Did You Hear the News?

                                             
                                                             

                                  There's a new film about zombies?


                                                          

                           The Soulless

The Soulless is directed by Christopher Eilenstein, produced by Bob Cleary, Stephen Hirsekom and Russ Bucci and stars Jason Propst, Jennifer Teska, Kaylin Iannone, Joe Parascand, Michael Chartier, Jeff Caplan, Genoveva Rossi, and Edward X Young.


                                                               

              Forget everything you've ever known about the living dead....

                                             The Rules have changed


                                                               

                       

Part Three of Steampunk Granny's Interview with Actress Genoveva Rossi

                                       Genoveva Rossi in The Enchantress                     

Hello readers and welcome back to my blog and the final part of my interview with the lovely and talented actress, Genoveva Rossi. If you’ve missed part one or parts two of the interview, you can check them out here and here.

Marie Gilbert: “Before we end, I wanted to know if you had the chance to star in any movie that’s out now, which one would you choose.”

Genoveva Rossi: “The only thing that comes to mind is I would like to be in a Dario Argento film. I’m a big fan of Argento,   the Italian director. I would like to be in something more ambitious, with a larger budget. 

I wanted to tell you what movies I’m working on now, one is The Enchantress where I play a sorcerous with Hylo Dekan studios. It’s not on my IMDb yet, but it’s on my Facebook profile. I have a folder filled with some great productions pictures. It’s a pretty exciting movie that’s being filmed in the Buffalo area and another film that I’m working on is Hunters and it stars Linnea Quigley, a scream queen that's been acting since the 1980’s and she’s pretty huge in the horror genre. I’m a big fan of hers been in Night of the Demons, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers and other horror movies. The film has already been mentioned in Fangoria Magazine.  Adam Ahlbrandt is the director, he is amazing to work with, and he has a quite a cult following.
                                                                              

I play Edna and it’s probably going to be my most disturbing role to date and probably my most risqué film. This is a very shocking movie and the director is anticipating possible death threats after the release.”

Marie Gilbert: “Really?”

Genoveva Rossi: “Yes, he wanted to push the envelope and create some controversy and go into some uncharted territory in the horror genre.”

Marie Gilbert: “This sounds like an interesting film.”
                                                                     

Genoveva Rossi: “I’m really excited to try things I haven’t done before and it’s a unique film and I’m very excited to be part of it. I’m in it with Jason Vail, who is a great actor and he came up from Atlanta Georgia to play in this film. He has been on the Guiding Light series and some other things. I’m excited to work with him and I’ve seen some of his previous work as an actor including his short, The Cabin. Then there is another girl named Mel Heflin who came up from Florida to work in the film. It was my first time working of Adam Ahlbrandt and I’m hoping to work again with him in the not so distant future. He’s kind of a mad genius when it comes to directing films. This film has the potential to explode when it’s released.”

                                                                      

   

Hunters with Mel Heflin, Jason Vail & Genoveva Rossi

 

Marie Gilbert: “I’ll be keeping my eyes open for that one. I have one last question. Did you ever have a part that you felt uncomfortable with?”
                                                                      

Genoveva Rossi: “There was one Bill Zebub movie called Jesus, Daughter of God, which is a religious comedy and because I consider myself a Christian and Catholic and the film sort of makes fun of religion, but I talked to the director before I did the film to see how far he would push the anti-Christian element, but since I‘ve played a Satanist in a lot of movies and stuff like murderers, cannibals, zombies and vampires; I figured acting is just acting. It’s not an extension of who you really are, but every now and then people will contact me and tell me, you’re such a slut and this and that.”

Marie Gilbert: “Oh my God…”
                                                                 

Genoveva Rossi: “Yeah, and I say you know if I’m playing a doctor, or Satanist, or murderer, zombie, or witch in a movie, but that’s not who I really am after I leave the set.”

Marie Gilbert: “That is so bizarre that they would think it is.”

Genoveva Rossi: “Maybe some people have a hard time separating fantasy from reality. If you play your character that well, people, sometimes people believe that’s the real you. One actor told me to take it as a compliment because you did such a good job playing that role that those people didn’t think you were acting.”
                                                                                   

Marie Gilbert: “Thank you, Genoveva. Is there anything that you would like to say before the interview is over?”

