Brooke Lewis – Jedi Con'fessional

As we’ve done all year with Cons and Cosplay we like to tell you the stories behind fun and familiar faces, and once in a while introduce you to someone new and upcoming. Since the calendar flip, fall has set in – Halloween quickly approaches. What better way to celebrate than kicking off a series about horror? In our first installment of a month-long tribute to Scream, we are excited to share with you an interview with one of our top 10 Scream Queens of all time, Brooke Lewis.Brooke won the 2010 B Movie Golden Cob Award for best Scream Queen for her 2009 release of Slime City Massacre. You may know her alter-ego from the TV series Ms. Vampy’s Love Bites. The lovely vixen’s movies iMurders, Kinky Killers, and Starship: Rising top her resume, along with a few new exciting projects we’ll get to later in the interview.

So enjoy getting to know Brooke, and look out at the end of the month for where she officially lands on our Baker’s Dozen of Scream Queens!

MoGT: With the Halloween season quickly approaching, what are your favorite frights of the season?

Brooke: My favorite frights around Halloween are Haunted Houses and watching 80s horror movie marathons! I’ll take the original Friday the 13^th any day! I also feel so blessed that I am at a point in my career where I am hired to appear at different events, parties and clubs around the country as a Scream Queen, so I get to meet the wildest and coolest people in costume all over the map!

MoGT: How did you get into the scream scene?

Brooke: I was singing and dancing from a young age, which led me into musical theatre in Philadelphia, which led me into comedy in New York. I got my first “break” in the New York Off-Broadway Comedy Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding, then went on to do TV sitcoms like Quintuplets and Mafiosa, then acted in mobster dramas like Pride & Loyalty and Sinatra Club, then broke out in the horror genre with films like Kinky Killers, iMurders and Slime City Massacre earning the title of a ‘Scream Queen’, then combined my experience in comedy, mobster movies and horror and created the role and brand, which I am best known…Ms. Vampy!!!

MoGT: What do you feel makes the right horror movie? How do you get the audience to buy into the screams?

Brooke: I happen to be a big fan of the mystery and thriller! I love to watch movies that make me think and figure out the clues or the backstory. I think old school Hitchcock films are brilliant! I also love The Shining and Carrie. For me, as both an actress and a viewer, it is really about the story and the characters. I’ve also become a huge fan of the French horror films. Most are super hardcore, but they are cinematically beautiful and, again, story story story! The right horror movie taps into the dark side that we each have and stimulates the thrill and chill!

MoGT: There’s a lot of special effects in today’s film world, how does that affect acting and/or directing the process?

Brooke: Well, I am not a fan of CGI. As an actress and a viewer, I am all about truth and making imaginary circumstances real. When practical effects were the norm, it gave the actor a physical reality to work with. CGI effects challenge both the actor and director to create another level of imaginary circumstances. I am very much in favor of old school FX to make things look and feel real.

MoGT: Everyone’s got a phobia, what makes you jump?

Brooke: I am the worst Vampiress ever! I freak out when I see spiders, roaches, mice or rats! Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

MoGT: Who are your role models in the industry? Anyone you’d “kill” to work with?

Brooke: Naturally, one of my biggest role models is Elvira and she was a big inspiration for Ms. Vampy! I am also inspired by the veteran actresses who have had incredible careers working between mainstream projects and horror films. I would “kill” to work with Jamie Lee Curtis, Dee Wallace, Adrienne Barbeau, Leslie Easterbrook and, of course, one of my dearest friends, Suze Lanier-Bramlett! There are so many fantastic horror directors I would “kill” to work with someday, including Rob Zombie, Darren Lynn Bousman, Adam Green, Eli Roth, James Wan and Neil Marshall. I would kill to work with some of the veterans like John Carpenter, Wes Craven or Don Coscarelli.

MoGT: How serious does it get on the set? What stories of crazy things that happen can you share?

Brooke: You mean, besides everyone hooking up on the production??? 😉 LOL On low-budget and indie films, anything can happen and it can get crazy in both good and bad ways. Sometimes you need things that your budget cannot provide, so you find ways to like flag down a police car, flirt with the police and get a fabulous close-up shot! Wait, did I just put that in writing?! 😉 LOL

MoGT: Tell us a little about your past and future projects? Readers FYI: of course you can connect via Brooke’s IMDB

