On Episode 89 of The Martin Lastrapes Show Podcast Hour, I had the great pleasure of chatting with horror filmmaker Harrison Smith. Smith made is directorial debut in 2014 with the horror film Camp Dread starring Eric Roberts and Danielle Harris.
A few topics we covered:
- Love for Jaws and disdain for Jaws: The Revenge
- Horror movies
- Working with Cloris Leachman
- Working with Tara Reid
- Working with Eric Roberts
- Producing feature films
- Felissa Rose accidently calls in
Matt Donato reviewed Camp Dread for We Got This Covered. Here's a bit of he had to say:
"Camp Dread is one of those late-night watches that may mirror shoe-string budget quality featuring a handful of 'nobody' actors, but in exercising slasher genre normality, a few fresh ideas produce something more than drunken bedtime fodder. Writer/Director Harrison Smith exhibits enough horror understanding to feed hungry fans with the equivalent of comfort food – it may not be pretty, but who can deny a heaping helping of biscuits smothered in gravy? Camp Dread is pretty much actor Eric Roberts smothered in gravy..."
"Camp Dread succeeds as a homage to cheesy, throwback splatter-fests like The Burning or Sleepaway Camp, while also purposefully introducing stereotypical characters. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen 'the jock,' 'the nerd,' or 'the horror geek' re-purposed for the same tired arcs, be it the jock’s arrogance or the horror geek’s always untimely death, but with Julian [played by Eric Roberts] pulling the strings as puppet master, the stereotyping becomes necessary because each personality completes a devious, sinister puzzle. Otherwise normal characters start to adapt the persona they believe they should be embellishing for television, not sure whether reality still exists or if the game is all they should know – a twisted psychological aspect adding depth to Camp Dread."