More for Me and You Podcast
Brought to you by the free streaming service Mometu, the More for Me and You Podcast blends interviews and movie reviews. Guests from across the entertainment industry share their journeys and what's next for them. Before each episode, they choose a movie on Mometu for us to watch, followed by a spoiler-free review. Fun. Light. Insightful.
More for Me and You Podcast
Episode 24 | Let There Be Light with Monte Light
In this episode, I sit down with one of the nicest and most thoughtful filmmakers I’ve ever had the pleasure of talking to — Monte Light. Monte opens up about his journey as a filmmaker, the ups and downs of the creative process, and what it really takes to bring bold, original stories to life.
We dive into his latest project, Bittertooth, a film that blends horror with heart in a way only Monte can pull off. And because we couldn’t stop at just one film, we also do a spoiler-free review of his unique and atmospheric vampire thriller, Blood Covered Chocolate.
This conversation is full of insight, inspiration, and a genuine love for storytelling. Whether you're a filmmaker, a horror fan, or someone chasing your own creative path — this one’s for you.
Follow us on Instagram or TikTok for BTS footage @mometupodcast & do not forget to download the Mometu app and watch movies for free today.
Yeah, that's right, you're tuning in to the More For Me And You podcast. That's real interviews, real movie reviews, real people, real journeys. If you real, lock in. I've been working all night, early in the morning. If you hustle how I hustle, you can never waste a moment. That's more for me and you. That's more for me and you. That's more for me and you. That's more for me and you.
SPEAKER_05:great to meet you thank you in the flesh good to meet you man it's it's it's been about 15 or so months 16 months that we've been just kind of chatting yeah and you've been a big supporter of us uh not just as the platform but also just supporter of other films that we've been releasing and just supporting those other creators that are out there so it's really a fresh breath of air to have someone like yourself not just be a release on our on our platform because we've had a few other filmmakers be released on Momi, too, but then to also have you support that community and just be involved in liking and sharing and commenting. We all need that, right? We do. So thank you for doing that. Thank you for just being that person. If you're listening in and you obviously can't see us, if you're not watching on YouTube, this is Monty Light. Hello. Monty Light, the Indie filmmaker that is near and dear to my heart. And I cannot wait to make another movie with you. But today is a little bit more about getting to know you. So this kind of part of the podcast, I love to just get to know who's in the other chair across from me. And not just know you for what you're kind of good at today. I want to give the guests a little bit of context about who you are. So let's go back in time a little bit. And, you know, know little Monty. Okay. All right. Where are you from? And then also growing up, what kind of person were you? What kind of kid were you?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. So I was born in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Okay. Which is a suburb of Tulsa. Yeah. And I'm an only child. And I was born, very fortunate to be born to two... artist parents. Both my parents, they worked as music teachers. My father is a composer and songwriter. He's actually written the music for all of my films. I was wondering if that was a brother or what kind of relative? Yeah, that's my dad. That's my dad, Matt Light. And he has songs as well, the songs that are in the films, in particular Blood, Cover, Chocolate. Yeah, he composes them. He does, yeah. He wrote that song that's in there. But Yeah, what's interesting is the first time that I was on a film set, I was five. I actually, my parents were approached by a music video director. I literally had just caught his eye and he was like interested in my look and everything like that. And they basically asked him if I might be interested in acting in a music video. Um, so that would have been 1989. And so, yeah. So what's interesting is that like my earliest memory that I have is being on a film set and, um, you know, being in front of the camera and also just becoming aware of the magic behind the magic. So growing up, it was one of those things where from moment one, anytime I would be watching any film and I obviously loving any and all films, I always had an eye to how it was constructed. I would just always be thinking about that. And it was one of those things where basically growing up in Oklahoma, I was a child actor. I was doing a lot of music videos, local commercials, and I would go out for auditions in Dallas. Okay.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, kind of the closest major market.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah. And it's interesting, some of those early experiences. Like I remember I went to do an audition for a casting agent in Dallas around like 1993. And I was reading for this shy little kid who doesn't want to get on a school bus and doesn't know how to like interact socially with people. And the casting agent really loved my audition. I actually got a callback for that. And I came in for the callback and made her cry and everything like that. But I ultimately didn't get the part. And my dad, who drove me to all of those, to the audition and the callback and everything, he said something that I'll never forget because he was trying to buck me up. He was like, don't worry, son. I'm sure nobody will be interested in a film called Forrest Gump. Yeah,
SPEAKER_05:I've never heard of it.
SPEAKER_04:Never heard of it. And it gets better, too, because fast forward, when I was in college, I went to school for acting. Where did you go? I went to the University of Northern Colorado. Okay, yeah. which is actually where my parents went as well. And then my father went on to get a master's at Northwestern University.
SPEAKER_05:Everyone's like, oh, here comes the legacy.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, right? Nepo baby? I don't know. I don't know if that's a very small sort of way. But what's funny is that that's my old anecdote that I tell all the time. And I remember I was telling that first day of acting class, and there was an actress in the class who, who now actually does off-Broadway and does tours. She's still working and everything. Jamie Aron Romero is her name. Hi, Jamie. She was like, oh, you went out for an audition for Little Forest? I was like, yeah, Little Jenny. And so it was just like, apparently everybody of that generation was auditioning for that film. So it was very interesting. Yeah, and I had some great, important experiences experiences very very early on in terms of just the discipline of filmmaking and the conceptual nature of filmmaking
SPEAKER_05:when would you say like the moment is like when you kind of knew like you kind of fell in love with filmmaking where hey i want to do this for yeah a career like with my life
SPEAKER_04:yeah you know it's interesting because i think probably the two major moments for me was I saw Kenneth Branagh's Henry V, which obviously is Shakespeare, and was just floored by the film. And I must have been like, I don't know, 10, something like that. And it was my first time that I became aware of, I was like, oh, so he's acting in this? He's directing this? He's adapting the screenplay. This is all him. This is all his expression. And he's wearing all of these different hats. And I started to fall in love with that kind of, you know, control that kind of being able to just explore myself and really put the pieces together in terms of making a film. Cause it's, you know, it's very much like being a sculptor or like being an architect or like playing chess, chess with yourself or putting a puzzle together. Um, it's exciting. It's exciting because it can be so maddening in, in many ways. And you know, you're, you're kind of almost boxing against yourself and that, that for whatever reason, that movie like turned the light on for me. And so, um, around 1999, my parents and I, we moved out of Oklahoma and we moved to Las Vegas where I went to, um, the Las Vegas Academy of Performing and Visual Arts. Very cool. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and so when I got there, I just met, you know, a bunch of crazy artists and like I, Some of them I'm still friends with. That's where I met my best friend in the whole world. How was
SPEAKER_05:that transition? Culturally, in the sense of those cities are massively different.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Well, it's interesting because coming from Oklahoma, I've always been very lucky in the sense that I had the best kind of exposure. when I was young. And that's due 100% to the dedication and love of my parents. So like when I was in middle school, I actually went to a private school, not because we had any money, but because my mother taught elementary music at that school. So they gave them a discount. So it was one of those things where I was in that school from grade three to grade eight. And we were studying the classics. I took two years of Latin and philosophy and all of that stuff that I was being exposed to. And on the opposite end, also being in school with one of the kids I think was the grandson of Oppenheimer. And things like that. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. And I remember, like, us being invited out to, like, a polo game that they were playing. And you're like, what's polo? Yeah, yeah. But it was one of those things where it's like, you know, being an only child, being not rich and going to, you know, a uniform private school and everything like that. They were always the kids that were destined to be, like, Doctors have their whole medical school way paid. And I knew I wasn't... A little bit of privilege. A little bit. And I knew that I wasn't going to get any of that. And by a little bit, I mean a
SPEAKER_05:lot
SPEAKER_04:of it. A lot of it, yeah. And they were very selfish, but they also didn't know how good they had it. Yeah, I think that's the hardest thing.
