GHP : Interviews

James Balsamo is a jack-of-all-trades; a songwriter, an actor, a sculptor, but most importantly, a filmmaker extraordinaire. From the time he was just a lad, and like so many others, James became fascinated with the Horror genre, attending his first Horror convention at the age of 8. As a youngster, James knew what he wanted to do when "he grew up" - follow in the footsteps of his star slasher icons, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. Fueled by his ambitions, James convinced his parents to enroll him in Acting School. As a student in many prestigious New York acting schools, including Lee Strasberg, James' passion for film and acting continued to grow. A New Yorker all his life, Balsamo continued his professional career at Professional Performing Arts High School in New York City. James grew tired of theatrical acting after high school, and knew it was time to make the transition to the big screen. He left his Shakespearean tights at the door, and spilled big screen blood all the way through Five Towns College. Balsamo appears on both sides of the camera in many of his works, including his most recent project, Hack Job. Hack Job, with a budget under $60,000 has made its international debut, is selling worldwide, as well as exciting mentions during the NYC Tour of music icons GWAR and Ghoul. For now, James continues the "I Spill Your Guts" push, as he prepares for his newest project "Cool As Hell".

Suzi Lorraine grew up on the East Coast, spending time in New Jersey, New York and North Carolina. She has worked extensively as a model, with dozens of photo shoots to her credit, as well as numerous product promos, commercials, music videos and her very own Terror Card celebrating her acting career in the horror genre. She has appeared in magazines 'GQ,' 'Esquire' and 'FHM.' Though Lorraine has worked predominantly as a scream queen, she has also appeared in Music and Lyrics (2007) with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, along with several episodes of the long-running soap As the World Turns (1956). Lorraine has worked with Tom Savini, Gunnar Hansen, Debbie Rochon and Sybil Danning and has completed a film called Sea of Dust (2008), starring legendary Hammer queen Ingrid Pitt. In addition to her acting schedule, Lorraine finds time to attend a number of memorabilia and autograph conventions. Lorraine is also a columnist for the Italian-based magazine 'Horror Mania,' as well as writing a monthly 'Diary of a Scream Queen' for the UK magazine 'Gorezone.' Lorraine also co-hosted several MonsterFest episodes for AMC in late 2008. She received her first production credit for Won Ton Baby! (2009), which she also conceived.

Clay Chappell was born on 18 February 1969 in Savannah, Georgia, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Footloose (2011), Selma (2014) and My Demon (2009).

Colin turned a love of movies, obsession with technical geekery, and acting hobby into a career making films. As a student, he made several award-winning CGI animations and VFX-driven short films. Since graduating from Wesleyan University in 2007, he has been working with Connecticut-based independent production company Synthetic Cinema International. In 2011, Colin directed Steve Niles' Remains, the first original feature for NBCUniversal's Chiller Network. He has since directed two additional features for the network: Dead Souls and Deep in the Darkness, both based on novels by Michael Laimo. His next film will be Wishin' and Hopin', a Christmas story about a 10 year old boy in 1964 based on the New York Times bestselling novel by Wally Lamb. In addition to directing, Colin produces for SCI and also supervises post production and VFX, delivering films on time and on budget. He believes that a good director should know what everyone on set does and how they do it, setting the tone for the cast & crew with his energy. You'll usually find Colin standing by camera, close to the performance.

Dahlia Salem was born in New York City, New York, USA. Dahlia is an actor and writer, known for Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009), The Nines (2007) and Cut! (2014).

Steve Hanks is known for Jesus Revolution (2023), Breakout (2023) and Jailbait (2014).

