Tear Your Heart Out: An Interview with Director Jimmy Lee Combs

January 4, 2019

Heart and Fire Productions’ latest film, Terror Tales, is a indie horror anthology that sets itself apart from its peers with gruesome practical FX, fresh stories, and exciting appearances by actors from some of horror’s most beloved films. Gnarly monsters, madmen, demonic possession, an ’80s video store (!)– this film is a fun watch for fans of films like Creepshow, The Offspring, and Tales from the Hood.

We caught up with director Jimmy Lee Combs to discuss the film, his career in the movies, and what we can look forward to next.

Check out our review of Terror Tales here!

Horror Geek Life: Thanks for talking with us! Within your productions, you’ve basically handled all sides of filmmaking from writing, direction, production, acting, camera work, to sound, and editing. What aspect of film do you most enjoy working on and why?

Jimmy Lee Combs: Hands down, the writing and directing side of filmmaking. I love to tell stories ever since I was a little kid, it’s one of my strong suits and I have a passion working with actors, which has given me a reputation of being an actor’s director. Plus, when I started getting into the film scene, I started by learning the screenwriting craft and wanted to be an actor, so I took years of acting classes, which has made me a much stronger director. I can identify with the actors on a much more personal level being one myself.

HGL: Your films see you repeatedly collaborating with FX artist/filmmaker Kevon Ward. What can you tell us about what it’s like to work with Kevon, and what about that keeps you working together?

JLC: Working with Kevon was a very natural fit because his ambitions matched mine. He is a very passionate and talented special effects artist in the same regard as I am as a filmmaker. I could always write something and bring it to Kevon and he would figure out a way to make it happen or look cooler. He and I being passionate about our craft definitely kept us working together. We both admired each other’s ambitious nature with our projects and a “let’s get shit down” mentality, no matter what. That jived really well working together.

HGL: Terror Tales features performances from some notable horror alumni like Ari Lehman (Friday the 13th), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Jonathan Tiersten (Sleepaway Camp), and Lynn Lowry (I Drink Your Blood). What was it like working with these icons of horror? Were any of these parts written specifically for the actors?

JLC: It’s a fantastic experience to have on-set iconic horror actors of this caliber and stature. I had several actors come to me saying how inspiring it was to work with veteran actors and how much they learned from them. Also, when you have actors who have worked with such iconic directors such as Wes Craven, they bring with them all that amazing experience they learned from the horror masters. This turned in some incredible performances in Terror Tales that I think is going to surprise the audience when they see the caliber of acting in the film. Everyone gave it their 110% best and it shows. As a director, there is nothing more you can ask for at the end of the day.

It’s interesting because originally the film was going to just feature Lynn Lowry, but as I thought about it and was writing the stories, it hit me that it would be a fantastic idea to showcase more of horror’s best in each segment, an Expendables of horror if you will, which got the ball rolling to cast more iconic horror actors in each segment. It was incredibly important for me to not take that lightly and to give the actors as meaty of a role as possible that serves a purpose to the story rather than just having bragging rights saying I have so and so actor in the film.

Of all the roles, I would have to say that the Susan McKay character was written from the ground up specifically for Lynn Lowry. I had seen a performance of hers in a horror story she performed called The Whole Town’s Sleeping. In fact, I’m including the link here because it must be seen. From this 11-minute performance, I knew Lynn could play an emotionally distressed character with range and vibrancy, so it made writing the Susan character incredibly easy knowing that Lynn could pull off this character with an emotionally-charged performance.

As a director, it was very fulfilling to direct such talent in demanding roles like Lynn Lowry, and of course Laurene Landon’s unsettling and psychotic role as Miss Tate in the Radical Video segment. To be able to direct performances like those while allowing the actor to bring their experience to the role and to have worked with actors of this caliber from the horror world is an honor!

HGL: The three stories in Terror Tales are all unique and different from each other. To me, each segment seemed like it could have been a feature film all on its own. How did you come up with the stories for these segments which were so different in tone?

JLC: Great question, and thank you for the kind words! On that note, I will say that “Radical Video” came very close to being its own feature film.

So, with “By Proxy,” it originated with a story I had in mind awhile ago of a character walking in on a loved one who had killed themselves. From there, it took on a mystery vibe of the character trying to figure out why their loved one had killed themselves. As Lynn Lowry had reached out, expressing interest working on a project with me, I started tweaking that story premise to revolve around a mother with Munchausen by proxy who walks in on her son killing himself, and to give it a more supernatural spin having her killed and brought back to life and guided through the story by a demon. Similar in fashion to the Ghost of Christmas Past showing Scrooge the errors of his ways. And the rest of the story all fell into place.