SPEAKER_05:And when people talk about privilege, it's like most people that have it don't realize they have it. And that really comes down to the parents, whether they're teaching them about that privilege or not, or understanding like, hey, this is where I came from, and we have this, but I didn't always have this, or whatever it is. And some families just have it for crazy generational wealth, and it just is what it is. But yeah, I mean, I think especially with private schools, that's tough to almost like makes me think about that show All-American. Yeah. I'm not sure if you caught that one, but... No, I haven't caught that one. You got Spencer James, who comes from Compton, but he's just a really, really good football player. And he eventually goes and plays at Beverly Hills, and all his kids have tons of money and tons of privilege and the best everything, right? But he's just really talented. So there's just this old dynamic of, like, hey, you don't belong here, but, like, well... show us you belong here kind of thing. But yeah. And was there ever a moment like you had to kind of prove yourself
SPEAKER_04:to them? Like, I mean, it was just one of those things where it's like, I, you know, I was just beat up. Like it was, you know, it was one of those things where, you know, you're the, you're the, the kid that doesn't come from something. Yeah. But, um, you know, but I, I realized that I was like everything that I'm getting right now, even at that age, I knew it's like value this, um, soak it in as much as you can. You know, you are having an opportunity to be exposed to a wonderful education. So it's like, that was my experience leaving Oklahoma. And then, you know, in addition to acting and everything like that, which was like a whole other world. And then coming to Vegas and going to a performing arts high school, I was suddenly thrown into a crowd that was exactly like me. that they also came from a place where they were beat up or ostracized or anything like that. Kind of felt a little understood. A little bit. A little bit. And then on the opposite end, the funny thing is that you are with a crowd. I mean, it's a little bit like fame, right? Where it's like as much as you enjoy being in a crowd that is like you, there are those that were very competitive. You know, they... Especially because you're a teenager, right? So you're in this place where it's like, I have to be the best actor. I have to be the best singer. I have to be the best this and that and everything. Because they have this passion and it's a very young age to sort of know what your passion is. So all of that was just teaching me basically focus and ambition And also learning a lot about rejection because it's like, you know, you go out for auditions, you don't get parts.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:You know, you're doing this. You typically
SPEAKER_05:learn a lot more about yourself by not getting a part. Yeah. Or, you know. Yeah. Or losing the game or whatever it may be, right? Yeah. Like, it's like, hey, that's a learning moment. Yeah. And really what is the more important part is what's going to be building your character.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:your character could go one way or the other. It could really be sulking and be like, oh, I didn't get it. Or it could be like, hey, I'm going to get the next one or whatever. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:In fact, like the other significant moment for me, this was still in Oklahoma, but it was definitely one of the most surreal experiences of my life. And I think some of its DNA definitely had an impact on something like Bittertooth even. where I got a job for a made-for-TV movie. This would have been in 1993, called In the Line of Duty Ambush in Waco. That's
SPEAKER_05:a mouthful.
SPEAKER_04:It is a mouthful. It's one of those classic... back in the early nineties made for TV movies that were sort of the rip from the headlines thing. Okay. And we're literally, I think they, I think I actually listened to the commentary on that film later and apparently they edited that movie in one weekend on a movie Ola. So it was just like old school days, but basically, um, it was a dramatic, uh, like a dramatization of the David Koresh Waco compound siege by the ATF, uh,
SPEAKER_05:Craig's getting really excited, by the way. He said Moviola and he perked up.
SPEAKER_04:Old enough to remember. Tim Daly. Yes. Yes. Yes. So what's interesting is that I actually, yes. So let me tell you the Tim Daly story then.
SPEAKER_05:Feel free to interact with Craig. Okay. I agree. People can slightly hear his voice in the microphones. We need to get him one.
SPEAKER_04:Well, I'm glad that you got that. So Tim Daly... Dan Loria. What's funny is that Jerry Ryan was in that like right before she was on Star Trek. And what's interesting is I was cast as one of the kids that was in the cult, like it was in the compound. And they built an entire reproduction of the compound that they filmed. And mind you, We were making that. They were shooting that while the siege was still happening. So then there was Tim Daly playing David Koresh, and he was so good. He was there giving these fiery speeches and screaming at the top of his lungs and everything. He was so good, and I was also like, I had to have been nine or something, that like I just started to break down and cry. Like it was just, oh my God, you're like just emotionally wrecking me and everything. So the director quite wisely, like gestured to the camera operator and he's like, go in for a closeup. So they like came in for a closeup of me, just like bawling and everything. And that was great because I got paid more. I was no longer an extra. I was like a featured, right? And basically afterwards, You know, I was still wrecked and everything and Tim Daly came up to me and he like got down He's like shook my hand and he was basically like man. You're making me look bad. You're doing so great, you know all that stuff and I remember like we broke for lunch and I went out with dad and I was like Take me home. I can't I can't do this.
SPEAKER_05:This is Yours emotionally
SPEAKER_04:hard man. Yeah, I was like And dad said something that I'll never forget, where he was basically like, yeah, I can take you home, son. But, you know, you did take this job. And when you take a job, you need to finish it. Do you think you can do that? And I was like, okay, all right, I'll do it. And I'm glad that I did. You know, it was really, really, that was a pivotal moment. And that whole experience was very interesting because they shot a lot of stuff with the kids, they shot a lot of stuff with me, none of which, or most none of it ended up in the film. And the thing when I was saying like a surreal experience that really affected me is that I think it was the second day, so we shot for like two days, I think, and on the second day that we were filming, we were there in the compound replica and then everybody just started to hear the chatter and they're like, Everybody, come over into the commissary area. So we went in there and we looked up on the TV and the actual compound was burning. So it was like watching the actual compound burning while standing in a replica of it. That was definitely a moment when I realized, I was like, oh, okay, so film is a very powerful medium. It can be a very powerful medium for the people who make it and it can be a very powerful medium for people the people that see it. The people that watch it, yeah. Yeah, so that also taught me a lot about the power of cults and the power of propaganda. And I mean, I think a lot of that Is it play? Obviously in Bittertooth. If you go watch it, I'm on me too. Shameless plug. Absolutely. I love shameless plugs. Watch their whole catalog. All 10,000. That's right. It'll only take you a couple of days. It's fine. Get it
SPEAKER_05:done in 2025. No big
SPEAKER_04:deal. That's true. Everybody needs a hobby. Coming to Vegas from there, I was 16 years when I made my first short film. And that was the classic do-it-yourself with your buddies. And the great thing about Vegas in those days, I don't think it's this way anymore, because it's been like 25 years, but back then, you could go anywhere. You could shoot anything. No permits needed. Nobody was paying attention. I think... I think the only time that we were ever like accosted by a cop while we were doing guerrilla style stuff, he basically, it was like a highway patrol. We were shooting a scene for my very first short film, like right on the highway that goes to Hoover Dam. There was like this little concrete structure that looked like an old temple. And so we were shooting a scene and my first short film, it's called Paper Anvil. It's somewhere out there in the, I think, uh, Vimeo, uh, which is not MoMe too, but you know, uh, it's, uh, you know, and it's like 20 minutes long and it was, it was made by a 16 year old. And what's funny is that like, we made that, uh, with the mini DV tapes. You remember those cameras? Yeah. Those old Panasonic's or whatever. Yeah. And what's funny is that like,
SPEAKER_05:you used to get all my, uh, soccer matches on those things.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Where they had the, the setting where you could do like, Like, what was it, night vision and all that stuff. And what's funny is there were a couple of scenes in the film, and it's still in the film, where the wind in Vegas, because it's the desert and there's no obstructions. It can get very windy. And we were shooting outside. We were shooting outside in a desert lot right outside Wayne Newton's compound, actually. And the wind was so, like, intense that... that it actually caused little black lines on the DV tape, because it was moving the tape on the spool. And we were just like, whatever, you know? And it was one of those things where it's like we got, our Steadicam was a mop handle, Our dolly was like a furniture dolly and our boom was a hockey stick. And that's, you know, how we were making movies. And, you know, it was great. It was great because we didn't know or care what the rules were. We were just like watching films and making films. And, you know, I think it was around... It was definitely around that time when I was introduced to horror for the first time. And I think my... I mean, the first horror film that I ever saw was Something Wicked This Way Comes with Jonathan Pryce from 1983, I want to say. I have not seen
SPEAKER_05:that.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. It's based on a Ray Bradbury novel. He wrote the screenplay. Very good film. And it was produced by Disney, interestingly enough, back in their dark Disney time when they didn't quite know what to do with their live action division. kind of like now, but they were just sort of doing, you know, anything and everything with just wild abandon. Little jabs, little jabs. I know, right? Well, they did, I think they did another film called Watcher in the Woods with Betty Davis around that time in the black hole, I think. It's like just really good dark stuff. Yeah. And what's interesting is that like, just as a factoid, apparently that's the reason that they created Touchstone was because my parents remember distinctly going to the theater to watch something with Wicked This Way Comes when it first came out, like a year before I was born, right? And the moment that it said a Walt Disney production, people in the audience got up and left. Because they're like, this isn't going to be hardcore. This isn't going to be, you
SPEAKER_05:know. So they had to shell game it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, exactly. It's like, hey, you know, play the game, right? And then it was my... best friend, you know, to this day, Cooper isn't his name, Cooper Holmes, who actually is Cooper Holmes. Coop. Coop. Yep. He's a, he's a great screenwriter. Actually. He, he's has a screenwriting credit on Bittertooth as well as, uh, space, my first film. But, um, he showed me, uh, Dario Argento's 1977 Suspiria. Um, And that was when I realized how beautiful horror films can be. Because that's basically like watching opera. You know what I mean? The colors and the symbolism and the use of the goblin music and all of that. It just made me start to fall in love with the medium. Because I kept wrangling when I was first watching it with how... incredible it was to see something so horrific, like a knife going into a heart in close-up, just oozing blood, and yet it could look so gorgeous in that technicolor. And Luciano Tivoli's cinematography and everything, and I was just like, okay, all right, I like this. This is cool. And then... It's like
SPEAKER_05:poetry to you.
