Johan Van Vandewoestijne has more than a few films (Lucker the Necrophagous, Rabid Grannies), more than a few names (producer James Desert? Him. Writer Liam Bradley? Him.)and more than a few stories to share about producing films in his native country of Belgium. While Belgium isn’t known for it’s horrific cinema, Johan has had a great ride through many facets of international film production-and continues to do so every day. He took some time out to answer some questions for Cinema Nocturna recently. Get ready for some thoughts on Belgium, a quick geography lesson, the impact of The Toxic Avenger, Troma and the future of a certain serial killer known as Lucker.

Cinema-Nocturna: Was Lucker the Necrophagous your first film?

Johan: Yeah, Lucker was the first film I produced and directed. And it was also the last one that I actually directed. During the shoot I felt that directing wasn't my cup of tea. However producing and editing (and writing)was more my thing. (George Lucas once said something similar if I recall right hahaha) In my opinion if you think you're not good at something, then you have to stop with it and do what you ARE good at... and that's producing. Since then I produced Rabid Grannies, State of mind, Parts Of The Family, was associate producer for Lycantropus (starring Paul Naschy), The Full Moon Murderer, and recently Engine Trouble whichvhas been released in the States as Junior. (Don't ask me why they changed that title).

Cinema-Nocturna: I remember hearing you were preparing a science fiction film as well, is that still going to happen?

Johan: Well, after Engine Trouble we had the idea to produce a project called "Outpost." However the script wasn't really what it had to be and so we decided to cancel it.

-Looking back at the film as a whole, and being what you are best known for, are you happy with Lucker?To be honest with everyone, not really. And I think that's mainly because I directed it. I'm very happy with the hospital scenes and the gruesome rape of the corpse as well as the ending in the cellars where the blond girl gets killed and Cathy manages to escape. However looking back at it, there are way to many scenes in it that are way to long.The reason therefore was because the original distributor a company from Brussels, VDS films, where the manager had his intelligence in his pants by the way, wanted to add this and that and eventually it turned out to be filling and nothing more. Needles to say that the company went bankrupt. More because Lucker was shot with no budget at all, we had to improvise some scenes. But as always these were the early days for me in films, and it seems at that moment you're allowed to make mistakes.

Cinema-Nocturna: What was (and is) the current situation in Europe for filmmakers?

Well, producing films is an expensive business. That's so in the States And it is the same in Europe. To stimulate film production you can receive grants from the national government or go to the European Union. In both cases you have to go through such an enormous amount of paperwork, filling in forms, making files, delivering scripts of the project, you name it, they want it-and then some. Once this is done, (which takes a lot of time and a considerable amount of money) you have to propose your project to a commission. And if you don't belong to the circle of friends of the members of these commissions you get nothing. If your project has a high commercial value, you get nothing because these commission members say that film should be a cultural matter and not a commercial one. Meaning, if you have a script for a film nobody wants to see, then you get a lot of money... If you have a project that can bring people into the theatres and can be sold internationally, you get nothing. In Europe they still consider film as the 7th art, while people in the States consider film as Entertainment. And Entertainment it should be... And the Americans have proven right in this matter, since filmmaking is a real industry in the States while in Europe it's almost something for the Elite only. So until a few years ago in Belgium, there was a film commission with 14 members who decided over the projects that were submitted. With some exceptions these members had no affection for film production whatsoever. Nevertheless they decided who and which projects received money. I personally believed this was a very bad thing. So what happened, two or three years ago was that the government decided that this commission needed to be changed. They invented a so-called independent organization led by a FILM MANAGER.

We had big hopes. How wrong we were! First two people that were asked to be the so-called film manager were Interested in doing so, but also they asked the fee of a real manager. The government said the fee was too high and both were told that they couldn't get the job. So then they came up with someone else.The guy was Luckas Vandertaelen. A former singer, he made a few documentaries for VTM (the biggest commercial TV station in Belgium), and was thrown out by the VRT (the national television) because of an attitude problem. Then was elected for Agalev (a left-green political party) in the European Parliment. Because he was sure he wouldn't stand a re-election he took the job and now acts as a real arrogant dictator, telling everyone what project can be done and which can't. One of his stances is that action films, thrillers and horror films are something for the Americans because filmmakers in Belgium can't do this the right way. Maybe a compliment for the Americans, but a firm injustice to our local film community. And for the record, the political party he belonged to got a crushing defeat on the latest election and are still dropping in the polls. So if you ask me, the guy saw the end coming and took all his eggs in the basket and made sure he got another well paid job!!!!!! In short, if they want that there becomes a good film industry in Europe, then they have to stop giving grants, but give companies or private investors the change to obtain extra fiscal benefits if they invest in films. And with that, a lot of money will become available and investors will demand a return on their investment so commercial entertainment will have to be produced. One step has been acquired yet. Tax shelters are about to start in Belgium early next year...

