You've seen her in Frankenstein Reborn, Beast of Bray Road, King of the
Lost World and of course Satanic. Eliza Swenson is the star of the
upcoming release Bram Stoker's Dracula's Curse. As her bio says she is
living proof that redheads have all the fun!
Lost World and of course Satanic. Eliza Swenson is the star of the
upcoming release Bram Stoker's Dracula's Curse. As her bio says she is
living proof that redheads have all the fun!
HF: What is the very first role you got cast for after you headed out to L.A.?
Eliza: Actually, the first film that I did on the Hollywood radar was Frankenstein
Reborn, and interestingly enough, I was the lead so that was a little like jumping into a
vat of bloodthirsty piranhas naked. It is a great little movie if you haven’t checked it
out. I never got a lot of kudos for that one. Strange. Hmm…maybe it was cause I
played a cold, calculated, sexually aggressive deviant that is one of the most complex
characters that I have seen in a horror film. I guess my jerk-off to the bimbo as she is
ripped in half friends were baffled. It’s cool guys; just watch the sexy lesbian part and
you will be fine.
HF: How long have you been involved in music?
Eliza: I started film scoring when I was in college, but my training went back to the
impressionable age of fourteen as I was deciphering Cakewalk, one of the first digital
music sequencing softwares. As I recall, I was also receiving secret messages from a
25 year old admirer. Ah! That is so wrong. Anyway, everyone talks about the “John
Williams” sound or this or that, but in order for it to be fulfilling, I have to experiment
and at the end of the day, it will sound like me. While acting is the main focus, I love
to keep my mind moving in different directions.
HF: Tell us about your current band The Divine Madness. How was the band formed,
and where can we pick up a CD?
Eliza: Well, “Victoria’s” band is performing at The Gig on Melrose in Hollywood on the
25th at 10:30 and she wanted me to tell everyone that it will be one hell of a show.
Angels will attend. The band was formed recently but most of the other members are
from the deceased band The Mansions. The music is magical; some of the songs have
even a transcendent quality. I don’t really know what to call them. They aren’t
ballads; they are like opera without the distracting divas and you don’t have to learn
Italian. The EP is going to be released on the 25th and will be on CD Baby, The Divine
Madness website and ITunes for downloads.
HF: Is your band currently touring?
Eliza: Nope. But The Divine Madness did just finish a music video that is in the special
features on the movie that I am in, Dracula’s Curse.
HF: How did you discover you had a knack for composing film soundtracks? What
films have your scores been featured in?
Eliza: With composing, I started off realizing that I would instinctually create melodies
out of nowhere and then I started arranging when I was about ten. After that, I had
this crazy-awesome Buddhist guitar teacher with tats everywhere from the Virgin
Islands that taught me about complex musically theory like modes, harmonies, 12
tone, etc. I was inspired by things that were simply complex like The Beetles to things
that were complexly simple like Beethoven. One day this mellow fellow Buddhist friend
of mine got so excited by what I wrote that I knew I was on to something. Quiet an
education. So far I have scored two films, Dracula’s Curse and Exorcism: The
Possession of Gail Bowers. I am not much of a salesperson, so the films that have my
music are the result of someone getting to know me as an actor and then delving
deeper to find the musical side of me and put it to good use.
HF: What is your favorite film you've been involved in?
Eliza: Every film that I have done was so different; almost like a different profession. I
thrive on the variety. Frankenstein, as I mentioned was interesting because I was so
cold and my character hid her emotions from people. In Candystripers, I play a funny,
type A, neurotic nurse that loves to inflect pain. In Satanic, I play a conniving, dark,
Goth girl that always gets what she wants. I just finished up two films, Pineapple and
Dracula’s Curse. They were both a cool journey out of the horror genre. Even though
Dracula does have the horror elements, it is not the horror of today. It is more like
the classics in that it is Gothic and fantasy-like. At the same token it is modern
because of the action and the characters. I play the lead, Gracie Johansson, who is a
vampire hunter but is searching for a way to peacefully coexist.
It is such a cool film. It is so involved that anyone that loves alternate universes like
Star Wars or Dungeons and Dragons is going to piss in their pants when they see this.