SPEAKER_04:It's exactly like poetry. And it's interesting because when I... immerse myself. I, I immerse myself. It's like, I live, you know, I live to watch movies. I live to study, you know, filmmakers and the way that they, you know, utilize film grammar, editing, you know, learning every single way, always putting it in the, in the back of my mind to sort of, you know, pick it out later when necessary. Um, take inspiration from the greats, right? And it's interesting. I think it was 03, I was in Vegas now. Cooper and I, we acted as ushers at the CineVegas Film Festival, which isn't around anymore. But that I think was my first experience with the power of the film festival. And I'll tell you why. It just so happened that that particular film festival was the premiere of George A. Romero's Land of the Dead when he came back, you know, to make zombie films again. And we actually got to see it in the theater and George A. Romero was there. And I'll never forget. I mean, this is what you do when you're like 16, right? 16 and a film nerd, uh, my buddy Cooper and I, we were like, okay, yeah, so we're gonna go see George A. Romero. And he's like, have you seen the zombie films? Have you seen the dead films? And I'm like, I've seen Night of the Living Dead. He's like, oh man, let's stay up all night and watch, which we did. Just
SPEAKER_05:binge
SPEAKER_04:watch everything. Binge watch it. We watched Night of the Living Dead, we watched Dawn of the Dead, we watched Day of the Dead, we watched The Crazies, and we watched Season of the Witch. all in one night.
SPEAKER_05:That's an epic. That's a lot of popcorn.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah. And so it was Land of the Dead playing at that festival. It was Primer when that first came out, which is one of the best indie sci-fi films ever made. And it was, interestingly enough, Napoleon Dynamite premiered there. Yeah, which was interesting because that had the biggest line out the door when that came out at that festival because... I
SPEAKER_05:wonder when that... So
SPEAKER_04:what year was this? That was, it was like 04.
SPEAKER_05:Okay, yeah. So I, because I remember seeing Napoleon Dynamite at a little indie theater in Santa Cruz. Oh, nice. I had gone on a road trip with a buddy of mine. Like after my first year, both of our first years in college, we did a little road trip up to Northern California or whatever. Yeah. And went to like Folsom and just all over the place. And we stopped in Santa Cruz to see one of his like I don't know, friends from college. Went to UCSD and stopped there. We went to Pizza My Heart and then went into this little indie theater. And it was just like a dollar to get in to watch a movie. Oh, man, those were the days. It was great. And I hated it. It was a terrible film. And then it became, obviously, just... crazy epic. And then I watched it in a theater, and I was just like, this movie's so cool. I watched it in a bigger theater with a bigger audience instead of being a little indie theater with 10 people. Right,
SPEAKER_04:where you're getting that vibe. Yeah, they had a big crowd turnout because Vegas is full of Mormons, interestingly. Fun fact there. It is. And, you know, yeah, it was interesting because that was also the festival where they did a retrospective of Eraserhead. It was the first time I ever saw that in the theater, which was quite the privilege. It made no sense to me the first time I saw it. It made no sense. But of course, I wanted to dissect it. And also, rest in peace, David Lynch was there. So it was very interesting to hear him speak because nothing that he said made sense either. But it was just so... fascinating to hear him talk. It was David Lynch, Dennis Hopper, and Dean Stockwell. Unfortunately, none of them are with us anymore. But just the three of them in the room talking about their experiences, Blue Velvet and everything. And I remember the moderator asked David Lynch at one point, he was just like, why did you think that William Hurt was the best casting choice for Elephant Man? And Lynch's response was incredible. He was basically like, well, he was the only actor that I knew that had a completely shaved left hand. And I remember Dean Stockwell, who had like a giant stogie in his hand, was just like, what the fuck? Who is this guy? And then like, you know, Lynch had his whole horde of... He was always surrounded by attractive women while he was there, and then he was leaving so you couldn't go and talk to him. But nobody was talking to Dean Stockwell, so Cooper and I spent an hour talking to him, which was quite great. So it was just constant exposure over the years of just very, very, very talented, very dedicated artists.
SPEAKER_05:You knew this was... This was your future. This was your world. You loved what you did as far as learning in the moment and just being involved in every aspect of film. You're talking about multiple aspects of film there, not just being an avid watcher. You're getting deep into the little nuances of what makes films tick. I love that.
SPEAKER_04:Around that time, I was... you know, in addition to starting to direct. And, you know, it's interesting, too, because I would say that directing was something that happened for me before screenwriting. Because Paper Anvil, my first short film that I made, it was loosely inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy, you know, Inferno and all of that. And it... was a silent film. I basically wanted to structure it as, you know, a throwback homage to the classic ways of doing it. It was black and white, again. And we... There's one scene in the film that had dialogue and then everything else we just didn't bother with sound, which was great because we were just going around shooting gorilla everywhere. So it was purely visual and it was like, okay, how do we use juxtaposition? How do we, you know, frame things to... express this emotion how do we do symbolism in this film how do we experiment how do we do this how do we do that it was amazing and then later on sort of attributing actual narrative like dialogue and everything of that nature characterization started to to come to me and i think that for me probably my biggest inspiration for the screenwriting side of things, was Leigh Brackett, who she didn't write too many scripts, but they're some of the best films ever made. She wrote The Big Sleep, the Howard Hawks film with Humphrey Bogart. She wrote the Howard Hawks Western trilogy, El Dorado, Rio Bravo, and Rio Lobo with John Wayne. She wrote the original draft of Empire Strikes Back, I
SPEAKER_05:believe two of those John Wayne films I believe we have on Moby-Doo. Yeah, Real Lobo. I think is on there. Some of those sound familiar. I'm not a massive classic or western buff. I'll dabble here and there. You
SPEAKER_04:know what's funny is that actually growing up as much as I absolutely adored horror, I think my other favorite genre was the western or is the western. It's such an interesting genre. Um, not obviously like they always say the Westerns dead. I don't know what that means because it's like, look at everything that what Taylor Sheridan is doing. It's just like Neo Westerns, you know, it always evolves. No country for all men. I mean, it's basically a Western.
SPEAKER_05:I don't, I don't think Westerns are dead. I think it's just, it's few and far between the stories we can tell that are relevant to the audiences because it has to be relevant. Right. So, Um, like if it's not marketable.