Genoveva Rossi: “Your readers can find me online. I’m Genoveva Rossi, the ScreamQueen of about fifty films. You can follow me on Twitter and Facebook, in fact, I’mwriting a column for Malevolent Magazine, called “A Day in the Life of a Scream Queen”. In every issue I will talk about my experiences with acting, my films, going to conventions and meeting horror fans. People are always interested in what goes on behind the scenes.”

 

Horror fans can also meet me in person at:

Connecticut Horrorfest on August 23rd

Long Island's Blood and Babes Comic Con Sept 12-14th

Marie Gilbert: “I’ll keep my eye open for that and let my readers know when and where they can find this.”

Genoveva Rossi: “Malevolent Magazine is a fun magazine and I was featured as a scream queen in its second issues and the editor wanted to keep me on board and I suggested this. I was happy to write the column because people are always asking me about all the wacky things that can happen behind the scenes. So look for my column "A Day in the Life of a Scream Queen".

Marie Gilbert: “I would love to know about stuff like this. It’s the perfect thing to write about because it’s so interesting.”

                                                                                                             

 Genoveva Rossi: “I’ll tell you about one thing that happened on the set of A Dark Place Inside, one of the three films I’m screening. I forgot to tell you about that one. In that film one of the stars plays the mother of the little boy who will become a serial killer. It got a great review in the 2014 issue of HorrorHound Magazine. It was a difficult subject matter and the movie is really about the action instead of the dialogue because it is about a serial killer's daily life.

                                                                   

                                                                         
A Dark Place Inside with Rob Dimension, Genoveva Rossi & Kieran Boyle


We did a screening of the film to see how it would work and I did an actor’s commentary as the film played, and after, people said they actually liked it better that way with me explaining what was going on in each scene and also with me telling them about the whole process of filming. I was working with a child actor who was only eight years old on and in what was a very difficult subject matter and people said it was very interesting to hear about how we filmed.”

Marie Gilbert: “That is so interesting and maybe you would be able to do that with other movies. You could give all the background information especially if they’re showing a film at one of the conventions like at the Paranormal Unity Expo that we both attended.”

Genoveva Rossi: “I was there because I’m a professional psychic and tarot card reader.”

Marie Gilbert: “I didn’t know that.”

Genoveva Rossi: “Yes, I travel all over. I do Tarot Card readings almost every week privately and travel all over the country. Perform readings in person, via skype, email, on chat, etc. Find my tarot page on Facebook: Tarot by Genoveva”

                                                               

                             

Marie Gilbert: “I was wondering why you were at the Paranormal Unity Expo. I knew you were an actress, but I saw you sitting in Dave Juliana’s class, I assumed you were just interested in the subject matter and not that you were able to read cards. So, do you also go ghost hunting?”

Genoveva Rossi: “Besides the Tarot card readings, I’m also a Spiritualist and I give spiritual advice to people. I was doing psychic reading at Bizarre AC as well as promoting my horror film work. One woman contacted me and said that what I had read on Saturday; came through for her that Monday at work. She came into work and they give her a whole new position. I told her that on a Saturday and this happened to her on a Monday.”

Marie Gilbert: “She contacted you when this happened?”

Genoveva Rossi: “Yes, she contacted me on my Facebook page to tell me that everything I said would happen did happen. She told her coworkers at work and they were all a little bugged out.”

Marie Gilbert: “That is so nice. What about the ghost hunting. Do you ever go on an investigation?”

Genoveva Rossi: “I’ve never done that, but I would be opened to that. Recently I’ve had experiences with a friend at several Chiller Theatre and at Bizarre A.C. My friend has several photographs from horror conventions in particular where you can see orbs hanging near his head or shoulder… He lost a person in his life years ago and this spirit accompanies him to Chiller and Bizarre A.C. His love still accompanies him to all the conventions much like she did when they were still together.”

Marie Gilbert: “You would do great at ghost hunting. You are sensitive to paranormal events and would pick up things right away.”

