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Featured Guests:
The Directorial and Production Team behind the 2025 horror film, Trapped Inside My Sin Vincent Vilardi Writer, Director, and Executive Director, Trapped Inside My Sin Peter Janiec Producer, Locations, Trapped Inside My Sin Keith Cotugno Producer, Musical Score, Trapped Inside My Sin Published September 10, 2025 |
In this episode of 'Wisdom for Wannabes', host Jackie Morreale interviews the creative team behind the horror film 'Trapped Inside My Sin'. The discussion covers their individual backgrounds, passions, and the collaborative process that led to the film's creation. Each member shares their favorite horror films, influences, and insights into the filmmaking journey, emphasizing the importance of creativity, collaboration, and inspiration from various sources. In this engaging conversation, the filmmakers discuss their debut feature film, 'Trapped Inside My Sin,' exploring themes of family, mental health, and the creative process behind crafting a unique horror story. They share insights on their film festival journey, the importance of sound design, and the collaborative efforts that brought their vision to life. The discussion also touches on future projects and the potential for sequels, highlighting their commitment to storytelling and the horror genre.
Listen to/watch the full podcast recording, or read the transcript below:
Listen to/watch the full podcast recording, or read the transcript below:
Full Interview with Vincent Vilardi, Peter Janiec, and Keith Cotugno, on Trapped Inside My Sin:
Great quotes from the interview with the team behind the film, Trapped Inside My Sin:
- "It was a surreal feeling."
- "We sold out both days."
- "It opens it up for a sequel."
Trapped Inside My Sin movie poster
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Key Takeaways:
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Photos from Behind the Scenes, Trapped Inside My Sin:
Feature film Trapped Inside My Sin, cast and crew
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Peter Janiec and Vincent Vilardi, of Trapped Inside My Sin
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Keith Cotugno, Vincent Vilardi, and team member from Trapped Inside My Sin
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Vincent Vilardi, Peter Janiec, and team members from Trapped Inside My Sin
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Interview Transcript:
Jackie Morreale (00:00)
Hello and welcome to Wisdom for Wannabes, a new podcast series that seeks to find wise words on business, beauty and betterment. I'm the host Jackie Morreale.
Today we are very proud to welcome the directorial and production team behind the new film, Trapped Inside My Sin, which is now streaming on Fawesome and Tubi. I am joined by the writer and director of the film, Vincent Vilardi, welcome Vin, who wrote the story, directed and executive produced the film, as well as the producers, Peter Janiec, who also specialized in sourcing locations and networking, and Keith Cotugno, who also created the musical score. The storyline of Trapped Inside My Sin is a father moves into a new home with his wife and two kids only to find out that he is being punished for committing a sin that he never took seriously. Trapped Inside My Sin has received two film wins and three nominations for awards.
The film was shot in 2024 and released in 2025 from debut director and writer, Vincent Vilardi, and features screenwriter, Jeffrey Lanier, and starring Brian Pollock, Marilyn Rodriguez, Victoria Stevens, and Dan Gregory, to name a few. Together, Vin, Peter, and Keith make Endless Vision Entertainment. Welcome to the show, guys. I'm so excited to be here with you today. Absolutely. I can't wait to hear about you individually, as a team, your process, and your new horror film, which I watched and I loved.
Keith Cotugno (01:20)
Thank you for having us, Jackie.
Peter Janiec (01:20)
Thank you for having us.
Vincent Vilardi (01:21)
Thank you so much for having us.
Jackie Morreale (01:31)
I was so scared. It was amazing. Let's start off the interview with some background questions. Maybe you can all introduce yourselves with your name, where you're from, where you currently reside or work, what you do, your passion, how many years you've been doing it, and your favorite part of your role. Let's start with you, Vin.
Vincent Vilardi (01:49)
I currently live in Monroe Township, New Jersey, which is in central Jersey. I currently work at Major League Baseball Network. I've been there for 15 years. I do graphics operating, some editing and prompting operating for the on-air I assist the directors and producers in the studios as well. On the side, I've produced and directed two short films and my first feature film, which was Trapped Inside My Sin. Then I produced two other short films to get experience before this feature film. My passion is filmmaking, especially in the horror genre. I like doing documentary style as well. That's in sports, with baseball. I've worked for Monday Night Football for ESPN doing football games on the field, field producing and doing audio on the field as well.
Jackie Morreale (02:36)
You are a man of many talents, Vin. You've got so much going on. You're so good at horror. I love that that's your passion and I can't wait to see what you guys do next. So your favorite part of your role is the filmmaking. Directing.
Vincent Vilardi (02:41)
Getting there, getting there. Directing and editing are my two favorite things, but I say directing more so I like being on set and being able to make something come to life. I used to love editing the most, but it's so tedious and challenging and time consuming. Now that I have a family, my wife and kids. Directing on set and then having somebody that can specialize in editing, that part for me would be awesome. But with Trapped Inside My Sin, I had to do both.
Jackie Morreale (02:58)
Exactly. I see really big things for you, so I'm sure that you'll have help in the editing world. But I know it's nice as a creator to really have a hand on the fine details of your art. It's an awesome skill to have. Peter, let's hear from you, your name, where you're from, what you do, your passion, how many years you've been doing it, your favorite part of your job.
Peter Janiec (03:30)
Yeah, let's go crazy. I'm Peter Janiec. I live in Sussex County, New Jersey. I've lived up here for about 10 years. I grew up in Clifton, New Jersey, graduated 2003, which I can't believe is close to 22 years ago. My goodness. I am a retired police sergeant. After 17 years of service, I got to leave and retire. My passion: I love horror. I love baseball and I'm a big Batman fan.
Making Trapped Inside My Sin was such a cool experience doing it with these guys that you see on screen. My first taste of it was Vinny reaching out to me. This was when I was still on the job and he was like, Hey, do you want to take part in making a short film? It was the smallest role, scouting director. I showed him maybe a few locations and stuff, but I got to be part of it.
Showing the few locations and seeing what it takes to make those locations come to life. Then fast forward going to the premiere of that short film, it was just so cool. I'm like, man, how do I get into this world? I didn't go to school for any of this stuff. Again, I came from the law enforcement background. Vinny took me in and a couple of short films later and a full feature film, here we are.
Jackie Morreale (04:34)
So Peter, so you're not from this world, you're from law enforcement. And now I kind of understand the interrogation scene a little bit better, and how everything kind of comes together. So you're sourcing the locations. I watched the film and I really felt like I was on a mental journey through New Jersey. I loved it. The house was super creepy, the neighborhood, it felt like I was back home in central Jersey. It was awesome what you did with the sourcing.
So, Keith, tell us more about yourself and your role, your name, where you're from, what you do, your passion, how many years, and your favorite part of your job.
Keith Cotugno (05:11)
I'm Keith Cotugno. I'm from Long Island, New York. I'm currently living in Levittown, born and raised in Elmont. So yeah, fellow New Yorker, Jackie. I'm into music all my life. I'm a drummer at heart. Ever since I was a kid, I've been playing drums. My father was a drummer. I grew up with a lot of music in the house. I have an older brother, seven years older, and he was more into electronic music. My dad was more rock, so I have a good mix of different styles. That really contributes to what I put into all the creative things I do. I've been doing it probably since maybe eight years old. I started taking it serious with drums and showed a lot of interest and then my father got me private lessons. We had a Broadway drummer come to the house and he would give me private lessons and I built on that. Been in a band since I was a teenager playing in bars. When I'm like 16, doing that whole tour life with the band. When I hit like 21, I got more into electronic music. I got into the DJ realm, more music production, audio engineering, all self-taught.
Vincent Vilardi (06:05)
Remember those days.
Keith Cotugno (06:24)
Music is a big part of me that's really huge in my life. But also filmmaking is something Vinny knows. We're cousins and ever since we were kids, we've always been watching movies. Scary movies, Jason, Halloween, when we're like 10 years old. We were always intrigued by it.
Jackie Morreale (06:40)
Man, so you guys are family, that's amazing. And now you work together too. Any family drama, you guys work together great? I could see you're both pretty easy going.
Vincent Vilardi (06:51)
It works together great.
Keith Cotugno (06:52)
Yeah, everything's come naturally. That's why it's a beautiful thing that we were able to do this and make a full-length movie, which is surreal still.
Jackie Morreale (07:01)
Okay. So Keith, Vin, you go way back. You're musical. You've always been musical. You've gone on tour and stuff. Vin, I know your dad plays the drums too. I have performed with your dad before in a past life. Amazing. And Peter, how did you meet the crew? How did you get involved with Keith and Vin for this film?
Peter Janiec (07:20)
So I met Vinny back when we lived in our apartment in Little Falls. He was the apartment right across from mine and through the common interest of baseball, we hit it off. He would he would make that long walk from his apartment to mine, which is like right across, and we'd sit there and watch YouTube stuff and, the horror stuff. We just hit it off. We had so much in common. It was so natural. We played baseball together.
And, it just formed into this awesome relationship that's solid. You're talking 11 years later and here we are. I met Keith through Vinny and what an awesome relationship with him as well. I can't think of anything bad about this guy. He's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, creative and you know, very talented as well. Let me tell you the talent that he has, it's amazing.
Keith Cotugno (07:56)
You're going to make me blush over here.
Jackie Morreale (08:01)
Well, it sounds like it was meant to be. It sounds like you guys are on your path. This is your debut feature film together as director and production team. I can't wait to see what's next.
So we got your backgrounds. You guys are all super creative, talented, always been into horror, and here you are, you just created your first feature film, horror genre film, and it's winning awards and been shown at so many different film festivals. Let's go through some quick-fire questions and see how well you guys know each other.
Let's start with Keith. What was your favorite horror movie of all time?
Keith Cotugno (08:34)
Oof. I'm going to go left field on this. Jurassic Park. gotta say. Jurassic Park. Yes. I think it's a horror movie. The first one. The original Jurassic Park. It's a horror movie. I mean, yeah. But there is a dark tone in there that has that horror aspect, which I love. And it also brings other things. It brings adventure. It brings the drama. It has everything in one. But I think that makes it a unique horror movie.
Peter Janiec (08:49)
Was the best one, by the way.
Keith Cotugno (09:04)
It's one of my favorite movies.
Jackie Morreale (09:06)
How many are there at this point, right? There's so many, they're still making, yeah, exactly. So that's what I see. Well, that's what I see for Trapped Inside My Sin, too. There's just so much you could do with it, but anyway, I'll stop fangirling. Peter, what's your favorite horror movie of all time?
Peter Janiec (09:09)
I actually have two. I had the original Halloween that John Carpenter directed. That's an instant classic. That's what catapulted the Friday the 13th's, and the slasher films. It just was the definition of suspense. If you weren't jumping through that movie, then man, you don't got no feelings. My other one is Event Horizon. It's a sci-fi horror. It's about a ship that went missing reappeared seven years later and when it reappeared they sent the rescue ship to rescue the crew to find out that that ship warped into hell and came back and pretty much brought the ship alive or the ship came alive and was killing its crew one by one. It was such a unique sci-fi type of storytelling. It was really good. It was definitely a very good gory horror film.
Jackie Morreale (10:06)
Man, so you don't shy away from the gory stuff?
Peter Janiec (10:10)
No, no, love Gore. Another one of his, Terrifier, another one of my favorites with Damien Leone. That was the definition of gore. You know what he did in that thing.
Vincent Vilardi (10:17)
Gore-fest.
Jackie Morreale (10:18)
Love it. And Vin, what's your favorite horror movie of all time?
Vincent Vilardi (10:22)
I'd say there's two of them. I like The Exorcist, which is a paranormal exorcism demon kind of a film, which is a big classic. And I would say the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. They shot that with such a low budget and it feels realistic. It feels like that's something that could happen in real life where some of these other horror films, it turns into the villain dies and then they turn into a ghost and they come back to haunt you and then it becomes more unrealistic and it gets silly. I feel like Texas Chainsaw always stays like psychotic and crazy. It's a good combination of suspense and gore.
Jackie Morreale (10:54)
Love that. You're reminding me of my '90s, The Blair Witch Project, right? A low-budge but super scary, awesome and effective. Exactly. Okay, so let's cleanse our palette a little bit. So favorite book, Vin, you want to continue with your favorite book?
(Continued below)
Hello and welcome to Wisdom for Wannabes, a new podcast series that seeks to find wise words on business, beauty and betterment. I'm the host Jackie Morreale.