Born and raised in the "City of Brotherly Love," Philadelphia, PA; Tomas Boykin was born to a musician father and a stay at home mom. It could be said that the trajectory of Boykin's career as a creative was set early in childhood. He was encouraged to act in plays as early as the 3rd grade. "I was fortunate in that I had a few teachers in the Philly public school system who were also creatives and pretty active in the Philadelphia theatre scene when I was coming up. With my parents also encouraging me to express myself through the arts, performing in school plays seemed like a natural segue." By the end of his college career, which by the way was pre-law with a major in criminal justice, Boykin's resume included "A Chorus Line," "Pippin," "Finians Rainbow," "Oklahoma" and "The Little Foxes" as well as many other musical productions. Boykin trained and performed professionally in both Philly and NYC where he acted in all kinds of productions including children's theatre, community theatre, theatre in the park, dinner theatre, regional tours, national tours in addition to numerous Off Broadway productions. Having done quite a few short films in New York many of which were avant-garde and experimental, but nonetheless thoroughly enjoyable collaborations, a pivotal move to Los Angeles via the Actors Equity Association's (LORT) lottery seemed logical. However, Boykin's long career as an "actor on the boards" continued with award winning performances in Sheri Bailey's theatrical adaptation of Nella Larsen's novel "Passing" where he originated the role of Albert Brickhouse at LA's historic Towne Street Theatre in 1997/98 and a decade later playing the role of Crooks in John Steinbeck's classic "Of Mice and Men" at Theatre Banshee in Burbank, CA. Ever the ascending, journeyman actor, Boykin's onscreen credits include his feature film debut in 1999's "Among Thieves," "Haunting of Winchester House," 20th Century Fox's riveting religious drama "I Am," "Voodoo Possession," "Lazarus Rising," "Junkie," the multi-award winning anti-apartheid thriller "Elegy for a Revolutionary," Rob Zombie's "3 From Hell" and 2022's "The Munsters." Boykin's most recent feature film credit is the critically acclaimed SXSW2024 standout "Dead Mail." TV credits include Fox Networks "Lucky Chance," NBC's "Parenthood" and ABC's "How To Get Away with Murder."

Erin O'Brien was born in Sonora, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Far Haven (2023), The Offer (2022) and Tremors (2018).

Hayden Newman is from Valley, Alabama and was born on December 15,1985. He has acted in several plays including The Wizard Of Oz as The Scarecrow and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He has also directed several plays including Sordid Lives, Plaza Suite, and Wait Until Dark. His film directorial debut is Reunion From Hell (2021), it was also written and produced by him.

Ryan Stevens Harris is an award-winning filmmaker, editor and exhibited artist. He grew up in North Carolina and Ohio, never far from the red glow of his mother's dark room, sketching on his drawing board and inventing stories. Later, he followed his passions by pursuing filmmaking, both in London and at the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles. From there he co-founded Fire Trial Films, a boutique production company focused on 35mm production. Most recently, Harris wrote and directed "Moon Garden", a lush dark fantasy odyssey shot on expired 35mm film stock with vintage lenses that won Best Feature in the "New Visions" section at Sitges along with numerous awards around the world. Nick Allen at RogerEbert hailed the film as being "rife with such hard-worn and graceful touches, from a gifted filmmaker who is primed to share with us more of his dreams". "Moon Garden" was released in art-house theaters nationwide throughout 2023 and finished on many "Best-Of" lists by year's end. Multi-talented, Harris edited the Lionsgate sci-fi blockbuster, "Moonfall" (2022), as well as Netflix releases "2307: Winters' Dream" (2016), "Darc" (2018), and "The Hard Way" (2019). He also cut "Watchtower" (2019), which was nominated for two Emmys and was an Additional Editor and Sound Designer on the war-epic "Midway" (2019), which was #1 at the Box Office upon its release.

Peter Dukes is a multi-award winning writer, director and producer based out of Los Angeles. After founding Dream Seekers Productions and making a name for himself in the world of short films, Peter went on to write and direct his feature debut, Escape Room (2017), a horror film starring Skeet Ulrich (Scream, Riverdale) and featuring Sean Young (Blade Runner, The Alienist). The film sold worldwide, scored several theatrical deals, and opened as the number one DVD/streamed movie in the UK upon its release. He followed that up with the feature films Portal (2019), They Watch (2023) and The Memory In My Heart (2023).

