Stevan Mena was bitten by the film bug at an early age, while seeing (and being terrified by)The Texas Chainsaw Massacre a few years later cemented his purpose. After years of writing, he developed a 500 page story involving a young man, kidnapped and made witness to unspeakable crimes. Cutting it into three parts, this story was further developed into screenplays, with MALEVOLENCE being the middle part. Stevan raised funds independently, and Malevolence struggled to life as production and postproduction was spread out over several years. It won Best Feature at the Long Island Film Festival, Best film at the New York City Horror Film Festival, and is receiving some of the best reviews for an indie horror film in years. Painted Zebra Releasing and Anchor Bay Entertainment have been releasing the film theatrically in select markets since September.

Adam: What got you into film? I know seeing Texas Chainsaw at 12 or 13 knocked you out.

Stevan Mena: I had been actually making films for a few years; I was the geek with the camcorder; actually had to carry around the VCR with me, that's how old this thing was; the battery was IN the VCR- so I was doing films since I was eleven. What Chainsaw did was it showed me-after I researched how the film was made- it took me from "Making films was fun" to "Making films-I could do this for a living." I saw how they did it, and I said wow, independent film! Do it outside the system, and not really need to know somebody to do it. It put the bug in me that it could be done.

Adam: You went to film school for a while before deciding it wasn't going to help much. Where did you go?

Stevan Mena: New York Institute of Technology. They were very discouraging, so I left. I was always of the mind that if I was going to do this, I'd have to just go out and do it. Take the money I was going to give to the college, and pay a crew and just go out and do it the hard way.

But I always wanted to be a writer and director, writer first, actually; and I was writing scripts from 1990 on, and I could never put anything together that I felt was actually good enough to go and spend money on; it wasn't till 1996 I came across the idea for Malevolence, I started writing and writing, it became so big that it was like 500 pages long; I had to break it up into three scripts.

But I still wasn't ready to go out and make a film- then the thing that changed for me, was I met this guy Ralph Toporoff at a film festival. And he was just orchestrating a thing-not a seminar, but like a month long film school. Where you just go in and learn the business end of filmmaking. He wasn't going to show you how to load a camera, he was going to show you how to hire a crew, how to interview actors, how to plan your day, set up your shots. I felt like I really had the ammunition I needed to go out and do it (then), and it definitely paid off for me. Virtually everything I learned in that class came into play on the film.

Adam: What sparked the idea of Malevolence?

Stevan Mena: I know I wanted to do a horror film, because all the directors I liked broke through with horror films. Spielberg, Cameron(Piranha II), Ridley Scott with Alien, Carpenter with Halloween, Evil Dead's Sam Raimi.. I figured ..if you do a romantic comedy, there's no fanzines for romantic comedies, they aren't going to beat down your door to see a film.. If you do a horror film, even if you do it for ten bucks, somebody will want to go see it. So I felt with that kind of a built-in audience, since I'm a nobody, I figured at least if I do a horror film, I'll have an audience already set that I could at least show it to. And may be into it. So that's how I started the horror script.

The idea of Malevolence came from like six different places, couldn't really put my finger on it. The idea for the mask he wears over his head came from this bank robbery script that I wrote...

If you really break it down, It's like a Freudian study on nature vs. nurture. Are we born evil, born a killer, or is it created through our environment? And it's a character study of that, if you really break it down to its center.

Adam: Why have people categorized it as a slasher/drama?

Stevan Mena: It's probably because I didn't want to do the cliches of the kids having sex, doing drugs, showing up just to get killed. I wanted to see if I could do something that had a subplot that people actually cared about. Something else at stake instead of just the killer. And actually Fangoria penned that term. Because of the fact that there is actually a story behind what's going on. And it's also a slasher film.. and they said you very rarely see something that has so many elements in this type of film. It's usually just the one element.

Adam: Going for a little more depth.

Stevan Mena: Absolutely.

Adam: Did you always intend to start in the middle?

Stevan Mena: No, the reason I did it was the first part of the story is very character driven, so I knew I wanted to get name actors, the end of the story is a lot of car chases, crashes, things like that..a lot of big sets, knew I couldn't do that. The middle part all takes place in this little house. I knew I could do that, not as much going on in terms of big stunts. So I figured I could possibly pull it off.

