Horror movies &stuff Interviews Scream Queen Melissa Bacelar
We recently got a chance to chat with blossoming scream queen Melissa Bacelar, who is quickly making a name for herself on the indie horror scene these days. ALong with having made an appearance in Troma's "Citizen Toxie" a few years ago, she's also appeared in the tv series "Without A Trace", and the 2003 vampire pic "Strange Things That Happen At Sundown". She also has two new horror films coming out this year, "Skinned Alive" where she plays a zombie hooker named Pandora, and "Pink Eye", in which she plays Delilah. In this interview, she reveals her love for rescuing animals, her appearance in an upcoming video game, and her fondness for horror movies...even the scary ones.
MR. H:You were born and raised in Piscataway New Jersey. Tell us about your childhood growing up, and how and when did you get into acting?
Melissa:Gosh, um I was an only child, and the only grandchild so I was always the center of attention, which is why I guess I always wanted to be an actress as a little kid. Um...Piscataway, alot of people think of Wew Jersey as an industrial, chemical plant sort of state, but growing up I had alot of green acres of yard, and forest where there bunnies, ducks, deer, etc. But when I was younger I was never allowed to watch horror films because they always freaked me out and I couldn't sleep. The only horror film I saw as a child was "Children Of The Corn", and it scare dme because there was a force behind it, like in the cornfield...so I was always scared of cornfields, I always thought there'd be people coming out. I didn't do my first horror film until I turned 18, and when I recently got the role in "Pink Eye", my friend Joshua Nelson who wrote the film, told me I should audition, and so I did.
MR. H:Now most girls who come out of Jersey are Italian, so do you have any Italian heritage in your family, and are you Italian yourself?
Melissa:I am Italian, actually my mom is Italian and my dad is Cuban, so I have a bit of a temper.
MR. H:Your first film was a Troma film, "Citizen Toxie". What's it like doing a Troma film? From what I hear it's always a memorable experience because Troma movies are just so out there.
Melissa:It changed my life, I mean that's what I tell people whever they ask me. Because before that, I had only done a soap, "One Life To Live" and that was it ya know? It was a completely differet acting experience though. I remember at that time, I had booked a role, my first film role, I was super excited, just out of college, I was trained in knowing how to do what you're told to do on a film set. My call time was 6 am, so I drove to Poughkeepsie New York which is like six hours away from where I lived. So I get there, I walk up to the address, and it's like this crazy-looking, delapidated looking building...and I'm thinking "Is this where we're shooting?" Because at that time, I didn't know anything about Troma, so I open the door, and there's this little light at the top of the stairwell. I walk up there, and it's dark and I don't see anybody. My first thought was that no one's there yet. So I walk forward, and all of a sudden I trip over something...this big, long-looking thing.
I then hear someone yell "Ow". All of a sudden 30 people wrapped in rugs pop up, and I see all of these people wrapped in rugs getitng up around me, and I'm thinking..."Oh my god, this is crazy!". So all of these people start running upstairs, I follow them and I get to this little office upstairs, and I'm like..."Hi...I'm Melissa Bacelar, I'm playing Dr. Hocking's Nurse". But on set there was one bathroom, and one box of donuts, but everyone still got to work, and no one complained...which is different from many big-budget movie sets where everyone complains if there's not atleast 20 different kinds of donuts. And when Lloyd got there, people were just psyched to be in the presence of this man, I mean yeah...it was a life changing experience because the people there loved what they were doing. They weren't doing it for the money, or the fame, but rather because they loved this man's idea...and that was amazing. You didn't hear any complaints, even though from my perspective atleast, there was so much to complain about. But everyone was just psyched to be there, and that really made me fall in love with the genre.
MR. H:Are you a big horror movie buff from a viewership standpoint? Because alot of women who do horror films as actors, actually hate them as viewers because they're too scary.
Melissa:Right, well they scare me, but I do like them. I try to watch everything, ya know, just to see what's out there because I not only act in films, but I also produce them. Actually I do two webshows that are horror-based webshows, so I need to know what's going on as a fan, and as a critic. I am somebody who can sit down and have conversations about films, which is what I notice at alot of the conventions I attend, alot of the fans are psyched and wanna talk about horror. But as you said, most of the girls who do horror films don't like to watch, while some do, so it's one or the other which determines whether they are psyched about a movie or not.
MR. H:An intriguing tidbit about you, you volunteer your time for dog rescues and being a foster mom for homeless animals. What animals have you taken in so far and what animals do you still have ownership of?
Melissa:Okay, gosh um...I have rescued dogs, cats, goats, ducks, chickens...I have right now 8 dogs, and three bunnies. I've always been that way my whole life though, even as a little kid...my parents weren't into it though. I used to get a dog, and find it a home, get puppies, and find them a home, I even managed to find a home for the goat...and when I took it in, my mom wanted to kill me. But now that I have my own house, I can pay for these animals on my own, I can do more and more things. It's really sad though because in L.A., people don't spay or neuter, they buy dogs and when they get sick they dump them out on the street. What most people don't know though is that in L.A., all humane shelters are kill shelters, there are no -- No Kill Shelters in L.A., any dog can be killed. And the pounds in L.A. don't even need to tell the public when they kill cats, I think it's disgusting and ridiculous...people just don't understand.
