The viral character Onyx the Fortuitous is getting his own wild adventure with Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls. Written, directed by and starring Andrew Bowser, the movie centers on the eponymous aspiring occultist as he gets the chance of a lifetime to meet his idol, Bartok the Great, only to learn of a darker motivation behind the invitation.

Alongside Bowser, the ensemble Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls cast includes Olivia Taylor Dudley, who is also a producer and developed the story with the director/star, School of Rock's Rivkah Reyes, Arden Myrin, Terrence T.C. Carson, Melanie Chandra and horror genre vets Barbara Crampton and Jeffrey Combs. Launched in part by a successful Kickstarter campaign, the movie is a hilarious and charming throwback to many '80s horror-comedy classics full of ambition and plans for the future.

Related: Every Horror Movie Releasing In 2023

In anticipation of the movie's Screamfest premiere, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with writer/director/producer/star Andrew Bowser and producer/star Olivia Taylor Dudley to discuss Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, the long road to developing the project, balancing the horror with the comedy, and their plans for the future of the character.

Bowser & Dudley Talk Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls

Screen Rant: I love this movie so much, it was such a blast from start to finish, so congrats to you both on this project. Now I spoke to Barbara Crampton yesterday about it, and she had mentioned that, Andrew, you first approached her with the original script about five years ago, so I'm curious, both Olivia and Andrew, when did this concept for this film first come about?

Andrew Bowser: Well, there's been many iterations of what an Onyx feature could be over the years, but they were often things that I was trying to pitch to a production company or studio that was looking to fill a slot, nd I had to fit Onyx into that slot. So, this version of the movie came about because none of those other movies happened, and I sat down to write something that I wanted to see and that maybe Onix fans would care about. That's what kind of placed it in this subgenre of horror-comedy, and so I don't think I wrote this script until a month or two before the Kickstarter.

Olivia Taylor Dudley: Yeah, you started writing this after we decided to make one.

Andrew Bowser: Yeah, and I would send Olivia 10 pages at a time for her to read and get feedback on throughout the whole writing process, so she's seen it from soup to nuts.

Olivia, I'm curious to hear about your involvement outside of just being sent the 10 pages in the writing and development process, because I noticed you have both a screen story credit and a co-writing credit on this movie.

Olivia Taylor Dudley: Well, I don't have a co-writing credit, just a story by and produced by, but Andrew and I have been creative partners and best friends for over a decade now, so we kind of work on all of his projects together for the most part. So, I read everything that he writes and give my notes and my thoughts, and I was particularly involved in, I'd say, all the aspects of the movie for Onyx. I basically lived in Andrew's garage for a year. [Laughs] And, on set, we were together at the monitor. I don't know, Andrew, I'd rather you answer that, I always feel weird answering that. I was there the whole time. [Laughs]

Andrew Bowser: [Laughs] Yeah, she's there the whole time, and she's really the main kind of creative influence outside of what I might come up with. Because there's not too many people I trust, and Olivia is one of them, so from writing through shooting, especially because I'm on camera, it's really her and our DP that are at the monitor giving me notes, and really giving me direction, and helping me not get hung up on the wrong thing. She catches things that also I don't catch about my own performance, and then in editing, she's there, because I've become a pretty editor-y editor. [Chuckles] I like to cut for continuity, and I maybe can lose sight of performance, or other elements that might make something work. But Olivia was the producer that was there throughout the entire edit, saying, "You got a better take," or "this could be shorter", or "this could be longer, you're making it too short." So yeah, she's just involved throughout the whole thing.

Well, it sounds like a great creative partnership between you two. Now, in coming up with the horror-comedy subgenre direction, I love that it has these odes to so many different films throughout the years, like Beetlejuice at the end. Did you have any particular influences when putting not just the script together, but also during shooting?

Andrew Bowser: Yeah, I just kept thinking I wanted to make something that felt like a cozy spooky movie that I would have watched on VHS, a kind of gateway horror movie. Nothing outright gory, nothing too bleak, or burdensome, especially because that doesn't fit Onyx's world. So, I was thinking of Fright Night, and Night of the Creeps, and Monster Squad, those things that are fun to watch, even though they have a little bit of an edge of spookiness. And Olivia knows, I have a TV/VCR in my garage in my office, and it just keeps me feeling comfort 24/7 It's kind of watered it.

