Most Films within the serial killer found footage/ faux snuff film genre feature both gory murder & brutal torture. One of the few film series to step away from these tropes is the Amateur Porn Star Killer trilogy from the early 2000s. They focus on the more coerced & manipulative side of their killer, with the added addition of jarring real hardcore sex, and grim mumblecore drama. The three films are directed/written by Canoga Park, California-born Shane Ryan-Reid- who also plays the film's charming/ highly manipulative killer Brandon. Earlier this year as part of their Raw & Extreme Wild-Eyed Releasing reissued all three films.  Shane kindly agreed to an email interview- where we discuss his influences, the three films, and the most recent appearance of the Brandon character in 2020’s Choke.

M[m]:   When did you first become interested in film? And are there any pictures that really inspired you to want to act/ direct film?

  Shane My dad worked as a TV and film editor, so he would take me to his work, and when I was five he began showing me how to do simple edits. I remember at the time he must have been working on Rocky IV, as I recall mistaking Dolph Lundgren for Arnold Schwarzenegger. G.L.O.W. (the original 80's show) was how I learned that wrestling was fake, as I saw one of the girls get injured and not get up, so they stopped the fight. I asked my dad "What's wrong" and he said that she really got injured. But I said, "It's wrestling, they always get injured."

I wasn't interested in directing, I simply loved cinema and wanted to be up on screen, and live as part of these stories, so acting was always on my mind. When I was seven my dad let me start making movies with his camera, and then we'd go to his work on the weekends to cut them, so I was learning how to edit in a full-blown professional television and video studio. The one film that really did it for me though, was Bloodsport. When I saw Jean-Claude Van Damme doing those helicopter kicks I was in awe. That's what I wanted to do. I spent my childhood directing films simply so that I could act in them (as my parents didn't want me to be an actor as a child, though when I was around 3-5 years old tons of people tried to push them into it, as I had that child star look for a very short time - I did some brief modelling at a mall once, that was about it as far as professionally).

Shane It wasn't until I saw Tim Roth's The War Zone, that I actually thought about wanting to be a director. It was such a powerful, emotional and important piece of cinema. I didn't know that movies could be so traumatizing. My friend and I were screaming at each other after the film as we were so enraged by what we had witnessed. I had only ever looked at cinema as entertainment and art up until that point. But this film was like some kind of deep trauma therapy. It was maddening. It dug into your psyche and made you question your life and everybody in it. So, that kind of sealed the deal. Soon after I saw In The Bedroom, which had about the same effect. But I was also influenced by more exploitative (and very graphic) approaches, like Baise Moi, Bully, and Irreversible. All of these films were incredibly uncomfortable to watch. They all made you want to grab the horrible characters that you saw on screen, beat them to a pulp, and save the victims. But it also made you feel ashamed for wanting to wish such violence upon anybody at the same time (like in Irreversible and Bully - the violence happening to the villains of those stories was absolutely sickening). 

M[m]: To date, you have one hundred and thirteen acting credits, and sixty-three directing credits- do you enjoy each equally? And please talk about the pros & cons of each?

