We here at HorrorBuzz recently had the chance to sit down with filmmakers Bobby Smith and Kurt Belcher to discuss their latest indie film Spread: Pigs To Slaughter, which currently has a campaign running on Indiegogo until July 25th. They talked with us about the conception of the idea, their inspiration from classic slasher films, and what backers of the campaign can expect.

Hello Kurt and Bobby! Give us a quick rundown as to what Spread: Pigs to Slaughter is about.

Bobby Smith (BS): I like to say it’s The Big Chill meets Scream, maybe with a dash of Blair Witch. It’s about a group of twenty-somethings who are trying to have a fun weekend after being trapped inside for two years of Covid, but end up being stalked by serial killers wearing cartoon pig masks. While not “found footage,” smartphones are put directly onto the screen from the beginning, giving some scenes a distinctly similar raw feel.

Bobby Smith

Kurt Belcher (KB): Spread started out as me and Bobby just going back and forth on what would make a cool slasher flick. As it evolved, the movie naturally developed a modern social and political bent. We realized the movie could be a pointed, biting satire of conservative thought, dressed up in the trappings of the slasher genre. So, the main villain is a redneck killer trying to build the perfect white society. The main characters – off in that legendary “cabin in the woods” location – fall into the middle of his plan.

Kurt Belcher

You guys are currently running an Indiegogo campaign for the film. Tell us what you plan to use the funds for, what kind of reward tiers backers can receive, and how long it runs for.

BS: We have assembled a truly amazing cast and crew who will be committing about two weeks of their lives in September and it is important for us to pay them for their work. This includes all of our actors as well as our Director of Photography Jessica Gallant, and whomever we bring on for Blood/Gore FX and Makeup.

The more successful our campaign, the longer we can shoot, and the more time and resources we can dedicate to those practical blood and gore FX shots. The Indiegogo campaign gives us the ability to put our pure vision up on the screen, undiluted. We don’t want to bow down to studios or investors. 

I really want people to see this movie so my favorite reward tiers are always those that let me know people will be watching. If backers came in and did nothing but order the digital link, I could totally live with that. However, I have to say that as a collector myself, the DVD and Blu-Rays are going to be awesome! And nothing will be cooler than the Individual Character Covers featuring the actors. 

For folks that are into helping others, there is the “Killer KY” Edition of the DVD and Blu-Ray. It will have an exclusive cover by Kurt, and $10 from each will go toward feeding Kentuckians in need and to creative arts programs at KY schools.

Kurt and I created a cartoon character called Hamson: The Curious Pig with Michael Spivey, and I really think the book collecting all the comic strips will be pretty groovy too!

KB: The funds will go directly to making the movie! With this movie, we are the studio. We want to keep it in the hands of the creatives, so that our vision makes its way unfiltered to viewers. Rewards run from a “Social Media Shoutout” for $10, to Spread T-shirts at $50, to exclusive DVDs/Blu-Rays of the movie for $75, all the way up to a new Samsung tablet prop for $5,000! It runs for another three weeks. So, make sure to back and Spread the word now.

You’ve stated that the idea for Spread:Pigs to Slaughter came about when you both were working together on your previous project Vengeance Turns. How has the creative process been this time around, knowing you have previously worked together, and are this time working on a genre you’ve both loved your entire lives?

BS: We’ve actually talked about this a few times recently– how really easy, organic and just fun the process was in composing this story. It literally just grew from a conversation about the genre. I think that working together on Vengeance Turns gave us a lot of time to get used to how we both like to work, and showed us that we did like collaborating. So that helps right from the start. 

Each of us knowing quite a bit about what the other enjoys story-wise in comics and film made writing together fun on this, and completely different than any other writing experience I’ve ever had. We really just BS’d about stuff and I ended up watching about 50 slasher and horror films between November of 2021 and Feb of 2022, taking notes and texting Kurt as I watched (“Have you seen…?” “Did you notice…” etc.).

Together, we decided on a few big things about the story, then Kurt took all the notes and discussion and made a great first pass at the story itself and was the one to come up with the initial character list. I added “Mazzy” and “Smashed Fruit Guy.” Once we had the story shaped out, I made some suggestions on big chunks that we could each write and then pass to the other for review and consistency checks. We were both very pleasantly surprised to see how well things like dialog and speech patterns lined up as I started putting it all together and composing the screenplay rough draft. We passed that back and forth a few times, but honestly the whole writing process was only a couple days out of all that time, and was more like a role-playing game than a writing assignment.

