Born in New Jersey, director Dante Tomaselli has known his destiny since a young age: "For as long as I can recall, I've always been drawn to the macabre. Even as I child, I knew that I wanted to one day become a magician/parapsychologist/horror filmmaker." After studying film and advertising at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and New York's School of Visual Arts, he created several abstract horror shorts under the titles MAMA'S BOY and DESECRATION.

Soon after he expanded the short's themes into the feature-length DESECRATION, which was widely acclaimed and released by Image Entertainment in 2000. This Spring marks the release of HORROR, his second film which has garnered festival awards and universal acclaim for its nightmarish atmosphere and hallucinatory mind-bending storyline. Before its release May 27, it had already become an even more popular thematic follow-up to DESECRATION, and a best-seller on many advance DVD preorder lists. His third film, SATAN'S PLAYGROUND, will go into production this Fall as he continues to explore and twist the horror genre into new realms.

WARNING: Minor story spoilers for his films, primarily DESECRATION, below...

Obviously from reading of your passions, you have been creating dark imagery from an early age...what made you decide your primary medium would be film? Do you still paint or draw as well?

I don't paint and draw as much as I used to. When I was 18 and 19 and attending Pratt Institute in Brooklyn is when I think I had my biggest explosion of painting and drawing and taking photographs. Unfortunately, most all of them are gone. They were safely tucked away in my brother's closet at my mother's house and someone threw them all out. Was it an accident or was it intentional? I don't know. It makes my blood boil because also thrown out were book reports and artwork from as early as first grade. I had been saving everything for a reason. And now it's all gone. It really angers me. Also negatives from high school and college photographs. Everything. Then when I transferred to School of Visual Arts and finally graduated - I ended up losing my Advertising copywriting portfolio in a taxi in NYC. I lost my first version of Desecration I made when I was like 22 - I have no idea where that is.

How many versions of your short film Desecration did you create before the feature length version? Were you satisfied with previous tries?

I made like 5 versions of the short, from when I was 22 to 26. Originally it was called MAMA'S BOY. At the time I thought they were masterpieces. And they weren't. That's an easy trap for an independent filmmaker to fall into. You overrate it all. I know you have to believe in yourself...but to not accept any criticism as valid is foolish. You eventually learn. As I got older, I realized each year, that the previous Desecration short was bad. I kept on trying to improve. I mean, some of them had their moments. But the acting was awful...except for Christie Sanford...and I had no grip on telling a story. They had flashes of visual and conceptual promise -- but that's about it. The full-length film is so much better I think.

To me Desecration is (and probably Horror is) about repression, denial. Dangers of repression and it finally bursting forth. Being trapped in the nightmares of one's past. Trying to put a lid on the sins of the past; the murder of a spiritual figure unleashes a Pandora's box of psychic violence, much of which originated in family-related trauma. The characters were damned long before this, but now "the devil claims his due..." Thoughts?

Wow - hey, that's a great way to put it. DESECRATION is about the dangers of repression. The film is all about repression and denial -- keeping it inside, not confronting, sweeping it under the rug. And what you push down...comes popping back...full force. Bobby was the type who kept things inside. When his mother was alive, she would sadistically tie his hands and feet to the playpen. She tortured him. And she hated it when he cried. Isn't that cruel? That's what would really set her off -- him crying. So Bobby learned to keep it inside. All of this abuse happened before he was five.

As a teenager, he forgot what his mother looked like because there were no pictures of her. Of course -- there was just one -- but it's locked away, hidden...in a safe...in the basement. Bobby didn't even know about it. But his grandmother did. She gave it so much energy.

Maybe she put it there. When Bobby accidentally killed the nun, Sister Madeline, the two figures of his mother and the nun intertwined in his mind. He saw a faceless nun. All of his guilt and confusion...it became externalized. All the main characters in Desecration...are damned -- it's just a matter of time.

I like how Mr. Rullo 'locked away' the picture of Mary, instead of destroying it. Like how people holding on to mementos of bad relationships...His last line? "I thought I had (the past) locked up!" Did you feel Mary’s picture was literally a source of negative power, or simply symbolic of the emotional trouble that had happened?

