Exclusive: Todd Farmer Gets to Heart of ‘My Bloody Valentine 3-D’

Posted by Adam Sweeney (adam@filmschoolrejects.com) on January 15, 2009

Honesty comes in small doses, it seems, in Hollywood. Thank God we have Todd Farmer, co-writer of My Bloody Valentine to keep us in check.

There seems to be an alarming number of horror film remakes lately, and many fans are asking, “why?” At the very least you would hope for a novel concept added to said remake, an idea that the creators of the My Bloody Valentine 3-D seem to understand. You’d be a fool not to want to see a full-length 3-D horror film, and you’ll get your chance to when the film hits theaters this Friday. We were lucky enough to talk to Todd Farmer and get his thoughts on the film, the current state of the horror genre and why we should call him Bruce Wayne Jr.

Adam Sweeney: When I first watched the trailer for My Bloody Valentine, the first question I had was how did this film not get released right around Valentines Day?

Todd Farmer: If I know correctly, it’s because Friday the 13th had already set their release on Friday the 13th, which meant you would have two big horror movies going up against each other. The truth is none of us wanted that.

AS: That makes a lot of sense because the remake of Friday the 13th is getting a lot of buzz, but so is the 3-D version of My Bloody Valentine. You want to stay out of each others’ way, you know?

TF: Yeah, some people would say we’re competition to each other, and I suppose we are. But as far as the horror market is concerned, if we go up against each other, we both are going to suffer. That doesn’t do anything for horror.

AS: Right. It’s nice to see two groups looking out for the greater good of the genre.

TF: Oh, no. I am sure we hate each other. (Laughter) No, look, I am Friday the 13th alumni. I know the secret handshake.

AS: True. That’s something I wanted to ask you about. What do you think of the Friday the 13th remake? Are you anticipating it or as a classic horror fan do you find yourself cringing and hoping they get it right?

TF: I love the writers. I’m good friends with [Mark] Swift, I’m good friends with [Damian] Shannon, well – more so one than the other, but that’s just the way that it goes. And I love Mark Wheaton, so the three guys working on this project – I adore them. So I am very hopeful. I grew up with Jason [Voorhees], I grew up with Freddy [Krueger], I grew up with Michael [Myers], so I feel like I’m in that club. I’m in that secret society. I want to see it do good.

AS: What was the process like writing a remake of a horror film?

TF: It’s basically like anything else. The idea, if you’re doing something original, is that you’re building on an idea. If you’re doing a remake you’re building on that idea as well. The thing about the My Bloody Valentine, the original, it’s a really fun movie. A lot of people give it a hard time but it’s got a lot of things going for it. It’s got a great setting, you know, this claustrophobic mine setting, which is great. It’s got this iconic killer with the miner. You don’t know who it is and you have the opportunity to hide that. And then you’ve got this interesting love triangle, which some people make fun of, but the truth is that anybody sixteen years of age or older has been involved in a love triangle. It’s sort of universal. It’s astounding to me that it’s not used more widely, but it was wonderful in the original and I think we utilize it as well.

AS: The love triangle definitely stood out to me. It’s an interesting element. When it comes to guys and scorned lovers, there is definitely a chance for revenge and a dramatic theme in it. But aside from drama, you mentioned the original film was a lot of fun. It seems like the average moviegoer has forgotten that idea. If characters in horror films aren’t developed like they are in The Shining the film gets ripped to shreds. I love heavy themed horror but sometimes you just want the gore, the nudity and the killer that has you on the edge of the seat, like in My Bloody Valentine. Is that what you were catering more towards, a fun film?

TF: Yeah, what we wanted to do was a throwback to the films you used to go see where you’d just have fun. It seems like in the last few years we’ve lost that with the horror movie. A horror movie used to be you and your girlfriend, a big bucket of popcorn and it was fun. It turned more into something about shocking someone and torture. Now, I love scary movies. I love The Exorcist, I love The Shining. I grew up with those movies. But I also grew up with Freddy, Jason and Michael. But when I first saw My Bloody Valentine it totally freaked me out. I stayed away from the washer and dryer because I just knew there was a body in there.

AS: (Laughs) Right?

TF: Have you seen the movie yet?

AS: I haven’t. They haven’t had a screening here, but I plan to. I hear there’s a lot gained from the 3-D element.

