(on Cannibal Holocaust) I rented this movie on VHS when I was 11 years old and was able to get it without parental guidance. What I saw that night was disturbing. It disturbed me. I was shocked, scared and sickened. Ruggero Deodato made such a scary film with it by his intense and slick use of gore and it shows that even the most disgusting provocing violence can be fascinating on the screen. It was a disturbing experience.
(on his inspiration) I love imagery in general. I love the use of color or black-and-white in photography, the same with cinematography in general. Inspiration is such a big thing, but a lot of filmmakers inspire me because of their use of style and using the camera. My biggest inspirations are Italian film-directors such as Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, great film directors who have shown the most fascinating violence in film but have also shown that camera angles are the most slick uses of getting the emotional impact out of extreme violence.
(on the nature of violence) To my opinion, extreme violence and themes such as sadism are very essential to the emotional impact of a film. Extreme violence and sadism shows the dark side of humanity and the world itself. The world is very pessimistic and because of that pessimistic side the dark side of humanity comes in; it is extreme violence. Extreme violence is the physical destruction of the human body which sometimes obsesses me. Perverse sexuality is also a very disturbing side of humanity and that combination can sometimes lead to something beautiful: the cinematic build-up to that dark side of humanity.