Today we are very proud to welcome the directorial and production team behind the new film, Trapped Inside My Sin, which is now streaming on Fawesome and Tubi. I am joined by the writer and director of the film, Vincent Vilardi, welcome Vin, who wrote the story, directed and executive produced the film, as well as the producers, Peter Janiec, who also specialized in sourcing locations and networking, and Keith Cotugno, who also created the musical score. The storyline of Trapped Inside My Sin is a father moves into a new home with his wife and two kids only to find out that he is being punished for committing a sin that he never took seriously. Trapped Inside My Sin has received two film wins and three nominations for awards.
The film was shot in 2024 and released in 2025 from debut director and writer, Vincent Vilardi, and features screenwriter, Jeffrey Lanier, and starring Brian Pollock, Marilyn Rodriguez, Victoria Stevens, and Dan Gregory, to name a few. Together, Vin, Peter, and Keith make Endless Vision Entertainment. Welcome to the show, guys. I'm so excited to be here with you today. Absolutely. I can't wait to hear about you individually, as a team, your process, and your new horror film, which I watched and I loved.
Keith Cotugno (01:20)
Thank you for having us, Jackie.
Peter Janiec (01:20)
Thank you for having us.
Vincent Vilardi (01:21)
Thank you so much for having us.
Jackie Morreale (01:31)
I was so scared. It was amazing. Let's start off the interview with some background questions. Maybe you can all introduce yourselves with your name, where you're from, where you currently reside or work, what you do, your passion, how many years you've been doing it, and your favorite part of your role. Let's start with you, Vin.
Vincent Vilardi (01:49)
I currently live in Monroe Township, New Jersey, which is in central Jersey. I currently work at Major League Baseball Network. I've been there for 15 years. I do graphics operating, some editing and prompting operating for the on-air I assist the directors and producers in the studios as well. On the side, I've produced and directed two short films and my first feature film, which was Trapped Inside My Sin. Then I produced two other short films to get experience before this feature film. My passion is filmmaking, especially in the horror genre. I like doing documentary style as well. That's in sports, with baseball. I've worked for Monday Night Football for ESPN doing football games on the field, field producing and doing audio on the field as well.
Jackie Morreale (02:36)
You are a man of many talents, Vin. You've got so much going on. You're so good at horror. I love that that's your passion and I can't wait to see what you guys do next. So your favorite part of your role is the filmmaking. Directing.
Vincent Vilardi (02:41)
Getting there, getting there. Directing and editing are my two favorite things, but I say directing more so I like being on set and being able to make something come to life. I used to love editing the most, but it's so tedious and challenging and time consuming. Now that I have a family, my wife and kids. Directing on set and then having somebody that can specialize in editing, that part for me would be awesome. But with Trapped Inside My Sin, I had to do both.
Jackie Morreale (02:58)
Exactly. I see really big things for you, so I'm sure that you'll have help in the editing world. But I know it's nice as a creator to really have a hand on the fine details of your art. It's an awesome skill to have. Peter, let's hear from you, your name, where you're from, what you do, your passion, how many years you've been doing it, your favorite part of your job.
Peter Janiec (03:30)
Yeah, let's go crazy. I'm Peter Janiec. I live in Sussex County, New Jersey. I've lived up here for about 10 years. I grew up in Clifton, New Jersey, graduated 2003, which I can't believe is close to 22 years ago. My goodness. I am a retired police sergeant. After 17 years of service, I got to leave and retire. My passion: I love horror. I love baseball and I'm a big Batman fan.
Making Trapped Inside My Sin was such a cool experience doing it with these guys that you see on screen. My first taste of it was Vinny reaching out to me. This was when I was still on the job and he was like, Hey, do you want to take part in making a short film? It was the smallest role, scouting director. I showed him maybe a few locations and stuff, but I got to be part of it.
Showing the few locations and seeing what it takes to make those locations come to life. Then fast forward going to the premiere of that short film, it was just so cool. I'm like, man, how do I get into this world? I didn't go to school for any of this stuff. Again, I came from the law enforcement background. Vinny took me in and a couple of short films later and a full feature film, here we are.
Jackie Morreale (04:34)
So Peter, so you're not from this world, you're from law enforcement. And now I kind of understand the interrogation scene a little bit better, and how everything kind of comes together. So you're sourcing the locations. I watched the film and I really felt like I was on a mental journey through New Jersey. I loved it. The house was super creepy, the neighborhood, it felt like I was back home in central Jersey. It was awesome what you did with the sourcing.
So, Keith, tell us more about yourself and your role, your name, where you're from, what you do, your passion, how many years, and your favorite part of your job.
Keith Cotugno (05:11)
I'm Keith Cotugno. I'm from Long Island, New York. I'm currently living in Levittown, born and raised in Elmont. So yeah, fellow New Yorker, Jackie. I'm into music all my life. I'm a drummer at heart. Ever since I was a kid, I've been playing drums. My father was a drummer. I grew up with a lot of music in the house. I have an older brother, seven years older, and he was more into electronic music. My dad was more rock, so I have a good mix of different styles. That really contributes to what I put into all the creative things I do. I've been doing it probably since maybe eight years old. I started taking it serious with drums and showed a lot of interest and then my father got me private lessons. We had a Broadway drummer come to the house and he would give me private lessons and I built on that. Been in a band since I was a teenager playing in bars. When I'm like 16, doing that whole tour life with the band. When I hit like 21, I got more into electronic music. I got into the DJ realm, more music production, audio engineering, all self-taught.
Vincent Vilardi (06:05)
Remember those days.
Keith Cotugno (06:24)
Music is a big part of me that's really huge in my life. But also filmmaking is something Vinny knows. We're cousins and ever since we were kids, we've always been watching movies. Scary movies, Jason, Halloween, when we're like 10 years old. We were always intrigued by it.
Jackie Morreale (06:40)
Man, so you guys are family, that's amazing. And now you work together too. Any family drama, you guys work together great? I could see you're both pretty easy going.
Vincent Vilardi (06:51)
It works together great.
Keith Cotugno (06:52)
Yeah, everything's come naturally. That's why it's a beautiful thing that we were able to do this and make a full-length movie, which is surreal still.
Jackie Morreale (07:01)
Okay. So Keith, Vin, you go way back. You're musical. You've always been musical. You've gone on tour and stuff. Vin, I know your dad plays the drums too. I have performed with your dad before in a past life. Amazing. And Peter, how did you meet the crew? How did you get involved with Keith and Vin for this film?
Peter Janiec (07:20)
So I met Vinny back when we lived in our apartment in Little Falls. He was the apartment right across from mine and through the common interest of baseball, we hit it off. He would he would make that long walk from his apartment to mine, which is like right across, and we'd sit there and watch YouTube stuff and, the horror stuff. We just hit it off. We had so much in common. It was so natural. We played baseball together.
And, it just formed into this awesome relationship that's solid. You're talking 11 years later and here we are. I met Keith through Vinny and what an awesome relationship with him as well. I can't think of anything bad about this guy. He's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, creative and you know, very talented as well. Let me tell you the talent that he has, it's amazing.
Keith Cotugno (07:56)
You're going to make me blush over here.
Jackie Morreale (08:01)
Well, it sounds like it was meant to be. It sounds like you guys are on your path. This is your debut feature film together as director and production team. I can't wait to see what's next.
So we got your backgrounds. You guys are all super creative, talented, always been into horror, and here you are, you just created your first feature film, horror genre film, and it's winning awards and been shown at so many different film festivals. Let's go through some quick-fire questions and see how well you guys know each other.
Let's start with Keith. What was your favorite horror movie of all time?
Keith Cotugno (08:34)
Oof. I'm going to go left field on this. Jurassic Park. gotta say. Jurassic Park. Yes. I think it's a horror movie. The first one. The original Jurassic Park. It's a horror movie. I mean, yeah. But there is a dark tone in there that has that horror aspect, which I love. And it also brings other things. It brings adventure. It brings the drama. It has everything in one. But I think that makes it a unique horror movie.
Peter Janiec (08:49)
Was the best one, by the way.
Keith Cotugno (09:04)
It's one of my favorite movies.
Jackie Morreale (09:06)
How many are there at this point, right? There's so many, they're still making, yeah, exactly. So that's what I see. Well, that's what I see for Trapped Inside My Sin, too. There's just so much you could do with it, but anyway, I'll stop fangirling. Peter, what's your favorite horror movie of all time?
Peter Janiec (09:09)
I actually have two. I had the original Halloween that John Carpenter directed. That's an instant classic. That's what catapulted the Friday the 13th's, and the slasher films. It just was the definition of suspense. If you weren't jumping through that movie, then man, you don't got no feelings. My other one is Event Horizon. It's a sci-fi horror. It's about a ship that went missing reappeared seven years later and when it reappeared they sent the rescue ship to rescue the crew to find out that that ship warped into hell and came back and pretty much brought the ship alive or the ship came alive and was killing its crew one by one. It was such a unique sci-fi type of storytelling. It was really good. It was definitely a very good gory horror film.
Jackie Morreale (10:06)
Man, so you don't shy away from the gory stuff?
Peter Janiec (10:10)
No, no, love Gore. Another one of his, Terrifier, another one of my favorites with Damien Leone. That was the definition of gore. You know what he did in that thing.
Vincent Vilardi (10:17)
Gore-fest.
Jackie Morreale (10:18)
Love it. And Vin, what's your favorite horror movie of all time?
Vincent Vilardi (10:22)
I'd say there's two of them. I like The Exorcist, which is a paranormal exorcism demon kind of a film, which is a big classic. And I would say the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. They shot that with such a low budget and it feels realistic. It feels like that's something that could happen in real life where some of these other horror films, it turns into the villain dies and then they turn into a ghost and they come back to haunt you and then it becomes more unrealistic and it gets silly. I feel like Texas Chainsaw always stays like psychotic and crazy. It's a good combination of suspense and gore.
Jackie Morreale (10:54)
Love that. You're reminding me of my '90s, The Blair Witch Project, right? A low-budge but super scary, awesome and effective. Exactly. Okay, so let's cleanse our palette a little bit. So favorite book, Vin, you want to continue with your favorite book?
(Continued below)
Horror Film Favorites Discussed:
(Continued)
Keith Cotugno (10:57)
Yeah, that movie was effective.
Vincent Vilardi (11:10)
Probably the Stephen King It book, even though that's probably one of my top three favorite films, the remake that they did. That's one of the films that really inspired me to want to do this horror filmmaking because of the way it was shot and the music score and the intensity and the bass and everything, the whole aspect of it. But the book was really crazy too, because there was a lot more crazy R rated stuff inside the book that wasn't in the film.
Jackie Morreale (11:31)
Stephen King's writing. Man, as somebody who loves to write, his writing is so good. He could write about anything and it's amazing. Peter, what's your favorite book of all time?
Peter Janiec (11:33)
I'm a big fan of Cirque du Freak, The Vampire's Assistant. So I actually saw the movie first and I was like, this movie is so great. It had the guy from Step Brothers in it. I didn't realize it was written off of a book series. I think it was like eight or nine books. I read the book series and was like, the movie's terrible. It didn't follow the book series at all. It was a dark, gritty, series to read.
It was essentially about a vampire that half bloods a human to make him half-vampire. So this way he can still be awake during the night and do the deeds of the vampire. It takes you on this incredible journey that's really dark. The movie did a massive disservice to it. If they followed the book series, it could have been the Harry Potter series, just the horror version. Another favorite book is probably not related to a horror.
It's my law enforcement back then, but it's called the Games Criminals Play written by Bud Allen from the late eighties. It's its own classification system on, what inmates can do psychologically. They're very fascinating. They let you inside the mind of an inmate. Really, really good. I know that's left field, but yeah.
Jackie Morreale (12:37)
But that's a thriller in itself, right? And there's so much there that you've probably dealt with, in your past life that you're bringing in and it's so interesting. Vampires, man, I love to read and watch about vampires. Are they considered a horror genre or is this more fantasy world? Because I don't know where the line is, it's blurry.
Keith Cotugno (12:55)
Yeah, it borders.
Vincent Vilardi (12:58)
Thriller, fantasy kind of thing.
Peter Janiec (13:01)
Yeah, I guess it depends on how you write it or how you tell the story. I think you can go in any way. If you can make a vampire, bubbly, or you make them dark and scary.