Shane There are all different levels to how I feel about them. Many that I acted in were simply because I wanted to act. I don't have the luxury of picking and choosing the best films/scripts, I take whatever I can get. Nobody is out here offering me any roles (even on the lowest-budgeted student films), so I don't usually pass up a film. That means that I've been involved in lots of things that I wouldn't normally be interested in watching. Or sometimes the movies might not interest me but the role does. Or the role doesn't but the movie does, so I'll do the role because I want to be involved in the film. Sometimes I have zero interest in both the film and the role but I really want to act, so I just do it. I'd say the ones that stand out are, as far as acting, are Night Cops (I play a drug addict, possibly a dealer as well, and I went full out for that role despite just being in a few scenes), Another Way to Die (I love over the top acting, and I got to go all out for this one), The Magical Christmas Tree (I didn't particularly like what I did in this film, I thought I could have been better, but it's one of my favourite films that I acted in; it's sweet, fun and a Christmas film, all things I enjoy in a movie), Heartbeat (one of my favourite roles, we shot this while we were filming Choke, actually, so I had to keep jumping back and forth between characters; it was very challenging, but it felt like what it must be to jump back and forth between Clark Kent and Superman -  though I modelled my Heartbeat character from Gene Hackman's Harry Caul), and Choke, of course (one of my favourites as far as both roles and films), plus Samurai Cop 2 (also loved the role and the film, it was my first time experimenting with the wacko, over the top acting), The Interrogation of Cheryl Cooper (the first starring role I had in a film that I did not direct - it was made by Albert Pyun, the director of the Van Damme movie, Cyborg - so it was like a childhood dream come true; I hated my performance, I wish that I could redo it, but I'm so glad that Albert gave me the opportunity), Queen Wasp (I loved the movie, not so much my peformance, but I think it was that role that made me realize I excel when I do the over the top stuff, I'm not good at subtley), Erotomanic (it's an animation film that I have a small voiceover role in and was a producer on; my role is meaningless but the film is incredible). Finally I'd say Love Crime, Bolero and Panic (I loved the films, but not so much my performances or the roles).

Shane When it comes to directing, the films I'd be most proud of would have to be My Name is 'A' by anonymous (a true crime-inspired drama about Alyssa Bustamante), Guerrilla (a 1980's homage, end of the World movie), and Tag/Oni-Gokko (a Japanese ghost story). They're all different. My Name is 'A' is more along the lines of something like Bully (bored kids killing somebody - there are no fun or funny moments, it's just one depressing thing after another), with Guerrilla acting more like a cross between Home Alone and The Goonies mixed in with zombies (a fun and bloody adventure), and since I love foreign films, you got the Japanese-language Tag. It's kind of a full picture of what I'd like to do and am interested in doing, which is a little bit of a lot of things. I grew up on 80s and 90s action, but I'm not just into action. I was later heavily influenced by dramatic and controversial films, but I'm not just into that either. I even watch Love Actually religiously, so I hate being pigeonholed. Everybody thinks I'm some horror guy, and I always have to explain that I'm not. My favorite films are Rocky, Swingers and Taxi Driver.

M[m]: How did the first  Amateur Porn Star Killer film come about? And over what period was it filmed?

Shane It was an idea that slowly developed over the years. The movie 8mm might have been the start. While I liked the film, I was really intrigued by the victim that Nicolas Cage is trying to solve the murder of. We never truly get to know her, other than a video clip of her being murdered. I remembered thinking, "I want to see a whole movie about this girl", after all, she's the victim in all of this. I then saw this movie called Tape by Richard Linklater. It was shot on mini-DV with just three characters and it all took place inside a small, seedy, motel room (like APSK).

Shane Other films like The Blair Witch Project had an effect. I got a copy of Blair Witch around Christmas of 1998 on VHS tape. My cousin gave it to me and said watch this. It had no labelling, just a blank tape. I took it to a friend's house and me, her and her boyfriend put it on one night. We had to stop it halfway through to go get some food, take a break, and talk about what we were watching. It was terrifying. We couldn't understand if it was real. My cousin worked for a big film company, doing films like Out of Sight and The Haunting. So what in the hell was this? Why did he have it? There were also no credits of any kind, opening or closing, the film just ended. This was months before anybody had heard of it, about seven months before it hit theatres. We got it even before the Sundance screening, the film's world premiere. So yeah, that had a major effect on me. The idea of seeing real horror, found footage horror, on camera. Just a blank VHS tape, which became Brandon's signature.

