Dix Hills brothers tap a comic vein with 'Transylmania'
Photo credit: Full Circle Releasing | Vampire King Radu (Oren Skoog) takes a hit from battle in David and Scott Hillenbrand's vampire comedy TRANSYLMANIA in theaters nationwide December 4, 2009.
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Movie: 'Transylmania'
Calling anyone who attended Half Hollow Hills High School East during the mid-1980s: Do you remember Scott and David Hillenbrand?
The two brothers, raised in Dix Hills, claim to have been serious students - "focused," as Scott puts it - yet they've grown up to become producers and directors of gleefully crude comedies such as their new vampire spoof, "Transylmania." The film, opening Friday, includes jokes about Internet sex, body cavities and flatulent horses - and that's just in the first 10 minutes.
Scott and David, 43 and 41, respectively, formed Hill & Brand Entertainment in 1991 and now live in Los Angeles. Their resume includes mostly limited-release fare like 2003's "National Lampoon Presents Dorm Daze," but "Transylmania" marks their first major theatrical film. Distributed through their own newly formed company, Full Circle Releasing, it will open on 1,200 screens throughout the country.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT "It's a bunch of college kids who can't get into any other study-abroad program, and finding themselves in one that's housed in a castle in Transylvania," David says. The script (by Patrick Casey and Joshua "Worm" Miller) involves split personalities, multiple roles and identical twins - "pure vaudevillian comedy," Scott says. "A lot of the humor comes out of the characters and the situations."
NOT EXACTLY 'TWILIGHT' Though "Transylmania" will clearly capitalize on "Twilight" fever, the Hillenbrands say they wanted to satirize not just one movie but an entire type of movie. "Rather than make another 'Date Movie' franchise, we said: Wouldn't it be challenging to go back to the way Mel Brooks did it, and spoof an entire genre?" Scott says. Both brothers cite Brooks' "Young Frankenstein" as a favorite; at least one joke in their film (those windy horses) is a clear tribute.
TRIED AND TESTED The brothers say they've screened the movie for audiences around the country and have been encouraged by positive reactions. "The theater chains are always looking for movies they feel will appeal to a certain demographic," Scott says. "Our demographic, we say legally, is 17 to 24. Though we all know 15-year-olds go." David adds: "Anyone who's a fan of vampires and comedies, there's an appeal there."
