Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls Cast & Director on Going From Kickstarter to Sundance
22One of the less emotionally intense films to premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival – unless you consider summoning ancient evils emotionally intense and in that case, what are you even doing with your Friday nights? – is writer/director Andrew Bowser’s Kickstarter success, Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls. This mouthful is a campy treat for horror fans, and for fans of Bowser’s viral YouTube character, Onyx the Fortuitous, an amateur occultist with high anxiety. Amid the candy colors, zany creature designs, and an off-the-wall premise, Onyx has a pretty stand-out cast, including Re-Animator’s Jeffrey Combs, genre legend, Barbara Crampton, and Terrence Carson. The movie also stars Rivkah Reyes, Melanie Chandra, Olivia Taylor Dudley, and Arden Myrin.
In his first starring role, Marcus J. Trillbury (Onyx the Fortuitous) is a burger-flipping Satan worshipper with hopes of escaping the humdrum of his everyday life at home. One day, fortune shines on Onyx when he answers an open call to meet his longtime hero, the occultist Bartok the Great (Combs). The call provides Marcus the opportunity to join Bartok, along with four other devotees, in his spooky mansion where they will perform a ritual to summon an ancient god. Unfortunately, something isn’t quite as it seems, and Onyx the Fortuitous may be — Abaddon help us — their only hope.
Ahead of Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls’ premiere at the festival, Bowser, Reyes, Chandra, Dudley, and Myrin joined Collider’s Steve Weintraub in the Collider Studio at Park City to discuss the movie. During their interview, they discuss how Onyx went from Kickstarter to Sundance, how they pulled everything off on a tight budget, and bringing Bowser’s vision to the screen. They describe the movie as an “‘80s throwback” similar to Gremlins and Fright Night, talk about working with the genius behind the film’s creatures, Adam Dougherty of Kreature Kid, and what Bowser learned from editing in his garage. He also reveals how he got Jeffrey Combs involved, the found family aspect, and why the movie isn’t gorier.
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