Shane There was also this indie film called The Pornographer, about a guy who starts making porn because all of the porn he watches sucks, so he wants to shoot his own, his way. But he ends up getting his star killed (I forget how she dies, I think she changes her mind and demands the tape back but then gets killed in the process). And in the end the distributor still puts out the film, with the dead girl on the cover, smiling. The camera zooms out to see her VHS porn tape surrounded by hundreds of others. It was a shocking site, and like The War Zone, it really enraged you and made you question things, especially stuff like sexual assault and pornography. So, the impact of these films, their ideas, kind of meshing them together over the years and letting my own idea develop from that over time. I also had heard so many rape stories from friends, their experiences, and none of them were like the rape scene in Irreversible (a random stranger raping them by force). They were all raped by intimidation and manipulation. So, I thought it was important to tell the story from that perspective. As Brandon gets more impatient and out of control (hinted at in part two and definitely shown in part three), he starts getting more forceful. But his ultimate weapon is manipulation.

Shane When it came to filming, it just happened. My friend, Michiko, was available. I said I got this idea and asked, "what do you think?" And she immediately agreed. We had already shot a few things together that were all very provocative, so that wasn't an issue. It was just a matter of explaining, when this happens this needs to happen so it looks real but also so that I'm not hurting you. And if anything happens that you don't like, or you get too uncomfortable, etc, just break character and say my real name, like "Shane, cut." In the end, I was the one who demanded a break. I had actually forgotten about it, Michiko reminded me years later. Apparently I took like a 30-60 minute break to watch cartoons. Being in that character's headspace for about forty-five minutes straight was just too much to handle. plus we needed to change tapes. She said she sat at the corner of the bed in silence and didn't break character, as she wanted to push through it and/or not lose her character. So she let me calm down and then we finished it up. In the end, it took about three, maybe four hours to rehearse and shoot. Probably the quickest rehearsed and shot feature film in history (aside from the sequels). 

M[m]: What made you decide you’d mix real sex with creepy coerce, threat- instead of violence/ gore for the three films?

Shane I think at that time I was letting myself be very heavily influenced by a lot of risqué French films, like Irreversible, Baise Moi, and the work of Catherine Breillat. There was this need to want to stand out so that as a first-time unknown filmmaker, your work gets noticed, and it sure did. People thought that I didn't use blood to save on the cost, but blood is just a few bucks, that wasn't it at all. Michiko and I had actually shot a short film at that very motel that was very bloody in one scene. But I was never a horror fanatic, I was never into gore. Plus I had seen so many bloody films, I wanted something different. I hadn't seen too many sexually explicit films, and of the ones I had seen, none of them were about a serial killer. I had also recently watched this Carl Franklin film, One False Move, and was shocked by a murder scene in the film. When I watched the movie, the scene felt so violent. But then I listened to the commentary, and Franklin (I believe he was the one doing the commentary), mentioned how when the person is murdered (by knife), you not only do not even see the blade enter the victim's body, you also do not see any blood whatsoever. It's all in the look in the victim's eyes, and the sound. Your mind, or my mind, made up the rest. I remembered it being a violent scene because I knew that she was being stabbed to death, and the look of fear on her face was enough, it didn't need any blood. So, I decided to apply that not just to one scene but to the entire film, and to all three of the APSK films. I felt like the sex scenes were graphic and shocking enough, that if you saw how real those were, you didn't need to see any blood during the killings to believe it. I also liked the idea of questioning people's need to want to see violence. Why do people want so badly to see people ripped to shreds and dismembered? And to those that were so pissed off that the movie didn't have gore, why are you so mad that you didn't get to see an innocent sexual assault victim mauled to death?

M[m]:   Could you talk a little bit about the short film you and Michiko made in the motel used for the first APSK?

Shane We shot this sort of, film noir ghost story, called The Cold Heat. There was a scene where Michiko's completely soaked in blood. There's also lots of graphic sex scenes in it. It's pretty much about a couple who only communicate through sex, might have murdered somebody, maybe each other, might be haunted, or might be hallucinating. It actually had a short script (I rarely work with scripts), I think about 5-6 pages long, though because it was so atmospheric and didn't have much dialogue, the film ended up being around 15-20 minutes. It was an extra feature on the original release of APSK.

