Tim Sullivan

Tim Sullivan began his career as a teenager pumping fake blood for the 80s cult horror flick THE DEADLY SPAWN (1983). This brought him to New York University where he studied film and wrote the music news for MTV. Upon graduation, Tim served in various capacities on 'Three Men And A Baby', 'Cocktail', 'Coming To America' and 'Godfather III' before co-producing the independent hits 'If Looks Could Kill' and 'America Exposed'. In 1990, Tim moved to LA where he worked in development at New Line Cinema for five years. It was there that he first encountered DETROIT ROCK CITY (1999), which he eventually co-produced, finding himself yet again pumping fake blood- though this time for Gene Simmons of the rock group KISS. Having formed New Rebellion Entertainment, Tim made his directorial debut with the Lions Gate horror-comedy, 2001 MANIACS (2005), followed by the hip hop fright fest, SNOOP DOGG'S HOOD OF HORROR (2006). With these admittedly over-the-top, decidedly non-PC “Splatsticks" under his belt, for his follow-up, DRIFTWOOD (2006), the filmmaker decided to tackle another type of horror: the post-Columbine American trend of privately owned and operated “Attitude Adjustment Camps” for youths deemed troubled and problematic by their parents. A complete flip in vibe from previous efforts, DRIFTWOOD is a character driven, supernatural teen thriller starring Ricky Ullman and Talan Torriero that has been described as 'Stand By Me' meets 'Ghost Story'. It’s Sullivan’s way of expressing his driving philosophy that no one should be forced to be what they are not, for if and when that does occur, the real nightmares truly do take shape. Next up, a double dose of 2001 Maniacs; first the graphic novel from Avatar Press followed by BEVERLY HELLBILLYS, it's much anticipated and demanded sequel. After that, Sullivan will return to more subtle and elegant horror with BROTHERS OF THE BLOOD, a haunting vampire romance starring British sensation Mitch Hewer of SKINS.
MONSTERS IN THE CLOSET by R O'DONNELL

Tim often sees the world as a sinister vaudeville show, an eerie tent revival inside a gloomy circle with multicolored freaks standing in the spotlight. He sees that with a puff of smoke and a "watch-me-pull-a-rabbit-out-of-my-hat". He also sees a happy ending, a wink at the audience amidst good old rock n' roll. Yeah... Tim Sullivan is the showman's showman. Hell, Tim Sullivan thinks he's a freak himself. But as he tells me over the phone in dramatic intonation, "Not all freaks are monsters though," says Sullivan. "I'm a guy, for better or for worse, that never apologizes for who I am. I'm the unruly "rebel" that's even tattooed those letters in Chinese across my arm. I'm protesting all the time-against conformity, the mundane." READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
THE COLONEL’S CRYPT with COLONEL SCOTT PERRY

“Folks, if you want to see original films with balls that aren’t just rehashes of the same film you saw last summer, if you don’t want corporate studio shit directed by some guy who made a car commercial produced by the guy who did ARMAGEDDON, then support Indie horror for God’s sake. But these films. Rent them. DO NOT download them for free. Download the studio crap, but go out and spend fifteen bucks for the Indie stuff. Go buy 2001 MANIACS and HATCHET and THE GIRL NEXT DOOR on DVD so there can be more film like them. Jeez, what can I say, Colonel. I’m sure you and I will be nailed to a cross for this conversation READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
THE FanGirl INTERVIEW by SLICK MATECHECK

"I think one of the reasons why I always liked Kiss was because on the surface we all may look like Clark Kent, but there's Superman underneath us. And if you look at those guys, they're just pretty average looking guys, but then they put on the Kiss getups and they're the Demon and the Starchild, the Spaceman and the Catman. I always felt that rock and roll was to the music industry what horror movies are to the film industry." READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
ICONS OF FRIGHT INTERVIEW with ROB G

"There are scenes in DRIFTWOOD that I thought up when I was 16. One of them is the scene where the father is telling his son to be a man. My dad left when I was 8, but I’d see him on weekends and he’d always make sure to tell me that all the things I liked were crap. From KISS to horror to FAMOUS MONSTERS. I remember one time I said to him, “You don’t know anything about me”. And he said, ”I know everything about you!” So I closed my eyes and said, “Okay, then Dad. What color are my eyes?” And for the life of him, he couldn’t tell me. And that moment I vowed to myself that one day I’m going to put this in something I make one day. Well, it took thirty years, but I finally did." READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
THE LIFE AND TIMES by BOB BANKARD

"A lot of people who get envious of other people’s success. I don't think they've tried that hard. You can't just write one script, and if that doesn't get made, sit back and whine and grumble. Do you know how many scripts I had written before "Maniacs" got made? You know how many doors I've knocked on? It takes time. It takes tenacity. It takes not taking no for an answer." READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
TIM SULLIVAN INTERVIEWS ROB ZOMBIE

