February 8, 2019
INTERVIEW: No Solicitors
Let’s be honest, we all hate them. We hear that knock on the door or the doorbell rings and we get that feeling in our gut and think, “Oh great, solicitors”. The recent film from director/writer John Callas, titled No Solicitors is a bit extreme for what I would do to them, but hey, to each their own.
Available now on DVD and VOD, No Solicitors has all the necessary ingredients for the genre: nudity, cussing, gore. Add to that a damn good-looking cast with veteran names like Eric Roberts, Beverly Randolph, and Felissa Rose. This was a crazy ride, the actors are all very likable even if they are batshit crazy. You really can’t stop watching because you have to see how it is going to end.
Let me give you an idea of what you are getting into, meet the Cutterman family. The father, Lewis Cutterman (portrayed by Roberts) is the country’s top brain surgeon. Rachel Cutterman (portrayed by Randolph, known for her pivotal role as Tina in Return of the Living Dead) plays dear old Mom. Rounding out the family is their beautiful daughter Nicole (Kim Poirier of the 2007 Dawn of the Dead remake) and handsome, All-American son Scott (Jason Maxim from Jurassic City) who take being part of the family business very seriously. That business happens to be harvesting organs to sell on the black market. They see it as doing a great justice to society since one person could save many peoples’ lives… And the extra meat is theirs to keep. Wait, did I mention they are cannibals, too?!
Living in a beautiful home with a very prominent NO SOLICITORS sign by the door, they wait for them to come and ring the bell. Their latest victim is a lovely but bit insufferable realtor named Mindy (Lucy Walsh), who gets more than she bargains for when she stays for dinner to discuss selling their home. The cops snoop around, as always, along with a nosy neighbor. By the end though, you actually start to feel sorry for the damn solicitors, and just when you think it’s about to be over, a twist. I love twists.
House of Tortured Souls: I was able to interview some of the cast, they were all wonderful. My first question to all of them was do you have any funny true stories about an encounter you had with a solicitor?
Director/writer John Callas: In truth, I have chased a few away with a baseball bat – One guy said to me, “You’re crazy,” to which I replied, “Tell all your workers.” He never returned, nor was he eaten! – LOL
Beverly Randolph: I have stories every day with phone solicitors but they aren’t funny! Kidding.
Jason Maxim: It’s hard enough for UPS & FedEx to deliver packages to my apartment when I order from Amazon so I don’t really deal with unwanted solicitors. However, when I first moved to California, I delivered pizzas and a girl answered the door in lingerie. I’m pretty sure she did it on purpose. Does that count?
HoTS: As I delved deeper into the nuances of this film, I asked John how he came up with this idea.
JC: I was having lunch with a friend from Warner Bros., and he asked why I seemed upset. I explained that over my doorbell is a sign “No Soliciting”, but they keep on ringing my doorbell. They read the sign but chose to ignore the warning. He sits back and then says, “Why not write a story and kill them?” I liked that idea and took it from there.
HoTS: Upon talking with Beverly, I found out her favorite on-set moment, behind the scenes that is.
BR: The bedroom scene when Eric and I are in bed…. (NO, not the end of the sentence, haha!) and John Callas, the director, sees the bottom of my feet through the camera. He has someone get washing towels and washes the bottom of my feet! He could have told me that the bottom of my feet were dirty, and I would have gone and washed them. I am sure it was to save time but what chivalry. P.S. My feet were dirty because it was a bedroom scene, and I was running around without shoes on that day.
HoTS: I was also curious as to how she reacted to the script. Beverly is the most down-to-earth, sweetest lady and hard to picture as a cannibal.
BR: Loved the script. I was more focused on the dialogue and the story not the gore so much. The dialogue and story were intelligent, well thought out. When I saw the gore, that was different! Oh boy…lots of nervous giggling at that point. (Gotta love Beverly giggles, they are adorable.)
HoTS: I also got some time with Jason Maxim, the onset stud of the movie. I was wondering what it was like going from a movie such as Jurassic City to No Solicitors.
JM: Well, unfortunately, dinosaurs are extinct, so I went from shooting CGI bad guys to playing a bad guy, but I don’t think Scott is bad. I think, if anything, the scope and energy changed. I had a much larger role in No Solicitors and *spoiler alert* I don’t die in this movie. I really enjoy the science fiction genre because I’m kind of a nerd and I also really enjoy playing a soldier, so working on Jurassic City was a blast! [No Solicitors] felt like I took the energy home at times. I also swear one of our filming locations was haunted – that’s where I filmed the scene with Lucy and had to chop up body parts.
HoTS: Though he has never considered himself a model since he is under six feet tall, he was scouted when he was younger in both Boston and NYC. While he enjoys fashion and shooting print campaigns, like the one for Indian Motorcycles, he was always drawn to film. Perhaps his coolest gig though, he said, was to do pre-lighting for Matt Damon on the most recent Bourne installment..
JM: That job was a lot of fun because I got to pretend I was Jason Bourne and do these cool action poses on a treadmill etc.. If I was Matt Damon I would be worried, Jason definitely has him beat in the looks department.
HoTS: When I asked Felissa her thoughts on working on this film.
FR: With No Solicitors, I thought the script was a wild ride! Very unique in nature, and the cast is fantastic! I loved my character since playing victim can be awesomely delicious and fun to play that emotion. Since I was the producer on this I welcomed the time that I got to lie down! Lol! Most days I was running around like crazy!!!
HoTS: Also, she talked about how the crew and cast were all good friends. All the moments on set were really enjoyable.
Again, you can tell that the crew had a great time. This comes through in each scene. Check this film out and have some fun, just maybe don’t eat dinner while watching. Also, the book is available on Amazon as well. It has grittier details than the movie.
House of Tortured Souls would like to join Felissa and the rest of crew in dedicating this movie and review to Blake Heron. He played the intruder/rapist but many will remember him as Marty Preston from the 1996 kids film, Shiloh. Blake passed away in September of 2017. He was a beautiful person and an amazing actor. He will be missed.
Available at: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=No+Solicitors+by+John+Callas&ref=nb_sb_noss