TF: You’re absolutely right. The movie is beautiful in 3-D, but the funny thing is we wrote it in 2-D, we shot it in 2-D and we edited it in 2-D. I’ve seen it a dozen times and every time they sent it to me it was always in 2-D. So I was always watching it that way, and I loved it. It’s funny because when we wrote it, we didn’t write it any differently than any other movie. We just had the kills in 3-D. So when people ask what it is like writing a movie in 3-D, it’s really like writing anything else. If you try to go any other way you get yourself in trouble. But the new 3-D is different. The 3-D of the past, where everything was flat, flat, flat and then something flies at your face, those days are over. Now it’s a completely immersive experience, so that could change the way 3-D movies are written. Certain things will become more prominent in the 3-D experience.

AS: That’s one thing that stands out. It’s exciting that it won’t be 2-D, 2-D, 2-D and then the A-ha moment, then back to 2-D, 2-D. The film is a remake of a Canadian cult classic and Hollywood has already gone overseas to make a Japanese grab bag of horror remakes. Why do you think we aren’t seeing many new American stories?

TF: Like original horror movies?

AS: Yeah.

TF: I don’t know how old you are but I grew up with remakes. I grew up with The Fog and The Thing. I loved them. I absolutely adored those but those kind of remakes were different. You had Cronenberg and Carpenter and they had a different vision. They told an original story and that’s not really what the remake is these days. It’s been more about marketing a recognizable name brand. I think that’s wrong and it has hurt horror. Frankly, I am a little angry about it because I love horror. When I see a movie come out that just plays on the name it upsets me. You can love or hate our movie but we didn’t phone any of this in. We had a different concept but not only that. I mean they made the original for 50 bucks and a box of Canadian smokes. We put some real money and technology behind this thing, so I think we get the best of both worlds. You get a bigger budget for a story that deserves it.

AS: I think you have to do that if you’re going to remake a film the right way. Look at Gus Van Sant’s Psycho. If you find yourself making the same film people ask, ‘why didn’t I just go watch the Hitchcock version?’

TF: It was an interesting experiment but I don’t want to see any more films done that way. Why isn’t Hollywood doing anything original? Because there is plenty they can remake. I think they feel if you start with a title that is recognizable then you’re already ahead of the game. The problem falls to the writers, actors and directors. They can’t just make a movie because it pre-existed. There has to be a reason to do that. I hope My Bloody Valentine helps that because we definitely had a reason to do it.

AS: I’m a big John Carpenter fan also. How did you feel about Rob Zombie’s re-imagining of Halloween?

TF: I actually liked it and I can say that because I appreciate a remake that has some balls. I don’t want to see what I saw years ago. Carpenter made a great movie and it will always be my favorite of the three. When I say three I should probably add Bloody Valentine to that. But growing up Halloween was my favorite. So when I heard Zombie was involved I liked the concept. I wanted to see what his version of Halloween would be. What he didn’t do was phone it in like other remakes we’ve seen recently do. And I’ve seen some other Carpenter films get remade that I am not real happy with.

AS: That’s one reason to give Zombie credit. Whether it’s the ending of the film of the scenes where Michael developed an obsession with the mask, he found a new way to tell the story that was unpredictable. I have a lot of respect for that.

TF: As a filmmaker, writer, director, actor we are kind of stuck. You’re right. They aren’t really coming to us with originals. All we are getting offered are remakes. So we can boycott them, which is never going to happen, there’s always someone standing in the shadows waiting to jump in and start their career. So the only way we can do it it to be passionate, come up with a twist and not phone it in, Look, if you don’t like horror movies, you don’t like the concept, stay away from it. I think Hollywood’s going through some changes. What I really appreciated from Lionsgate on this, I’ve never made it a secret. Artists are going to butt heads, even on this movie. But at the end of the day they always knew when to get out of the way and let us do our jobs. That’s why we have such a great movie.

AS: Do you think we’ll get to see a sequel to My Bloody Valentine?

TF: Like everything it’s a numbers game. There’s been conversations about a sequel. There’s a good chance that some people involved have mapped out an excellent sequel that’s ready to go at a fast pace if it comes to that. We’ll see what happens.

Editor’s Note: Stay tuned for Part Two – appearing on the internet soon!

Read more articles by Adam Sweeney