The art film Pineapple was a gritty, risqué looking-glass into the not so far land of
good people trapped by the world and twisted people trapped by themselves. So, as
you can tell, I am attached to all of my little creations, but if you had me at gunpoint
after starving me for days, I would probably go with Dracula’s Curse because it is so
inventive. It is insane. It is released in Blockbuster and Hollywood Video on the 25th
and I think that people will have to watch it over and over in order to get it.
HF: What are some of your favorite horror films and what is it about them that you
like?
Eliza: Psycho, The Exorcist, The Shinning, The Bad Seed, you know, the classics.
Many of the modern films today miss the boat because they are just exploitive and
gory. It is a clash of camps; there is the camp that says that horror films are like porn
and they should be mass-produced to feed the subculture and then there is the camp
that believes that horror is a psychological journey evoking us all; the highest
introspective art. I like a horror film that is a portal to the dark side of the mind that
even the most evolved soul can feel connected to.
HF: Any words on horror films today? What is it that you enjoy and what is it about
them that you'd like to see change?
Eliza: More inventive characters, more style, more meaning, more relevance, more
deviance. Something that disturbs, that I am strangely attracted to but makes me
think and not just mad. Horror should have some fantasy in it meaning that a part of
you likes what you are watching. Many horror films don’t stimulate me what-so-ever.
Alright, so I am hard to please.
HF: Are you currently working on any projects?
Eliza: Several. A sequel, a political thriller, secret societies, a dominatrix or two, etc.
Should be an interesting year. I will be traveling to Prague in the next few months to
do a fantasy film in which I play a sorceress.
HF: Any advice to anyone who aspires to be an actress/model/musician like yourself?
Eliza: Be yourself, ruthlessness corrupts art, only you know what works for you, and
inform the FBI if the Taliban is sending coded messages in your guestbook! Honestly, I
did that today. Strange things were going down on that guestbook, Saudi Arabia,
Yemen, I could have been wrong but the worst that could happen is that covert ops
bombard a Muslim Eliza-lover’s bedroom, (posters and such cover the walls, guns
raises, hands up, broken English), “I love Eliza!”
Eliza: Actually, the first film that I did on the Hollywood radar was Frankenstein
Reborn, and interestingly enough, I was the lead so that was a little like jumping into a
vat of bloodthirsty piranhas naked. It is a great little movie if you haven’t checked it
out. I never got a lot of kudos for that one. Strange. Hmm…maybe it was cause I
played a cold, calculated, sexually aggressive deviant that is one of the most complex
characters that I have seen in a horror film. I guess my jerk-off to the bimbo as she is
ripped in half friends were baffled. It’s cool guys; just watch the sexy lesbian part and
you will be fine.
HF: How long have you been involved in music?
Eliza: I started film scoring when I was in college, but my training went back to the
impressionable age of fourteen as I was deciphering Cakewalk, one of the first digital
music sequencing softwares. As I recall, I was also receiving secret messages from a
25 year old admirer. Ah! That is so wrong. Anyway, everyone talks about the “John
Williams” sound or this or that, but in order for it to be fulfilling, I have to experiment
and at the end of the day, it will sound like me. While acting is the main focus, I love
to keep my mind moving in different directions.
HF: Tell us about your current band The Divine Madness. How was the band formed,
and where can we pick up a CD?
Eliza: Well, “Victoria’s” band is performing at The Gig on Melrose in Hollywood on the
25th at 10:30 and she wanted me to tell everyone that it will be one hell of a show.
Angels will attend. The band was formed recently but most of the other members are
from the deceased band The Mansions. The music is magical; some of the songs have
even a transcendent quality. I don’t really know what to call them. They aren’t
ballads; they are like opera without the distracting divas and you don’t have to learn
Italian. The EP is going to be released on the 25th and will be on CD Baby, The Divine
Madness website and ITunes for downloads.
HF: Is your band currently touring?
Eliza: Nope. But The Divine Madness did just finish a music video that is in the special
features on the movie that I am in, Dracula’s Curse.
HF: How did you discover you had a knack for composing film soundtracks? What
films have your scores been featured in?
