Deadly Beauty: Horror’s Scream Queens and Rising Talent: Elske McCain

Deadly Beauty: Horror’s Scream Queens and Rising Talent: Elske McCain

“My name is Elske (pronounced el-ska), which means “love” in Norwegian. My mother was born in Norway and immigrated to the States when she was a child. My father was of Irish descent. From the time I was very young, I loved movies… especially scary ones! I could spend hours alone in my room watching them. Siskel and Ebert were my heroes and I first thought I wanted to be a film critic. I never dreamed I could ever be in a movie. I did my first extra work when I was a teenager in my hometown of Yuma, Arizona. That was when I really became hooked. I studied drama in school but eventually dropped out to live on my own in Tucson. I started collecting DVDs and connected with other fans on the web. Not much happened career-wise for me until I met Lloyd Kaufman at a screening at The Loft, a local revival theatre. He encouraged me to follow my dreams and make my own movies. A little over a year later, Matthew Reel and I had done our first project together. From there, other filmmakers began approaching me with acting roles. As I became more comfortable in front of the camera, I also developed my production skills. Ultimately, I produced and starred in my own feature film, JESSICKA RABID. Today, I live in Arizona and continue to seek out challenging work as both and actor and producer.”*

Location: Tucson, AZ / Los Angeles, CA

1. How did you get into the industry?

Being a horror film fan for my entire life, I was always watching them from about age 5. I never dreamed of actually being in a movie. I did get a few opportunities in my hometown of Yuma, AZ to be an extra in several films, but it wasn’t until my fateful meeting with Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman in 2004 that got me started actually making movies.

2. What Scream Queen inspired you most?

We must give this credit to Dee Wallace. She told me to my face that “I was so cute, I should be an actress.”

3. What are the next couple projects you are working on?

Been plugging away on Jessicka Rabid 2 for nearly 6 months. Though that might sound tedious, my director, who is based in Hollywood and works at a major studio is using the extended preproduction process to get a bigger budget, better actors, and an Academy Award nominated crew, among other things. We were originally to film it in Tucson, but we switched locations in order to accommodate the extensive LA based cast and crew. Aside from that, thinking of doing a Joe Rogan type podcast that will cover many topics. Horror of course, but there is a big world out there, so we will be talking about conspiracies, MMA, hot chicks with dicks, and pretty much anything else that pops in my head. I also just got hired on as a reviewer for a horror site that will be deserving of it’s own press release very soon. The good news : It pays.