Full Name:
Victor Michael Bonacore
Do you have a nickname?
Bonacore
Birthplace:
Floral Park, NY
When I was in college one of my dorm-mates was from Floral Park and on spring break me and my girlfriend at the time and a couple of our college friends went down to Floral Park so we could crash there and go to Manhattan. I dragged them to Museum Mile but when my girlfriend and I went to the Guggenheim they decided to hang out in central park and smoke pot instead.
Also when I lived in Long Island, I got nabbed in Floral Park for driving without insurance because the cop had one of those devices where they scan your license plate and your record pops up.
So I feel really ambivalent about Floral Park.
That’s Crazy! I lived in floral park till I was about 7, and still have family out there.
Current hometown:
Ronkonkoma, NY
Do you know about the legend of the lady in the lake?
Oh yea, It was like the only thing somewhat cool or historic about that town, our own local legend about a woman who would claim a male every year. I remember people in school always talking about it and a few years in a row a dude would die in the lake. I think someone fell through in the winter when it was like a giant sheet of ice and then one summer some dudes were like fishing or something and a dude drowned in there and they would always be like, it’s the Indian Princess! I used to go to summer camp there and there were also rumors about the lake being bottomless and shit too. All kinds of crazy shit. Then when I got a little older like high school times, the lake was shut town for swimming because of high bacteria levels. I have always wanted to do like a short film or faux trailer about that story, but super over the top about the Indian princess waking up in modern times and running amok through the streets of Ronkonkoma!
I hope you end up making that movie because I would totally watch it as The Lady In The Lake is sort of a pet interest of mine.
Favorite city:
I would say NYC out of loyalty, but after I went to New Orleans last year I fell in love with that place. There was just a sense of danger at all times, and I kind of dug that. And the palm trees were cool too.
I totally remember that time I randomly ran into you when you were working at Media Blasters and I was on my way to New York Comic Con. It was great to see a familiar face in a sea of strangers. Speaking of Media Blasters, last Monday Josh Gravel and I drove down to hang out with Carl Morano and of course you came up.
Carl my old boss! I helped produce the first movie he directed LATE FEE. I hope he said good things!
Birthday/Age:
May 1st, and I am 29 years old.
Dude. You’re way too young to be as on the ball as you are.
Thanks for saying that, but I feel like I let too much time pass and could have finished so much more by now. It gets me depressed sometimes. It freaks me out that I am going to be 30 soon.
Trust me, I’m almost 40. You’ve got nothing to apologize for. Just keep at it.
How would you describe yourself physically?
Athletic Stoner.
Alright, here’s another flashback. I remember being at HorrorFind in Baltimore and you, me, Jimmy Screamerclauz and Brandon Wunder were hanging out in the back. There was this drunk guy that was bothering this girl that I used to flirt with at conventions but I totally forget her name and haven’t seen her on the convention circuit for a while. I wasn’t mad about him taking his shot. She was a loose ball and he was welcome to take his shot, but he was being way too aggressive about it, like trying to hug and kiss her and manhandling her in front of everyone so she decided to use me as an "I have to go and check in with my friend." escape, so the guy’s focus was switched over to me and he started fucking with me. I was sitting with you guys and stood up in case he decided to take a dive at me. He was being stupid, just asking me dumb questions but with a menacing overtone and he was obviously eyeing me up like he was thinking about taking a poke at me. That would’ve been a bad idea as I had spent the past ten years working with violent troubled adolescents with anger problems that would regularly try to kill the staff at the locked facilities they were stuck in. I had sober crazy kids trying to murder me every day so I could well handle Drunk McDrunkster. I think he kind of figured that out since he wasn’t scaring me with his heavy eye so he decided to go and punch some wine glasses sitting on a pedestal and opened up his hand. I figured he’d go for me next, but his sister came out and took him away. Good for him because you and Jimmy and Brendan are way scrappy, as they say in Fight Club, "Skinny guys fight 'til they're burger." and it would’ve been a bad night for that idiot if he decided to have a go because despite the fact that I could’ve handled it I figured you three would’ve chipped in just for the entertainment value and I knew my back was well covered. Remember that time?
