April Burril is a chainsaw wielding maniac (oh, we mean that in a good way) from Maryland. Her presence as a scream queen has blossomed everywhere from print, web and film. After watching the chainsaw sally show webisodes, it receives the Damned Society bite of approval! Gore, laughs and blood curling screams...devils and ghouls, we give you - chainsaw sally.

DamnedSociety: Tell us a little about April Burril, how is she different from Chainsaw Sally?

April: Well, for starters, I generally don’t kill and eat people for minor infractions like “too many items in the Express Line at the grocery store”. Also, contrary to Chainsaw Sally, I’m constantly turning in my library books past the due date! And, I guess I dress a little differently. But only because it’s terribly difficult to function in the normal world dressed in blood spattered cut-offs and ripped up thigh-high stockings (but I usually do dress like that if I’m going out!). Actually… since the character was built based mostly on my own personality (with a bunch of slashers, not to mention the fantastic Tank Girl, thrown in), I’m probably more like Sally than not like her.

DamnedSociety: Were you always interested the horror genre?

April: Yes, absolutely. I’ve been a horror fan since childhood. It started when I snuck a copy of Stephen King’s Night Shift off my mom’s bedside table when I was in 4th grade. I’ve been hopelessly hooked ever since. Both movies and books in the genre have been a big part of my life – lots of Stephen King and H. P. Lovecraft for the books. Lots of… well anything I could watch for the movies. And let’s not forget the fun run of horror tv shows – Tales from the Darkside, Freddy’s Nightmares, Monsters…. I never missed an episode if I could help it!

DamnedSociety: So you’ve got the Chainsaw sally movie, and the Chainsaw sally show. Can you tell us a little bit about the movie?

April: The movie, of course, came long before The Chainsaw Sally Show. It was the second film put out by Forbidden Pictures (which went under the name Planet X Entertainment at that time). It basically follows the story of Sally Diamon and her very VERY strange brother, Ruby, both of whom live in a little trailer out in a remote piece of farmland near the town of Porterville. By day, Sally works as the town’s librarian. It’s here that she learns of a plan for a developer to purchase the land she and her brother live on and turn it into a housing development. Obviously, she can’t let that happen, so she has to hunt down everyone involved and…. Take care of business, before the wherabouts of her and Ruby are discovered. That’s the main plot, punctuated by a variety of Sally-style killings. Because, though she makes a regular paycheck at her job, Sally and Ruby prefer a very special kind of diet. Wink, wink. Though, Ruby is portrayed by Azman Toy in the show, in the movie he’s played by Alec Joseph, who had worked with us on many previous projects and for whom the role of Ruby was originally designed. There are also a couple of our own personal horror heroes in the film – Gunnar Hansen (the original Leatherface, who plays Sally and Ruby’s father in the flashback scenes) and Herschell Gordon Lewis (known as The Godfather of Gore – responsible for bringing us such lovely twisted films as Bloodfeast and 2000 Maniacs. He plays Mr. Gordon, owner of Gordon’s Hardware Store). Both men were delightful to work with and have since surpassed horror icon status to become our dear friends.

DamnedSociety: And what about your show, where do you come up with the ideas for them?

April: JimmyO, being the writer, is of course responsible for most of it. But, especially in the case of miscellaneous death scenes, he does like to hear suggestions and uses them when they work. The conversation usually starts out with someone griping about a common pet peeve – a person cutting you off on the road, or a slimy date-rape type of guy, or a non-handicapped person parking in a handicapped parking space. Then we move on to what horrible, disproportionately awful thing we’d like to have happen to them. Then JimmyO and the rest of the crazy people here at Forbidden Pictures bring it all to life. Throughout the episodes, there is a running plot that builds and climaxes at the end of the season, and this will be true of all future seasons of “the Show” as well.

DamnedSociety: How long does filming generally take?

April: It’s a bit hard to pin that down, as everyone is currently doing this in addition to their “dayjobs”. So, it’s a lot of evening and weekend work with the occasional use of sick days. We did discuss this exact question once and figure it to be about 1 week per episode, if we were filming every day.

DamnedSociety: We have seen you just about everywhere, whether it be Scars magazine or Conventions – what was your first big “break?”

April: There was a considerable gap of time between the filming of the Chainsaw Sally movie, which was in late 2003 and early 2004, and its eventual release in Feb. 2007. During that time, there were a few articles in horror mags both in the States and overseas, which was something of a break. But what really felt like a “break” to me was going to Monster Mania in NJ at the long-awaited release of the movie, with a few cartons of dvds and watching those movies just sell like hotcakes! So many sold, that the Shockorama sales rep who was with me actually had to send someone back to the warehouse to get more. It was so great to see so many people wanting to see it!! And… I had my first real line at the table. That was pretty exciting. That folks were actually waiting in line to meet me and buy the film. In case anyone from that particular convention is reading this – let me take this opportunity to thank you for that very special moment!

DamnedSociety: Do you have a “real job” (god I dread that phrase) aside from the horror field? What pays the bills?

April: Hahaha! Yes, I do have a … gulp… real job. The movies aren’t paying the bills… yet. I work as a graphic designer for a flag, banner and sign company. I design and set up art for them, as well as design and build the company’s website. I also freelance as an illustrator. I do various subjects, but my focus is in children’s books. Yeah, that’s right, tearing people to pieces with power tools on some days,… drawing cute little bunnies to amuse the kids on others.

DamnedSociety: What are some of your favorite horror movies?

April: The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is my number one. It’s the only movie that’s ever given me recurring nightmares. And once I watched the dvd and listened to the commentary, my respect for cast and crew just grew a hundred fold.

Besides that, there are so many good ones out there… Return of the Living Dead, American Psycho, The Exorcist, Todd Browning’s Dracula, Halloween (original), Nightmare on Elm Street (1 and 7/new nightmare are my favorites), The Shining (the original and the mini-series), 2000 Maniacs, The Wicker Man (original), Ice Cream Man, The Dentist, Cabin Fever, The Mist, and the list goes on. Oh, and let me not forget the original version of “The Blob” which for some reason STILL manages to give me a little shiver – especially the scene near the beginning when the old man is screaming and crying as the blob (still relatively small) is eating away his arm.

DamnedSociety: Do you have any big plans for this year?

April: Certainly there will be more filming going on. I’m not sure if the next project will be season 2 of The Chainsaw Sally Show or another non-Sally project we have coming up – a punkrock girls vs. mobster vampire flick titled Bad Kitty. Either way, I can’t wait! In May, I’m slated to film a part in Cameron Scott’s upcoming apocalyptic flick, “Post Mortem America 2021.” I’m really looking forward to that. And sometime in the summer, I’m dawning some serious make-up effects (and not much else!!) in order to play Raziel, Queen of the Reptoids in David Gwin’s “Reptilians.” Also, after taking a couple years off, I’m intending to re-enter the convention circuit.

DamnedSociety: What did you do  for this Valentines day? Go on a murder spree?

April: As romantic as a murder spree can be… if done correctly… JimmyO and I went to see The Wolfman – and, being big fans of the original Universal picture w/ Lon Chaney Jr. – we liked it a lot. After that, we continued celebrating Valentine’s Day and our mutual affection for werewolves. You know …. lots of howling, biting, and scratching! Rrrrr!

DamnedSociety: What is something that you MUST accomplish in your lifetime. Whether it be horror related or not?

April: Sky dive. I’ve always wanted to skydive. Beyond that, I just want to enjoy life, do what I love, with people I love. And I’m well on my way!

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