An interview with Jeffrey Combs

In hindsight how is the entire Re-Animator experience been for you?

Well, you know when I first got the job Re-Animator was a small film, it was not the cult classic that it is now. I had no idea that it would be the thing that it is. In some ways it was a movie that was created in the editing process. The original movie was more of a love story, a lot more scenes between the boy and the girl and my character was more of a strong supporting role. It’s become kind of iconic, it really has jelled for a small weird movie.

What were your thoughts going into it?

Quite honestly, I thought it was an interesting role, a really bloody script. Ok I haven’t had that much experience in movies, I had done a lot of theater and not a lot of film so I went well “I’ll do this, a chance to work on a character over a progression”. But a little film.

You mentioned the bloody aspect, when I first saw the film one of the things I noticed about it that it is extremely bloody but it’s not…..

It’s bloody but it’s so far that it becomes almost transcendent of it. Kind of like you know the Japanese movies where they throw red paint. I saw

this Japanese movie where this guy had a white tunic on and they were just throwing the blood on him. It wasn’t even the color of real blood, kind of like it was almost like impressionistic, poetic and that’s almost how Re-Animator is, it’s so far that at one point it almost becomes grotesquely beautiful, it’s so far beyond what you can imagine.

What was it like when you were shooting, did you feel like it was too over the top?

Yeah, it was also like you sit there and you look at a bucket of blood all day while you are shooting and you’re like “oh my gosh” that’s just so much blood. And on the screen it seems like so much, and you are immersed in it when you are shooting. The one big adjustment that I made while we were shooting, myself and (Co-star) Bruce (Abbott) was that there is so much blood here we’ve got to counteract this, balance it out with humor, it’s the only way we’re going to get through with this and that is almost the beauty of the movie too, that just when you think it is going to get unbearable, the humor is there. And Kind of takes some of the pressure off.

In my mind it was the first movie that was really over the top with a sort of black sense of humor going on and now you see that done all the time. Do you see it’s influence in a lot of other movies.

A lot of people try to do it but it’s difficult to capture the magic, the humor that is in Re-Animator comes out of the characters, comes out of who people are and how they are interacting in situations that are created out of the actions that we take. Whereas in a lot of movies they are very conscious that they have to have a clever line or to have a guy do something because it’s funny and not because it’s what he would do and so it was a very difficult thing to play something seriously and yet so that to give a nod and a wink to the audience so to say that it is all in fun. Kind of like capturing mercury, have you ever had a ball of mercury on a table and tried to pick it up it kind of moves on you, and you can never get a handle on it. That’s sort of what making a good movie is about.

When I told my wife that I was going to be doing this interview, and she’s not a fan of horror at all, I told her you were in Re-Animator the first thing she said was “is that the movie they talk about in American Beauty?

Exactly

Re-Animator has really become a part of pop culture, what’s your experience with that?

When Re-Animator came out the reviews were either strongly for it or strongly against it. Either way they were very strong reactions, there was no half way about it. And that was when it came out in theaters, it got a lot of response (New Yorker film critic) Pauline Kael put it on her top ten movies of the year and then when it came out on video it found a whole new bigger strata of people that didn’t see it in movie theaters, quite a lot

It was kind of the dawn of the video age as well

It was the dawn of ….it was sort of the first big video, just like you, you probably didn’t see it in the movie theater.

Yeah, I come from a relatively small town in Oklahoma and it didn’t come to our theater.

You probably got together with your friends and probably saw it either by yourself or with three or four buddies or something and were probably like “what a trip”.

Oh Yeah, I remember seeing pictures of it in Fangoria magazine and being like “I’ve got to see this movie.” We scoured video stores until we found it.

Right and so it made it sort of, it really sort of established it and raised it up a level it kind of went along for a while and then it kind of went away for a little bit. Never completely but subdued and then maybe five or six years ago it reached

kind of iconic level. With the twentieth anniversary millennium edition disc came out and in American Beauty they talk about us twice and there’s also a visual homage.

Did that generate a lot of interest? With the American Beauty thing?

Not that I can put my finger on but it was certainly an affirmation and reference of an affirmation of a common touchstone for a generation, I mean here was Kevin Spacey from my generation talking to a teenager from two generations ahead and they have this common understanding about this movie and it validated it and reaffirmed sort of what was already out there. There is a reason, good writing. I mean there’s a reason that it is referenced in American beauty it’s not random, that movie ultimately deals with the obsession of a middle aged man for a young nubile girl, right? And that is exactly one of the motif’s of Re-Animator, Dr. Hill wants Meg, and at the end of American Beauty there is actually a visual echo of Re-Animator where the young girl is lying down and Kevin Spacey’s head comes into the frame from the upper left corner and that’s all you can see. It’s right out of Re-Animator.

