Gabriel Bologna

‘Your darkest secrets will be revealed’ claims The Black Waters of Echo’s Pond, the latest feature from writer-director Gabriel Bologna. The movie, which has won awards at festivals such as last year’s HorrorHound, stars genre veterans Robert ‘Terminator 2‘ Patrick and Danielle ‘Halloween‘ Harris, with support from James ‘Donnie Darko‘ Duval and Nick ‘Friday the 13th‘ Mennell.

Gabe discusses his inspiration behind the movie and his plans for the future…

Prior to being a filmmaker, you had spent several years as a support actor. How did you make the move behind the camera?

“Looking back, for so much of my acting career, my greatest influences were the larger-than-life directors I worked with. At 19 years old I was cast as a series regular on an ABC show by director, James Burrows – I was so in awe of how instinctual and versatile he was, constantly re-blocking and reworking jokes when the daily rewrites would come in. My parents, Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna, soon after, co-directed a script I co-wrote and acted in, called, Love Is All There Is, starring Angelina Jolie: I felt so at home watching the directorial process. I also worked for Mark Rydel, Dick Van Dyke, Francis Ford Coppolla. And I guess it was when I started giving direction to Martin Landau and Martin Sheen in an HBO movie I wrote and starred in, called The Elevator, I was hooked!”

The Black Waters of Echo’s Pond sounds like an old fairy tale or urban legend. How would you describe the movie and how would it compare to the modern genre?

“The Black Waters of Echo’s Pond is the only horror film I know of, where the killer is you. Even though I drew upon the influences of early Raimi and Romero films, there is something wholeheartedly new about exposing that any one of us are actually capable of committing the unimaginable – if we just give a voice to our most repressed resentments of hatred, jealousy, and greed. The black, bottomless pond that Echo and Narcissus were trapped in, blinding them from differentiating good from evil – it’s not just a Greek Myth, it’s what happens to anyone who chooses to swim in the deep end of their darkest emotions.”

How did you manage to get such a talented cast (Robert Patrick, Danielle Harris) and did you have any actors in mind as you were writing the script?

“I was greatly flattered by how much Robert Patrick and Danielle Harris liked the script, which is what really drew them to the piece. I didn’t have anyone in mind when I developed this project, yet every time I watch the film – it feels as if every role was written for every actor in it. For example, the roles of Renee and Erica were originally not written to be twin sisters – now I can’t see them any other way. The Avellan Twins are awesome, what the hell is scarier than twins with knives?”

Some of the artwork has been somewhat reminiscent of old Roger Corman movies. What kind of films would you say have been the biggest inspiration to Black Waters and did you consider it to be an homage to older movies?

“You are talking about some grindhouse-style posters we made up for some of our horror conventions?They are really fun and stylized. I have a deep affection for posters from that era. Our film now has a more mainstream poster that more focuses on the horror and less the aestheticism of 70’s slasher flicks. But I must say, as far as I’m concerned, that was the heyday of horror films – back when attention was spent on building real suspense and fright, instead of mindless torture sequences with little or no plot. The Black Waters of Echo’s Pond is definitely a tribute to that era and has many allusions to the old school horror movies of my youth.”

What kind of feedback have you had on the movie so far? If it proves to be a success, is this the kind of story you feel lends itself to a sequel?

“I must tell you, I was not prepared for the overwhelmingly favorable responses we received from our screenings at the HorrorHound Film Festival and the Orlando Freak Show Film Festival, where we picked up Audience Choice Awards. I was told over and over by the fans how excited they were to see a refreshing twist on the genre — since everyone in the film eventually turns on one another, your allegiance to the character you are rooting for changes as fast at switching lanes on a racetrack. Parallel Media is also financing the sequel and I am writing it as we speak.”