SPEAKER_04:Right. Well,
SPEAKER_05:unless it's just, unless it's an indie film, it's just a passion project or whatever. But like, as far as like big studio films, like not probably not as many Westerns. Right. I mean, maybe just cause it's not as relevant.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Yeah. I can see that. I think actually, um, uh, what's, what's it called now? Uh, V channels, but I think it's insurgent now. Insurgents. Yeah. Insurgents. Um, yeah. They also produced a film. I think it's on Mommy 2. Washer Woman?
SPEAKER_05:Washer Woman. Is it on Mommy 2? I'm not 100% certain. I did see the trailer, though, because it was sent to me around the same time that your film was sent to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we didn't choose it on that initial slate, but it might be on there now. It is on. Okay, cool.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Good job, Bonnie, with that film. She's great. Yeah, because like... Um, that, that's a, you know, Western supernatural film kind of, you know, kind of like what bone Tomahawk did, you know, where it's like taking that, mixing it with another sort of medium and sort of seeing what comes out the other side. And like a lot of those, um, classic Westerns, I mean, we, we have a tendency to think of the John Ford side of things, the, which are great, you know, but the big epic, uh, you know, cinema scope kind of Westerns, but there were a lot of, um, the lower budget ones, the stuff that Sam Fuller was making, or like Blood on the Moon with Robert Mitchum. And what's interesting were Winchester 73, the Jimmy Stewart, Anthony Mann collaborations. Those films are essentially film noir crime plots. They just take place in the West. In fact, actually one of those films, The Naked Spur, I've always wanted to do a remake of that film, actually, because I think that that could be a very interesting crime film and be taken out of the Western genre and still be just as viable.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I mean, it's very apparent that you love film.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And I appreciate that. Like, it's not... you're very knowledgeable about multiple genres. I feel like we can continue to talk about so much. Let's just go super deep and maybe we just have you back on another episode and just talk more about it. But getting back to you a little bit, I want to make sure we touch on you as a filmmaker. Yeah, of course. And I think looking at the films that you have made that I've seen so far, having a lower budget, how are you able to kind of balance that side of yourself that you're like, hey, I wanted to make, I'm trying to be as creative as possible. Yeah. But also understanding like, hey, I got to work within a budget. How do you balance that? At least what is your process? Because obviously everyone's different. Right. What is that for you?
SPEAKER_04:Well, I think that there are a couple of like sort of gold standards that you have to put up on your wall. of what will succeed in the lower budget, micro budgets, indie kind of world. So limited locations, limited characters.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, really anything under$300,000.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. At that point. Exactly. And don't make your movie over an hour 30. One, because... you know, there's so much money that you can save by not shooting a whole other 30 minutes. Yeah. And whether it
SPEAKER_05:be during this, during the shoot or in post.
SPEAKER_04:Right. Right. Yeah. And I mean, I've had some filmmaker friends where they're also working like indie low budget and they report back to me and they're like, Oh, you know, I, my first cut was three hours long. And I'm like, how the hell was your first cut three hours long? The reason it was three hours long was that they had no vision. And so it's like they end up whittling it down and sometimes they didn't even complete their project. So for me, it's a matter of I keep time and money focused by basically having the film done before it's shot. It's, you know, the old Hitchcock technique where basically I storyboard all of my films. I storyboard every scene of my film. And I have this trick that I love to do where I will, once I have the film cast, uh, I'll have the cast do a recorded table read either on a zoom or kind of similar to this where they sit down and they go through the whole script and I record it. And then I take that recording and I put it in to my editing program with my storyboards to make an animatic. And basically, very cool. Yeah. I show that to the cast. to the crew, to everyone from, you know, the key grip to the lead actor. And I'm basically like, this is the movie we're making.
SPEAKER_05:That's super smart.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. And so that way it's one of those, and like, you know, you've seen the films where it's like, there are, you know, there are scenes where, like in the opening of Bittertooth, you know, there's a two minute long, long take, you know what I mean? With all of these different marks and everything. And it's one of those things that it's like, you can't do that on the day. without planning. You can't get through that in addition to 10 other scenes because you're having to work within a nine-day schedule unless everybody already knows what they're doing before they show up. And I also think that it's very important to foster a environment in the film where everybody is a collective. So for me, it's one of those things where I have everything pre-visualized and I invite questions from the get-go. I'm like, email me constantly, ask me anything and everything, throw everything onto the wall. And also when you're working super low budget, one of the places that you can save time and money, in particular money, don't have a costumer. Basically, let the actors provide their own costumes. Okay. Except for some important key pieces. Yeah. And the reason that I think
SPEAKER_05:that that's... Like masks or...
SPEAKER_04:Masks or something that needs to get bloodied or distressed or something like that. And I think the other reason that that's very, very important is that actors create their characters through their costumes. And... I don't know how many times, I mean, even like, I mean, we'll get to it in a bit, but like the lead actor that was in Blood Covered Chocolate, he basically created his character from his wardrobe and from what he did with his hair. And that was, you know, all him, I think, except for a couple of A-shirts that I provided. And that... is you know obviously a whole other department that you can't you know you don't have to worry about um beauty you know beauty makeup things like that let them do their own powder just a lot of little things that you don't have to worry about
SPEAKER_05:yeah at least when shooting on a on a small budget that's smart small budget yeah i mean it brings a little ownership to it as well like And it doesn't hurt, especially with Bittertooth, for instance, when you have Autumn Ivey, who's a cosplayer, loves to obviously accessorize what she is wearing.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Well, and you know what's interesting is that Autumn is a great example of how we not only built her character in Bittertooth through costumes, but we also figured out... kind of her visual journey through her costumes as well. So one of the things that I think, and this was 100% her idea, again, this improvisational sort of collective that you foster, she was basically like, because I think initially I had written it in the script where Ivy's character had pink hair, just like actual dyed pink hair. And she's like, well, you know, I'm a redhead with, you know, short hair and everything like that. I have a pink wig. And then she was like, you know, what would be interesting is if Ivy wears a different wig in the whole film. Like she kind of mixes it up. Sometimes it's blue, sometimes it's pink. We never see her real hair, i.e. we never see her true self. until the end. Until the end. Yeah. Until my
SPEAKER_05:favorite scene.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, exactly. Where she finally comes into who she
SPEAKER_05:is. I didn't even realize that.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, exactly. It's one of those things where it's like you... What's that expression? You may not have noticed, but your brain did.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And similarly... It's almost like
SPEAKER_05:she had a mood ring going on.
SPEAKER_04:Exactly. It says so much about her character visually. Yeah. And that's the other thing, is that screenwriting 101, any sort of scene that you go into, you write it where you get to the end as fast as possible. You start it as close to the end as possible. So usually, and this is something that I started to adopt in Blood Covered Chocolate, and we did it on acid in Bittertooth, shooting with multiple cameras. If you have a... very brilliant genius cinematographer, which I've been blessed to have, Neil, Tyler, I love you. You can afford that. You can do that and it saves you a lot of time. So like in Bittertooth, we shot that film with six cameras. Sometimes we would have four cameras rolling at once. So what's interesting is like, you know, you've seen it. There's this kind of, which was intentional. I wanted this sort of, cubist kind of montage effect of the way things happen and the way that it bounces out of like shooting on an iphone and then shooting on i think we had three black magics and everything and sometimes sometimes we would have one of the camera operators be just there and be like just just play just see what you want to do with that other camera and we'll see what we get and um The end result of that was me having to edit through 14 terabytes of footage in three months. But it was worth it. It was worth it for that look. That's a
SPEAKER_05:creative piece that not many films are able to get.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. And the subject matter doesn't always warrant it.
SPEAKER_05:Because even especially with the iPhones, I think there was a really cool vantage point.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:as they're live, right? Really cool where you did that.
SPEAKER_04:And have, I would say, without a doubt on your film, have spectacular camera operators. Even if your cinematographer is your camera operator, I mean, that's great. But I think beyond that, have one person on your camera crew who owns and knows how to use a drone. Because...