For “Radical Video,” the biggest influence was my nostalgia for the ’80s and how much I miss the mom-and-pop video stores of that era. It was quite a surreal experience shooting the “Radical Video” segment (which takes place in the ’80s). There was a video store here in Colorado called Video One that was iconic and as I was beginning pre-production on the “Radical Video” segment, I noticed that Video One was going out of business, so I took this opportunity to gather a bunch of props for the segment that the video store was throwing out and had held onto from the ’80s. As well as their shelving units.

Anyway, it was sad to see a video store going out of business that held so many memories, but in a way it was like reviving it and bringing it back to life through the “Radical Video” segment, which will be preserved on video forever; and because, I can’t let go of the past. I also love ’80s action films. So, it was a blast writing the Detective Stevens burnt out cop with an attitude and drinking problem type character that has a big ass magnum. Similar to Dirty Harry and the show Sledgehammer.

We definitely live in a day and age now where old school is making a huge comeback, especially with vinyl. And, of course, the countless remakes of classic horror films. I feel like now is the perfect time to tap into that nostalgic area in our hearts. So much of our demographic grew up in the ’80s/’90s, like myself, so we totally get it and miss those days. It feels good to hold a physical copy. It feels good to have walked into a video store with all those sights, sounds, and smells that you can never get through digital. It’s an interesting aspect to the “Radical Video” segment because we explore a video store in its prime in the ’80s, and we also get to see it in the present day crisis of mom-and-pop video stores struggling to stay open. I think it’s really going resonate with audiences, and that was all a huge inspiration for this segment.

The ’80s, hands-down, is my favorite decade of all time. There was definitely a personal influence on this overall segment, and the film in general, to have a throwback vibe to it and follow the formula of old-school horror anthologies, such as Creepshow and the Amicus/Hammer line of horror anthologies.

With “Epidemic,” I was kind of struggling with what the third story should be for Terror Tales, so I asked a buddy of mine for some ideas. And he asked me this question, “Jimmy, what scares you the most?” And with that, I answered possession stuff. So that gave me the idea to start writing a possession tale for the third segment. It was important to me to try and do something different with this possession tale that hasn’t really been seen before, so that’s when I got to thinking how cool would it be if Satan is taking over people’s bodies and using it as a host and body jumping from victim to victim, causing an epidemic of possession outbreaks across the world that must be stopped.

HGL: Heart and Fire Productions’ website states that your next film, Spirit Reckoning: Chapter 1, is currently in development. The production stills on the site look really cool. What can you tell us about the film?

JLC: Boy oh boy, am I excited for this one! So I’m gonna give you a little more of a detailed description. When murdered alongside his family by ruthless outlaws, a farmer is brought back to life by an Indian shaman. Trained by a gunfighter and driven by a vengeful passion, he wanders the countryside— skeletal guitar and revolvers at hand.

Spirit Reckoning is a high-octane adrenaline rush in the horror western genre that can be best described as having the larger-than-life bullets-flying action scenes of a John Woo film, the rich and vengeful storytelling of a Sergio Leone spaghetti western epic, and the extreme blood and gore of the horror genre. Back that with heart, and characters that you’re invested in from start to finish, and you’ve got the makings for one hell of a fun film!

Spirit Reckoning takes place in the Wild West, circa 1875. The story follows Sam Conley, a farmer with a wicked gambling addiction trying to make ends meet for his family. One day while Sam is out selling produce, his wife is brutally beaten and raped by three petty outlaws headed by Savage Bill. Sam returns home to this horrific sight and is strung up and killed alongside his wife and child. To return the favor on a good deed Sam did for the Indian people, a Shaman brings Sam’s spirit back from the dead as an avenging skull cowboy. However, this comes with its set of side effects as Sam’s emotions intensify, making him feel rage more extreme and sadness more deep than the normal person, which brings humility to Sam much like Frankenstein’s Monster.

It is with these emotional flaws and his training as a gunfighting cowboy that will see Sam through on his journey. And with the help of his best friend Lawson Lovette, who is a psychotic gunfighter, and Verna Cole, the strong-willed owner of a Saloon, Sam is able to get his revenge by killing Savage Bill. All is not well, though, as Savage Bill is brought back to life by the same Shaman, only much more fierce and animalistic. All hell is about to break loose as Sam and his friends are up against the fight of their life.

HGL: Thanks again for catching up with us! We’re really looking forward to Spirit Reckoning and anything else you have coming up.