What were your main influences? I could feel a bit of Twilight Zone and Night of the Living Dead here and there, but the film seems a synthesis of many more incredible things. Additionally, were there any more modern influences aside from films from the 50s?

The two biggest single influences for Vampire Zombies... from Space! are Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space and the films of Mel Brooks. I initially conceived this film in high-school, and at that time, was obsessed with Mel Brooks' work, and after seeing Plan 9 I realised there was plenty of opportunity for parody... and it looked crappy enough that I thought "I can make something that looks like this!". But you are correct in that, the finished film has many additional influences; to name a few: South Park, Monty Python, John Waters, The Evil Dead, Robert Rodriguez and The Blob. We certainly wanted a 1950s look and feel, influenced by 1950s B-movies and Ed Wood, but a more contemporary humour that's a blend of Brooks, Python, and South Park.

Filmmakers today are all standing on the shoulders of giants, and for B-movies, it is no different. Your film seems to highlight a different side (from the mainstream, at least) of ‘what works’ in cinema – all the happy little accidents and rough edges which gave way to the natural charm that the older lower lower-budget horror films had. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Do you think more filmmakers should stay open to the potential positives of these so-called mistakes?

This is a great question. I think that this industry is so competitive that making something different, whatever that may mean to you, is what is going to set your project apart. By all accounts making a black and white parody of 1950s sci-fi and horror is super niche, and is something that no one else is making... (maybe for good reason? haha) ... and so I think filmmakers should focus on what they can do differently, to set themselves, and their idea, apart. I also think there's so much fun in watching an older, or low-budget film and peeking a bit behind the curtain, seeing a glimpse of a wire, or a mistake that reveals a bit of how the movie was made. We're exposed now to multi-million dollar hyper-edited, hyper-perfected movies, so I think seeing a dumb "do-it-yourself" movie can be a lot of fun, and can remind audiences of that personal touch filmmaking has to offer. These types of films aren't for everybody, but the people who do like Vampire Zombies... from Space! seem to like it, and I think that's another good takeaway for younger filmmakers: make what you want to see, because odds are other people like you want to see that same thing too. I'm not sure if that answered your question?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but most of the dialogue seems dubbed to stay true to the qualities of 50s B-movies. This certainly being stylistically the right choice, making the film all the more immersive and true to its’ roots – How did this impact the workflow on-set and in post-production compared to conventional filmmaking today? Any fun memories to share from recording sessions or such?

We did a lot of ADR (dubbed dialogue), mainly out of necessity rather than artistic reasons. When you're shooting quick and dirty on a low budget, you might not always be able to get that good sound you're hoping for. But we also wanted to fill the film with background audio jokes, so any time it's a crowd, for example, it's me, co-writer Alex Forman, and director Mike Stasko doing all the voices. Especially as I was editing it would be like 2 am and I'd think of some stupid line and record myself on my iPhone saying it, and then throw it into the mix... one of those lines now gets the biggest laugh in the film! As for fun stories about audio recording, there's a scene where our hero (Oliver Georgiou) teaches our heroine (Jessica Antovski) how to stab a zombie, and as they thrust the stake... things get steamy. So we needed to record some miscellaneous moans and grunts from Oliver, who lives a bit far from us. So our director got a cheap hotel room and set up the mic having Oliver moan and groan, and he's a great actor, so he really got into it. I can only imagine what the hotel staff was thinking as these two checked in for an hour, moaned, and checked out.

While loyal to its ’50s counterparts, the film brings about a hilarious form of fusion – using modern meme-level sound effects mixed in with everything else creates a feeling of sincerity behind every creative decision. Was there a point in production where the crew felt apprehensive about this type of approach, or did it all happen organically, where every decision was simply made based on ‘Is it funny?’. I recall a story of Monty Python rewriting their sketches until every member of the group felt the jokes were funny. How did it go for you?

Mel Brooks' school of thought on parody is what I always try to follow, its something to the effect of: For the comedy to really work, everything else needs to look, feel, and sound like the thing you're making fun of. So we wanted to fuse together that antiquated style and look with a more modern sensibility. The script my co-writer Alex Forman and I brought to Mike, was 70% of what you see in the finished film, and Alex and I have worked together for a decade now, making shorts and other comedy projects. We trust each other, and generally if it makes us both laugh... It's in. So it was all very intuitive, and just trusting that the audience will like the same things we do. We certainly knew the type of comedy we wanted. Funny enough, a few people have pointed out all the meme sound effects, and it seems I'm getting old because I just found them to be funny sound effects and had no idea until after a few screenings they were meme sounds, but again it just goes back to If I find it funny, chances are someone else will too.

