M e l i s s a    B a c e l a r Why are chicks so much cuter when they're covered in blood?

Melissa Bacelar (BASS-ah-lahr) hails from Piscataway , NJ and is a self-professed horror film fan since her pre-teen years. Years of babysitting, dogwalking and waitressing at Sherban's Diner in South Plainfield , NJ gave her the ability to meet different people from all walks of life, experience that is invaluable to an actor.

I sat down with Melissa to talk about her career and what horror films she likes best.

Jonathan Stryker: Have you always been a horror film fan?

Melissa Bacelar: Well, I wasn't really a horror film fan growing up, I was more into porn.

JS: So was I!

MB: No, I'm kidding! (laughs)

JS: Well, now! We have the perfect woman here!

MB: (laughs) I wasn't allowed to watch horror when I was a child. The first horror film I saw was CHILDREN OF THE CORN. There was a cornfield behind my house and it scared the shit out of me.

JS: A completely understandable reaction.

MB: So, my parents told me, "We are not allowing you to watch horror films anymore because you won't leave our bedroom." So, I didn't watch another horror film until I was about 18 years-old. And my best friend, Joshua Nelson, who is the owner of Savage Roses Productions, was a huge, huge Troma fan and saw an advertisement for TERROR FIRMER, and he told me that I should really audition for this film. So, I put on my finest pair of vinyl shorts, and I went down to Troma's offices and I booked a role in that film. I didn't really know anything about Troma, so after I booked it, I picked up a copy of SGT. KABUKIMAN, which was a crazy flick. I watched it and I thought, "God, what did this guy get me into?" So, I went to the set, and you have to understand that acting was a big part of my life. I had this ( Sanford ) Meisner training, and all this stuff going on, and I go to the set fully prepared to do this great character, and I walk in and Lloyd looks at me and says, "Cold girls and tube tops make for great cinema." And I thought, "Alright, well this should be interesting." James Gunn was in my scene. He was one of the actors with me. I said my lines and did my scene, and Lloyd said, "You know, try to say it like this." And Lloyd actually gave me a line reading, and was one of the craziest line readings I've ever heard. I was trying to figure out how I could possibly say this and actually be okay with it. So I ended up saying it is the way that Lloyd wanted it and that was my very first horror film. The experience was amazing, and Lloyd was phenomenal. He was the one who started bringing me to conventions. And when I went to my first convention, I couldn't believe how much the fans are into this stuff and how much they loved him. I love horror, and I guess I just fell in love with the fans. So I kind of started to look to do more horror films. Then I booked a role on "One Life to Live" and that completely stopped my horror career. I was very busy as a result of that. Corporate America doesn't really agree with independent horror films and what they're all about, so I stopped for a while, and I move to L. A. and the guys from the Insane-a-Rama found me and told me that they had a role for me in a vampire film that they were making called STRANGE THINGS HAPPEN AT SUNDOWN. And I read it, and I thought that it was a really good script. So, I did that and I started getting more publicity and doing more horror films and at that point I was hooked. I started my own production company, and we produce horror and this year alone I have about 10 films that I'm starring in. So, I'm a busy girl. (laughs)

JS: I'll say. You haven't come up for air since my first question! In addition to CHILDREN OF THE CORN, what other horror films did you see that made a big impact on you?

MB: HALLOWEEN was terrific. I really love A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET . I don't think that anything can compare to that. I can still see the first killing in that film, it's so effective.

JS: That was really shocking at the time. I remember I saw that in the movies on my 16th birthday. I came out of the theater that day completely estatic and couldn't wait for it to come to video. That was actually the first movie that I ever rented.

MB: I really love that film. You just couldn't believe that this girl was on the ceiling after getting sliced up. ALICE, SWEET ALICE is a great film. I finally got to see a really good quality version of that. For what they were allowed to do at the time, which wasn't a lot, it was great. The concept, the acting, the writing, the direction, were all terrific. That's definitely something that makes me a fan of the genre.