Dude! I do remember that, I think actually Brandon said something to that tool like "Shut up!" or something, and he turned around like "Who said that?". What a joke that guy was, and I remember him breaking that glass too, and everyone was looking at him like he was some sort of douche bag.
The first thing people notice about you is…
Not sure.
President Camacho: "Number 1: We've got this guy Not Sure. Number 2: He's got a higher IQ than ANY MAN ALIVE. And Number 3: He's going to fix EVERYTHING."
Tell people about your autograph tattoos!
Oh, haha, yea I guess that is one of the things people first notice about me. In the past I have made these brash decisions to get artists to sign my body somewhere, and then I would go get it tattooed on me. The first one I ever did was Nikki Sixx I think? The bassist from Motley Crue, I used to love the CRUE! And still have a soft spot for them, but I loved Nikki Sixx for some reason. I got John waters and Mink Stole tattooed on me, James Duval, and Fairuza Balk too.
Religion:
Lost.
Are you superstitious at all?
I can be superstitious, Voodoo freaks me out! And I was diagnosed with a small form of OCD when I was younger, I think that goes hand and hand sometimes.
What kind of OCD?
A mild form. When I was younger I used to count everything and had a lot of weird ticks, I was very germaphobic too, used to wash my hands till they were raw sometimes. I remember sometimes when I was a passenger in a car, I would have to read all the road signs and if I didn’t finish reading it by the time we drove past it I thought something bad would happen. It kinda sucked, but has gotten A LOT better as I grew older.
I can totally relate. I was a benchmark ADHD kid and no one knew what to do about it, but years of practice with symptom management have helped to make me into a somewhat functional and productive member of society in my own little way.
Do you smoke/drink?
Yea, weed and the occasional black and mild. I'm really into this Pumpkin Beer and will always love red wine.
"I never drink… wine."
Any bad habits?
Procrastinator.
Current occupation/Dream job:
Filmmaker.
What do you like to do when you’re not at work?
Watch bad horror movies with my lady.
What is your zombie outbreak survival plan?
Run to the hills.
Weapon of choice:
Baseball bat.
Wooden or aluminum?
Wooden!
Did you go to college and, if so, what for?
Yea to learn the technical side of film making and screenwriting, although I learned most of what I use today after I graduated.
Tell me a bit more about that. What did you learn in school as opposed to what you learned after school.
School was good because I got to really learn about exposure, and F-stops, and lighting, sound, all that stuff, which I really didn’t have a real clue about. That was the first time I shot on actual 16mm film and I loved it! And still prefer to shoot on 16mm if money permits. I actually heard recently that my old school doesn’t offer and FILM classes anymore. It’s all digital and I think that’s really fucking sad.
I remember one time I was directing this short in College called "Pretty" and I wanted to do a really cool Extreme Close-up following a zoom in. And the kids that were working on the movie with me (fellow students) were like "you can’t do that" you’re breaking this rule or breaking that rule. And I was like, “I don’t give a shit, I saw that in a Dario Argento movie and I want to emulate that.” They had no idea what I was talking about and that’s fine, but that’s the kind of shit I didn’t like about film school was that everyone was so bent on rules that I think creativity got lost in there sometimes. But once I graduated and went to Media Blasters, I started working on movies and starting producing and directing my own low budget stuff and just learned a lot more about what it’s really like. And I fell in love with that process.
Any pets?
Chuckie (the coolest cat ever) and Sadie, a 3 legged dog that was a victim of dog fighting. We adopted her 4 years ago. Sadie passed away 2 days ago as I write this. And I miss her so fucking much.
My consolations, and if it’s any further consolation it’s totally true that all dogs go to heaven.
Thanks man, much appreciated.
What is your favorite animal?
Besides dogs and cats, Hippos and Alligators!
Speaking of pets, any pet peeves?
Oh yea. I can’t stand people at the airport that thank the TSA agents after they have been searched and shit and are like "Thank you for keeping us safe!" Customized license plates are super obnoxious and people who go on their phone in the movie theater.
I totally feel you about the TSA agents.
Let me tell you a fucked up story.