Olivia Taylor Dudley: There'll be like one VHS playing for, I'd say, a week or two on repeat until it dies, and then we switch it out for a different one.

Andrew Bowser: But I wanted it to be one of those movies that you would feel was a comfort movie if you were to pop it on a VCR and just let it roll for a week straight. And, obviously, Re-Animator, there's specific sequences from Re-Animator that we recreate, and quotes from Re-Animator that Barbara says.

Olivia Taylor Dudley: Once Jeffrey and Barbara got involved, I think some things were tailored in that direction. Like the end scene with the shovel and stuff like that, trying to recreate specific things from Re-Animator, which was a really fun thing to get to do.

I actually just rewatched Monster Squad the other day for this month, because I still adore that movie. Andrew, Barbara said that you two have been friends for a long while. How did you first approach her to be your mom in this movie, as well as get Jeffrey to be the villain?

Andrew Bowser: Well, because I had worked with Barbara a number of times, I always thought she would be involved if she was willing to be involved. We had lunch at some point while we were still casting Bartok, the lead villain, and she asked if I had thought of Jeffrey, and I hadn't, only because I always likened his energy to be a little similar to Onyx. We're both kind of underdogs, and he plays a villain, but he usually plays a villain because he's been backed into a corner and gets a little wily and scrappy, so I just thought he was too similar tonally. But she said, "Yeah, but you haven't seen him now and what he can do, and he would just chew this roll to pieces." So, I got on the phone with him, and it was clear that he was the right guy for the role. He was just such a great fit, understood the world, understood exactly what he could bring to the table, and knew how to play with the other characters in the right space.

I almost feel like it was a flip of his Frighteners character where he has that interest in the occult, but like you're saying, he's on the villain because he's backed into a corner.

Andrew Bowser: Yeah, exactly!

Olivia Taylor Dudley: The other thing with Jeffrey is right from the get go, he knew what he wanted to do with the character, and it aligned with what we were thinking. Even just down to shaving his head, he was game for everything. He was just like, "Yes, yes, yes." It was really fun to see him dive into something I'd never quite seen him do before. On day one. I was like, "Oh, s--t, here we go."

Andrew Bowser: And he was out in the graveyard with us, getting knocked around, he just was all in.

Olivia, you have a major supporting role in this movie, when you were putting it together with Andrew, did you envision yourself to be Farrah for this film, or was there a discussion to have that be somebody else?

Olivia Taylor Dudley: If I remember correctly, Farrah was written for me. At the time when he was like, "Let's make an Onyx film and do a Kickstarter," it's not like we had a bunch of people champing at the bit to be in the movie, we didn't know. So, we're gonna write the lead characters knowing that him and I would obviously be playing two of them. So, no, it was written for me, and then I gave notes along the way and then made it my own once we were there. I felt Farrah right away, Andrew is really good at commissioning artwork before we've made something, before he can make something, so he made the poster, we shot like a temp thing, just him and I, to make a poster. Once I saw what the artists rendered for Farrah, I was like, "Oh, yeah, okay, I really get it now." So, I feel like even the artists who did the first poster helped me get into the mindset of Farrah.

Andrew Bowser: Yeah, it's hard, because we're friends, I don't want to always assume that she'll be down to be in something just because I wrote it with her in mind.

Olivia Taylor Dudley: I have said no to things! [Laughs]

Andrew Bowser: Yeah, that's true. [Chuckles] But I am always excited when she responds to it, and can see herself in it, because I definitely wrote it with her voice in my head.

What was it like playing against Jeffrey on screen for so many of your scenes, since they do walk that fine line between very dramatic but also hints of comedy here and there?

