Interview: Paul Logan

Paul Logan (“Code Red,” “Killers,” “Sniper: Special Ops“) stars in “The Horde,” directed by Jared Cohn. It is truly an ass kicking mix of Horror and Action. The film comes with an all-star cast including, Bill Moseley, Costas Mandylor, Vernon Wells, Nestor Serrano, Sydney Sweeney, Tiffany Brouwer, and Matthew Willig and Paul’s dog also stars. We need to know one additional thing? Why was this man not in “The Expendables?”

“I was involved with every single aspect from pre-production till today and I think we have something good.” Paul Logan

“The Horde” is a film that we need right now in the Horror world. Why did you write “The Horde?”

Paul Logan: The reason I wrote the story is because I wanted to do a film for myself. I’ve written six scripts and the reason this one came about was most horror films are the same. It’s a bunch a kids, they go into the woods, the killer hunts them down one at a time. You have seen it a million times but you’ve seen it a million because that’s what the horror audience wants, expects and enjoys. I always thought what would happen with the same scenario with a bunch of kids going off in the woods on a nature photography trip with their teacher, a bunch of “The Hills Have Eyes” type people, you know cannibalistic type mutant just nasty people hunting them down but you had one person in the group who was an ex-Navy Seal, who was special forces that could fight back and turn the hunters into the hunted.

“The Horde” has such a great cast, what was it working with everyone?

Paul Logan: I called in all my friends on this one.

You have done everything from acting to producing. What do you think you have learned the most from and what has been the most challenging?

Paul Logan: I’ve done the most acting wise obviously and as far as stunts, the only thing I do stunt-wise is my own stunts. As far as fights, stunts and driving. I do all that myself because I can and because I like to bring that believable to the character. Writing, I’ve been pretty lucky. I have a really good formula for writing. I get an idea and throw it into my phone in the notes section and I kind of outline it and flesh it out. I do a skeleton time line and start filling in the blanks. All of my films have been hand written in a notebook. I can hand write as fast as I think. The writing has come easy as well. The hardest thing obviously is getting a film funded these days. You can have the best script in the world but if you cannot get it funded, you are lost. That is what was great with the girls from 313 Films.  I showed them the script and I included little clips from other horror films and showed myself doing some action to show them what the film would look like and here we are on opening day of “The Horde.”

Who influenced the action part of you and who has influenced you? (Why was Paul Logan not in “The Expendables?”)

Paul Logan: I am such a big Stallone fan. I would love to be in the next Expendables. That is the kind of stuff I want to do, stuff like Jason Statham, Sly, Hugh Jackman and Dwayne Johnson. The funny thing I grew a really skinny kid who was bullied and picked on every day. I graduated high school six foot, 145 lbs. I was tiny like a rake. I started martial arts when I was thirteen but I was still really thin. So when I got to college at 17, I got a poster of Stallone from “Rambo” with that RPG and he jacked and I said, I want to look like that and I joined a gym! Slowly and surely I learned and started gaining muscle and putting on weight.

The reason I look the way I do and I’ve always admired Stallone’s characters because his characters are always the underdog that goes up against the odds and has to overcome that and that is what I tried to do with “The Horde” too. This guy is out there alone, unarmed against you know literally a horde of these savage, cannibalistic freaks that are all armed to the teeth and you have to figure out a way to beat them out and pick them off to save everybody. I would love to work with Sly. I would love to meet Sly Stallone just to say thank you to him for inspiring me and hopefully I can inspire some young as well.

What advice would you offer to a person who wants to accomplish something but may have some doubts?

Paul Logan: I would tell them honestly you only live once. Life is very, very short. I lost my dad suddenly in 1993 and I had to try take something “good out of it,” and the only thing I could take out of that is life is short, live everyday as if it was your last and never leave anything unsaid. I kind of adapted that philosophy. It makes you take chances. If there is something out there you want to do or something out there you want to accomplish, do it, and try it. If you fail, you get up and dust yourself off and try again. You are the only person that can do it. You can accomplish anything. Don’t let failure or rejection deter you.

What was the most challenging and the most fun you had filming “The Horde?”

Paul Logan: I wanted to bring a lot of MMA, UFC techniques to this so a lot of the fight scenes I loved doing. I also wanted to say thank you to Tony Snegoff (stunt coordinator) who was my stunt coordinator and brought all these amazing stunt actors in. They are the guys that are making me look like a hero. That being said, I loved doing the fight scenes. The fight scene at the end between Stone and Crenshaw is awesome.

That is like Batman versus Bane, that fight was amazing between Matt and I. We went at it in that fight. The challenging one was the water stuff. Anytime you are dealing with water, obviously it’s another element. But the problem with that is and it actually doesn’t show in the film which is good is that was a man-made lake in that scene. It was almost too shallow. You are standing in mud so you can only move so fast in mud.  The scene where I pop out from underneath the water I had to literally crouch down so I was doing this full squat underneath the water, holding a bow sideways so you couldn’t see my head coming out of the water. I was twenty five, thirty feet from shore and it was still only waist deep. That was challenging but everyone likes that scene. That slow-motion shot of me popping out of the water is epic. Also chasing the sun, chasing the moon you know because we did a lot of night shoots and we had a limited amount of time before the sun comes up. Other than that it was a pretty smooth shoot.

What would you like to say to the fans who will be watching “The Horde?”

Paul Logan: I want them to enjoy it. I want them to sit down, strap in, buckle up and pop some popcorn and for ninety minutes be riveted to their seat, you know between all the horror, the intensity and scares, action, kick ass fight scenes. I want them to literally put themselves in the position of these people and these kids and hope to God that a John Crenshaw would be there to save them. I want them to feel the dread and intensity. When John takes out these guys, I want the audiences to cheer. I tried also to wrap this whole thing up in a love story.

What projects are you working on next and do we expect a sequel to “The Horde?”

Paul Logan: Well, I’ve written six scripts and the next one I am going to do that I’ve written is called “The Edge of Madness.” It is basically “Die Hard” in an insane asylum. It will be a lot of action. As far as “The Horde,” I have a couple of ideas for a sequel to that. God willing, the audience likes it, I am ready to bring John Crenshaw back to kick some ass.

The film is fun to watch, filled with action, great horror and a terrific cast. What do you want for the future of “The Horde?”

Paul Logan: I want people to want to watch it and re-watch it and take that ride. When Halloween comes around they’re like oh, let’s watch “The Horde.” I want it to be one of those fun, scary and on the edge of your seat movies. I wanted to showcase what I could do as an actor, writer and producer. I wanted to make something entertaining for the audience, for the fans because without my fans, I don’t have a job.