Follow Friday: Head in a Vice

Welcome to another edition of Follow Friday, where each time I feature and interview a fellow blogger and follow their suggestion to another blog to feature next time. I prefer this over a blogroll because it gives each blog their own time to shine, plus I personally rarely click on blogrolls so why would I expect you to? Not only that, but I get the chance to check out some great blogs I might not have found otherwise found, talk to some great people, and share the conversation with you. Of course, if you would rather see something like a blogroll, I have collected all of my previous Follow Friday sites in list form which you can find right at the top of the page. Last time I was directed by Mark Walker of Marked Movies to check out Tyson Carter’s site Head in a Vice.

Tyson Carter has a really great site going on, based on the title you can be sure to find a fair amount of horror movies, it’s also got a great looking logo and funny tagline. And the title comes from the movie Casino if you’re curious. One of his biggest pros is how many people he gets to join in with his site, especially in his long running Desert Island Films section, where he asks a wide variety of people what eight films, and a few other items, they would want to have with them if stranded forever on a deserted island. But enough from me, let’s hear from the writer himself, Tyson Carter.

Bubbawheat: You have several different projects where you bring in other bloggers to contribute to your site, from your Desert Island movies, to the IMDB top 250, to Promoting Horror, why do you think it’s important to include so many others, and is there anything you do to make sure your own voice doesn’t get lost in the crowd?

Tyson Carter: The IMDb project is a way I can offer something pretty cool, reviews for every one of the Top 250 Films, without having to sit through them all myself as I invite guest contributors to help. Some people love films in the list that I necessarily don’t love, and they would talk about something with more passion than I could. I felt that it would be a better project with other people’s input. All the horror reviews, De Niro reviews, and everything else is done by me so I never really thought of getting lost in the crowd. Until now, haha. Damn you Bubba. I think it’s pretty clear who has written each piece, and I like that there are parts of my site built from the people who read it.

BW: Desert Island Films is such a well known concept, what about it appealed to you as an ongoing feature?

TC: The Desert Island project is a great way to get to know my readers. I love the interaction I have on my site, and learning what films people love and cherish is a great way to get to know them even better. I originally hoped to just get a few people playing along, but now I have around 65+ lists posted, with plenty more still to come. The lists come from everywhere too, for example there are some indie film makers, directors, writers etc on there, and then bloggers from all ages and walks of life.

BW: Is there anyone’s group of films that surprised you?

TC: Every list surprises me. Someone recently chose the Rush Hour trilogy. That’s the beauty of it though, when faced with the thought of having just 8 films to watch forever, you need to think strategically and pick a selection. It seems to bring in people from outside the movie world too, and I will keep running it until I run out of people to ask! (When is your list coming btw!?) 🙂

BW: That’s actually a tough thought for me, I’ll get back to you with my list in a couple weeks or so. Let me try a variation on the question for you, if someone you didn’t know was stranded on a deserted island and through some twist of fate you could provide them with 8 films, what would they be?

TC: I have to go with my own choices I guess, since I felt they were the best 8 for an island stay: The Godfather 1 & 2, Pulp Fiction, Anchorman, Casino, Drive, The Deer Hunter & my all time #1 film Goodfellas. Perfect balance of incredible cinema with a few laughs!

BW: What type of films do you enjoy writing about the most? Is there a specific example that you’d like to share?

TC: Since the site was formed as a place to share the more obscure horror films, I do love writing about a really good one I find and then having people actively go out and hunt a copy down. Especially when they come back and tell me they loved it. I think writing Frayed was the most fun I had, since it got the director’s attention, and he got in touch. We did an interview, and now we chat on Facebook. I got some exclusive details about a sequel, and it was nice to get all that from just writing about a little known movie that I loved.

BW: As I ask everyone, what’s your favorite superhero movie?

TC: I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge superhero fan. But I’ll say Superman, since I watched that a lot when I was a kid, and Marlon Brando was in it (briefly!)

BW: I think that’s a first here, and I appreciate the honesty. One that I’d suggest you check out would be All Superheroes Must Die which just recently came out on home video, it has a very horror-esque feel to is, and is a low budget, lesser known movie. And finally, what site do you suggest I follow for my next Follow Friday?

TC: I would have to go for my good friend Chris aka Film Hipster. He tends to give 100% ratings to every film, and we disagree a bit, but he has been more than helpful with his design skills and created lots of cool images for my site, so I have to try keep thanking him where I can.

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I’ve actually seen that name thrown around by several different people but haven’t checked out the site just yet, I look forward to it. Thanks so much for talking with me, and good luck with your site. Keep an eye out for my Desert Island Films in a couple weeks or so too. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.