Adam: The middle was financially feasible.

Stevan Mena: Yeah, yeah. Which is a joke, because when I first started, I had 25 grand in my pocket. Thinking ˜yeah, I'll be alright." We get to buy the film, the film's 36 grand, I'm like OK we're broke! Now what? (laughs)

Adam: You mentioned you were writing scripts before checking out school.

Stevan Mena: I was writing even when I was real young, but I didn't really understand film scripts until I started studying how films were made; right around the time I graduated high school. I started like: Step one. I need a script. What's a script? So I studied that.. Took me about 6-7 years to figure out how to do it, but I was at least starting back then. So now it's been like 14 years, and I still feel like I have so much to learn, still.

Adam: Just read a lot of books and scripts?

Stevan Mena: Books, and I would watch films that I liked. And I would go "OK, why did I like that?" Horror films- you'll notice I have a lot of homages to horror films in this, some are really obvious, and I do that on purpose, some are really subtle and hidden..and I'm really surprised some people find the hidden ones! I'm like ˜you really know your horror films!"

But I watched all my favorite horror films, and I'm thinking as I watch them: Why is this scary? Why do I like this? Why do I care if that character dies or not? I would play that in my head over and over because I wanted to do something that people would like, that would be really scary, and that reminded me of the way I felt of when I first saw Halloween; Texas Chainsaw; I wanted people to get that same feeling.

Adam: Did you write all three Malevolence scripts? Or just the stories?

Stevan Mena: I wrote the story, like 500 pages; then I whittled it down, to three different scripts...moved some things here, moved some things there..

Adam: Do you have them at the ready?

Stevan Mena: Oh yeah! We could go on forever; there's like 10 years of this film that is never even approached; from the time the boy is kidnapped up until the time that this movie takes place. (1999)

Adam: Did you put this to a specific budget or know what you could get for part 1..

Stevan Mena: No idea. I was just like "let's just do it." (laughs) That was my attitude...Had a little bit of money, just wanted to go for it. I was able to raise a little, maxed out every credit card I could find..We had a couple of investors, but it wasn't enough to offset all the costs, so I ended up putting a ridiculous amount on all my cards. Essentially it's ruined me financially; But when you're nuts like me and just want to make movies, you don't care. Just hope it'll all work out.

Adam: And you chose to shoot in 35mm!

Stevan Mena: The reason we shot 35mm was because, there's a sea of DV out there. There's like a dearth of (all these films), and the distributors didn't want to waste their time. So we figured there's gotta be a way we can break through that mess, how can we do it? Well nobody's shooting on 35 anymore; everyone's shooting on DV- so let's shoot 35. And at least when we go to the distributors...and it worked!

When we were done, we could call distributors, we'd say "We shot an independent film." they're like (bored, tired voice) "Oh, uh huh..who's in it?" And we're like, "No stars." They're like "Oh. Whatever." And they ask "What's it shot on? 35? Really? Oh, OK. Well let's see it!" Every time, that happened. We screened for so many companies, they had no problem coming down to view it. Only because it was shot 35.

Adam: Tell me a little about your casting and thoughts on the actors. Also how was it working with them?

Stevan Mena: We cast in NYC over several months. All the actors were great; they showed up and gave 110 %, often under terrible conditions.

Adam: How did you come up with your cinematographer? (Tsuyoshi Kimoto won a student academy award in 1997.) What was he like to work with?

Stevan Mena: We found our DP by placing advertisements for DP Reels. We went through about 50. His came from an ad through something called the Film Monitor. We never actually placed an ad in that publication, so how he came to us is still shrouded in mystery.

He was a very talented person, as you can see by his work. He was difficult at times because he came with his own ideas, and took our objections to his suggestions very personally sometimes. But he had never worked on a horror film before, and often I had to diminish some elaborate lighting schemes of his because they just didn't fit the style of this sort of film. But overall he was a real pleasure to work with.

Adam: Tell me a little about the shoot, good and bad.

