GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE BLOOD
We spend some quality time with scream queen Debbie Rochon
By Robert Newton

Fay Wray from King Kong. Jaime Lee Curtis from Halloween. Linnea Quigley from, well, practically every scary B-movie produced in the 1980’s. Debbie Rochon is among the ranks of a long and storied tradition of “scream queens,” actresses whose association with horror films has made their names synonymous with the genre. With over 100 film credits in the last 20 years, the 39-year-old Canadian-born gal is a marquee name among the scream set, and by having stayed around for so long, she is starting to enjoy success as more than just a pretty face with a nice body, something she proved recently after some rather startling health news.

“I usually weigh around 110 to 115,” Rochon explains, unabashed, “but quite suddenly, my weight went up to 145. I had a slew of other symptoms, and soon found out I had a tumor.”

The tumor was in her brain, and close enough to her eyes to make surgery an unacceptable blindness risk. Fortunately, however, the tumor was benign and treatable with medication.

“If you look closely in the movie,” she notes, “you’ll see I was heavier during the shoot.” Heavier, yes, but no less lovely, a word that describes much more than the way she is put together physically.

The movie is Bikini Bloodbath, produced by a new Connecticut-based outfit called Brightly Entertainment. It is a very low-budget B-movie, residing in the always profitable “lipstick lesbian slasher comedy” niche.

“I’m very proud to be friends with these guys,” she says. “Thomas [Edward Seymour], Jonathan [Gorman], Bruce [Seymour] and Sheri [Toczko] invited me to work after [Land of the] College Prophets didn’t work out for me, and I was just so happy to meet them. On one hand, the shoot was so much fun because the experience was so hilarious. On the other hand, it will always serve as a personal reminder of where I was at that time in my life.”

Rochon had such a good time and became such good friends with the Brightly crew that she did two more Bikini Bloodbath movies (in each managing to get killed and somehow return in the next), with a fourth scheduled to shoot this summer (the first one hits stores on December 11).

“To my delight, the movie is getting an incredible response,” she says enthusiastically. “It’s proving that a guerilla movie like this one doesn’t have to have a huge budget to put it on the map.”

With nearly a dozen films preparing for release at any given time, Rochon would not seem to have to work at anything else, but she does, employing two other talents she has – radio and producing.

“I was working for a company called Moe Greene Entertainment, introducing old horror and sci-fi movies for a television show, and after about five episodes, the company acquired Fangoria.”

Fangoria is known to horror fans as the premier magazine, published since the late ‘70s, and in 2006, it launched Fangoria Radio on Sirius Satellite Radio’s flagship talk station, Sirius Stars (Channel 102). Rochon co-hosts the weekly horror-themed show with colorful Twisted Sister frontman, Dee Snider, with famed Fangoria editor Tony Timpone coming on as a regular guest.

“Dee and I get along great,” she says of the ‘rock star without an attitude,’ mentioning how Snider said that if he had to have a scream queen as a co-host that it would have to be Rochon. “At the beginning, I didn’t know what to expect. We had hosted the annual New York City Halloween Parade for TV together before, but I only knew him on a once-a-year basis. People who don’t really know each other who have a chemistry like we do is an amazing thing.”

While most people who already know Rochon’s name will know her from lighter fare like Bikini Bloodbath, Broadcast Bombshells and schlock champion Troma’s Poultrygeist, she does serious horror films like Nowhere Man and the anticipated upcoming features The Tell-Tale Heart and Colour From the Dark as well, guided by her inner horror fan.

“I adore making serious horror movies,” the part-time writer says, mentioning how Colour From the Dark, based on a story by New England’s own master of horror, H.P. Lovecraft, brought her to Italy, the cradle of Euro-horror.

“Working on this film was pretty life-changing. [Director] Ivan [Zuccon] is one in a million, and I’ve never worked with someone quite like him before. He’s completely [great Italian horror director Lamberto] Bava, and he reminds me of early [also great Italian horror director Dario] Argento. There’s so little going on in Italy right now, so he’s the Great Italian Hope. It’s so exciting to have that part of you reawakened.”

Rochon’s love of this kind of horror reminds us how everyone is a fan of something, which brings up the subject of some of the obsessed fans that she has encountered.

“There are always a few extreme people,” she says, her tone turning slightly glum. “There is one that’s really sad, and very very attached to me. At one point, this person wrote on their Myspace page that they were going to commit suicide, and they stopped answering the phone and emails. I bet they never in their wildest dreams thought that I would call the police to make sure they were OK. You can’t mess around with stuff like this, because in this day and age, anything can happen and does.”

Add to Rochon’s compassion her intelligence, charisma and natural talent, and there is no question that the next chapter in her life is going to be even more productive than it has been until now. And those traits paired with the major health challenge that she overcame recently will make entering the fearsome 40-and-up age bracket no challenge for her at all.•••

Visit Debbie Rochon at her official website at www.DebbieRochon.com.