Olivia Taylor Dudley: Yeah, the tone of this movie is my favorite tone. I've done a lot of horror movies and comedy, and it's always so fun to mix the two. Jeffrey was game for that, and how I look at horror comedies, you have to play it real, no matter what the comedy is in the writing. Andrew is such a talented comedic writer, it's all there, and there's little embellishments that can make a moment hilarious, but playing these two characters dead serious, the stakes are super high to them, it was the only way to make it work. Jeffrey was very serious on the day, we had a blast working together.

There were some really intense days, like there's the scene with the knife in the office that was more than half a day of shooting, and that was a lot of fun, but really intense and exhausting. But that's my favorite kind of actor to work with is somebody who's gonna get in there with you and stay in there with you. Jeffrey and I just had a really good time together, I think the characters were written really well opposite each other. I'll say something about the way Andrew writes, we never had to change anything, we cut maybe two scenes from the film, two or three scenes — just for time — but there's no change in the words, because you don't need to. It's all there, which says a lot about him as a filmmaker, so it just makes the days really easy to work with the other actors, because you're not like, "I don't know what this means," or, "let's change this, so let's do that."

We were just Farrah and Bartok together from the get go is what it felt like. It was intense, it was great, and it was fun to work with Jeffrey, I'm such a fan of his, I've been such a fan of him for so long, it was really cool. It's really fun when you work with somebody like that, and then you forget who they are partway through, because they become their character, and at the end, it was like, "Oh, Jeffrey Combs, I totally forgot." It's really fun to get lost in it.

That sounds like a really rewarding experience. Andrew, I'll come to you for this next one. One thing I didn't pick up on in regard to Jeffrey was that he also played your dad in the flashbacks, Barbara clued me in on that one. How did that decision come about? Was that just because of time and budget, or was that something that you wanted to set up, a sort of parallel for Onyx and Bartok?

Andrew Bowser: I feel like, Olivia, I don't know if you remember, but at some point, I don't think that was my idea. I feel like it was a suggestion, or I almost think somebody read it and thought that was intended. But I remember when I heard the idea, realizing, "Oh, that definitely needs to be what happens to push the idea that just, thematically, Onyx has daddy issues, and it's not that literally Bartok is his father, but in that moment, he is being abandoned by another person that he looks up to that's in that role, so they might as well have the same face, as far as a hazy memory goes. They're hitting the same wound." But I just don't feel like that came from me.

Olivia Taylor Dudley: It didn't. [Laughs] No, it was a discussion we had, because casting for such a personal movie is just tense the whole time, trying to figure out, "Are we going to get them? Is it all going to happen and come together?" I remember our conversation with Clark and Mobs, our other two producers, talking about who to get. I'm pretty sure Clark pitched that and then everyone was like, "Yeah!"

Andrew Bowser: Yeah, I think it might have been.

Olivia Taylor Dudley: Because we were thinking of other people, and then that just made so perfect sense.

Andrew Bowser: Yeah, I do think it maybe came from Clark, he was like, "There's a world where I kind of see Bartok in the flashback." And that's what's good about collaborating with people that understand the world, because you're not going to have every idea, and you want to work with people that feel comfortable bringing efforts to the table, and even down to other department heads, like our creature designer. So much of that stuff was fleshed out because of his vision for that, and it's really important to always be listening as a director.

Going into the creature design mentioned, the visual effects work, both prosthetics and computer effects, look phenomenal for a Kickstarter project. How did you find a way to balance the budget that you had from the Kickstarter, with your big ambitions and the designers' big ambitions for these creatures?

Andrew Bowser: Well, I think it's important to note that the Kickstarter was a portion of the financing, because I want to make sure other filmmakers don't think the movie cost what we raised on Kickstarter, because that would be misleading, and they would be chasing a goal that's not possible to achieve. But what the Kickstarter money did do is it enabled us to be able to start certain things immediately, like creature design. Anything that was going to take more time than normally I think an indie can afford, we started it right away.

So, I was farming out deposits to different departments that needed more of a run-up, and the creatures were one, specialty props, specialty wardrobe, so that we weren't three weeks out just having to buy something off the rack. I think that made a world of difference, and I think that's why there's maybe a bit of a polish that you don't normally see on a film this size. But also, because that work began, we could use that to find more financing, and the creatures being built and putting those videos on TikTok helped us get the further financing that we needed. We're just lucky that we worked with people that wanted a film as a calling card, and they were willing to go really above and beyond to make it be the best example of what they're capable of. So, it took finding artists that had something to prove, just as I feel like I have something to prove, and Adam was one of those artists, for sure, that I think proved himself.

