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FATHER EVIL is an original horror persona that Lou “Evil Lou” Avilleira has created on his own. Lou is an ordained minister. Father Evil is making several appearances including: Horror Sideshow Market in Allentown, PA February 15-16, www.horrorsideshowmarket.comWicked Weekend February 21st to the 23rd in Mystic, CT www.thewickedvault.com Monster Mania March 13-15th, 2020 in Cherry Hill, NJ http://monstermania.net/ The New Jersey Horror Con and Film Festival, March 27-29th in Atlantic City, NJ http://www.newjerseyhorrorcon.com/ The Great Philadelphia Comic Con, April 3rd to the 5th in Oaks, Pa. www.philadelphiacomiccon.com Texas Frightmare Weekend May 1st-3rd, 2020 in Dallas, TX. www.texafrightmareweekend.com and Scares That Care Weekend July 31st-August 2nd, 2020 in Williamsburg, VA www.scaresthatcareweekend.com
Father Evil has quite a few sinful projects in the works. Lou Avilleira took time to talk to Horrornews.net about his character that he created.
Hi Lou, I’ve loved horror my whole life and I’ve been fortunate enough to meet a lot of amazing people. Father Evil is someone I never forget, I never forget the music you had playing while you lurked around, that evil mischievous smile. You created this incredible character. I also remember my Uncle Nick and Aunt Kim talking so fondly about Father Evil. How did Father Evil manifest?
(Father Evil had “Ave Satani” playing while he walked around.)
Lou- I used to draw for many years, I was somewhat of an illustrator. I made up a character about twenty-five years ago. He was a cross between Reverend Henry Kane from Poltergeist and the Joker. I drew him, he was gaunt and really evil looking. It was written in Latin, “In nominee Patris, et filii, et spiritus sancti, in the name of the father, son and holy spirit” and I had it at a gallery in New Brunswick. It was like a little hip coffee house way before coffee houses were hip. My art was on the wall and it was pretty cool. I never sold it, I gave it away to a kid and no big deal. Fast forward to 2006 and I’m married for two years. My wife and her girlfriend said they were going to a horror convention and she asked, does Lou like horror and my wife said, Lou loves horror. So, we wound up going to Chiller Theatre as a double date.
Her friend and her husband and my wife and I. I had a fantastic time. It was my first time at Chiller Theatre. I had never been to a con before and I loved the fact that people my age were getting dressed up and not being ridiculed. I’m like this is f*cking amazing! So, fast forward a couple years and I go back again. I still see people are getting dressed up and I had a fantastic time. I said to my wife the next time I come; I’m going to get dressed up. My wife’s like, yeah sure, no problem. At that I used to dabble in rudimentary, [prosthetics] I wasn’t that good at applying prosthetics but I was good enough to win at bars for a contest. I would dress up like that and my wife said, let’s not do that because it takes a long time and it cost like fifty bucks a pop for the prosthetics piece. Why don’t you do something simple? At the time I was working at Best Buy and they used to call me Evil Lou because I would make a real evil looking face. So, I decided… what could I do? Less is more. So, what could I do and I said, I got it! What’s really messed up that you haven’t seen at a con. You’ve seen clowns, vampires, Jason’s. What haven’t you seen? A possessed priest because if a priest can get possessed, what chance do you have? I came up with that and it was supposed to be a one-time thing. I wasn’t planning to make anything out of this. I picked up a twenty-dollar costume from Party City and I got a pair white contacts and as soon as I walked in people were like, WHOAA! Mind you this is a twenty-dollar costume and contacts. I walk into this one room in Chiller and there was a director from Italy. He had a line full of people and he excuses himself from the table, runs up to me and they start taking pictures. I looked at my wife and said, did that just happen? She said yeah. I said maybe, I got something here.
Between 2009 and 2011 I was going to cons and dressing up like him. Around 2012 I decided to take it seriously. I saw other people going in with legit outfits. I needed to up my game, I got the real outfit, I got a real collar, a real stole, the vestments, the cross. Everything was real and I noticed the difference. How people reacted to me and I saw other people who were doing this professionally. I thought I’d like to do that too. I saw a friend of mine who is a friend of mine now, back then I knew him passing by. I met him at Monster Mania. It was Mike McManis.
Mike is a great person. He does Pennywise and several other characters. He is another person you always remember.
Lou- Yeah, Mike McManis, people were asking him for pictures and I asked him do you do parties and stuff and he said, yes and handed me a card. I thought, I need to start to doing that. In 2013 my wife saw that I was serious about this and she said you need a website. So, I got a website and then as time went by, I got business cards and I started doing things that other people weren’t doing. Once I knew I was comfortable in Jersey where I knew I was well known and people liked me. Basically, I was at the top of my game and people considered me to be a bad ass. A friend of mine Jay K ( https://www.horrorhappens.com/ ) had called me and he’s from Horror Happens Radio. He said if you really want to be a badass you go to a place where nobody knows you. After I started traveling to all those places, that’s when my popularity really blew up. I just started focusing solely on horror and its grown.
I think because you stay in character and you are so unique as Father Evil, it does intrigue people. You created such a cool, original character.
Lou- Thank you.
You are an ordained minister too. When did you decide to become an ordained minister?
Lou- I believe it was 2013, I became ordained.
Was that because of Father Evil or did you want to become an ordained minister?
