I’ve known Jon & Jolene for about 3 months now. Having met them as a special effects team for my first short film “Hubris“, Jon was the kind of friend that I’ve been seeking for ages – someone I can relate to when it comes to subversive, deviant, and obscure flicks. Unfortunately, Jon is moving back to the east coast to pursue a new job, which saddens me. But, as a ritual to seal our friendship, I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to check out Tokyo Gore Police with the couple before he leaves.
Their profile reads:
Jonathan Poppe and Jolene Johnson graduated from The Tom Savini Special Make-Up Effects Program and are now working as freelance special make-up effects artists in Northern California. They are currently employed by Bay Media Arts, Inc.
Jon and I are instant great buddies because of the following story… I had not known too much about “Cannibal Holocaust” until my favorite former Hungarian film critic, Eszter, recently talked about the film during our many movie-loving conversations. And, I mentioned to her about how when I first met Jon, we verbalized about our favorite horror movies and part of it went like this –
me: Did you watch “Cannibal Holocaust”?
Johnathan: I love that movie!
me: I know that movie was made in the 70s, how did they get away with those effects?
Johnathan: Well, there were some controversy about the realism of that movie… especially the scene with the woman impaled on the stick…
me (turns to Betti and Joy): There’s a scene in the movie where a woman is impaled through her butt out of her mouth and…
[Betti and Joy cringes]
me (turns back to Johnathan): What’s ironic is that it was a European woman who told me about the movie, who she herself refuses to watch. I can’t wait to tell her that I know a professional special effects person who likes the movie!
Regardless of distance, I’m sure both of them will work again with me on my future films…
Lucky bastard!!! Jon with a copy of Tokyo Gore Police,
2 weeks before it’s official release date.