DARK
BEGINNINGS was split out of the three hour
edit of SCARLET MOON. I said I cut SCARLET
MOON in half and got two movies but in reality
I had to start with a blank master and edit
everything all over again from scratch,
seperating out all the scenes that were
directly tied to huntng for the Scarlet Moon
diamond in SCARLET MOON and the rest got
shifted into DARK BEGINNINGS.
Both
movies have good stuff in them. DARK
BEGINNINGS deals more with Santirians, Wiccans
and Satanism than SCARLET MOON. My tribute to
Roger Corman's 1960 classic LITTLE SHOP OF
HORRORS all got shifted over to DARK
BEGINNINGS too. We actually made a full size
frog eating Audrey plant and instead of Gravis
Mushnick we had Boris Mushnick, a more well to
do brother or something.
A
funny thing about the LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
tribute - I contacted Mel Welles who
played Gravis Mushnick for Corman in the 1960s
picture and he was excited about reviving the
role in my movie. I wrote his scenes mangling
the language like his character originally did
and I think I really captured the funny way he
spoke. Welles was impressed with my writingand
said if I ever want to be s script doctor in
LA he'd set me up! Well Roger Corman and
Charles Griffith, Mel's friend since the 1950s
and author of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS didn't
represent an obsticle, but the Screen Actor's
Guild did. Despite my pleadings and Mel's
pleadings to both the New York and LA branches
they would not sanction my using Mel in a
non-union movie. It was a shame. What harm
would it have done?
Another
funny story is when we went to the magical
shop to see if we could use it as a location.
The owner said he would have to ask his gunga
if it was alright and Dominic and I were taken
into the cellar chapel. It all had to do with
Santiria and santarians kill people I was
told! So here we were with Santirians asking
their spiritual guardian if we were ok. What
if it said, "No! Kill them!!!"
(to
be continued).
