Brian T. Jaynes is the director of two new horror films, “Boggy Creek” and “Humans versus Zombies”. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Brian about working on his films and when we can see them.
Mike Gencarelli: Can you give us some background on how your got started with “Boggy Creek”?
Brian Jaynes: I have always been a fan of Charles B. Pierce films. I remember the trailer for his 70’s film “Legend of Boggy Creek” scarring the hell out of me! I realized there haven’t ever really been any interesting films about Sasquatch or Bigfoot. There have been films made but they all have been sort of hokey in my opinion. I shared the story with my wife who wrote the screenplay for me and the rest is history.
MG: Can you tell us about the creature and how you chose not to use any CGI effects?
BJ: Anytime you are going to bring a creature into the realm of CGI, I think you have to be careful of the creature’s dynamics. If you have a big budget and can spend a large portion of that to create a realistic creature its fine however with a creature like Sasquatch which is very human like in its movement it made sense to have a human play the creature. I think it looks more realistic. Phil Nichols made the suits and he did a real great job.
MG: How do you feel your second film “Humans versus Zombies” differs from other zombie films?
BJ: In the end it’s still a zombie movie. There is nothing ground breaking but what I think we did accomplish is that our film tends to be a little more character driven than theme driven. The film is more about the humans and what they are doing to survive rather than what the zombies are doing. I think we have a good movie that will be fun to watch.
MG: What was the most difficult part to making that film?
BJ: Probably the time frame in which we shot. We filmed “Humans versus Zombies” in 18 days, so it wasn’t the most 
leisurely schedule. We certainly could have used more time and I would have like to have more of a budget. The weather was pretty cold also while we were shooting. I think we had a couple 12 and 11 degree days where we were out shooting. The city of Pittsburgh where we shot the film was really great to us through the whole process.
MG: You handle a lot of different roles on both films. How do you juggle all the various tasks?
BJ: I don’t juggle them very well as I should…they all kind of stress me out. Until I get enough folks around me that are able to help I will be wearing most of those hats. Part of is that I am trained as an editor and digital effects artist first and for most. Having that training has helped me in directing because I know the pieces and how they are going to fit together before they even make it to the editing room. When you’re and independent filmmaker you find yourself doing a lot of the task such as putting the money together, directing and editing. In the very near future I should be just wearing the directing and 
executive producer hats. I plan to make an announcement in a few weeks about a couple projects I will be filming in Bulgaria for the SyFy channel. I will just be directing on those.
MG: Is it safe to say that horror is your favorite genre to work in?
BJ: I actually probably would prefer the action/thriller genre. I like the horror/thriller genre but I think I would much more prefer science fiction/action thriller. There still a lot of elements of suspense but I tend to lead more towards sci-fi.
MG: What is the release schedule for the two films?
BJ: “Boggy Creek” releases on DVD September 17th at places like Wal-Mart and Best Buy. You will also be able to digitally stream it through places like Netfix as well along with a television run later this year on FearNet. “Humans versus Zombies” will have a limited theatrical release late this year’s to about 25 cities with a majority of them on the East Coast. It’s television premiere with be Feb. 15, 2012 on Chiller. It will be out on DVD in late March 2012.