Do you foresee any more Re-Animator movies?

I don’t at this point.…. although what do I know. The first sequel to Re-Animator, Bride of Re-Animator was made about five years after the original. Then the next sequel Beyond Re-Animator was made something like ten twelve years after that one. I guess my initial thought about that would be that it would have to be right away.

Would you be into it if it were proposed to you?

I would but only if it were serious and if the script interested me. I love Herbert West, he’s sort of iconic at this point, but sort of on another level as a character he hasn’t really been explored. Like the details, who he is what makes him tick. You know what does he want to do next what would he do if he weren’t encumbered by all these obstacles. There are certainly places you could go to explore all of that. There are a lot of variables in play there. At this point I think I would be demanding a heck of a lot of say so. I cherish the role too much at this point to be a hired gun. I would have to be part of the process, so that it would be done like that.

I think that would make the fans happy as well.

During Beyond Re-Animator you know my whole mantra, was look I want to be part of the writing of the script I want to be a part of the development and the decision-making. And to some degree or another I think a little bit of lip service was allowed. And then because of the machinations of the deal and because it was shot in Spain and it was just real difficult for me to be there in order to give my input. In essence in many ways I sort of was a hired gun. That’s OK, I worked with what I had while I was there. There was a lot of story editing and rewriting while we were on set which is never a particularly pleasant way to do these things. I suggest that it was not as well thought out, as it should have been. I think it’s a better movie than the second one.

I remember when the second one came out it was what I wanted at the time but between the two, in hindsight, I like the third one better.

The third one was much more in keeping with the style the tone of the first one. No one can ever, ever top the first one. I always thought that the second one was a little too tongue in cheek, a little too conscious of clever one-liners. It was a real patchwork quilt thrown together. It wasn’t a full plot. Once again that’s because they actually had another story and script but because of legal issues they had to scrap it but the deal was in place and they had to come up with an alternate plan and ergo you have what we had.

I always kind of suspected that they were trying to top everything in the original in terms of gore or whatever

They were trying too hard.

It’s like you said earlier it’s not because it’s in there because it’s integral to the character it’s just because it has to out do the first.

Yeah they were trying to out gag the gag.

Then after Re-Animator you did a succession of horror movies along the same lines, a couple of which were based on…..

HP Lovecraft, all the sudden the industry took interest, Because of Re-Animator, HP Lovecraft enjoyed some renewed vitality and so they asked me to be in this one and that one and the other but I can’t say that my success in Re-Animator allowed me to say break out into more mainstream movies. Although I’ve gotten a few of them.

You are in the horror genre which is a welcome thing to horror things, you, Bruce Campbell and Robert Englund are pretty much giants in the field. Are you a horror fan? Is this something that you are pleased with?

I guess I would answer that by saying that my tastes are much more varied, I don’t tend to run out and see every horror movie, I think there are a lot of bad horror movies, I think they can be done really well but like most things they can be done really badly or cheesy, I’ve probably done my share of those. I always say horror found me I didn’t find it. I mean I certainly enjoyed it as a kid. I remember reading “Eerie” magazine and I remember going to matinees and seeing fifties and sixties sort of stuff, you know horror offerings, so it’s sort of anathema to me but it’s that my spectrum of interest in movies is much more varied, it’s not the first thing that I would run right out and see.

You worked with Peter Jackson on the Frighteners, how was that experience?

It was the best working experience I have ever had.

Really, wow. I remember seeing that on the day that it came out and thinking that it was going to be the biggest movie of all time, it’s scary, it’s funny, it’s everything, and then it wasn’t huge. I couldn’t believe it.

I have my own theory on that. I think it’s a terrific movie. I think it’s a misunderstood and ergo mispromoted film. At the time it was meant to be a movie that was to come out around Halloween. Perfect. But the studio got in trouble with their scheduling, some movie that was supposed to be ready for the summer wasn’t. They were seeing these terrific dailies so they pushed the Frighteners up to be a summer release. I remember thinking “wow that’s great, I’m in a summer movie” but in fact that wasn’t what happened because it’s not a summer movie, it came out in the middle of July. And on top of that it’s a complex movie and the studios didn’t know how to promote it. They promoted it as kind of a live action Casper. “Oh isn’t this going to be fun, Michael J Fox with ghosts, ha ha ha ha.”

