Chris Siverston's adaptation of Jack Ketchum's novel The Lost was screened at the NYCHFF on Thursday night.  A story about Ray Pye, suburban teens, and mass murder.  Its chock full of incredibly hot chicks (including Robin Sydney who will burn your pants off) - sex, drugs, rock and roll, and some of the most disturbing violence brought to the big screen in a long time.  Author Jack Ketchum was in the audience and watched the film along with all who attended, and following the credits, festival director Michael Hein introduced him to everyone in the theater - where he took center stage and answered questions from the audience.

Michael Hein:  I would like to introduce the man who wrote The Lost - the man who created Ray Pye and that insanity...  Mr. Jack Ketchum...  (applauds) - And for those of you who didn't like the movie - pick up the book...

Jack Ketchum:  Yes - in the ending credits, the last card is, "If you don't like the movie - buy the book."  (laughs)  Did you guys have fun?  A little different, yes?

Q:  I heard the movie was a true story.  How much did the movie follow what really happened?

Jack Ketchum:  Uh, very closely.  I wrote the book based on a story that happened in a different place and a different time.  But what they did was they took my book and made it very, very close to the film.  So, its like two steps away from the actual crime.  But Ray Pye actually existed.  He did put the goddam crushed beer cans in his boots.  He was that kind of idiot.

Q:  What state did Ray Pye live in?

Jack Ketchum:  ...Damn - I think it was Wisconsin?  I think...  But you know what?  A great reference source - Bloodletters and Bad Men by Jay Robert Nash.  I've stole...  I should be paying him.  I've taken little bits and pieces from all of his stuff.  There's a great three volume edition of American crime going all the way back to the Revolutionary War straight up to now.  Nash is great.  So - you can look up Charles "Smitty" Schmid (here's his Wikipedia profile) - that's the real Ray Pye.

Q:  The writing was great in this movie - especially the dialogue.  The scene at the table when theyre on that date and having that Q & A back and forth just blew me away.  I was wondering how much of it was taken from the actual novel?

Jack Ketchum:  That was all taken from the book.  (long pause)  ...and...  was the dialogue I had... with a woman, once...  (everyone laughs because the male character they're referring to was a complete psycho) 

Q:  Talk about the title - The Lost?

Jack Ketchum:  The Lost.  Actually the book was set in the 1960's.  There was a notion that, there were people who went to war in Vietnam, the people who went to college durin' Vietnam, and there were people in the middle - and those were "the lost".  So, they couldn't, in the film - they didnt think they they could actually do the period.  That was strictly money.  They still got the idea down, I think.  That there are people in the middle who are just not... they dont go anywhere.  These kids - theyre all going nowhere - theyre "the lost". 

Q:  There was a handsome bartender...  (everyone laughs - the bartender in The Lost was played by Jack Ketchum)...  What amount of research did you do while preparing for this role? 

Jack Ketchum:  (laughing)  No - I did!  I did do research!   My neighborhood bartender told me exactly how to pour - to hold it exactly right...   Thank you...

Q:  Did the producer and director of this approach you from the start - did they seek out your blessing before they went ahead with this?

Jack Ketchum:  Lucky McKee came to me and said he wanted to do this.  And - I didn't know...  At the time - I had been getting a lot of DVDs from people who were totally untalented.  They were just awful.  And I said, "Oh shit - here's another one - his name is Lucky!  Fuckin, Lucky!"  But I put in his DVD and finally like after a month I played it, and Im like, "This guy's really good!"  And I said, "OK - whatever he wants Ill do it."  And he basically bought this for his best friend - Chris Siverston - to direct.  Chris did the black and white thing in May, if you've seen May.  Chris sent me an initial screenplay which was very, very good - very close to the book.  He even wanted the cat in there - if you read the book there's a cat, which would have added 20 minutes to the story.  They did just great all across the board.  I just said to Lucky recently - uh - he's going to be shooting Red (another Jack Ketchum novel).  And I said, "Why don't you just option everything I own - just option everything."  'Cause these guys are so damned good - they're real - they're nice people.

Q:  Can you talk a little about the casting process?

Jack Ketchum:  I had nothing to do with the casting process and that's good!  No - because I wouldn't have casted the people that they did cast.  I thought that Ed Lauter was a little too old to play that part.  And that proves to me that they're right - because when I saw it - he's fine.  Its good sometimes to just sit back and just let ...