I was heading to HorrorHound Pittsburgh to vend for FearWerx. I was way nervous because for some reason I was flying out there and this was the first time I had been on a plane since 9/11. I knew about TSA but I hadn’t run into them yet so I wanted to be prepared.
I switched my motorcycle wallet out for an all leather one and at the airport I gave my boss my wallet chain, a pull-chain wristband, and the linoleum knife I was in the habit of carrying around since I did a lot of packing of merchandise and it was a handy tool to have, not to mention a decent self-defense weapon to fall back on if I had to. Pretty much I just wanted to be metal-item-free for my screening.
I get to the pre-flight screening area and I take off my shoes and do the fucking hokey-pokey like they asked and when the guy was wanding me it bleeped around my crotch.
It was like the scene in Spinal Tap except without the foil-wrapped cucumber.
I figure maybe it’s my zipper or my belt-buckle but it turns out, after I told the guy that I didn’t have any genital piercings, that it was the foil in my cigarette pack.
My carry-on backpack went through the little x-ray conveyor belt after I took out my laptop and put it in a separate bucket, and removing the battery. Remember that. It comes in later.
The flight was uneventful and I get to the convention for set-up.
We had our boxes of merchandise shipped to the venue and someone had dropped them off at my booth if I remember correctly.
The boxes were taped shut with packing tape and having to open them I wished I had my linoleum knife, but then I had a revelation. "Wait a minute!" I said to myself. I looked inside of my backpack, which you will remember I took as my carry-on luggage on the plane. Inside where it usually was, was my retractable razor blade stick. You know the kind with the break-off tips for when the tip gets dull. You know, the very kind of weapon that the supposed terrorists supposedly used to hijack the planes on 9/11.
So stop and think about that for a second.
I know that everyone talks about bombs when they’re talking about airport security but you’d think that the last thing that airport security would want anyone taking on a plane would be the very weapon supposedly used in the hijackings of 9/11 and I had accidentally smuggled exactly that through airport security.
So you can pretty much see by that example that the TSA is a futile waste of budget money and doesn’t prevent a fucking thing.
I also hate vanity plates and if I hated them any more I’d toss cinder blocks through their windshields.
And I’ve almost taken phones from people and spiked them on the floor if they use them in a darkened movie theater but I use a warning system where I ask/tell them to cut the shit before security has to get involved.
Damn man, that's crazy! It’s really scary flying nowadays. I always get searched and questioned. It sucks.
Favorite/Least favorite Food:
I love Pad Thai, Penne a la Vodka and a good Pumpkin pie. I hate eggplant & meat.
What is your favorite quotation/motto/saying?
"FUCK YOUR NOISE!" & "I like it spooky"
I regularly use "Fuck that noise." quoting Dennis Hopper from Blue Velvet.
And I made it a point to grab the "I like it spooky." Sample from Return of the Living Dead so I could use it as a sample in my electronic music projects.
Right on! The "Fuck Your Noise" quote is from DEADBEAT AT DAWN, which I'm guessing you knew, and “I like it spooky." every little horror kid remembers that one, and it’s a classic!
Deadbeat at Dawn! SO GOOD!
What is the best thing that ever happened to you?
Falling in love. And my mom renting me" The Shining."
What is the worst thing that ever happened to you?
A cat dying after just losing a great friend.
Ever had your heart broken?
Many times.
Ever broken someone’s heart?
I think so.
What is the best thing you've ever done?
Kept moving, kept creating, tried to stay true.
If you could kill one person, consequence free, who would it be?
It isn't worth it.
How did you get started doing what you do?
Got a camcorder for Christmas when I was 11 and would do re-enactments from my favorite movies like "The Godfather," "Psycho," "The Pope of Greenwich Village"
What is your advice to other people that want to get started doing what you do?
Just do it, read movie books, watch tons of films, the silents, the classics, and make your own little movies and show them to people.
What projects are you working on?
A documentary on underground filmmaker Jim VanBebber titled "Diary of a Deadbeat" and a feature length film titled "BLOOD WINGS: A SATANIC FANTASY" being shot on 16, Super 8 and any other format available.
Tell us some more about your projects and what else have you done?
