You might not know the name Bill Neil, but you’ve definitely seen his work. From the late nineties to today, he’s crafted some of the most memorable trailers to ever grace the screen. Now, he’s set his sights on directing his first feature. It’s called Final Boy, and the man himself sat down with iHorror to discuss the journey.
“I was obsessed with movies – especially horror movies – pretty much my whole life,” Neil began, “and it was Halloween that made me really want to make movies – so I went to film school – first at Northwestern and then the USC film school.”
Like so many of his peers, Neil wanted to direct, but he found he really enjoyed the process of editing as well. He loved bringing sound and image together in a way that was compelling for an audience while at the same time, skipping a lot of the uncertainties one faced in the act of production.
As he was working his way through school, he took a job at a video store in Beverly Hills where a company named Aspect Ratio would often rent tapes. One day, his curiosity got the better of him and he asked what their company did. As it turned out, they made film trailers.
“I had no idea there were companies that did this,” the editor explained. “I thought this could be a way to at least start a career in editing that would lead to feature editorial – so I applied to a trailer agency and got a job as a runner/ PA the day after I graduated.”
It wasn’t long before Neil was moving up the ladder at the company and he first heard the term “getting the finish.” For every film released, there were at least three or more companies working on trailers. It was up to the film’s production team to decide whose trailer they would use and getting that finish was a huge reward, a stamp of approval on your skills as an editor and storyteller.
Neil was getting the finish regularly, working on TV spots and trailers in multiple genres, but there was that part of himself that really wanted to jump in on a horror movie, and when the opportunity came, he didn’t hesitate..
The movie? Jason X.
He wanted to nail it. He had to get it right. It was his idea to secure Drowning Pool’s “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor.” It was kismet. The perfect storm of footage and film. Neil got the finish, and it would set up a pattern for him that would take him through the late nineties and well into the aughts.
What he wasn’t prepared for was the audience reaction. He happened to be in the theater to see something else when the trailer flashed onto the screen.
“The response was, sadly, not great,” he said. “It got booed! I guess the Hollywood crowd that day just wasn’t into Jason-in-space…I thought it was a fun piece, but that audience at least wasn’t into it. Ever since, if I’m at movie and something I’ve cut comes on, depending how brave I am, I’ll sometimes go get my popcorn… just in case. Although, not soon after that, I cut the trailer for the remake of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre – and the response to that trailer on the big screen was pretty great.”
Neil soon found himself in the position of working on trailers for every single horror remake, reboot, and sequel that the 2000s could produce. And if you remember…there were a lot of them.
“I can’t tell you the joy it brought me,” he said. “Good or bad, loved or hated, when I was working on them, I was in heaven.”
And over the years, favorites have, of course, emerged, though the editor says it really depends on the day what he’d tell you.
“A few of my favorites are the 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the first trailer for IT Chapter One, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Nope and definitely 28 Years Later. With Halloween being my favorite movie of all time, of course working on the recent trilogy was a dream come true – although I did get to actually cut a teeny bit of the H20 feature in 1998… I edited the opening title sequence with all the dissolves, etc.”
Like any job in the entertainment industry, there are ups and downs, of course. But the thrill of being chosen never goes away, and since the early 2000s, Neil has had 140 trailers (mostly horror) grace our screens.
Final Boy
So, why decide to start making movies. Was that always something Bill Neil always wanted, even after establishing himself in the business?
“Yes! Even though it’s always been the dream end-game, I think these years of being involved in so many campaigns for so many features – particularly horror – has just made my desire more intense – and my point of view and vision stronger.”
That vision brought him to Nicholas McCarthy (At the Devil’s Door, The Pact) A screenwriter and director who he’d worked with previously. McCarthy had a script called Final Boy, and it was everything he could have hoped for in a feature debut.
“It’s about this horror film nerd in the early 90’s working at a suburban video store, who gets way more than he bargained for when he works up the courage to dial one of those 900 numbers they had back in the day,” Neil explained.
The film’s central character soon finds himself hunted by a strange force that could very well be a human slasher, but as the story progresses, he realizes the horror runs much deeper.
Final Boy is set in a particular time in queer history, and especially the history of queer men. The AIDS crisis is at its peak. People are dying. People are paranoid. They are trying to make sense of it all, but the answers simply aren’t there. A hookup could end your life. All of this plagues William before he even picks up the phone to make that fateful call.
“There are so many elements that speak to me,” Neil said. “At that specific time, it was a lot harder to be your authentic self – and just plain terrifying to even explore sex. I think that sense of dread underlies a lot of what is happening in the film – even though it’s not specifically about that. I guess you could say it’s a horror movie about ‘coming out’ (and I don’t think there’s ever been one like this) but I’d say it’s even more just a horror movie about ‘coming of age’ and growing up and finding out who you are.”
It’s a killer story if you’ll excuse the pun.
Moreover, Neil considers himself lucky in the people who he’s working with in the development process.
As previously mentioned, Nicholas McCarthy wrote the script. He’s a writer/director with a solid history and an intrinsic empathy in his storytelling. William, the main character, never falls into vapid stereotype territory, nor do any of the other characters. They’re well rounded with just the right of humanity that makes a great slasher worth watching without ever becoming dull.
Additionally, Neil is also excited to be working with Adam Robitel as producer on the project.
“I was blown away by his first directorial effort, The Taking of Deborah Logan – and his Escape Room movies and Insidious installment continue to show he has a distinct and fearless voice in horror,” Neil said.
They have the talent behind the camera to make this a memorable spin on the analog slashers of the 80s and 90s. All they need is a studio.
Like any film, it takes a lot to bring it all together and see it through to the end. If there’s anything I learned chatting with Bill Neil, he has the tenacity and drive to make it happen. Of course, iHorror will keep you posted on this project as it continues to develop. Stay tuned and keep your eyes peeled for more on Final Boy right here!
