The 1990s were a special time in the world of cinema. Unbridled creativity ran rampant, independent of budget, style, or even good taste, resulting in the very niche market of direct-to-VHS releases. It is a lawless format; practically a genre unto itself. Now, three decades later, there’s still a demand for the so-bad-it’s-good kitsch, and filmmaker Matt Parks and comedian James Mullinger are only too happy to supply. The two have teamed up to create The Minister, a short homage to the direct-to-VHS action movies of the early 1990s.
“This short film exists because when I was a kid, I was really into movies, and my favourite genre to rent at the video store was the muscle-bound, explosion heavy movies of guys like Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Van Damme,” says Parks.
With the average star turning out a Hollywood blockbuster only once a year, Parks says they couldn’t keep pace with his appetite. Especially when Parks was watching multiple films each night.
Parks began casting a wider night with his rentals, and seeking out B-level action movies: films that gave top billing to actors like Michael Duddikoff, Cynthia Rothrock, Don “The Dragon” Wilson, and more you might have never have heard of it without taking a near-professional interest.
“Even though they were a far lower budget than the top shelf stuff, I grew to appreciate them,” says Parks. “One thing they aren’t is boring, and even though they’re kind of shitty, they’re always fun to watch. I promised myself that if I ever made my own movie, that the one thing it wouldn’t be is boring.”
Five years ago, at the age of 34, Parks finally set out to make his dream of becoming a B-level film producer come true.
“James Mullinger, who’s kind of a big deal, agreed to be in the film after we had met at Rib Fest and then bonded on Facebook over our mutual love of low-budget films and VHS collecting.
“We both have fairly sizeable and impressive piles of tapes. I pitched it to him and he said yes immediately, no hesitation.”
“Matt Parks was a joy to work with and he is one of a handful of people in the world that I would work with on any project,” says Mullinger. “He’s on my ‘Yes list’. Whatever he asks me to do, I’m there. He’s fun and smart in a way that I suspect Quentin Tarantino was in 1993 and Kevin Smith was in 1994. And those auteurs would love The Minister. My childhood was spent watching movies like The Minister and wishing I could be in one because playing sports and being intelligent and having friends were not options for me. Movies were my life and even though I’m better adjusted now that I was back then, watching B movies is still my favourite thing to do.
“To say this film is a career highlight for me is an understatement. Have I been in movies with significantly bigger budgets? Yes. Have I worked with well know movie stars? On occasion. But I live for movies like The Minister and Matt has quite remarkably created something as beautiful and brilliant as anything Troma or Roger Corman. I don’t watch my own stand up. I don’t read my own articles. I can’t watch myself on TV. The Minister is the first project I’ve ever been involved in that I can watch happily with a big, wide grin on my face. And the fact that my hero Lloyd Kaufman shot a special intro for Matt’s premiere after watching The Minister is the icing on this very delicious, very low budget, cake.
“What is very cool is that a lot of movies have been shot in Saint John and used the city as a substitute for, say, eighties Brooklyn. But The Minister is actually set in Saint John, New Brunswick and features some of my favourite parts of the city including Cape Spencer. So ultimately The Minister is a combination of my two favourite things in the world: B-movies and Saint John.”
When it came time to put the project together Parks brought on his wife Shannon Parks, Eric Braun and Rick Keleher as producers. Only Mullinger and Braun had any prior filmmaking experience. Despite having read several books and watched many YouTube videos in preparation, Parks says that he found the process to be somewhat challenging.
While The Minister has a total runtime of just 14 minutes, it took over four years to complete with the team launching themselves headfirst into the learning curve.
“I quickly realized that filmmaking is, perhaps unsurprisingly, really hard,” says Parks. “We had several missed steps and false starts. A half dozen scenes had to be re-shot, sometimes three times. We had to build up the gear, costumes, props and everything else. It’s kind of a period piece, that takes place in the ‘future’, so it took quite a bit to pull off in the way that I had envisioned it. There are over seventy unique ’90s authentic costumes, hundreds of props, special effects, fake blood, dozens of characters and locations.”
When the film had its debut screening back in August 19, 2019, alongside Lloyd Kaufman’s Return to Nuke ‘Em High, it was in front of a sold out audience. But they only squeaked by, having finished the film just the day before.
Now, half a year after its debut, The Minister has finally released a trailer.
“It really gives a good impression of what this film is like,” says Parks. “It’s 14 mins of that. It’s got angels, magic, explosions, gun fights, blood, ninjas, cyborgs, hackers, plot twists and a lot more. Anything to keep it from being boring!!”
The Minister is currently in consideration for 15 film festivals across North America, with two more showings being planned in Saint John, New Brunswick later this Spring. Keep a watch on The Minister’s Facebook page for more details.
The Minister: FACEBOOK