It seems to be a truism- generally unaccounted for- that all rock stars want to be film stars and all rock stars want to be film stars. There are a multitude of examples successful or less so: Elvis was remarkably better than could have been expected, Bon Jovi was tolerable and both Bowie and Jagger have performed inconsistently. Likewise, Johnny Depp is a moderately successful guesting guitarist, Nicole Kidman enjoyed a number one single in the UK and Steven Seagel demonstrated his contempt for art does not extend to simply the one medium. More recently the film world has endured the conceit of the musician as film-maker; Madonna- who seems to believe her ability to mumble faux-religious wisdom over heavily produced three chord songs makes her qualified for just about anything- is listed as producer or executive producer on a dozen films and documentaries of varying awfulness. Marilyn Manson is currently trying- and thus far failing- to organise funding for a new Jodorowski venture, but no more ill-advised and unaccountably successful a cross-over came in the shape of Industrial-Horror rocker, Rob Zombie. Zombies brand of gritty, hyper-violent and vacuous horror, beginning with House of A Thousand Corpses established Zombie a loyal niche fanbase, even though similarly graphic horror is now ubiquitous. And into this environment, now, has stepped rock guitar legend, Slash. The former Guns N Roses axe-man has formed his own horror production company called Slasher Films and while the tendency may be toward scepticism, Slash seems to display an enthusiasm and literacy for the genre that sets him far apart from the aforementioned, Mr Zombie. Speaking to radaronline.com, the Stoke born musician outlined his vision:
My whole thing is to go back to the days of making very dramatic, serious, plot-driven, character-driven horror movies, as opposed to whats become the norm this day, he explained. Chop em up kind of movies that dont have real specific characters that you really care anything about.
His aspirations are certainly refreshing given the current horror market. The first film ideas put forward are Wake the Dead- a remake of a classic based around Frankensteins monster- and The Other Kingdom, which will be the erstwhile Mr Hudsons attempt to reinvigorate the zombie movie. Hell also produce Nothing to Fear, a horror flick to be set in a small town where a religious family is lured to become a sacrifice for a demon...
Its a pretty heavy duty little story... My whole thing is to go back to the days of making very dramatic, serious, plot-driven, character-driven horror movies, as opposed to whats become the norm this day".
Naturally, he will score that film and the majority of those on his label. You can hear the Sundance announcement of the label here;