M[m]: Please talk a little bit about how each of the lead actresses for each of the Amateur Porn Star Killer films got their parts?. And please discuss the audition process?

 Shane With these films, there were no auditions, more like interviews. I had to lay out exactly how we were shooting, and to make absolutely sure that the actress was comfortable. If she wasn't, then we couldn't do it. Michiko was an easy beginning since I already knew her. But in an attempt to make part three, I ran into that problem. The original actress wanted a taped rehearsal, so we tried it, and halfway through she decided she couldn't. She then came back saying she could do it for a ton of money, but I had no budget for these films. She then showed up at the premiere of APSK2 and apologized, saying that she wanted to go through with APSK3 and didn't need money. And then after the premiere she changed her mind again. So, you run into that a lot. I like to make sure that actors have a total understanding of what they're doing, being an actor myself I'd want that reassurance, but there have been several cases of actors coming back years, even over a decade later, and demanding the film be cancelled (after it's already been out for years, so it can get insanely complicated). These days I'd say it's too risky to even shoot these kinds of films. We had a hard enough time doing Choke (finding an actress), and that didn't even have any explicit sex scenes whatsoever. Which is insane since every other person seems to have an Only Fans account nowadays.

M[m]:   You talk about it being too risky to make APSK-type films now- could you talk about why you think this is?

Shane I think social media and stuff like OnlyFans have a lot to do with it. Actors in general are harder to come across these days. You used to be able to say that you're making a movie, and 1,000 actors would immediately line up, even for no pay, and you'd have to pick just one for the role. Now, it's like you gotta beg 1,000 actors to get just one actor, even if they have no experience and no previous credits, to bother showing up to do a film. They'd rather stay home and make TikTok videos or who knows. Again, when it comes to nudity, you used to be able to cast stuff like APSK on casting sites, now they ban you simply for casting a role with nudity, let alone anything requiring sex scenes. Even Craigslist, a platform that people used for illegal activities such as prostitution and human trafficking, doesn't even let you cast anything like APSK (which is how half of the APSK3 cast was found). Considering every other person on social media these days tends to have an OnlyFans, it's quite bizarre. It's like the videos one creates either have to be G-rated or X, there's no in-between for independent filmmakers without risk of being banned. And you can't have explicit material in a non-pornographic film (even though it was me seeing those kinds of films that inspired me to do it), we ran into this at the beginning of the streaming days with APSK; even if they cut out all of the nudity from APSK (which made no sense), Amazon still deleted it from Prime, and other platforms wouldn't touch it, only physical media was safe. After that I even tried getting it onto porn sites just to get it on the internet, and it was banned there, too - for not being porn. The internet is a weird place.

Shane Also, when I made the APSK films, I had zero money, so the actors in the films all did it for free (I had to turn girls away from doing the third film, I had tons of people asking to be in it). These days, even if you offer a fair chunk of money (more than I've ever made in a single day), nobody will do them. That was part of the problem we had in trying to revive the series. And the final problem you run into is, I don't even know what to call it; actors are very bipolar, as in, they constantly change their minds, and will raise hell if they change their minds and you can't go along with whatever it is they decide, even if it's impossible for you to go along. What I mean by that is, you will not only have people quit on you in the middle or at the beginning of a film, but some will come back months, even years, in extreme cases over a decade later, and say they changed their minds about being in the film, and they want the film to vanish (as if at that point it'd even be possible, plus, even if it was, why would a filmmaker erase their films?). I do everything I can to assure people know exactly what it is I'm trying to make, where I expect it to be made available, etc., but you always end up with some people who just constantly change their minds, and it makes making a film damn near impossible. And I'm not just talking about roles or films with nudity, I'm talking about literally anything.

