All language subtitles for Amityville Memories - Interview with Tom Berry (2022).English

(gentle music)

- Well, it came originally
from a producer

in Denver, Colorado

and a small company.

They had an idea to make
this Amityville movie,

and we developed a script with them,

and off we went basically.

At that time, there was a
very strong video market

throughout the world,

but particularly in
Europe and the U.S.,

and movies were financed that way.

There were a lot of
made-for-video movies,

and this was one of the
made-for-video movies we did,

which was the most successful.

This was, I think, a little
bit the golden age of horror.

One of the executive
producers of this movie

was Pierre David who did
the Scanners franchise

and Visiting Hours and
had done a lot of horror.

We, in this period,

were doing a number
of these video movies.

I did another movie
called Blind Fear,

which was sort of our first
foray in the horror genre.

So we were influenced
a little bit, I guess,

by the things that Pierre had done.

Horror has really evolved,

but this was I think a little bit

of the golden production age of horror.

In future years, we tried to revive

‘cause I always enjoyed horror
myself and liked making it.

I mean, the great thing about horror

is it's sort of complete
freedom visually

to do anything you want, right?

You're unconstrained from the
point of view of the visuals

and how you tell the story,
which is just a lot of fun.

I think it's a really
pure form of filmmaking,

but not long after this movie,

the numbers just
didn't work anymore.

We couldn't make it work.

And of course, the horror
movies got cheaper and cheaper,

and people started
making them sort of

on their father's credit
card and their cell phone,

and you just can't
do the same thing

with those kinds of resources.

You're looking for movies

that are much more concept-driven
than anything else.

Some of the other
Amityville movies tried

to tie in much more directly

to the original
James Brolin Amityville.

Kind of ironically,
I ended up directing

and producing a number of movies
with Jim Brolin over time.

So it was kind of interesting

that we did do an Amityville movie

and of course he was really the star

of the original Amityville movie.

There's been so much
in the Amityville space

that we wanted to just
tell a different story

in a classic way with some
really strong performers

and felt that if we made a good movie,

we'd do some business.

The unique thing about the
house with those two windows

that look a little bit like cat's eyes,

that would not have been so hard to do.

You just need a wall of a certain size,

and you could have faked the windows

and then shot the
reverses if you wanted to.

So that wasn't a difficult
thing to do, but we...

and I don't think it was really
a legally-driven decision,

but we just decided we
wanted to make our own movie.

I don't think we
were focusing too much

on the original movie.

I think we were...

Amityville, New York is a real town.

We had the book from Hans
Holzer, so we were real,

and Hans Holzer's book
doesn't really follow

the Amityville movie very closely.

So, in a way, we were working

in a parallel Amityville universe.

He had sold us the rights to the book.

There's an underlying book

that The Amityville
Curse is drawn from.

I wouldn't say it's drawn
particularly directly

from the book, but in order
to get the process going,

we had to option the book,

and just as we were
about to begin the movie,

he started a lawsuit,

which angered and
frightened our insurance,

and he basically was looking

to shake down the production,

get as much money as he could.

I remember we had a very tense meeting

with a room full of
lawyers, and I said,

"We've acquired the rights
completely legitimately.

This is just an illegitimate attempt

to get some money out of us.

I don't want to give them any."

And my legal and insurance
company advisors said,

"Ah, come on.

He's only asking for $10,000.

Give him $10,000."

So, against my better judgment,

we sent him a little
one-page agreement,

where he agreed to
go away for $10,000.

They had fax machines in those days.

Almost by return of fax,

he asked for $100,000.

(laughs) If you give me 10,

you'll probably giving me 100.

And at that point,
all of the financiers

and partners in the movie
realized that I had been right,

that we shouldn't
give him anything,

and we proceeded anyway.

This ended up in
a lengthy lawsuit,

where the various
parties to it spent

hundreds of... six figure
amounts on their lawyers.

And finally, we got a
judgment in a court in Denver,

which was the most scathing
judgment you could imagine,

it's very rare,

that said Holzer was
totally, totally wrong.

In addition to that,

he would have to pay
all of our legal fees,

which is highly unusual...
which, at this point,

different parties to this
thing run up six figures

of legal fees.

Unfortunately, he was, as
they say, judgment proof.

(chuckles) There was no way
to get the money out of him.

It's about a group of people,

classic situation, kind
of going to the country

for a weekend and things happen,

so there are a lot of
actors to deal with.

It's not just... the movie is...

if you look at the
earlier movie Blind Fear,

you've usually got
two actors in a scene,

whereas in this movie,

so much of it at the beginning
is this group of actors,

very different actors. Tony Rubes,

son of Jan Rubes,
relatively inexperienced,

very kind of nice, clean cut look.