Arcangeli was discovered in 1979 by photographer Helmut Newton in Venice, Italy, where he used to live: some of the photographs made the covers of international magazines. Arcangeli became a fashion model during the 1980s, and he was called by Federico Fellini at Cinecittà Studios in Rome for a screen test to play the young lead of a movie that eventually was unfortunately never made. However, the actor later worked in Fellini's Intervista (1987), playing himself at the time of that first screen test. Arcangeli did make his acting debut in the Italian-Japanese film The Garden of Eden (1980), and continued to appear in a number of films during the 1980s and 1990s, among them Il buon soldato (1982) directed by Franco Brusati, Credo (1983) directed in France by Jacques Deray, Il fantasma di Sodoma (1988) directed by Lucio Fulci and Un amore di donna (1988) directed by Nelo Risi. He appeared in the historical drama Francesco (1989) directed by Liliana Cavani, starring Mickey Rourke, played in the well-received Tinto Brass softcore comedy Paprika (1991) and in the thriller Dark Friday (1993) directed by Aldo Lado. At the same time the actor worked in several stage productions with directors such as Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, Luca Ronconi, Lev Dodin, Giancarlo Sepe, Jonathan Miller, and others. Throughout the 1990s, Arcangeli kept busy working in various films and television projects. He had starring roles in Last Flight to Hell (1990), in Love Ritual (1989), in Black Demons (1991) directed by Umberto Lenzi, Belle da morire (1992), L'urlo della verità (1992), directed by Stelvio Massi, Albert Savarus (1993) based on a novel by Honoré de Balzac, Estasi (1993), and Delitti a luce rossa (1996). He also played Helmut in the TV series Le ragazze di Piazza di Spagna (1998) directed by José María Sánchez. He was cast in Red Silk (1999) by Jess Franco, Il conte di Melissa (2001), Incubus (2002) and L'acqua... il fuoco (2003) directed in Luxembourg by Luciano Emmer. Arcangeli moved to the United States, where he already had citizenship, and was immediately cast as Popo in the Showtime/Viacom TV series Zalman King's ChromiumBlue.com (2002), and then played darker or more complex roles, such as Carlton, his first American antagonist opposite actor Jeffrey Wright in the thriller Sin's Kitchen (2004) directed by Fabien Pruvot. Arcangeli has since worked in several other independent films: Gameface (2007) directed by James Rhodimer, the thriller The Seer (2007) directed by Luigi Desole, in Kurando Mitsutake's Samurai Avenger: The Blind Wolf (2009). In 2009 Arcangeli founded his film production company Empire Films,inc., and he produced and starred in House of Flesh Mannequins (2009) directed by Domiziano Cristopharo, Virus X (2010), and The Ghostmaker (2012) both released in the United States by Lions Gate Films through Grindstone Entertainment, but also executive produced the comedy Scenes from a Gay Marriage (2012) in the same year. In 2013, along with his production company Empire Films' new business partner, Aaron Benore, and with Jake Barsha of Right Hook Films, Arcangeli co-executive produced the TV miniseries The Bathroom Diaries (2014) in which he plays Snake, and starred in the feature film The Brides of Sodom (2013) directed by Creep Creepersin. He most recently appeared as Chaka in the second season of the TV series Femme Fatales (2011), in Giorgio Serafini's crime thriller investigation Ambushed (2013), in the futuristic thriller written and directed by Paul Hough, The Human Race (2013), played the heavy Larry in Ivan Zuccon's psychological horror Princess of Dark (2013), is to appear also in a drama directed by Everett Lewis, Territory (2016), while there are a whole new slate of projects announced as completed, or in production by Empire Films, such as Orgy of the Damned (2010), the art-house thriller Travel Well, Kamikaze (2013) ready to be presented on the film festival circuit, but Empire Films (www.empirefilms.net) has also several other projects in active production with Arcangeli also set to star in a few.

