On a cool and rainy summer night at the Roc Bar in Cleveland, Ohio, I recently had the opportunity to meet up with Old School Sinema founder and "Chief" Joe Ostrica. A life-long Cleveland native, Joe started the independent film company three years ago after initiating his directing chops with a short comedy called Guys. Old School Sinema has since spawned two feature films, (The Horror Convention Massacre 1 & 2), with one on the way (The Spook Show).

Joe: I’ve been a horror buff my whole life with every sub-genre of horror - exploitation, slasher, cult cinema, drive-in, supernatural, everything. So, I wanted to do a horror movie because I knew it would be fun for me.

HR: Who are some of your influences? Do you have any favorite horror directors?

Joe: Toby Hooper, John Carpenter, George Romero, the classic icons. But I like everything. I even like the B-movies. Old School Sinema movies are more in the style of the cult/exploitation, drive-in films of the 70's and 80's, with a little bit of the marketing and pizzaz of Roger Corman, Russ Meyer and William Castle.

The party was in full swing at the Roc Bar as Old School Sinema presented its monthly Spooktacular Show - an evening with B-movies, bands, and babes! The night started with a showing of the politically incorrect, yet highly entertaining zombie film, Special Dead. After the movie, the gothic punk band Grave Robber took the stage, followed by the punk/metal band Horror of 59.

HR: How did you start doing these Spooktacular shows?

Joe: Ever since I showed the first Horror Convention Massacre, I would show one of our movies and book a few bands and make an event out of it, a party event. Our movies are B-movies. They’re in an environment where there’s a crowd and there’s drinking going on. It’s more of a social experience. So it’s fun to show them at bars with that kind of crowd. It’s definitely a niche market. We’re not trying to get everyone in the world to watch our movies.

Between bands, the beautiful "Sinema Siren" Coco Chevelle took the stage with a mesmerizing burlesque dancing performance. An actress in The Spook Show, Coco wowed the crowd with her sultry style and sexy moves.

HR: How did the Sinema Sirens start?

Joe: The Sinema Sirens started even before we made a movie. I wanted Old School Sinema not be just strictly movies, but a kind of sub-culture of all the things I like which is horror movies, B-movies, exploitation films, pin-up models. Nothing better than old school pin-ups, with a modern twist to them.

HR: Tell me about the zombie walk?

Joe: We started that last year, it’s always the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so we’ve got our second one coming up. It’s an annual charity zombie walk. Other cities have had zombie walks, but I wanted to tie it in with a charity event. We had a blood mobile on hand. I thought zombies giving blood would make a great visual. We also made it a food drive for the Cleveland food bank. So it was a fun event. We had 75 zombies participate and we hope to have close to 120 this year.

HR: Tell me about The Spook Show?

Joe: The Horror Convention movies were very guerilla style. There had to be a lot of improv on the spot. With The Spook Show we had a full script. It takes place at a rock-n-roll nightclub. It’s a supernatural/slasher, revenge thriller.

HR: What’s next after The Spook Show?

Joe: People are still asking for another horror convention movie. I didn’t even want to do part 2 right away. Everyone that made it wanted to do a second one and all the fans. We couldn’t not do a second one. So part 2 picked up right where part 1 ended. We're looking to do part 3, but I’m probably just going to produce it and let someone else direct it. That will be nice for a change. I mean, I don’t want to direct 5 horror convention massacre movies. So if you’re going to do a sequel, you might as well wrap it up in a trilogy. In the meantime, I’m working on a zombie film - producing and directing, hoping to have ready for 2009. It’s untitled right now, but we have an acronym for it - IOTD.

HR: IOTD?

Joe: "Something" of the dead.

HR: Is there something about this film that sets it apart from all the other zombie films being made these days?

Joe: I want it to be a balls to the walls zombie/comedy, exploitation/action movie. We’re taking a lot of influences from the 80's like Return of the Living Dead and even some John Carpenter/Kurt Russell movies.

HR: Where would you like to see Old School Sinema in 5 years?

Joe: I’d like to see some national distribution. We’ve had some offers from some companies to distribute The Horror Convention Massacre. I think in four or five years we will make a movie that will get more recognition. I would rather own my movies than just give them away to a company. So in five years I hope to be directing one or two movies a year, as well as Old School Sinema producing one or two others.

For more information on Old School Sinema, the Spooktacular shows, the Sinema Sirens, and the annual Zombie Walk, visit their official web-site at www.ossfilms.com.

Click here to see more photos from the August 9, 2008 Spooktacular Show

- The Horror Reporter