"Back in the day, we did horrible things, and laughed like hell." - Amelia Kinkade

a Primal Root Interview

Thanks to our friends over at FromDuskTillCon.com, I recently received the opportunity to interview the multi-talented actress, dancer, author, artist, animal activist  and animal psychic, Amelia Kinkade. That’s right, the lovely woman behind one of the most blood thirsty and wicked femme fatales to ever ravage Trash Cinema, Angela from the Night of the Demons series.

The Primal Root: Now, I am sure it comes as no surprise that you have a loyal fanbase of horror fans who love your performance in the Night of the Demons Trilogy. I am interested in hearing how you landed the seductive and nasty role of the embodiment of Hull House’s evil?

Amelia Kinkade: I had a LOT of competition—hundreds of girls auditioned for the job—but as all my ex boyfriends and certainly my ex-husband will attest to, behind my sweet façade I am at heart a tiger bitch from hell, and my true nature is the root of all evil, so I simply LET IT ROLL! :0)

TPR: Whose idea was it to use Stigmata Martyr by Bauhaus for your now iconic and still scorchingly erotic dance sequence in Night of the Demons? Were the filmmakers aware of your background in dance or was that something you brought to the table on your own?

AK: It was MY idea and I fought like hell to get that music!!! I brought my expertise and a pro jazz dance to the table and the demon dance sequences were an addition to the scripts because I talked the director and producers into letting me dance. The outrageous boogie on the table was my version of the lead in “Hair” jumping on the table at the posh New England garden party and just TRASHING the spread on the table. Pouring the punchbowl down my chest was also my idea. Naughty me. Always thinkin’!

TPR: When I think back to Night of the Demons and it’s sequel, Night of the Demons 2, the first moments that always come to mind are when you are dancing. Well, that and when you are ripping people’s throats out. Anyway, how do you go about choreographing a dance routine? Where do you draw your inspiration from?

AK: As a professional jazz and modern dancer, my training is to simply be the physical embodiment of the music. I improvised those routines, then committed them to memory so that we could film them consistently. Choreography is just an expression of my wild spirit and it spews out of me naturally. Kinda like Sai Baba, but without the dust.

TPR: Were you signed on for a sequel when you made the original Night of the Demons? Were there any plans to make this movie into a series and once plans for Night of the Demons 2 got underway how did they approach you after there being a time span of about 5 or 6 years between projects? What were your thoughts on reprising the role?

I had no idea there would be more than one movie. When they wrote the second one and I was the only character they brought back, I was flattered and pleased as punch. I had a whole new crowd of sexy young actors to kill and that made my fangs come back out. I hadn’t tasted blood for five years, and I had a hankering for cherry flavored blood and rubber tongues that were flavored with pineapple. In the scene where my tongue unrolls and burst through the brain of my darling co-star—oopsadaisy, what a lethal kiss—I was presented with 5 pineapple tongues in an icechest by Steve Johnson. He was careful to make everything taste good. I’m sure he tastes good, too, but I never got a shot at it.

"I hadn’t tasted blood for five years, and I had a hankering for cherry flavored blood and rubber tongues that were flavored with pineapple."

TPR: In a genre dominated by male creatures like Freddy, Jason and Michael Myers, how does it feel to know you are one of the few, now iconic, female cinematic slasher villains?

AK: Groovy, baby. Simply groovy. Like Austin Powers without the fishin’ tackle.

TPR: What was it like to be approached by Neal DeConte and working with him on being immortalized as his latest Horror Idol? How excited are you about the finished work? (Speaking of the upcoming statue of Angela from Night of the Demons)

AK: I’m delighted that someone is celebrating my evil self. It was my idea to make this a PMS statue, so that gay guys could change the head and hands when they were in a cat-fight to indicate whether they were feeling like a good witch or a bad witch that day. Or if they felt there partner was acting like a monster. What a GAS of an idea! I couldn’t be more honored than to have Neal approach me about long-lost Angela. And the fact that we have pre-sold three already just knocks my evil socks off!

TPR: Some of your fans might not know about your current and fascinatingly unique profession as an animal communicator or pet psychic. When did you discover that you had this talent and how has it affected your life?

AK: I wrote a book about this. It’s called STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH. I’ll be selling the book and signing it at all these conventions. In my book, I explain that animal communication and psychic ability is not a God-given gift, but a learned skill. I learned it from scratch in my early twenties and I now teach workshops all over the world where my students come in off the streets convinced that they are NOT psychic, and two days later, they’ve discovered that they ARE psychic. Humans are all capable of extraordinary growth and we all have supernatural abilities that are actually natural, but not in practice. The only prerequisite to delevoping clairvoyance is that people love animals enough to take a risk, learn to believe in their own innate power and trust their own intuition. It’s my greatest honor and joy to lecture in over 12 countries a year and help people help their animals. I’ve trained some of the best psychics in the world in the last 9 years and I’m so proud of my students, I could explode.

My career had enabled me to go where no one is allowed to go—into the pens of cheetah in South Africa, into herds of elephants and families of tigers in Thailand, to walk with baboons and release rehabilitated penguins in Cape Town, but most of all, the greatest honor of my life is that I am invited to stay in the camp of the sacred White Lions in the Kruger National Park in Africa.