Dan Yeager is known for Texas Chainsaw (2013), The Once and Future Smash (2022) and Zombie Bear Attack.

Gerard McMahon is known for The Lost Boys (1987), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) and Chasing Amy (1997)

Lisa is BACK to acting full time after raising her boys and married to corporate world for a couple decades. She is excited about a slew of 2019-2020 projects. Check out the latest! Lisa has performed in over 100 film, television, commercial and theater productions, starting her career in Equity Waiver theater, then completing her Bachelor of Arts degree at UCLA, Lisa went on to play the lead role of "Alice" in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), directed by Renny Harlin. Due to the phenomenal box office success of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), Lisa played "Alice" once again in A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (1989), directed by Stephen Hopkins. Lisa has played from nun to prostitute. Comedy, soap operas and episodic dramas. She was a regular in the television series, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures (1992), Knots Landing (1979), General Hospital (1963) and numerous guest starring roles. Some of her television highlights include her portrayal of "Carol Brady/Florence Henderson" in the TV movie, Unauthorized: Brady Bunch - The Final Days (2000), and in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), portraying the part of "Yuta". This episode, The Vengeance Factor (1989), became so prolific, that "Yuta" is featured on the "Star Trek: Next Generation Monopoly Board"! Other film credits include Men Seeking Women (1997), starring Will Ferrell, and she co-starred with Mark Hamill in Watchers Reborn (1998). Notably, Lisa played the lead in the student foreign short film, Les nouvelles aventures de Chastity Blade (2000) (or "The All New Adventures of Chastity Blade"), which was nominated for a Foreign Student Film Academy Award.

Ken Sagoes, born in Stockbridge, Georgia and raised in Atlanta, is an award winning writer and actor who has over 100 film, TV, and stage credits. He attended Kennesaw State University and studied writing and directing under the UCLA Extension program. Sagoes also studied under two entertainment legends, Edmund J. Cambridge and Marlon Brando. He's a former staff writer with Paramount Television, won a CableAce Award and was a HUMANITAS Prize Finalist for writing and co-starring in Disney Channel's "On Promised Land". Sagoes has written fourteen plays and over thirty-five screenplays. As a stage actor, he has received several awards, including a NAACP Theater nomination for Ted Lange's critically acclaimed play, "George Washington's Boy". In film, he is best known for the role of "Kincaid", one of the Dream Warriors in the classic horror films, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, 3 & 4, making him the first African-American actor to survive a major horror film and return for a sequel. He's also known for John Singleton's "ROSEWOOD" as the loveable "Big Baby" and the role of "Darryl" with Martin Lawrence in the hit series, "What's Happening Now". In 1997, Sagoes founded GBC-Giving Back Corporation, a 501 (c) 3 organization that helps send inner city youth to summer camp and helps pay for books and supplies for college bound students. GBC also gives an Annual Toast/Roast to honor entertainment pioneers who have paved the way. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Sagoes & drxcreatures

Tom Jolliffe is a screenwriter, producer and film journalist, known for Renegades (2022), War of the Worlds: The Attack (2022), Cinderella's Revenge (2023) and The Baby in the Basket (2024).

Carl Gabriel Yorke was born on 23 November 1952 in Burbank, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Cannibal Holocaust (1980), Idle Hands (1999) and Apollo 13 (1995).

Courtney Gains first achieved success during the 1980s with a variety of roles in films such Children of the Corn (1984), Back to the Future (1985), Can't Buy Me Love (1987), Colors (1988), The 'Burbs (1989), and Memphis Belle (1990). His most recent credits include L.A.Noir ,Faster, Grand Theft Auto ; Los Santos Drug Wars, The Wrath of Becky , Charming the Hearts of Men and Queen Bees. In addition to his film work, Gains has guest-starred on several notable television shows including Seinfeld (1989), Monk (2002), In the Heat of the Night (1988), Tales from the Crypt (1989), ER (1994), JAG (1995), Nash Bridges (1996), Charmed (1998), Alias (2001), The Guardian (2001) (recurring role), _"My Name Is Earl" (2005)_, Bones, The Middle, and the miniseries Texas Rising, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia,Criminal Minds and Tales. Gains has also worked as and acting coach and a musician. He once performed live on stage with Phish Releasing several records, Ripple Street in 2016, Acoustic Gains 2021 and Safe Haven 2023. He performs regularly in his 3 piece band THE COURTNEY GAINS GROUP. With over 140 credits to his name in a wide variety of roles, Gains celebrates 40 years in the film and television business.

