Darren Lynn Bousman is known for directing films like “Saw II, III & IV” and “Repo! The Genetic Opera”. Darren is reuniting with Terrance Zdunich from “Repo” on his newest film “The Devil’s Carnival”. They are also currently touring with this film to over 30+ cities. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Darren about the film and what we can expect.
Mike Gencarelli: Can you tell us about the origin of “The Devil’s Carnival”?
Darren Lynn Bousman: Terrance and I have been trying to find another project to work on since “Repo! The Genetic Opera”. We just couldn’t find the right one. We knew the project had to be great and not just good. We threw ideas back and forth but nothing struck us as being great. All of a sudden this idea hit and we knew this was what we had to do. When you know you know and we jumped on this immediately.
MG: What do you feel is the hardest part of shooting a horror musical?
DLB: Every aspect. This is a self funded thing. We actually received funding from Empire Film and Entertainment 
Group in Florida. I met them through one of the producers and they are great guys. There was no studio behind us. It was basically just us doing this thing. We had a real lack of support. This was just a bunch of friends making a movie together. It’s sounds awesome but it was really hard because there was no infrastructure. Doing everything from the soundtrack to the posters was the hardest part. We recorded an entire album without the help of any outside system. We shot the film which should have taken a month in just seven days.
MG: How do you compare this production with that of “Repo! The Genetic Opera”?
DLB: This production I think is a little more mature. I will always love “Repo” as it is one of my favorite things. I just feel “Devil’s Carnival” is more mature and accessible. This film is equally bad ass and out of the box as “Repo”.
MG: Can you tell us about the cast?
DLB: It’s as extremely diverse and equally crazy as the Repo cast. Emilie Autumn, who is my favorite person in the world now, plays the painted doll. Clown from Slipknot, Nivek Ogre, Sean Patrick Flanery and Paul 
Sorvino to name just a few. This cast just is extremely diverse. I think that makes it awesome! It gives the film that “What the fuck” factor. To me that’s my favorite thing about this movie. It is just so crazy and out there. This casting on this film was very unsafe.
MG: Can you tell us about the 30 city tour you currently have going on?
DLB: It’s fucking insane! I am in a van right now with seven other people and it smells like feet and farts. It’s punk rock film making. The good people at Empire Film and Entertainment Group are funding this and we are doing this on the cheap for the art. Hopefully when people come out to the shows they see something they have never seen before. We want to make going to the movies and experience. This is a rock and roll concert in a movie theater.
