Won Ton Soup, I mean, Baby!

When I asked James Morgart to share with us about his new horror film, 

Won Ton Baby (2010)

he eagerly responded with the below in depth description of his 'Oh my gory!'

details. If you love slasher films, you'll love this one... It's Saw meets

Chucky meets V... omg!!! Great work James. And when do I receive my

screener?...On second thought, never mind. I'm too scared! lol! 

;-D

 

James:

"Thanks for
the opportunity, Vanessa!"

Our film is titled WON TON BABY! and the
shortest summary I can give to you about it is that it’s about a
cannibalistic baby. It stars horror legend Debbie Rochon, Lou
Martini, Jr. (THE SOPRANOS, SPIKER), scream queen Suzi Lorraine, and
Gunnar Hansen (TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE). Debbie plays the lead role
of Madam Won Ton – a former brothel owner who is trying to live the
straight and narrow path after having transformed her brothel into a
Chinese restaurant. However, her daughter Little Wing (Suzi Lorraine)
is carrying a fetus-in-fetu (parasitic twin). It’s deformity that
Little Wing developed while in the Madam’s womb thanks to a heavy night
of drug use back in the 70s with an Elvis impersonator. After the fetus
begins to give Little Wing internal pains, the Madam takes her to Dr.
Kurt Severson (Gunnar Hansen) to have the fetus removed. All hell
breaks loose once the fetus is removed as it needs human blood to
survive.

The initial idea to make a film about a killer baby
named Won Ton Baby was conceived by Suzi Lorraine. She passed the idea
along to me and I spent a good six months working on the script until I
felt I had not only fleshed out the characters but had also incorporated
many of the horror motifs and references that horror fans love. We’ve
got everything from the return of the repressed to the basement dwelling
secrets to the horrible house as allegory for the human psyche – and
for those appreciative of the socio-political horror from filmmakers
like Romero, Craven, Gordon, etc, we’ve got our own message wrapped up
in the flick. But the film also functions on the level of just a
humorous movie that both parodies and pays homage to a genre I grew up
obsessed with as a kid.

The makeup and fx were handled by an
incredibly talented team headed up by Ingrid Okola, and featuring Paul
Mafuz and Marissa Masella. Paul was also responsible for the creation
of the baby – a latex and silicone doll with an attached umbilical cord.
During shooting it took people to operate the baby – one to handle
arm, head, and mouth movements and one to handle the umbilical cord.
Thanks to the help of compositor James Todd, we were able to add some
extra elements to the baby’s facial features to add an extra liveliness
to it.

We shot the film over two weeks using three cameras and
maintaining some rather insane hours. Several times we wrapped in the
wee hours of the morning and I was up the next day with only a hour or
two of rest. At one point, my car even had its passenger window smashed
open by vandals hoping to lift a computer out of the passenger seat.
Though my wife and I were stuck with a broken window, the vandals only
made off with a computer bag filled with socks and underwear.

Shooting
in the wee hours and using a puppet as our villain has made
post-production a bumpy ride. We wanted to make it into the GoreZone
International Film Festival last year, so we rushed a rough cut of the
film and premiered it there with a great response as several people who
attended it have told us on our Facebook fan page that it was, by far,
their favorite film there. We’ve also aired the rough cut at A Night of
Horror Film Festival in Australia and we’ve also been accepted into the
Ravenna Nightmare Film Festival in Italy for this year where we hope to
unveil the final cut. Our editor, Ken Yankee, has been absolutely
phenomenal for us throughout the process. He’s a two-time Emmy
nominated editor having worked with such talents as Brian DePalma and
Rob Cohen. Without him, this project may have never gotten done as he
even flew in from L.A. to help us shoot scenes for two separate nights.
We’ve been extremely lucky to have him onboard.

The soundtrack
has been handled by Mars of Dead House Music. He’s most well-known for
his work on several H.P. Lovecraft adaptations. After speaking with him
over the phone, I knew he was a perfect fit for the film. He’s read a
lot about horror (any Lovecraft fan has usually read a lot about horror
as well as a lot of horror fiction) and he knew exactly what I was going
for in regard to this film. In the end, he recreated that 80s horror
soundtrack that will remind Gen-X audiences of the horror films of the
80s put out by the legendary Anchor Bay. Just a brilliant job on his
part.