Genoveva Rossi: “Well, I do some medium work as well because sometimes when I’m reading people, I’ll pick up spirits and converse with them as well. So I’ve never been on an investigation, but if the opportunity arises, I would like to go to one.”
                                                                          

Marie Gilbert: “I’ll let you know the next investigation that I go to. I did recently go to an investigation at Salem Mansion in Norristown with the Keystone Spirit Seekers and that building was very active. I wrote an article for Biff Bam Pop on the experience because I’m one of their senior writers. If we go back to Salem Mansion, I will let you know.”

Genoveva Rossi: “Please do that because I would love to come with you. When I travel all over the country sometimes I’ll go on ghost walks in New Orleans and Savannah where they tell you ghost stories, but a ghost hunt would be great.”

Marie Gilbert: “Yes, because we spent most of the night at Salem Mansion and there were two groups there. We were invited to join the Keystone Spirit Seekers who had all the needed equipment like cameras, video set ups, and I think you would enjoy participating.”

Genoveva Rossi: “One thing I wanted to tell you was that I actually had a paranormal experience in one of my films, The Bible Belt Slasher, part 2. There was this one scene where a woman is playing dead in a bathtub. The microphone that they were using picks up everything and there were some serious strange sounds that popped up on the recording. The director decided to use those sounds in the background. If you ever watch The Bible Belt Slasher and you come up to the scene with the woman in the tub, then what you’re hearing is probably paranormal activity. It sounds so other worldly and the director swears that he did not add anything in, but he decided to use it because it was so cool. Maybe the violence in the scene attracted a spirit in the house.”

                                                                          

                                                                               

Marie Gilbert: “Most old homes usually have a guest and the director is probably right because you were doing a horror film and the scene gave energy to the spirit.”

Genoveva Rossi: “It was a very violent scene and it could have attracted this entity. So don’t forget to call me when you go on your next investigation.”

Marie Gilbert: “I will. I’m planning on going to this one mansion that I know is very active and both my young granddaughter and I both had experiences while there for a rehearsal dinner, so I will definitely call you if we’re given permission to investigate. I want to thank you Genoveva for being so gracious and accommodating for this interview. It was a true pleasure getting to know more about you.”

Thank you so very much, Genoveva for being a guest on my blog. It was a true pleasure spending time with you, and if my readers are interested in learning more about Genoveva Rossi, you can find her on Twitter and Facebook. Don't forget these upcoming dates to meet Ms. Rossi.

Connecticut Horrorfest on August 23rd

Long Island's Blood and Babes Comic Con Sept 12-14th

Part Two of Steampunk Granny's Interview with Scream Queen, Genoveva Rossi

                                                                    

We left off with my interview of Horror Goddess Genoveva Rossi on her acting in a new film called Trailer Heaven. We will pick up where we left off.  Welcome back Genoveva.

Marie Gilbert: “We left off with the film you’re working on now, Trailer Heaven.”

Genoveva Rossi: “I’m also a Divine fan as well and I grew up watching those types of movies. John Waters is amazing!

As an actress I love to cross into unchartered territory and play a lot of different characters and work with a really wide variety of directors. I feel that is vital for me as both an actress and an artist.  I am committed keeping my acting work an adventure! I wanted to bring up that there were several films that I did that were not horror at all, for example, Apocalypse Kiss which was a sci-fi thriller that I did with Michael Berryman, D. C. Douglas and Tom Atkins and I also did comedies with Bill Zebeb called Scienceless Fiction, and Jesus, The Daughter of God, which were both quite funny.

                                                                    

                              Genoveva on the set with Stephen Baldwin                                       

The one film that was very different for me was Tapestry which was directed by Ken Kushner and that is a wonderful Christian film. It was an amazing and inspiring experience. I deviated into something completely different and it starred Steven Baldwin, Tina Louise from Gilligan’s Island and Burt Young from Rocky. ”

Marie Gilbert: “Where can people see Tapestry?”

Genoveva Rossi: “I don’t think it’s been released to theatres yet. He just wrapped that up pretty recently, but look for it soon! ”

Marie Gilbert: “Well then you’re getting calls for different types of films, now.”