I always kind of felt like the enormously successful “Sixth Sense” was kind of a rip off of the Frighteners.

Really?

Yeah, I mean you’ve got a kid who is talking to dead people and he is kind of existing on that plane and in my mind that’s the same thing as the Frighteners.

Right, it’s a different tone.

And then it had the success that I thought the Frighteners should have had

I think it is one of Michael J Fox’s best performances.

And one of yours as well. Certainly over the top.

Thank you, and because it’s Peter Jackson, who is not particularly fond of formula, it was a movie that started in one place and kind of corkscrewed down into a kind of dark place. And I think that’s what the studio couldn’t quite grasp, they were like do we appeal to the happy go lucky who just want to have a good time and not have to deal with anything too deep or do we cater to the horror fans out there by pushing up the dark side, but they didn’t think they could have both.

It’s certainly not for the “Scream” kids.

Right, the people that wanted a little more teeth in their movie, they probably stayed away from it because they thought it was a little light, and the ones that were expecting something just kind of frothy sort of easy going fun, it starts out that way but then it goes to a place where they might not expect or understand.

I saw it on television the other day. I hope that’s a sign that it will enjoy a renewed interest

I would think so because right now Peter is something of a deity so people are revisiting all of his work.

I kind of wondered about the people who got into “The Lord of the Rings” and then wanted to see Peter Jackson’s other stuff. I wonder what they thought when they got a hold of “Meet the Feebles” or “Dead Alive”

Or “Bad Taste”

Or Heavenly Creatures for that matter

There is a lesser-known piece that he has done; a short that is brilliant called “Forgotten Silver.” It’s a mockumentary, really brilliant.

Switching gears let’s talk a little bit about your Star Trek experience. There is a sort of well-circulated story on how you became involved. Can you talk a little about that?

I remember auditioning for the pilot Star Trek The Next Generation and didn’t get it but that’s OK, and I never did any one episode of Next Generation not one, I couldn’t get arrested, I couldn’t even get an audition. I remember thinking why am I not going in on Star Trek I’m pretty right for this. I remember calling my agent and going how about star Trek, I could do that. Anyway long story short I had met Jonathan Frakes, we actually auditioned together for a movie, we were paired up to do an improv for a movie to be made by John Schlessinger, a great director who made “Midnight Cowboy.” He was doing a comedy. I knew Jonathan that way and through mutual friends, it was really casual. I auditioned a couple of times for Deep Space Nine and it was think you very much for your time. So it came around that Jonathan was directing an episode and I auditioned and we kind of talked about the movie that we both had auditioned for and we reacquainted, and anyway it happened. So it was my first episode of Deep Space Nine and could have easily been my last but my old friend from the theater days Rene Auberjonois, was preparing to direct his first episode of Deep Space Nine, I got a call from my agent and they wanted me to come in and try out for a new Ferengi Character, Brunt and so thanks to Rene and his persistence they said “he just did and episode” and Rene said “yeah so what, it’s a Ferengi who’s going to know, he’s at terrific actor. Come on and they were like ok. Who knew that Brunt would be recurring and recurring and then out of that the producers were like we want you to come back as something that we can see more of your face I thought yea sure right but that’s how Weyoun came to be.

And that morphed into your “Enterprise role”.

Yeah, I probably did 35 episodes of Deep Space Nine and then when Enterprise came along they asked me to play an Andorian.

What’s been your experience with the Star Trek fans?

Fantastic. Everyone is a fan of something. Some people collect butterflies and some people collect stamps, you know what I mean? Whatever is their hobby or their fascination or their touchstone. I couldn’t be more proud to be part of the Star Trek world because I loved the original series as a kid. I relished it couldn’t wait for it to come on and couldn’t understand why they cancelled it. So that’s sort of one of the things that I try to

bring to my Star Trek roles is to try to capture some of the flavor of the original... Energy and attack for lack of a betterway of saying it.

What are you working on now?

I just got back from Bulgaria, I was working on a movie that at this point is called “Hammerhead” and it’s about a scientist who is working on cross cultivating shark stem cells with human so you have basically something like the old Saturday Night Live “Landshark” skit.

That sounds cool

So that was kind of Island of Dr Moreau meets Landshark. The working conditions were kind of difficult. It was kind of a difficult shoot. There were all kinds of farcical things but we got through it. That will be showing on Sci-Fi channel.

Alright, I try to keep these short. Thanks so much for your time.

Thanks