Ted Chalmers Is the King of Mockbusters

Ted Chalmers next to his stand at the Cannes Film Festival. Photo by the author

To the uninitiated, mockbusters are cheap-ass movies, stealing the title of blockbusters and piggy-backing on their publicity. To me, they are cinema's unsung heroes_. _Hobgoblins, Transmorphers, Monsters Vs. Avatars__ – these are all titles filing up the otherwise unimaginative past times of adolescents the world over.

Tomcat Films is the company responsible for some of my favourite mockbusters, including Nazi Dawn, The Caretaker, American Monster and Empress of The Evil Dead. Last time I was in Cannes, I had the opportunity of meeting Ted Chalmers – CEO of Tomcat and one of my idols.

VICE: Hi Ted. How long have you been in this business?
Ted Chalmers: I have been producing movies for the past 25 years, but for different companies. I've always been fond of horror and sci-fi movies: the kind of films you love when you are a teenager. Maybe certain grown-ups think that these productions are lame and stupid but I love them. It's fascinating to see what people can create on a very small budget. I've sold brilliant movies, like Evil Dead 2, Texas Chainsaw or Hellraiser.

When did you start you own company?
The only things we produced at my last job at Moving Pictures, were some shitty blockbusters with Keanu Reeves. The firm had a lot of money, we were selling numerous movies and everything was fine. But I really wanted to work on films I could enjoy.

So in 2007, I started Tomcat, producing a few films which had some success: Starquest, Metal Man and Alice in Murderland. I've produced two dozen films with Tomcat since 2011.

What do you consider your greatest success so far?
I think that my most famous movie is Moontrap with Bruce Campbell. I'm a huge fan of his and I wanted to make this film for years, but it's only been released on VHS. All the copies are now stocked in a hangar. It's never been restored on DVD or anything else. We worked together for Syfy Channel with films like Man With The Screaming Brain and Alien Apocalypse, which was the most watched film on Syfy – until Sharknado, obviously. We are now finally going to release Moontrap. It will be broadcasted at the Comic-Con of Phoenix and Bruce will deliver a short speech. Is there any difference between selling horror classics and Z movies?
Let's say that the ideas behind both are the same. In Texas Chainsaw there is no blood, no budget – except the final scene when the guy cuts his own leg. When you don't have money, you have to be inventive, and that's something everyone has forgotten about when in comes to Hollywood blockbusters. But to create a big hit movie, you have to have some experience in working on smaller productions. That's how Roger Corman launched James Cameron.

My idea was to add a “Playboy touch” to these films – putting some chicks in my movies and having fun with that. These days, audiences want bigger things like Jurassic Park, which is impossible for me. Things are evolving, and CGI became affordable but that still doesn't mean I can hire celebrities. So I recruit famous pornstars. For example, Tera Patrick played in one of my films, and she's got one million followers on Twitter.

You must have had some copyright issues with your mockbusters.
Once and we found a solution immediately: We changed the title. I can understand why people are complaining; they pay lawyers to protect their copyrights so it's totally understandable. There is a law for parody films: you can parody anything you want, as long as you are doing it openly.  My movies are parodies, that's pretty obvious. I couldn't accept it if someone stole my ideas either.

Do you write your own films?
For my own productions, yes, I have my own ideas. Sometimes a director or some guy I'm working with pitches an idea to me, but usually I write a one-page draft that includes the characters and plot. I put a copyright on it and I hire someone who knows how to write. After that, I find a director.

When was the first time you came to Cannes?
The first time was in 1994. It's been 20 years – did you bring me a cake? I see movies when I have the opportunity, but I don't really have much time. I'm here to work. Honestly Cannes isn't my world at all. I know French movies have influenced lots of American directors, but nowadays, I don't know any American who wants to read subtitles.

@TheWickerWoman