Genoveva Rossi: “Well, that worked out well because I met a director on the set of a horror movie where we were both scene partners and that set led to Tapestry. Film sets often lead to more film sets in this business. I’m open to different genres. I don’t just do horror films and it was really interesting to be in this Christian film where there is no sexuality or nudity and people don’t curse provocatively…and it has a family message to it. This is something my mom would probably like. It’s a wholesome movie and I can certainly appreciate a film that embodies such values. Everyone was wonderful to work with on set and I had a lot of fun working on this. I am grateful for the opportunity.”

Marie Gilbert: How does your mother feel about you acting in horror films?”

Genoveva Rossi: “Everybody in my family has always known that I was obsessed with horror movies ever since I was a little kid. My father is probably the blame in that he introduced me to Budd Abbott and Lou Costello meeting the Wolfman and Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr. When I was little I had one wall full of these pictures of these movies because that’s what I was into. Then my father and I got interested Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Barbara Steele, Ingrid Pitt and films like that, but when more modern horror films like Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13^th came out, he sort of lost interest.  He likes the classics like Hammer and Universal Studio Monsters. For me, my interest in horror just expanded and evolved!  ”

                                                             

                                            Genoveva in the Enchantress                                        

Marie Gilbert: “Have you ever done Stage Shows?”

Genoveva Rossi: “Not since high school and college. I was mostly focused on short films in college, but stage was of greater interest to me in high school. At this time, it isn't something that interests me, but we shall see how things evolve down the road. I'm very committed to film at this time, but I'm also open to the vast possibilities that life can offer so it's possible if the right opportunity came up I would go back to the stage!”

Marie Gilbert: “Would you be interested in doing stage shows, now?”

Genoveva Rossi: “That’s a good question…I’m not sure if that would appeal to me. I have this reputation in film that's really growing and evolving. The Digital Dead, a UK magazine recently referred to me as one of the most well-known scream queens in the world so I feel like I need to focus on film.  Film is a fun medium; I like the screenings, the film distribution, the chance to reach an international audience, and being a celebrity guest at Horror Conventions and the interviews and the IMDb credits. It’s a different medium than theatre work. If someone asks me to be in a horror theatre production that would be running for a while, I guess it could be fun being the same character for weeks at a time, sometimes months. I'm open to the possibility.

It’s the opposite of film work where you’re the same character, but it’s during these little snippets of time. You’re hanging on the set rehearsing your lines and then being “on” while you film  your scene and then go back to eating your bagel and drinking your coffee. Then you have to be “on” as the same character, the same voice and the same appearance. You have to remember what you were wearing and be consistent because it might be five minutes later on the film, but actually the scene might be shot a month later in real life. I can’t drastically change my appearance until I wrap up a film. It's all about being able to go in and out of character seamlessly. ”

Marie Gilbert: “I never thought about that, but as a woman, you would have to keep your hairstyle the same way.”

                                                                        

                                                                       

Genoveva Rossi:  “Yes, I could get my hair trimmed so it stays consistent to go along with my current hairstyle until I stop filming, but every now and then, I do wear wigs. This is nice because you don’t have to worry too much. I do wear wigs in several films I had purple hair in Flesh of the Beast: Tsukiko's Curse and I have a black wig in Witches’ Blood, and long black hair in The Enchantress, which I star in and they are filming right now in Buffalo.

                                                                             

I have blond hair in the series In Fear Of which is playing in Italy right now before going to Vimeo on demand. I have a lot of different hairstyles including a short frosted wig that I wore in The Attack of the Brain People and it looks like Tippi Hedren’s hair in The Birds. That wig is authentic hair and was made in 1958, and my grandmother had it up in her attic.”

Marie Gilbert: “Did you travel to Italy for your part in “In Fear Of”?

Genoveva Rossi: “No, the series was filmed here in America, but they were able to get it distributed to Italian T.V.  Yes, it’s funny because sometimes the films that we shoot, the European market has an even bigger interest than the American market does! I know that a few of my films have a HUGE following in the international market. I have been to Italy though for fun of course and I would certainly be open to filming there or most other countries.”

Marie Gilbert: “I’ve heard that before and it’s amazing how shows will do better in the foreign industry. Tell me more about this series.”

                                                                        

Genoveva Rossi: “In Fear Of is produced by Scott W. Perry and I’m featured in four episodes and star in two. One episode is Fear of Sexual Harassment, and I have long blond hair and I fire an employee of mine who comes back for revenge. I had fired him because of sexual harassment. I looked good in the blond hair and looked very Nordic I must say.

