Once again it’s interview time.(for the first time it’s not an Asian female) Today it happens to be with everyone’s favorite critic. Of course I’m talking about Brad Jones, aka The Cinema Snob. A man who owns a wide variety of VHS tapes, tries all sorts of bizarre food products, and reviews exploitation films.(the best kind of films)
He’s usually dwelling on That Guy With Glasses site and on his own site. But for now he has joined us here at F.A.N to answer a few questions.
G: Welcome Mr. Snob. Let me start off by asking how did it all start? What made you want to watch humans kill and bone each other for a living?
Snob: Hehe, well, horror and exploitation are the genres that I grew up watching as a kid. My folks never really restricted me on those kinds of things, so I would watch god knows how many flicks a week. When I got out of school, I started making my own movies, all pretty dark and dramatic flicks. None of them really went anywhere because they couldn’t be legally distributed on DVD. Then I got the idea for doing an internet comedy series about exploitation flicks. At the time no one was really doing anything regarding exploitation in this kind of format, so I thought genre fans and anyone else might get a kick out of it. I always found it funny when mainstream critics tried reviewing more exploitive movies that weren’t really of their tastes (namely Siskel & Ebert’s “Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter” review) and that’s really where the idea of The Cinema Snob came from. Admittedly, having started out doing drama, it took me some getting used to to begin playing a more comedic character. Many of the movies I watch on The Snob are either movies I’ve seen before, or movies that I’d be watching anyway, since it really is in my taste to watch some pretty far out there stuff, so my movie watching habits haven’t changed too drastically.
G: How did you first get involved with the That Guy With the Glasses website?
Snob: I have Spoony to thank for a very good portion of my fanbase. When youtube terminated my account, he had actually gotten in touch with me and gave me advice on starting my own site. So I built the site, moved all of the youtube videos over to the new page, and then created a few new series. Once I had a decent library of content built up, I simply wrote to Rob Walker and applied to be on the site. At first I wasn’t sure if I’d get picked up, since I didn’t know if they were even looking for another horror guy, but they got back to me very quickly and I got picked up. I’ve been able to do this as my full time job ever since.
G: What type of exploitation films do you usually have the most fun or easiest time reviewing?
Snob: The easiest is the porno spoofs. A lot of the jokes in there can simply write themselves, but they’re also the easiest since I don’t have to take as many notes. Really I’m just making fun of the plot aspects of them and not the pornographic scenes, seeing how there’s usually not too much to the sex, and I wouldn’t be able to show any of it in the episode anyway. With the porno spoofs, I’m working with far less footage than the other movies, so that’s why the notes process is a lot shorter. The ones I have the most fun on are usually the movies I’ve seen many times prior to doing the episode, like “Caligula” and “Pieces,” since those usually come from a level of love for the movie; and also when I can do something special with the character and really push the pretentious movie snob aspects of him, like in the “Salo” episode or “Night Dreams” and “Maniac.” Special episodes like the “Cannibal Holocaust” episode are always fun, because not only do I get to do something different, but I’m also tackling a movie that’s significantly darker than a lot of the other movies I feature. I love doing that.
G: Is there any exploitation movie you won’t review?
Snob: Well, there isn’t really a specific type of exploitation that I wouldn’t do. Really it all comes down to how much material I can get out of the movie. If I can get some great jokes out of it, then it’s completely worth it. But if the movie just lies there like one of it’s own corpses, then it’s not really worth making an episode out of, because it probably wouldn’t be very funny.
G: If Crystal Pepsi and New coke were to take the form of people, who would win a fight?
Snob: That’s a tough one. New Coke was around a lot more years, so it has experience. But Crystal Pepsi is younger, so it’d be a lot quicker and more energetic. Eh, I’m gonna go with Crystal Pepsi, since it’s more delicious.
An expiredaged taste that will kick any ass.
G: Now there have been some bizarre movies from Japan(my specialty on this site). What is the wildest Japanese film you’ve seen?
Snob: Man, I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t really watch a lot of the Japanese stuff. That’s more my wife’s field. I’ve seen some that are far out there like “House,” but I’m sure you’ve seem movies in that style that are way more bizarre than that one.
G: So what can we expect from The Cinema Snob from the future?
Snob: Right now we’re looking at shooting The Cinema Snob Movie in December. The script is all written, and we’re doing pre-production work on it now. It’ll be something a little different than people will be expecting, and I hope that’s a good thing. It’s written as a stand alone film, so someone who wouldn’t have any knowledge of my site or the show could still get enjoyment out of it. I’m also in the midst of doing “E.T. Week” for the 150th Episode Anniversary of The Cinema Snob. I’m taking a look at 5 E.T. ripoffs all throughout the week.
G: Thanks very much for this interview. It has been quite the pleasure.
Snob: Anytime, thank you!
For more on Brad Jones/The Cinema Snob:
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/bj
http://www.thecinemasnob.com/
About the author: Glitch is a digital demon from planet Fanboy, and is here to teach us humans a thing or two. You can find more of his reviews(and nonsense) over at http://www.youtube.com/takenoutofcontext.