It's Time to Talk Terror: Interview with Dante Tomaselli

Dante Tomaselli is a highly-respected horror film director, writer, and composer who has received critical acclaim and audience praise around the world for his movies. His first film, Desecration, was released in 1999 and had its packed-house premiere at the renowned Fantafestival in Rome, Italy. His second film, Horror, came out in 2002 and received rave reviews from both fans and many top-notch industry magazines such as Variety. And his third film, Satan's Playground, hit the big screen in 2005 and featured a cast of 70's and 80's horror movie icons such as Ellen Sandweiss (The Evil Dead), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), and Edwin Neal (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). Dante recently took some time out from his busy schedule to talk to me about horror, Halloween, and more...

SUZANNE: Welcome, Dante. Let's begin at the beginning. I know director Alfred Sole (Communion) is your cousin, so you must have grown up around the horror film genre in a very tangible sense. But when did you know you wanted to make horror movies of your own? And what were your other horror-related interests as a kid (books, TV, comics, etc.)?

DANTE: Oh, Alfred Sole being my cousin was just icing on the cake. I've loved everything horror-related from the moment I was born - for as long as I can remember, really (laughs). I was obsessed with drawing and painting haunted houses, skeletons, witches, bats, vampires, ghosts... I had my room decorated like a funhouse. When you'd turn on the light switch, eyes from shrunken heads would blink red. I'd hide tape recorders with spooky sound effects in the closet. I collected masks. Every day was Halloween for me. No, wait...every moment. I even played ominous organ music. Very low synth tones, much like the soundtracks I create today.