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, you did get some pretty cool drone shots.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and it's one of those things where it's like you don't want to overplay it. I've seen a lot of indie films where it's like they lean far too heavily into the drone because they have a drone. Yeah. But sometimes a film needs to break out. If you're always shooting on a particular level, even if you're doing a high angle, you're still keeping it relatively pedestrian and... By the nature of it, it can be a bit claustrophobic, which of course is wonderful for the horror medium. But every so often, you just need an establishing shot. It's a great way to get it. And it's one of those things where you take advantage of equipment and assets and resources that even three years ago people didn't have. Like I would say that... Bittertooth had, because I was also editing all of my own sound, like sound effects and everything, I basically had the advantage of certain AI programs that you can run dialogue through that can instantly clean it up. I had to clean up all of the dialogue myself on Blood Covered Chocolate. And then with Bittertooth, it's like I can at least do one pass. And then you go in and you start to clean up the cleanup. But just having that advantage is like, utilize it. It's there for you. It's becoming, you know, more democratized than ever. It just has to take your intelligence in terms of what is essential to this film? What is essential to this scene? What is essential to this shot? Because I mean, nine times out of 10, and this is something that I feel like more independent films should do more micro budget films should do. And they look great when they do do it, find ways to block and stage your scenes where you can reframe without cut, where it's basically like, you know, do the classic, the, you know, actor comes into the foreground and suddenly you're working on a diagonal and on, you know, like a diagonal two shots, very strong, uh, and then maybe slowly pan your camera over until you've got a close up. Have somebody pass in the background and then suddenly you're doing an over the shoulder. Reframe without cut because it's like every time that you're cutting, you're doing another setup, you're doing another lighting scheme, but the audience will appreciate the fluidity of it because that is basically old school film. That's old school Hollywood. That is sort of desperately needed in many ways. As much as digital has allowed so many new kind of tricks and so many new aesthetics. Learn the old ones too. They will always act as a balance. They will always act as a time saver and they will make your films look so much better. They'll make them look so much more interesting. So there's definitely that. I would also say when working with your cinematographer, One of the things that Neil does that I think is absolutely genius is we always light every scene in total. So we basically come in, I do the blocking with the actors, and I walk them through what the entire scene will be in a location. And in doing so, Neil comes in and he lights everything. Everything in terms of where all of the angles will ultimately be. And so that might take a little bit longer at the start of your day. That might be like two more hours. But then you make it up on the back end. Yeah, saves
SPEAKER_05:you down the road when you're not having to reset.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, you only have like a couple of keys that you have to do. We wouldn't have been able to get through all of the material in the shed in Bittertooth if we didn't do it that
SPEAKER_05:way. It probably keeps your cast a little more engaged too so that they're not going to stop and wait and stop and wait and stop and wait. You can get them in and out a little quicker.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and when looking at... When working with, by the way, when working with actors, having name talent or talent that has been in the game a long time is phenomenal because it's like the actors that I've been privileged enough to work with, and we'll talk a little bit about them, They're amazing because they've been working at it for 40 years and they have, you know, 30, 40 years, they have like a hundred some credits. They come in, they have it on lock. They know exactly what to do. But here's the thing. They don't have to be a big name to be locked in it as well. When looking at the resumes, when doing your tapes, when doing your auditions, pay attention to actors who have done theater. Pay attention to actors who have perhaps dance experience or stunt training. Or even improvisational comedy, like Justin Michael Terry. He has a massive improv background. And I actually know him from college. We've known each other for like 20 years. We went to acting school together. And you could just tell. He was the guy. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:I mean, I really love Joe Altieri. Yeah. And the fact that he is the only one on both of... those films on Bitter Tooth and Cold Covered Chocolate that doesn't even have a headshot on IMDb. I mean, the guy is just an unknown name, but he is a powerhouse when you watch him on camera. I really dug both of his characters.
SPEAKER_04:Yes. So
SPEAKER_05:kudos to you for casting him and getting someone that, again, I mean, he could care less about his IMDb. As long as you leave... He gets his space with his dogs and he can live life. He's happy as a clam.
SPEAKER_04:Well, I adore Joe. I love him to death because I... Again, this is another thing that you'll encounter doing indie film. But the first day that I ever met Joe in person was the first day that he filmed for Blood Covered Chocolate. It was basically like, show up. Hi there. Nice to meet you. Here's your mark. And the thing is, he... approaches his work like Tom Petty. He's basically this kind of been there, seen it all. He's a vet, like a veteran. And so he basically has many stories to tell. He has been through a lot. He's a no bullshit guy. So because of that, he's a fantastic actor. He's also a fantastic musician. You can see a little bit of that in Bittertooth. He's so good at just being himself that he's interesting to look at. And, you know, that's the other thing is that when you're casting, it's like your instinct is to always go for, like, ingenuine character actor, which is a good one. But... Going back to Ian Van Gogh for a second, one of the things that was very impressive to him with Bittertooth was casting Autumn, right? Yeah. Where it's like, oh, you don't see enough of somebody who has tattoos and everything of that nature. Yeah,
SPEAKER_05:someone that looks like him. Yeah. He really resonated with the look of Autumn because he's fully tatted up as well.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. And the thing is, for her, one, Autumn is just a fantastic actor. And what's interesting is that when I was writing Bittertooth, I was aware of Autumn because of originally just seeing her social media and the bodybuilding and her sort of body journey. And what's- Crazy strong. Yes. Yeah. I mean, she's a bodybuilder. Yeah, absolutely. And what's interesting is that when we were shooting Bittertooth, you know, this is another thing about making independent film. It's like we put her in the spare room of our house, right? And it was one of those things where, you know, we'd have like a couple of days off from filming and she would just go get an entire pizza and just like share it with me. And she, you know, would always get the best food. And that was great. But it was one of those things where I had originally saw her on social media and then just decided to like, you know, take the approach just going, you know, on, on, I think X or whatever it was and saying big Meyer of your work. And I remember what I actually did. I was in the middle of doing a table read for another script that, uh, didn't end up getting made, at least not yet. And I, uh, I was basically like, would you be interested in reading, you know, doing this zoom reading of a, of literally a one scene part, one scene part. And she's like, yeah, cool. Let's do it. Um, So she came and she read that one scene. And from just her reading of a handful of lines from one scene, I was like, I want to work with this person and I want this person to be the lead. So when, as an actor, you get those opportunities, don't shrug them off. Don't shrug them off. Because you never know. You never know. Yeah, exactly. And then, yeah. You also never know
SPEAKER_05:what it could lead to as well.
SPEAKER_04:Exactly. Exactly. And, I mean, Autumn... There was nobody else that could do that part in Bittertooth because I knew I needed somebody that could be believable in the soft, vulnerable scenes and believable for that ending. Could you have believed anybody else in that ending? You know what I
SPEAKER_05:mean? She was a perfect cast for it, 100%. Yeah. It makes me want to talk more about Bittertooth, but I feel like we should hold off on that. Again, we talked a little bit about it in James' episode, so go check out the tracksuit episode is what I call it. Yeah, it's a good one. But I feel like we could definitely keep talking. Honestly, I have a whole list of questions here that we didn't even get to just because it's really fascinating hearing you talk. If you haven't noticed, I've been very quiet, which I'm normally not this quiet during episodes. I'm just like... It's fascinating hearing you talk about film and how you're making your content. We could make this a very long episode. We could. I think we should just have you back. But for the sake of time, let's go ahead and take a quick break here. But before we do, if you want to let everyone listening, if you want to shoot right down the barrel and just let people know where can we find you, where can we find your work, and if you have a website or whatever.