ROB: Most people who write about movies don’t really know how they’re made. They never stood on a set for 18 hours day after day after day. They’ve never sat in preproduction meeting. TIM: No. They sit on their fat asses in front of a computer screen talking the game rather than playing it. ROB: Exactly, and there’s also that thing, where like, everybody goes, “Oh, I wanna direct.” Like it’s so easy and anybody can do it. Somehow you just walk on set, yell "Action" and then you go eat sushi. TIM: But isn’t that what you do? That’s what I did on 2001 MANIACS! (laughs).READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
FEAR AND LOATHING IN LUMPKIN by Philip Nutman

"Robert Englund has just slipped on a banana peel—literally—and director Tim Sullivan punches a fist in the cold night air, a big, good-natured grin on his face. Not only has Englund just enacted an involuntary pratfall of sorts, he also has managed to kick a blood-soaked severed head off the sloping tabletop on which he is ranting and raving in a Southern accent. Sullivan proudly states that 2001 MANIACS is probably the most politically incorrect movie you’ll see this decade. “I wanted to go beyond the original—way beyond,” he says with a satanic smile and a mischievous glint in his eye. He then has to excuse himself to return to his monitor to watch Englund leap over a flaming fire bar for the third time in an hour." READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
DREAD CENTRAL INTERVIEW by Johnny Butane

"When we were filming 2001 MANIACS, all these young actors were running around the hotels on location.. I was going to call the movie 2001 NYMPHOMANIACS... And then when we were editing, all the financiers and producers had to piss on the hydrant and have it their way, I wanted to call it 2001 EGOMANIACS." READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
THE 2001st MANIAC by ELAINE LAMKIN

"One of these days they’ll give me a movie to direct that has more than a 15 day shooting schedule! Man, it was rough. Despite it all, I think having limitations can actually prove positive. It forces you to be creative and truly make sure the script is solid and the scenes you are shooting are absolutely necessary. I think that sometimes having 100 days and 100 million dollars can be more of a curse than a blessing, as it often makes filmmakers lazy and results in bloated “blockbusters’ with lots of spark but no soul." READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
THE UMM INTERVIEW by MASTER OF HORROR MIKE

" Yes, there will be a sequel to MANIACS. Robert will be back, along with some of your favorite maniacs and some new ones. It’s called BEVERLY HELLBILLYS, so you can pretty much imagine the direction I’m going. Basically, the Sheriff plows over the detour road, so guests show up at this year’s Festival. Undaunted, Buckman and Granny figure if the guests won’t come to them, they’ll go to the guests. And so they head out on the road for California where they set up the Pleasant Valley Civil War Traveling Road Show. The script is done and we hope to shoot early '07. All new laffs, all new boobs and all new gore. Yee Haw! READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
THE TOXIC SHOCK INTERVIEW by BRIAN CORDER

"Movies are no longer told in the classic sense of storytelling. They are modeled after video games where you have these different levels - Each level has a goal, you complete it and move on to the next level. You never breath and let the story unfold naturalistically, let the characters develop. It's just one mind numbing CGI effect thrown in your face after the other. Where the foreplay? Where's the buildup? Where's the pay-off?" READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
GOD, GORE & GEEK SENSIBILITIES by DAVID CANFIELD

"I always wanted to be super priest and wear a black shirt and white collar and go around exorcising evil!! So I went to my local parish priest, Father Mark, and told him that I really believed I had a calling he said 'Welcome to the club; everybody has a calling! But,Tim, quite honestly, you can change more people with a movie screen.' And that changed my life." READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
INTERVIEW WITH A MANIAC by ERIK ESPE

"Some of the most spiritual films are horror films. For it is often that only in being faced with evil, that we realize the existence of good. Only when we meet the Devil up close and personal that we embrace that there is a God. In this regard, I think that THE EXORCIST is not only one of the greatest horror films ever made (in my opinion, the greatest), but also one of the most spiritual. It truly shows a group of people having a crisis in spirituality who come to be strong in their faith and belief only after confronting the ultimate of evil." READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
TIM SULLIVAN GOES TO CAMP BLOOD by BUZZ

"All my closest friends out here in California are horror fans who have no problem that I’m gay because they know what it was like to be ostracized simply because you preferred Dracula over Reggie Jackson. Or, you know, you preferred making a Super-8 horror movie over playing a game of football. And so, I’m at home in the horror community where I can be gay and no one has a problem with it. I find that when I play outside, in the non-gay, non-horror film community, that’s where I have a problem fitting in. And no matter what anyone says about the arts and Hollywood being accepting of people being gay, that’s bullshit – they say that because it makes good copy. But there is still homophobia rampant in Hollywood. And I’m probably guilty of it too – I mean, I would probably not go to a premiere with a guy, but hope I can get to the day where I would." READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
SCARY STUD OF THE MONTH by SUPER HEIDI

PS: What are your turn-ons? TIM: Vampires. Yep. I love ‘em. Always have since I first saw Bela Lugosi as Dracula when I was five years old. Something about the fangs and the cool clothes. I also like the way they can pick someone out they want and make them into one of their own kind. Is that a bad thing to like?" READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
THE JOE HORROR INTERVIEW by JOE HORROR