Jackie Morreale (13:05)
Right. You can make it YA, or Disney. Exactly.
Keith favorite book of all time?
Keith Cotugno (13:18)
I'm more into the informative type of books. I've learned a lot over my younger years. I've learned all about audio engineering and things like that. One book I like is The Book of Alchemy. If you ever get to check it out, it's very creative. All for creative people. You can find inspiration in anything. Wherever you go, who you meet, there's inspiration to be found. It's powerful for creative people.
We're always looking for inspiration. Sometimes we run dry of inspiration and you have got to just keep it going to forge forward.
Jackie Morreale (13:41)
I totally agree. And for somebody who's self-taught in the music field, phew you must be reading a lot. That's awesome. And to keep the creative juices flowing. I love that.
Keith Cotugno (13:50)
Yeah, YouTube and articles is how I learned a lot. yeah, we're living in a crazy world where you can learn so much.
Vincent Vilardi (13:57)
YouTube helps a lot.
Jackie Morreale (14:03)
Keith, let's start with you because you've got the musical background. Who's your favorite singer or band or genre?
Keith Cotugno (14:10)
I have got to go with Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor, he's a big inspiration in a lot of what I do ever since I was a kid. So I try to incorporate a lot of that, his energy, his mood, his tone and everything into what I do.
Jackie Morreale (14:11)
Nine inch nails. That's awesome. I was just trying to explain to my child what 90s grunge is, and I couldn't put my finger on it, but I was like you know it's the music that you just want to kind of you know rock your head to. Anyway it was a vibe. Vin what's your favorite singer or band or genre of music?
Keith Cotugno (14:30)
Yeah, it was a vibe.
Vincent Vilardi (14:44)
I like rock and some hip hop. I don't really have a favorite singer or specific band. I'll pretty much listen to anything from Billy Joel and Rolling Stones all the way to Disturbed and Slipknot. I go all over the place.
Jackie Morreale (14:55)
Just depends on your mood.
Keith Cotugno (14:56)
Classics.
Jackie Morreale (14:58)
Peter, what's your favorite singer or band or genre of music?
Peter Janiec (15:02)
I'm probably going to copycat Vinny on this answer. I like to listen to anything that has a good beat that's motivational, that can get you going, whether it's rock or hip hop or, country. I recently warmed up to techno. I never really a fan of the fist pumping stuff, but being older now, it's kind of resonating with me a little bit, you know? Yeah, you know, but yeah, anything that's motivational, that can get you going is what I listen to.
Jackie Morreale (15:17)
It's resonating with you now. That's awesome.
Let's try a different style with this one: Favorite subject in school. Everybody shout it out once. Ready, go.
Keith Cotugno (15:33)
Music class.
Vincent Vilardi (15:35)
English.
Peter Janiec (15:35)
Phys-Ed.
Come on!
Keith Cotugno (15:39)
Band class!
Peter Janiec (15:41)
That's the no-brainer.
Jackie Morreale (15:42)
PE, PE, and music. Is that what I got? Okay. All right. Science. We'll give it science. Somebody's got to mix the blood on the horror film, right? Somebody's got to know the formula. Love it.
Favorite place. One, two, three.
Vincent Vilardi (16:00)
Aruba.
Keith Cotugno (16:01)
My studio.
Peter Janiec (16:02)
Baseball field.
Vincent Vilardi (16:03)
For vacation?
Jackie Morreale (16:05)
It could be whatever it could be to create or could be on vacation.
Keith Cotugno (16:07)
Anywhere where there's a palm tree. I'm all about it.
Peter Janiec (16:12)
I like Keith's answer on anything with a palm tree and some sun beach chair, some drinks. I'm good.
Jackie Morreale (16:15)
Love it. You're just describing like Point Pleasant at the Jersey Shore right now, right? Like it could be Tiki Bar or whatever, anywhere relaxing. Okay. So you guys have so much going on with your creative stuff that you want to go somewhere that you can really unwind. Vin, do you have a favorite place?
Vincent Vilardi (16:37)
I'd say editing room, or just hanging out, watching TV. No specific favorite place I like to hang out, anywhere pretty much. I'm not too picky.
Jackie Morreale (16:39)
Love that. Favorite sport. One, two, three.
Peter Janiec (16:49)
Baseball.
Keith Cotugno (16:49)
UFC.
Vincent Vilardi (16:50)
Football and baseball.
Jackie Morreale (16:52)
Keith, UFC. I wasn't expecting that from you.
Keith Cotugno (16:53)
UFC, I like Ultimate Fighting. Yeah, I'm into that. Yeah, can't you tell by my physique?
Peter Janiec (17:02)
Yeah, Keith secretly fights on the side, didn't you know?
Jackie Morreale (17:08)
Look, you guys can do anything. I'm convinced. I wouldn't be surprised. And Peter, you said NFL? Baseball.
Peter Janiec (17:11)
Baseball. Baseball. Big baseball fan.
Vincent Vilardi (17:14)
Most of my life it's been baseball, but lately it's turned more into football.
Jackie Morreale (17:18)
There we go. You're allowed to evolve. I know you played baseball and here you are working at MLB.
Vincent Vilardi (17:24)
Yeah, working in baseball, it's games every single day. Football switches it up a little bit and it's only once a week.
Jackie Morreale (17:33)
True. It's a lifestyle though, right? The fall's coming. It's a commitment.
kay. Favorite holiday. One, two, three.
Peter Janiec (17:45)
Halloween.
Vincent Vilardi (17:46)
Christmas.
Jackie Morreale (17:47)
Christmas, that's sweet. Okay, I got two Halloweens and one Christmas.
Keith and Peter, you're both into the Halloween vibes?
Keith Cotugno (17:48)
I like Christmas.
I mean I love Halloween too. Like Halloween and Christmas are my two tops.
Vincent Vilardi (17:59)
I'd say Halloween's my second favorite, but Christmas is classic.
Jackie Morreale (18:01)
Totally different vibe, obviously. Halloween, for you guys and what you're doing, there's just so much excitement over horror, like everybody wants to be scared in October, right? I can't wait to see what happens for you guys in this film next month.
Let's go a little slower on this one. Favorite filmmaker. Peter, do you want to start?
(Continued below)
Keith Cotugno (10:57)
Yeah, that movie was effective.
Vincent Vilardi (11:10)
Probably the Stephen King It book, even though that's probably one of my top three favorite films, the remake that they did. That's one of the films that really inspired me to want to do this horror filmmaking because of the way it was shot and the music score and the intensity and the bass and everything, the whole aspect of it. But the book was really crazy too, because there was a lot more crazy R rated stuff inside the book that wasn't in the film.
Jackie Morreale (11:31)
Stephen King's writing. Man, as somebody who loves to write, his writing is so good. He could write about anything and it's amazing. Peter, what's your favorite book of all time?
Peter Janiec (11:33)
I'm a big fan of Cirque du Freak, The Vampire's Assistant. So I actually saw the movie first and I was like, this movie is so great. It had the guy from Step Brothers in it. I didn't realize it was written off of a book series. I think it was like eight or nine books. I read the book series and was like, the movie's terrible. It didn't follow the book series at all. It was a dark, gritty, series to read.
It was essentially about a vampire that half bloods a human to make him half-vampire. So this way he can still be awake during the night and do the deeds of the vampire. It takes you on this incredible journey that's really dark. The movie did a massive disservice to it. If they followed the book series, it could have been the Harry Potter series, just the horror version. Another favorite book is probably not related to a horror.
It's my law enforcement back then, but it's called the Games Criminals Play written by Bud Allen from the late eighties. It's its own classification system on, what inmates can do psychologically. They're very fascinating. They let you inside the mind of an inmate. Really, really good. I know that's left field, but yeah.
Jackie Morreale (12:37)
But that's a thriller in itself, right? And there's so much there that you've probably dealt with, in your past life that you're bringing in and it's so interesting. Vampires, man, I love to read and watch about vampires. Are they considered a horror genre or is this more fantasy world? Because I don't know where the line is, it's blurry.
Keith Cotugno (12:55)
Yeah, it borders.
Vincent Vilardi (12:58)
Thriller, fantasy kind of thing.
Peter Janiec (13:01)
Yeah, I guess it depends on how you write it or how you tell the story. I think you can go in any way. If you can make a vampire, bubbly, or you make them dark and scary.
Jackie Morreale (13:05)
Right. You can make it YA, or Disney. Exactly.
Keith favorite book of all time?
Keith Cotugno (13:18)
I'm more into the informative type of books. I've learned a lot over my younger years. I've learned all about audio engineering and things like that. One book I like is The Book of Alchemy. If you ever get to check it out, it's very creative. All for creative people. You can find inspiration in anything. Wherever you go, who you meet, there's inspiration to be found. It's powerful for creative people.
We're always looking for inspiration. Sometimes we run dry of inspiration and you have got to just keep it going to forge forward.
Jackie Morreale (13:41)
I totally agree. And for somebody who's self-taught in the music field, phew you must be reading a lot. That's awesome. And to keep the creative juices flowing. I love that.
Keith Cotugno (13:50)
Yeah, YouTube and articles is how I learned a lot. yeah, we're living in a crazy world where you can learn so much.
Vincent Vilardi (13:57)
YouTube helps a lot.
Jackie Morreale (14:03)
Keith, let's start with you because you've got the musical background. Who's your favorite singer or band or genre?
Keith Cotugno (14:10)
I have got to go with Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor, he's a big inspiration in a lot of what I do ever since I was a kid. So I try to incorporate a lot of that, his energy, his mood, his tone and everything into what I do.
Jackie Morreale (14:11)
Nine inch nails. That's awesome. I was just trying to explain to my child what 90s grunge is, and I couldn't put my finger on it, but I was like you know it's the music that you just want to kind of you know rock your head to. Anyway it was a vibe. Vin what's your favorite singer or band or genre of music?
Keith Cotugno (14:30)
Yeah, it was a vibe.
Vincent Vilardi (14:44)
I like rock and some hip hop. I don't really have a favorite singer or specific band. I'll pretty much listen to anything from Billy Joel and Rolling Stones all the way to Disturbed and Slipknot. I go all over the place.
Jackie Morreale (14:55)
Just depends on your mood.
Keith Cotugno (14:56)
Classics.
Jackie Morreale (14:58)
Peter, what's your favorite singer or band or genre of music?
Peter Janiec (15:02)
I'm probably going to copycat Vinny on this answer. I like to listen to anything that has a good beat that's motivational, that can get you going, whether it's rock or hip hop or, country. I recently warmed up to techno. I never really a fan of the fist pumping stuff, but being older now, it's kind of resonating with me a little bit, you know? Yeah, you know, but yeah, anything that's motivational, that can get you going is what I listen to.
Jackie Morreale (15:17)
It's resonating with you now. That's awesome.
Let's try a different style with this one: Favorite subject in school. Everybody shout it out once. Ready, go.
Keith Cotugno (15:33)
Music class.
Vincent Vilardi (15:35)
English.
Peter Janiec (15:35)
Phys-Ed.
Come on!
Keith Cotugno (15:39)
Band class!
Peter Janiec (15:41)
That's the no-brainer.
Jackie Morreale (15:42)
PE, PE, and music. Is that what I got? Okay. All right. Science. We'll give it science. Somebody's got to mix the blood on the horror film, right? Somebody's got to know the formula. Love it.
Favorite place. One, two, three.
Vincent Vilardi (16:00)
Aruba.
Keith Cotugno (16:01)
My studio.
Peter Janiec (16:02)
Baseball field.
Vincent Vilardi (16:03)
For vacation?
Jackie Morreale (16:05)
It could be whatever it could be to create or could be on vacation.
Keith Cotugno (16:07)
Anywhere where there's a palm tree. I'm all about it.
Peter Janiec (16:12)
I like Keith's answer on anything with a palm tree and some sun beach chair, some drinks. I'm good.
Jackie Morreale (16:15)
Love it. You're just describing like Point Pleasant at the Jersey Shore right now, right? Like it could be Tiki Bar or whatever, anywhere relaxing. Okay. So you guys have so much going on with your creative stuff that you want to go somewhere that you can really unwind. Vin, do you have a favorite place?
Vincent Vilardi (16:37)
I'd say editing room, or just hanging out, watching TV. No specific favorite place I like to hang out, anywhere pretty much. I'm not too picky.
Jackie Morreale (16:39)
Love that. Favorite sport. One, two, three.