Gary Sales is known for Rally Caps (2024), Ramsey: The Vandy Case (2021) and The Last Nazi (2019) Madman (1981). Big and burly 6'5" behemoth Paul W. Ehlers was born on November 2, 1949 in New York City. Paul not only made super 8 movies with his friend Kenny as a kid, but also drew monsters and comics as well. Ehlers gave an impressively fearsome performance as vicious and murderous backwoods lunatic Madman Marz in the nifty low-budget slasher cult favorite "Madman." (Paul was originally hired to illustrate the poster art for this picture, but was eventually cast as the titular character after the first actor who was cast as Marz didn't work out.) More recently Ehlers supplied the opening narration for the documentary "The Psycho Legacy" and played Dr. Jeckyll in the horror comedy short "Caesar and Otto meet Dracula's Lawyer." The father of filmmaker Jonathan Ehlers (who was born during the shooting of "Madman"), Paul is also a designer of custom fantasy knives and weapons.

Large (6'1"), affable, and commanding character actor Irwin Keyes was born on March 16, 1952 in New York City. Keyes grew up in Amityville, New York and graduated from Amityville Memorial High School in 1970. He acted in his first play "The Lower Depths" by Maxim Grody while attending college. Frequently cast as likable lugs, brutish goons, and imposing authority figures, Irwin acted in a diverse array of movies in such genres as horror ("Friday the 13th," "Guilty as Charged," "House of 1000 Corpses"), comedy ("The Private Eyes," "Zapped!;" hilarious as Wheezy Joe in "Intolerable Cruelty"), thriller ("Dream Lover"), science fiction (both "Oblivion" pictures), and action ("The Warriors," "The Exterminator" and its sequel). Keyes achieved his greatest enduring popularity with his recurring role as endearingly oafish bodyguard Hugo Majelewski on the hit sitcom "The Jeffersons." Among the TV shows that Irwin made guest appearances on are "Laverne & Shirley," "Police Squad!," "Moonlighting," "Married with Children," "thirtysomething," "Growing Pains," "Tales from the Crypt," and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." Moreover, Keyes not only acted in TV commercials and music videos (he was very touching as a struggling down on his luck actor in the music video for "Good Enough" by Prozak), but also did voice overs for video games. Irwin lived in Los Angeles, California and continued to act with pleasing regularity right up until his death at age 63 on July 8, 2015.

Lynn Lowry was born in 1947 in Illinois, but raised in Atlanta, Georgia. She began acting professionally at age 17 in a theater called Shawnee Summer Stock Theater. She relocated to New York City in the late 1960s to pursue other acting jobs to support her young son. Her first movie role was a small part in The Battle of Love's Return (1971) which starred and was directed by Lloyd Kaufman, who later founded the "Troma" independent film company. Her next role was another small, uncredited part in I Drink Your Blood (1971). Her next movie, playing a dual role in Sugar Cookies (1973), which required her to act in the nude for the first time, got her sex appeal. Score (1973) came next which was a X-rated, soft-core, semi-documentary flick which brought on more sex appeal for Lowry's character. Her next role was one of her best in playing "Kathy," a neurotic character in George A. Romero's The Crazies (1973), an action-horror flick filmed in rural Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh. She then was cast for a recurring part in the TV series How to Survive a Marriage (1974). She was also cast for a part in David Cronenberg's horror flick Shivers (1975). After another minor part in Fighting Mad (1976) and a few other movies, Lowry moved to Los Angeles in the early 1980s where, after a slow start, she began acting in the local theater, and occasional movie roles. Most recently, she has been performing on stage as a singer in singing old folk songs and show tunes with her own band. Lowry starred in the psychological body horror film Fang (2022) as Gina Cochran, one of her favorite characters so far.

