Mr. Februscary: Paul Solet

By Superheidi on February 1st, 2007

Cutie-Pie Paul Solet is one of those 'up-and-comers in the horror film industry that has everyone a-buzz. Fangoria loves him, Rue-Morgue adores him, and his short films Means to an End and Grace have won tons of awards in all kinds of film festivals. Means to an End even appeared on Fangoria's Blood Drive II DVD. Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) is said to be his mentor, but that seems so silly since Paul's films are much better than Eli's. A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Paul is now a Los Angeles resident, trying to develop several feature-length scripts into theatrical releases that will knock your socks off. He was nice enough to be our Scary Stud of February, because he hasn't become a Hollywood jerk yet. He spends most of his time attending film festivals, making horror movies, shaking hands with famous horror icons, and being terribly sexy!

Paul discovering a comet in a 19th century telescope

What can a woman expect on a date with Paul Solet?

What's a "date?" I just reentered the single world a couple months ago, so I don't know what you can expect. I haven't dated a whole lot in LA, seems like I'm always working. I grew up in Boston, where you can just walk around and talk and check out pretty spots outside, grab a bite or whatever. I used to take more adventurous women up on various rooftops to watch the stars. If things didn't work out, I could just push them off.

What you can see in this picture are Paul's incredibly sexy arm tattoos

Cremation: Are you for, or against it?

Complicates necrophilia. Against.

What are your turn-ons?

I like tattooed girls. Always had a thing for girls with short hair, that pixy look gets me. I like a woman who wakes you up with a surprise. I'm into independent women who don't take any shit from men, but still like to be feminine under the right circumstances.

Turn-offs?

Stupidity, drunkenness, lethargy, lost tempers, pathological
manipulation, borderline personality disorder, being maced, police.

Paul is here with Tony Todd and his disgusting shriveled niece, Grace.

Can you tell us all about each of the films you've made?

The films people know are GRACE, and MEANS TO AN END. MEANS was a gun and run 12 minute short me and my friend Jake Hamilton shot on DV for kicks. The budget was his credit card. We actually "act" in that one, which is pretty hysterical. It's about two special effects artist horror geeks who decide that what the horror genre really needs is REAL special effects. They proceed to make their own movie, starring them, and mutilate themselves in the process. They manage to find a distributor sleazy enough to take on the film, but only under the condition that they 'Come up with a climax that KILLS.' It's really an extremely dark, extremely moist comedy. We were just screwing around, but it got some real attention on the festival circuit, and eventually won a spot on Fangoria's Blood Drive 2 DVD. It really developed a pretty serious following.

We had a riot promoting it. We went to tons of festivals and conventions in character, covered in bandages and bruises, wearing orange prison jumpsuits. We did one Fango convention in NJ for the Blood Drive 2 disc and I showed up in a wheelchair with Jake pushing me. Tony Timpone was really concerned; he thought I had actually crippled myself filming something. We didn't let on at all. They had to lift me up onto the stage. Then, halfway through the panel, I triggered the first of five bladders filled with blood hidden under a towel on my lap and proceeded to bleed out from a series of wounds on my legs, arms and head. People didn't know what to do, it was hysterical. I had so much blood rigged to me that I continued to bleed the entire panel. We would stage deaths while giving award speeches, and do some outrageous guerilla promotional assaults. The whole idea was to blur the line between the characters and ourselves. Not really a stretch, because we pretty much are those guys.

The flick I did most recently is called GRACE. It's another short, but this one is a more serious horror film. We shot on 35mm with an amazing cast and an amazing crew. It basically covers the key beats in the first act of a feature that I wrote by the same name. I did the short as a kind of a stand -alone pitch film to raise capital to do the feature right. The idea was to make a studio quality short, pulling no punches. Liza Weil (Gilmore Girls and Stir of Echoes) and Brian Austin Green star. It's gotten a lot of attention on the festival circuit, won some awards, and it was the first independent film to air on FangoTV. You can check out teasers on www.gracehorror.com, and there's a great little behind the scenes doc Adam Barnick shot at myspace.com/gracehorror.

Just hangin' around, trying not make eye-contact

What are you working on next?

I'm always writing new features, but I'm concentrating on the GRACE feature, right now.

Paul, again, kissing a dead baby

Do you believe both war and Global Warming are directly associated with the vain, misguided hubris of major American corporations and their calculated purchase of the White House and its current administration?

What is hubris? What is war?

Here's Paul with fellow Scary Stud Eli Roth. Paul is probably making that face because he just saw the trailer for Hostel II

In your opinion, what's the best feature horror film that came out of 2006

The Descent was awesome, but Pan's Labyrinth probably takes it.

Paul onstage somewhere talking about something but NEVER MIND THAT! It's Brian Austin Green from 90210!!!!

What current woman in horror makes your eyes bug out, and why?

I thought the cast of The Descent was pretty amazing. Tough, strong women in sports bras. With pick axes.

Would you ever direct a remake if Hollywood asked you to? And, what about a sequel to a remake? Which remake would you least like to direct:

A) Slumber Party Massacre II

B) Critters 2

C) The Descent

Remaking The Descent would be ridiculous. What the hell could I do with that? Now Critters 2, on the other hand. Or, how about C.H.U.D. 2: Bud of Chud. I wouldn't be down with re-shooting something shot-for -shot, especially movies that got it right the first time, but I wouldn't rule out remakes entirely, look at Carpenter's The Thing.

Can you pick Paul out of this lineup?

Paul in a wheelchair, with a fake cast. You know, this reminds me of a really bad date I had when I was 15. Seriously. I couldn't make something like that up.

Unicorns. What's with unicorns?

They're horses with brain tumors.

You can visit hottie Paul and keep up with his ever-increasing fame at these websites:

www.myspace.com/gracehorror

www.gracehorror.com

http://www.meanstoanendthemovie.com/">www.meanstoanendthemovie.com