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JAY WADE EDWARDS<\/a> provides triple threat duty as producer\/director\/writer of the new ’60s-style beach party\/monster musical STOMP! SHOUT! SCREAM!<\/a><\/em>, playing in select theaters starting April 10 from Monogram Releasing.<\/a> This fun, freaky flick is a perfect recreation\/re-realization (but not “re-imagining”) of an AIP<\/a> bikini-boppin’ beast-on-the-beach drive-in rock ‘n’ roll classic (read Will the Thrill’s review<\/a>.) The multi-talented Mr. Edwards laid some of that smooth Southern charm on us recently:<\/p>\n Will the Thrill<\/a><\/em><\/span>:\u00a0You obviously adore genre movies from the 50s and 60s (as do many, but not enough, of us). How were you exposed to these old films?<\/span><\/p>\n JWE:<\/em><\/span> I watched A LOT of TV as a kid in Bradenton, Florida. \u00a0Instead of going out to play in the summer, I’d watch sitcom reruns, especially The\u00a0Dick Van Dyke Show.<\/em> Every Saturday afternoon however, I’d watch Dr. Paul Bearer<\/a> on WTOG’s Creature Feature<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0He was a fantastic horror host, specializing in great\/terrible puns and fake product placement (“Bleeder’s Digest”), along with a double-feature of “horrible old movies” as he always described them. \u00a0That’s where I got hooked, but I’m still watching. \u00a0I watched The Land Unknown <\/a><\/em>(1957) this afternoon– dinosaurs vs. the navy inside a volcano, shot in CinemaScope! \u00a0Completely ridiculous, but awesome at the same time.<\/span><\/p>\n Thrill: <\/em><\/span>Were there any particular films that influenced Stomp! Shout! Scream!<\/em> and you as a filmmaker in general?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n JWE<\/em><\/span>: I aspired to write a script as good as the ’50s & ’60s monster movies that transcended the genre, like Creature from the Black Lagoon<\/a><\/em>, Forbidden<\/a><\/em> <\/a>Planet<\/a>,<\/em> and all the<\/span><\/span> “Control the young mind of Jay Wade Edwards…”<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n About the same time, I <\/span><\/a>also was watching every ’60s rock and roll movie I could find, including all the beach party films, mainly because I’m a garage rock addict. \u00a0I just love that period of the ’60s– after the Twist <\/a>hit big, when garage bands figured out how to play noisy, distorted guitar licks, but before things like psychedelia, Vietnam and Watergate ruined the innocence of it all. \u00a0I combined all the things I loved about those genre movies, but tried to do it with a characters an audience would care about and a story that speeds right along.<\/span><\/p>\n Thrill<\/em><\/span>: The music, fashions, cinematography and even the dialogue in Stomp!<\/em> effectively recreate the era of the mid-1960s with affectionate authenticity. How difficult was it to pull off a homage without slipping into satire, especially of such an inherently silly genre?![\"itconquered\"](\"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/itconquered.jpg\" "\\"itconquered\\"")
<\/span><\/span><\/a> Universal monster movies<\/a>. \u00a0My favorite of the rest of those films is Roger Corman’s It Conquered the World<\/a><\/em> (1956) with Lee Van Cleef and Peter Graves. \u00a0There’s certainly some Peter Graves in Jonathan Green’s performance as the scientist in S<\/em>tomp! Shout! Scream!<\/em> What really got me thinking about writing a ’50s monster movie was seeing Them!<\/a><\/em> (1954) at the Starlight Drive-in<\/a>, here in Atlanta. \u00a0That is such a good script, really well paced, and before you know it, you’re totally sucked into a ridiculous giant ant movie. \u00a0Plus, these monster movies all have a naive morality that’s really refreshing in a world so full of cynicism. \u00a0The triumphant hero always delivers a speech at the end of the film, “We dodged a bullet this time, but when… when will man le<\/span><\/span>arn the evils of atomic power\/greed\/etc?”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n