Hi all you beautiful perverts. This is Mike, the writer, co-producer, music supervisor and hot young genius behind this wild, way out movie. Actually, there's no way this movie could have happened without the other people on the Pervert! team, but as far as intros go, I figure that's a pretty damn good way to introduce myself.

Speaking of intros, there's no better way to get this here forum started than by saying a few words about Russ Meyer (if you're not familiar with the films of Russ Meyer, please stop reading, rent all of his films, watch them, and then return to reading this). As I gear up to send a copy of Pervert! to Roger Ebert, I pause for a moment to reflect on the fact that our movie has been touted as a 'Russ Meyer homage.' For anyone who doesn't know, before Ebert became a world famous film critic, he worked closely with Russ and wrote the movie "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls," and (though uncredited and perhaps with slightly less involvement depending on which rumors you believe) "Up!" and "Beyond the Valley of the Supervixens." Roger Ebert loves Russ Meyer, he faithfully preserves his legacy through supportive writings and helps protect his reputation. That is why Mr. Ebert may turn out to be one of our harsher critics.

You see, Pervert! is heavily inspired by the filmic style of Russ Meyer. When Jon asked me to write a script for him, his only direction was to write something that would be funny and outrageous but only use a handful of characters, one general location, and a very low budget. I was up for the challenge, but it sounded like three people sitting in a room talking could be boring. So, I started thinking about a family in a house that has weird dynamics, a twisted father and son relationship. Because of the budget, I figured a good way to be outrageous was through the dialogue, and in writing it ,the 'Russ Meyer' style kicked in almost subconciously. When we got to the filming stage, Jon and Guy Livneh (cinematographer) made the decision to shoot in the Russ cinematic style, which was cool for me cause that's exactly how I pictured it.

But, in spite of all these Meyerian shenanigans, we did not set out to create a Russ Meyer copy, or parody, or even an homage really. Yes we love Russ Meyer more than anything in the world. Yes, we intentionally made the film using many of his techniques and stylistic touches. Yes, the movie features a bevy of buxotic beauties. But there is a lot of other weird stuff going on in Pervert! and many other odd and bizarre influences at work. Herschell Gordon Lewis, who made ultra low budget horror movies in the 1960's and created the 'gore film' was a major inspiration. The slasher horror movies of the '70's are prominately in the mix. John Waters style 'shock humor' plays an important role. Cheesy TV movies, Roger Corman classics, '80s grindhouse exploitation, cartoons, mine and Jon's own wacked out sensibilities are all in there and not everything could be considered "Meyeresque."

People started calling Pervert! a Russ Meyer homage because it was easier than having to explain my wordy and somewhat pretentious explanations in the above paragraphs. Hopefully Meyer fans will appreciate that if anything, we were aiming to make a 'love letter' to Russ, an ode if you will, even an update or an answer to the age old question: what if Russ Meyer had directed a horror movie? However you choose to see it, please know that it was all done out of enormous affection for Russ, those other filmmakers, and the twisted audience who likes this movie.

I hope Ebert understands and gives us the thumbs up. It would mean a lot to me, coming from the guy who wrote, "You will drink the black sperm of my vengeance!!!" Thanks for reading--

Best,

Mike