Brooke: My “baby” and passion project: all the Ms. Vampy web series: In 2008, I looked at the body of my biggest acting work and what I loved to play and from comedy, horror and mobster genres, Ms. Vampy was born! She was inspired by some of my favorite famous characters: Betty Boop, Mona from My Cousin Vinny and Elvira! “Ms. Vampy is America’s funniest, sexiest, sassiest and most high maintenance Brooklyn vampire! Her personality is as big as her hair and is often described as Betty Boop meets Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny. She loves pleather and fur and wouldn’t be caught “dead” without high heels! But, there’s much more to this loveable vampiress. While she looks young and vibrant, Ms. Vampy is one of the oldest gals on earth. At 110-years-old, she was born in Transylvania. She was a shy and innocent child, but after a few too many shots of Lauder’s Scotch Whisky on her 18th birthday, she jumped on the bike of a tattooed mate and sealed her fate! Moments after being bitten, she grew wildly thick hair, fangs, plump lips and bodacious tatas. As she puts it, “I went from being a brainy bookworm to a blood-loving, vampire sexpot in just minutes.” In the 1920s, Ms. Vampy’s travels took her to New York and she fell in love with Brooklyn. It was there where she developed her attitude, sarcastic sense of humor, and ridiculous accent. She spent most of her time in the big apple filming movies and seeing Broadway shows, but she has a secret many don’t know…Ms. Vampy went crazy for Philadelphia Eagles football and soon became an assistant coach, but was fired after one month for not showing up to any day games. She moved back to New York for a short time, but a torrid love affair with a very jealous and young Wall Street vampire went bad, so she headed west to seek out new friends and victims. These days, Ms. Vampy lives in her Hollywood Villa and is a Life Coach and Dating Expert to the rich and famous. She is often seen on night shoots, shopping in Beverly Hills for Dior or hanging out at Lakers’ games with her celebrity friends. She loves 80s rock and disco, her favorite band is Vampire Weekend and she never misses American Idol, The Voice or Millionaire Matchmaker on TV. Her secret dream is to join the cast of HBO’s True Blood (of course, she thinks it’s a “reality” show)! She enjoys Godiva Chocolates and Bloody Marys and she loves to play Xbox when she’s feeling feisty. While she has yet to marry or have children, she freely admits to being boy crazy and hopes to someday make-out with Robert Pattinson. Ms. Vampy is forever sexy, funny, young, and obnoxious, but her heart is as big as her mouth. If she ever bites you, it’ll be with love. – Editor, Vampity Fair” (Check it out www.msvampy.net)

I have a few exciting projects to mention that have either just released or will be releasing soon:

LAZARUS: DAY OF THE LIVING DEAD (Horror/Mystery; Directed by Thomas J. Churchill):
- SYNOPSIS: It is the year 1957 in Hollywood, CA. A telegram arrives at the office of George Lazarus, an insurance investigator with the assignment to look into a suspicious claim that was just put in by Harvest International Tobacco Company. Lazarus begins to schedule routine interviews with the twelve employees that are named on this claim. He learns that they all had just gotten fired for being sick at the job. He never makes it back to the office. What seemed to be a normal fraud investigation case may have turned out to be the beginning of the end for the human race. His fiancé Bethany begins to worry as she realizes that he hasn’t been back at the office since early that morning and he hasn’t checked in either. Not the behavior from a man who lives by daily routine. She decides to follow his path in hopes to locate him. Nothing can prepare her for what she is about to witness in this eerily horrific pre-apocalyptic tale.
- STARRING: Natalie Victoria (DeadHeads); Ray Capuana (Emerging Past); Stephen Geoffreys (Fright Night, 976-EVIL); Brooke Lewis (Sinatra Club, iMurders); Josh Hammond (Jeepers Creepers 2, The Tripper); Brian Andrews (Halloween, Three O’Clock High); Thomas J. Churchill (Mr. Hush, Emerging Past); Janet Tracy Keijser (House On Haunted Hill); Krista Grotte (Emerging Past) and Taylor Morgan Lewis (Women of Wrestling).
STARSHIP: RISING (Sci-fi; Directed by Neil Johnson) and part II is STARSHIP: APOCALYPSE
- SYNOPSIS: A corrupt planetary federation… The ultimate weapon of destruction. One starship captain stands between them….and intergalactic Armageddon. The film is about what happens when a Starship armed to the teeth with missiles gets taken over by a revolutionary. Neil Johnson describes it as “Game of Thrones in space.”
- STARRING: Claudia Wells (Back to the Future), Brooke Lewis (iMurders), E.J. De La Pena (Jingle All The Way), Marilyn Ghigliotti (Clerks), Darren Jacobs (Hollyoaks TV series), Rajia Baroudi (Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers) and Musical Star Emii (“Zombie Boyfriend”).
THE MOURNING (Thriller; Directed by Marc Clebanoff who directed me in BREAK & GERALD):
- SYNOPSIS: Aaron returns to his small Middle America hometown, inexplicably not having aged a day since his mysterious disappearance in Desert Storm 20 years prior. Unable to speak initially, Aaron must come to terms with the losses and evolution of his loved ones in his absence. Concurrently, Aaron’s loved ones must come to terms with the reappearance of the boy who they grieved over and let go years prior. As Aaron begins to assimilate himself into the lives of his family, his best friend and his long lost lover, it’s slowly revealed that Aaron’s homecoming is not permanent. A conspiracy theorist and a mysterious angelic figure both stalking Aaron build toward a finale in which Aaron must tie up loose ends before disappearing again forever.
- STARRING: Dominique Swain (Lolita), Louis Mandylor (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), Peter Dobson (Frighteners), Larry Hankin (Home Alone), Michael Walton (Gerald) and Brooke Lewis (iMurders).

And, gearing up soon to act in Killer Rack, directed by Greg Lamberson, The Eyes and Black Hat, directed by Robbie Bryan and The Catalyst, directed by Alan Fine! I’m a lucky Scream Queen!!!

MoGT: There’s a lot of clichés in the history of horror movies, people like to yell at the hero not to go in that room or go back for that girl. How do you feel about that being part of the genre, and do you work those into your work?

Brooke: I feel like I do a good job of avoiding clichés with my film choices! I love to play strong female characters and have been the killer or detective! My definition of a modern Scream Queen is “A sexy, powerful woman who acts in the horror genre”!!! And, since I won the B Movie Golden Cob Award 2010 for Best Scream Queen Of 2009, I love being part of the genre even more! 😉

MoGT: What is your dream scream film experience?

Brooke: I’d die to star in a remake of The Hunger!!! SEXY!!! I also want to star in a remake of Swamp Thing!!! LOL Then, in a few years, I want to star in a remake of Misery! Now, that is a dream role worth screaming about for any actress!!!