Shane I just went through this with one actress, the sister of a super famous actress (the famous sister actually being my top choice for one of my new films, if I had the budget and choice); she immediately responds to me wanting to do a cameo in my film. I said she could self-tape it but she wanted to do it in person. I said great so I asked about dates (plus it's an 8-hr trip for me so I need to make travel arrangements). She wasn't available on the dates I asked so I changed the dates to meet her schedule. We then set up a location to meet, and time and day, etc. Suddenly she asks "wait, when are we filming?" I had just confirmed both the day and date with her and she said perfect. I confirm again and now suddenly she can't do it. So, I ask if the self-tape would just work then, and she says "yes, send me a script" (I had already discussed from the start that it was going to be improv). So, I write a monologue for her but let her know that she can improvise from it if it's too much to memorize. Then she responds a couple days later now saying that she can't do it. After all that! I had made and cancelled trip plans with where I was staying, had arranged things at home, then changed that to write a monologue specifically for her, and then she cancels, never explaining why. If she's self-taping, she could do it at any time. But, this is basically 99% of my time making a film, dealing with issues like these. Back in the day, while some people were always difficult, you could at least get things done. Somebody always wanted to help, to act, to just be there behind the scenes making a movie. Now, hardly at all. 

M[m]: Please talk a little bit about how the reissue of the three films on Wild Eye’s Raw & Extreme series came about?

Shane Rob from Wild Eye I met in Las Vegas a couple of times at this film festival they call Pollygrind, which my friend Chad ran. I owe a lot of my career to Chad, as he also introduced me to Albert and pushed for Albert to cast me in The Interrogation of Cheryl Cooper, and also got Rob to check out My Name is 'A' by anonymous. At the time I had gotten no film festival acceptances for 'A', nor any response from distributors. Aside from one distributor who picked it up with a guaranteed theatrical run, and then ended up just dumping it on Amazon Prime and not even telling me. So, after a long (it might have been an entire year) fight with them to get the rights back, I finally did, and handed it over to Rob, and he got the film out there. Eventually the rights for APSK had run its course (twice, I believe), and Rob was interested in picking those up. I had some new commentaries recorded (since the film had already had three prior releases, we needed some new bonus material), and I know he plans on a Blu-ray release through Visual Vengeance with more additional extras. Rob had also wanted the Brandon spinoffs that I had been working on for the past decade. But, due to some actors causing immense problems, I'm not sure if that's ever going to happen now, unfortunately.

M[m]:  One of the most disturbing things that came up in the set is Doug Brunell’s of Film Threat commentary track for the third film- where he talks about reading a review/ write-up about the films, saying that they were generally turned on by them. What are your feelings about this?

Shane I've struggled with that quite a bit over the years as my intent was to challenge people's perversions and make them question such fantasies, but you have to let it go. Some people said they've felt ashamed for going into the film wanting to be titillated only to come out feeling dirty and disgusted with themselves, so in the case of those people, mission accomplished. But you can't win 'em all. A person like myself watches a film like Natural Born Killers and is inspired to make his own film, enjoys the style, the story, the acting, and the message it has to say about the media. But several people watched that film and got inspired to go murder people. Evil is everywhere. Does film or art in general help bring out the evil in some? Perhaps. But that exact same piece of work might bring out the good in another. The difference is that the person looking to do bad will always find a way, an excuse to do so. The person looking to do good and/or rid themselves of the bad might be on their last legs, and your work could be their last hope. So, I don't think art causes harm, it's just an excuse for evil people.

M[m]: The last appearance of the Brandon character was in 2020’s Choke. Tell us a little bit about how you got involved in this project? And any more plans for Brandon?

Shane Gregory Hatanaka, who first distributed Amateur Porn Star Killer back in 2007, has been a long-time collaborator (he also made the 2015 film, Samurai Cop 2). He contacted me in 2019 and brought up the idea for Choke. I said absolutely. So we talked about the script, shared some ideas, and then he wrote it and we shot it. I didn't help write the script, I might have thrown in a couple notes, I can't really remember, but for the most part I just had to let the character go and see what he wanted to tell with Brandon's story. Greg distributed all three of the APSK films, so he knew the character very well. I believe he said he felt like Choke took place between APSK2 and 3 (or it might have been between 1 and 2), not before or after the trilogy, but somewhere in between. I don't think I had ever looked at Brandon as being sympathetic in the past, so it was definitely in many ways a new character, a fresh take. Not only was he more sympathetic but he was also much more angry and violent. It seemed like Choke was when he was struggling with his own demons the most.

