Camille Irons Coakley ('HOLLA')

Holla, a new urban slasher film, was produced by Camille Irons Coakley, and is out on DVD Oct 9th from Lionsgate. In the vein of other urban horror classics like Darrin Scott's Tales from the Hood, urban horror is a good thing. On the other hand, it can be chock full of humiliating racial stereotypes like Leprechaun 6, Vampayaz, Hood of the Living Dead, Cryptz vs.Wolvz, and so forth. Camille decided to make this very low-budget, but gritty and fun, slasher film in order to explore not only racial stereotypes but also female stereotypes in horror. Man, this movie has its work cut out for it. Camille opened up to Pretty/Scary about what it's like to make a slasher film as a woman, as an African American, and as an African American woman - in horror

Why did you and the director decide to make this particular film? What was it about the style and plot elements that you felt worked?

Holla came about as a 'what if'scenario based on an annual trip my girlfriends and I would take to Big Bear. What would happen if someone's ghetto cousin came up here and started killing everybody? Plus, we knew there hadn't been a real black horror film out in years and that the market would be ripe for Holla. One of our biggest challenges with the plot of Holla was having to continually come up with good reasons for the characters to separate and leave the room with a killer on the loose because that's not something black people would normally do, contrary to the characters in mainstream horror films. When we were shopping Holla around to the studios, they didn't know how to classify it because the comedy wasn't over the top like Scary Movie and it was scary and gory like Saw. I think our plan of letting the comedy come out of the circumstances worked well.

Director H.M. Coakley with 1st AD Tim Beverly: I got 10 job, Mon!

Why was it important (either to you or to the crew in general) to make a film with a predominantly black cast? In your opinion, how do "black" horror films differ from "white" horror films, or do they?

As I mentioned above, there hadn't been a black horror film in years, and there has never been anything like Holla. I thought it would be fun to put black people in a horror setting. Just the thought of it is funny because we (black people) always look at mainstream horror films and when we're not talking back to the screen because somebody did something stupid, we're always saying how it wouldn't be us. We traditionally run first and ask questions later. Look at Holla. When the lights go out, the group immediately runs out of the house and they don't start asking questions until they are inside the car. You can pretty much assume that in the same setting, white people would probably have asked their questions in the room and went looking for Troy for answers.

What was behind making the lead character a female? Did this have anything to do with the traditional plot elements of slasher films, or was it for different reasons

Since Holla was pretty much based on my experience with my friends, the lead character had to be female.

Young Sir with Shelli Boone

To add on to the previous question, what plot elements of traditional slasher films did you feel you needed to include in Holla?

The director felt really strongly about trying to stay true to the traditional horror paradigm and with that we made sure that the killer was not shot in the head because we wanted back. We made the lead character virginous and we always found ways to separate characters from the group so they could be killed. The director considers the film to be an homage to some of his favorite slasher films such as The Shining, Halloween, and Friday the 13th 1 & 2.

What is your experience as a black female producer of a horror film? Do you think it makes a difference in the way people react to you as a producer because of your sex? Your race?

My sex and race usually always seem to be an issue in the workplace. No one would come on the set and assume that I was the producer.

Hell yeah!

Why do you feel Rockstone Pic's mission to put more people of color behind, and in front of, the camera is important? What is the current state of colored people working in the film industry, and what do you think needs to change?

It's a different game if you're black in this industry, both in front of and behind the camera. Hollywood doesn't seem to value our films or talent.

How do you feel about the current state of women in film, both in front of and behind the camera?

To be honest, I'm so consumed with the current state of people of color in the industry, that if I even had the time to think about the state of women in the industry too, I probably would have given up a long time ago, being that I'm both black and a woman.

Killer strikes again!

I noticed that in Holla, there is a certain theme of Street VS Success. How do your characters struggle with their success or lack thereof as black individuals? How does this theme fit in with the lead character's struggle? Am I way off, or is this something you wanted to make a point of putting in the film? Is this an important theme in African American life? And how did this theme fit in with the whole "horror" film idea?

We wanted to make Holla realistic to the black culture. Most well-to-do black people aren't that far removed from a ghetto family member or friend for that matter. Also, a lot of affluent black people tend to be embarrassed by uneducated, poor blacks from the inner city. They blame them for most of the bad PR that black people receive. The director thought it would be good to play off of that, be it subtle.

What are your hopes for Holla?

I think Holla has the potential to be an African American cult classic.

Oh shit!

Was the decision to make a horror film based on the current success of horror films right now, or on a personal love of the genre? Will you continue to make horror films, or will you move on to something else?

I'd like to turn Holla into a franchise just like the Scream series. I also have other ideas for black horror films I'd like to do and would love for our company to have a horror division. However, I must admit that I'm too scared to watch most horror movies, especially those based on true stories. But what do you expectI am a black chick; and we don't do horror well.

Be sure to visit the Holla website at: http://www.hollathemovie.com ">http://www.hollathemovie.com