Cassandra Gava, kind
of Hollywood performer,

and some solid Canadian performers,

who hadn't done international
work before.

Yeah, I'd done a couple
things with Kim Coates.

Very, very fond of him.

Maybe because I haven't
worked much in the genres

that he's strong
in for a long time,

I've lost touch with him,
but very talented performer.

We had a funny personal connection.

My father was actually a professor

at the University of Saskatchewan,

and Kim was one of his students
and had gone to stay in...

my parents had a house in the UK,

and Kim had stayed there.

We discovered that
this had happened years

before Kim and I started
working together.

But we did a few things together

and brilliant, brilliant actor.

He does that sort of mean
guy really, really well.

And of course, I think
like most performers

who are so good in
those kinds of roles,

he's just the sweetest human being.

My favorite part of making
that movie was all the stuff

around the confessional,

and we built the confessional.

You could put the camera
above it, below it,

take a wall out, and the
confessional scenes were

in these tight closeups
through the wire mesh

and then there was the prosthetics,

where the face would be coming

through this kind
of rubber variation

or rubber version of the
wall of the confessional.

So the confessional I really liked

because it was just a fun assignment

from a cinematographic point of view,

and also I got to
work with Jan Rubes,

who was a wonderful actor.

He's best known as the Amish
grandfather in Witness.

You go into it and you don't know

whether to make a
joke out of it all.

Obviously safety is
first and foremost,

but when the special effects
guys get out of the way

and the harness has been
rigged, there you are,

somebody's hanging on this rope,

and you're around a hanging.

It sort of silences
everybody for a while.

Well, you gotta love that.

I mean, Cassandra Gava
in a bathtub, I mean...

I'm sorry, I'll buy the
movie just for that scene.

And it's always... you've
done this over and over again.

When you're talking to a
performer about the effects,

invariably, and I've done this...

once did a movie where we had

to cover somebody's face with wasps,

and when you speak to the
actress or actor beforehand,

it doesn't seem like a big deal,

but when you get in
and actually do it,

it's not easy.

It's one of those things...

whenever you have
anything moving on anybody

or you're doing a nude scene
in a bathtub, obviously,

to the extent that
you don't actually

have to do full body
nudity, you never do,

but that stuff is difficult.

You look at how
long it is on screen,

and you kind of go through the steps

of how it's going to be done,

and then you double the time

you think it would normally take.

You have to deal with the
performer getting creeped out.

I was happy that we were able,

on the budget, to
actually do everything

that was in the script.

So often, you just run
out of time and money,

or the effects people just say,

"Well, this is all I've got.
Make it work with this."

I remember being satisfied

that all the pieces came together.

(saw whooshes)
(man screams)

It's a wonderful job, but
it's a very difficult life,

and I think that was what
finally weighed on me.

You go from being very much
at the center of attention

because while you're directing

in prep and during photography,

really every single detail,
everything that the camera sees

and every sound that's recorded

is part of the telling of the story,

which you're in charge of,

so all the people that have
to marshal those resources

want your ear.

And then you go from having
complete control of everything

to kind of having
control of nothing.

You do the director's cut,
producers take it over,

and then you sit at home
without any friends,

worried that producers are
gonna screw up your vision.

And shortly after that,
it occurs to you

that you need another job,

so you quickly phone all
the producers you know

and try to ingratiate yourself

and pitch other projects.

A very, very difficult life.

Well, we finished the movie on film,

as you did in those days.

There were buyers who had to
be delivered the film version,

and I'm positive there were
some theatrical releases,

not in North America.

I remember that every
movie contractually

had to be released
theatrically in South Africa,

and the company that bought
the South African rights

was an integrated video,
television, theater conglomerate,

so they certainly did.

I wouldn't be surprised as well...

we had a deal with the Shaw
family out of Singapore,

Run Run Shaw, the original,

the first people to do
martial arts movies.

That branch of the family
ended up in Singapore,

and I believe they put everything...

they acquired the rights,

and they put everything
in the theater as well.

So I'm sure it got some
theatrical releases,

but in North America,
it was certainly video.

My memory of this, I don't
remember the numbers,

but that it did very well on video.

It's camPY-

I think it's hard to find
the movie offensive, frankly.

There were a lot of
other movies at the time,

which are much, much
more hard-edged.

I have fond memories
of making the movie

and of working with
all of the principles,

from Rodney Gibbons to doing
the music with Milan Kymlicka.

I can still remember
Milan kind of humming

and singing snatches
of the music to me

when he was composing it.

It's not a movie which is
designed to be taken seriously,

from a kind of emotional
or a critical perspective,

but personally, I think the
movie holds up pretty well

as a horror movie, which is not meant

to be taken always seriously.

(gentle music)