By Dimitrios OtisLegendary B-movie director (and former gay porn director) David DeCoteau was a stalwart of video-era horror skindom, working with such luscious ladies as Jaime Pressly, Linnea Quigley, and Brinke Stevens, as well as Mr. Skin Hall-of-Famers Michelle Bauer, Francesca Natividad, and Linda Blair. As he put it, "From the late '80s on, I spent my time setting guys on fire, flipping cars, and telling naked women what to do."
But as the '90s drew to a close, DeCoteau hit upon the concept of a whole new type of teen horror flick, one in which pretty boys get equal screen time--and the girls keep their clothes on! Talk about horror! Is nothing sacred? What's a straight-to-DVD genre picture without female nudity? Not to mention the unmentionable--what would poor Mr. Skin do in a world of skinless celluloid?
Naturally, we had to get to the bikini-bottom of this, especially since DeCoteau's "boxer brief rebellion" has been a hit with teenage fans of both genders and orientations. There are nearly half a million DVDs out there of The Brotherhoood!
So read on as DeCoteau explains himself and his whole new style of erotic horror movie. We're not about to give up our daily skin-viewing ration, but DeCoteau makes a convincing argument that he's still on the straight guy's side. And the recent release of his first The Sisterhood movie has sure made us breathe a lot heavier--that is, easier.
You're a bona fide B-movie legend and have given horror buffs more than an eyeful of buff babes in the process. But in recent years you turned your back on nudity. Your new films have lots of pretty girls (and boys), but they leave their clothes on.
There's no nudity but plenty of sexual situations, a lot of underwear. I do these stylized, very choreographed foreplay scenes. It's about music and the sensual body and celebrating the form, and not hearing their voices too much, because then it becomes a little too "boom-a-chick-a wow-wow." I know a beautiful woman when I see one, even though I'm gay. My films now are more about really making her look dynamite. My policy is keep the underwear on, keep the high heels on, then when her legs are in the air, it all gets very sexy.
I hate to admit it, but you have a point. Almost any non-family movie has some nudity, but often it's just a flash. But in your no-nudity films, there is a generous lingering over the body. Plus, I notice you have these girls bending over provocatively, so even though it's not explicit it is very revealing.
Yes, it's more graphic while still playing by the rules. You don't actually see anything. That's why we got the R rating for The Sisterhood. But you do have the girls bending over and stuff like that.
And the actresses don't have a problem with that?
They didn't seem to. The girls really trust me, and they know I want to make them look good. They like being beautiful and sexy and appealing and attractive. I put them in incredibly sexy lingerie and stage the scenes for maximum erotic impact without doing the full monty. It's sort of like Stuff, FHM, and Maxim. Those are very hot, very popular magazines--but there's no nudity. You can get the higher-end girls this way. You can get stunning women, because they do want to be sexy, they just don't necessarily want to give up their whole body, and if they do, it's gotta be a big love scene with Tom Cruise. A hot young actress is not going to give it up for some low-budget B-movie. But these actresses want to get scenes for their reels, they want to act. So I give them a halfway decent script, and since I shoot the movies primarily on film, they know they will look good. Even with The Sisterhood, Killer Bash, and The Brotherhood IV, which I shot on high definition, I lit them like film and made them look like a real movie.
You also shoot widescreen.
Yes, and I even shot The Brotherhood III: Young Demons, Leeches!, and Speed Demon in 2:35 Cinemascope! I got started in the 35mm film days. Now they call me the old sprocket queen because I haven't embraced digital cameras like most of the younger directors.
So how'd you hit upon this homo-yet-hetero idea?
I was getting burnt out on the kind of movies I was doing and making too many too quickly. I decided if I was going to stay in the genre, I really wanted to make something new that I knew had an audience out there waiting for it. So I just did the first one from frustration--called Voodoo Academy--in 2000, and things just kind of took off.
Voodoo Academy was a knee-jerk reaction. I wanted to do something that was shocking and totally the opposite of what I was doing. My producer and good friend Charlie Band was concerned the market was too niche, so I told him to sell the movie as "the first horror movie for girls." I shot it quickly and went all out on the lurid and twisted goings-on: brainwashing experiments, Voodoo dolls, shrunken heads, auto erotica, the warped "priest" pouring acid wine on shackled young men, insane head mistress with horns, body worship in a confessional with a crucifix--and a bathtub scene that'll make your eyes burn.
