The following article by Bill &Warren on Hideous Mutant Freekz, appeared in the 1993 issue of Fangoria a horror magazine. Not the average magazine you usually find lying around on the lecture table in the waiting room of your dentist; still interesting to read if you're very much into special effects and horror movies. My own interest went out to the interview with Alex & Tom of course. Like the Film Threat article I decreased the size a bit by retyping the interview. Again my advantage of this was, that I picked up another bunch of remarkable words to expand my English vocabulary with, so to speak.....

Hideous Mutant Freekz are people too !

Snotty, superior, self-obsessed actor Ricky Coogin was once a nice guy – and he ultimately becomes one again when weird, grinning showman Elijah C. Skuggs turns him into one of the Hideous Mutant Freekz. As you can probably tell from the spelling of the title, this movie isn't 100 percent serious. After all, it's full of the wildest freaks since, well, Freaks itself. But unlike the denizens of that 1932 Tod Browning classic, the freekz in Freekz are all man-made – both in terms of the plot, wherein Elijah runs wild with his freakmaking machine, and in terms of reality. The movie, set for release this winter or spring by 20th Century Fox, is written (with Tim Burns) and directed by the team of Tom Stern and Alex Winter; the latter (best known for playing Bill of the Bill & Ted movies) also stars in the leading role of Rick. Caught at lunch the directors, who met while attending NYU's film school, explain how the movie came to be. "One of the reasons just walked out of the room," Stern says, pointing after a tall rock-star looking guy. "We actually wrote this thing with Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers in mind. We brainstormed up this weird, shocking, horrible movie – not really a comedy, but disturbing, horrific stuff with comic elements. The Butthole Surfers were going to play Skuggs' demented family and it was going to be a rock 'n' roll grossout, shocking –" "A low budget sort of affair," Winter interrupts amiably. Stern and Winter constantly break into each other's conversations without any rancor; they finish sentences for one another and sometimes speak simultaneously. It's like interviewing a standup comic with two heads, that of Winter, is presently half human and half huge-eared, gargoyle and scaly green. After Winter and Stern arrived in Hollywood from New York, they immediately set about getting their strange vision to the screen. "We heard that people like Charlie Band were making all these low-budget independent films," Winter explains, "so we wrote one. The day we finished, they stopped." "They pulled up stakes and rustled out of town." Stern continues, straight-faced. The pair soon learned that oddly enough, it's often easier to get financing for a medium – or even high budget movie than for a low-budgeter. "So we decided to rewrite it as a bigger film," Stern goes on. "It became less of a shockfest and more of a comedy, so it changed a lot. Tim Burns, who's a great writer, came in and did the third draft with us." "He wrote The Idiot Box with us too," Winter fills in, "the MTV series we did about a year and a half ago." The story they finally came up with is a satirical, monster-filled comedy, focusing on Coogin (Winter), a spoiled jerk of an actor, an arrogant smartass if there ever was one. When the E.E.S. Corporation, headed by Dick Bryan (William Sadler) offers him $5 million, to endorse their new fertilizer, the highly-toxic "Zygrot-24" (already banned in Europe and America) Ricky leaps for the easy bucks. He's already the star of the Ghost Dude series of movies (allowing Winter to take a poke at his own Bill & Ted films), but he can always use five million bucks' worth of pocket change. Soon Rick is winging his way to the third-world Latin American country Santa Flan, taking with him his crude, womanizing buddy Ernie (Micheal Stoyanov), Rick immediately tries to get close to environmental activist Julie (Megan Ward of the Trancers sequels), while trying, as he has for some time, to avoid Ghost Dude fan #1; young Stuey Gluck (Alan Zuckerman) who's stowed away aboard Rick's plane. Eventually everyone winds up at a circuslike roadside attraction run by the loudmouthed Skuggs (played by Randy Quaid). He shows Ricky, Ernie and Julie into his barn to view some very special freaks – who, it soon turns out, will be themselves. Ernie and Julie are constantly quarreling, so Skuggs uses his freakmaking machine to turn them into Siamese twins. The demented barker then attempts to turn Ricky into his ultimate freak, but only succeeds in making him halfway into a monster – split right down the middle.