Eliza: With composing, I started off realizing that I would instinctually create melodies
out of nowhere and then I started arranging when I was about ten. After that, I had
this crazy-awesome Buddhist guitar teacher with tats everywhere from the Virgin
Islands that taught me about complex musically theory like modes, harmonies, 12
tone, etc. I was inspired by things that were simply complex like The Beetles to things
that were complexly simple like Beethoven. One day this mellow fellow Buddhist friend
of mine got so excited by what I wrote that I knew I was on to something. Quiet an
education. So far I have scored two films, Dracula’s Curse and Exorcism: The
Possession of Gail Bowers. I am not much of a salesperson, so the films that have my
music are the result of someone getting to know me as an actor and then delving
deeper to find the musical side of me and put it to good use.
HF: What is your favorite film you've been involved in?
Eliza: Every film that I have done was so different; almost like a different profession. I
thrive on the variety. Frankenstein, as I mentioned was interesting because I was so
cold and my character hid her emotions from people. In Candystripers, I play a funny,
type A, neurotic nurse that loves to inflect pain. In Satanic, I play a conniving, dark,
Goth girl that always gets what she wants. I just finished up two films, Pineapple and
Dracula’s Curse. They were both a cool journey out of the horror genre. Even though
Dracula does have the horror elements, it is not the horror of today. It is more like
the classics in that it is Gothic and fantasy-like. At the same token it is modern
because of the action and the characters. I play the lead, Gracie Johansson, who is a
vampire hunter but is searching for a way to peacefully coexist.
It is such a cool film. It is so involved that anyone that loves alternate universes like
Star Wars or Dungeons and Dragons is going to piss in their pants when they see this.
The art film Pineapple was a gritty, risqué looking-glass into the not so far land of
good people trapped by the world and twisted people trapped by themselves. So, as
you can tell, I am attached to all of my little creations, but if you had me at gunpoint
after starving me for days, I would probably go with Dracula’s Curse because it is so
inventive. It is insane. It is released in Blockbuster and Hollywood Video on the 25th
and I think that people will have to watch it over and over in order to get it.
HF: What are some of your favorite horror films and what is it about them that you
like?
Eliza: Psycho, The Exorcist, The Shinning, The Bad Seed, you know, the classics.
Many of the modern films today miss the boat because they are just exploitive and
gory. It is a clash of camps; there is the camp that says that horror films are like porn
and they should be mass-produced to feed the subculture and then there is the camp
that believes that horror is a psychological journey evoking us all; the highest
introspective art. I like a horror film that is a portal to the dark side of the mind that
even the most evolved soul can feel connected to.
HF: Any words on horror films today? What is it that you enjoy and what is it about
them that you'd like to see change?
Eliza: More inventive characters, more style, more meaning, more relevance, more
deviance. Something that disturbs, that I am strangely attracted to but makes me
think and not just mad. Horror should have some fantasy in it meaning that a part of
you likes what you are watching. Many horror films don’t stimulate me what-so-ever.
Alright, so I am hard to please.
HF: Are you currently working on any projects?
Eliza: Several. A sequel, a political thriller, secret societies, a dominatrix or two, etc.
Should be an interesting year. I will be traveling to Prague in the next few months to
do a fantasy film in which I play a sorceress.
HF: Any advice to anyone who aspires to be an actress/model/musician like yourself?
Eliza: Be yourself, ruthlessness corrupts art, only you know what works for you, and
inform the FBI if the Taliban is sending coded messages in your guestbook! Honestly, I
did that today. Strange things were going down on that guestbook, Saudi Arabia,
Yemen, I could have been wrong but the worst that could happen is that covert ops
bombard a Muslim Eliza-lover’s bedroom, (posters and such cover the walls, guns
raises, hands up, broken English), “I love Eliza!”
For more information on Eliza and her work you may feel free to view these
sites-
Dracula's Curse @ Amazon.com
Eliza Swensons official Website
sites-
Dracula's Curse @ Amazon.com
Eliza Swensons official Website
The End!
Interview done by:
Michelle Fatale
Michelle Fatale