When director Gary Jones was growing up, he always loved the old campy horror movies.
“I grew up in front of the television watching King Kong and Frankenstein,” he says. “I had an artistic background and used to draw and paint and did comic books as a kid. I ventured into sculpting and painting and started creating special effects. I got the Super 8 camera and shot a bunch of shorts. I always did a lot of stuff with special effects. That was my way in. I figured I could get on the set if provided a miniature or spaceship. I did special effects and props throughout the ‘80s and that was my entrance into the business.”
He then started making low-budget horror movies (the first was 1995’s Mosquito) and hasn’t let up. His latest movie, Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan screens at 9:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Capitol Theatre and Jones will drive up from his Crestline, Ohio home to attend the screening and answer questions afterward. The film centers on the legend of Paul Bunyan and depicts a “big guy with an axe,” as Jones puts it, who sets about dismember the people who live in a small Minnesota town. Essentially an old school slasher flick, the film benefits from its primitive use of lo-fi special effects.
This article appears in May 29 – Jun 4, 2013.