(Nocturnal Note-think about how many horror films were tax shelters…perhaps Euro horror could make a comeback)

I hear there is a remake in pre-production...tell us about that please! Yes there is a remake in pre-production. Over the last two years I received mail from people all over the world asking me for a sequel or a remake of Lucker...or both. The idea for the original Lucker was meant as a reaction against the Film commission (which I explained above). Since we couldn't get any money for another project we would shoot something that would shock them all. Today, because quite some people were asking for it, me and David Zuzelo re-wrote the original script added many scenes, deleted many others, put in new characters and made it to an up to date horror-thriller with police influences. However the gory scenes still remain as gruesome as ever, and MORE were added! I hope to shoot it between March and September 2004. We have cast Bob Dougherty, who played the father in Engine Trouble (Junior in the US), to play the part of Carl, the detective who is in charge of capturing John Lucker. and we are currently in negotiation with Swedish actor Fred (Camp Slaughter/Ninja Mission 2000) Anderson to play the part of Lucker. Marc Ickx (from the industrial band A Split Second) will be directing, as he did with Engine Trouble. Cathy Jordan, who in the original film was a tiny nice house wife, has been transformed into a severe S/M dominatrix now. She is called for by Lucker to give him punishment each time he has commited a crime. Until one day things go bad... Retribution and punishment (and gore and horror!) follow. I think I gave the readers enough to chew on to get interested. There are lots of twists and turns to look forward to.

Cinema-Nocturna: Tell us about your time at the infamous Troma studios!

Johan: Well the people from Troma contacted me after they had seen an add in the Hollywood Reporter regarding Rabid Grannies. After some talking we signed a contract for worldwide distribution except Benelux and they did a good job promoting and distributing the film. Rumours said that Troma discovered the film in Cannes in 1988. This is not correct. It would have looked better but what I describe above is how it happened. Working with Troma, and especially Lloyd Kaufman is always some adventure. But at the end of the day it's business as usual. Later on I did " Parts Of The Family" for them and I have to say this was not such a good experience. First it was ten years since Rabid Grannies and things had changed. There was quite some discussion regarding the payment of the agreed amount of money for the minimum guarantee. During that same moment we had made an agreement in Cannes (in 1990) for 10 other films, but Troma now seems deaf when I mention that. That's mainly the reason why I went to another sales agent.
But let it be clear, I don't have an argument or a dispute with them and they don't have one with me. We're still very friendly when we meet in Cannes or elsewhere.

Cinema Nocturna:Rabid Grannies is still a world known film...how did that come about? Are you pleased with the final product?

Johan: The fact that the film is world knows is first because of the Title and secondly because Troma did a terrific job with the marketing strategy for it. Also the good reviews we got in for instance Variety and H.R. That was my first film as a producer, and yeah I was pleased with the final result. If we would do it whole over some things would be different.
The sound and the dubbing in particular.In 1988 we shot the film with Belgian actors, but actors who came from the French speaking part of the country. (Here is a little geography lesson) Belgium is divided in three language area's. Flanders, where I live, people speak Flemish. (It's the same as Dutch but the accents are a bit different. You can compare it with British English and American English). Another part is the French speaking part and a small part is the German speaking part. That part was taken from Germany after World War I. So the French speaking Belgians hardly know English and many of them do not speak a word of Flemish. (The Flemish speak English, French and German) So this made that the actors needed to learn their lines by heart phoenitically. So they said something without knowing what they said, simply to have the lip movements LOOK correct. However since they said it a syllable at a time, they spoke much slower than native speaking Brits or Americans would. So that's why the dubbing is strange at several moments. After Rabid Grannies I learned that I needed actors or actresses who spoke and understand English even if their voice will not be used at the end of the line. But that was the director's choice to use these French/Belgian people. So if I would do it again, post sound would be different and the beginning would be re-edited and made shorter. Make sure the horror starts earlier…that is the best way.