It was literally a source of negative power. The family gave this framed picture all this energy by locking it away. It came alive. It could not ignored. The framed picture itself has different symbols scattered about. There's a white cake in the photo. There's the grinning clown. Leaves and plants..earth. The flames of hell. The cage-like motif. Many vertical lines -- like bars. Also, it's a wedding snapshot. And there was the nun wedding in the beginning of the film. The colors...from pure black...a nun's habit...to pure white...a wedding dress. A new life. Reincarnation. Resurrection.

Do you have one definitive interpretation of each of your films, even though they are layered enough to support multiple interpretations? (you don't have to elaborate on what it might be) Or should we approach them like paintings, and take what we can from it?

Definitely like paintings. They're like those 70's mood rings -- they change colors every time you watch them depending on your mood. The films are what you bring to them. They're like psychic sponges. They're both about, so far, eternal damnation or suicide. My films are interior journeys.

Your work so far reminds me of David Lynch, in the sense of him working from the unconscious and the viewer responding with strong emotion, even if on the surface we can't articulate what happened to us. When creating your work, is it more about instinct and knowing when it's right? Is it an unconscious reaction for you as well?

It's all very unconscious. When I was in college, Pratt Institute, I'd paint and draw faceless nuns all the time. I couldn't stop. Then one time, when I was at my family's house...I lived in the dorms but came home to Jersey on the weekends...one time I took one of my most elaborate, celebrated faceless nun paintings and viciously destroyed it. I was crazed. I went into the refrigerator and poured ketchup, mustard, all sorts of vile things, jellies, beets, co-co syrup...and splattered them on the painting. I despised it with every fiber of my being. Something deep inside me was making me destroy it. I never did anything like that with any of my other paintings. The whole thing was purely unconscious. Then of course, years later, I had nuns in DESECRATION. The faceless nuns resurfaced with a vengeance.

What is your writing process like in your screenplays? Does it start with a theme, an image? Often that first image acts as a 'magnet' for more ideas and pictures, and a film can form around it.

Yes, it starts with an image. For me, in Desecration, it was the boy in the cage. And of course the faceless nun, but more the cage, the image of the demon mother feeding her caged son. The image of her holding a baby bottle filled with hallucinogens. And of course, the deep hole...a womb tomb.

How many drafts do you tend to do before you have what you need?

Well, I rewrite endlessly, but probably like two or three absolute drafts...sometimes more. The beginning and the end are always clear in my mind - it's what comes in between that always changes.

What is your favorite part of the process? Writing, on set, postproduction?

Writing is torturous...but ultimately I enjoy it. My favorite part? I'd say, definitely post production. Editing - scoring the film, watching all the pieces coming together. I'm in heaven then. The production, the shooting of the film, is grueling. I visualize post production just to get me through it.

How did your first meeting with Jack Swain come about? Was he a producer, had he financed other works?

We met at NY Angelika Film Center's IFFM in 1996 when DESECRATION was just a short...or a trailer. He never produced anything before. Jack considered financing DESECRATION as a sort of experiment. He owns a stocks and bonds company on Wall Street and manages money portfolios. Jack never intended to be a film producer ever. He just signed up for that Film Market on a whim. And as I said it was kind of an experiment for him. It still is.

On set, were all the actors "into" the abstract? Did you ever have to overexplain things to cast/crew, or did they run with it?

WeIl, casting is everything. The performer should really really want the role with a passion. The best actors you can kind of leave to their own devices. I'm there for guidance and direction and emotional support -- but I want a performer to feel like he or she owns the role...to have ideas as to how it should be played. As long as we're on the same page, then that's great director/actor chemistry...I cherish that. Because I have to look at the big picture...and...as you know...I place special emphasis on mood and atmosphere. I hate having to overexplain things on set. I really do. Usually I don't have to. There are so many shots to get done in so little time. I pretty much make sure that we're all on the same page during preproduction. Cast and crew. I try to get intimate with my actors and core crew before shooting. Plus, it should be fun, exciting. And instinctual. There should be an almost telepathic bond during production. I think talking too much about something elusive, abstract, something magical, diminishes it.

I've often read how distinctly you picture the visuals beforehand. How distinctly do you "hear" the film beforehand?