I did a film called "ICE CREAM SUNDAY". It’s a short film on the horrors of abuse in the Catholic Church. For a little short film shot on 16mm and Super 8 it did pretty good, made its festival rounds and was later released with Jimmy ScreamerClauz’s "Where the Dead Go to Die".
How long have you been working on Diary of Deadbeat? When will we able to see it?
Man I have been working on the documentary since 2010, when I first went out to LA to meet and interview Jim. Since then it just continued to grow into something bigger and better. Every year I am like “Okay, that’s it! I’m just editing it now!” but then something cool comes up like Jim working on his new film GATOR GREEN, and I’m like, “How can that not be in the documentary? It has to be!” But at this point I have all the interviews for it (Over 40!) over 3 years of footage and I can finally say, I am editing it and hope to have a rough cut done before the end of this year. I really want to finish it and start playing festivals very soon. So hopefully everyone can see it, early next year.
Like I said on Facebook, I checked out the trailer, and it’s amazing. If the finished documentary is anywhere near as good as the trailer you’re going to have something really special on our hands and it should open up a lot of doors for you.
Blood Wings is a labor of love that I started before Diary of a Deadbeat in 2009 I believe? Yea, definitely like over 4 years ago now. I was living in a house in NJ with a bunch of other underground artists and that’s where Blood Wings started. We were shooting on my 16mm camera and the cost of that just really got hard to sustain, since everything pretty much came from my pocket. We did have some contributions by some awesome people and held a few fundraisers (Pre-Kickstarter) and all the money we raised would go right into buying more film and shooting more scenes. Unfortunately a string of tragedies occurred and production stopped. 11 rolls of film sat in my fridge for over 3 years until recently, when they got developed and transferred and I am just starting to get back into Blood Wings again. Of course it is turning into something completely different, a more mixed media feature film, shot on everything from Super 8, VHS and the aforementioned 16mm and even ScreamerClauz is gonna lend some of his amazing animation to this film. The footage I have now looks really trashy, and looks like some lost film from the early 90’s or something. Once I finish Diary of A Deadbeat, its Blood Wings every day!
Make sure you send me a copy to check out when you get it finished! Looking forward to checking it out!
What are you watching?
A lot of "Are you afraid of the Dark" and "Goosebumps" episodes, I love putting that stuff on when I go to bed, just gives me that warm, nostalgic feeling. And as far as movies go, I most recently checked out VHS 2, and thought the Cult Leader and Alien invasion one were both really cool, the other ones were kind of forgettable.
What are you listening to?
It’s October, so lots of Screaming Jay Hawkins & anything involving Danzig.
Oh shit! I love "I Put A Spell On You" and Danzig is half of my work-out playlist, the other half being Crowbar.
Right on!
What are you reading?
The Walking Dead Comic book series, it’s pretty grim, I really like it.
I loved reading that. It was the first time in years I felt real emotions while reading a comic book.
I only got up to around Issue #100 so don’t tell me what happens after!
Yea man, I am reading them in the hardcover books, which has 12 comics in each book and I just started book 8. I’m getting up there!
How do you feel about the translation of the comic book into a TV series?
I do enjoy the show, sure it’s like a soap opera, but I like good drama. I think the comic series is way more violent and intense, it’s just cool that the Walking Dead Universe exist in different formats.
I never thought about it that way, but you make a good point.
Favorite author/book?
Favorite book is "The Demon" by Herbert Selby Jr.
Good choice. I love me some Hubert Selby Jr. Why "The Demon"?
Oh man, just love it! An old friend lent it to me once after he lent me "THE STORY OF THE EYE" which was really fucking crazy, but "THE DEMON" was just really intense. I love the main character and the way Selby described "the feeling in his gut" that made him do bad things. Just really, really good. Similar to the book AMERICAN PSYCHO but better.
Favorite band/song?
Favorite band is HUNCHBACK from NJ. My favorite song of all time is "You can’t put your arms around a memory" by Johnny Thunders
I’ll have to check out the Johnny Thunders version. I’m only familiar with the cover by Sheer Terror.
Oh dude, Johnnie is the best.
Least favorite band/song?
I fucking can’t stand that band PHISH.