"The only prerequisite to delevoping clairvoyance is that people love animals enough to take a risk, learn to believe in their own innate power and trust their own intuition. "

TPR: I, for one, am thrilled to see your name popping up on the horror convention circuit as of recently. How has it been meeting your fans? Any truly memorable encounters or juicy stories?

AK: When I came out with STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH: HOW TO TALK TO ANIMALS AND GET ANSWERS in 2001, and began my world tours (I’m now in the ninth year of touring the world to teach people how to communicate with animals) I really wanted my horror movie status to “go away!” I thought it would interfere with my being taken seriously as a psychic and animal activist. In fact, as recent as last year, I paid a webmaster 5000 dollars to try to erase all my horror movie sites from the web! Obviously, that attempt went over like a fart in a space-suit. Like a trap door in a submarine! I kept getting all this fan mail sent to my publishing house about NIGHT OF THE DEMONS and I’m sure they were just horrified! I am a celebrity minister in many Religious Science and Unity churches around America as well as all over England, Europe, and South Africa, so my appearance with bad skin, contacts, and fangs must have been a bit of a shock for my publishing house.

On my first national book tour, I had two fans come through my receiving line where I was signing my first book, and these two fans looks suspiciously out of place. They had piercings in every bit of their faces and tattoos on every inch of their skin—blue and hot-pink hair, both on the girl AND the guy—and they whispered when they got near me, “Is it you, Angela?” And I whispered, “Yes.” They pulled out a prosthetic FOOT made of rubber that looked like it had been amputated off a chubby person, and they asked me to sign it. When I signed the rubber FOOT, it got some funny looks from my spiritual animal loving fans!

But with all the fan mail over the years that I’ve gotten where someone writes, “I watched NIGHT OF THE DEMONS eleven times last night…” (That’s right, roll another fattie!) “…and I just got a new Dalmation puppy so I ordered your first book on Amazon and I want to know if he’s going to get along with my other dogs….” I realized the cross-over between horror lovers and animal lovers is something I can no longer ignore. I can’t assume that horror lovers are not spiritual people who adore their animals and are willing to open their hearts and minds to my true passion—teaching people to listen and communicate with their beloved animals.

TPR: Can you tell us a little bit about your career before you got into acting as a professionally trained jazz dancer and what eventually led you into the acting profession?

The second I got to Hollywood, I won the lead role in the STRAY CATS video, so before that, I was busy losing jobs as a cock-tail waitress in Oklahoma City because I lied my way into the job and could wait on a table of six, and get every single drink wrong. People would come in just to laugh at me. I ended up back-up dancing for Smoky Robinson, Donna Summer, Sheena Easton, Ray Charles, Cher, and mucho other rock-stars just because I couldn’t make it as a cock-tail waitress.

TPR: Amelia, I gotta say, you are one impressively gifted and multi-talented person. Not only a professional dancer, actress, and animal communicator, you are also an artist and author of children’s books.

I haven’t published my children’s books or my art work yet because I’ve been so busy with my world tours teaching Animal Communication. Unfortunately, an artist can draw and paint 365 days out of the year to complete a children’s book and make enough money to go out and buy himself a nice popsicle. Or maybe a taco. It’s a luxury I can’t afford at the moment, but maybe someday I’ll be able to publish my children’s books. Probably after the apocalypse—when those of us who survive are living in central Africa and fighting with the gorillas to pick bananas off their trees.

TPR: Is there an opportunity for fans to purchase any of your original artwork or children’s books when you make your conventions appearance? There’s nothing would make me happier than to have an Amelia Kinkade original hanging in my den.

AK: WOW! You’re inspiring me! Maybe I won’t wait until the African gorillas are carrying my paintings off to shred them and make nests out of them!

"Choreography is just an expression of my wild spirit and it spews out of me naturally."

TPR: Out of the three Night of the Demons films which was the most fun to work on?

I’ll get myself in trouble with my directors if I answer this. The first one was exciting because I wanted to work with Steve Johnson and experience his magnificent special effects. The second one was a blast because the production values were so high and I think Demons Two is a good quality film. The third one was a delight because I was flown to Montreal to shoot in the Canadian forest in October and it was simply gorgeous. But the most fun was working with Philip Tanzini (who played Max in Night of the Demons) who played practical jokes on innocent people and did incredibly naughty things like drive through Burger King with his arm missing so that when he cruised up to the window, the poor girl serving his snack found that his arm was a bloody stub. These shenanigans are illegal now—one is not allowed to go out in public with special effects that make one look like he has appendages missing—but back in the day, we did horrible things, and laughed like hell.

TPR:I know fans are looking forward to seeing you at the upcoming conventions, are you excited about doing these appearances?

AK: Get me drunk enough and maybe I’ll dance on the table. Tell my fans to bring me shots of Jagermeister and God only knows what I’ll do.

TPR: Amelia, I’ll bring you the whole dang bottle! Thanks for taking the time to hang out and chat with us here at the Trash Cinema Collective.