This truly impressive makeup, which holds up to scrutiny from a few inches away – we checked – is by Bill Corso, of Steve Johnson's XFX company. Around Winter's mouth the make-up is especially impressive; it's virtually impossible to tell where the actor's own lips leave off and Corso's rubber ones begin. The actor/director wears this makeup for most of the movie. "I play 80 percent of it this way, 85 percent, well 88 percent maybe. No," he muses to himself, "we put it back. It's 88 percent. We might cut it. I play it 87-and a half-percent in the makeup," he finally decides. Screaming Mad George and his staff, Johnson and other from this XFX Company and Tony Gardner's Alterian Studios have teamed up to create the awesome array of mirthful monsters populating Hideous Mutant Freekz, under the supervision of Tom Rainon. Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, boys and germs, and we'll take you on a tour of Elijah C. Skugg's Hideous Mutant Freekz. Over there is Worm, part man, and part worm; then there's Cowboy – part man, part cow, complete with working udders. Ortiz the Dog Boy is part man, part canine and all Latin lover. And this unlikely-looking weirdy is Sockhead, a regular person with a sock hand puppet for a head. (And what's inside a hand puppet? Exactly what you think.) This blazing wonder is the Eternal Flame, who emits perpetually-lit farts. This here is our strongman, Toad: be careful of his warts and his 6-foot tongue. Rosie is our required pinhead, and our bearded lady looks uncannily like Mr T. (With good reason – the former A-Team star plays the role). All of these folks are more or less lovable, however grotesque; but beware Nosey, a gent whose face is almost all one huge proboscis – he isn't such a swell fellow. Joining Winter and Mr T in the freeky cast are Derek McGrath as Worm and Jeff Kahn as Nosey, the voice of Sockhead is performed by Bobcat Goldwait. Morgan Fairchild has a scene or two as a stewardess, and Ortiz the Dog Boy is played by – well, we'll get to that later. Back at lunch with the directors, the pair explain how two guys manage to direct at the same time. "We worked out the script together," Winter explains, "frame by frame. Once you get down to the shooting process, it's just attacking the chores that have to be dealt with to get the film done. We literally alternate saying "action" from scene to scene. Other than that, the only system we have is to get the film done and try to agree on the little details, since most of the big ones have been settled already." You might expect the two to have disagreed at times, but, says Stern, "That hasn't happened once," Winter cuts in, "Well once," Stern says, "No it didn't. Twice." You guys…….

"Usually", says Winter, back to a straight answer. "It's pretty much of a nuance thing. When it comes down to it, we might do alternate takes, but that's very rare. Comedy is usually pretty logical, but if it's irrational and makes you laugh, you go for it. But generally it comes down to a very specific logic or taste thing, and you just iron it out. Stern adds, "If we were doing a serious, more somber, lyrical film, it would be a lot harder, maybe impossible. Comedy is pretty simple – it's easy to agree on. If it makes somebody laugh, it's funny." "We worked it out in collaboration," finishes Winter, "months and months ago. We accept the fact that this film is a combined effort and you have to go into a film like this that way. You have to hire people who see the way you do, so you can be open to what they want to do, like our production designer Katherine Hardwicke, who's amazing." Tell us about it. On the day Fango visits the set, an elaborate scene in Skuggs' circus tent is being filmed. It's a big show put on by Skuggs for the local yokels and the upper management of E.E.S. Ricky Googin does a Shakespearean scene and takes a bow with Skuggs, while the other freekz stand around in a cage behind them. The tent itself is your everyday and apparently real – circus tent, but it's the displays inside that catch one's eye. Over here is the Kiss the Creetin Booth (spelling is not Skuggs' strong suit). Here you can "Feal Up a Corpse". Over there you can "Inject a Stranger" at a booth lined with hypodermic needles of many sizes. There's a giant slingshot labeled "Frogg Toss." Here's a coin operated gadget labeled "Remuve Yer Spleen": lying in a tray before it is a speckled human organ with needles sticking out of it. Hanging in front is a blood-spattered tray with a big hook, and shears of different sizes. Other signs abound. "No Doggie Bagz Aloud," "Pleese Do Not Smash Head," "El Saber Es Poder" (this is a Latin American country, after all), "Pleese Wipe Mouth," "Petting Zoo," "Heavy Petting Zoo," (look for Rainone in a cameo bit here, stroking a two-headed six-legged sheep.) Outside the tent is a colossal model head of Elijah Skuggs, with vacant eyesockets. Rainone reveals that whenever the freekz try to escape from Skuggs, the giant eyes are watching them from their sockets. But they don't stay in for long, because the giant mouth pops open, a tongue juts out, and the eyeballs themselves, now possessing arms and legs (and carrying automatic weapons), run out and pursue the fleeing freekz. The orbs, called I and Eye, are currently hanging from a rack in the back of the soundstage; the work of Screaming Mad George, these may be the maddest of all Skuggs' creations. Eyeballs the size of people – it is to chunder.