Peter Janiec (16:49)
Baseball.
Keith Cotugno (16:49)
UFC.
Vincent Vilardi (16:50)
Football and baseball.
Jackie Morreale (16:52)
Keith, UFC. I wasn't expecting that from you.
Keith Cotugno (16:53)
UFC, I like Ultimate Fighting. Yeah, I'm into that. Yeah, can't you tell by my physique?
Peter Janiec (17:02)
Yeah, Keith secretly fights on the side, didn't you know?
Jackie Morreale (17:08)
Look, you guys can do anything. I'm convinced. I wouldn't be surprised. And Peter, you said NFL? Baseball.
Peter Janiec (17:11)
Baseball. Baseball. Big baseball fan.
Vincent Vilardi (17:14)
Most of my life it's been baseball, but lately it's turned more into football.
Jackie Morreale (17:18)
There we go. You're allowed to evolve. I know you played baseball and here you are working at MLB.
Vincent Vilardi (17:24)
Yeah, working in baseball, it's games every single day. Football switches it up a little bit and it's only once a week.
Jackie Morreale (17:33)
True. It's a lifestyle though, right? The fall's coming. It's a commitment.
kay. Favorite holiday. One, two, three.
Peter Janiec (17:45)
Halloween.
Vincent Vilardi (17:46)
Christmas.
Jackie Morreale (17:47)
Christmas, that's sweet. Okay, I got two Halloweens and one Christmas.
Keith and Peter, you're both into the Halloween vibes?
Keith Cotugno (17:48)
I like Christmas.
I mean I love Halloween too. Like Halloween and Christmas are my two tops.
Vincent Vilardi (17:59)
I'd say Halloween's my second favorite, but Christmas is classic.
Jackie Morreale (18:01)
Totally different vibe, obviously. Halloween, for you guys and what you're doing, there's just so much excitement over horror, like everybody wants to be scared in October, right? I can't wait to see what happens for you guys in this film next month.
Let's go a little slower on this one. Favorite filmmaker. Peter, do you want to start?
(Continued below)
Watch Trapped Inside My Sin on Tubi app:
(Continued)
Peter Janiec (18:27)
It's John Carpenter, just because of the Michael Myers series Halloween. He's really kicked off that genre by making the movie he did. Even Halloween 2 was pretty good. Wes Craven, without him, you don't have the Nightmare on Elm Streets. And the recent one, Damien Leone, with the Terrifier, he's the reason why gore movies are coming back.
In the early two thousands, it was deemed that there was no audience for that. Damien took that chance. He wrote a great script and he had a lot of gore in it. And it turns out there was an audience for it. He's definitely an inspiration for that. But I would say John Carpenter, because without him, I don't think you would have any of this type of horror today.
Jackie Morreale (18:57)
Agree. Keith, favorite filmmaker?
Keith Cotugno (19:04)
I'm going to have to go with David Fincher. Popular for the Fight Club. Another movie, Seven. I just love his work. You can tell that it's his style. He goes for those different type of angles, which I love. I love always trying to do something different. I really like his work.
Jackie Morreale (19:09)
Vin, favorite filmmaker of all time? It could be you, by the way.
Vincent Vilardi (19:22)
Steven Spielberg. Jaws was a classic. I love the way he put that together with all the different challenges that they had with the shark not working and having to go from a camera perspective to keep the suspense going all way to the end of the film when they finally showed the shark. I think that really made the film.
I like Andy Muschietti who did the remake of the It movies and he's in the prequel series that comes out this fall. The way they did those It movies, that was like amazing so I loved him as a director.
Damien Leone who was an independent film director who did the Terrifier franchise, he does his own prosthetics and he builds the actual gore scenes and prosthetics to make everything look realistic so I definitely look up to him for what he's doing since I'm trying to do the same thing now.
Jackie Morreale (20:03)
One day I'm going to ask this question to another set of people and they're going to say Keith Cotugno, Peter Janiec, and Vin Vilardi. You guys are doing amazing work as filmmakers and I applaud you for living the dream and making your dreams come to life with this film, Trapped Inside My Sin. Let's take it to Trapped Inside My Sin. We'll keep it slow. Favorite scene in this film without giving anything away to people who haven't seen it yet.
Keith Cotugno (20:29)
That's tough.
Jackie Morreale (20:31)
Your favorite moment could be back behind the scenes.
Keith Cotugno (20:35)
There's a moment that I like, the and everything, was Ben and Linda, they actually start talking and it's intense, it builds up. It's one of my favorites and I think we nailed it. Once we did, we all looked at each other and we're like, that was it.
Vincent Vilardi (20:50)
I like the opening scene, the suspense in the opening scene and how that all built up to the crescendo at the end of it. The part when he's fishing and he gets harassed by the demon, those are my two favorites.
Jackie Morreale (21:01)
Peter, what's your favorite scene?
Peter Janiec (21:03)
That's a hard one because there were so many favorite scenes in that. Again, I can't give it away. You gotta watch the movie. But the ending, I thought, was done very nicely. One scene in particular is when ⁓ Ben goes out for a jog and he hears a cry for help and without giving it away, it leads to a really, really good suspenseful jump scare.
As simple as that scene was, I thought it was super effective. I thought that we all pulled it off very, very nicely. It was filmed very nicely. So that's my favorite scene on top of many other favorite scenes that we had in the movie.
Jackie Morreale (21:37)
Well, anybody who hasn't yet tuned in, watch it on Fawesome or Tubi or to be very soon on other platforms as well, including Amazon Prime. I'm so excited for you guys. This is so random, but I have to ask this one. Does anyone have any famous relatives who maybe have inspired this lifestyle and creative path that you guys are taking?
Vincent Vilardi (22:03)
Cousin Vincent. Vincent Schiavelli, was in the movie Ghost, he was in the ghost in the Subway. Fast Times at Ridgemont High, he was a science teacher.
Keith Cotugno (22:14)
I think he was also in a James Bond movie. (Tomorrow Never Dies.)
Vincent Vilardi (22:18)
He was the partner of the penguin in Batman Returns.
Jackie Morreale (22:23)
Your uncle's full name one more time? Vincent Schiavelli. It's funny that you're Vincent as well. He was in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, too.
Vincent Vilardi (22:27)
Vincent Schiavelli. We're about to see that one too, a classic.
Jackie Morreale (22:36)
Yeah, thriller. I just watched his scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High where he's literally opening a cadaver and showing a heart to his students and everybody looks like they're about to pass out.
This was after I watched your guy's film and I was like, wow, this legacy of horror, of dealing with the weird and bringing these things to life on film.
Keith (23:01)
We recently found out about Gina that's in the film as well.
Vincent Vilardi (23:04)
Our cousin, Gina, went viral on TikTok.
Peter Janiec (23:08)
For Chick-fil-A on TikTok?
Keith Cotugno (23:09)
Yeah. We found out recently, right before we shot the movie.
Vincent Vilardi (23:15)
It was my dad and your mom's cousin's daughter.
Keith Cotugno (23:19)
Yeah, so something is running in our blood.
Jackie Morreale (23:20)
I totally agree. You guys keep it in the family too. I love it. Peter, you're obviously honorary member of the Vilardi / Cotugno family.
You guys created this thing, this 'baby', this beautiful work of art, this film that you created as your debut full feature film. First time that you saw it on the big screen, where was it?
Peter Janiec (23:29)
Yeah, an honor I'll remember.
Jackie Morreale (23:46)
Was it at home? Was it at a film festival, at a movie theater? Where was it and how did you feel?
Vincent Vilardi (23:53)
The final, final product, we did the movie theater premiere back in March for Friends and Family and Cast and Crew. It was an amazing experience.
We did it at the Cinemark in Wayne, New Jersey. It was one of those public theaters. So to have that experience with the surround sound and seeing it on the big screen, it was definitely a surreal feeling. Everybody really enjoyed it.
Keith Cotugno (24:14)
Yeah, it was surreal, seeing it on the actual movie screen. Vinny was like, I'm renting a theater out. I'm like, what? And then when we got there, I was like, wow, this is legit. So fun.
Peter Janiec (24:23)
Yeah, it's a very, very proud moment. Very proud moment to see that final product up there and to see, I think it was 110 seats per day, 220 in total. We sold out both days and for everybody to compliment the film on its storytelling and what it looked like. It was a very proud moment for all three of us, that we created a good product, something that people enjoy because it's all about good storytelling. We just wanted to tell a good story. All that it resonates with the audience.
Vincent Vilardi (24:51)
I remember, not this past March, but the March before that, Pete and I met one of our actresses, Marilyn Rodriguez, who played Kimberly. We met her at a Cheesecake Factory, and had a big conversation with her about her acting. Pete went to high school with her. We spoke with her and she was all on board with wanting to be a part of the film.
Jackie Morreale (25:09)
This is the Ben's wife in the film, the leading actress. Yeah, she did an amazing job! Absolutely.
Peter Janiec (25:13)
She did a phenomenal job. She's an amazing person. An amazing actor as well.
Vincent Vilardi (25:18)
Amazing how you go from a meeting at the Cheesecake Factory and then you see the final product on the big screen. It's like, wow, this actually all came to life.
Jackie Morreale (25:24)
I kind of get it. Now that I'm part of the cool guy club right here, I don't want to leave it. I think you guys have this charisma that if you have an idea and a vision and you explain it to somebody, they're in. So, I hope that you use that for good going forward.
So, Vin, tell us more about your vision for the film. How did this story come to be?
Vincent Vilardi (25:46)
I wanted to do a unique type of paranormal film. I knew there was going to be an exorcism in it, but, I didn't want it to be like your typical exorcist kind of a film. I wanted the background to be a unique story that people could relate to, which I never really saw before in a demon kind of a film. I figured, if I'm going go with a sin that can create somebody to get possessed, I'm going to call it Trapped Inside my Sin. It kind of manifested into this big feature story.
Jackie Morreale (26:19)
It's so interesting how you took something that's so relatable and you gave it this spin that really takes you into the depths of your psyche and makes you understand what the character is going through and makes you wonder, while you're watching the film, what's real, what's in his head, what's really out there.
We talked about how you guys know each other, but in terms of coming together for this particular feature film as a production team, how did that go?
Keith Cotugno (27:24)
It was really Vinny reached out to me. He knew I was into music and I had a whole studio in my house. I've been doing my whole life. So he knew what I had to offer. I was excited to get into a project because I was like, this just makes sense. We were watching movies all our life and I've been always wanting somebody to work with. I never had friends that were really passionate about it, really driven to do that. It was a big thing to do, to make a movie. Once Vinny came to me, it was a done deal. I'm like, let's do it.
Vincent Vilardi (27:52)
I knew he was super talented with music and sound and everything. I figured that's a big piece that I could bring to the table to make the film take to the next level. Being that he's a big part of my family, we really like puzzle together well, I'm with video editing side of things. He's on the sound music side of things. So, it kind of just is a cohesive unit.
Then with Pete, we've been friends for such a long time. I remember, he was watching the Terrifier with Damien Lee.
Peter Janiec (28:16)
You're bringing this one up. Okay. Let's get crazy.
Vincent Vilardi (28:19)
I walked into his living room and he had this really dirty scene. Not going to give away what happens in that scene, but it was really, really gnarly. It was super disturbing. I could never imagine myself doing anything like this one day. But after a couple of years, I'm like, oh, I want to start making horror films. Just manifested; it now we're trying be trying to do stuff like this.
Peter Janiec (28:43)
I'm going to give it away. He walked into the movie, Terrifier, and it was the scene where the individual was hung upside down and she was being cut in half. Of course, me and Vinny, being as close as we are, he walked into my house. I don't have to answer the door for him. As he came in, I turned around and I'm like, hey, Vinny. Yeah, this is so on my screen right now.
Vincent Vilardi (28:52)
By a certain area.
Jackie Morreale (29:06)
So let me ask you a question, as you guys have written and created horror film, full feature and short films. Does this make you laugh when you see this stuff? Somebody hung upside down and being cut in half? Or does it give you a rush or are you just immune to it?
Vincent Vilardi (29:23)
Early on it was like super disturbing to me before I started making the films and stuff. I was just focusing on sports and documentaries. But once I got into like filmmaking and making horror films and being a part of the whole behind the scenes process, now when I watch it, I'm like, that's really cool how they put that together or how they directed that or how they edited or did the special effect. So I look at it more from a creative standpoint now. Not as much of a disturbing standpoint anymore.