Q:  How about Ray Pye?  Were you satisfied with who played him?

Jack Ketchum:  Oh - completely.  Uh - evidentally, the story goes that the guy who played Ray Pye - when he walked in to audition (Marc Senter) - he already had stuff in his shoes.  So he was all lurchin around like this - and I said, oh yeah, we gotta get him.  That's the guy. 

Q:  Is there any part of the film that scares the shit out of you after seeing it?

Jack Ketchum:  The end fucks me up!  (people laugh and agree)  I watched the end - every time I watch the end - even tonight - it still fucks me up.  Its so intense.  I wish I could have been a fly on the wall that night, when they were shooting that last sequence.  Everybody - all the actors were working so damned hard to get that intensity down.  Even the people who were just in [the ending scene] for the day.  The couple!  It blew me away!

Q:  In terms of the word "fly" - it seemed that whenever Ray was feeling a violence attack coming on, he heard this fly - whats the significance of that?

Jack Ketchum:  Actually Chris [the director] told me about this one - he said that he had a couple of tricks, that he did.  One trick was - the fly thing.  It started when they were outside, early on, his first kill - and the girl slaps a mosquito or fly...

Q:  Is that in the book?

Jack Ketchum:  Yeah.  Well - sort of.  Well - let me finish the question.  The second thing was sort of in the same area.  If you notice - if you watch this a second time - every character has their own color.  Theyre color coded characters.  Ray is black.  Katherine is red.  Jennifer is yellow - because its sort of neutral.  And they did things like that - which are sort of subliminal - but they work.  And I thought that was so smart.

Q:  Any other books that you've done that are based on a true story like this one?

Jack Ketchum:  Pretty much everything that I do is based on a true story.  I did one novel called "She Waits", which is a supernatural novel.  Ive done a few short stories which are supernatural.  Ive done a few ghost stories.  But basically what scares me is...  you assholes.  (laughs)  And why youre here - and why you laugh at Ray Pye.  But - yeah - I basically like to write stuff thats based in reality.

Q:  One thing I like about genre conventions are the fresh ideas.  Take for instance the cops in the movie.  From the beginning - they knew who the murderer was.  They were just fucking with him, until they caught him.  And I love that.  In a normal movie (I think he means "Hollywood") at the climax of the film, the cops would finally figure it out, its Ray, but he has the girls and they get there right before he starts killing them, and they capture him.  Could you talk about that and maybe some other things that just like break the genre mold...

Jack Ketchum:  In my books and in my stories, I want to go against what your expectations are.  I received a compliment somewhere in an interview or something, where someone said, "What you expect to happen, doesnt." 

Q:  Stephen King.

Jack Ketchum:  He said that?  He's said so much damn stuff - great man that he is.  I dunno, I just -

Q:  I think what he said was, "Simply the best working in the business today."

Jack Ketchum:  Thank you - but to your question - what I was after was - something that was simply, um , you wouldnt expect.  I dont want you to ever be able to outguess me.  What would you do?  I always ask myself that question.  What would I do?  What would you do?  What would my reader do?  And - am I making myself true to the reader?  If I am, Im alluring you.  If im not - Im losing you.  Unless youre a lazy reader. 

Q:  So whats next?

Jack Ketchum:  Oh shit.  I've got a short story collection called "Closing Time and Other Stories" and that should be coming out very soon.  There's a small novella, called "Weed Species" - its probably the nastiest piece of work Ive ever written.  Its just - I mean - there's just one person in this entire book that you might want to sit down and talk to.  Everybody else sucks.  The notion is that, human beings are kudzu - were kudzu - weed species.  Well - a lot of us are.  And so - that will be out next month. 

Over the last couple of months Jack Ketchum has captured my attention as an outstanding horror author.  If youre looking for a heavy horror piece to read sometime soon, look up Ketchum's novels on Amazon.com because like Stephen King says, he is the best thing going in horror right now.  I was a bit skeptical going in to see The Lost - wondering how effective Ketchum's story will be allowed to be on the big screen - with censorship issues a major hurdle when producing a film.  Chris Siverston's film captured the grit and tension of the novel, and blew all our minds with an ending that will probably never make it out to mainstream theaters.  When you get a chance to see The Lost - grab it.  Its absofuckinglutely gripping, intense, and disturbing. 

Visit the OFFICIAL SITE for The Lost