Olivia Taylor Dudley: Yeah, there wasn't a single person who worked in the cast and crew who wasn't just as invested in the outcome and making a good product as Andrew and me, and that really shows. I've worked on so many indie movies that just half the people are invested in, the other half were just there for a paycheck, or just for a credit, but not this time. That's the only way we were able to pull this off is because of all the amazing artists that we had involved throughout the whole thing willing to pull way more than their own weight, it was wonderful.

Andrew Bowser: Yeah, and I think the balancing of VFX and practical, and all of that, it was just natural that practical kind of took precedence, because it was meant to be an ode to those films that we grew up on. Then, VFX also needed to play in that cartoony space, and be a little stylized, which I think we got there eventually with the VFX as well. It made for a very interesting stew. [Chuckles]

Abaddon actually did creep me out pretty thoroughly, but then the ghouls have that sort of cartoonish feel to their design. Where did that balance come from? Was that from the artists, was that from your discussion with them? How did those designs come about?

Olivia Taylor Dudley: Well, first thing, the ghouls, I was not on board with right away.

Andrew Bowser: Oh yeah, that's right. [Laughs]

Olivia Taylor Dudley: I'm always pushing Andrew to be more grounded and real, because he can go so far out, which is his style, which is so great about him. But, I also like pulling him into like, "How do we make it more scary, more grounded, more realistic again?" And the ghouls, I was like, "I don't know, they're crazy." [Laughs] In the end, it was just perfect, it's such a nice balance between something like Abaddon and the ghouls.

Andrew Bowser: Yeah, I had been a fan of Adam Dougherty's work just from seeing him at horror conventions over the years, and he kind of specialized in grounded, cartoony figures. He made a Witch Hazel from Looney Tunes that was like six feet tall, and it had the proportions and the color of the animated character. But then it had the skin texture, and the teeth stain of something really grounded and believable, and that was always in my head was blending [the two]. Because Onyx is a blend of an emotionally grounded world with absurd circumstances, and absurd environments, and so I'd always wanted the creatures to kind of have that flair.

But not until I sent the script to Adam did I realize that they would push so far in that direction, because that really was his vision, and he's the one that suggested that most of the creatures be puppets. I was thinking Abaddon would be a guy in a creature suit, and Adam was like, "Why, we've just seen that so much." And I'm like, "Yeah, well, yeah." Maybe I did have the idea just because it's something I've seen, and I didn't have the vision for that world like he did. He said, "Well, I want to see something I haven't seen before, which is a nine-foot-tall puppet crouched in front of a fast food joint."

He showed me a sketch he did, and I thought, "Well, yeah, that is cooler, and it fits the aesthetic of the Onyx world better than everybody and everything being a suit or makeups." But it really was him and his team that pushed the design, and that had the designs for the ghouls and Abaddon. I would choose, and say, "Well, let's go bigger here. Not so big here." But it really was that team that built out the foundation of their looks.

The Meat Loaf sequence is such a fun one, and it felt so right for this kind of movie. But at the same time, music rights can get expensive. How did you go about finding the way to get that into this movie while still being able to afford everything else that you wanted to do with it?

Andrew Bowser: Well, every time anyone read the script, they said, "So, what are you going to do when you don't get the Meat Loaf song?" I just always said, "Well, we have to, I don't know." [Chuckles] Sometimes, you don't want to come up with a backup plan, because then it puts that option in people's heads, and so they won't fight for option A. So I very purposefully — or stubbornly — never came up with a backup, and we just lucked out that our entertainment lawyer and our composer got our lawyer in touch with the publisher that had the rights, and they were willing to have a conversation.