I collect sounds before the actual shoot. Many times I'll play them on my CD walkman just to get me in the right mood before filming. Different weird ambient sampled sound effects. During preproduction, I'll go to Sam Ash and buy out all the techno, spacey and horror-themed samples and then go to a studio and mix them...with organic sound effects like earthquakes and volcanoes..and then I'll mix that slab of sound with keyboard synth tones. Soon I have this palette of unique noise textures. For some reason, I love pristine glacial sounds and deep throbbing bass tones...very dark, heavy baritones. By the time I'm actually on set shooting -- these noises and musical compositions are ingrained in my psyche. They inspire me and put me in a trance. I think the sounds allow the movie to gel together in my mind better.

Do you detail and perfect the "natural" sound effects as much as the abstract, frightening soundscapes?

Yes, I have control of every nook and cranny of the soundtrack. I design and produce the entire soundscape. I've had an amazing ten year relationship with a sound mixing studio in Manhattan called Hotwax Recording. They are spectacular technicians with state-of-the-art equipment. We love working together...The sound design is so important to me. I literally feel like I am mixing an album. I'll have everything graphed out as soon as I get to the studio...usually I have about 18 to 24 sounds going on all at once, to give the film a kind of 3-D quality. The result is you get a thick blanket of ambient noise with crisp electronic effects poking through. .

Any chance we'll see soundtracks released for your films? Ever thought about putting out a "dark soundscapes" album independent of a movie?

I want to make my own ambient horror CD. I'm happiest layering sounds. I really do have to release something...a moody album, something atmospheric and unsettling, filled with synthesizers and hellish ambiance. I love synth music -- always have. I'm not afraid of repetition. My record would be wordless, kind of Depeche Mode on acid or something. I'm more of a musician than a traditional director. So yes -- that is definitely one of my goals -- to be able to release dark soundscape albums independent of my movies. I hope that will be happening soon.

How did you create your bizarre, original opening credits for Desecration? Will we see a similar technique in Horror?

Yeah, Sheldon Drake, an artist living in the East Village, NYC, created the hallucinatory, dripping titles for DESECRATION. I originally met Sheldon at Hotwax Recording when he was working in the computer graphics department. You can look him up online if you ever need highly original opening titles. He's fantastic. I had him work on HORROR's opening credits and the result is even better than DESECRATION I think. These new titles melt too...but this time instead of a pale white background we used vibrant flashing colors...popping and swirling, almost like a demented lava lamp...and with the staccato druggy music churning in the background...it has a very trippy, hypnotic effect.

After experiencing Desecration several times, I see little touches..like the slight ghostly breeze that moves Sister Madeline's paintings, the light shining through the keyhole during Sr. Rita's death. Was that all planned, or more on-set improvisation? Do you go into that level of detail?

Most of it was planned. The slight ghostly breeze was intentional...The light shining through the keyhole...to give it an otherworldly feel as if a supernatural event was taking place...yeah that was planned. I get way more improvisational with my actors than with my set-pieces, though I'm always open to experimentation. Sometimes I like to set up a mood for a dream character and have the right actor flesh it out, like say, Brother Nicolas, Vincent Lamberti's role in DESECRATION. Visually and emotionally, I told Vince I wanted him to draw from the spidery Caesar in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - to absorb his mannerisms, you know...very stoic, very stiff and cold He knew I wanted him to play the part menacing and mysterious. A weird biology-teacher priest who just might be a molester. I wanted Vincent to hint at that...sexual abuse...without doing anything too overt. It's all about mixed signals...one moment he's very paternal, very comforting and then, he's kinda sleazy, perverse. I wanted him to play the role very ambiguously. In DESECRATION, he's kind of an S&M dream figure -- a black-leather priest. A pill-pushing priest. He's even more bizarre in HORROR.

I wanted Vince to be in DESECRATION because I knew he was born to play the part...Somehow his headshot came to me in the mail when I was casting for the film...I thought I might have seen a glimmer of him in Abel Ferrara's THE FUNERAL. It was listed on his resume. Maybe I did -- maybe I didn't. Didn't matter...as soon as we met, I was like, there's my Brother Nicolas. On set, I just let him do his thing. He knew what to do and we played and experimented. I love that. If something wasn't working I'd tell him.