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely. So you can find me on Instagram. That's primarily where I'm on. Uh, I'm also on X. I think in both cases, it's like at Monty light at Monty underscore light, maybe, um, you know, filmmaker that's me. And, uh, right now, actually, uh, I'm in the middle of, uh, an Indiegogo for, uh, my, my next film, um, which is very, very fun. Fun horror. Is that Unit 666? Unit 666, Midnight in the Black Ambulance. It's about a team of first responders who answer very unique emergency calls in a world where all magic and supernatural monsters are real. And every little bit helps because we're going to make this film. And not only that, but we have a really kick-ass idea of how to... take all of those resources and make a proof of concept short film. So, you know, if we don't get to that one milestone, it doesn't mean that, you know, that's the power of Indiegogo. It doesn't mean that it can't be something because it will be something. Again, talking about my ambition and everything. It's going to be something amazing. And you know how the game is played. It's like you make, it's kind of like with Saw, right? It's like the original Saw was a short film first. Yeah. And you take it to the festivals, get seen, gets the proof of concept, people get excited about it. And there's a lot of really fun, for the contributions, there's a lot of really, really fun perks that you can get with it too. Anyway, so definitely go check it out. Instagram, X, and I use Facebook too, but not as
SPEAKER_05:much. And he's on TikTok because of us.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, that's right. I'm on TikTok. I need to grow my friends. I need to have friends
SPEAKER_05:on TikTok. Need more followers. That's right. But yeah. Thanks again for sharing this a little bit about you. Yeah, go support Monty. Go check out his work. Obviously, we have two of his films on, Mommy 2, Bitter Tooth, and then obviously what we're going to talk about a little bit later in the episode, Blood Covered Chocolate. But let's go and take a quick little break, and we'll be right back with this or that. Promoting your podcast is hard, and that's why each week we shine a light on one you might not have discovered yet. This week's pick, the Gutted Horror Podcast. If you're a fan of all things terrifying, twisted, and totally unforgettable, This one's for you. Gutted horror dives deep into the guts, literally and figuratively, of the horror genre, breaking down films, exploring subgenres, and tackling what makes horror stick with us long after the credits roll. With sharp commentary, killer guests, and a love for the spooky stuff, it's a must-listen for die-hard horror fans, and curious newcomers alike. So, if you're ready to get gutted, in the best way, Check out the Gutted Horror Podcast wherever you get your screams. I mean, streams. Now, let's get back to our pod. All right, and we're back here with Mr. Monty Light. Yes. And we're going to play a fun little game. Okay. Only if you're willing. Do you want to play this or that? Sure. Let's play it. Let's do it. And this or that is brought to you by our friends over at Coastline Travel. So if you're looking to go anywhere in the world, book a flight. Hotel, excursion, rental car, whatever it is, you name it, they'll make it happen. Go to coastlinetravel.com and they will get you there. Cool. Monty, I have 20 questions here. I know you've seen some of our episodes because you're an avid follower. I appreciate it. We asked 20 questions. First question we ask everyone, tacos or pizza? Tacos. Tacos. You got a taco guy. All right. Hand soap or hand sanitizer? Hand soap. And so, yeah. Some people out there just using hand sanitizer. Come on. Wash your hands. Yeah. Lead with your heart or lead with logic? Lead with your heart. You're a hard guy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Reminds me of Chit. You ever seen Chit? Chit? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So good. Festival buzz or cult following?
SPEAKER_04:Cult following. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Cult followings are fun.
SPEAKER_04:They are. I mean, that's actually how everything becomes a classic, really.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. Is that people are loyal to it. Yeah. 100%. Pre-production planning or post-production problem solving? Well, pre-production planning. Yeah. Sounds like it. I love
SPEAKER_04:that story. You're going to have to post-production problem
SPEAKER_05:solve anyway, so make it easier on yourself. A very random question, but evil chickens or killer ducks?
UNKNOWN:Ooh.
SPEAKER_05:killer ducks killer ducks would be so interesting okay so i came up with a movie idea okay and i don't care if someone steals it okay totally fine i made up this made up this film for a marketing master class with our film festival yeah so the film the students that got into the film festival we did uh four master classes for them one on marketing one on filmmaking one on film festival strategies and one on distribution. Teaching them a lot of things that they more than likely did not learn in school. With marketing, I was like, how can I get their attention and how can I actually relate to them? So I created a film and it's called Don't Mess With The Ducks. Or sorry, no, Don't Feed The Ducks. Sorry, Don't Feed The Ducks. I went through so many different names. Don't Feed The Ducks. And so how it goes is that Don't Feed The Ducks is about this small town who has this lake and there's ducks there. And the people that live there know not to feed the ducks. There's a sign. There's a single sign that says don't feed the ducks. Well, the tourists come and they feed the ducks. And so at nighttime, the ducks or maybe this one mega duck comes out at nighttime and kills the person. There's the vantage point of the camera where it's the duck vantage point from the ground. You're coming out and biting your neck. Don't feed the ducks. I
SPEAKER_04:got your poster for it. A cracked egg with an eyeball in it.
SPEAKER_05:That's fun. I made one on ChatGPT. It was kind of a cool poster. I'll show it to you later. I love it. It's like a rabid duck with teeth and blood coming out the mouth. It's pretty fun. There you go. Psych thriller or slow burn horror?
SPEAKER_04:Oh, psych thriller. Yeah. Slow burn horrors. If they don't lead anywhere, you're like, why did we do that?
SPEAKER_05:I'm with that. Okay. Teach your younger self or learn from your older self?
SPEAKER_04:I would say probably learn from your older self because the past is prolonged. Okay. I like that answer.
SPEAKER_05:It's good. Fear of failure or fear of wasting potential?
SPEAKER_04:As in which do you not want?
SPEAKER_05:You can take it either way
SPEAKER_04:you want to go. I mean, fear of wasted potential. Just try it, man. Don't be afraid of failure. Don't even care about
SPEAKER_05:it. Yep. Direct a scene on a roller coaster or underwater with dolphins?
SPEAKER_04:I would do underwater with dolphins.
SPEAKER_05:It'd be fun. Oh, yeah. Have you ever done any underwater shoots?
SPEAKER_04:No. So let's do it. No, that would be... God, I can only imagine how much underwater cameras cost.
SPEAKER_05:But yeah, that would be fun. Let's go to Cabo, film a movie. Let's make a movie. There you go. Write a movie in one night or shoot one in a single day?
SPEAKER_04:I would say write one on one night.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. Yeah. You shouldn't want a single day. That's a lot.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. You know, you need perfectionism when it comes to making it.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. Critics praise or audience love? Audience love. Yeah. Yeah. You're the cult following. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Storyboard every shot or improvise on set? Which we already know the answer to. Yeah. There you go. Throw that around. Should have you signed that one. Film your dreams or So film your actual dreams or live in your favorite movie.
SPEAKER_04:I think I'd probably want to live in my favorite movie because it would just seem simpler.
SPEAKER_05:And what is your favorite movie of all time?
SPEAKER_04:Oh, God. Do you
SPEAKER_05:have
SPEAKER_04:one? Do I have one? I mean, my favorite horror film of all time is Suspiria. I don't know if I'd want to live in that, though. You know what? If there's any film that I'd want to live in, I would probably want to live in The Frighteners. Peter Jackson's film with Michael J. Fox. I did not see that. Those ghosts are super cool. Until death shows up, it's a pretty nice time. You get to be in the New Zealand version of America. It's really pretty.
SPEAKER_05:Cool. I need to go check that movie out now. Take a break or push through it? Push through it. Fight a clown Or direct one.
SPEAKER_04:I would probably want to fight a clown. I mean, clowns are sort of annoying. Yeah. Not scary. I know some people are scared of clowns, but they're just like fucking annoying.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. Grainy 16 millimeter aesthetic or 4K digital sleekness. 4K digital sleekness. Yeah. Yeah. All about the clear. That's the editor in me. You can do way more with it. I respect that. Probably make it look like a 16 millimeter. Look at that. Yeah, you can do stuff like that, man. All the technology now. Directing or screenwriting? Directing. Yeah. Win at Tribeca or win at Sundance?
SPEAKER_04:Sundance, I guess.
SPEAKER_05:Flip of a coin. I don't know, man. All right, last one. I got to read this. A lot of words on here. Make the film of your dreams that no one sees or make a film you hate that wins an Oscar. So make the film of your dreams. This is my passion project. No one's ever going to see it, though, but you get to make it so it lives in your world. Or make a film you hate because whatever, you sold out, that wins an Oscar.
