Horror Favourites – Owen Conway

A horror western in the tradition of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN and THE DARK TOWER, directed by and starring Owen Conway has emerged from Uncork’d Entertainment and we grabbed the man behind the movie to chat about what makes him scream.

GHOST TOWN, written, directed by, and starring Owen Conway (Eminence Hill), Eva Hamilton (Death Kiss), Becky Jo Harris (Spiked) and Amelia Haberman (The Covenant), out now on DVD and Digital from Uncork’d Entertainment. The story is set in 1877 Arizona, where a drifter takes a job as a barman. After a series of bizarre and horrifying deaths, he finds himself the target of suspicion. Desperate to escape the noose, he is soon at the center of a supernatural mystery that plagues this town.

Below director and star, Owen Conway talks all about his favorite horror film:

“I’ve always had an odd relationship with horror movies. My parents were pretty protective so my exposure to horror was mainly staring at box art at the local blockbuster everyday after school. But even in my home, William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist” was the stuff of legend. I had heard the stories: People had heart attacks, pregnant women miscarried, and the movie itself was so thoroughly embedded with pure evil, that even to watch one second, put one’s very soul in danger.

All nonsense and Urban Legends of course. But this air of menace made the film only more fascinating. After many failed attempts to convince my parents to allow me to see it, The Exorcist eventually fell out of my interest, and I figured I’d see it eventually, some day down the road, when I was old enough to sleep until noon and eat pizza for every meal.

But then, Halloween came around. At this point in the mid to late 90s, TV censorship began to lax. Shows like “NYPD Blue” pushed the definition of what would be allowed on TV. And cable channels began to empty out their parent companies’ horror catalogue, giving everything a nice schmear of censorship and pan-and-scanning. This was how, one October night, I was able to circumvent my despotic parents and finally see the scariest movie ever made.

I made it about 3 seconds. Clicking over, (I think it was on AMC) I saw a young girl’s head spin 180 degrees as the room around her flew to pieces, tossed to hell by invisible hands. A man’s voice, cracked, higher-pitched and English-accented barked from the girl’s mouth. “Do you know what she did?!”

The line that followed was likely cut for TV. Can’t imagine the word “c*nting” made it past the FCC. But I wouldn’t have known anyway. That 3 seconds broke my brain and reinforced the lesson many kids learn when the world becomes too scary: Mom and Dad were right. And yet, the concept of a young child being turned into a monster. Or having their bodily autonomy taken away by a malevolent force that can’t be destroyed, spoke to me. I saw myself in that demon haunted little girl.

It wasn’t until I was grown and beginning to dabble in horror films, that I finally sat and watched it, beginning to end. By this point, I was able to appreciate things that likely would have been roundly ignored as a child. The gorgeous camera work and production design. The bizarre, primal soundtrack (which despite its famous theme, is surprisingly sparse). And performances so real, you forgot you were watching a movie. Not to mention the astonishing Makeup and VFX. The way Friedkin lingers on characters’ reactions before showing us what they are reacting to is ingenious. I was fascinated and inspired.

What most surprised me, was that beneath this very simple story of a little girl possessed by a demon, was a sad, dark meditation on the struggle of Faith. As I got older and more disenchanted with organized religion, the movie only became more meaningful to me. I began to see myself not in the possessed little girl, but in the Faithless Father Karras continually and desperately grasping for a logical explanation. Now, as I approach middle age, I feel a little more like Father Merrin, having seen too much to fully ignore the possibility of a supernatural world. Though I obviously don’t wish to share in their tragic fates.

I’d prefer Regan’s ending. Having been through a hellish ordeal (of which we’re told she has no memory), Regan is marked but not broken by her experience. Back to her old self, she politely greets Father Kara’s fellow priest, and her eyes linger on his collar. Likely not even sure why, Regan kisses the collar, gives an inscrutable expression, then gets in the car. Not religious, with no memory of Father Karras, Father Merrin or the demon Pazuzu, she nevertheless feels compelled to say thank you. Somewhere deep in her heart, Regan remembers. She remembers the darkness, the fear, the loss. But she also remembers the light, the good, the sacrifice. She remembers that evil can be defeated. She remembers that whatever suffering life has in store, someone or something is watching out for her.”

GHOST TOWN is out now.