Back on stage, Skuggs' right hand freek, Toad, gleefully accepts Rainone's description of him as "the black Tor"- Tor Johnson., that is, Colossal Jaime Cardriche, who appeared as a zombie in Cast a Deadly Spell, is delighted by his resemblance to Ed Wood's favorite heavy. Later, the climax of Hideous Mutant Freekz is prepared. We're sworn to secrecy on precisely what happens, but we can safely say that you've never seen anything quiet like this. Stern and Winter have cited Mad magazine and such famous underground cartoonists as R. Crumb, S. Clay Wilson and others as being among their inspirations. But judging from the two 8-foot-tall monsters, designed by XFX, that square off at the end, they've also been inspired – if that's the word – by Big Daddy Roth and Basil Wolverton. These pop-eyed, floppy-eared, big butted, long-armed wonders are like nothing seen in any movie before. The model kits will be nifty. A major star is also among the Hideous Mutant Freekz, so major that at the time the movie was being filmed, it wasn't certain as to whether he would be billed or not. Keanu Reeves came directly from Bram Stoker's Dracula to Hideous Mutant Freekz to play the part of Ortiz the Dog Boy. "He felt that moving from a Coppola movie to ours was a needed step up for him. He just begged me," Winter says. "I had problems with the studio, but I twisted their arms. I know he's done Dracula, but this may come out before that, so his reputation will be intact." (is that a rim shot I hear?) "But seriously, we're just friends," Winter continues. (After all, Reeves was Ted to Winter's Bill.) "Tom and I worked with him before on a short film, and we had a really good time. He's been around so many years and we've been talking about this project all that time: he's always wanted to be in it. It's the kind of comedy Keanu does really well, but doesn't get a chance to do very much. It's one of his strengths as an actor." Some performers have claimed to find working in prosthetics liberating. This was Reeves' first outing covered in rubber and hair, and he apparently enjoyed it. "He hasn't taken the makeup off since we finished with him." Winter says. "His makeup was particularly uncomfortable," Stern adds more seriously, "because it was all hair, and it was glued to his face strand by strand for three hours every day." "We took a long time tweaking and getting the Dog Boy to a place where we liked him. We didn't want him to look like one of the characters from the remake of Island of Lost Souls. We wanted him to look like a character, a person, because he plays this really lusty Latin." Another former co-star reteaming with Winter in Freekz is Sadler, whose comic Grim Reaper stole scenes in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. "I love Bill Sadler," Winter says enthusiastically. "He's a great actor." "He really blows you away with what he can do," adds Stern. "Randy Quaid is a great actor too." "Yeah," Winter responds, "he's a real chameleon. He's doing something in this that I don't think anyone has seen him do before. He's playing most of his scenes stark naked. We said, "Randy we hired you for one reason, and darn it, we want to see it," "Actually, when Fango sees Quaid, he's dressed like Uncle Sam. "We're very proud of the makeup guys," Winter adds. "We originally got Screaming Mad George on, our first contact, and developed the characters with him. Then we brought on Alterian and Steve Johnson's company. Again, it's finding people who understand the vision, and who have the balls to go all the way with the stuff, which all those shops do. "In addition to the extensive makeups, the film boasts optical and animation FX by the Chiodo Brothers and David Allen. "For a film with as modest a budget as this one," Stern says , "there are turning out to be so many latex characters. Everyone thought, 'God , it's just going to be train wreck.' But it's remarkable how few problems there have been on this." Their experience has been so positive that they're already planning their next venture, based on one of their NYU student films. Winter will play Howie, in what's intended to be a slapstick comedy along the lines of the classic Buster Keaton movies. Again, they'll both write and direct together. "There's room for more projects that, are kind of idiosyncratic and don't necessarily make a good pitch to the studio bosses," says Stern, and Hideous Mutant Freekz is, obviously such a project. "What we're trying to do with this film," Winter adds, "is to maintain an alternative universe with recognizable characters. We're trying to play them relatively straight, trying to lure the audience in the way you do with any kind of drama. We're not doing Hot Shots, trying to spoof a genre from beginning to the end. We're trying to make the characters familiar, and to make them basic, psychological people so you can like them, get into them, relate to them." Judging from the look of the sets and the makeups, Stern and Winter may have achieved something even more: They may have come up with characters you can't forget.