SPEAKER_04:I would probably rather make a movie that I hate if it goes to Comic-Con. Much better than the Oscars. I respect that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:All right. That was this or that. Thanks for playing. That was fun. And all the cards are just everywhere. Just right over there. And let's go make a killer duck movie. That's right. That was great. Quack attack. But thank you to Cosign Travel for bringing this. Yeah, go travel. A little segment to everyone. Go travel. Go make a movie. Go underwater with dolphins in Cabo. Have fun. That's right. It's a wide world out there. We'll take a quick little break, and we'll be right back. Being a small business is difficult, and that's why each week we showcase a different small business we think you'll enjoy. And this week, we're spotlighting a small business that's brewing up something spooktacular. Horror Vibes Coffee. Based in North Hollywood, Horror Vibes Coffee is the perfect blend of caffeine and creepy. It's a horror-themed cafe that's become a favorite haunt for horror fans, latte lovers, and anyone who thinks every day should feel a little like Halloween. From drinks like the Frankenstein's Latte to walls lined with horror movie art, this place is a full-on experience. But you don't have to be in LA to get in on the vibe. You can grab their killer merch online. They've got teas, mugs, totes, and more to bring the spooky energy straight to your doorstep. Shop now at www.horrorvibes.com and support a small business that's keeping things creepy and creative, one cup at a time. And with that, let's get back to the pod. We are back here with Mr. Monty Light. And Monty, this part of... We typically ask our guests to go on Amomi to find a movie, the over 10,000 films that we have, or 10,000 titles, films and series, and pick a movie that we could do a spoiler-free review on. And you, being completely narcissistic, chose your own. No. We talked about doing Bittertooth before, but then James was selfish and chose it. Took it away. That darn tracksuit. I'm actually happy about that because then we got to watch a film that I had not seen. I had seen some other people, like we mentioned Ian earlier, talk about it and have you on it. He dug it. He was really into it. I was like, you know what? Let's go and do this. I'm happy to. We watched Blood Covered Chocolate. What a name. Blood Covered Chocolate. And if you haven't seen it, we're going to go and roll the trailer right now.
SPEAKER_02:Sounds like something out of Alice in Wonderland. The day you were born and the day you got clean.
SPEAKER_08:Here's to the newborn.
SPEAKER_02:You know, your blood is as good as gold to me.
SPEAKER_01:Could give you the long story. That we've always been here. You've got Twitter.
SPEAKER_05:blood-covered chocolate. What inspired you to make this film?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, so I basically was coming out of, 2019 was when I started my sobriety journey. So, you know, I'm an alcoholic, and I've been sober for, I think, six years now. Congrats. Thank you. And when I was first taking that journey, It was one of those things where I was like, well, you know, I need to channel things that I've been going through, things that I'm dealing with, the nature of addiction. And it was one of those things where I knew that the obvious metaphor for addiction is vampirism. It's one of those things where it just keeps... eating at you, eating at you, sucking at you until nothing's left. And I was like, okay, that's an interesting theme to go with. And it was my second film. So I was coming off of my first film, Space, which was a science fiction found footage, very different kind of beast and animal. And I was basically like, I don't wanna repeat myself. I wanna go in a completely different direction. And I knew that I had to make something that was very much a personal statement. And so that's where that came from. And then once I hit upon wanting to make a vampire film, I was asking myself basically, okay, what is it that we have seen? What is it that we haven't seen in a very, very, very old genre? And one of my favorite things horror films of all time is F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu and I had been toying for a long time with what how to translate um taking inspiration from the aesthetic of the original Nosferatu. And the thing that's interesting about Nosferatu when you watch it is that it obviously has the different tints to it. It has the blue that's indicative of nighttime. It has the red that is indicative of the vampire. And I was like, it would be so interesting to take that and transport it into a digital mixed media sort of surrealist nightmare. And that's where the aesthetic came
SPEAKER_05:from. I picked up on the Nosferatu touches there.
SPEAKER_04:It's pretty obvious, isn't it?
SPEAKER_05:It was obvious, but also you did it in a subtle way. Like even just like take away from the coloring, right? Like take away from the, I don't know if you want to say cinephile watching it or even from a filmmaker watching it that just knows film history. Like just take someone that doesn't. I mean, or maybe there's seen Nosferatu, right? Right. There were definitely tones of it, even just within the characters. So I definitely saw that in more aspects than just the coloring, right? So that was one of my notes here. It was just like, yeah, those Frautu touches, where'd you get that? What was the inspiration for that? I guess I was dead on, so that's cool. Oh, yeah, absolutely dead on. Absolutely. The other thing that I had touched on was kind of knowing the themes that you were exploring, right? And obviously a lot of that I noticed with the... uh, metaphor to addiction. I can see that, but you didn't just, I mean, you were, so if you're an alcoholic at the time, uh, you went way further into the addiction realm. I mean, yeah,
SPEAKER_04:yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, well, that's the thing is that like, it's, you know, it's there in the nature of the title. It's, it's meant to be, um, evocative of the irony of it. Yeah. Of what addiction is. Yeah. It is, um, a sweet treat. It is chocolate on your mouth. But it is covered in your blood. It's covered in everything that's being sucked out of you. And I think early on I realized that even though I am an alcoholic, I didn't want to make the film about an alcoholic. I wanted to make it about a drug addict. And specifically a heroin user. Because the, and I mean this is, that's the other, I almost forgot, the other George A. Romero film that absolutely adores Martin. And Martin has some of those overtones as well. And so, you know, it's one of those things that it's like, there is a kinship between the fangs and the needle and that sort of puncturing and willingly giving your blood to something that just wants to take and take and take. Um, it just seemed to be the obvious choice. Um, uh, when you're talking about addiction, you're talking about the, the, the other things that are, that are implied there. Yeah. I mean, there's multiple addictions. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Um, yeah. I mean, again, I'm trying to like, of course it's not spoiled much, but, but I think, um, I want people to go watch this. It was just a very unique watch. Yeah. Um, And I literally watched it last night. I wanted to make sure it was super fresh in my mind. And what a crazy way to end a Tuesday night by watching Blood Covered Chocolate. I mean, it was a wild ride. It was a lot of fun. And there were just so many P's. Like, I definitely want to go back and watch it again. because there were just so many pieces that I don't know if I fully appreciated it with the first watch. I want to make sure I go back and see it, even just with the intermingling of all the characters, or the character changing, the female changing, from being the mother to the girlfriend to... And I mean, the whole, obviously the end just totally wraps everything up. And I'm just like, oh my gosh, that's genius. But just, I can't, I didn't want to like, so that I want to talk about, but just, I'm going to leave it, leave a blank there. But yeah. Yeah. How, how did you walk the line between like the horror aspect of it and then also like the realism?
SPEAKER_04:Early on, I realized that the other side of addiction is, is the feeling of being a failure. And the people that feeling like a failure in front of, or feeling like a failure too, that is the one that cuts the deepest are your loved ones, your mother, your father, your family, your girlfriend, or your wife. Um, And so I knew very early on that I was like, okay, so this is basically a familial drama. But I couldn't leave it at that. At some point, early on in writing it and just sort of visualizing it, I realized I was like, you know what's interesting is that it's like this guy becomes a vampire. That's not really a spoiler. That happens very early on. Yeah. So it's like
SPEAKER_05:he... A lot of different types of teeth that you chose to use.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah. And also like wanting to integrate into the film different kinds of vampiric monsters that we don't see a lot in Western film. There's that too. But it was one of those things where I was like, I kept thinking of Hamlet, right? where I was like, okay, you know, Hamlet is basically a story about a guy who's told by his dead father that he has to go and seek revenge, and then he spends the whole story not doing that. And so it's basically like, what if a guy was faced with the fact that it's like, you're a vampire. Your whole life is over. Your whole family life is over. And he just doesn't want to do it. So it's like, he's a vampire who doesn't want to feed, who doesn't want to bite, who doesn't want to hurt the people that are closest to him. But The addiction, the pull, it just keeps pulling at him. And to my mind, I was like, okay, if we're getting into a world of addiction, drug use, and familial secrets, and all of that kind of quagmire, I'm like, I'm also making a crime film here. And so that's where the other aspect of it came, the other side of it. And I thought that it was very interesting to, too, as well, because traditionally, especially in the last, let's say, 30 years of vampire fiction, there's something very seductive about it. I don't necessarily agree with that assessment of the vampire, but it's viable. I mean, Interview with the Vampire is one of my all-time favorite novels. And what's interesting about that is that it's also about a family being born out of monsters, essentially. who live forever and are destined to be lonely. And there's something very vulnerable about wanting to be a family. And then I thought that that would be very interesting to contrast with the toughs in Blood Covered Chocolate who are kind of like small-time mafiosos who want to do nothing but break you, who are big, muscle, and strong. But then nothing is stronger than a vampire. And I thought that, oh, you got some interesting conflict there. That's kind of where the violence and the horror came from.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I like the choice of using sunscreen. I thought that was awesome. Yeah. I'm just like, how do you get a vampire out in the sun with some sunscreen? Yeah, a little bit of the dark humor there. That was pretty funny. Yeah. I'm going to ask you two questions just because they could be the same answer. Okay. Maybe they're not. But I'd rather ask both and then you can knock them both out of the park. What were you most proud of with this film? And also, what was the hardest scene to shoot?