Peter Janiec (29:51)
For me, again, I've been in law enforcement. I've worked at a jail for 17 years. I've been extremely desensitized.
Jackie Morreale (29:58)
Keith, what about you? How do you feel when you see a gruesome scene like that?
Keith Cotugno (30:02)
I've seen so many horror movies since I was kid. Like Vinny said, I'm more into the creative aspect of it, where you see how it's done, what they used. I always want to try to do that in our films to make it better and make it more lifelike and scare people.
Jackie Morreale (30:16)
Exactly. For me, the music is a key, key, scary component. Like if I'm watching something on mute, it is totally different experience than if I have the full soundtrack, right? I think the music makes it super scary.
I think as I was watching your movie, I'm sitting there, half like, all right, I don't know if I can handle it. I made it through, but yeah, your stuff is super scary. I know you guys have, a little bit of demented minds behind your very calm facade.
Keith (30:31)
Thank you.
Peter Janiec (30:44)
It's a compliment.
Jackie Morreale (30:52)
Just a little bit. You're welcome. So what was your process like in terms of getting this film into the big screen and now it's a multi award winning film. What was the process from taking it to finished piece to submitting it for film festivals and for awards nominations and winning? What was that like?
Vincent Vilardi (31:06)
There was a whole list of film festivals I wanted to submit it to to promote the film. We ended up doing the opposite of what a lot of people do. We ended up getting distribution during the whole submission process. We had distribution, there was no set release date at the time of when it was going to be out and streaming. When I spoke to all the different film festivals, they said we were still eligible to submit.
We wanted to go through with it for promotional purpose. We're still waiting on a bunch of film festivals. Recently, we were in the Golden Door Film Festival in Jersey City. We ended up getting eight different nominations. We were runners up to Steven Spielberg's son's Martyr of Gowanus. He actually was the lead actor in it.
Holt McCallany was one of the other supporting actors, and he was the father in Iron Claws, so he's an up-and-coming, well known actor. Brian Muir directed it, he's an up-and-coming director, and had the connections to bring them on his film, and it was a bigger budget film. To go up on the same screen as them and have our names listed next to those names was a surreal moment.
(Continued below)
Peter Janiec (18:27)
It's John Carpenter, just because of the Michael Myers series Halloween. He's really kicked off that genre by making the movie he did. Even Halloween 2 was pretty good. Wes Craven, without him, you don't have the Nightmare on Elm Streets. And the recent one, Damien Leone, with the Terrifier, he's the reason why gore movies are coming back.
In the early two thousands, it was deemed that there was no audience for that. Damien took that chance. He wrote a great script and he had a lot of gore in it. And it turns out there was an audience for it. He's definitely an inspiration for that. But I would say John Carpenter, because without him, I don't think you would have any of this type of horror today.
Jackie Morreale (18:57)
Agree. Keith, favorite filmmaker?
Keith Cotugno (19:04)
I'm going to have to go with David Fincher. Popular for the Fight Club. Another movie, Seven. I just love his work. You can tell that it's his style. He goes for those different type of angles, which I love. I love always trying to do something different. I really like his work.
Jackie Morreale (19:09)
Vin, favorite filmmaker of all time? It could be you, by the way.
Vincent Vilardi (19:22)
Steven Spielberg. Jaws was a classic. I love the way he put that together with all the different challenges that they had with the shark not working and having to go from a camera perspective to keep the suspense going all way to the end of the film when they finally showed the shark. I think that really made the film.
I like Andy Muschietti who did the remake of the It movies and he's in the prequel series that comes out this fall. The way they did those It movies, that was like amazing so I loved him as a director.
Damien Leone who was an independent film director who did the Terrifier franchise, he does his own prosthetics and he builds the actual gore scenes and prosthetics to make everything look realistic so I definitely look up to him for what he's doing since I'm trying to do the same thing now.
Jackie Morreale (20:03)
One day I'm going to ask this question to another set of people and they're going to say Keith Cotugno, Peter Janiec, and Vin Vilardi. You guys are doing amazing work as filmmakers and I applaud you for living the dream and making your dreams come to life with this film, Trapped Inside My Sin. Let's take it to Trapped Inside My Sin. We'll keep it slow. Favorite scene in this film without giving anything away to people who haven't seen it yet.
Keith Cotugno (20:29)
That's tough.
Jackie Morreale (20:31)
Your favorite moment could be back behind the scenes.
Keith Cotugno (20:35)
There's a moment that I like, the and everything, was Ben and Linda, they actually start talking and it's intense, it builds up. It's one of my favorites and I think we nailed it. Once we did, we all looked at each other and we're like, that was it.
Vincent Vilardi (20:50)
I like the opening scene, the suspense in the opening scene and how that all built up to the crescendo at the end of it. The part when he's fishing and he gets harassed by the demon, those are my two favorites.
Jackie Morreale (21:01)
Peter, what's your favorite scene?
Peter Janiec (21:03)
That's a hard one because there were so many favorite scenes in that. Again, I can't give it away. You gotta watch the movie. But the ending, I thought, was done very nicely. One scene in particular is when ⁓ Ben goes out for a jog and he hears a cry for help and without giving it away, it leads to a really, really good suspenseful jump scare.
As simple as that scene was, I thought it was super effective. I thought that we all pulled it off very, very nicely. It was filmed very nicely. So that's my favorite scene on top of many other favorite scenes that we had in the movie.
Jackie Morreale (21:37)
Well, anybody who hasn't yet tuned in, watch it on Fawesome or Tubi or to be very soon on other platforms as well, including Amazon Prime. I'm so excited for you guys. This is so random, but I have to ask this one. Does anyone have any famous relatives who maybe have inspired this lifestyle and creative path that you guys are taking?
Vincent Vilardi (22:03)
Cousin Vincent. Vincent Schiavelli, was in the movie Ghost, he was in the ghost in the Subway. Fast Times at Ridgemont High, he was a science teacher.
Keith Cotugno (22:14)
I think he was also in a James Bond movie. (Tomorrow Never Dies.)
Vincent Vilardi (22:18)
He was the partner of the penguin in Batman Returns.
Jackie Morreale (22:23)
Your uncle's full name one more time? Vincent Schiavelli. It's funny that you're Vincent as well. He was in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, too.
Vincent Vilardi (22:27)
Vincent Schiavelli. We're about to see that one too, a classic.
Jackie Morreale (22:36)
Yeah, thriller. I just watched his scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High where he's literally opening a cadaver and showing a heart to his students and everybody looks like they're about to pass out.
This was after I watched your guy's film and I was like, wow, this legacy of horror, of dealing with the weird and bringing these things to life on film.
Keith (23:01)
We recently found out about Gina that's in the film as well.
Vincent Vilardi (23:04)
Our cousin, Gina, went viral on TikTok.
Peter Janiec (23:08)
For Chick-fil-A on TikTok?
Keith Cotugno (23:09)
Yeah. We found out recently, right before we shot the movie.
Vincent Vilardi (23:15)
It was my dad and your mom's cousin's daughter.
Keith Cotugno (23:19)
Yeah, so something is running in our blood.
Jackie Morreale (23:20)
I totally agree. You guys keep it in the family too. I love it. Peter, you're obviously honorary member of the Vilardi / Cotugno family.
You guys created this thing, this 'baby', this beautiful work of art, this film that you created as your debut full feature film. First time that you saw it on the big screen, where was it?
Peter Janiec (23:29)
Yeah, an honor I'll remember.
Jackie Morreale (23:46)
Was it at home? Was it at a film festival, at a movie theater? Where was it and how did you feel?
Vincent Vilardi (23:53)
The final, final product, we did the movie theater premiere back in March for Friends and Family and Cast and Crew. It was an amazing experience.
We did it at the Cinemark in Wayne, New Jersey. It was one of those public theaters. So to have that experience with the surround sound and seeing it on the big screen, it was definitely a surreal feeling. Everybody really enjoyed it.
Keith Cotugno (24:14)
Yeah, it was surreal, seeing it on the actual movie screen. Vinny was like, I'm renting a theater out. I'm like, what? And then when we got there, I was like, wow, this is legit. So fun.
Peter Janiec (24:23)
Yeah, it's a very, very proud moment. Very proud moment to see that final product up there and to see, I think it was 110 seats per day, 220 in total. We sold out both days and for everybody to compliment the film on its storytelling and what it looked like. It was a very proud moment for all three of us, that we created a good product, something that people enjoy because it's all about good storytelling. We just wanted to tell a good story. All that it resonates with the audience.
Vincent Vilardi (24:51)
I remember, not this past March, but the March before that, Pete and I met one of our actresses, Marilyn Rodriguez, who played Kimberly. We met her at a Cheesecake Factory, and had a big conversation with her about her acting. Pete went to high school with her. We spoke with her and she was all on board with wanting to be a part of the film.
Jackie Morreale (25:09)
This is the Ben's wife in the film, the leading actress. Yeah, she did an amazing job! Absolutely.
Peter Janiec (25:13)
She did a phenomenal job. She's an amazing person. An amazing actor as well.
Vincent Vilardi (25:18)
Amazing how you go from a meeting at the Cheesecake Factory and then you see the final product on the big screen. It's like, wow, this actually all came to life.
Jackie Morreale (25:24)
I kind of get it. Now that I'm part of the cool guy club right here, I don't want to leave it. I think you guys have this charisma that if you have an idea and a vision and you explain it to somebody, they're in. So, I hope that you use that for good going forward.
So, Vin, tell us more about your vision for the film. How did this story come to be?
Vincent Vilardi (25:46)
I wanted to do a unique type of paranormal film. I knew there was going to be an exorcism in it, but, I didn't want it to be like your typical exorcist kind of a film. I wanted the background to be a unique story that people could relate to, which I never really saw before in a demon kind of a film. I figured, if I'm going go with a sin that can create somebody to get possessed, I'm going to call it Trapped Inside my Sin. It kind of manifested into this big feature story.
Jackie Morreale (26:19)
It's so interesting how you took something that's so relatable and you gave it this spin that really takes you into the depths of your psyche and makes you understand what the character is going through and makes you wonder, while you're watching the film, what's real, what's in his head, what's really out there.
We talked about how you guys know each other, but in terms of coming together for this particular feature film as a production team, how did that go?
Keith Cotugno (27:24)
It was really Vinny reached out to me. He knew I was into music and I had a whole studio in my house. I've been doing my whole life. So he knew what I had to offer. I was excited to get into a project because I was like, this just makes sense. We were watching movies all our life and I've been always wanting somebody to work with. I never had friends that were really passionate about it, really driven to do that. It was a big thing to do, to make a movie. Once Vinny came to me, it was a done deal. I'm like, let's do it.
Vincent Vilardi (27:52)
I knew he was super talented with music and sound and everything. I figured that's a big piece that I could bring to the table to make the film take to the next level. Being that he's a big part of my family, we really like puzzle together well, I'm with video editing side of things. He's on the sound music side of things. So, it kind of just is a cohesive unit.
Then with Pete, we've been friends for such a long time. I remember, he was watching the Terrifier with Damien Lee.
Peter Janiec (28:16)
You're bringing this one up. Okay. Let's get crazy.
Vincent Vilardi (28:19)
I walked into his living room and he had this really dirty scene. Not going to give away what happens in that scene, but it was really, really gnarly. It was super disturbing. I could never imagine myself doing anything like this one day. But after a couple of years, I'm like, oh, I want to start making horror films. Just manifested; it now we're trying be trying to do stuff like this.
Peter Janiec (28:43)
I'm going to give it away. He walked into the movie, Terrifier, and it was the scene where the individual was hung upside down and she was being cut in half. Of course, me and Vinny, being as close as we are, he walked into my house. I don't have to answer the door for him. As he came in, I turned around and I'm like, hey, Vinny. Yeah, this is so on my screen right now.
Vincent Vilardi (28:52)
By a certain area.
Jackie Morreale (29:06)
So let me ask you a question, as you guys have written and created horror film, full feature and short films. Does this make you laugh when you see this stuff? Somebody hung upside down and being cut in half? Or does it give you a rush or are you just immune to it?
Vincent Vilardi (29:23)
Early on it was like super disturbing to me before I started making the films and stuff. I was just focusing on sports and documentaries. But once I got into like filmmaking and making horror films and being a part of the whole behind the scenes process, now when I watch it, I'm like, that's really cool how they put that together or how they directed that or how they edited or did the special effect. So I look at it more from a creative standpoint now. Not as much of a disturbing standpoint anymore.
