For a Catholic kid in parochial school, the only way to survive the beatings - by classmates, not the nuns - was to be the funny guy.

When I was old enough to go to movies alone, I got to see 'Frankenstein' and 'Dracula' on the big screen. I just fell in love with them.

Hollywood doesn't trust me, and we don't really mix. When a movie has stars, everything in the budget goes up, even the catering costs. I just don't like the process of having Suits all around, so I prefer casting unknowns. It adds another level of tension - you don't quite know what to expect from them. My movies don't even need that much money.

I grew up on DC Comics, moral tales where the bad guys got their comeuppance. To me the gory panels or grotesque stuff just made me chuckle.

If I fail, the film industry writes me off as another statistic. If I succeed, they pay me a million bucks to fly out to Hollywood and fart.

Ever since 'Lassie' and 'Old Yeller', I won't watch animal movies. Animals in movies always die.

A zombie film is not fun without a bunch of stupid people running around and observing how they fail to handle the situation.