You and me both.
It's the worst name for a band ever too.
Desert Island Music/Movies/Books: You know the deal. Five of each.
Music: The Ramones, The Misfits, David Bowie, The Stones, Wu-Tang.
Movies: The Shining, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Monster Squad, Truth or Dare: A Critical Madness, Taxi Driver.
Books: The Demon, Misery, Invisible Monsters, The Stinky Cheese Man, The Lord of the Flies.
If you could do anything other than what you do now, what would you do?
Play baseball.
Seriously? That was definitely not the answer I was expecting.
I know, I mean besides acting, which I figured went hand in hand with filmmaking, I would go with being a ballplayer or maybe a professional wrestler. I mean I am not good at either, but I respect them both, and they were both a part of my life growing up. I love baseball, and I get from friends a lot that don't get it, and that's cool. I mean I get the hating jocks thing, in High School the Jocks were the biggest assholes and I didn’t like them. A lot of people I am friends with fucking hate sports and that too is totally cool, but I dig it, and get enjoyment out of it. It’s like the sole thing me and my family can collectively bond over.
Who would you want to meet that you haven’t met? You get three choices:
Alive- Jack Nicholson
Dead- Michael Jackson
Fictional- The Warriors
What’s the best and worst job you’ve ever had?
Best Job was when I worked for Media Blasters in NYC. I got paid to work on horror movies in all aspects of the business, I got to go to conventions, festivals. It was pretty cool. I learned a lot, got some industry credits, had some ridiculous experiences but met some great people and made some great connections.
The Worst job? My current little 9-5. I work in the IT department for lawyers and such, and it really does suck, it makes me feel like I am working for evil people, but it's just temporary until I can move off Long Island and it’s paying the bills right now.
"Did you try turning it off and on again?"
Got any questions for me?
Do you remember the first short story you ever wrote? Oof. That’s a good one.
I used to play with poetry in junior high and high school but none of it has survived which is probably for the best because none of it was very good.
I think the first thing I can remember writing is about a dozen extra verses for that "I Wanna Be An Airborne Ranger" song that Judd Nelson sings while running down the hallway to draw Principal Vernon’s attention in The Breakfast Club. I wrote that in, like, ninth grade.
I also wrote lyrics for a punk rock band so I guess I went from poetry to songs and then to books.
Other than that, to be honest, I think the first short story I wrote was, Whimper: A story about the birds and the bees and zombies and the end of the world as we know it for Forrest J. Ackerman’s Anthology of the Living Dead and I’m currently expanding into a novel-length post-apocalyptic zombie epidemic book project.
I’ve never been one of those writers that are perpetually bursting with the desire to write and calls themselves an "author" and makes it a point to write every day and has piles of unpublished work.
Everything I’ve ever written has been at the request of someone looking for content and all of my work has been published so I guess I’m kind of lucky. I know that there are a lot of writers out there that are just dying for a chance to see their work published anywhere.
I do have a novel I wrote a few years back without being asked to that I’ve been trying to find someone to publish but I’m not sure that I want to publish under my name as it’s really dark and malevolent.
I was in a really dark place when I wrote it and I listened to nothing but Through Silver In Blood by Neurosis while writing it.
Thanks for asking!
Neurosis! Now there is inspiration music!
And, while I’m at it, thanks for letting me interview you.
Now go out and post the link every-fucking-where!
Thank you brother. Keep writing!
Pitch parade:
Give me all of your links for things you want to promote. All of them.
Do you remember the first short story you ever wrote? Oof. That’s a good one.
I used to play with poetry in junior high and high school but none of it has survived which is probably for the best because none of it was very good.
I think the first thing I can remember writing is about a dozen extra verses for that "I Wanna Be An Airborne Ranger" song that Judd Nelson sings while running down the hallway to draw Principal Vernon’s attention in The Breakfast Club. I wrote that in, like, ninth grade.
I also wrote lyrics for a punk rock band so I guess I went from poetry to songs and then to books.
Other than that, to be honest, I think the first short story I wrote was, Whimper: A story about the birds and the bees and zombies and the end of the world as we know it for Forrest J. Ackerman’s Anthology of the Living Dead and I’m currently expanding into a novel-length post-apocalyptic zombie epidemic book project.