I tend to tinker and do silly stuff when I’m editing, it really reminded me of those eureka moments where you discover something really funny by just - excuse my French - f**** around for the fun of it. One of my favourite technical jokes in the film was when the same ADR was used twice in a row – was this something that was also pre-planned or something that was discovered in post-production?**

So many extra jokes and moments came from f***ing around. A lot of it is also, as you're editing the same joke over and over, you get bored, so you want to try and pack in as much as you can. Which I hope means on repeat viewings, people will find more and more to like. You'll have to let me know about the same ADR point. I'm curious, but I don't think it was intentional?

I was a huge fan of the kooky, practical effects used in the film, and even though they’re very crude, they’re a big part of what gives the film its’ signature vibe. How much of those effects were written into the script, and how much of them came to life in production?

We always wanted practical effects and miniatures, it was part of the essence of the film. Even in the earliest version from high school back in 2010, I had used a rubber bat on a string and toy UFOS and toy tanks. It's just so stupid and funny, and that bat on a string is universal -- whether I've seen it in North America, South America or Europe, it just gets a huge laugh. It goes back to an earlier point, that everything is so sleek and polished now, I miss seeing miniatures and things we know are "hand-made" really charm us, and remind us that movies are supposed to be fun!

Was the tobacco angle an absurdist nod to old-timey propaganda movies such as Reefer Madness? How did you come up with it?

This one's a bit of a spoiler for those who haven't seen the film but yes, we certainly loved the idea that when this movie would've been made in real life (1957) doctors would be smoking, and tobacco products would have commercials with fun animated mascots, and that in our film tobacco was the hero! It adds one final joke that the whole film was one big smoking endorsement, which we think is funny. As for how we came up with it, it was Mike who said that we need to have a kryptonite of some sort that the vampires are killed by, and that it's something we should hint at throughout the movie. As we already knew we were going to have a ton of smoking in the film, I thought it would be hilarious if that was the vampires weakness... because its also human's weakness, sure its slow-acting, but its terrible for you, so its fun to think tobacco is something the vampires had never been exposed to up in space, and that when they come to this town where everyone smokes like a chimney they don't stand a chance.

Did you ever fear that putting deliberate mistakes in this film could take away from the sincerity of them? And as a result, lose an aspect of their humorous qualities? Like, those filmmakers 70 years ago didn’t put those imperfections in their films to be funny or charming. The unintentionality of it gives way to a sincerity which makes it all the more funny. After all, this is how many cult classics are born, such as The Room, Manos: The Hands of Fate, Fateful Findings and many more.

Well, I wouldn't say we put in any deliberate "mistakes", we chose to show miniatures as miniatures and allow the strings to be seen, but those were a joke, rather than a mistake. I think most things in there were comedic choices, but, I am positive there are a ton of actual, genuine mistakes in the film, which in an ironic life imitating art moment, were just a result of us having no money and no time. I think those mistakes add charm, and it's genuine charm from a genuine mistake. I would love for our dumb little movie to become a cult classic with those others, and for audiences to find and point out things they spot in our film.

,,Vampire Zombies from Space” and our dear Sander Maran’s ,,Chainsaws were Singing” feel almost spiritually fraternal. There’s no doubt that they belong at HÕFF, side by side. You both have these horror-comedy passion projects which you’ve worked hard on for years and the fruits of your labour are now free for the whole world to enjoy. How does the future look for these types of projects in today’s world and how do you feel about working together with other horror auteurs in the future, such as you and Maran are?

Absolutely. Sander and his brother Peeter have become very quick and genuine friends, simply because I saw their film and sought them out at Fantasia. Since then it's been shocking to learn how similar Sander and I are, and our projects are certainly kindred spirits. I came to Estonia to visit them back in 2024, and I can honestly say I've found great friends in them. They are great guys, and Chainsaws were Singing is not only an incredible film, but a testament to what anyone who wants to make something can do if they just stay true to their vision, and get out there and do it! (maybe don't take 13 years as they did.... haha but yeah) As for working together with Sander in the future, nothing would delight me more. The future of these types of projects I feel, is strong. We've had a decade of "mainstream" films, just making the same film over and over, and I think audiences are bored with the same. We're starting to see these lower-budget, obscure films break into the mainstream (Hundreds of Beavers, The People's Joker) and it's only a matter of time before we see more films, by people who love films, breaking through. I also think with everyone having a great camera on their phone, and the advancements in AI, the next five years we're going to see some wildly creative and exciting movies.

Author of the interview: Joonas Lass