As I’m sure you all know at this point, I was invited to the world premiere of Jersey Shore Massacre this past Tuesday. Although the film had screened before at a film festival, this August event showcased the final, revamped product from director Paul Tarnopol. The film, obviously, is a horror-comedy and a quasi-spoof of the popular MTV reality show, “Jersey Shore,” with Jenni ‘Jwoww’ Farley even attached as executive producer. It chronicles one unfortunate weekend at the New Jersey Shore when six guidettes meet up with five guidos and become helpless victims to a killer’s brutal killing spree. Based on the preview trailers and promotional clips I’d seen, I knew the film was going to very much like Pau Tarnopol’s last effort, Girls Gone Dead, with a little extra flair due to the pop culture following amassed by Snooki, Jwoww, The Situation, Ronnie, Vinnie, and the rest of the stars from MTV.
During my almost four years at HorrorSociety.com I’ve gone to several premieres and a handful of red carpets, but this was definitely the most high class (yes, I said high class), most star studded affair so far. This was a real red carpet, one that was sponsored by FYE and The Ultimate Rush Couture. I even had a place card – next to Us Weekly and People Magazine no less – to hold my spot on the press line. When people started walking down the red carpet and meeting the members of the press, I’d say I was a little nervous. Eventually, that nervousness turned into excitement and I described myself to lead actor Giovanni Roselli as a kid in a candy store. So, with that said, here are some of the best tidbits of information I gathered from the Jersey Shore Massacre premiere.
The first cast member I grabbed was Angelica Boccella who plays Dina, the tough best friend. She was dressed to near perfection in this…Ok, I have no idea how to describe clothing because I shop at Target, but my point is she was absolutely stunning. Again, near perfection. With such a classy demeanor and a smile that lit up the room, I had to ask her what it was like transforming from her real life persona into a Jersey Shore guidette. She said, “It’s very different than my normal style and I will say that guidettes do not get nearly as much credit as they deserve. Every day it took hours of work. We’d have to get prepped, spray tanned, hair teased – everything. And the touch ups! We’d sweat, and we were shooting a horror movie, so we’d need touch ups every second. It was a lot of work,” she laughed and joked, “When I got home after shooting I started dressing a little different for a while.”
Previously I interviewed Danielle Dallacco about one of her favorite off-screen memories. She said it was the time that she and Ms. Angelica Bocella went to McDonalds after filming, completely covered in fake blood. I asked her to flesh out the story for me. “We had shot overnight, starting at 6:00PM and ending at 10:00AM. So, we had two options: Go back to the lodge and shower or go to McDonalds and eat. We decided to eat! Since we’re actors, we decided to make a skit out of it.” At this point she put her hand on my shoulder and started gasping like she was out of breath. Her on-the-spot display accurately mirroring her mood back then. “We went in there covered in blood and I’m like, ‘I need a cheese burger! Can I please get a cheese burger!?’ I do funny stuff like that every day in my real life.”
Speaking of Dallacco, I was able to meet her next and it was so nice to finally say hello in person. While Angelica had looked like she was ready to command the Oscar’s red carpet or the Grammy Awards, Danielle had a very classy and old-school style, almost like Marilyn Monroe in her heyday. She had a sense of warmth about her even on the red carpet with all these people yelling for her attention. Jersey Shore Massacre had been in post-production for a while and I asked her how it finally felt to be at the premiere screening. She said, “It feels really good. It’s going to be very, very exciting because I haven’t seen any of it yet It’s going to be so nice to see everyone and the finished product.”
The location of the movie is mostly set across the New Jersey Shore, but even in the trailer you can see a sign for Pine Lands National Reserve, which is very much removed from the beach areas and has its own twisted vacation spots. I next asked Ms. Dallacco, who plays Teresa the survivor girl, if the majority of the movie had been filmed in middle-east New Jersey. “We filmed all over,” she explained, “We filmed in Sparta, which is where I got bit by hundreds of mosquitos. We filmed a lot in the Seaside area. We filmed all over the East Coast and even as far down as Florida.”
Next up on my list was lead actor Christ Lazzaro. He played the comic-relief with a signature laugh, Freddy. Having watched the movie twice now, I can honestly say that Freddy is my favorite character in the movie. I think he’s a standout. It’s no secret that certain “Jersey Shore” cast-members are more beloved than others. Some are a lot funnier than others, too. I wanted to know who Lazzaro compared his character to the most. He wasn’t so sure, saying, “That’s a good question. I don’t think Freddy directly relates to anyone. He’s not like Ronnie [Magro] because Ronnie is too much of a tough guy. Freddy thinks he’s tough, but he’s really the guy who comes at you and you’re thinking, ‘Go away, kid.’ If I had to chose,” he paused, “I would say Freddy is the most like Pauly D. His swag and his energy is most like Pauly D.” I thought he’d see Freddy as comparable to Vinny Guadagnino because he’s the funny one out of the bunch. Lazzaro adds, “Maybe! I like to think I’m a funny guy.”
One of my last interviews was with Ronnie Magro, one of the actual cast-members from “Jersey Shore.” Since the show finished airing Ronnie appeared on a few episodes of TNA Wrestling’s “Impact,” had a cameo in 2012’s Three Stooges, and was the model and spokesman for Xenadrine. What I really wanted to know was how it felt seeing characters on screen acting out his life, with a character or two even molded after his real life persona. He responded with, “It’s surreal, definitely surreal. It’s more the fact that we made such a big impact that Paul [Tarnopol] made a movie sort of about us. That just goes to show the impact we all had on pop culture.”
Also in 2012 was a SyFy original movie titled Jersey Shore Shark Attack. It featured the same “Jersey Shore” parody characters battling against giant white sharks instead of a brutal, maniacal serial killer. When I brought up the movie, Ronnie confirmed, “I was supposed to be in that. It didn’t work out so I’ve never seen it.” When I asked which film he’d think was better, given the fact that he hadn’t seen Jersey Shore Shark Attack or Jersey Shore Massacre yet, he said, “I think Jersey Shore Massacre is going to be better. It’s actually going to theaters. Jenni [Farley] has always wanted to be a producer and have movies in theaters, so I’m very proud that she’s taking this step in her career.”
During the rest of my time on the Jersey Shore Massacre red carpet I also managed to grab interviews with “WWE” superstar Giovanni Roselli, “Long Island Medium” husband Larry Caputo, adult film star legend Ron Jeremy, and VH1’s “Mob Wives” break out star Big Ang. It was great getting to meet Roselli in person, seeing Jeremy for he second time, and getting the chance to be in the presence of Big Ang! I appreciate them stopping to chat with me.
