Movie: Raveena’s Revenge
Director : Joe Boi
Joe Boi is an American director specializing in Horror, Comedy, Action, Fantasy, and Sci-Fi films. He is presently engaged in writing and producing his own films. He has also previously worked as personal assistant in films for over a decade.
He thrives in telling stories; presenting a series of events with words, images and sound in unsuspecting ways. He does so with novelty and creativity that is sure to keep his audiences glued. Joe has worked on several movies, TV Shows, and numerous short films. Most notable of the movies he has worked in include Iron Man 3, Tron, Brake and Terminator: Salvation with his latest being Jeepers Creepers 3. The T.V shows include Grey’s Anatomy, Mistresses, Revenge, Scandal, and Agents of Shield. His personal film, “Senses” won best special FX and Audience Choice in the short film category as well as having several nominations for best actress and best director in a short film throughout its festival circuit run.
Hello Joe, welcome to Scénema! It’s a delight to have you here. The movie is amazing! Please tell us how your experience of making it was.
Filming Raveena’s Revenge was a complete blast. I was truly blessed with the greatest cast and crew I could’ve asked for. We were laughing and having fun the whole time.
Something that interests me a lot is the name! Raveena is predominantly an Indian name. How did you come up with the name?
Exactly–I wanted to find a very unique and epic name because when I craft characters, the names and meanings are very important to me. Raveena roughly translates to “Beauty of the Sun” “Sunny” or “Bright.” Which was funny to me because vampires can’t go out into sunlight; however, I wanted Raveena to be bright, sunny, and filled with light.
Joe, you have managed both the mantle of being the director and the actor for this movie. If you could share how you balanced on set! How did you keep the two shelves apart from each other?
Funny story, not just the director and actor, but the writer as well. I love it all and find it all very exciting. I’m like a kid that refuses to grow up. I find as an actor, I write exactly what I want to act out on screen. When I direct, I use the script as a blueprint and don’t stick to any one thing. I ask my crew what they think and what they want to bring to the table. Then we all collaborate to create the best visual story we can.
In the movie we meet Red Reapers a.k.a the Vampire Hunters. I found it commendable that the members belong from different ethnicities. How was the casting procedure? I’d love to know!
The casting procedure was an amazing experience. I was pleasantly surprised with the turnout and expanded on the Red Reapers and their origins instantly because I received an extremely large amount of submissions. Once I casted, I noticed how diverse everyone was. We dove deep into their specific characters and really just had fun with it.
We see Raveena as a very powerful character, and that is very inspiring. Was writing her character a difficult task?
Usually writing characters like this is a difficult task, but with Raveena, it kind of poured out of me quickly. I love vampires–especially powerful ones. I think the hardest part of writing Raveena was making everyone around her pop off the page and the screen.
Joe, it’s evident that you have a flair for reading! Especially in the horror or thriller genre. Would you suggest some books for our readers?
Storywise: Anything by Stepehn King. My favorite being Pet Semetery. And then, of course, Ann Rice. Queen of the Damned is one of my favorite books out there.
Screenwriting Wise: Horror Screenwriting: The Nature of Fear, and then my bible for screenwriting is The Coffee Break Screenwriter–absolutely LOVE that book.
This brings me to my next question – have you ever nurtured a wish to direct a retelling of a classic movie? If yes, which author’s work would you pick for your primary storyline? Sir Doyle, Stephen King or someone else?
100% Stephen King–I’d love to create a Pet Sematary movie, but done differently. I’d be interested in making a sequel based off the first 2 films and use concepts from those storylines to craft a whole new story with those sour grounds, diving deeper into the wendigo mythos.
The movie also uses certain comical elements to contrast the heavy theme. How difficult was it to keep a balance between the seriousness and the comic?
It was definitely challenging, but that’s why I love this artform. Filmmaking almost feels like artists creating obstacles and problems for themselves to then figure it out. I think I’ve found a perfect balance because I was raised on both horror and comedies. The combination is like candy to me, and I have such a sweet tooth for horror comedies.
As a director, what is your favourite movie?
Dang, this is such a difficult question to answer. I don’t think I could ever pick one movie as my favorite; however, the movies that have influenced me the most are A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Thing, The Fog, Christine, Halloween, Big Trouble in Little China, The Jerk, The Naked Gun, The Matrix, Aliens, and Jurassic Park.
What inspires you to keep on telling the stories?
I love telling stories because I love life and the world around me–the people in it are the spice of life–everyone has a story to tell if you listen and I’m all ears. I see myself as a healer and I want to light up the world through art. Rise above so I may help those below.
Raveena and Danny seem to click it instantly. It’d have been amazing if they spent some more time together. Do you have any plans to make a sequel ? If yes, then how do you wish to progress with it? And if not, why?
Funny you mention that, I love these characters so much that I’ve written a feature script. Here’s the poster for the new feature script.
Joe, thank you for the conversation!
Thank you so much for having me and having Raveena’s Revenge in your festival–it’s truly an honor.
