For die-hard fans of bone-chilling Adam Green films like Hatchet and Frozen, his new sitcom, Holliston, may come as a bit of a surprise. The quirky, multi-camera comedy trails the twisted bromance of Joe (Joe Lynch) and Adam (Green), two post-college filmmakers struggling to make it in the world of horror films. In this homage to Green’s hometown, Holliston, an otherwise sleepy Boston suburb, is given a new, slightly bloody makeover.
The show premieres April 3 on FearNet, but Green and the cast brought two of the series’ episodes to preview at the Bright Family Screening Room Sunday.
“We wanted this to be a show that our moms could watch,” Lynch, co-star and co-creator, said in an interview. “The title we had earlier, Blood and Guts, just didn’t work for that … The whole show is based around Holliston, so once we had the title, everything just clicked. Everything fell into place.”
Adam and Joe work at the local cable station (mirroring Green’s real-life experience after graduating Hofstra University on Long Island) for their wild and nostalgic glam rock boss Lance Rocket (Dee Snider, the former lead singer of Twisted Sister). The two make low-budget commercials and “borrow” all of the equipment possible to make their late night show The Movie Crypt, a combination of horror film DIY tips and the cattiness of The View.
The cast also includes Laura Ortiz, who plays Joe’s girlfriend, and Corri English, who plays Adam’s ex-girlfriend. Dave Brockie (aka Oderus Urungus, vocalist of monster-thrash band Gwar), portrays a figment of Adam’s warped imagination — an intergalactic mutant that sports assless chaps and bears resemblance to the Orcs in Lord of the Rings. He shows up in times of need, ministering his off-beat and often risqué advice. (“You should get a hooker. That way the sex is guaranteed. It’s $225. $250 if you want oral.”)
“I’ve been working on getting this project off the ground for 13 years,” said Green during a Q&A that followed the screening. “I never had the money to make movies, so I would take equipment from when I worked at Time Warner Cable making late-night commercials. We made Coffee and Donuts on a $400 budget. It started getting bootlegged everywhere and soon Disney/Touchstone bought the show.”
A single scene captures the quintessence of Holliston. After being “skunked,” Adam and Joe share a bathtub to rid themselves of the putrid smell. Joe, drenched in red food coloring from a messy episode of The Movie Crypt, passes out while Adam vomits into the tub. Oderus attempts to pee on Adam while the girls are out buying 15 boxes of Vagisil in order to contain the skunk odor. Holliston is an outlandish medley of humor, gore, brotherhood, and vomit.
“I’ve been an Adam Green fan for a long time. I thought the show was fantastic, and it was interesting to see this side of his work,” said Jacob Davison, a senior visual and media arts major. “I was laughing throughout the whole show, and all of the horror movie references and the depiction of post-graduation life were spot on.”