Is it possible that a 17 minute horror-comedy could possess a wasted, tatted up, machine gun wielding Santa with two creepy elves in tow? Carles Torrens, writer/director apparently says so, twisting the fate of the naughty and nice in his short film Coming to Town starring Daeg Faerch, the young Michael Myers of Rob Zombie?s Halloween. We caught up with creator Carles Torrens just before the film hits the Screamfest LA Film Festival next week!

Coming to Town seemed to pay tribute to other horror, comedy, holiday, or angst films. Where did your get the inspiration?

?Honestly, a lot of people say it?s like Bad Santa, but that wasn?t really one of my references. I was familiar with the film but I wasn?t trying to go down that road. Then I saw Rob Zombie?s Devil?s Rejects, and for some reason I got inspired to write Coming to Town the way I did. I would say I was more influenced by Rob Zombie?s Devil?s Rejects, Quentin Tarantino, and Welcome to the Dollhouse, especially the way that film portrays teen angst. It really captures what it?s like to be in middle school. In Coming to Town I only had 15 minutes to talk about that and obviously didn?t do nearly as good a job as Todd Solonz , but I was still inspired by his film. On the other hand, I did see Bad Santa when it came out in theaters, so maybe it did have an influence on me subconsciously, though I was not trying to reference it directly.?

It?s interesting that you were influenced by Rob Zombie?s Devil?s Rejects and one of the stars of your film Daeg Faerch went on to star in Rob Zombie?s Halloween.

?It was really interesting because when I wrote Coming To Town I wanted Sid Haig who plays Captain Spaulding in Devil's Rejects, to play Claus and for the life of me I tried to get a hold of him and tried contacting his agent but just couldn?t get in touch. But I was fortunate enough to get Howard [Howard Furguson-Woitzman] who is an amazing actor and who I?m working with on my next project to play Claus. I wanted Sid Haig from a Rob Zombie movie, and now Daeg who has been in all of my shorts landed a role in a Rob Zombie movie with Sid Haig in it as the undertaker. Daeg had been in my first movie which was Frank?s First Love where he played a kid zombie. Besides having a very distinctive look I think he?s a great actor. He could look like the plainest person in the world and still be a really great actor.?

How did you come up with the concept for Coming To Town?

?Actually I was on vacation in Turkey and I was in this little town and I saw this old man who looked like a poor man Santa Claus and then I thought what if there was a Santa Claus who catered to poor kids. As I developed it I thought what about not just poor kids but kids who are in need or are kind of rejects. Then I came up with the idea of a girl asking for revenge for Christmas so that?s how the whole story came about.?

Is there a possibility of turning it into a feature length?

?I always thought about it and always thought this had potential to be a feature but the problem is right around the time I did this, or just about a year later that movie Fred Claus came out about Santa Claus and his brother. It?s one of those instances where you?re like did we miss the boat already? I think it has the possibility to turn into a feature.?

What was involved in the special and physical effects of the film?

?That was all the owners of Monster Effects which is one of the best special effects and make-up houses in LA. I feel lucky enough that I worked with them in all of my films and were very generous. When I first approached them when I was making my first film, Frank?s First Love with Daeg, I was only a Sophomore in college and these guys are huge and have done really big films. I was just like hey can you guys hook me up with a couple of effects here and there and they were really nice. We developed a friendship.?

How long did production actually take?

?It took me about 8 months to put it together. Since the first draft of the script up until I finished post was about 8 months. This was my college senior thesis and it?s a low budget short but for a short it was rather generous. I could afford shooting on 35 mm and could afford building all my sets since all the interiors in the film are sets. But then again, being in a college environment I had a lot of equipment for free. I like all kinds of films but I am a big horror fan. I know the guys from Monster Effects, and having them in my movie will always bump up the quality so I always end up doing horror. I really consider Coming to Town a comedy more than a horror film.?

Are you working on anything else that fan?s should look out for?

?I am making another short film shooting in three weeks and it will have Daeg Faerch again in it and it will have some of the actors from Coming to Town but it?s a very different story. It takes place in the middle of the desert and again it?s a horror-comedy but I would say it?s more comedy than horror. The horror elements are very punctual in it. It?s a very dry sense of humor not like a laugh out loud Coming to Town type thing. The story is about teenage romance and organ theft. I?ve been in preproduction since July and we start shooting in three weeks.?

What is your biggest fear?

?I don?t really get scared by horror films or too many things but my biggest fear is that something goes wrong at the shoot like losing a negative or the camera breaks or I get charged a lot of money for it or something.?