Cinema-Nocturna: Recently your production of Engine Trouble (aka Junior) has been released to the mass market in the United States. This is a return to straight horror films...do you like horror?

Johan: I do like horror of course. But I like all kinds of films if they can entertain me. I don't want to step into a theatre and get out completely depressed. Films are made for an audience not for the happy few. I like films such as Jaws, but also pictures like The Cider house rules. To jump for one genre to another...

Cinema-Nocturna: Are you pleased with Engine Trouble? How was Marc Icxx to work with, and would you want to again?

I think Engine Trouble is my best film so far. Marc is a terrific director. In general he has the same ideas on films as I have. More he knows films and filmmaking extremely well. In this country it's not so easy to find someone who is familiar with the horror genre. Even more, Marc understands that what I want to produce may not look too underground. He tries to create it as mainstreamed as possible. Due to these efforts Engine Trouble got an R rating instead of an X.

Cinema-Nocturna: You worked with Paul Naschy on Lycantropus, was that a good experience?

Yeah I worked with Paul on two films. The first one was State of Mind. Paul has a little part in it. He dies in the pre credit scene. At that moment Paul was recovering from a triple by-pass and had difficulty remembering his lines. Moreover, when he arrived in Belgium it seemed he only spoke French and German (and Spanish of course). But no English. So for his scenes there was someone sitting under the bed reading his lines and he repeated them. Nevertheless these scenes have been cut in the editing. For Lycantropus I was associate producer. First this film was about to be produced by a "would be" named Sydney Ling. I still don't believe that's his real name. One Saturday I arrive in Paris together with my partner at that time Jean Bruno Castelain. We had a truck loaded with equipment and the 35 MM raw stock. We enter the production office, of an old man called Bill Harper who ran a company called American-European distributors. Paul was there, Ling as well as many other people including the D.P. Suddenly I start to feel that something was rotten in the state of Denmark and I asked for the shooting schedule etc. Important since shooting was supposed to start on Monday. To our surprise we discover that nothing was prepared, no location, no authorizations taken care of… nothing! When Paul Naschy realized that, it came to a fistfight between Paul and Ling. Eventually we took all the material back to Belgium and decided to wait and see what would happen. Months later I receive a call from Paul saying that his good friend Primitivo Rodriques Gordillo was planning to produce the film. Primitivo was (and is) an honest and straight up guy and kept his promises, and eventually the film got shot. However because so much time went over the project, a lot of the script was changed. The gore and the sex was cut out and instead of shooting with an english speaking cast, they shot in Spanish and dubbed it badly to English.
Not a wonder the film did very bad at the box office.

Cinema-Nocturna: Tell us about your other recent projects (Parts of the Family for instance)... is this a horror film?

Yeah it's a very bloody and gore filled film. It's was made for Troma so that should speak for itself. We discovered a terrific Swedish actress by the name of Cecilia Bergqvist, who did a great job in it. The reason why we cast her again as Rebecca in Engine Trouble was because she was so good in Part…However with Troma some differences arose on how "Parts" needed to look. One moment they even wanted to have the Toxic Avenger in it. I was against this because it was a gory zombie film and not a comedy. If it had been a comedy than yeah, Toxie could have appeared. But a problem with Troma is that they want The Toxic Avenger in everything and that is not serious if you ask me. More it became to a discussion regarding the payment of the M.G. So shooting "Parts" was very fun but what happened afterwards was less fun. Until today Troma hasn't released the film and the last I was told is that they wanted to shoot additional footage. But Cecilia refused to do it, because what Troma had in mind was not a part of the original script and moreover, she was on another project and had gone to a completely different look. I followed her completely in her statements. The positive thing was that we had discovered Bob Dougherty and Cecilia and cast them just one year later for Engine trouble.

Thanks for taking your time out for Cinema Nocturna Johan. Best of luck in everything you have going!

This interview was conducted by David Zuzelo for Cinema Nocturna. Nov 2003.