It wasn't, "Here's the price tag, and eff off if you can't afford it," they said, "It's an indie film, let's talk about it." It's a cover, so it's not as expensive as using the master and having it be a needle drop, so they really did work with us until it was something we could afford, and it was as simple as that. They acquiesced to working with an indie film production and let us use it twice in the movie in different contexts and made my dreams come true. It gave Olivia one of the toughest days on set in the process, because she started in the mouse prosthetics, which is already so much, and then had to get out of that to be music video Farrah, and it was just a lot. We had a whole day to shoot all of that, so it was just that song on a loop.

Olivia Taylor Dudley: Right, yeah, so I wasn't getting out of makeup until like seven in the morning. But yeah, it was a really tough shoot. I don't know how or why it was so [tough], it was just a lot to fit into one day's work. There's so much in that music video, so many different locations, and it turned out great, I'm really proud of it. It's really funny seeing the responses to the clip.

The movie ends on a pretty open note for a potential future. I know Barbara was saying that there's probably the idea to wait and see how people respond before moving forward with anything, but have you two already started laying out ideas for what another Onyx movie could be?

Andrew Bowser: Yeah, we've laid out like five. [Laughs] We won't play as coy as Barbara, I would love to make another one, and I've already written half of the sequel, and I love it. It very much continues where the film leaves off, but just goes a little bigger, and a little deeper into the world. But not too big, they don't go to space in the sequel, but they do go to space in five. [Chuckles]

Olivia Taylor Dudley: So much room in this story with these characters to just get crazier and crazier with each one, so it'd be so much fun if we got to do that.

Andrew Bowser: Yeah, and then there's always the option if the film on its own merit doesn't warrant a sequel, maybe there'll be enough popularity to do like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, but it's Onyx and Pinhead, or something like that. Maybe the strength of two franchises coming together could get us another Onyx movie in the same world.

There you go. Maybe, Onyx goes to space to fight Pinhead, since he went up there.

Andrew Bowser: Exactly, oh yeah! [Chuckles] Or just like take something like a forgotten franchise, like Onyx versus the Munchies, or Onyx and Rawhead Rex.

Olivia Taylor Dudley: Onyx in zero gravity, for sure, with his pants. [Laughs]

Oh, yeah, that would be hysterical, and it would, I think, work better than the Fast and Furious franchise going to space.

Olivia Taylor Dudley: Onyx in the Fast and Furious franchise! [Chuckles]

Andrew Bowser: Oh, yeah, there we go, just on a scooter. [Laughs]

I'm really excited that this movie is also getting a theatrical release, even if it is only one night for the moment. But then again, so many movies that only get one night tend to expand, we saw that with Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood & Honey earlier this year, Terrifier did it as well. So are there hopes or discussions about possibly expanding if this one-night release does well?

Andrew Bowser: I think, as far as I know, there'd be no reason not to if it did do well, but I don't know for sure the technicalities behind that. But I would imagine that if we got enough butts in the seats, they might extend or expand, I hope so. I would love to see it extend, but I also love that people can see it on a big screen at all. I mean, it's a really fun movie with an audience, we've learned that from the festivals that we've gone to, and I hope people come out. And it sounds great, it has a wonderful score. There's no indie you shouldn't see in a theater, but this is a small movie that feels very big if you watch it in a theater, which I think is important.

About Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls

Amateur occultist Marcus J. Trillbury, aka Onyx The Fortuitous, is struggling. He’s misunderstood at home and work, but his dreams for a new life seem to be answered when he lands a coveted invitation to the mansion of his idol Bartok the Great for a ritual to raise the spirit of an ancient demon. He excitedly joins Bartok and his fellow eclectic group of devotees as they prepare for the ceremony, but pretty quickly it becomes apparent everything is not as it seems. As Onyx and his new friends fight to keep their souls, he must decide what he’s willing to truly sacrifice in order to meet his destiny.

Based on his viral internet character of the same name, writer, director, and star Andrew Bowser takes us on a wild ride of magic and fun with just the right mix of Satanic worship and friendship. Featuring terrifying monsters and dark and silly laughs, Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls is a creative and joyful celebration of weirdos of all kinds.

Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls hits select theaters for one night only, and will be available on Screambox on October 19.

Source: Screen Rant Plus