Mr. August: Dante Tomaselli

By Superheidi on August 3rd, 2006

Scary Studs

Dante Tomaselli. Italian love-monkey, or talented filmmaker? Or BOTH? Since his horror film career started, Dante has directed the terrifyingly vivid films Horror, Desecration, and the upcoming Felissa Rose vehicle Satan's Playground. Now he starts work on The Ocean, his most ambitious project yet. But let's not lose site of the fact that Dante is fucking hot, too. Don't let all those 'accomplishments' get in the way of us seeing him as the object of lust that he is. Dante's brains and cinematic talent should never overshadow his ability to make us swoon, so let's try to keep that in mind as we find out more about Mr. August!.

Dante points at something

How did you get the name Dante? Is it significant that it's also the name of that guy in the middle ages, you know? You know, whatshisname?

Dante Alighieri? I got the name from Dante Ruocco, my grandfather who died around the time when I was born. I'm a Scorpio and they say when a Scorpio is born someone significant dies. I share his name. I also have a cousin named Dante. And my nephew is Dante.

Dante, dressed as an adorable hunky baby seal for Halloween 2006

If a woman goes out on a date with Dante (you), what can they expect to do at the end of the night?

Hmmmm. I'm heavy into S&M so they can expect bites on the neck and plenty of slash marks and blood (laughs). Nah, I'm kidding, well I mean about the slash marks and blood (laughs). No. I don't know...I'm up for anything with...with anyone. I'm into fantasy. There are no limits when it comes to sex with me. I'm a very experimental kind of guy.

"I just wanted a fucking Pepsi", thinks Dante on set of his horror film, "But they wouldn't give it to me!"

Tell us the worst three things about living in NYC, in livid angry detail, possibly with a NYC accent, if you can.

Right now I live in New York and New Jersey. So I get the best...and worst...of both worlds...I can't get too angry thinking about New York City...I love New York City...except for the cockroaches. All throughout my twenties I lived in a series of cockroach infested apartments in New York City. West 10th and Bleeker... 21st Street between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue...90th Street, corner of Broadway...everywhere. At night, the walls would move and swirl with bugs. Sometimes, in the morning, I'd step into a shower with my eyes closed and a giant cockroach would snap and crackle under my bare foot. It made a very distinct crackling sound, I remember.

One of the awesome and beautiful shots of Dante that give you a glimpse into his imagination

Tell us about your films Horror and Desecration: describe them. Which is better?

I think they're interchangeable. I'm not sure if one is better than the other. I know audiences and critics are divided. Some love one and hate the other and vise versa. DESECRATION is about a boy haunted by his mother's death. He accidentally kills a nun at his Catholic Boarding School. Soon he's plagued by guilt and nightmares as the gates of hell open up in his mind. Childhood demons are unleashed. It's an interior journey. So is HORROR. It's about the same character, still going through the halls of hell...On his way, he meets a girl who is abused by her parents, some kind of religious figures. Both films are vague and disconnected...like nightmares. I want the atmosphere to dominate. I wrote the scripts like Ouija Board sessions.

Dante and the lovely Felissa Rose, playing nicely together

Talk about Satan's Playground. Pimp that shit.

SATAN'S PLAYGROUND is about a vacationing family lost in the woods, in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. One by one, they come upon a seemingly abandoned house. A ghostly old woman, Mrs. Leeds, warns them of a violent unseen force lurking outside. It's an old fashioned horror movie, no CGI. It's set in the late 70s, early 80s. No cell phones. The story is simple, stripped down, but the visuals are pretty elaborate, pretty layered. It's a very tactile horror movie. I wanted it to feel like an out-of-body-experience. You won't need drugs watching SATAN'S PLAYGROUND, it's like an acid trip. The movie has the logic of a nightmare, though it doesn't jump around in space like my other films, so it's understandable, it has a more linear plot. SATAN'S PLAYGROUND stars Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Ellen Sandweiss (The Evil Dead), and Edwin Neal (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). Anchor Bay is releasing it on DVD in This August.

Dante is so adorable when he plays "Camera Man" on the playground. Satan's Playground, that is.

What's all this about The Ocean? Who will be in it, and what's it about?

I should be shooting THE OCEAN January 2007. It's about the end of the world. The water dominating the earth. God's punishment for mankind's sins. Sister Madeline, the possessed nun from Desecration, returns, in apparition form, to preach hellfire and damnation. THE OCEAN takes place in The Bermuda Triangle, The Devil's Triangle. There's a mysterious Ebola-like virus spreading along the coast. It's a zombie splatter film. THE OCEAN will have an Italian-horror feel, definitely. The film stars Margot Kidder (The Amityville Horror) as Cathy, a medium. She's estranged from her family, living in NYC, a famous writer of astrology books...Cathy is haunted by visions of a watery apocalypse after the drowning deaths of her daughter's husband and son. The images won't leave her mind. She travels to Puerto Rico to reunite with her troubled family... and that's when the horror really begins. I'll also have on board, in starring roles, Judith O'Dea (Night of the Living Dead) and Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp). There will be cameos by Tom Atkins (The Fog), Ellen Sandweiss (The Evil Dead) John Fallon (aka The Arrow), Lynn Lowry (Shivers) and Edwin Neal (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre).

Dante at his senior prom, with his date, the fucking crazy posessed nun. This gives us insight into Dante's fucked up high school experience. He won't say whether he got lucky or not that night.

Is there anything that Italian men can offer woman that other ethnicities just can't?

It's in the lips. I think we know how to kiss. I love kissing. I live for having spectacular sex and making hallucinogenic horror movies. I'm a slave to these urges.

In what is the best childhood picture EVER, you can see where Dante got some of his inspiration and fears.

Why do men have nipples? I mean, REALLY, what for?

Umm...Uh...

Dante and Ellen Sansweiss, "bro-ing out"

Do you think Sarah Polley is hot? WHY?

Who is Sarah Polley?
[EDITOR's NOTE: We also would have accepted "No" and "NO!" as correct answers to the last question.]

Dante giving a lecture on Hunkiness at the University of Hot

What would you let me do to you: 1) Shave your chest hair into the shape of an eagle, a la Nick Cage in Valley Girl, or , 2) Give you a tattoo that has a heart, with MOM in the middle, right on your arm?

Umm...How about a nice blow job?