Q & A with Edward Martin III

By peter korn

The Portland Tribune, Feb 1, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (4 Reader comments)

Filmmaker Edward Martin III’s choice of weapons is the low-budget scare-fest. Zombie themes are good, he says, because zombies never stop.

L.E. BASKOW / TRIBUNE PHOTO

Every Friday, the Portland Tribune puts questions to a prominent - or not so prominent - local person.

Edward Martin III has known the terror of searching Portland streets for extra zombies. Oh. Make that zombie extras.

Martin, you see, makes low-budget movies out of his Tigard home and studio, and he’s had occasion to use 40 or 50 actors to play undead roles, and he’s had to scratch and claw to find them. And, falling short, he had to … well, you can read about that.

Anyway, Martin has had a variety of experiences for a guy who is only 42. In addition to running moviemaking Guerrilla Productions, he’s drawn cartoons for a newspaper in Washington state; sold advertising for the same newspaper; written fiction, essays and poems, but not for that newspaper; and kept a day job as a technical writer.

But it’s zombies that are close to Martin’s heart, which keeps thumping … thumping … thumping …

Portland Tribune: How did you get into moviemaking?

Edward Martin III: I got annoyed that I couldn’t sell a script. I had four or five scripts and they were pretty good, and then I watched the most ridiculous movie I’d ever seen. It was called “Moron Movies,” 100 tiny movies by the same guy.

It was setup, punch line, setup, punch line. The camera would be on him and he would just say, “Chicken hitting trampoline.” And then it would cut to a trampoline and a chicken would hit it. And that would be the end of the bit.

Tribune: And that was funny?

Martin: That was inspiration. I figured if this guy can make 100 movies like that and get it in Blockbuster, then there’s no reason why we couldn’t make the movies we wanted to make.

Tribune: And has moviemaking been successful for you?

Martin: We have had an enormous amount of fun. One of our movies is in the black. The business as a whole is in the red.

Tribune: Sounds successful to me.

Martin: I used to say it’s cheaper than smoking and just as filthy a habit, but I’ve lately decided it’s more expensive than smoking.

Tribune: What is it with you and zombie movies?

Martin: I’ve only made two zombie movies and this feature (“Flesh of My Flesh,” currently in production) that has been consuming me for years.

Tribune: So you’re saying you’ve been consumed by a zombie … movie?

Martin: It’s a huge project. It’s got lots of big effects, a couple helicopter explosions, massive crowd zombie scenes, a very big-budget-type movie and we never intended to make it. But I’d pitch it, and people weren’t getting it. They kept saying, “How about just four people in a cabin?”

I got together with my wife and most of my senior crew, and we realized we could make a multimillion-dollar action film for $10,000.

Tribune: Tell me this. I’ve got a 15-year-old son who can’t get enough of zombies. What is the appeal?

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