Courtesy Picture / Rob Mabry
Rob Mabry labored with creature results artist Sergio Guerra to design the movie’s Chupacabra.
As a child, storytelling all the time got here naturally to San Antonio filmmaker Rob Mabry.
He ran round making films along with his father’s Tremendous 8 digital camera. He wrote comedian books and screenplays. That love for writing continued as he grew up, and it led to a profession as a journalist within the U.S. Military.
Immediately, Mabry is a software program growth director for a journey firm. Nevertheless, his ardour for cinema by no means waned. About eight years in the past, he started collaborating in San Antonio’s 48 Hour Movie Mission and shortly grew to become hooked.
After writing and directing just a few shorts, Mabry has accomplished his first function, The Legend of El Chupacabra, a horror-comedy centered on the legendary South Texas monster.
Throughout an interview with the Present, Mabry, 56, talked about his want to make a film set in Texas and the sorts of comedy and horror films that encourage him. He additionally mentioned his work with native creature results artist Sergio Guerra on the design of his movie’s Chupacabra.
The Legend of El Chupacabra may have its red-carpet premiere Friday, Oct. 20 at San Antonio’s Metropolis Base Cinemas. To buy tickets to the screening, go to citybasecinema.com.
What was it in regards to the Chupacabra that appealed to you as an thought on your first function movie?
I actually needed to do one thing that occurred in Texas. The Chupacabra is that this cryptid of South Texas. The entire movie takes place in a fictitious city within the Hill Nation. It was actually vital to me to have a Texas solid and crew. So, all people is native. Nearly all people is from San Antonio. We let just a few Austin folks in.
What’s your earliest reminiscence of being frightened of one thing you noticed in a film?
I’d say it was The Wizard of Oz and the Depraved Witch. The Wizard of Oz is the very first thing I had a nightmare about as a child. I bear in mind being paralyzed with concern. I used to be attempting to scream for my mother and father. From extra of a conventional horror movie sense, my mother and father let me watch The Exorcist after I was actually younger. It was terrifying. Unhealthy parenting. However I’d say [The Legend of El Chupacabra] is much extra a comedy than it’s a horror movie. It is extra of a B-movie monster film.
Did you develop up watching these sorts of B-movies?
Yeah, I grew up as a child on a army base. Each Sunday, they’d have a matinee they usually’d present a lot of Nineteen Fifties films, despite the fact that it was the Nineteen Seventies. I noticed a variety of these sorts of monster films. Within the ’80s, I watched issues like Friday the thirteenth and the Freddy Krueger collection. So, I’ve an appreciation for these too.
Who conjures up your comedy writing?
Mel Brooks is a giant affect on me. The humor of Airplane! all the time caught with me. Monty Python was a giant affect. I am additionally a giant fan of Steve Martin and the issues he did in his early days like The Man with Two Brains and Lifeless Males Do not Put on Plaid.
Why do you suppose horror and comedy go so properly collectively?
I feel jokes and scares are sort of comparable. They each set the viewers up for the punchline or for that bounce scare. , I simply take pleasure in parodying issues. I feel that is why I have been drawn to horror-comedy. I did make a brief movie a couple of serial killer who’s too off form to catch anyone. It did properly at festivals. For me, the final word purpose is to make folks chortle.
How did you determine what you needed your Chupacabra to seem like?
I left that within the palms of a very gifted creature results artist, Sergio Guerra. I needed one thing that was going to be acquainted to people who find themselves conversant in the Chupacabra. There are a few variations which can be frequent — the mangy coyote look and a model the place the Chupacabra has spikes on its again and crimson eyes. [Sergio] put 4 totally different designs collectively, after which we refined it. I feel we got here up with one thing that feels very distinctive.
, a family-friendly Chupacabra film known as Chupa hit Netflix earlier this yr.
(Laughs.) I hoped to beat that one to the theater earlier than it began streaming. I did not wish to experience its coattails. I truly have not watched it but. I advised myself I would not watch it till my film was achieved. In contrast to that film, the Chupacabra we now have wouldn’t make an excellent pet.
$12-$13, 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20, Metropolis Base Cinemas, 2623 SE Army Drive, (210) 531-3000, citybasecinema.com.
Subscribe to SA Present newsletters.
Observe us: Apple Information | Google Information | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Fb | Twitter| Or join our RSS Feed
