1 of 3 | Desiree Staples (L) and Barbara Crampton star in “The Blue Diamond,” on BloodY Bites Friday. Photo courtesy of DesiMo Productions
Horror legend Barbara Crampton, who currently stars in the short The Blue Diamond, on Bloody Bites Friday, said the recent success of Backrooms and Obsession bodes well for new horror filmmakers.
Crampton’s first horror movie was 1985’s Re-Animator. Over her career, she has worked with distinct directors and recently produced some of her own films.
In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Crampton said Backrooms and Obsession prove that unique voices will find an audience.
“There’s no formula,” Crampton said. “Just let the creatives do what they do and be creative. That’s the key. So I’m glad to see that these young filmmakers have really risen to the top and gotten a platform to show their work.”
Backrooms is based on writer/director Kane Parsons’ YouTube series. Crampton watched Obsession writer/director Curry Barker’s shorts on Instagram.
“I thought that he was really great in the short form,” Crampton said. “He definitely had a creep factor and the timing of everything and the editing was so good because there was no fat on anything.”
The Blue Diamond is from writer/director Sam Fox. It stars Crampton as Jacqueline, a 1980s ski maven who may actually be a cult leader, and Desiree Staples as her estranged daughter, Alison.
“You do have to find your own voice and try to be as unique as possible and true to what you want to do, not try to do a copycat,” Crampton said. “That’s art so you’ve got to be your own person. Clearly, these guys have done that and I feel like Sam has done that.”
The Blue Diamond has played at film festivals since 2024. Fox intended the short as a calling card for a feature length film, and said the viability of horror long precedes Backrooms and Obsession.
“I’ve been saying to investors, ‘You don’t understand. Horror almost always makes money. It doesn’t need big stars. We can make it for not a lot of money and audiences love it and they will go to the cinema to see it,'” Fox said.
Fox also drew inspiration from her father, whom she said was a narcissist. When Desiree confronts Jacqueline, Jacqueline both wants her daughter back, and still has a nefarious agenda.
“Even narcissists have yearnings and feelings, I think,” Crampton said. “To marry both of those components into one scene, I really wanted to do that to pay homage to this character that’s based on Sam’s dad.”
The short only alludes to what Alison’s childhood was like. Fox said Alison’s monologue was originally longer, but even the deleted material informed Desiree’s character, and can still be explored in the feature.
“Jacqueline wants Alison to be this Barbie doll imitation of her,” Staples said. “In the monologue, Alison loves to talk in metaphors and distance herself from the situation. So there were a lot of fun nuggets there that I’ll have to bring back for the feature.”
Crampton recognized a bit of Jacqueline’s behavior in her own history.
“I feel like I’ve met some narcissists in my life and I feel like I’ve dated some,” Crampton said. “I was definitely romanced by somebody who treated me as if I was the second coming, and then just had nothing but horrible things to say about me.”
Jacqueline and her followers’ ’80s ski bunny looks were also a component of her narcissism, Fox said.
“Another thing about narcissists is a lot of times they’re stuck in the past or in their heyday,” Fox said, adding that Jacqueline maintains her ’80s cult as “a kind of Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard idea.”
Fox co-wrote the short with Addison Heiman, whose own feature Touch Me was a hentai love story. There is a hentai tentacle in The Blue Diamond and will be expanded in the feature.
“The more tentacles the better, we always say,” Staples said. “More tentacles coming in the feature.”
Fox said the feature would require a multi-million dollar budget which she has not been able to secure as a first-time feature director. She plans to make a less expensive feature to establish herself first.
“Then when they’re ready to throw the money at me, it’s going to be balls to the walls crazy,” Fox said of the Blue Diamond feature.
Crampton’s ’80s classics remain popular. She attended 40th anniversary screenings of Re-Animator last year with co-stars Jeffrey Combs and Bruce Abbott, representing the late writer/director Stuart Gordon.
“Re-Animator still holds up because it was very bold in its time,” Crampton said. “I guess you can’t be afraid to be outrageous. It just further cements what we’re talking about.”
Crampton is surprised that she has fielded fewer requests for her follow-up with Gordon, 1986’s From Beyond.
“I feel like that was my better role in that universe, but Re-Animator’s Stuart’s seminal movie so there was more of a hoopla for that,” Crampton said.
Both films impacted Fox, she said, whose older sister showed her horror movies while they grew up in the’ 90s. Fox personally requested an anniversary screening of From Beyond.
“Rosemary’s Baby was my favorite movie when I was five,” Fox said. “I [expletive] loved Barbara. So did my sister. When she said yes to the role I called her and I’m like, ‘You are not going to believe this.’ It was a really beautiful moment because it’s like the things that shaped me are now becoming part of my life.”
