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| Interview by Burt Wolf with Miss Horrorfest, BLACK BETTY! Interview done 9-7-07 |
| PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF & GIVE US A LITTLE INSIGHT INTO WHO BLACK BETTY IS? Well, to those of you who don't know me, I am BLACK BETTY, the current winner of the Miss Horrorfest Contest. I would say Black Betty is part pin-up, part dominatrix, part necromancer! I am Betty Page meets Vampira in a dark alley in the redlight district! Here's a little more about BB: Black Betty, nee Elizabeth Beetles, was raised by a loving family of large black beetles, Order Cleopatra, Family Scarabaeidae. They raised her as their own little beetle girl & taught her valuable digging techniques for survival. As she grew, she developed the ability to communicate telepathically with vast amounts of beetle friends, a gift taht has saved her from many sticky situations. She studied Beetle Ballet at RABB, the Royal Academy of Beetle Ballet, where she performed with some of the world's most prominent beetle ballerinas.A natural strategist, she developed her scream as a battle cry during the Great Beetle Wars of '72. |
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| WHO OR WHAT HAS BEEN SOME INFLUENCE ON YOUR LIFE & CAREER TO SET YOU IN THIS DIRECTION? My love of horror movies has influenced me & of course my adoration of Bettie Page & Vampira! I probably knew I would be a horror queen at a very young age, when I started screaming! WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST REAL JOB IN MODELING OR ACTING? I have never modeled, but I have been acting since I was 14. I started doing plays in high school & eventually decided to get a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Acting. Favorite stage roles were Mina in DRACULA & Lady MacBeth in MACBETH! My first professional job was right out of college. I was standing in a coffee shop & a guy asked me to be in his movie. CASHMERE I think it was called. WHAT DID YOU DO BEFORE YOU BECAME THE FAMOUS BLACK BETTY? I guess I lived the life of any struggling actress in Los Angeles. I spent a lot of time in traffic, worked a lot of odd jobs. Did voice over for some video games, worked in a shoe store, nannied, bartended, was a house keeper, once I was even paid 100 bucks to be a severed head on a tray at a Halloween party! |
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| YOU'RE THE HORRORFEST HOST FOR AFTER DARK FILMS. HOW DID YOU GET HOOKED UP WITH THEM & HOW HAS IT BEEN WORKING WITH THEM? A friend of mine saw an audition notice for the Miss Horrorfest Contest at a casting office in L.A. He ripped it down & gave it to me. "You're perfect for this". And then all my actor friends starting calling, emailing, telling me to go for it. I thought it was funny that everyone I knew thought I was perfect to play the part of a Horror Hostess! I almost didn't go to the live audition. It was all the way in Santa Monica ( I live in Hollywood) & I was in traffic for over two hours! At the last minute I decided |
| I might as well audition, having no idea what I was about to do. That's when "Black Betty" was born. There were 4 finalists chosen in September 2006 & I ended up winning 3 months later, right before the Horrorfest Horror Movie Festival opened up nationwide. This last year working for them has been great. It has been a rollercoaster ride of conventions, interviews, live appearances, video & photo shoots...I never thought I would be working & traveling so much! So far I have been to New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Indianapolis & San Diego. I have made appearances at Comic Conventions, Horror Conventions & filmed trailers, commercials & live interviews with some amazing directors. HOW LONG DOES YOUR RUN AS MISS HORRORFEST LAST? Alas, I will crown a new Miss Horrorfest on Halloween 2007, so just a few more months! |
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| WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR DUTIES AS BEING THE BEAUTIFUL MISS HORRORFEST? I would say that the duties of Miss Horrorfest are to promote Horrorfest by meeting fans & filming on air spots & of course letting everyone know what an amazing & groundbreaking thing AFTER DARK FILMS is doing. When else would you get the chance to see eight different horror films in one week? I was excited about last year's Horrorfest long before I heard about the Miss Horrorfest Contest! Also, Miss Horrorfest should be a generally scary & captivating person. When I am at a live appearance or filming an interview or commercial, I am speaking right to the horror fans as a horror fan, as one of them, as someone approachable, funny & sexy in a scary way! WHO ARE SOME OF THE PEOPLE YOU WERE REALLY EXCITED TO MEET AT SOME OF THE CONS YOU'VE BEEN TO? |
| I loved meeting Stan Winston in New Jersey & David Arquette in New York. In Chicago, I met Noel Neill, Lois Lane from "Adventures Of Superman" in the 50's & I almost cried. She was the sweetest lady, 87 years old! She asked me to stop screaming so much & so I did! ARE THERE ANY INTERESTING OR FUNNY BEHIND THE SCENES STUFF FROM ANY CONS OR AFTER PARTIES, ETC... YOU COULD SHARE WITH US? Well, people at the CAPTIVITY party in Hollywood thought I was Dita Von Tesse, which I thought was very flattering! I was supposed to be in a cage there, but they ended up using SUICIDE GIRLS instead, thank God! In New York there was a guy going around taking pictures of women's cleavage, but I spotted him coming a mile away. At Wizard World in Chicago there were a couple different fans bringing me artwork they had done of me, one girl said she was getting a Black Betty tattoo! |