Peter Janiec (29:51)
For me, again, I've been in law enforcement. I've worked at a jail for 17 years. I've been extremely desensitized.
Jackie Morreale (29:58)
Keith, what about you? How do you feel when you see a gruesome scene like that?
Keith Cotugno (30:02)
I've seen so many horror movies since I was kid. Like Vinny said, I'm more into the creative aspect of it, where you see how it's done, what they used. I always want to try to do that in our films to make it better and make it more lifelike and scare people.
Jackie Morreale (30:16)
Exactly. For me, the music is a key, key, scary component. Like if I'm watching something on mute, it is totally different experience than if I have the full soundtrack, right? I think the music makes it super scary.
I think as I was watching your movie, I'm sitting there, half like, all right, I don't know if I can handle it. I made it through, but yeah, your stuff is super scary. I know you guys have, a little bit of demented minds behind your very calm facade.
Keith (30:31)
Thank you.
Peter Janiec (30:44)
It's a compliment.
Jackie Morreale (30:52)
Just a little bit. You're welcome. So what was your process like in terms of getting this film into the big screen and now it's a multi award winning film. What was the process from taking it to finished piece to submitting it for film festivals and for awards nominations and winning? What was that like?
Vincent Vilardi (31:06)
There was a whole list of film festivals I wanted to submit it to to promote the film. We ended up doing the opposite of what a lot of people do. We ended up getting distribution during the whole submission process. We had distribution, there was no set release date at the time of when it was going to be out and streaming. When I spoke to all the different film festivals, they said we were still eligible to submit.
We wanted to go through with it for promotional purpose. We're still waiting on a bunch of film festivals. Recently, we were in the Golden Door Film Festival in Jersey City. We ended up getting eight different nominations. We were runners up to Steven Spielberg's son's Martyr of Gowanus. He actually was the lead actor in it.
Holt McCallany was one of the other supporting actors, and he was the father in Iron Claws, so he's an up-and-coming, well known actor. Brian Muir directed it, he's an up-and-coming director, and had the connections to bring them on his film, and it was a bigger budget film. To go up on the same screen as them and have our names listed next to those names was a surreal moment.
(Continued below)
Trailer of Trapped Inside My Sin film:
(Continued)
Jackie Morreale (32:03)
Congratulations. Who does that happen to, that you're pursuing these film festivals and you get your distribution, just like that.
Vincent Vilardi (32:10)
It happened pretty quickly. We had to go through a bunch of different companies, it took a couple months, but we ended up clicking with Breaking Glass Pictures. It was also in association with Deliver Films, because it's a division within their company, and they merged together and distributed our film, and now it's getting on these different platforms.
Jackie Morreale (32:26)
Congratulations guys! It's huge and it's so good. I'm so happy to know you guys really. I'm like, so let's talk more about the film plot. Tell me more about the mental health component of the storyline.
Pills and mental patients and so much thriller stuff happening. So what is going on between the ears in these characters world? What is the mental health storyline going on here? Tell me more about it.
Vincent Vilardi (32:56)
What's happening is the demon is punishing the victim for a sin that they committed and they're starting to have hallucinations. So by punishing them, the demon will go within their family members and harass them and they'll start seeing things, but the family members and other people around them don't see what's going on. They think that that person is going crazy. That's why Ben ended up in a mental institution.
The pills is because he thinks he's having hallucinations and he's just taking different psychotic type of medications. So I had to try to get over this, but it's not working.
Jackie Morreale (33:26)
The first guy did too. I connected the dots on that right away and I'm like, this is some foreshadowing here.
Vincent Vilardi (33:29)
Yeah, and so he's a victim of his own sin. And it kind of transpired to the rest of the film.
Jackie Morreale (33:36)
It was dark. Okay. So the basement scenes, super scary. I'm not going to reveal anything, really the stuff of nightmares. How do you use light, dark, subterranean themes, innocence maybe of child actors? How do you use some of these things to invoke some of your evil, demonic themes that you alluded to with creating this film?
Vincent Vilardi (33:41)
Yeah. I think the child actors add a creative aspect to the film. As far as, if you have kids that are either scared or maybe even possessed in certain moments, or it's questionable, are they actually the demon inside of them, or are they going to come after the parents? It adds a little extra element of suspense to the flavor to the film. I wanted to show that. With such a low budget in the first feature, being able to bring the best out of child actors can really show your skill sets as a director to get them to perform at their best at such a young age. It also gets them exposure to get comfortable in their own skin acting, so when they get older, maybe it's something they really want to do when they grow up.
Jackie Morreale (34:30)
Oh man, when that little girl walked by the basement door and she's like, are you my daughter? And no, and closed the door. Oh my gosh.
Vincent Vilardi (34:39)
Yeah, it used to be a setup to try to keep people on their toes. Yeah.
Peter Janiec (34:42)
Builds with suspense.
Jackie Morreale (34:45)
Man, I felt that. It was awesome.
Keith Cotugno (34:48)
Like Vinny was saying, the basement aspect. As a kid, we're all afraid of the basement.
Jackie Morreale (34:51)
Why is that? Why? It's because of people like you who are creating these movies about basements and scary stuff happening down there.
Vincent Vilardi (34:59)
When we were filming the opening scene, we saw the basement, we came up with that extra little aspect to that opening scene on the fly and kind of just wung it.
Keith Cotugno (35:06)
Yeah. That's the beauty of it too, of creating like where you just think of things on the fly and like it works. It's that magic.
Jackie Morreale (35:16)
I feel it. You guys really did create something special. There's so much to this storyline. So Vin, I'm going to go a little bit deeper. Religious symbols used throughout the film. Noticed you have crosses, a priest, upside down triangles, blood, the eyes. You talked about the exorcism. What is their meaning to you as a writer, as a director, how did you add that in to enhance the film as an art theme?
Vincent Vilardi (35:41)
The upside down cross, especially on the rock, that blood represents evil and worshiping the devil. That was to symbolize that there's evil overlooking the house and the sin that was committed.
When he's doing his research to look up demons, you see the upside down crosses. He's just trying to figure out what does this all mean. I was trying to create a little puzzle of symbolism that represents the film. Then the eyes, all the demons looked super creepy looking. We got different colored contact lenses. Getting the contacts in people's eyes that never wear contacts before, that was the hardest part.
Jackie Morreale (36:09)
Like the Yellow Eyes, the liquor store, the blood on the walls...
Vincent Vilardi (36:15)
We had a little bit of CGI in the liquor store eyes. Those were contacts, but then we had a little CGI added to make the eyeball pupil even bigger.
Jackie Morreale (36:22)
It was creepy and he was talking as if nothing was going on with all the stuff happening on his face. It was really awesome. Yeah, you did a really great job with that. So it seemed to me that there's this inner struggle right between good versus evil. So do you want to talk more about good versus evil as a theme in the film?
Vincent Vilardi (36:27)
Yeah. I think it's also like a life lesson, in a way.
If they're religious or they believe in the devil and God and all that, that's everybody's personal preference. But I think for people that do believe, it could be a like a wake-up call for a lot of people. Because a lot of people, unfortunately, the world commit certain sins and don't admit to it. If they watch this film, I'm not saying it's going to definitely provoke them not to continue to do what they do, but it might be a little bit of a wake-up call.
Peter Janiec (37:04)
Decisions have consequences.
Jackie Morreale (37:08)
Yeah, there was definitely a morality to this, right? Where this person's sin that he had kept under wraps and, just downplayed really was creating his own mental prison, manifesting as the demons. There's so much symbolism here and the truth will set you free, right?
Vincent Vilardi (37:21)
Exactly.
Jackie Morreale (37:23)
I love the camera angles. I love the expansive views of Jersey. What was it like to work on location? Peter, maybe you can tell us more about any learnings from scouting the locations, what your process was like.
Peter Janiec (37:38)
It was definitely challenging because we had to find the location that fit the script and the scene. That was the toughest part. I think we got super creative in doing that.
it was definitely challenging, but at the same time it was gratifying, because once you found the location, it was to build the set on the location and with the budget we had, again, it was challenging, but seeing how the scenes came out and how super creative Keith was and Benny was in shooting it, made it very gratifying.
You just can't pick a spot and be like, we're filming here. It has to match the story. The scenes have to connect with each other. You can't shoot on one location and then go to another. Then the audience goes, wait a minute, that doesn't look like the other location. It was challenging, but it was fun, really cool to be creative. Cause we had to get super creative.
There was a scene where we create, not to give it away, but there was two offices that you're going to see in the film. In the film, there two different locations in the film, but they were shot right next to each other. And just through creative shooting, we were able to build a set right next to each other that looks like two different locations. That was location scouting.
Jackie Morreale (38:35)
See that? Camera magic. I've lived in central Jersey before and it just it felt so familiar.
I think whatever you did in terms of the creative scouting process, worked really well.
Vincent Vilardi (38:55)
I appreciate that. And that helps too when you're watching a horror film. If it does remind you of like where you used to live or whatever, that can make it even creepier.
Keith Cotugno (39:02)
Yeah, it's all relatable.
Jackie Morreale (39:04)
Exactly. Keith and I are from Long Island where they had The Amityville Horror not too far from where we grew up. So we are familiar, yeah, with the creepy locations. Yes, close to home. Let's talk more, Keith, about the music. So the music was seriously scary. So thank you. Tell us more about your music score and your process for telling the story through sound.
Keith Cotugno (39:09)
Yeah, been there a few times.
Sound is super important. I think it's right up there with the dialogue. But the way I do it, I just hit the ground running and I just watch and then I'll just create. I don't come to the studio with a plan already. I'm just watching and I'll create and then I'll be like, this wasn't too good. I'll go back. I'll do it again. It's a lot of trial and error. The biggest thing is sound selection. For me, it's like finding the right sound. I can spend hours going through hundreds of sounds.
If it's not the right one, it's not. I have to go back again. But the way I like to do it, it's really bringing in roots to the electronic music realm of the buildups. Like we were talking before, like with Techno, the buildups and then the drop. I want to incorporate that into the horror movie soundtracks. I want to build up with that tension and then have that drop. I incorporate that into it. I like building it up.
Then having people not know where it's going to go. It could be scary or it could be a different type of sadness, but that's the power of it. You can have a happy song in a crazy scene and it could give a totally different vibe to it.
Jackie Morreale (40:20)
Exactly. You used electronic music to do the build up, the crescendo, the drop.
Keith Cotugno (40:31)
I use hardware since that I have. I tried to get that John Carpenter vibe to it. I wanted to bring that into our new age of horror films and get that retro vibe.
Jackie Morreale (40:42)
Let's talk more about the collaboration. What was it like to cast and work with the talent? Were there any actors that you want to shout out for their great work?
Vincent Vilardi (40:50)
Yeah, Brian Pollack, our lead actor, he did a phenomenal job. He has a lot of experience, he was a professional on set, he gave me a lot of advice along the way, because he's worked on a lot of big films in the past. Every day he brought 100 % to that character. He was well prepared for everything he needed to do, even from a continuity perspective with what his wardrobe was.
Dan Gregory, who played the priest, he's an amazing guy. He reaches out to me almost every day, checking in. He's got a lot of different connections and he's an amazing actor. He dominates the priest. Pete's priest at his church, actually allowed us to use their church location for the film. Dan Gregory actually met with him to learn how a priest would act in an exorcism situation or any kind of situation to be as professional as he could. He got the right wardrobe for it. Dan was well prepared and he's a big time professional on set. He did a phenomenal job playing the priest.
He also brings a lot of connections to the set as well, there's a lot of different actors and actresses that he can bring to different sets, especially Trapped Inside My Sin, he brought in three four different actors and actresses. So it gives me a lot of different options.
Jackie Morreale (41:53)
Awesome. I thought your cast was really well selected and worked really easily well together. Could have been a real family in Jersey with the teenage daughter who is on her phone and the younger son. Like I just really identified with it.
Vincent Vilardi (42:10)
The kids did a phenomenal job. Connor and Keira, who played the two main kids, they killed it. It was Connor's first time acting. For his first time, I thought he did a really, really good job. Then Victoria, who played the mom in the beginning in the Insane Asylum, she dominated. I think everybody did an amazing job.
