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: So as a musician, do you have your music in mind while filming, some of it already written and therefore influencing how you film, or do you begin writing the music after the filming is complete?

TOMASELLI: I always have the bulk of the music completed first. Some people find that to be bizarre, but to me it brings everything together like a sandwich. The soundscapes inspire me as I'm writing the screenplay, they inspire me as I'm shooting, as I'm editing. The sounds are moving me along every step of the way. So when it comes time for the actual mix of the film at an expensive audio studio in New York City, I have it all planned out like a demo.

: The “hook”, the “creature” of Satan's Playground is the Jersey Devil. As a kid, was the story of the Jersey Devil one you were familiar with? Is this a tale you've always wanted to tell?

TOMASELLI: I feel I am some kind of vessel. Yes, I definitely feel a strong connection to the tale. I love the fact that it's so ambiguous; there are so many different versions. And it's about family horrors. Satan's Playground is my version. But the Jersey Devil legend is really more of a backdrop. Satan's Playground is about a good family versus a bad family. It's about a happy dream descending into a full-fledged nightmare.

: This family dynamic is very much a repeating theme in your work. You clearly have something to say about the family unit.

TOMASELLI: I have had difficult experiences growing up. I feel I'm marked by the severe dysfunction of our family. Or I should say, specifically, by the relationship with my father. He was very against me getting into directing horror films for some reason and he thought I was bringing the house bad luck with all my skulls and horror posters. He died of a fatal heart attack when I was 17. I know ... it sounds like one of the plots to my movies.

Yes, family issues stand tall in my film world. Unfortunately - or fortunately, I don't know - there's a lot of negativity and pain to harness.

: Like your previous films, Satan's Playground features a number of well-known performers from classic horror films of yesteryear. (Edwin Neal of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Felissa Rose from Sleepaway Camp, Ellen Sandweiss of The Evil Dead, Judith O'Dea from Night of the Living Dead, and the latest is Adrienne Barbeau, who has just been confirmed for The Ocean. Her credits include The Fog, The Cannonball Run, Escape From New York, Swamp Thing, and Creepshow). It can't be coincidence that you've used so many performers from so many of the best-known genre films. What's the story behind this trend?

TOMASELLI: In order to get up in the morning and do this, to make these movies, I need to feel passionate and inspired by all the elements, especially the actors. I love performers from horror classics; I can't help myself. I've been lucky in that I've been given the opportunity to work with actors from landmark horror films. The trend needs to continue with me ... and the possibilities are endless. Jamie Lee Curtis, can you hear me?

: While you're offering shout outs, who else would be on your wish list of actors and actresses to work with? You never know who's reading, after all!

TOMASELLI: Hmmm ... Adrienne Barbeau, Jessica Harper, Angelina Jolie, Joanna Cassidy Trish Van Devere, Margot Kidder, Zohra Lampert, Jamie Lee Curtis, Barbara Hershey, Julie Christie, Glenn Close, Jessica Walter, Barbara Steele, Daria Nicolodi, Marilyn Chambers, Winona Ryder, Christina Ricci, Lynn Lowry, Betsy Palmer, Traci Lords, Dale Bozzio, Victoria Gotti, Asia Argento, P.J. Soles, Christina Raines, Cathy Hinds, the little girl from The Brood. There are so many I am forgetting. Of course I'm loyal to Felissa Rose, Ellen Sandweiss and Judith O'Dea from the original Night of the Living Dead.

I seem to have named all women!

: So, any details on the upcoming Anchor Bay release of Satan's Playground? Release date, extras and so on? And while on the subject of Anchor Bay, how did you hook up with these giants of the DVD world?

TOMASELLI: I'm so elated to be working with Anchor Bay. It really is such an honor. I met the director of marketing, Tom Bambard, about three years ago. We discussed the possibility of Anchor Bay producing Satan's Playground. At that point, I had already made two low budget horror films, Desecration and Horror. It was a lunch meeting at a Chiller Convention in New Jersey. Ellen Sandweiss and Felissa Rose were there too. Ultimately, a New York based production company, Em & Me Productions, produced Satan's Playground. Tom and I stayed in touch throughout the years, mainly through Ellen Sandweiss. Then my producers maintained a relationship with Tom while the movie was being shot. Fast forward to 2005 and Anchor Bay are distributing the film.

: Any idea when fans can expect to find Satan's Playground available for purchase?

TOMASELLI: I'm really not sure exactly when. Anchor Bay will make the announcement.

: The concept of your next film is very compelling, even more so given this year's high-profile weather catastrophes. Tell us a little of what we should expect from The Ocean. Tone, theme, style, whatever you have in mind.

TOMASELLI: Well, I wrote this basic screenplay two years ago called Apparition and it was a ghost/damnation story about supernatural riptides and the ocean taking over the earth. All of this stuff that's been happening lately - these ocean disasters, water disasters, the tsunamis. It all feels so prophetic to me, because I was writing about these things before they started happening. About four months ago, I hooked up with Michael Gingold. He's so creative. Michael had sent me a sample of one his screenplays, because we were talking about the possibility of collaborating on the screenplay for Alice, Sweet Alice 2. That's a movie I'll be directing in the future. My cousin created the original. Anyhow, I wrote a spare first draft of The Ocean and Michael sent me a revised version that floored me. It didn't change my original vision at all, just made it better. It was clear that we needed to be writing partners on this project. Of course I am directing and scoring the film.

I'd say The Ocean will be my most fleshed out movie. Emotional. I really want to experiment with more dialogue and characterization. I want the audience to really care about the characters before the supernatural mayhem begins. That's hard to do. It'll be a challenge. The Ocean is an apocalyptic chiller but at the core it's about a family in psychic pain.

: Sounds like an exciting project. Finally, what do you see in the future as far as your filmmaking career? Are there any specific goals you aspire to, or films you know you still want to make?

TOMASELLI: I just want to keep making one horror movie after another. I have plans for a movie called Salem. Ellen Sandweiss will star as a master violinist targeted for being a witch. It's a Salem Witch Trial film with an emphasis on demonic possession. It's Evil Dead-like in parts. I feel a connection to Salem just like the New Jersey Pine Barrens. I feel the evil there, the reverberations, its violence ... like psychic footprints. I'm inspired to construct that kind of nightmare.

: Thanks, Dante, for taking the time to speak with us.

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