INT: Adam Gierasch

Last Updated on July 27, 2021

While on the set of of the NIGHT OF THE DEMONS
remake in New Orleans, AITH’s own "king boozer" Donny Broussard had the chance to talk chop-chop
shop with Director
Adam Gierasch, here’s the dealio yo! Read Part 1 of our set visit

HERE.

ADAM GIERASCH
INTERVIEW

Donny and Adam chilling!

How did you get involved with NOTD?

Adam: My girlfriend and I, who I’ve written Mother of Tears,
Toolbox, Mortuary with had a script called Schism that we were going to go out
with, to see if we could set it up. And while we were doing a test screening of
Autopsy, my last movie, one of the producers of Autopsy came up to me and asked,
“Would you be interested in doing a remake of NOTD?” Now at first I didn’t hear
the S at the end. I thought it was Night of the Demon, by the wonderful
director Jacques Tourneur, but they were like “no, no, it’s NOTD from the 80s”
I went oh my God, the one with the animated opening sequence, with the Evil Dead
like, lets call it an homage.

So, for a second I had to ask myself, because my question to
myself is always, can I do a good job at it? So I came up with a really
perverse sequence for it, really nasty, and I decided that I would pitch that
scene to them, if they like it, and they still like me after this then I’ll
consider it. So I pitched them the idea, and they were like, “okay it sounds
great Adam. We’d love you to do it.” So I thought back to when I was a
seventeen year old, lonely punk rocker. What kind of horror movie would I want
to see? I would want a Halloween, punk rock, demon, orgy of demoness. With
that I can have a lot of fun.

I am a huge fan of the original, but for some reason a remake
of it doesn’t irritate me as much as I thought it would.

Adam: A remake is always hard. Because in a lot of ways it’s
kind of a lose, lose situation. No matter how good you do, in some eyes it’s
not going to live up to the original, and some people are going to hate you just
for setting foot on the sacred ground that is the movie your remaking. And I
think that this one is generally, very fondly remembered. People have a lot of
affection for it, but I don’t think that there is the same degree of the sort of
worship that some other films have. So it seemed to me that it might be safer.
I look at this a continuation of not just NOTD, but Demons, and Demons 2.
Anything with Argento is very close to my heart.

Speaking Demons and Demons 2, how was it working with Argento
on Mother of Tears?

Adam: He is a genuinely sweet and giving person. Just getting
that gig, and being flown to Rome, living there for a month, and writing a
script with him and Jace was a dream come true. This was me, Jace, and Dario
all collaborating. I’ve worked with Toby Hooper, and I’ve worked with Clive
Barker, and that was awesome, but Dario was the person that I was like, nobody
else has done this. And living like that in Italy, it totally changed our
lives, we’ve been back like three times, and we keep coming back. Rome is one
of our favorite places in the world. Even now I say to myself, “Did I really do
that?” cause I’m just a geeky punk rock horror fan, and the fact that I’ve had
these opportunities is like holy fuck!

How are you enjoying your experience in New Orleans?

Adam: I love New Orleans, I’ve been, well not here, but a little
north of Baton Rouge in a little town called Jackson. I shot a film there
called Autopsy, and it comes out in January, and it’ll be a part of the 8 Films
to Die For. It is my homage to 70s’, 80s’ Italian horror films. It’s got a
little Dr. Butcher M.D., and if you look for them there are a ton of Eastern
European horror references. Call me if you spot them, and I’ll give you a gold
star because they are right there. It’s not subtle.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE NOTD
CAST/CREW INTERVIEWS!