In Fear of Blindness, I have my own hair and this episode is directed by Jeremiah Kipp, a very talented director and it stars Susan Adriensen, which is a friend of mine in real life, is going blind and I’m her best friend who is desperately trying to help her.”

Marie Gilbert: “This is so exciting. When will it be out?”

Genoveva Rossi: “It’s going to be on Vimeo on demand and people can watch the different episodes as they are released on demand. Two of my episodes should be released in June and  July, so I’m very excited.”

Marie Gilbert: “Which director so far have you found the easiest to work for? That you learned the most from?”

Genoveva Rossi: “I think I can go with two people that I felt I learned the most from. The first is Jeremiah Kipp and the second one is Christian Grillo. With Jeremiah Kipp, you rarely work with a script, but instead he would give you a treatment that was several pages long with the whole background of your character that you could really think about and bringing that character alive in your mind and giving you this distinct vision. I think Jeremiah understands the mind of an actor more so than a lot of directors do. Yes with his direction in films, he always has a good scope on what he wants the film to be. He has a keen artistic vision.

                                                                  

                                            Genoveva in Apocalypse Kiss                               

Organization is why I enjoyed working with Christian Grillo in Apocalypse Kiss. He gave me the script six months in advance and told me what days I would be doing my scenes. In every scene I shot, he had a four camera set-up and that means something because each camera captures every angle of your scene. Christian Grillo put in a lot of time and effort into the sets and the wardrobe, and it shows in the final product. I like both because of their organizational skills and because they have this distinctive vision of their film and how to achieve it. They are both great artists.”

Marie Gilbert: “Then it is important for an actor or actress to have a director that connects and let’s you know what’s expected.”

Genoveva Rossi: “Exactly, it’s the director’s vision and how you play your part and how say your lines can be done a hundred different ways. He/she understands the greater scope of your scene and your character on the film. Not all directors have an easy time communicating that to the actor. It's wonderful to work with a director that is also a trained actor.”

We are stopping part two of the interview here, but Genoveva Rossi will be back next week with part three of her interview. I want to thank Genoveva for being a guest on my blog. You can find Genoveva at these sites.

 

Find me at Twitter: @GenovevaRossi1 https://twitter.com/GenovevaRossi

Facebook: GenovevaRossi810                https://www.facebook.com/Genoveva810?fref=ts

 

Guest appearances: Meet Genoveva Rossi at Connecticut Horrorfest on August 23rd and Blood and Babes in Long Island Sept 12-14th

Steampunk Granny's Interview with Actress Genoveva Rossi

                                                                   

I have met many talented people either through my Steampunk adventures or my Ghost Hunting adventures and I’ve learned so much from them. I became acquainted with the lovely and talented actress, Genoveva Rossi, through my interviews of Director Chris Eilenstine of The Soulless. I’m very happy to have Genoveva as a guest on my blog.

Marie Gilbert: “How did you get started in acting? Did you always want to be an actress?”

Genoveva Rossi: “This was something that had always interested me since I was very young as far back as nursery school, I was in school plays. In nursery school, I played a Lady Bug, but I don’t remember what I had to say, but I was very excited. I’ve always had that interest and by the time I got into college, I started doing some short dramatic films with college students that were working towards their film study majors and things like that and I was taking acting classes as well.

                                                                   

                                                                               

Then, one day awhile after I graduated from college someone Jennifer Valdes and Fallen Faith had posted on my Facebook wall that they were looking for people to star in a horror film and did I want to be in it. They wrote a part for me and I went out to Long Island to this old haunted house and farm and I played a sexy Satanist in Jack 'o' Slasher, my first horror movie and I met a lot of consistent people on the set of that film, especially, Director, James Balsamo.

                                                                        

 I did his next film, I Spill Your Guts, which actually got huge pretty quickly and James Balsamo became famous all over the world for that. James got didn’t know how big it was going to become and I didn’t know how big it was going to become in the horror genre, but I still get a lot of feedback at Conventions where people recognize me from that film. I also get fans messaging m from all over the film to ask about this film.

