Pulp Features

Apprehensive Films represents an era of film forgotten, a pre-MPAA era, a pre politically correct era, an era before people became afraid to make a statement through cinematic exploitation.

With new films moving into production, old one’s filing through the late-night movie circuit, Apprehensive Films and its comrades march forward with determination. Bringing blood, sex, violence, drugs and a slew of other exploitative values to the silver screen.

Their view is that real movies are shot on 8, 16, and 35mm film, not video, and they are moving forward with these mediums and no others unless the project fits another medium (think Slashers or The Blair Witch Project). With each frame of celluloid they expose, they push their films into darker, more controversial, thought provoking and dangerous territory.

And the Creator of the Apprehensive films empire, Jonathan Morken, has kindly taken a moment to speak to Dale Pierce.

Dale: When did you create Apprehensive Studios?
Jonathan: Apprehensive Studios is a division of Apprehensive Films. Apprehensive Films was established in 1997 and Apprehensive Studios came about this past year, 2004. Apprehensive Studios is a freelance post production house. Apprehensive Films is a full production company that focuses on horror and exploitation films and recently music videos.

Dale: You mainly produced short films but have also been hoping to expand into features later?
Jonathan: Yes, we’re actually prepping a feature right now called The Late Night Horror Show. It’s an anthology movie and Nicholas Grabowsky (author of the Halloween 4 novelization) will be writing and directing one of the segments. Making his directorial debut, Grabowsky’s segment is titled Cutting Edges. I’m producing the entire project and directing one segment. It’s going to be shot on 16mm.

Dale: Cemetery Pogo was just released. What is it about?
Jonathan: Cemetery Pogo is a music video for the punk rock band The Secretions. The video was shot on 16mm negative and is a tribute to punk rock horror films like Return of The Living Dead and Killer Clowns From Outer Space. The plot of the video is about kids partying and having sex in a cemetery. And a few partyers are a little more lively than others.

We put Cemetery Pogo out on a limited edition of 100 discs, we still have about thirty left and it’s available on our website. The video has just been picked up for wider distribution in Europe. It’s going to be a special feature on the European Edition of Punk Rock Holocaust. It will also be available on our follow up disc to Heart Full of Napalm, a new compilation due out in spring 2006 called Anti-social.

Dale: You also did a short called Heart Full of Napalm?
Jonathan: Actually Heart Full of Napalm is our first release a compilation disc of four shorts and a bunch of special feature. It contains Nwar, Cessation Resolution Nouvelle, Sublime Depravity and Bible: The Movie. It’s available currently on our website.

Dale: Bible The Movie, definitely not a religious short?
Jonathan: Bible: The Movie is a short I shot with Keith Lowell Jensen, he wrote and directed it. It’s an animated short poking fun at The Last Supper and Jesus’ birth. Jensen is currently working with Apprehensive Studios on a feature length documentary about pan handling, it should be wrapped shooting at the end of this year. Check out the film’s blog.

Dale: I take it you don’t believe in Christianity by the plot of the film?
Jonathan: Well, Jensen is a self proclaimed Atheist and I’m definitely not a religious person, although I do believe there is some greater power. I believe organized religions are just successful cults.

Dale: Have you ever tried to get the church people to boycott or complain about this piece of work as it could gain you a great deal of press, I’d think?
Jonathan: We’ve never gone out and tried to get church goers to specifically boycott a film, but we’ve had some people who are opposed to what we’re doing and have been quite vocal about it.

When we were doing our casting call for Nwar, a certain actress in town read the script and e-mailed a bunch of casting directors in town and said we were making a porn and trying to take advantage of young women. In a few days a mass e-mail had basically saturated the Sacramento acting pool about our “porno film.” We welcomed the publicity, we were still able to choose from quite a few qualified actresses and the fuss ended up coming out in an article in the Sacramento News and Review right before the premiere. The premiere sold out.

Dale: Any other shorts that I am forgetting that you would like to talk about?
Jonathan: Sublime Depravity is probably our most notorious film. It’s rarely screened and always talked about. It’s a mock-snuff film I shot on Super-8mm, it’s very disturbing. We’ve only had the opportunity to exhibit three times and each time multiple people walk out. It’s available on the Heart Full of Napalm disc.

Dale: You seem to gear toward shock value in your short films. Is this true?
Jonathan: Oh yeah. I grew up watching movies like Nightmare on Elm Street, Night of the Demons and Kingdom of the Spiders. I eventually graduated to movies like City of the Living Dead, Cannibal Ferox and Requiem For a Dream. So you can see where it all comes from.

Dale: Have these films been run at any short film festivals or the like?
Jonathan: Not really, I look at festivals as a sort of vanity press. I don’t see the logic in sending off a check for sixty bucks for a rejection letter. The festival circuit is full of politics. Fuck that noise. If I know someone who’s put a festival together and they’re cool I’ll submit, but otherwise I pass.

I’ve been putting on my own shows for three years. I’ll book the venue, book opening bands or other shorts. I’ve been selling out our shows and grabbing the midnight movie crowd. The crowd that enjoys our stuff, not the wine and cheese crowd.

Dale: Do you prefer the horror genre outright or just like to look into filming anything uncanny, but not pure horror?
Jonathan: Horror is my main squeeze, but if the content is really amazing I’ll do a lot of other things. I just finished co-writing a feature script called Johnny Lost and the Burnouts. It’s a teen comedy for adults. Rock N Roll High School meets Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Dale: Have there been casting calls for your films or do you just draw from a group of friends and associates to fill the spots?
Jonathan: Both.

Dale: Did you study film making anywhere or just learn on your own?
Jonathan: I started out in high school when I got an internship at a local cable station. From there I went on to work for United Paramount Networks Ch. 31, BMW Films, RSA USA, American Movie Channel, Speed Channel, Lean Angle Television, The Travelers Channel, just to name a few. Most were on a per project basis. So all my training has been on set.

Dale: Aside from films, what are your other interests?
Jonathan: I’m really into exotic animals. I have Brazilian Pink Salmon Birdeater, a tarantula that can get a leg span of thirteen inches. My girlfriend and I design custom vivariums. Check out our webpage.

Dale: Future films in the making?
Jonathan: The Late Night Horror Show. A feature length anthology film.

Dale: Do you plan to make the film conventions or fanfests in 2006?
Jonathan: The Conventions are great. I had a booth Fangoria in Burbank and the Star Struck Convention this year. I’m planning on definitely returning to both of those and hopefully a few more.

Dale: Any interesting behind the scenes stories during filming you would like to talk about?
Jonathan: We designed an effect for the short film Scalped we did a while back. It involved using pig fat as human skin and slicing through it with a knife and running a blood tube behind it. It looked so good, you’d actually see the skin split and then the blood seep out, way better than the old bleeding knife technique. It only cost about $5.00. But it didn’t make it into the final cut of the film, but we’ll use the technique down the road.

Dale: Anything else you would like to touch on?
Jonathan: I would just like to thank you for giving “under the radar” filmmakers an avenue to help reach more fans.

Dale: Closing comments?
Jonathan: If any aspiring filmmakers are reading this, just keep on keeping on. I’ve been pursuing filmmaking seriously for eight years and I’m still not quite there. It’s a constant struggle, so don’t forget to stop once in a while and look back at what you’ve accomplished as it will be a lot. I’ve been in Fangoria and met the editor Tony Timpone, I’ve stood in and doubled for Clive Owen, I gave Eli Roth my Heart Full of Napalm DVD in person, I met the love of my life on set, I’ve worked on more projects than I can remember and I’m writing this right now.

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