JS: ALICE, SWEET ALICE has one of the genre's all-time best scores by Stephen Lawrence. It's Incredibly effective and I cannot imagine any other music for that film. What are your thoughts on THE SHINING? That film seems to have bifurcated fans into two camps of those who love and those who hate it.

MB: THE SHINING scared the shit out of me. And THE EXORCIST. I'm really a big fan of the classics. I think that studios are kind of killing them. I'm a very big fan of independent directors. I really love these little no budget, no money, no-name star films. If anyone has the chance to watch Lloyd's "How to Make a Horror Film", I think that they'll understand that you really can make your own movie. The horror fans know what other horror fans want. That's the importance when you're making your own horror film. I think as a community we all understand there are people who only have about a thousand dollars to make a film.

JS: That's the beauty of it now. The technology is such that somebody can spend just a few thousand dollars on really good digital video equipment and make something really interesting that gets the attention of a director or producer. You can make a five to ten-minute movie, shoot it on 24p, post it on your MySpace page and pretty much show the whole world your talent with little capital expenditure.

MB: The fans really know what the fans want to see. I think it's really amazing what you can do nowadays with such little money. The Underground Horror Movie Network, at www. uhmn. com, which I welcome people to in the form of a video that appears on the homepage, is a place where independent filmmakers can make a film, post it to the website, and people can download it and watch it on their iPod or computer, and critique it. It's a great place to find people to back your films because you may have a great idea, but it all takes money to get it done. Right now, you can go to the site and download ALICE, SWEET ALICE for free. I've spoken to so many horror fans at conventions who have such great horror film ideas, but it comes back to money, you know? How to get the financing. I really love independent horror, and this is a great place to get your stuff seen. If you go to the studios, like the Paramounts and the Universals, they're going to do it the the way they want to, and it will be for box office and the opening weekend numbers. They take our independent horror and remove the gore and they want a PG-13 for the youngsters.

JS: You play a prostitute named Pandora in SKINNED ALIVE, which is about a woman who literally devours men who pay her for sex. Where did this idea come from?

MB: Joshua Nelson wrote it. He has been one of my closest friends for the past eleven years. I am a huge animal lover. I have six dogs and three bunnies that I have found on the sides of roads over the years. I told my friend Joshua that I wanted him to write me script about a woman who loves animals and avenges abused animals by killing people who have abused animals. She thinks that she is doing a good deed by doing this, you know, if she sees someone wearing a fur coat she skins them alive, stuff like that. He liked it, but he had already written a script for me called GORE WHORE, which is about a zombie who decides to become a hooker. She has to find men to eat in order to live. And she has to make a living, so why not? Basically, you don't feel badly for the men at all, and she eats them. The title has been changed to SKINNED ALIVE and is available on DVD now. I love strong women in horror. I love the fact that I get to play a powerful woman like this. I'm glad that not all horror films feature the topless chick screaming. Which isn't bad, I mean, naked chicks are awesome, I love them. But, it's great that they can be naked and sexy and all of these things and strong.

JS: We really have ALIEN to thank for that. Prior to that film, women were pretty much always victims, with a few exceptions here and there. But, once Ellen Ripley was brandishing a machine gun, that completely changed the landscape for femme fatales in genre films.

MB: I don't think that a lot of women realize that sexuality is power. And that's what Sigourney Weaver showed in those films. You can be a sexy woman and that's your power. People say to me, "Well, you played a hooker in this film. How is that powerful?" Sexuality is power if you know how to use it. It's one thing to be the girl falling down on the ground screaming, and it's quite another to use your wits to survive and kick ass because men want you. So, that's what attracted me to the script.

JS: What's next for you?

MB: I have three projects that are about to film in the next few months. Our two films were just released in the past month. I had an interactive DVD come out called SLUMBER PARTY SLAUGHTERHOUSE on Halloween...Lots and lots of press days an absolutely no sleep :) Just crazy busy...But, that's how I like it!