Two 'geek' questions have been plaguing me, I have to ask. What's written on the bloody Madonna statue in Bobby's room when it spins around, and how did you accomplish the sequence of vines emerging from under Bobby's bed, whipping onto the walls?

The Bloody Madonna Statue says WHORE and BITCH and CUNT. It had to be desecrated. The entire vines sequence was actually shot in reverse. So, every time it looked like the vines were attacking Bobby, or wrapping around him, they were actually being pulled off him. Same thing with the scissors attack in DESECRATION - that was shot in reverse.

What were the sizes of your crews on each film? Did you feel it was adequate?

About a total of thirty people per day I think. Maybe more with PAs. Yeah it was perfect.

How did you come up with a good producing team for Horror? Have you found it easier to attract like-minded people to your sets?

Well, I had a loyal production manager, Maria Tassiello. She was also Co-Producer on HORROR and completely in charge of the money, the small $250, 000 budget we had. She dealt directly with Jack Swain, the Executive Producer It's important to have someone who's trustworthy in that position. Plus she's detail-oriented and intelligent. I predict we'll be a producing team forever. Also, I had a terrific Line Producer, Anthony Vorhies, who was able to cut us all sorts of great production deals. With Maria and Anthony at the top there, I felt very safe.

Can you give us a comparison of Horror to your previous one? What should we expect?

I really wasn't finished exploring DESECRATION's realm, so it's kinda like a sequel in a way. There's lots of mood-drenched visuals. Lots of fog and confusion. It's a nonlinear experience. Like DESECRATION, HORROR is about evil cloaked in religion. There's an apocalyptic feel. You'll know instantly that it's my film -- put it that way. It looks and feels like DESECRATION but, I think...it's better, darker, creepier. I still used Super 16 mm, so it has a slightly grainy look from time to time and the color saturation is vivid, heightened...lots of aquamarine hues, lots of eerily lit outdoor sequences. Weird, off-kilter camera angles. Conceptually, it's similar in that it's about eternal damnation. It's a dark night of the soul. Everything is descending. Pace-wise, HORROR is much faster, more staccato. There are probably double the amount of shots. The editing is quicker. I just feel it's a more entertaining film. A little more accessible than DESECRATION, though the storyline here is just as weird or even weirder. Like DESECRATION, HORROR is a time/space dislocation.

How did Horror come about, and how soon after Desecration were you writing it? Did you feel pulled to continue elaborating on the themes of your first film? Did you finish a script and contact Mr. Swain, and was he excited about collaborating again?

HORROR came to me very naturally. I started writing the script at the end of 1999, just around the millennium -- when there was all of that end of the world gloom and doom. I tried to harness that feeling. The idea that violence can strike at any given moment. The idea that we may be pre-destined for a horrible, sadistic death. The idea that religion causes wars. In HORROR, something evil is looming...it's coming closer and closer.... Jack Swain acknowleged some of the positive reviews for DESECRATION and the buzz about whatever my next project might be and realized that there was some promise.

I know the shoot for Horror was tough but you pulled it off. Did you have union issues, were you totally independent? Was SAG cooperative with the way you worked?

SAG was good to us and we gave them special thanks in the closing credits. But we played by the rules...the union actors...they only worked a certain amount of hours and we gave them breaks when we were supposed to. It was the crew who worked really long hours -- like 15 hour days. It was hard work. But we all loved it. And we were all well-fed. I had such a passionate, technically proficient crew on HORROR. God, it was such a joy. No griping, mutual respect; we were all having fun and being really creative. Sometimes we had like twenty different set-ups in one day! And it was brutally cold...all the time. But it kept us on our toes. I can't wait to work with the HORROR crew again.

Now that some time has passed between shooting both films, and they are distributed and widely acclaimed, how do you feel about them? Could you watch them objectively?

I find it very difficult to watch DESECRATION. In fact, I don't watch it anymore. Don't want to go back there. HORROR - sometimes I'll watch and think, hey, this is really lyrical, really imaginative; I'm proud of this. I'll feel very positive about it. Then I'll watch it again and find fault with everything. I know there are some filmmakers who love to watch their films with large audiences. Not me. Sorry. I get very uncomfortable and I'd rather leave the room. Hopefully, I won't always be like that. But for now, I am.