Shane I had begun working on a new Brandon movie way back in 2014 but was having so much difficulty casting it that I came up with a new idea around 2016 and had been working on that on and off for years by the time Greg came along in 2019 with Choke. So, there is still hope to get that idea done (it directly relates to the APSK films, and not Choke - I would actually say that these two ideas of Brandon, between APSK and Choke, exist in different universes. And I'm also working on another spin-off to Brandon that might be more like Choke (or a third universe of Brandon). We'll see. There's so many movies that I've always wanted to make, it's hard to want to keep making more Brandon stories. But I like that I have a character that's mine, who I created, and one that has existed for so long in so many films.

M[m]: Choke is a decidedly artily edited b-movie/ psychological thriller- looking at the parallel relationship between you & a seventeen-year-old girl, and her relationship with a jaded/suicidal cop.  Do you have any input on the film's jarring look/ feel?

Shane That's Greg, that's his mind. You could go down a rabbit hole of his films. Panic and Bolero really amp up that style. He's made so many, I haven't even watched them all, but I've heard Boiling Point and others are even more bizarre. I like that with Choke, Brandon had a friend in Janie. His relationship with her wasn't sexual, in fact, he was trying to protect her from people like himself. Janie was pure and he wants to keep her out of his world, but the cop chasing Brandon is the one who ends up corrupting her. And in the end Janie's fate is the same as all of Brandon's victims. In that sense, it's almost like he's cursed.

M[m]: In Choke, you have a few scenes where you are really losing it/ emotionally intense- is it difficult for you to get that point in your acting, and do you find it easy to calm back down?

Shane The only scene that was emotionally difficult was when I'm with the therapist and I'm trying my best to hold back tears. That was that subtle stuff that's much more difficult for me. I remember listening to depressing music before the scene, trying to get those emotions going, then when we rolled they vanished. Finally mid scene they came back and I just about started sobbing but then Greg yelled to tone it down, so I lost it (but it might have looked better that way, as you see me trying not to cry, which makes sense for a man, especially Brandon). I think Greg then said to let it go again, but emotions just don't work like that, so I think that might have been when I started laughing. You know when you're just all cried out but still emotional, and all you can do is laugh? I think that's what happened. It's hard to say exactly, this was five years ago and I was very emotional during the filming of the scene and there was so much going on.

As far as the endless choking scenes though, that was tough as hell physically, and I kept losing my voice and eventually got sick towards the end of the shoot (it was a six week shoot with one week off - I think we shot four weeks, took a week off, then shot one last week). But emotionally it was easy to just start screaming and acting crazy. That was fun as acting crazy for camera is fun, but it drains you pretty quickly from all of that screaming and constantly using all of your strength to choke, while making sure not to actually be choking or hurting your co-star. And doing that for weeks, yeah, it's exhausting. Sarah Brine, the lead whom I choked the most, was great though. This was her first film and she was incredibly sweet, a great actress, and she made it super fun. I could have been stuck with an absolute jerk, and that would have been awful. I like to be comfortable with my co-stars, then you can lose yourself in the role because you are comfortable with them and have an understanding and respect for them. If somebody is treating you terribly, it might seem like a dream if you have to now kill them on camera, but those choking scenes are so intimate and require so much trust, that it's just not the case. You need a good co-star. I shut down if the actor I'm working with is treating me horribly. My first scene with Sarah was actually that last really intense choking scene in the film, so we had to get super comfortable instantly. I think that helped us be more relaxed together for the rest of the shoot, though. As far as calming down from that intensity, you're usually worn out, so as long as you get water and a short break it's generally easy. With Greg, however, he likes to shoot fast, and sometimes might require you to immediately jump into the next scene. And that's when it's difficult, because you're dripping sweat and breathing hard and lightheaded, and now have to have a whole new set of emotions when you haven't gotten to even shake off the exhaustion from the last set.