Once the final cut is done, we’re hoping that all of this
early buzz we’ve generated will pay off and land us a distribution deal
so that fans can enjoy something that I wrote and directed with them in
mind. We had so much good press so far that the film has inspired a
short stop-mo animation that’s being put together by my production
company in collaboration with my good friend Michael Granberry and his
company Red Hatchet Films. The short is titled WON TON BABY IN
‘MIDNIGHT SNACK.’ The short will definitely add to the Won Ton Baby!
legend. I’ve already seen some early footage of it, and it’s a lot like
Looney Tunes meets Robot Chicken meets Cannibal Holocaust. It’s a
gruesome, fun little flick that I am really hoping we can make certain
we get onto the final DVD as well as air before the feature at a few
festivals in the coming year. Michael is one of the most talented
animators I’ve seen and his recent appointment as a fulltime animator to
Robot Chicken is certainly a testament to his abilities.

For
now, our teaser trailer is playing at the Wizard World Comic Con that’s
traveling the country as part of the Horror Pavillion that is being run
by Michael Hein and Joe Mauceri of the New York City Horror Film Fest.
The trailer shows before and after the Killer Shorts Sudden Death
Competition which is an on-site competition for a handful of horror
shorts that viewers vote on at each convention. We plan to unveil our
first full trailer at the Big Apple Comic Con in October.

Below
are some links as well as a synopsis to the film. If there’s anything
else I can provide you with, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Please
let me know when you have it up so I can pass the word around!

Best
wishes! James"

 

Interview, by Vanessa McMahon

http://wonton-baby.com/

(currently being remodeled – should have a new site up at the
end of the month)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbqyhk_won-ton-baby-teaser-trailer_shortfilms

http://morgueart.com/won-ton-baby-in-midnight-snack-2010/

http://www.nychorrorfest.com/news.php

http://www.redhatchetfilms.blogspot.com/

http://www.debbierochon.com/

http://www.wizardworld.com/jamesmorgart.html

http://www.wizardworld.com/suzilorraine.html

Synopsis:

Over thirty years ago, former brothel owner, Rachel “Madam” Won Ton
found herself involved with one of the wildest clients to ever enter
her establishment. The drug-filled night leaves the Madam pregnant, but
with no desire to let the child go, she soon quits the pandering
business for a more “clean” life. Today, despite having converted her
brothel into a fully-functioning Chinese restaurant, the lore of the
Madam's past continues to haunt her family's life as outsiders continue
to hold their unwarranted prejudices against the Won Tons. However,
social scorn becomes the least of the Madam's concerns when the mother
of two is faced with a greater challenge: her adult daughter, Lily, has a
parasitic twin growing in her belly! When the fetus is removed, it is
not only alive, it's mutated umbilical cord soon leads the way to
mischievous and, ultimately, flesh-eating, gore-filled antics. The
baby's mass murdering and eating of the locals forces the Madam to
confront not just her deformed child but also a secret from her past
that she's hidden for years. But can the Madam solve things before its
too late? Or has she sealed her family's fate thanks to the release of
the child?
From the twisted minds of scream queen Suzi Lorraine
(Claang the Game and Holocaust, Holocaust) and first-time director James
Morgart comes Won Ton Baby!, one of the most highly anticipated
horror-comedy indie films of the year. A fully-developed package of
drugs, sex, blood, gore, and an Elvis impersonator add up to a special
delivery of laughs as Debbie Rochon (Tromeo and Juliet and Nowhere Man)
and Lou Martini, Jr. (The Sopranos and Spiker) battle it out with a
umbilical cord-swinging cannibalistic fetus driven by an overindulgent
and unsavory sexual appetite. Right from the moment of being carved out
of the belly of Suzi Lorraine by horror icon Gunnar Hansen (The Texas
Chain Saw Massacre), Won Ton Baby's antics will leave audiences feeling
both delighted and violated!