Film Festival.

A cheers to Canberra! Thanks for kicking all kinds of ass!

Our sweet Rob, who shouted out when we asked who had seen DEAD HOOKER

Two horror icons and legends had arrived at Monster Fest causing a massive stir. The Blond Bombshell, starlet Laurene Landon and the Mistress of Macabre, Elvira. They were not only there because, well, THEY'RE FUCKING LIVING LEGENDS, but also because they were screening ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK and MANIAC COP and HUNDRA. The ladies were also very special guest judges for "The Hunt for a Monster Queen" alongside the gore~lesque Goddesses Vesper White and Miss Nic and your friendly neighborhood Twisted Twins. And can I just say that Elvira aka Cassandra Peterson is every bit as drop dead gore~geous as she's ever been and is just about the sweetest human being you'll ever have the pleasure of meeting. Okay, fan girl moment over. Mostly. Fuck, Elvira's awesome...

Of course no trip to Australia can ever be complete without meeting Australia's national treasure, WOLF CREEK director/writer/producer, Greg McLean. We were introduced by the wonderful Cam Oliver. Greg is every bit as amazingly amazing as you'd think him to be and for one sick fuck, he's just the sweetest. Not only were we treated to a tour of his production offices jam packed with memorabilia and props and a comic book with Captain America punching Hitler on the cover (rad), and an extensive chat about filmmaking and swapping war stories and chatting up about local serial killers (trust me, they've got some VERY creative killers down there), he gave us each personalized signed copies of his films and a little bobble head each of the notorious Mick Taylor who's "tiny shot gun" had every security personnel at every bloody airport stop us to check it out and then recalled the first time they saw WOLF CREEK and how badly it had fucked them up. Thank you most kindly, Greg.   

When the Twisted Twins met Greg McLean, Badass Director Extraordinaire

Jen Soska, unofficial triplet Greg McLean, and Sylvia Soska

Best gifts ever! The gift of Horror just keeps on giving

No tongue, you big sexy Rogue, I promise...

And we can't talk about badass mother fuckers with mentioning our most beloved friend and sick bastard, director Alex Chandon. I had first seen Alex's work when I stumbled upon a copy of CRADLE OF FEAR. By stumbled I mean I was working at a video game store that took trade ins and an angry girlfriend (ex-girlfriend?) came in with all her boyfriend's horror movies and games and traded them in. Among the treasures that no sane person would give up so willingly was a film that I had only heard legends of, CRADLE OF FEAR. I aptly purchased it off her and when the aforementioned, and heartbroken for various reasons, boyfriend came to the store looking to reclaim his stock, I sadly told him that COF had been already sold to a lucky customer. The film is made with the band CRADLE OF FILTH and it's a real fucking trip.


The next time we would come into contact with Alex would be quite literally in London at Fright Fest or more accurately outside in an alley way outside of the infamous Phoenix Pub. We wouldn't see his new nightmare, INBRED, until we got to the TORONTO AFTER DARK FILM FESTIVAL where it was the talk of the town. The trailer enticed many to pile into the theatre the night of the screening where they groaned and squirmed in their seats whereas other, more twisted members of the audience, laughed morbidly and cheered. We were in the cheering section. 

We met again in Australia, always a trip to meet and see old friends across the globe. The best way I can describe our union is the lot of us becoming a gang of hoodlums. Alex's work may be some of the most disturbing, creatively disgusting, yet somehow darkly hilarious work I've ever had the pleasure of seeing. Alex himself is just about the coolest guy in the universe. Whether we went to the zoo, saw films at the fest, went out for drinks, hunted for Kangaroos, or you name it, there was nothing like hanging out with a director we not only admire the fuck out of, but also absolutely adore in every way possible.

If there was an "I love Alex Chandon" fan club, we'd be president and chairman. Wait a sec, there very well MAY be, gotta look into that shit...