SPEAKER_04:Okay. Which
SPEAKER_05:again, could be the same answer or maybe it's not.
SPEAKER_04:I think the thing that I'm most proud of with the film, it has to be everybody that was involved with it. And the reason that I specifically say that is that it's got a great cast.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, we see some familiar faces with Bittertooth. We do.
SPEAKER_04:And then a couple of other ones, like Christine Nguyen. I mean, she's been in films forever. And she was very excited about making this film because it was a very different part for her to do, which she doesn't usually get to do. She does Fred Olin Ray films and everything. This was a little different for her. Deborah Lamb and all of that. They're all fantastic in the film, in front of the camera. But I think the thing that will stay with me that I think is incredibly impressive is that we made that movie with a crew of four, including me.
SPEAKER_05:Wow.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. We had one day where we did our monster effects where we had our two makeup artists come and work. But other than that, it was me, it was the cinematographer, it was our sound guy who was also our assistant camera who was also our drone operator, et cetera, et cetera. Neil, Greg... and then a production assistant who would also sub in, gaffer grip, do everything else, Kurt Skelton. Those three guys and me, we made that entire film.
SPEAKER_05:That is phenomenal.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. And then, you know, yeah, when you actually see the film and you see all of that camera work, I mean, Neil won an award for his work there, well-deserved. And I also did get an award for directing which was a tremendous honor. Where did you get those awards for? That was from the Culver City Film Festival and the Silver State Film Festival. And then Deborah Lamb won Best Actress from Shockfest, which is very cool because her character didn't even have a name in the original script. She basically built that performance. That's how good she is. And you can see it with her character. She doesn't appear in it a lot, but she makes an impression. That's all her. And I think the scene that was the hardest to do, but it was also the most rewarding because it's 100% logistical, was the continuous shot scene, which is, you know, spoilers, not a true continuous shot. There are cuts in it. Some of them, you can see, some of them are hidden. And it was fascinating to try to figure all that out because we shot... in that apartment that was my apartment oh it was yeah so we shot for typical
SPEAKER_05:indie film
SPEAKER_04:exactly exactly i'm like i gotta make my freaking apartment film gotta use what you have yeah location
SPEAKER_05:is everything we talked about yeah that with dan mervish's episode and he's he was talking about he had a friend during covid who inherited a motel oh and it had to happen to have some like older feels to it and he was just like hey If you got a motel and you don't have to pay for it, make a movie. Like you got a location, make a movie.
SPEAKER_04:Exactly. And this was actually also a COVID film, which was an interesting challenge there. But like in that continuous shot, I mean, Ellen Udy is in the film. She's in that scene along with Michael Klug, who's the lead. And, you know, we would go for like two, three minutes on some of those and they'd have like 10 marks. And they would just knock it out at the park, I mean, which is just incredible.
SPEAKER_05:I mean, it helps when you have someone like Helen who's just a vet, like in the biz and just like, hey, I know what I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it's like, you know, she goes all the way back to My Bloody Valentine and Dead Zone and everything. But what's interesting, like one moment in there that I think was difficult, but it was also like such a cool thing because it was an in-camera trick is there's a part where the camera pans over and racks to Ellen's reflection in a picture frame in the glass, right? And then Massimo walks past the camera and then she starts to interact with him, but he's casting no reflection because he's a vampire, right? That is all Ellen miming in the eyeline. Literally, Michael just stood off camera, like said the lines, and then When she switched her eyeline, he walked back in the camera. That was it. It was literally just her acting that sold that. It's one of
SPEAKER_05:my favorite things about filmmakers when they're like this. I know, right? Everyone does this. This was my dad's thing. Always like that. All the time. We'd be anywhere. Family vacation. That's a cool shot.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, the thing that I like to do sometimes, and my wife is always just like, what are you doing? I'm like, this is a person. I'm like, trying to think. Like, literally looking at a shot. Yeah,
SPEAKER_05:Jacqueline from our first episode, I remember she was talking about the one-er that happened. with The Policeman's Lineage. It was like a Korean film that she chose. And she was like, you could see the direction like this. And then they flipped it and went up the building. And I was like, are you Spider-Man?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, exactly. It's
SPEAKER_05:fun to watch filmmakers do what they do. It's just cool.
SPEAKER_04:Just get into it and kind of remembering those moments. Yeah, super cool. And I mean, probably the other hard scene was the dance scene when the camera was spinning and everything. We got a special rig for that, and it didn't work. It was the only time that like Neil, the cinematographer, he started to go like, cause he's from New Jersey. So he started to go Jersey on it. He was just like going over there and fucking cursing at it and everything.
SPEAKER_05:Fuck was every other word. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Guys, I'm not mad. I'm
SPEAKER_04:just talking. It's fine. I was like, we'll leave him to it. Leave him to it. And it's funny too. Cause it's like, they were dancing obviously to nothing and we were really spinning the camera and we just, in order to cut that, we had to do 75 different, like cuts, like takes basically. Just like take after take after take of just like doing it, doing it, doing it, because I'm gonna cut it together to give this feeling. And they were very patient with me asking them to do that. Can I get a smoke break? This is a lot. Because sometimes it's one of those things that it's like as much as you storyboard it and you tell the actors what you're going to do, they just have to trust you. And they're like, I have no idea what this is. And then obviously when they finally see it on screen,
SPEAKER_05:they're like,
SPEAKER_04:oh. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_05:I see your vision.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, exactly. That's awesome. So those are the hard ones.
SPEAKER_05:For your next film, Unit 666. Yes. Any other familiar faces are going to be playing for that?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, Debra Lamb is going to be in it. Love working with her. She's going to play another queen bitch kind of character. She's fantastic at it. So that's going to be a reunion from Blood Covered Chocolate. And then Autumn Ivy is going to be in it, and that's a reunion from Bitter Tooth. She's going to play several roles, actually, all of them villainous characters. Cool. Yeah. I'm very excited. It's going to be a great film. Bigger than anything we've done before.
SPEAKER_05:That's great. Well, Blood Covered Chocolate, big fan. Big fan of you. Thank you. As a filmmaker, but also as a person. You're a genuine person. Very hard to find. Yeah. A lot of people like you. But if you are wanting to learn more about Monty Light, make sure you go, well, first of all, You're here at the end of the episode, so you must like him for some reason. Or you're just a glutton for punishment. Right. But at the same time, go check out Monty's work on Mommy 2. You got Bitter Tooth, Blood Covered Chocolate. And if you can, go support his Indiegogo to support his next film, Unit 666. Cannot wait to see it. Monty, thanks again for coming on. Really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:A little COVID fist bump. That's
SPEAKER_04:right.
SPEAKER_05:A little elbow. Awesome. And then, yeah, we'll definitely have you back on, especially as we get closer with the next film.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah,
SPEAKER_05:I'd love that. Awesome. All right, guys. Well, until next time. Thanks for spending your time with us today on the More For Me And You podcast. If you've made it to the end, we appreciate you. Now, go do us a quick favor. Please like, comment, and share this episode. And before you go, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode with the incredible guests we have coming up. You can also follow us at at Momitu Podcast on Instagram and on TikTok. Oh, and for your next movie night, check out the Momitu app. It's free and packed with amazing movies and shows you've probably never seen. Until next time, take care, stay safe, and we'll see you in the pod.
