The Catch Me Interviews
THE PHIL SMOOT INTERVIEW:
EXPLORING "DARK POWER" AND DISCOVERING "ALIEN OUTLAW"
by Dan Johnson
My home state of North Carolina is a great place to be if want you to see film-making in action without the hub bub of Hollywood. From major motion pictures like "The Abyss", "The Last of the Mohicans" and "The Fugitive" to smaller, independent films, North Carolina is the place to be if you love film. Indeed, North Carolina is one of the leading states when it comes to the art or making movies. But this hasn't always been the case. There was a time when film-making in North Carolina was a dream shared by a few visionaries who understood the potential that laid in the Tarheel state for film and television.
One of the first names I ever heard associated with North Carolina film-making was Phil Smoot. I still remember when I first heard of this gentleman. It was back in February of 1987 when my hometown's local revival theater, the Carolina Theatre, played host to the world premiere of Phil's first directorial effort, "Dark Power". For those of you who haven't had the chance to see this film, the story concerns a house occupied by a bunch of college kids that is built over an ancient Indian burial ground. In the course of the film, Indian demons arise to seek revenge on those who have defied the ancient lands. The hero of the film is none other than the late, great Lash LaRue. In the final reel, it is Lash who, with his whip in hand, disperses the demons back to Hell from wince they came. I was lucky enough to get a ticket to attend this event and got the chance to see this horror film on the big screen. I even got to meet Lash LaRue in the lobby where he and the rest of the cast and the crew mingled with the audience before and after the show. Lash was selling photos and I got two autographs from him. For a sixteen year-old kid who had never met a real life movie star before, it was a thrilling experience. It was almost as thrilling as a sixteen year-old kid who loved horror films and who had finally realized that they could be made in the very state that he lived in. It was then and there that I like to think that I joined those ranks of visionaries who realized that you don't have to go West to make movies. Regardless of where you live, you just have to go and make them.
The one regret I had that night of "Dark Power"'s premiere is that I didn't get a chance to meet Phil then, before or after the film. I will confess that as a sixteen year old boy, I was more interested in checking out the young ladies who starred in the film and who were dressed for the evening. No, I would have to wait over ten years later to formally meet the man who directed "Dark Power".
Fast forward now to early 1998. I had signed on to do guest relations for a science fiction convention in High Point, NC called Phenomicon. Part of the focus of the show was to spotlight the science fiction medium (that is why the show's headliners were Jason Carter, Marcus Cole from "Babylon 5" and Lou Ferrigno, better known as television's Incredible Hulk.). But the committee behind this show also wanted to spotlight North Carolina talent in particular. That is why when the guest list was being drawn up, I suggested to the convention manager that we should do our best to get Phil Smoot in for this show. After all, he had directed "Dark Power" and had managed to get it release on video. After "Dark Power" was made, he even managed to make another film with Lash LaRue, a science fiction western called "Alien Outlaw" (a film that I had never gotten a chance to see because it never released in the United States). The manager, a friend of mine named Phillip Dedmon agreed that Phil Smoot would be an excellent North Carolina guest and soon a few calls were made and Mr. Smoot was confirmed for Phenomicon 1998. Better still, we had managed to swing the North American premeire of "Alien Outlaw". For a horror fan who was now twenty-eight, things couldn't get too much better. The weekend of the convention came and on Friday of this first Phenomicon, the guests and other attendees at this show were treated to a special screening of "Alien Outlaw". After it was over, I got a chance to speak to Phil Smoot for the first time face to face. Being as I was one of the head organizers of the show, my attentions were needed elsewhere right after the film was over though, so we didn't speak for long. None the less, I did that night what I failed to do on the night of "Dark Power"'s premeire, I shook hands with the director and I told him how much I enjoyed both his films.
Now we fast forward once again to early 2001. I have now started writing for the online publication "Monster News" and I have made friends with Chris Mackey who runs this website. We exchanged emails a few times and discussed one of the truly under-apprciated generes out there: the horror western. In one email, Chris asks if I know of any films he might have overlooked and I realized that his list were missing two essential films to this genre: "Dark Power" and "Alien Outlaw". I found out later that Chris knew about "Dark Power" and had seen it, but like many folks, he had never seen "Alien Outlaw". We traded a few more emails and the subject of Phil Smoot came up. I had spoken to Phil a few times since the convention, but never really at any great length. In fact, part of my goal was to eventually interview him for the purpose of getting the story of his two films down for other fans who would like ot learn how these North Carolina gems were created. I had considered interviewing him for a book that I am currently working on with Cheryl Duran, "The Monster Club.Com Interviews the Icons of Horror". Through Chris' website, I had the perfect venue for just such an interview. Not long after I spoke with Chris, I contacted Phil Smoot and arranged to meet with him to conduct an interview concerning his two films he directed. What follows is a portion of that interview that pretains to "Dark Power" and "Alien Outlaw".
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