Bobby Smith on set of Vengeance Turns

KB: Vengeance Turns was a pretty clearly delineated project, with Bobby as writer and me as concept and comic artist. On this one, we’re co-writing, so the dynamic is a little different there. The process of writing the movie was astonishingly quick. Once we decided we were doing this thing, we got to work, writing rough drafts and sending drafts back and forth, constantly changing and building. It only took us maybe 3-4 months from inception to a finished first draft. That’s pretty quick! Working on a horror movie is kind of a dream come true for me. I drew a comic for David Hayes and Source Point Press years ago, called Rottentail, that was turned into a movie by David and the amazing Brian Skiba. I was pretty distant from that whole production but Spread became an opportunity to make a horror flick that belongs totally to Bobby and myself.

Kurt Belcher and Rottentail

Kurt, you have a background as a comic artist. Did your experience in the industry help at all in the creation of Hamson and his creator? 

KB: There’s a lot of crossover between the two mediums, but also a lot of unique elements that one can’t replicate from one to the other. The biggest revelation for me has been seeing these amazing actors bringing these characters to life. With comics and prose, the character stays on the page. They stay in your head, mostly, and “belong” only to you, in a sense. But with film/TV, you’re kind of giving your kids away to someone for them to make their own. And you have a certain vision of that character in your head: How they sound, how they move, what they look like. But when an actor enters the picture, that all goes out the window and they make the character far better than anything you envisioned.

Hamson was really kind of a riff on Bill Watterson and the creator of “Pepe the Frog” and other disgruntled creators that had their creations taken away from them and co-opted by a**hole fringe elements, the way the villain in Spread took Hamson for his own use. For us, it became as much about creations being taken by faceless masses and corporations, the way so much fiction is.

You mention wanting to use as many practical effects as possible, partially as an homage to the movies you grew up with. Will either of you be involved in creating some of those, or how do you plan on pulling off some of the more difficult effects?

KB: Honest answer? I have no idea! I’m hoping we have the money to get someone involved with SFX who can give us some pretty gruesome kills and buckets of blood. We’re not sure just yet who that will be.

BS: I’m a huge Robert Rodriguez fan and am always ready for as much DIY as necessary. Even if we hit the goal on our Indiegogo, we would be shooting this film at a fraction of what a normal Hollywood film would. 

We have one scene that is THE BIG KILL in the film– the one viewers will remember and be talking about for a long time. I have been spending time on my own getting this ready for the “baseline” version that will deliver a very uncomfortable scare even at our lowest budget. No matter the budget level, there will be gallons of blood spilled in Spread: Pigs to Slaughter and I will focus on delivering the right shots and editing to make this a scary and unforgettable experience for viewers!

You both grew up with the classic slasher films of the 80’s, which is one of the biggest inspirations for Spread. What film would you say was each of your biggest influences?

BS: For me, if I was going to narrow it down to just one film I would say Friday the 13th Part 2, and then I would hurry up and add “but Scream, too!”

KB: For me, it was all about the classics: Friday The 13th , Halloween, Scream. A big one that I hadn’t really considered before is Black Christmas from 1974. The movie had a great balance of characters unaware of what danger they were in, humor, and a truly strange killer. I think writing anything horror, that movie’s always at least a tiny influence in the back of my head.

If you could pitch Spread to someone brand new that’s never heard of it until now in one sentence to really grab them, what would you say?

KB: A group of people ready to enjoy a weekend in the woods find themselves at the center of nightmare, when a mysterious victim shows up on their doorstep…and a legendary killer may be on her trail.

BS: If you like scary movies, especially slashers, and want to be the first to see the film that takes the genre to the next level then watch Spread: Pigs to Slaughter ASAP. 

Finally, tell us where people can go to learn more about Spread: Pigs to Slaughter.

BS: We have made it as easy as possible for people to Spread the movie by having www.SpreadTheMovie.com as our website!

KB: From there, people can find photos, videos, and links, including the link to the IndieGoGo campaign. You can find that here:

Spread: Pigs To Slaughter IndieGoGo

And don’t forget to Spread the word!