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| I MET YOU AT THE PHILLY WIZARD WORLD & FANGORIA'S WEEKEND OF HORRORS IN NEW JERSEY THIS YEAR. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF BOTH CONVENTIONS? ANY MEMORABLE MOMENTS FROM EITHER? My favorite convention this year was Wizard World in Philadelphia. The fans were lined up all around our booth almost every day to meet me! I ran out of pictures to autograph the first day. Even though it was small, I liked the Fangoria in Jersey because I got to share a booth with Stan Winston, legendary FX creator. I also got up on stage with Tony Timpone & scared the whole audience with my scream! |
| HOW WAS IT DOING THE 50 FT WOMAN SHOOT? WAS IT ALL DONE IN FRONT OF A GREEN SCREEN? I loved the 50 Ft woamn shoot, though at times I felt a little silly stomping around an imaginary city! It was all done in front of a green screen. There are some behind the sceens stills up on my myspace page. YOU ALSO HOST FEARNET. HOW DID YOU GET HOOKED UP WITH THEM? CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT WHAT FEARNET IS, FOR THOSE UNFORTUNATE TO NOT GET IT LIKE MYSELF? FEARNET called me in to do some hosting & interviews for them after they started running the Horrorfest films from last year. FEARNET is an amazing service for horror fans & there are 3 different ways to watch it - on TV, online or on your mobile phone. If you get Comcast Cable, you get FEARNET on TV for free. You can watch over 200 different horror movies, 24 hours a day. You can also watch my commerrcials & interviews for them! The website, FEARNET.com, has free horror movies, horror news, reviews & an interactive database where you can chat with other members while you watch the movies. Also FEARNET is currently running the "WIN A DATE WITH BLACK BETTY" contest! Stop by & vote for your favorite video! |
| WHAT IS THE WHOLE WIN A DATE WITH BLACK BETTY CONTEST ABOUT? WHAT DOES THE WINNER ACTUALLY GET, BESIDES THE HONOR OF BEING WITH YOU? The winner gets a free trip to Los Angeles, hotel room included & to be in my presence for one evening with a camera crew following us around! Footage to run on FEARNET.com! WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE HORROR MOVIES? WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE NON HORROR MOVIES? I love the EXORCIST, CARRIE, PSYCHO, HALLOWEEN, CHRISTINE, THE SHINNING, THE THING, ERASERHEAD, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, CITY OF LOST CHILDREN, SHAUN OF THE DEAD, 28 DAYS LATER, SCREAM, THE STUFF, SLEEPAWAY CAMP, THE BIRDS, BRAZIL, EVIL DEAD 1 & 2, APRIL FOOL'S DAY, THE SECRET OF NIMH, FREAKS, GRAVEYARD SHIFT, THE DARK CRYSTAL, DAWN OF THE DEAD, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, BASKETCASE, CREEPSHOW, DON'T LOOK NOW, VIDEODROME, DEAD ALIVE, PAPERHOUSE, BLUE VELVET! |
| SINCE THIS IS MOSTLY A MUSIC WEBZINE, WHAT STYLE OF MUSIC ARE YOU INTO? WHO ARE SOME OF THE BANDS YOU'VE CURRENTLY BEEN LISTENING TO? I love music! Faves include NIN, DIAMANDA GALAS, TOM WAITS, PJ HARVEY, NICK CAVE, THE BLACK HEART PROCESSION, LORDS OF ACID, THRILL KILL KULT, THE KILLERS, DEATHCAB FOR CUTIE, FRANK BLACK, ROB ZOMBIE, TALKING HEADS, THE THE, THE SMITHS, THE CURE, THE PIXIES, MASSIVE ATTACK, ERIK SATIE, CAT POWER, PETER MURPHY, PEACHES, OINGO BOINGO & my new favorite band at the moment - MENOMENA. |
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| IS THE SPIDERBAIT SONG "WHOA BLACK BETTY" REALLY ABOUT YOU? I like to think it is! The original "Black Betty" song, written in the 18th century, was a marching song about a gun called the "Black Betty". In the 1930's it was recorded as a folk song, thought to refer to a wagon that took prisoners away. SPIDERBAIT did a pretty good job with their cover in 2004 & so did NICK CAVE. WHAT IS ONE THING YOU'D THINK PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO FIND OUT ABOUT YOU? Must I give away all my secrets?? I think people would be surprised to know I am a certified skydiver! WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR UPCOMING PROJECTS WE CAN ANXIOUSLY LOOK FORWARD TO FROM BLACK BETTY? |
| I am already getting offers to attend conventions next year, so I will definately be doing more live appearances. I would love to do more acting next year as well as "Horror Hosting". Ideally appear in my own horror film! People are sending me scripts, so that may happen. And of course I've got a great idea for a Black Betty TV show, that would be a real scream! WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE THIS INTERVIEW? WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW THAT IT'S DONE? Well, before this, I was watching videos & rating submissions for the "Win A Date With Black Betty" contest. After this interview, I am going to do an interview with IFC in a graveyard! |
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| THANX A LOT FOR TAKING THE TIME TO ANSWER THIS INTERVIEW. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO CLOSE OUT! THANX! I just wanted to remind everyone to come to Horrorfest, November 9-18th, at a theater near you...and please join my you tube subscribers. There is also a link there to join my myspace page. For those of you in NYC, this just in - Black Betty will appear in the Halloween Parade!!! Coming soon - fan website too! |
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| ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF BLACK BETTY INTERVIEWS MAIN PAGE |