As a B-movie director you cover taboo subjects the majors won't touch. From there you discover niche markets like I have and deliver to that audience what they want. Anytime you make a different type of movie, people say, "Are you sure there is a market out there for it?" Well, I didn't know. I made the movie, then I had to find the market. I hit every gay magazine and website, I had young men going to underwear news groups mentioning the movie. I did a whole campaign just for the adult market. Adult video viewers tend to be obsessed; they're very serious about the area they're interested in. The Internet really helped. So that's what became the buzz, and it finally found an audience and was a hit. This is when I started Rapid Heart Pictures.
So who is the market?
Aside from young gay males, the market is anybody who loves horror films and likes them sexy and with beautiful girls. I have a sizable following amongst teen girls, straight women, and couples. I've had straight guys email me and say that when they show their date one of my movies they are sure to get laid that night. The films have strong female characters and focus sensually on the men and aren't graphic in terms of sex and violence. Very hot people in various states of undress and in sexy undies. I tell you guys out there, rent one of my newer movies with your lady and find out!
What do you call your new style of erotic horror?
Genre movies for the rest of us.
So is this your own little niche now?
I think so, though there are other folks jumping in now, imitating some of my style. Some people have been inspired by the genre and figured, "Well, maybe we should do it too." I think filmmakers out there are starting to sneak that gay-erotic element in, especially in horror films, where you can really get away with all kinds of homoerotic subtext. But it's not being really homoerotic as much as just sexual and unusual, giving it a hip spin. My movies are really not that gay, actually. There are not a lot of gay or lesbian characters, or at least they are not described that way.
I noticed the ambiguity ...
Total ambiguity, and that's what is fascinating. The sexual history of the characters in my movies is not obvious.
You put both the alluring females and the cute, buff guy aesthetic in the same film--and they often all end up together in one big eroto-hug session. Is this a bi sensibility?
Just sexually fluid. Labels are just so last century. My erotic scenes are a highly stylized, potent foreplay that can be enjoyed by all people who are just sexual and not into labels. There're lots of pretty girls, but there is also a lot of celebration of the male form. There's a dark tension in these scenes that may make some people uncomfortable, which is the purpose of a horror movie. My movies push buttons, and that's what they're supposed to do.
Your casts are largely white. Why is that?
Strictly the talent pool available. I want my films to feature a rainbow of colors. I am ALWAYS on the lookout for new talent. I highly suggest any minorities to watch my movies and if they feel they have the looks and talent, just email me a pic through my website: www.rapidheart.com.
So after four Brotherhoods you finally got around to making a Sisterhood!
I wanted to try something different. The Sisterhood is not that much different, but it really emphasizes the female. I wanted to make a female version of The Brotherhood. The Sisterhood has, I think, a lot of potential for the gay female market. We shot it in six days under very tough conditions, on an island in the Caribbean that is not exactly tourist oriented. There is a little university there and we tried to shoot it to make it look more like a real school, because it really looked more like a VD clinic. Small, boxy white buildings. The girls were so pretty it didn't really matter. The straight guys who watch the movie are not going to care too much about the environment; they're going to be looking at the little hotties. And it has Barbara Crampton, who never seems to age.
She does play a more mature character. There isn't even any sexual innuendo, even though the situation is ripe for her to be a matronly "big sister" to the lead girl. Is she moving away from sexual, T&A roles?
She wouldn't have had a problem doing a girl-girl scene, as long as it was tasteful. She's a working actress, very professional. Whatever the role is, she's ready. I mean, she's got a smokin' body, she still looks fabulous. But as you saw in The Sisterhood, there's no nudity from anyone, with the exception of a little bit of nipple in one scene.
A nip-slip?
When the little blonde lead is lying there talking with her roommate, just before the boy who likes her comes in. She's wearing a black bra, and it's down a little bit so you can see part of the nipple. It was an accident. By the way, Jennifer Holland (Picture: 1) was eighteen when she did The Sisterhood. When she is seduced by super hot Michelle Borth (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3) it really is jawdropping. I've directed fifty movies and this is the hottest of them all.
Do the actresses provide their own underwear in the movie, or do you do a whole wardrobe session for bras and panties?
Wardrobe is very important. Everyone must look super hot, sexy, and alluring, like a movie star. The wardrobe people show the choices to the actors and myself. We go with whatever looks hot and makes the actors comfortable. It is my job as a director to be creative and clever to achieve the maximum erotic effect, while still keeping some of their clothes on.
You're doing a good job. Now, what about that gay porn past of yours?
I directed thirty-two porn movies, mostly gay but also straight. Plus I worked on twenty or thirty others. I went by the name David McCabe. I learned on film but made the video transition in the gay stuff pretty quickly. I had it down to where I was doing one-day wonders. I finally got out, not because I disliked it, but because it was a stepping stone to do B-movies. I directed my first horror movie in 1986, called Dreamaniac. So I went, uh, not necessarily up, but sideways.
