The Neon Splatter Interview: Flying Lotus
“Ozzy’s Dungeon”—Flying Lotus’ segment in the new V/H/S installment, V/H/S/99—harkens back to the good old days of Nickelodeon, when all kids would give their left arm for the chance to win prizes from Mark Summers or try to carry the Silver Snakes on the Legends Of The Hidden Temple. Steven Ogg, best known as Trevor from Grand Theft Auto V, plays the maliciously over-the-top titular host of Ozzy’s Dungeon who seems to revel in the losing children’s misfortune...but may soon pay dearly for his gross negligence. I had the pleasure of speaking with Flying Lotus after Fantastic Fest about his cinematic motivations and horror sensibilities.
Justin Leon of Neon Splatter: What were some of your favorite segments from ‘90s kids TV shows?
Flying Lotus: GUTS was great. I love GUTS. There was another one called Nick Arcade that was really fun, that I always wanted to be on. I think a lot of kids wanted to be on that one. An idea that you're like, you can go in a video game at the end of it and stuff, but basically probably just like someone walking in front of a blue screen or some shit trying to, like, trying to see what the hell they're doing. Probably very strange.
NS: So you we’re way more interested in being inside of a video game than wanting to get slimed?
FL: Well, you know, I was big into games, I’m still into games quite a bit, so I think that just was way more appealing to me. Oh man I can be in a video game? So wild! I mean, every kid wanted to get slimed a little bit, but you know, I think the reality of that is gross.
NS: I know you've said in the past that you generally keep a big separation in terms of your creative motivation when you're doing music versus film. I was just curious how you got in that mindset when you're approached about working with V/H/S/99?
FL: Well, it's funny, you know the film that I'm working on now is a very serious, sci-fi, epic kind of a thing (ASH) And I was like, Oh, this is perfect. You know, I can do something, that's completely the opposite and kind of go into some of that KUSO energy that I kind of was missing. I just think it's, you know, there's something about that energy as well that I just like, I need to do more stuff like this that I'm not seeing. Plus I figured if I don't do a Double Dare thing soon, someone else will.
NS: So you wanted to take some unrestrained chances, before you have more of a refined style coming with ASH?
FL: Exactly. Yeah, there's so much that's going into it, planning, casting, all the things. And it's just like, this is gonna be dirty, quick and dirty. We got a few weeks, I just wanted to do something that was just fun, all the way through that you don’t have to get too emotional over.
NS: Did you come up with a theme first or just sort of the ‘90s setting or anything specific for the story idea?
FL: Well, the first thing when they brought the nineties to me, was immediately to start thinking about Double Dare and just how with those game shows, the one thing about 'em, was no matter how crazy they were, I always wanted to be part of it or be in the crowd. I always like, “Why couldn't I be on those shows? I wanna win some money and I wanna like, go back to school and have been on Double Dare and won a whole bunch of stuff and a new video game system.” You know, you wanted that right? Every kid wanted that.
So when it comes to me and ideas, I love the horror stuff, but my thing isn't really murder-y, you know, I don't really go to like, murder-y ideas usually, or like, more of the malicious kind of horror tropes and things. My stuff is like some kind of cringe horror, kind of weird.
The thing about it to me is like the scene with the mom and stuff, when we're in the janky dungeon. That's like the horror of like being at your friend's house and your friend's mom is yelling at your friend, and throwing some shit around the house and you just have to sit there and watch your friend get yelled at, you know, And it's just super, super awkward and you're just like, “Oh no, what do I do?”
But you don't wanna leave. You can't leave. You can't just get up and leave, you know? That's the stuff that I love to tap into where it's just like you feel you're in a place where you're not supposed to be there.
NS: How did you feel about found footage as a method of storytelling?
FL: I thought it was fun just because it's a totally different opportunity to get creative. You have some restraints, but it also allows for just creative storytelling and opportunities to do some stuff you just normally wouldn't do and you could do time jumps and all these very interesting things. It was definitely more inspiring. But yeah, it did have some challenges too. But you can't cut around and have cool coverage or scenes, whatever. To be honest, I was a little nervous about doing it only because, the stuff I've done in the past, it has been kind of janky you know, And I'm getting into this arena where I wanna do more polished looking stuff and I felt like doing a V/H/S doesn't really show my technical prowess as much. So I guess that was the only issue. I still loved the idea of being able to pick up the camera off the floor and it be part of the story.
NS: So I guess you had a challenge with the blocking a little bit more because you're only getting one camera.
FL: Exactly. And you know, the close ups gotta be right on the money. It's a bit more like choreography in a cool way, like a dance, especially when we did that kind of janky dungeon scene. It was a lot of fun though in the middle of it, or in post, I was like, “I will never do one of these V/H/S things ever again in my life.” And then as soon as I'm done, I'm just like, “Oh man, I wanna do like four more!” I have so many ideas that could be like a V/H/S thing.
NS: You’ve always had a great way hand with soundtracks. One of my favorite music pieces in “Ozzy’s Dungeon” was when the father starts driving them to the studio and then the loud jazz comes on.
FL: I'm so glad you said that because that's like the last little change that had to happen. I was just thinking the dad would totally be listening to some jazz, obnoxiously loud in the car.
NS: Yeah, of course. Because he probably needs a break because his wife's a bit much at times. And so it's like he's gotta take whatever small wins he can have.
FL: Yep, yeah you get it.
NS: Do you have any favorite horror scores or soundtracks?
FL: Yeah, I love IT FOLLOWS, I just rewatched that. And I loved the soundtrack to that. Obviously HEREDITARY, which was obviously magical.
But another one that just caught me was TERRIFIER 2. I really liked that music in there. It was like more synthy and stuff, but it was still cool.
And same with DEADSTREAM. Like the way they did the music was really cool. Like the guy has to play back music off his little tape recorder and you don't get to hear the full dynamic range of the music, but it's still kind of vibey and stuff.
I don't know, I really enjoyed that movie. I watched it twice, back to back. I never, I never do that . It was like as soon as it was done, What about this was so good? It was so fun.
NS: How much would you say was improvised in “Ozzy’s Dungeon” on the day versus planned ahead of time?
FL: I cut out a lot but everyone throws their stuff in there a little bit. But a lot of it is on the page. There was a funny moment though, there's a joke about, mom says like, “You L.A. motherfuckers get my pussy drier than the Sahara Desert” or something like that.
But the line before it that I had was, “You L.A. motherfuckers dry me out.” And I was like, Oh, well no one's gonna get that. On the day, it was funny cuz, you know how it is, 2022.
I'm like, “Anybody got any ideas for a good pussy joke?” And all the ladies went ham. All the ladies in the crew came up with the most fucked up shit I've ever heard. It was pretty awesome. But I think we just used one of the lines that one of the ladies on our crew came up with. It was pretty silly.
I try to have a fun environment in my crews, man. I really just try to make the whole thing as fun as possible. It's hard enough to make a movie, it’s intense enough. So let's have fun doing this.
NS: Yeah, absolutely. I think you definitely put that vibe out there on the screen, in person, and basically everywhere you show up. Any other projects you want to talk about?
FL: I don't know. I just wanna keep going. I just feel like I'm just getting started right now and I'm just trying to keep writing ideas down and just keep going for it.
NS: Awesome, I just wanted to say on behalf of the horror community, we're thrilled to have you around.
FL: Oh man, I appreciate that, dude. Seriously, that's so cool. You know, it feels good to be in here. I do feel like there's room for my voice in it and it's just cool. And I really felt the community at Fantastic Fest, it was really nice to be part of it.
