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A Conversation with Blood Night director Frank Sabatella
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Blood Night director, Frank Sabatella.
Director Frank Sabatella has a long standing love affair with the horror genre. As far back as early elementary school he was creating illustrations for his own macabre stories. In the teen slasher film, Blood Night, Sabatella earns the title auteur, as he assumes the roles of writer, producer and director.
Mike Parker – What sparked your interest in the horror genre?
Frank Sabatella – I don’t know that there is any one thing that sparked my interest in horror movies, but as far back as I can remember I watched horror movies with my dad – stuff like “Abbott and Costello meet the Mummy” and “Dracula” and “Frankenstein.” By the time I was five I was watching “Friday the 13th.”
Parker – You’re new film, Blood Night, has been appropriately described as a slasher film. Do you agree with that classification, and is there a difference in your mind between a horror film and a slasher film?
Sabatella – I would agree, Blood Night is a slasher flim. Horror is an umbrella term that encompasses a wide variety of sub-genres such as monster movies, supernatural thrillers and slasher films. A slasher film is one that features a killer on the loose. You don’t know where he is, but you know he is going to try to kill you in some gory way and power tools are probably going to be involved.
Parker – Blood Night draws its inspiration from the Long Island legend of Mary Hatchet. Is there any truth to the original story, or is Mary Hatchet just an urban myth?
Sabatella – I haven’t found any factual truth to the legend, and believe me, I’ve looked. There is a documentary called “Lost Suburbia” that explores the Mary Hatchet myth. I heard about Mary Hatchet around the campfire when I was a kid, like a ghost story, but I’ve never found any evidence that she actually existed. There is a legend that says her house sank into the ground because of all the evil there, and there is a place on Long Island where the chimney is sticking up out of the ground, and there are all kinds of legends about the Kings Park Psychiatric Center. It’s all hearsay and folklore, but who knows? These stories start somewhere.
Parker – Blood Night is a teen slasher film, and teen slasher films are by definition populated with pretty people who end up getting drunk, getting naked and getting dismembered. This kind of movie is quite popular, particularly with young people. Why do you think that is? Is it that ordinary kids just want to see the popular kids get hazed for a change?
Sabatella – You’re right; it’s always the beautiful kids, the popular kids who are featured in slasher films. I think part of their appeal is that ordinary kids like to see the popular kids get their come-uppance. It is fantasy. It’s like they are at this great party and you didn’t get invited; almost like there is a vicarious revenge element involved. I think young people may feel a little insecure and when you see these things on a movie screen you get to vent a little, without going out and chopping people up. You get to go to that very dark place and still make it home in time for dinner.
Parker – I’m not a guy who tries to find a message in every movie I watch, but just out of curiosity, was there a message? I mean, besides, ‘beware of women with PMS?’
Sabatella – No. (laughs) I wouldn’t even call that a message of this movie. And honestly, I didn’t set out to inject any kind of message into Blood Night. I recently read a book about the phenomenon of slasher movies that talked about how our subconscious fears are played out in horror movies. As I started looking at Blood Night after it was finished, I think one there may be some truth to that. One of the fears we have in America right now is the fear of the threat of terrorism in our own country. I think we are all a little paranoid. That’s what Mary Hatchet represents – the stranger among us, the terror in our own home; the little girl who kills her own family in their own home. I didn’t do it intentionally, but there it is.
Parker – What’s next on your agenda?
Sabatella – I’m writing another film, which is my least favorite part of the process. Hoping to be filming soon.
The Seven Questions
1. What’s your favorite sound?
Sabatella – The shutter on a 35 MM SLR camera.
2. What makes you happy?
Sabatella – Those rare moments when I find myself content. Relaxation.
3. What makes you angry?
Sabatella – I’m a tough person to make angry, but I don’t like being told things repetitively. Being nagged.
4. What is the secret of success?
Sabatella – I don’t consider myself to be successful yet, so I don’t know that I’ve discovered the secret. I think probably passion and determination; being able to take the punches and keep on moving forward.
5. If you could have dinner with anyone in history, living or dead, who would it be?
Sabatella – Jesus.
6. What is the epitaph that is written on your tombstone?
Sabatella – I honestly don’t know. I would hope something like ‘Friend, Father, Brother.’
7. When you get to heaven, what is the first thing you want to hear God say to you?
Sabatella – ‘You did good.’
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