They seize upwards of 3 to 400 dogs a day, that's why I never bring a dog to a dog shelter. If I find one, I find it a home, I've rescued and rehomed many dogs, and even paid for their medical bills. I'm part of a project called "Pups for Teacups", and we wanna stop pet stores from selling dogs and cats, and people from buying sick puppies for upwards of five grand. I'm also with another group called Best Friends.org, who are willing to give all pet stores purebred dogs for free. I have a cockerspaniel that I adopted two months ago, and he's gorgeous.
MR. H:You star in an indie horror film called "Pink Eye", which hits dvd September 30th. Tell us about that film, and your role in it.
Melissa:Well, I play Delilah, a victim, which is an interesting twist for me because I've never played a victim before. It's a film I'm really proud of, even though when I first read it I wasn't so sure about it. But I thought it was a good opportunity to get to play a different character, and it's a great horror film, the actors are amazing. It takes place inside a government funded insane asylum, where the people are running tests and of course things go bad, the drugs make people insane and super strong, and they start escaping. I think it's one of those great horror films fans will love because it has a masked killer, and all of those elements and aspects fans will enjoy.
MR. H:You've also got a second upcoming indie horror production that you star in, "Eat Your Heart Out" which hits DVD August 26th. Tell us about that picture, and your character in it.
Melissa:Well that film is now called "Skinned Alive", Lionsgate decided to rename it...amd in that film I play a zombie hooker named pandora...I know it sounds weird to say. But it's sort of like a zombie love story, with this lonely guy who can't find love and it's reallt this twisted little horror/love story. Pandora is my favorite character I've played so far, and the trailer is just sick...lionsgate did a good job with the trailer, it's really funny and it's just a great trailer.
MR. H:What horror film have you worked on to date, that you got the messiest while doing?
Melissa:The messiest? Definitely "Strange Things Happen At Sundown". I played in that film, a woman turning into a vampire throughout the entire film, and I spent literally the whole film covered in blood, gurgling blood, vomiting, my character's neck was bitten so I had a huge chunk taken out of my neck. I had to sport this gooey stuff called..."nerny?", they actually call it "nerny" and I ended up getting a rash from it under my ear, and all the way down to where my shoulder starts.
MR. H:Who are some of your favorite scream queens, and do you have hopes of becoming a full-fledged scream queen some day?
Melissa:I'm actually a fan of Elvira, would you consider her a scream queen? But she's the first person who comes to mind when I tell people what I aspire to be. She's like, a brand...a household name, which is what I wanna be in the future. I think Debbie Rochon is amazing, I think Tiffany Shepis is amazing. She was actually in one of the first films I did with Troma, never met her though. We're doing a film right now actually, which I probably still won't get to meet her on.
MR. H:You're also a part of "Slumber Party Massacre:The Game". Give us some background on the game, and the extent of your involvement in it.
Melissa: It's a movie-game called "Slaughterhouse Slumber Party" from Halo 8, I actually did a shoot for it yesterday and I play an angel in the game, definitely with a twist though. It's a very inetractive game, you basically have to answer a series of questions, and the more questions you get right, the further into the movie you go. You can also choose different scream queens that you wanna follow, each queen has her own segment, and you have to answer the questions correctly to see the full segment.
MR. H:What are some of your favorite B-horror movies?
Melissa:Definitely "Hatchet" from Adam Green, I loved that one.
MR. H:What studio horror films have you read for previously but didn't get a part in?
Melissa:I haven't read for any really, um....I hear they're making a new "Children Of The Corn" but they're casting for 16 to 18, and I can't play 18 anymore unfortunately.
MR. H:Can we expect to see Melissa Bacelar in any upcoming studio horror productions possibly hitting theaters in 2009 and beyond?
Melissa:Not as of right now unfortunately, I have many films coming out but none of them are horror. I've got a thriller coming out called "Hotel California" with Tyson Beckford, and Erik Palladino.
MR. H:What types of horror films do you prefer, psychological, splatter, or creature features?
Melissa:Definitely creature features, psychological thrillers I like too, those are the kinds that if I'm browsing Netflix I will pick out to watch, those two genres are what I watch...preferably.
MR. H:Halloween is 3 months away, what's Melissa Bacelar's favorite Halloween memory?
Melissa:Favorite Halloween memory, well I don't go out much here in L.A. on Halloween because I have too many dogs now so I'm afraid they might attack some kids or something. But when I lived in New York, every Halloween was my favorite, we used to go to the parades and one Halloween, me and my friends dressed up as Victoria Secret angels, and I was the black angel so I had on black angel wings but it was freezing cold so here we were running around wearing wings, and nighties and stuff but I had the best time. Here lately however, we decorate, and go to parties like at the Playboy Mansion. Which was cool, ya know...while we were there, we got to see how they decorated it and stuff.
End. Check out Melissa's official
website!
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