What could you tell us of your upcoming film, Satan's Playground, and your plans for it?

It's going to be very scary. That's my goal. It won't be arty or multilayered or deep. It's more of a down and dirty monster-movie. Stripped down, no frills, easy to understand. It won't be a non-linear film, like HORROR and DESECRATION. There will be the emphasis on sound design. I'll score the soundtrack. I may hire an outside composer for the opening theme but for the rest of the movie I'll be composing it. I've already been compiling the sound effects and musical compositions and they're straight from hell!

I know it involves the legend of the Jersey Devil to a degree.. Are you planning to stick to the "facts" of the story..? (The Mrs. Leeds legend) Or is this film more about the twisted family dynamics, the Leeds family and the family lost in the woods?

It's more about twisted family dynamics -- that's a good way to put it. Even though, on the surface, it's about a monster lurking in the woods. It's about being lost. In that way, it's like my first two films. But this one is very simple, not maze-like at all. Umm, I did follow the Mrs. Leeds legend to a degree, in kind of a vague way, but that's what I always loved about the Jersey Devil is that there's really no one legend. There are many different versions. I'm gonna try my best to make it terrifying -- that's the real goal here. It's a popcorn horror movie and I want to entertain the audience...not through trendy jokes or CGI effects, but visceral scare sequences, mood and atmosphere. It will be a gory and sadistic movie... a very downbeat film. There is no redemption here. This one is for horror fans waiting for a really scary, suspenseful fear flick. It's bleak, very bleak. Old school 70's horror straight-up. I'm going to try to please the audience by disturbing them. Because I know true horror fans want to be disturbed.

How has prepping that film been going? Are you close to production?

Hopefully I'll be shooting it this October and November. I have everything in place but the financing. All I need is $250, 000 or $300, 000. It will star Felissa Rose (SLEEPAWAY CAMP), Ellen Sandweiss (THE EVIL DEAD), and Michael Berryman (THE HILLS HAVE EYES).

I hear you will take a leave of absence from the layered 'puzzle' structure of your first two films with this one. In your future in the horror genre do you see yourself hopping back and forth from "traditional" narratives to the kaleidoscopic, vibrant abstractions?

I like that...kaleidoscopic vibrant abstractions. Yes, exactly. Especially after the straightforward, shock-machine-like SATAN'S PLAYGROUND - I'll want to go back to that...but bring something new to it...something more spiritual, hallucinatory, something deeper...more character-driven. I had a movie, APPARITION in mind, about supernatural riptides in the ocean...it centered on a church organist with stigmata...and a trauma, a drowning...I know it will happen at some point. But something came up recently out of the blue. A script came to me in the mail...it was so fresh, so different, so compelling...I could so clearly visualize myself directing and scoring it. I've always been interested in fire; I'm a pyromaniac at heart...plus fire is the ultimate symbolism for eternal damnation...a recurring theme in all my movies.

Where are you based now? Do you feel it impacts your ability to get films made, network in the film community, etc. in a good or bad way? Or did it in the past few years?

I'm in northern New Jersey, close to New York City. I lived in many different parts of the city for ten years...West 10th and Bleeker...21st street, between 1st and 2nd Ave...91st and Broadway...everywhere...But yeah, now I'm back in Jersey. I like going back and forth. I'm in the city half the week every week. New York is invaluable for making contacts. It really is the place to be if you're an actor or a filmmaker or any artist. The indie spirit is very strong there, plus there are so many films schools. It's so easy to network. When I was 23, I ran an Ad in the Village Voice Bulletin Board, looking for a film crew to work on my first short...and I had people coming from, God...Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania...you name it. There are so many artists out there and they all come to New York. It's like a giant nerve-net.

I have to ask this to someone who knows horror...what were your thoughts on House of 1000 Corpses?

I never saw it. But I know I have to...I will. I hear it's having a positive effect on horror movies getting made and that's a great thing. I plan on making horror movies forever.

Enter Dante's inferno and learn of his work at www.horrorthemovie.com