For those of us raised on Andy Sidaris, Troma, and other B-movies, there is a soft spot for awesomely bad films. Those flicks that don’t really require much thinking from the audience, allowing us to sit back and enjoy the zany ride.
Written and directed by Jordy Dickens, Rodney Cecil: Psycho Hero is an over-the-top, action-packed bloodbath that is, without question, one of those awesomely bad films that is hard not to love. Filmed around Chapel Hill and Carrboro, North Carolina, Rodney Cecil follows a drug dealer (Dickens) who becomes possessed by an evil spirit and embarks on a mission of vengeance.
We spoke with the filmmaker and star to reflect back on this fun passion project, which turned 9 this year.
Horror Geek Life: Jordy, I’ve been a fan of Rodney Cecil since I first saw it over a year ago. What has the film meant to you over the years?
Jordy Dickens: I’d say over the last decade, the movie went from being this goofy, fun group project that my friends and I were working on, to being this really cool movie I get to tell stories about for the rest of my life. And, I can share it with anyone I think will dig. I’m a family guy, now, and I love that, but there was a window in my life, before I got tied up with responsibilities, when I was able to concentrate on creating videos with my friends.
We made several shorts films, 6 episodes of a raunchy sketch comedy show for our local cable access, and a straightforward micro-budget zombie feature for Brain Damage Films. Rodney Cecil was the culmination of all those experiences, rolled into one horror/comedy/action package. The majority of my closest friends are in that movie, or helped make it. It’s meant the world to me that we got together and made those 80 minutes of low-budget magic.
HGL: In low-budget indie filmmaking, things can often go in unexpected directions. Was the finished film what you had envisioned from the beginning?
JD: Rodney Cecil: Psycho Hero turned out almost exactly how I imagined. We reused all the camera equipment and props from our first movie, Sick and the Dead, so I knew going in that it would have that cheap shot-on-video look. That wasn’t a style choice; that was all we could afford. I think Rodney Cecil may have been the last movie shot on full-frame standard-definition video tape purely from necessity. By the time we finished post production, wide-screen hi-definition was the norm.
The script was funny, but I wrote the main characters specifically for my most comedic friends, and I knew they would come up with better lines on-set. Plus, the main crew, producer Brockton McKinney, and director of photography Bo Fader, are the two most quick-witted and hilarious guys I know. Everyone added jokes and ideas for fun gags on set. I’d say 75% of the best comedy bits in the movie were suggested right before we shot them. I even got kicked off my own set a couple of times for laughing loudly and ruining my costar’s takes. So, in that way the movie was better than I hoped.
The gore gags never quite live up to what you imagine. But, I already knew that. You can spend all day trying to get an effects shot, or you can give the gag a few tries, and then go finish your next fight scene before it gets dark, knowing your actors have to work their jobs that night or the day after. Our first movie was kind of a slog to sit through, so our biggest goal with Rodney Cecil was to make a movie that was fun to watch and laugh at. I knew after the first screening that we nailed it.
HGL: Being that you have so much passion for this film, what do you hope new viewers take away from it?
JD: Rodney Cecil: Psycho Hero is the ultimate movie for the 13-year-old kid I still feel like I am when I’m watching some goofy late night horror. It’s got all the excitement and weirdness you wanted to see back when you rented a video from the horror section and had your best friend sleep over. I want folks to laugh when they watch it, and imagine how much fun it was to do the things we were doing.
We would like to thank Jordy Dickens for talking with us!
Rodney Cecil: Psycho Hero is available on DVD via Amazon.
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