Jill Sixx Gevargizian is a producer and director known for her ghastly horror shorts, including the darkly humorous CALL GIRL and the hotly anticipated THE STYLIST – she also worked with the notorious Soska Sisters on THE ABCS OF DEATH 2. We had the great pleasure of interviewing the future horror legend on her latest short GRAMMY, screening at this month’s Reel Women event at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse on 24 March.

RH: Looking at trends in horror – vampires in the 80s, slashers in the 90s, zombies in the 00s – this could be the season of the witch. What drew you to the trope of the wolf in grandma’s clothing?

JG: I co-wrote GRAMMY with my good friend Jill Towerman. We were out of town at a horror convention getting dolled up, and I may be being a little spoiler-y here, but I said the phrase, “I need to put my face on.” She mentioned how her grandmother always used to say that, and she didn’t know what it meant so it freaked her out as a kid. A lightbulb went off in my head. I said, “we should make a movie about…” I can’t say more or I’d give away the ending. But it means a lot more to me than what it looks like on the surface. It has a feminist political message about the pressure society places on women to wear makeup, and a joke on what we are underneath. Plus I really like that this concept involved a cast of an older woman and a child [Hala Finley], not the typical age range in horror.

RH: What film scared you most when you were Hala’s age?

JG: Without a doubt that would be BEETLEJUICE [pictured below]. One of my babysitters turned it on when I was only three or four years old. So I can barely remember what I saw but I know I was terrified and I didn’t watch it again until I was a teenager! Now it’s one of my favourites, of course.

RH: ​You have to have ovaries of steel to make a film in under 2 minutes – it must be deceptively easy​, getting under our skin and building suspense in such little time?

JG: I agree with you! I love super-short short films! One of the funniest ones I’ve ever seen is called SINK HOLE. Check it out. Super-shorts are fun because it’s basically one punchline, one scare. I think that can be very hard though. I was specifically looking for a concept at that run-time because I made this project for Eli Roth’s Crypt TV, which is a social media distributor of original horror content. I think people have very short attention spans these days, especially when browsing Facebook. So I wanted to make something that would work well in that space. We just happened to find the perfect concept for it.

RH: Did you have an actor in mind for “Grammy” and work around her, or did you have to pick and choose someone who fit the bill?

JG: At first I actually contacted my great aunt about the role only to find out that she is a member of SAG and admittedly I didn’t want to go through the hassle of making this a SAG production. My trusty local filmmaking friend Patrick Rea, who I call on for help all the time, suggested Marilyn Hall. Once I met her I know she was perfect. She is a firecracker! She really had fun with the prosthetic makeup done by the master artist Colleen May, who has worked on all my films!

RH: I loved the short you worked on with the Soskas for the ABCS OF DEATH 2. Are you going to aim to feature in the next collection?

JG: Working on the ABCs was such an honour! The part I shot actually ended up being a secret scene after the credits. It’s hilarious and stars Laurence Harvey. And hell yes! I’m doing everything I can to direct a segment in part 3. I would die for that opportunity. I hope the film is made! I know they dealt with a lot of piracy on Part 2 and they weren’t sure they could afford to make Part 3. See kids, piracy actually affects people! Don’t do it. And don’t let your friends do it.

RH: Your short film CALL GIRL [pictured above] was adapted into a graphic novel – did you commission it or were you approached by a fan?

JG: It all started thanks to the magical world of social media. A couple years ago Hiro Fuji, who runs the site HorrorShox, reached out on Twitter and asked if he could review CALL GIRL. He wrote a flattering review and we kept in touch. A few months later artist Daiju Kurabayashi, one of Hiro’s friends, doodled an image inspired by CALL GIRL. I loved it and casually mentioned how awesome it would be if he made a full comic. The guys were all about it! I’m like really? I don’t have the money! But they still wanted to do it. So I shared the script with them and if you check it out you’ll notice that Daiju has added his own prologue and ending. Hiro acted as producer of the project. It’s incredibly well made – higher quality than my film! Ha! Download it for free on my site. It’s definitely the most amazing thing that’s happened to me as a result of filmmaking. And I’ve stayed close with the guys. Hiro is selling CALL GIRL posters in his new store THE DEAD PIT in Japan. It’s so amazing how you can connect with so many people of similar interests thanks to social media. And we can all benefit from each other so much if we work together.

RH: Are you still working with the writer of CALL GIRL on developing it into a feature?

JG: The CALL GIRL feature is completely in the hands of the writer, Eric Havens. He’s been working on it off and on. It’s nothing we are seriously trying to develop right now. I do have a new short film coming out later this year, THE STYLIST, that he and I wrote together. It’s a drama-horror about an extremely disturbed hairstylist, starring the incredibly talented Najarra Townsend. I am very proud of it and can’t wait to get it out there.

See Jill’s shorts and download the CALL GIRL graphic novel here.

Grammy from Jill VI Gevargizian on Vimeo.