I was doing Zombie Hunters at that time and I was in episodes nine and ten as a National Guard soldier. I had met Patrick Devaney the director from Chiller Theatre that I’ve been going to since I was a kid. I asked him if him if he had a part for me and he said, “You know what I have a part for a soldier, which I haven’t cast yet and I was going to cast a man, but we’re living in a modern world where women are soldiers too, so why don’t I cast a woman and why don’t I cast you.” So, the part was given to me and I got to wear camouflage and I got to handle an M-16. This was so interesting and I had fun."

                                                                                     

Marie Gilbert: “This was a television series?”

Genoveva Rossi: “Yes it’s on Zombie Hunters: City of the Dead. It’s been going on for years and each episode is around thirty minutes. I was on episodes nine and ten and there’ll probably be some more episodes down the road as well.

Marie Gilbert: “Now, where can people find these episodes?”

Genoveva Rossi: “People can find them on FYE.com.  It goes on Public Access television stations on some parts of the country. You can Google it. I don’t think it’s on Netflix, but you can probably buy it. There are a lot of places that distribute it and you can buy it. It’s been around for a while and it’s very much like a soap opera and it follows so many different characters lives.”

Marie Gilbert: “You started acting right out of school and it looks like you do mostly horror.”

Genoveva Rossi:  “Yes, but as far as horror, I can go through my IMDb to tell you what isn’t horror. Sanctum Deep is actually a Sci-fi horror film directed by Geraldine Winters. We just shot that pretty recently and it’s been getting some press. Midnight Show is an interesting film and a collection of trailers of all kinds of movies and is more of a fantasy movie. Then we have The Soulless, which is more like a sci-fi drama. It has zombies in it, but it’s not really a horror film. Also, it doesn’t have crude language or sexuality in it and there is not going to be exclusive violence. I would call it a dramatic series with serious dramatic acting.”

                                                                            

                                                             

Marie Gilbert: “I did an interview on Director Christopher Eilenstein here and here and also with actor Joe Parascand on The Soulless and I was invited to the Premier of part one and I was very impressed with the movie. What part did you play in The Soulless?”

Genoveva Rossi: “In part one; I played a part of a zombie and also a person running from people. We don’t shoot on some days consecutively, but I’m a team player and I’ll to help when needed. I pop up as a member of ‘the soulless’ as a soldier, Charlotte Elling going around and killing zombies and trying to save the human race in parts 2 and 3. In fact I actually have a duel role in that I play Madam Serling, a fortune teller and she is in part three.

You don’t meet my characters until part two when we go away on location with the main characters. In part three, Madam Serling pops up and I play that character with a wig, make-up and a French accent and Christopher was impressed on how unrecognizable I was at being the same actor. He said that the people he showed this film to did not know it was me."

Marie Gilbert: That’s really neat.”

Genoveva Rossi: “Well it challenging for me as an actor. I didn’t know if I would be able to pull it off, but after Christopher shot it he said it actually came out better than he expected, which is what you want to hear as an actor.”

Marie Gilbert: “This opens your career up now because other people are recommending you, right?”

Genoveva Rossi: “Yes, that’s right. If things work out and you’re a good actor, you’re reliable and you have a good positive attitude, it gets around. In fact I was working on The Soulless when I got cast for Trailer Heaven, which is being directed by Michael Chartier and we’ve already starting shooting that film, but it’s not on my IMDb yet. Trailer Heaven stars Edward X Young, myself, Alan Rowe Kelly, and a whole bunch of other wonderful actors. I play a reporter in that film, Jennifer Devine.

The film is about a con artist played by Edward X Young who seeks sanctuary in a trailer park inhabited by cannibal transvestites”

Marie Gilbert: laughing says, “This is going to be a good movie.”

Genoveva Rossi: “It’s going to be amazing and thatstically done with the great acting and with the strong cinematography. What I’ve seen so far, it looks spectacular. I play Jennifer Devine as homage to the actress Divine  who acted in a bunch of John Waters' films.”

Marie Gilbert: “I know Devine. I love the actor. Thank you for doing part one of the interview, Genoveva and we'll continue with part two next week.

I have to end part one of the interview with Genoveva Rossi here, dear readers, but don't worry, Genoveva will be back next week to tell us more about her acting career.