I’ve never been one of those writers that are perpetually bursting with the desire to write and calls themselves an "author" and makes it a point to write every day and has piles of unpublished work.
Everything I’ve ever written has been at the request of someone looking for content and all of my work has been published so I guess I’m kind of lucky. I know that there are a lot of writers out there that are just dying for a chance to see their work published anywhere.
I do have a novel I wrote a few years back without being asked to that I’ve been trying to find someone to publish but I’m not sure that I want to publish under my name as it’s really dark and malevolent.
I was in a really dark place when I wrote it and I listened to nothing but Through Silver In Blood by Neurosis while writing it.
Thanks for asking!
Neurosis! Now there is inspiration music!
And, while I’m at it, thanks for letting me interview you.
Now go out and post the link every-fucking-where!
Thank you brother. Keep writing!
Pitch parade:
Give me all of your links for things you want to promote. All of them.
Here are some links to
some great artists I work with a lot too.
About the Interviewee:
Victor is a filmmaker from Long Island, NY. He has been making weird little horror videos since he was 12 years old. He has worked for Media Blaster in NYC as the head of the theatrical department and as a producer for their production company Fever dreams LLC. He formed the underground film collective Chainsawkiss a few years ago and directed the Short film ICE CREAM SUNDAY, which played many festivals across the world. He has directed the music videos for independent rock and roller Johnnie Lee Jordan, Metal band SEXCREMENT out of Boston, MA and Little Punk People out of NJ. He has directed commercials for THE LONG ISLAND ROLLER REBELS, CRYSTAL LAKE WINES, THE DARKSIDE HAUNTED HOUSE AND & 112 VIDEO WORLD. He just got off production on the new Frank Henenlotter film as well as the new Adam Ahlbrandt movie THE HUNTERS and is currently editing his first two features DIARY OF A DEADBEAT, a documentary on cult filmmaker Jim VanBebber & BLOOD WINGS: A SATANIC FANTASY.
About the Interviewer:
Scott Lefebvre has probably read everything you've read and can write about whatever you want him to write about.
Mostly because when he was
grounded for his outlandish behavior as a hyperactive school child, the only
place he was allowed to go was the public library.
His literary tastes were
forged by the works of Helen Hoke, Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell, Ray
Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Edgar Allan Poe, and H.
P. Lovecraft.
He is the author of Spooky
Creepy Long Island and a contributing author to Forrest J. Ackerman’s Anthology
of the Living Dead, Fracas: A Collection of Short Friction, The Call of
Lovecraft, and Cashiers du Cinemart.
His reviews have been
published by a variety of in print and online media including Scars Magazine,
Icons of Fright, Fatally Yours and Screams of Terror, and he has appeared in
Fangoria, Rue Morgue and HorrorHound Magazine.
He is the Assistant
Program Director for The Arkham Film Society and produces Electronic Music
under the names Master Control and LOVECRAFTWORK.
He is currently working on
a novel-length expansion of a short-story titled, "The End Of The World Is
Nigh", a crowd-funded, crowd-sourced, post-apocalyptic, zombie epidemic
project.
You can check out the blog
for the book here: theendoftheworldisnighbook.blogspot.com/
You can check out the
Facebook Fan Page for the project here:
You can check his author
profile at: www.amazon.com/Scott-Lefebvre/e/B001TQ2W9G/
You can follow him at
GoodReads here:
You can check out his
electronic music here: soundcloud.com/master_control
And here:
master-control.bandcamp.com/
You can check out his
videos at: www.youtube.com/user/doctornapoleon
You can check out his IMDB
profile here: www.imdb.com/name/nm3678959/
You can follow his Twitter
here: twitter.com/TheLefebvre or
@TheLefebvre
You can follow his Tumblr
here: thelefebvre.tumblr.com/
You can check out his Etsy
here: www.etsy.com/people/arkhamscreenings
You can join the group for
The Arkham Film Society here:
You can stalk his Facebook
at: www.facebook.com/TheLefebvre
You can e-mail him at:
Scott_Lefebvre@hotmail.com
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