TINA PINO ----- ON THE STREET INTERVIEW

TINA PINO

ON THE STREET INTERVIEW 5/5/2012

WHY HER??? SHE ROCKS, BEEN A FRIEND FOR A LONG TIME , AND HAS A COOL WAY OF LOOKING AT HORROR. THAT’S WHY!!! 

ENJOY AND GIVE A SHOUT OUT TO MY FRIEND!

TINA--- I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR BEING APART OF THIS , MY ON THE STREET INTERVIEWS!!!  WE GO A LONG WAY BACK- A COUPLE OF DECADES INTO LOS ANGELES- I APPRECIATTE YOUR SUPPORT AND YOUR TIME IN DOING THIS!!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH~~~~~~  JOHN

 JG - WHAT ERA OF HORROR DO YOU LIKE BEST WHEN YOU DO WATCH HORROR ? (70’S 80’S ETC )

TP -I watch horror from all time periods, but the 70's era will always stand out for me as one of the greatest.   I love the 70's classics  like The Omen, The Exorcist, Carrie, Rosemary's  Baby, The Sentinel, The Initiation of Sarah,  Amityville Horror.  These films were great because they relied on building psychological tension rather than on gore.  The 80's horror movies were faster, shinier, with more violence and advanced visual effects.   The Elm Street & Friday the 13th type movies are fun, but I always prefer understated creepy to screaming and slashing.  Some of my favorite 80's horror were the non-gory The Lost Boys, An American Werewolf in London, and The Fly.  More than anything else, though, I am absolutely in love with psychological horror.  A few of my all time favorites: The Others; Angel Heart; Jacob's Ladder; Let The Right One In; Dark Water; Frailty; The Orphanage; Silent Hill; The Ninth Gate; 1408; The Cell; The Forgotten; The Uninvited. 

 JG -ARE YOU MORE A CREATURE FEATURE GAL OR A WEIRD SLASHER  ,OR EVEN A ZOMBIE GIRL ?

TP -Probably none of these.  Although I've been obsessed with the Resident Evil games, I've never really understood the fear of zombies.  I feel more sad for them than frightened.  If zombies overrun the planet and everyone is eventually turned into a zombie, what then?  There will be no more yummy brains to eat, and all the zombies will be wandering around sad, lost, and hungry, never finding any brains, and not understanding why they are hungry. Those poor zombies.  It's just so sad!  I am drawn to vampires,  ghosts, and magic more than creatures, slashers, or zombies.  I mostly just feel sorry for them.  I can't watch the movie King Kong because it's just too sad for Kong, it makes me cry.  He really got a bum deal.  Slashers and creatures seem sad and lonely.  Maybe if they were more fulfilled they would be nicer to people.  I want to give them hugs and pay for their therapy.  

 JG - KNOWING THAT YOU DON’T WATCH HORROR AS  MUCH – WAS THERE SOMETHING ABOUT THE GENRE  THAT MADE IT SOMETHING NOT AS FASCINATING TO YOU ? OR DID YOU AS SOME FOLKS DID . JUST GROW BORED OF IT ?( SOME FOLKS FEEL ONCE IT GOT ALL GOREY AND  SHOWING EVERYTHING IT LOST OUT FROM THE SPOOKY FEEL TO EVEN BEING DESENSITIZED )

TP -I believe a monster can be disempowered by facing it.  Horror has been useful for me in that way.  I have learned how to disempower my monsters.  Nowadays I don't have the same emotional reaction to horror films, and so for me, watching them is not so much about facing fear anymore.  I feel less of a need for them.  Most of what I watch now leans toward the dark and mystical, but less often the straight out horror.  But I do  still get a craving now and then to get the crap scared out of me, and then I go for the hard stuff. Horror movies for me can act as a brain reset button.  When everything is stripped away but fear, it helps clear away the little toxic cobwebs and put things in perspective.  I feel relieved that I'm not trapped in a cabin with an axe wielding maniac, and not so annoyed over the dumb stuff

JG - WAS THERE A FILM THAT YOU RECALL THAT WAS THE ONE THAT REALLY GOT TO YOU ? ONE TODAY THAT WOULD STILL BRING A LUMP TO YOUR THROAT ?

TP -Rosemary's Baby.  I might have been in the first or second grade when my babysitter let me stay up late on a school night to watch it.  I had to promise not to tell my parents.  I thought it was the most awesome thing in the world.  But then I had trouble sleeping, and I was a jumpy,  jittery mess the next day at school. My teacher sent me to the nurse, and that's when I cracked and confessed to everything.  The school called my mom to come pick me up. The babysitter was fired.  I have always felt guilt over that.

JG - FAVORITE ACTOR- CHRISTOPHER LEE OR PETER CUSHING?

TP - amazing actors and extraordinary people.  If I have to pick one, I'll go with Christopher Lee, I enjoy his work just slightly more. 

JG -DID YOU HAVE A FAVORITE UNIVERSAL MONSTER ? ( DRACULA , FRANKENSTEIN , WOLFMAN ,CREATURE FROM BLACK LAGOON ,INVISIBLE MAN OR MUMMY)

TP -With one major exception being The Phantom of the Opera, the Univeral Monsters have too much of a commercial feel for me to make a strong connection with any of them.  This might sound weird, but especially as a kid, the most interesting monster to me was the devil, and I spent quite of time during my childhood contemplating the possibilites and ramifications of Satan and evil.  The 70's influence is partly responsible for this.  In 70's horror, Satan is always possessing kids and impregnating women, etc.  It was easy to dismiss most monsters as fictional characters, but no one seemed able to assure me that Satan was fictional.  Both religious and non-religious people I interviewed seemed iffy on the subject.  This made him fascinating to me.  Not only did the devil star in movies and books, but he also might be lurking just around the corner!  Wow, what a multi-tasker!

I'll tell you a funny story about this.  I don't remember how young I was, but young enough to hopefully make this story more funny than disturbing.  After serious thought, I became convinced that Satan was only evil due to his ignorance, and could be saved.  I just knew if I had the chance to explain the facts to him, I could help him understand that being evil was making him unhappy, and I could convince him to become good.  So I wrote him a letter explaining all of this.  One day on a family road trip, we were driving through the desert, and stopped to take a break in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere.  This was my chance.  Satan took the form of a serpent, and snakes live in the desert, so he had to be nearby!  I walked out alone as far as I dared until I saw a snake hole.  It was probably a rabbit hole, but what did I know?  I folded the note and put it in the opening.  I may have called down the snake/rabbit hole to let him know it was there.  I was sure Satan would turn into a snake, slither up the hole and take my letter.  I don't know if he ever did or not, I never received a reply.

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Thanks john for asking me to do this.  I have no idea if anyone will be remotely interested in any of the things I had to say, but it was still a lot of fun to say them!  I love your work, and it was a great experience to be a part of it!