Lynn Lowry was born in 1947 in Illinois, but raised in Atlanta, Georgia. She began acting professionally at age 17 in a theater called Shawnee Summer Stock Theater. She relocated to New York City in the late 1960s to pursue other acting jobs to support her young son. Her first movie role was a small part in The Battle of Love's Return (1971) which starred and was directed by Lloyd Kaufman, who later founded the "Troma" independent film company. Her next role was another small, uncredited part in I Drink Your Blood (1971). Her next movie, playing a dual role in Sugar Cookies (1973), which required her to act in the nude for the first time, got her sex appeal. Score (1973) came next which was a X-rated, soft-core, semi-documentary flick which brought on more sex appeal for Lowry's character. Her next role was one of her best in playing "Kathy," a neurotic character in George A. Romero's The Crazies (1973), an action-horror flick filmed in rural Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh. She then was cast for a recurring part in the TV series How to Survive a Marriage (1974). She was also cast for a part in David Cronenberg's horror flick Shivers (1975). After another minor part in Fighting Mad (1976) and a few other movies, Lowry moved to Los Angeles in the early 1980s where, after a slow start, she began acting in the local theater, and occasional movie roles. Most recently, she has been performing on stage as a singer in singing old folk songs and show tunes with her own band. Lowry starred in the psychological body horror film Fang (2022) as Gina Cochran, one of her favorite characters so far.

Caroline Williams began her career in Texas, co-starring for revered cinema master Louis Malle in his Corpus Christi-based film, Alamo Bay (1985). She worked opposite stars Ed Harris and Amy Madigan in what was her first feature film, after only six months of training at the Studio For Actors, under the tutelage of Chris Wilson. She had established herself in the Texas movie marketplace doing commercials, industrial films and voiceover work. Following "Alamo Bay", she moved to Dallas and furthered her career, with co-stars, in The Legend of Billie Jean (1985) (dir. Matthew Robbins) and Getting Even (1986) (dir. Dwight Little). When Tobe Hooper and L.M. "Kit" Carson began casting for the sequel to Hooper's iconic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), they discovered the punkass actress, who ran screaming down the hallway of the casting office. She burst into the room, pulled the chairs from beneath the duo and played the brief dialogue, while huddled in a corner. In that often told moment, she won the role from 440 actresses from both coasts. After the successful release of the film, she moved to Hollywood to continue her career in a mix of horror: Stepfather II: Make Room for Daddy (1989) (dir. Jeff Burr), Leprechaun 3 (1995) (dir. Brian Trenchard Smith) and mainstream films: Days of Thunder (1990) (dir. Tony Scott), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) (dir. Ron Howard). She continues to split her efforts between series TV guest star roles, such as Grey's Anatomy (2005) (dir. Debbie Allen) and The Mentalist (2008) (dir. Charles Beeson). Luckily, her fan base enjoys her continuing dedication to the horror genre, and recent releases, such as Shriekfest (LA) Best Thriller winner Greenlight and the upcoming Ten Minutes To Midnight continue her influence within the genre.

Cinematographer Daniel Pearl was born in the Bronx, New York City and grew up in New Jersey. His father was a mechanical engineer as well as an alumnus from the University of Texas in Austin. The first film Pearl made was an 8mm movie about skateboarding that he shot and edited at the age of 13. Daniel has both a Bachelor of Science in Radio, Film, & TV and a Master of Arts in Communication (Film) from the University of Texas in Austin. Pearl shot his first feature The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) in Texas for Tobe Hooper. Daniel eventually moved to Los Angles, California in 1976. Outside of his film work, Pearl has also shot numerous music videos and TV commercials.