Lou- Because, I was like I want to make a business out of this and weddings are huge. It is something that other people aren’t doing in character. I didn’t see anybody doing weddings in character. I have four weddings this October.
(Father Evil: weddings http://www.fatherevil.com/weddings.html )
I love the back story of Father Evil. I know that your son was involved but will Sarah ever be involved?
Lou- I offered her to be involved but she wants to be involved behind the scenes. Ever since she started managing me my business went up.
I love that too that you guys keep this as a family affair. It is important to keep that family unit.
Lou- That’s the only way you will succeed in show business. You can’t be married and just one person does it and one person resents it.
I agree. Do you remember the strangest or the most outrageous reaction that someone had to seeing Father Evil?
Lou- At Chiller Theatre, there was this one guy. I knew I spooked him bad and it wasn’t intentional. He was in his early thirties, I think? I remember I was in the bathroom and I was coming out of the stall and I opened the stall and there’s that guy. He had no idea I was in there and the look on his face was priceless. That’s when I figured, WOW, there’s power in fear. So, I started to practice my facial features and expressions until I mastered them.
Father Evil speaks Latin. Tell us about the process and teaching yourself Latin?
Lou- I started to pick up Latin and I decided to teach myself Latin. I got myself a Latin translator on my phone. I would say it in English and it would translate it in Latin. For instance, I want your soul, or I pray for you in darkness. Or something cryptic like, “I eat your sin, I eat your soul” and it really freaks out people. One of the biggest ones that really freaks people out is when I tell them I love them, “I love them more than Christ.” (Lou goes into full Father Evil mode and it is AMAZING!) Or I tell them, “Come home with me child. Come home, I love you more than Christ.” (Again, Full on Father Evil and its incredible.) That with the music and how intense I am with them; they always remember me.
They would be incredible ringtones or you could narrate anything in the character of Father Evil.
Lou- That’s going to happen in a sense with the video game I have coming out in the fall. I am going to be narrating a lot of the stuff in there.
Is there anything you can say about the video game?
Lou- It will take place in 15th century Spain during the inquisition and the black plague. The gist of the game is you have to go through seven different towns and kingdoms in Spain. You have to defeat these seven generals that run certain sections of Spain. Those seven generals each embody a sin. Within the town there is the virtue and you have to defeat the seven generals, find the virtues to fight me at the end.
That will be awesome. A Father Evil video game!
Lou- Yeah. One of the hashtags # we are going to have is #PlayInTheDark It will be very cryptic, bible versus and all that stuff. It will be cool.
That sounds good. How long did it take you to come up with Father Evil’s backstory and the origin and everything you have come up with so far?
Lou- I’ve had this in my mind for years. Over time I started adding more and more to it. Honestly its probably two solid years of compiling ideas.
(Read Father Evil’s backstory http://www.fatherevil.com/biography-1.html )
If I could be a kid again right now. (Laughing) I would love a Father Evil comic book!
Lou- That’s coming! In digital format. It will be out and it will be on the origin of when he was Father Luis Evilleira.
Were you always a horror fan?
Lou- Always. My mother introduced me to horror at the tender age of six. We were watching her favorite movie, The Exorcist. That’s when I cut my teeth on horror was The Exorcist. I became so engrossed in horror. It was almost a mental state of masochism because I hated being scared but I loved the feeling. It’s basically I wanted it so bad and I got scared but I thrived off of that high even as a child. When I got older, I used to be afraid of the monster under my bed until I became the monster under my bed.
I agree. You became one of the greatest characters we have.
Lou- Thank you.
I grew up loving horror movies and I had some bad stuff happen to me. I thought, wow these movies are amazing. My friends would wind up at our house and my mom is an artist and never judges. She looks at stuff like art. I always found horror to be an escape. It was better than the real horror going on.
Lou- It was therapeutic.
Yes!
Lou- I grew up on horror and I’ve always loved it.
Did anyone inspire you in life or professionally?
I didn’t have an inspiration. Maybe, yes in some aspects. Mike McManis and Paul Gmitter and some other guys who were doing this professionally before I was. They inspired me in the sense of hey, I could turn this into a business.
What do you want to say to the Father Evil fans that keep following you and that want to see more of Father Evil?
Lou- First and foremost, thank you for being a fan. Its 100% because of the fans that where I am at today. I realize that. I give all my fans that meet me one hundred percent of my time. I want to thank them for believing in me. I love them for that. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.
It was such an honor to talk to you. I contribute meeting you to my Uncle Nick and Aunt Kim who always spoke so highly of you. I always remember Nick lit up. I loved that because like Nick, you keep it family related. You are such a good person and Father Evil is an unforgettable character. Thank you for taking the time to talk with Horrornews.net and me today. I’ve talked to a lot of people about Father Evil and its always amazing and an honor.
Lou- Thank you Janel. No problem, anytime. You’ve been there from the beginning. You’re an OG.
Well, I thank you because you have always stuck out and it was important being in this family situation and I am so happy I got to talk to you. I always love talking to you and I learn a lot. I always remember me and Nick talking and it makes me smile. I remember seeing you and going HOLY SH*T, WTF, this guy is awesome.
(Laughter)
Lou- Thank you so much Janel. I really appreciate that.
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“Horror is supposed to be unsettling.” Lou
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