Jackie Morreale (42:20)
Absolutely. Victoria in the mental state man she's got some chops. Keith, Peter any experiences you want to share with the talent that you really appreciated their work?
Keith Cotugno (42:39)
I got to shout out my one of my good friends Ryan Walsh. He played Spencer in the yeah, yeah, he's just a great guy he's super talented in what he does. He just comes in does it and like nothing. He's a good friend of ours. Vinny knows him very well now.
Vincent Vilardi (42:44)
It dominated that opening scene. And he's gone out of his way big time, not only with that film, but one of my short films in the past too. He played in that opening scene, so he's always going out of his way to help, even not only as an actor, but he brings different logistics to set as well, like lighting and all these different pieces of equipment that we need help with. So he's always in communication with us.
Peter Janiec (43:14)
I think everybody did such a great job. Shooting this movie with the actors, there was no drama. Everybody bought into the movie. Everybody brought their A game. Brian Pollock and Marilyn Rodriguez, their chemistry together was unbelievable. In the movie and even off the movie, how they worked with each other to prepare for their roles.
Was just watching two professionals. It was an amazing job that they did. Dan Gregory doing what he did in the film was was amazing and everybody else. Everybody showed up and they were truly committed to the movie. They believed in the storyline and that's credit to Vinny as well, Vinny directing the movie. He set the tone of it and we followed it. We made the movie that we did. All the actors deserve every bit of credit for this especially because of the budget that we had.
Everybody was finding ways to make this movie work and make it the best type of movie possible. They all told a great story.
Jackie Morreale (44:06)
Same could be said for you three, really. The most humble, down-to-earth, let's-get-it-done vibe from you guys as a directorial and production team. I understand why all the actors brought that, too, because it just resonates. And everybody wants to hang out with you and be part of your art.
Vin, you're so down to earth, dude. You wrote this story that's now an award-winning feature film at Cinemark and Tubi and soon to be Amazon Prime. This is the dream that people have that maybe one day I'll direct a film where I'll write something that'll be, you did it. Sky's the limit.
Vincent Vilardi (44:43)
Right, yeah, it's great. I’ve got to remind myself of that sometimes. I'm critical at times. I just want to keep getting better and elevating us to the next level. But I got to sit back sometimes and just enjoy the process and the moment of where we're at.
Jackie Morreale (44:58)
Well, if I'm going to name drop anybody else, I really love Adam Sandler. He always keeps all his friends tight, and he's got this crew, and they work together on everything, and every film is just amazing, because you could tell it's fun, right? And just the crew keeps growing, and that's just their life. I see you guys doing the same thing. Horror genre, but same thing.
Vincent Vilardi (45:15)
I try to bring as many of the same people as possible back to my new film sets. As long as they fit the bill for that specific story, I try to bring as many people back as possible.
Jackie Morreale (45:23)
Exactly. That's why they're loyal and bring their A-game, right? We talked about all the talent and such a talented cast. Anybody in the crew who worked with you guys, for you guys that you might want to shout out for helping to make it all work?
Vincent Vilardi (45:39)
My AD, Brianya, she was super organized on set. She kept everybody with the track of time of when things needed to be completed. If we were running behind on set as far as time, she'd be like, all right, we got to speed it up if we want to get these scenes done today. She'd keep me on my toes as far as the organizational aspect. She would get the schedule together and a whole spreadsheet together. So she did a really, really good job. She really wants to work with us again on our next project.
Jackie Morreale (46:02)
This is Brianya Victoria. Go girl, good job.
Vincent Vilardi (46:08)
Ryan Herndt Ciar and Dan Morales both also along with Keith Cotugno shot the film so they all were very creative as far as being behind the camera.
Jackie Morreale (46:17)
Good for you Keith, behind the camera too. The camera angles were so good. Now I get to tell you face to face. It's awesome.
Keith Cotugno (46:21)
Thank you, yeah, I'll be dabbling more in the camera world.
Jackie Morreale (46:26)
You guys really pulled it off.
Vincent Vilardi (46:29)
We had a bunch of PAs and grips, like Brian, our audio and my friend Mike, he helped out with audio and also building the sets and moving the lights around. We had a lot of different people that chipped in to help out in those aspects.
Jackie Morreale (46:40)
Awesome. What is next for you guys?
Vincent Vilardi (46:55)
We're in the post-production process of the little teaser promo, that's going to be a unique slasher-style film that hasn't really been created before that's the style that we're doing with the story and the twists and the turns. We're going to get more in detail about that once we get deeper into production.
There's a bunch of different festivals we're still waiting to see if we get into for the fall. We'll be able to continue to showcase the film at those festivals. Then obviously as it keeps getting on different streaming platforms, I'll keep promoting what platforms the film's getting on. Then we'll start shifting gears for this next project.
Jackie Morreale (48:08)
Any thoughts on the sequel? Lots of sins out there that we can be trapped by.
Vincent Vilardi (48:13)
It opens it up first, sequel is down the road, I think once we get this next project under wraps, I think once we have a bigger budget, then we'll revisit the Trapped Inside My Sin series and keep making more films.
Peter Janiec (48:13)
Stay tuned.
Jackie Morreale (48:27)
The sequel coming, I can feel it. The trajectory has been crazy. Is there anything else that you want to talk about in terms of Trapped Inside My Sin?
Vincent Vilardi (48:39)
Another guy I wanted to shout out was Gio Drasconi. He had a very small role in the mental institution when they were interrogating Linda. It was a quick scene, but he brought a lot to the table as far as marketing. His marketing agent and himself, they both promoted the film. He always reaches out to me, checking in and see how I'm doing and asking about opportunities.
This guy, Troy Burbank that I met through Dan Gregory, they worked on a film called What Lives Here, that was shot down in Atlantic Highlands at the Strauss Mansion. It's a slasher, crazy slasher film. Not going to give too much away on that one. Since it's his film and everything. I saw it at the Smodcastle last year and it was really well done.
That's streaming on August 26. It'll be on multiple platforms. It's on Amazon to purchase. It's called What Lives Here.
Hopefully I'll get to work with him in the near future. Dan Gregory acted in that film, so if people want to see more Dan Gregory, he did a phenomenal job.
Jackie Morreale (49:27)
Ooh, it's coming. Awesome.
Peter Janiec (49:28)
Check it out.
Jackie Morreale (49:31)
I love that you promote your peers and your colleagues who are doing their thing and really at the top of their game and right about to blow up. I'm really excited for you guys. That's why you have all this really good stuff coming to you. Thank you so much for being here with me today.
Vincent Vilardi (49:31)
For sure. Good luck with everything. Thank you for having us on.
Peter Janiec (49:49)
Yeah, thank you for hosting us.
Jackie Morreale (49:50)
Absolutely. You are so welcome!
Keith Cotugno (49:51)
Yeah, thank you, Jackie.
Jackie Morreale (49:52)
Thank you.
Vincent Vilardi (49:54)
Yeah, we'd be happy to come back on again to talk about our future projects as we keep progressing.
Jackie Morreale (49:57)
Man, I knew there was a sequel in our future. I can't wait.
Peter Janiec (50:02)
Stay tuned.
Keith Cotugno (50:02)
Got it out of him.
Jackie Morreale (50:03)
Stay tuned. So I'll talk to you guys soon and have a wonderful day. Thank you so much. Super scary! Bye.
Keith Cotugno (50:08)
Thank you!
Vincent Vilardi (50:08)
Thank you!
Peter Janiec (50:09)
Thank you!
Jackie Morreale (32:03)
Congratulations. Who does that happen to, that you're pursuing these film festivals and you get your distribution, just like that.
Vincent Vilardi (32:10)
It happened pretty quickly. We had to go through a bunch of different companies, it took a couple months, but we ended up clicking with Breaking Glass Pictures. It was also in association with Deliver Films, because it's a division within their company, and they merged together and distributed our film, and now it's getting on these different platforms.
Jackie Morreale (32:26)
Congratulations guys! It's huge and it's so good. I'm so happy to know you guys really. I'm like, so let's talk more about the film plot. Tell me more about the mental health component of the storyline.
Pills and mental patients and so much thriller stuff happening. So what is going on between the ears in these characters world? What is the mental health storyline going on here? Tell me more about it.
Vincent Vilardi (32:56)
What's happening is the demon is punishing the victim for a sin that they committed and they're starting to have hallucinations. So by punishing them, the demon will go within their family members and harass them and they'll start seeing things, but the family members and other people around them don't see what's going on. They think that that person is going crazy. That's why Ben ended up in a mental institution.
The pills is because he thinks he's having hallucinations and he's just taking different psychotic type of medications. So I had to try to get over this, but it's not working.
Jackie Morreale (33:26)
The first guy did too. I connected the dots on that right away and I'm like, this is some foreshadowing here.
Vincent Vilardi (33:29)
Yeah, and so he's a victim of his own sin. And it kind of transpired to the rest of the film.
Jackie Morreale (33:36)
It was dark. Okay. So the basement scenes, super scary. I'm not going to reveal anything, really the stuff of nightmares. How do you use light, dark, subterranean themes, innocence maybe of child actors? How do you use some of these things to invoke some of your evil, demonic themes that you alluded to with creating this film?
Vincent Vilardi (33:41)
Yeah. I think the child actors add a creative aspect to the film. As far as, if you have kids that are either scared or maybe even possessed in certain moments, or it's questionable, are they actually the demon inside of them, or are they going to come after the parents? It adds a little extra element of suspense to the flavor to the film. I wanted to show that. With such a low budget in the first feature, being able to bring the best out of child actors can really show your skill sets as a director to get them to perform at their best at such a young age. It also gets them exposure to get comfortable in their own skin acting, so when they get older, maybe it's something they really want to do when they grow up.
Jackie Morreale (34:30)
Oh man, when that little girl walked by the basement door and she's like, are you my daughter? And no, and closed the door. Oh my gosh.
Vincent Vilardi (34:39)
Yeah, it used to be a setup to try to keep people on their toes. Yeah.
Peter Janiec (34:42)
Builds with suspense.
Jackie Morreale (34:45)
Man, I felt that. It was awesome.
Keith Cotugno (34:48)
Like Vinny was saying, the basement aspect. As a kid, we're all afraid of the basement.
Jackie Morreale (34:51)
Why is that? Why? It's because of people like you who are creating these movies about basements and scary stuff happening down there.
Vincent Vilardi (34:59)
When we were filming the opening scene, we saw the basement, we came up with that extra little aspect to that opening scene on the fly and kind of just wung it.
Keith Cotugno (35:06)
Yeah. That's the beauty of it too, of creating like where you just think of things on the fly and like it works. It's that magic.
Jackie Morreale (35:16)
I feel it. You guys really did create something special. There's so much to this storyline. So Vin, I'm going to go a little bit deeper. Religious symbols used throughout the film. Noticed you have crosses, a priest, upside down triangles, blood, the eyes. You talked about the exorcism. What is their meaning to you as a writer, as a director, how did you add that in to enhance the film as an art theme?
Vincent Vilardi (35:41)
The upside down cross, especially on the rock, that blood represents evil and worshiping the devil. That was to symbolize that there's evil overlooking the house and the sin that was committed.
When he's doing his research to look up demons, you see the upside down crosses. He's just trying to figure out what does this all mean. I was trying to create a little puzzle of symbolism that represents the film. Then the eyes, all the demons looked super creepy looking. We got different colored contact lenses. Getting the contacts in people's eyes that never wear contacts before, that was the hardest part.
Jackie Morreale (36:09)
Like the Yellow Eyes, the liquor store, the blood on the walls...
Vincent Vilardi (36:15)
We had a little bit of CGI in the liquor store eyes. Those were contacts, but then we had a little CGI added to make the eyeball pupil even bigger.
Jackie Morreale (36:22)
It was creepy and he was talking as if nothing was going on with all the stuff happening on his face. It was really awesome. Yeah, you did a really great job with that. So it seemed to me that there's this inner struggle right between good versus evil. So do you want to talk more about good versus evil as a theme in the film?
Vincent Vilardi (36:27)
Yeah. I think it's also like a life lesson, in a way.
If they're religious or they believe in the devil and God and all that, that's everybody's personal preference. But I think for people that do believe, it could be a like a wake-up call for a lot of people. Because a lot of people, unfortunately, the world commit certain sins and don't admit to it. If they watch this film, I'm not saying it's going to definitely provoke them not to continue to do what they do, but it might be a little bit of a wake-up call.