Stevan Mena: It was a battle from start to finish. We had actors quitting halfway through, car crashes that weren't in the script, one actor had a brain aneurism. You name it, it happened. I was arrested twice, hecklers would drive by ruining takes, the lab destroyed a whole days shoot, PA's stole cash from the set, caterers didn't show up, I got attacked by giant rats, I had a minor heartattack on the last day of shooting, our sound guy's equipment broke while out on location, so we had to dub several scenes, it went on and on, we never got a reprieve. The always complaining crew would sabotage shots to protest the poor working conditions (like leaving ladders in the shot, smashing bulbs in our lighting equipment, or even one time stealing the negative and ransoming it back. The only real good memories I took from it were completing the last day of shooting, and the great relationship I had with the actors, who no matter how terrible and hopeless things got, always stood by the project and supported it.

Adam: Have you always composed music? Is this the first film you did it for?

Stevan Mena: I've actually wanted to be a film composer for a long time. I grew up a huge fan of John Williams. I had all of his soundtracks. This is the first real feature I've ever worked on, and this is my first score.

Adam: When you do the music- is it clear from the start what you want? Did you compose any before the shoot, or was it all afterwards?

Stevan Mena: I composed only the main theme before shooting. It was created for a short trailer I shot to help finance the film. It kind of stuck, and became the main theme music. Most of the music in the film are derived from the chord structure of that theme. As far as knowing what I wanted, I was only aware that I wanted the characters to have their own themes, especially the killer.

Adam: While it's always important to nail the mood and the scares, if we aren't interested in seeing any character survive,the tension is softened. You were able to flesh out some of your leads so we'd want to see them make it..did your actors bring a lot to those roles, did the fact that you have two other scripts of "backstory" involving these characters help keep them fleshed out?

Stevan Mena: The actors I felt did an amazing job of bringing the script to life. Courtney (Bertolone)in particular I felt did an outstanding job of looking scared and brave at the same time. Most of the actors had done some work before, but this was Courtney's first time in frontof any camera!

Adam: You manage to pull off some scares in situations horror geeks have seen before; but audiences are jumping at it. Thoughts or comments?

Stevan Mena: Everything has been done before, in every genre. It's all about the presentation. I look at scares the way a boxer would give you a sucker punch. It's distraction, then surprise. It can be done with camera, music, action, or all three. I think when all three are working in unison is when you can really nail the audience.

Adam: How has the festival route been, and meeting and dealing with distributors?

Stevan Mena: The festival run has been great. I never even expected a film with subject matter like Malevolence to even be admitted to a festival, so you can imagine our shock when we won. Anchor Bay felt so strongly about it, they made it their first theatrically released film. The scope of the release really depends on how well Malevolence is received.

Adam: Painted Zebra Releasing- what's their background, and how has the collaboration been with them? When did they come aboard?

Stevan Mena: The collaboration has been great. Painted Zebra is a new company looking to make a name for itself in distribution. They were the first to recognize Malevolence's potential, and have really carried the ball and made this release happen. They were instrumental in coordinating with Anchor Bay. In fact Anchor Bay recently re-released The Osterman Weekend, which was produced by Michael Murphy of Painted Zebra.

How much goes unrevealed in Malevolence? Do we need to see all 3 parts of the story to fully get it?

Stevan Mena: There's a lot that is hinted at, that will be explained in the next two chapters. I think you can imagine what might take place, but definitely seeing the other films will help understand many of the loose ends. There are also many twists that will change what you saw (or thought you saw) in the first film.

Adam: Which would you like to do next? Are other non-Malevolence scripts planned?

Stevan Mena: Several new scripts are done, or almost done. I have a thriller which I plan to do after Malevolence is completed.

Adam: What would you like to see in films now that you rarely see?

Stevan Mena: Well, I'd like to see great actors like Michael Wincott get some dramatic lead roles. In fact he would be my first choice in the next script I'm working on. I think what's missing is the opportunity for upcoming actors to get more chances. I get tired of seeing actors who are dreadfully wrong for a movie get the part just because of who they are. I'm tired of seeing the same faces over and over. Learn more at the official website for Malevolence.

Adam Barnick