HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN Director, Jason Eisner's Top 3 Midnight Madness Picks

Hobo with a Shotgun and The ABCs of Death segment director, Jason Eisner was awesome enough to tell us which 3 films he's most excited for in this year's Midnight Madness programme and why. Check them out!!

John Dies At The End

Coming from a family where the idea of wanting to become a filmmaker seemed very foreign, I took my father to a screening of Bubba Ho-Tep. After seeing the energy and reaction from the audience my dad took me aside and told me that he now "get's it" and understood what it was I was trying to do, and told me he would fully support me in my filmmaking future. That film holds a very special place in my heart and you can bet that dad and I will be strapped in and ready for anything Don Coscarelli brings to the screen.

The Lords of Salem

The Devil's Rejects is a huge inspiration. Before it's release I remember hearing that Rob Zombie was going to use Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird". I thought "how the hell can you do justice to Free Bird?" Well Rob Zombie sure as hell did! It's the perfect song to be destroyed too. It inspired me to have a playlist on my iphone that reads "Incase of plane crash" which only features Free Bird.

I love old, rusty carnival haunted house rides, especially the ones where you fear that the ride could break down and you could actually get hurt. House of 1000 Corpses is one of the closest's cinematic experiences to capturing that feeling. It's watched every Halloween at my place.

Which brings me to Halloween 2. Brandon Trost's DOP work in that film is fucking incredible! And Zombie brings some insane moments that brought a huge smile to my face. I'm an obsessed fan of the Halloween series, and I appreciate that this film steers away from what we're used to seeing. It offers something different, so much so that I wish the character wasn't named Myers, and was just some pissed off homeless guy who eats dogs, kills pimps, hicks and is haunted by his mom's ghost, riding a white stallion!!

The idea of Brandon Trost and Rob Zombie working together again on The Lords of Salem has me extremely excited. I'm not gonna lie, I watched the damn bootleg trailer that was recorded on an iphone from one of Zombie's concerts and it had me screaming "Hail Satan"!

ABC's of Death

Might sound lame that I'm picking a film that I have a short featured in, but I have yet to see the other 25 short films. Before being a filmmaker, I'm a film fan and there are so many directors involved with this that I'm a huge fan of. I can't wait to see how this turns out. With 26 short films of non-stop insanity, this is sure to be an endurance test. So make sure you sneak something stiff in your drink before the curtains roll, and I'll be there to hold you tight after the show!

Jason Eisner grew up in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia working on short movies every day after school. Inspired by genre films of the 70’s and 80’s he entered the 2007 Grindhouse trailer contest and won. The massive success of his entry (Hobo with a Shotgun) led to a full-length feature version. He's currently working on his new feature, Blatant Violence High, and he has a segment in this year's Midnight Madness selection, The ABCs of Death. 












Screening Times:
JOHN DIES AT THE END
Canadian Premiere: Sat., Sept. 15th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Sun., Sept. 16th, 6:00 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 7

THE LORDS OF SALEM
World Premiere: Mon., Sept. 10th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Wed., Sept. 12th, 5:00 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6

THE ABC'S OF DEATH
World Premiere: Fri., Sept. 14th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Sat., Sept. 15th, 3:15 PM SCOTIABANK 9
Sun., Sept. 16th, 9:00 PM SCOTIABANK 9