The Melbourne Zoo Posse, The Twisted Twins, Alex Chandon, and superstar Simon Eric Harcourt

Our journey to the Melbourne Zoo was only possible because of Simon Eric Harcourt, premium ticket holder who was ever so kind enough to hang out with us. And because his dad works at the Zoo, he was able to treat us to an amazing time there including reptile cuddling. Okay, okay, reptile "h-o-l-d-i-n-g", but I was pretty insistent on the cuddling. They even had a tarantula and bug section, though Australia isn't allowed to import foreign breeds due to the risk of them getting out and effecting their delicate eco system. 

The undisputed Spider Queen and ambassador of eight legged peoples

Also, a word to the wise, stay away from rattle snakes. Just, pretty much stay the fuck away from them. They don't really have an beef with humans, so best to just leave them be. In fact, if there's an area that's known to have them, just go somewhere else. It's, like, a super big planet and after being described, with photo accompaniment, of how their venom liquifies your cells, I decided it's probably just for the best to leave them alone. 

Breaking news, Rattlesnakes ARE deadly little fuckers. Who woulda thunk?

Though, it was cool to see one safely behind glass all pissed and rattly. I'll admit, it was pretty cute.

This little corn snake reminds me of mine! My Conan O'Brien :)

Our debut of AMERICAN MARY at Monster Fest had our biggest audience reaction EVER!!! Cheers, applause, laughter, groans... there was even one very special moment at a scene I will not ruin here for you where the audience began to moan and Sylv and I laughed at them. The whole theatre erupted in laughter hearing us. It was really something special. 

After Melbourne and Monster Fest concluded, we had an AMERICAN MARY themed closing night party where many a liver was thoroughly abused, ha ha. We stayed until the very end of the end, meeting and greeting and signing and taking photos with everyone. It was really amazing to have so many people come out and to get behind the film. From there we hit up Perth and we began our tour of THREE cities in THREE days. Perth, Sydney, and finally concluding at Brisbane and the Brisbane International Film Festival. The most touching thing of it all was the fans, who are really so much more like friends. The people that come out to see the film, the people who supported us way back when in the DEAD HOOKER days, the ones who stick around through the Q and As, the ones who stuck around LONG after, the ones who took photos, and tweeted and tumbled and facebooked. It was and remains the reason we do what we do. We're really just horror fans first and foremost and to be doing what we get to do is the thrill of a life time.

These are the people we do it all for...

 
And they'd never ask for thanks or want the spotlight, but we just must gush about MONSTER PICTURES. They brought us down, they showed us the time of our lives, and this was their FIRST Monster Fest and it was just splendid. They also have been backing us since we first drop kicked our way onto the scene and they've supported so many others. I expect they'll have our back for long into the future. Neil Foley, Grant Hardie (and the gore~geous Robyn), Ben Hellwig, Zak Hepburn, you mother fuckers are amazing. 

Jen Soska, Cassandra Peterson, Neil Foley (with Wilma), Alex Chandon, and Sylvia Soska

Sylvia Soska with Grant Hardie

Ben Hellwig and Jen Soska

Zak Hepburn unfazed by Jen Soska

Ben Hellwig, Sylvia Soska, Zak Hepburn, and every Redbull of the Rainbow

Neil Foley, Ben Hellwig, and Jen Soska trying out her new Human Centipede grade barf bag!

We were welcomed in like family and had absolutely the time of our lives whether we'd be hitting the press, or hunting for Roos, or talking about hilarious porn we'd seen, or having a drink, or watching the whippet races, or telling us stories about your local serial killers. Thank you for being so kind to us and showing us Australia. We cannot wait to return and we'll never forget our time down under with you all.

Australia, awesome Aussies, Monster Pictures, you will be sorely missed...

AMERICAN MARY hits Australian theatres in Sydney and Melbourne on November 29th!!! Get your gore~geous asses out there and come get some ;)

Us, we're off to catch up on some MUCH needed "work"...

Deadpool gets all the hunnys...

Fatally Yours,
Jen and Sylv