Peter Janiec (37:04)
Decisions have consequences.
Jackie Morreale (37:08)
Yeah, there was definitely a morality to this, right? Where this person's sin that he had kept under wraps and, just downplayed really was creating his own mental prison, manifesting as the demons. There's so much symbolism here and the truth will set you free, right?
Vincent Vilardi (37:21)
Exactly.
Jackie Morreale (37:23)
I love the camera angles. I love the expansive views of Jersey. What was it like to work on location? Peter, maybe you can tell us more about any learnings from scouting the locations, what your process was like.
Peter Janiec (37:38)
It was definitely challenging because we had to find the location that fit the script and the scene. That was the toughest part. I think we got super creative in doing that.
it was definitely challenging, but at the same time it was gratifying, because once you found the location, it was to build the set on the location and with the budget we had, again, it was challenging, but seeing how the scenes came out and how super creative Keith was and Benny was in shooting it, made it very gratifying.
You just can't pick a spot and be like, we're filming here. It has to match the story. The scenes have to connect with each other. You can't shoot on one location and then go to another. Then the audience goes, wait a minute, that doesn't look like the other location. It was challenging, but it was fun, really cool to be creative. Cause we had to get super creative.
There was a scene where we create, not to give it away, but there was two offices that you're going to see in the film. In the film, there two different locations in the film, but they were shot right next to each other. And just through creative shooting, we were able to build a set right next to each other that looks like two different locations. That was location scouting.
Jackie Morreale (38:35)
See that? Camera magic. I've lived in central Jersey before and it just it felt so familiar.
I think whatever you did in terms of the creative scouting process, worked really well.
Vincent Vilardi (38:55)
I appreciate that. And that helps too when you're watching a horror film. If it does remind you of like where you used to live or whatever, that can make it even creepier.
Keith Cotugno (39:02)
Yeah, it's all relatable.
Jackie Morreale (39:04)
Exactly. Keith and I are from Long Island where they had The Amityville Horror not too far from where we grew up. So we are familiar, yeah, with the creepy locations. Yes, close to home. Let's talk more, Keith, about the music. So the music was seriously scary. So thank you. Tell us more about your music score and your process for telling the story through sound.
Keith Cotugno (39:09)
Yeah, been there a few times.
Sound is super important. I think it's right up there with the dialogue. But the way I do it, I just hit the ground running and I just watch and then I'll just create. I don't come to the studio with a plan already. I'm just watching and I'll create and then I'll be like, this wasn't too good. I'll go back. I'll do it again. It's a lot of trial and error. The biggest thing is sound selection. For me, it's like finding the right sound. I can spend hours going through hundreds of sounds.
If it's not the right one, it's not. I have to go back again. But the way I like to do it, it's really bringing in roots to the electronic music realm of the buildups. Like we were talking before, like with Techno, the buildups and then the drop. I want to incorporate that into the horror movie soundtracks. I want to build up with that tension and then have that drop. I incorporate that into it. I like building it up.
Then having people not know where it's going to go. It could be scary or it could be a different type of sadness, but that's the power of it. You can have a happy song in a crazy scene and it could give a totally different vibe to it.
Jackie Morreale (40:20)
Exactly. You used electronic music to do the build up, the crescendo, the drop.
Keith Cotugno (40:31)
I use hardware since that I have. I tried to get that John Carpenter vibe to it. I wanted to bring that into our new age of horror films and get that retro vibe.
Jackie Morreale (40:42)
Let's talk more about the collaboration. What was it like to cast and work with the talent? Were there any actors that you want to shout out for their great work?
Vincent Vilardi (40:50)
Yeah, Brian Pollack, our lead actor, he did a phenomenal job. He has a lot of experience, he was a professional on set, he gave me a lot of advice along the way, because he's worked on a lot of big films in the past. Every day he brought 100 % to that character. He was well prepared for everything he needed to do, even from a continuity perspective with what his wardrobe was.
Dan Gregory, who played the priest, he's an amazing guy. He reaches out to me almost every day, checking in. He's got a lot of different connections and he's an amazing actor. He dominates the priest. Pete's priest at his church, actually allowed us to use their church location for the film. Dan Gregory actually met with him to learn how a priest would act in an exorcism situation or any kind of situation to be as professional as he could. He got the right wardrobe for it. Dan was well prepared and he's a big time professional on set. He did a phenomenal job playing the priest.
He also brings a lot of connections to the set as well, there's a lot of different actors and actresses that he can bring to different sets, especially Trapped Inside My Sin, he brought in three four different actors and actresses. So it gives me a lot of different options.
Jackie Morreale (41:53)
Awesome. I thought your cast was really well selected and worked really easily well together. Could have been a real family in Jersey with the teenage daughter who is on her phone and the younger son. Like I just really identified with it.
Vincent Vilardi (42:10)
The kids did a phenomenal job. Connor and Keira, who played the two main kids, they killed it. It was Connor's first time acting. For his first time, I thought he did a really, really good job. Then Victoria, who played the mom in the beginning in the Insane Asylum, she dominated. I think everybody did an amazing job.
Jackie Morreale (42:20)
Absolutely. Victoria in the mental state man she's got some chops. Keith, Peter any experiences you want to share with the talent that you really appreciated their work?
Keith Cotugno (42:39)
I got to shout out my one of my good friends Ryan Walsh. He played Spencer in the yeah, yeah, he's just a great guy he's super talented in what he does. He just comes in does it and like nothing. He's a good friend of ours. Vinny knows him very well now.
Vincent Vilardi (42:44)
It dominated that opening scene. And he's gone out of his way big time, not only with that film, but one of my short films in the past too. He played in that opening scene, so he's always going out of his way to help, even not only as an actor, but he brings different logistics to set as well, like lighting and all these different pieces of equipment that we need help with. So he's always in communication with us.
Peter Janiec (43:14)
I think everybody did such a great job. Shooting this movie with the actors, there was no drama. Everybody bought into the movie. Everybody brought their A game. Brian Pollock and Marilyn Rodriguez, their chemistry together was unbelievable. In the movie and even off the movie, how they worked with each other to prepare for their roles.
Was just watching two professionals. It was an amazing job that they did. Dan Gregory doing what he did in the film was was amazing and everybody else. Everybody showed up and they were truly committed to the movie. They believed in the storyline and that's credit to Vinny as well, Vinny directing the movie. He set the tone of it and we followed it. We made the movie that we did. All the actors deserve every bit of credit for this especially because of the budget that we had.
Everybody was finding ways to make this movie work and make it the best type of movie possible. They all told a great story.
Jackie Morreale (44:06)
Same could be said for you three, really. The most humble, down-to-earth, let's-get-it-done vibe from you guys as a directorial and production team. I understand why all the actors brought that, too, because it just resonates. And everybody wants to hang out with you and be part of your art.
Vin, you're so down to earth, dude. You wrote this story that's now an award-winning feature film at Cinemark and Tubi and soon to be Amazon Prime. This is the dream that people have that maybe one day I'll direct a film where I'll write something that'll be, you did it. Sky's the limit.
Vincent Vilardi (44:43)
Right, yeah, it's great. I’ve got to remind myself of that sometimes. I'm critical at times. I just want to keep getting better and elevating us to the next level. But I got to sit back sometimes and just enjoy the process and the moment of where we're at.
Jackie Morreale (44:58)
Well, if I'm going to name drop anybody else, I really love Adam Sandler. He always keeps all his friends tight, and he's got this crew, and they work together on everything, and every film is just amazing, because you could tell it's fun, right? And just the crew keeps growing, and that's just their life. I see you guys doing the same thing. Horror genre, but same thing.
Vincent Vilardi (45:15)
I try to bring as many of the same people as possible back to my new film sets. As long as they fit the bill for that specific story, I try to bring as many people back as possible.
Jackie Morreale (45:23)
Exactly. That's why they're loyal and bring their A-game, right? We talked about all the talent and such a talented cast. Anybody in the crew who worked with you guys, for you guys that you might want to shout out for helping to make it all work?
Vincent Vilardi (45:39)
My AD, Brianya, she was super organized on set. She kept everybody with the track of time of when things needed to be completed. If we were running behind on set as far as time, she'd be like, all right, we got to speed it up if we want to get these scenes done today. She'd keep me on my toes as far as the organizational aspect. She would get the schedule together and a whole spreadsheet together. So she did a really, really good job. She really wants to work with us again on our next project.
Jackie Morreale (46:02)
This is Brianya Victoria. Go girl, good job.
Vincent Vilardi (46:08)
Ryan Herndt Ciar and Dan Morales both also along with Keith Cotugno shot the film so they all were very creative as far as being behind the camera.
Jackie Morreale (46:17)
Good for you Keith, behind the camera too. The camera angles were so good. Now I get to tell you face to face. It's awesome.
Keith Cotugno (46:21)
Thank you, yeah, I'll be dabbling more in the camera world.
Jackie Morreale (46:26)
You guys really pulled it off.
Vincent Vilardi (46:29)
We had a bunch of PAs and grips, like Brian, our audio and my friend Mike, he helped out with audio and also building the sets and moving the lights around. We had a lot of different people that chipped in to help out in those aspects.
Jackie Morreale (46:40)
Awesome. What is next for you guys?
Vincent Vilardi (46:55)
We're in the post-production process of the little teaser promo, that's going to be a unique slasher-style film that hasn't really been created before that's the style that we're doing with the story and the twists and the turns. We're going to get more in detail about that once we get deeper into production.
There's a bunch of different festivals we're still waiting to see if we get into for the fall. We'll be able to continue to showcase the film at those festivals. Then obviously as it keeps getting on different streaming platforms, I'll keep promoting what platforms the film's getting on. Then we'll start shifting gears for this next project.
Jackie Morreale (48:08)
Any thoughts on the sequel? Lots of sins out there that we can be trapped by.
Vincent Vilardi (48:13)
It opens it up first, sequel is down the road, I think once we get this next project under wraps, I think once we have a bigger budget, then we'll revisit the Trapped Inside My Sin series and keep making more films.
Peter Janiec (48:13)
Stay tuned.
Jackie Morreale (48:27)
The sequel coming, I can feel it. The trajectory has been crazy. Is there anything else that you want to talk about in terms of Trapped Inside My Sin?
Vincent Vilardi (48:39)
Another guy I wanted to shout out was Gio Drasconi. He had a very small role in the mental institution when they were interrogating Linda. It was a quick scene, but he brought a lot to the table as far as marketing. His marketing agent and himself, they both promoted the film. He always reaches out to me, checking in and see how I'm doing and asking about opportunities.
This guy, Troy Burbank that I met through Dan Gregory, they worked on a film called What Lives Here, that was shot down in Atlantic Highlands at the Strauss Mansion. It's a slasher, crazy slasher film. Not going to give too much away on that one. Since it's his film and everything. I saw it at the Smodcastle last year and it was really well done.
That's streaming on August 26. It'll be on multiple platforms. It's on Amazon to purchase. It's called What Lives Here.
Hopefully I'll get to work with him in the near future. Dan Gregory acted in that film, so if people want to see more Dan Gregory, he did a phenomenal job.
Jackie Morreale (49:27)
Ooh, it's coming. Awesome.
Peter Janiec (49:28)
Check it out.
Jackie Morreale (49:31)
I love that you promote your peers and your colleagues who are doing their thing and really at the top of their game and right about to blow up. I'm really excited for you guys. That's why you have all this really good stuff coming to you. Thank you so much for being here with me today.
Vincent Vilardi (49:31)
For sure. Good luck with everything. Thank you for having us on.
Peter Janiec (49:49)
Yeah, thank you for hosting us.
Jackie Morreale (49:50)
Absolutely. You are so welcome!
Keith Cotugno (49:51)
Yeah, thank you, Jackie.
Jackie Morreale (49:52)
Thank you.
Vincent Vilardi (49:54)
Yeah, we'd be happy to come back on again to talk about our future projects as we keep progressing.
Jackie Morreale (49:57)
Man, I knew there was a sequel in our future. I can't wait.
Peter Janiec (50:02)
Stay tuned.
Keith Cotugno (50:02)
Got it out of him.
Jackie Morreale (50:03)
Stay tuned. So I'll talk to you guys soon and have a wonderful day. Thank you so much. Super scary! Bye.
Keith Cotugno (50:08)
Thank you!
Vincent Vilardi (50:08)
Thank you!
Peter Janiec (50:09)
Thank you!
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