M[m]: Do you have future plans for the  Brandon character?

Shane There's this spinoff idea that I'm working on, but it depends on how easy it is to put together. Having spent nearly a decade on the other idea only to have it dismembered has tainted a lot of my feelings about not just the character, but filmmaking and life in general. I think at this point I'd only be interested in making another film about him if I can put it together quickly, like with the APSK trilogy. I don't want to dedicate too much more of my life to Brandon. He was just a fluke, after all. I never intended on a sequel, a trilogy, let alone multiple films.

M[m]:   What are your thoughts on other found footage serial killer films, in particular the August Underground films?

Shane I'm not sure if I've even seen any serial killer found footage. I never watched the August Underground films. I got accused of ripping off August Underground, that's how I first heard about it. I've always had to tell people, "no, I ripped off 8mm and Blair Witch." So, I made a point of not wanting to ever watch the AU films. Plus, I saw some clips or maybe a trailer for it eventually, and it looked incredibly gory, and like I mentioned, I'm not into gore. If there's a gore scene in a film that's one thing, but if the whole film is centred around gore, that's not my taste. I'm not calling gore-driven films bad, just not for me. Several films I helped produce are very gory, so I didn't watch most of those either. If I'm watching something super violent I'd prefer an action film like John Wick or a John Woo film, mostly because I like the choreography. That's why I loved Bloodsport so much, those helicopter kicks are beautiful. If I'm watching a serial killer flick it's usually for puzzle solving; i.e. Fincher's Zodiac is my all-time favorite, as it's entirely about journalism and detective work. I'm also intrigued by the psychology behind killers. Growing up I always had this image of Ted Bundy based on all the horrific things I had heard. Then one day my mom gave me a VHS tape of Ted's final interview. I watched it and was in shock, and horrified, at how normal he was. He seemed like a guy you'd want to be friends with. How could he be a monster? And that began my intrigue into the mind of murderers. It was shortly after that that I saw Blair Witch and the found footage segment in 8mm, so between those things, and a few other non-found footage films mentioned, was how the whole found footage thing came about in my life. When I tried watching other found footage films they rarely felt real, so I gave up pretty quickly. I know that I saw and liked Zero Day, I had wanted to make a found footage school shooter movie as well, but it never happened. I did really want to see The Poughkeepsie Tapes, they were showing tons of previews for it in theatres when APSK finally was being released, but then the movie vanished and never came out in theatres. Finally, after 14 or so years, I got it on Blu-ray, but still have yet to watch it.

M[m]: What has impacted in the last few months- be it film, music, or art in general?

Shane Joker: Folie à Deux. Apparently, I'm the only one. I've barely felt inspired in years, as these past three years of my life have been utter hell. I don't enjoy making movies anymore, I hardly even enjoy watching movies at all anymore. I've become, let's say, soulless. I used to go to the cinema every other day, but now I barely go every other month, I've just lost my interest in everything. But I highly enjoyed the first Joker, and all of the hate for the sequel had me very curious. So, I forced myself to go on the last night it showed in my town (a whole two weeks), hoping that I could just stay focused and alert...and I was floored by it. It brought back - joy isn't the right word as it's pretty depressing - let's say connection. Which then brought back feelings. And eventually, the magic that is movies. I hadn't felt that kind of magic in a long time. Love Lies Bleeding was also great. It didn't move me as much as this, but it was a good start to the year.

 Thanks to Shane for his time and effort with the interview. All three Amateur Porn Star Killer films are available via Wild Eye Releasing.

Pic credit: menu pic cover artwork for Amateur Porn Star Killer 1 Wild Eye Releasing. First in the interview still from APSK 1. The second and third pictures from the premiere for APSK 2 Mad Sin Cinema. The fourth picture is a still from Choke Cinema Epoch