There’s a “Monstr” In Our Apps…And, It Needs Your Help!

The locally made queer horror web series MONSTR is crowd sourcing for funds.

Correspondent and local actor Craig Trolli is branching out into the world with a new web series called Monstr in which he plays a Mormon elder broken bad. Here he goes on a friend date with producer Tom Conquergood to find out more about this monstrous project.

Craig: Hi, Tom! Tell us about the new web series you’re producing. How was this Monstr created?

Tom: Monstr is the first web series I’ve produced, a project born out of meeting the writer/director/creator Joshua Shanklin, and wanting to try my hand at producing such a unique project.

Craig: What will make this web series stand out from the competition?

Tom: This story is certainly one I haven’t heard anywhere else. Joshua has written a unique take on the young man entering gay urban life – by haunting his life with a hookup app for literal monsters. Our star, played by experienced stage and screen actor Michael Raimondi, accidentally downloads Monstr and finds himself trying out various…creatures on for size.

Craig: Can you tell us some of the monsters that will be featured? Babadook? Pennywise? Kevin Spacey?

Tom: I was going to say yes we’ve got a Kevin Spacey, but that’s just an ancient horned demon. Easy to get them confused. The first season kicks off with an attempt at a vampire one-night stand, werewolf dates, a mummy, more demons, ghosts, and a doctor with a secret. It’d be easy to be scared if they weren’t all such sexy actors. I do love seeing the Babadook and Pennywise being “shipped” together on the Internet, maybe we can get them to cameo in future seasons!

Craig: Were there any real life dating disasters that influenced the series? Or any of your own that you just want to share that we can all learn from?

Tom: I’ve got a few monsters in my past, but I think Monstr was specifically written kind of looking at some of the typical “characters” you might encounter on a hookup app, and it definitely felt right once we started applying some of these monstrous traits to them. Flaky vampire, possessive werewolf, guys looking for the perfect…body.

Craig: Where will the series be shown? Any premieres planned?

Tom: We’re still working out a release plan – but our Crowdfunding platform, Seed&Spark, comes with its own built-in distribution platform. We intend to show it at web series festivals and Horror/LGBT film festivals; and we think YouTube or Vimeo may be a good platform also.

Evil Mormon-y Twins haunt “Monstr”
Screen Captures: Joshua Shanklin

Craig: And now for the question on everyone’s mind: Why did you cast Craig Trolli?

Tom: Because he is easy AF-ha ha-no JK, but seriously I knew he would do it if I asked – and there was nudity involved.

Craig: OK, scary scenario time! The call is coming from inside the house! As the babysitter, do you: A) call your boyfriend to come over and save you… B) Pick up a weapon and decide to take this mofo on yourself, or… C) leave the kid in bed while you run screaming down the street back to your own home?

Tom: Definitely B! I’ve always felt like the killers in slashers are not so good with the direct assault, you can usually at least wound them, then they’ve left a trail of blood to follow!

Craig: I want to play a game. You can save the lives of an entire drunken bachelorette party. All you have to do is dress up as Kellyanne Conway and sing group karaoke with them all night long! (Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Love Shack, Living on a Prayer, Bohemian Rhapsody, etc etc) Or, you can let them fall prey to a deadly mime (the silent killer!) while you stay home reading every single Ann Coulter and Dan Savage book cover to cover!

Tom: Holy crap, hmm – I think it’d actually be fun to be part of a bachelorette party slaughter, so I’d be belting out Since U Been Gone waiting for the killer to take them out.

Craig: Would you rather be punch fucked by Trump, or tongue fucked by Harvey Weinstein?

Tom: I would get tongue fucked by HW, because you didn’t ask if I cleaned out first. And then I’d rectally douche with rubbing alcohol to get the taste out of my ass!

The Seed&Spark fundraising for Monstr ends this Friday: https://www.seedandspark.com/fund/monstr#story

Craig Trolli is currently locked in a closet with pig ghost Jody, watching Mormonboyz porn and trying to understand the actors’ motivations.

Have you downloaded “Monstr” yet?
“Stats?”
Screen Captures: Joshua Shanklin