After making a huge splash with his fake trailer of HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN for GRINDHOUSE, Jason Eisener soon rose to genre prominence when he made that short into a terrific feature with Rutger Hauer. Eisener has worked on entries in the V/H/S series, THE ABCs OF DEATH, produced TURBO KID, and made the Vice show The Dark Side Of The Ring. His latest, KIDS VS ALIENS, played Fantastic Fest to a raucous reception and looks to be another gloriously goopy, bonkers time at the movies. We sat down with Eisener to discuss his films and more.
Daily Grindhouse: I loved the movie. It was all killer no filler, which I appreciated.
Jason Eisener: Yeah that was the plan. I wanted it to be a fun, contained, quick 70-75 minute ride that you could put on with friends and have a great time…and then put on another movie after—you’ve got plenty of time!
DG: It works perfectly as that. Most of your other work tends to be a little more fantastical/less reality-based. Was this more based on your own childhood, making movies with friends and camcorders?
Jason Eisener: Oh absolutely. Totally. The one thing is we didn’t have a clubhouse as cool as the kids’. People would walk on set and they’re like, “this is ridiculous. There’s no way kids would have a place like this.” But then I’d say maybe that’s what’s cool about it! Kids could watch it and be like “aw, I want to have a clubhouse like that.” When I was a kid, I watched ERNEST SCARED STUPID or THE MONSTER SQUAD, they had clubhouses that were so amazing that I wanted to replicate.
I didn’t have a wrestling mat, but we made wrestling rings in our living rooms. And that’s where some of my first storytelling was from—we’d watch, at that time it was the era of Hulk Hogan, Hulkamania, Undertaker, Macho Man, Jake “The Snake” Roberts. But we would make up our own characters, and give ourselves theme songs, make cardboard belts, and stuff. And then I would play with the action figures, where I would have Jake “The Snake” Roberts fighting Shredder…crossing all the genres. That’s kind of why, [in KIDS VS ALIENS], the kids are making this movie that’s got wrestling, dinosaurs, berserkers, and swords. When you’re a kid, you’re just taking your toybox, dumping it out, and making a story out of it.
DG: I’ve noticed in a lot of your work—like “Youngbuck,” Rich Aucoin’s “Want To Believe” music video, TREEVENGE, even the bumper you did for Fantastic Fest years ago—there’s a running theme of innocence or childhood abutted against something much darker and more sinister. Is that something that intrigues you or it’s more a byproduct of other interests?
Jason Eisener: No, it definitely intrigues me. I’ve been having a hard time explaining it, but I do like seeing kids dealing with adult situations. Or what adults deal with in a horror movie, I just think it would be interesting to see that from a kid’s point of view. But also, when you’re a kid and something spooky goes down in your neighborhood or there’s an abandoned building you’re going to go explore, your imagination of it is so larger than life. I love that feeling so much, definitely something I wanted to try and give the spirit of it into this movie as well.
Seeing kids dealing with problems of growing up or whatever and dealing with teenagers, but all of a sudden there’s this bigger threat that shows up. So how can kids use their imaginations, too, to solve problems.
DG: When you’re casting children, in KIDS VS. ALIENS or the “Slumber Party Alien Abduction” segment from V/H/S/2, how do you find the balance between an actor that maintains that youthful energy (is actually still a kid) and a performer that will take direction and do the job?
Jason Eisener: It depends. There are kids in the movie that have never acted before and kids that do have acting experience. I was lucky because all the kids I had were just so amazing. I tried to create an atmosphere for them on set where they just felt like they could bring ideas and improvise stuff, that it was a safe place where they could do those kinds of things and that I would be open to all of their ideas. Pick the best ones, those are what makes it on the screen. The kids always had better ideas than we did. It would happen all the time.
We tease it at the end, but we all really want a sequel to happen. I told that to the kids during the making of it and they got so excited. Started dreaming up ideas for it. Pitching me scenes for the sequel. They were amazing ideas. They’re going to make it into the…if we get to do a sequel, their ideas will definitely be in there.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where we discuss thalassophobia, MONSTER SQUAD, and the fate of some of Eisener’s past projects…
KIDS VS ALIENS is playing Beyond Fest and some other festivals and will be released in theaters and on demand by RLJE Films in 2023 (and then on Shudder at a later date).
Tags: Beyond Fest, Fantastic Fest 2022, Interviews, Jason Eisener, RLJE Films, Shudder
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