Interview With 'Mallet' Director Jody S. Dean

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with director Jody S. Dean and ask him a few questions about his feature film Mallet: The Nightmare Begins and its upcoming sequel Mallet 2: The Nightmare Continues.

Interview With Mallet: The Nightmare Begins Director Jody S. Dean

I’d like to thank Jody S. Dean for sitting down with ScareTissue for an interview!

Chewie: Mallet came out in 2023 and was subtitled ‘The Nightmare Begins‘ – did you always have a sequel in mind? Was Mallet (2023) SUPPOSED to be the beginning of a multi-part story?

Jody S. Dean: When I was coming up with Mallet, I was seeing all these visions in my mind, and I was like okay this is a character that can have icon potential, and ultimately be around for a long time to come. I knew his story had to continue, and even though I’m in production on part 2, I already know what I’m doing for part 3. I anticipate this could grow into something special, and wouldn’t be surprised if we see people with tattoos of him in the years to come.

Chewie: Where were the films shot? Any stories about cast and crew?

Jody S. Dean: Almost everything was filmed in Georgia. In the first film I filmed at 2 places I own, my haunted house attraction and a vacation home I have. In the first film I used my 2 sons Jayce and Anthony as the leads, Jayce as Tyler and Anthony as Mallet, I also used locals with no acting experience, really on purpose too, I wanted see if I could test my director skills and pull performances out of people they didn’t know they had. The end result the locations were perfect, the new actors did great!

Chewie: Is Mallet 2 a direct sequel to the original? If so, how much time has passed between the two films?

Jody S. Dean: Mallet 2: The Nightmare Continues, picks up where the first film leaves off, well 6 months later, and Mallet has become 10x more menacing, and is hungrier than ever for revenge he believes he deserves. All though it picks up where the first film leaves off, part 2 could stand a lone on its own, its night and day, 10x more blood and gore, lots of sex, intense storyline, non stop moments of action and Mallet is scarier.

Chewie: You’re ramping up the gore in Mallet 2 – are these effects / kills that you wanted to do in the original and just couldn’t make happen for whatever reason?

Jody S. Dean: In the first film I held back, I was doing 6 different jobs, and even though when it comes to special effects I’m actually really good, I just didn’t wanna bite off more than I could chew. A lot of people might not realize it, but I film and edit these films myself, I do the lighting, the soundtrack, the sfx makeup, even the dvd art and all the marketing. That said, with part 2 I’m not holding back, in fact I’m going overboard, and just with what I’ve shot so far for part 2, I can say this the film is something horror fans are going to going ape shit for, and I think this is the one that will blow Mallet up for real for real.

Chewie: How did you come up with the story for Mallet / Mallet 2?

Jody S. Dean: When I sat down to write Mallet, my imagination just went crazy and literally I could see the entire film in my head, so much so that I wrote the whole movie in like 2 weeks. I knew I wanted him to be a young guy that was bitter, mad, full of rage, and wanted revenge, basically the formula that can send someone over the edge. Of course with an evil with in his ear embracing him to be bad, and giving him the mask, give the guy a mallet and chaos is born!

With Mallet 2, writing the script flowed like blood, because before I even finished part 1, I could see where I wanted the story to go. However it’s a much much more powerful script, with constant turmoil, more killing, and just a world where Mallets feared and known, beyond just Tyler and his family.

Tyler’s nightmares are premonitions of what will happen in reality, or what has already happen, that’s what’s so cool about this film, it’s a nightmare inside a nightmare, but it’s easy to follow and exciting to find out what realm you’re in, imagination or reality, and Mallet exist in both!

Chewie: All time favorite horror film? Favorite NON-horror film?

Jody S. Dean: My favorite horror films of all time is the Wrong Turn franchise, but Hatchet and Terrifier definitely have 2nd and 3rd locked down, I love slashers, and I’m gore whore at the core.

Really all I watch are horrors, I can’t get into anything else, unless it’s basketball game lol

Chewie: All time favorite horror director? Favorite NON-horror director?

Jody S. Dean: I love Rob Zombie as a Director, I see something in every one of his movies that grabs me. Eli Roth is a fantastic director, I definitely look up to him as well. Adam Green is definitely someone that has great direction when it comes to this genre, and I love his films.

Chewie: How do you balance your work on a feature film like Mallet or Mallet 2 with your other endeavors such as your YouTube channel?

Jody S. Dean: Balancing making movies and being a full time YouTuber has been quite the job, but I love making films so much that I find the will power to make it happen. I definitely have my hands full, but I know we only have a certain amount of time in this life and I want to create my visions before it’s over, and I have lots of movies I want to bring to life.

Chewie: Favorite social media channel currently?

Jody S. Dean: I really enjoy Metal Jesus Rocks, another one of my passions is video game collecting, specifically retro gaming and dude has great content. I like what your doing, your not just covering what’s trending, you actually acknowledge what everyone else is looking over. When it comes to independent horror that’s so important, indie films need love too!

Chewie: Beatles or Rolling Stones? Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd?

Jody S. Dean: Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper lol

People should definitely put Mallet on their radar, because for those indie b horror lovers out there, this guy is going to be around for a while, and honestly my films have a style that is different, gorilla but professional. Mallet 2: The Nightmare Continues, keep your eyes open, this is one is going to be a bloody mess of greatness!

Thanks again to Jody for sitting down with us. Stay tuned to Scaretissue.com for more information about Mallet 2: The Nightmare Continues! You can find Jody on the web at the following links: