Digging Up the Marrow

I've been interested

in monsters my entire life, since I was, er,

old enough to watch TV.

I was never really scared by them.

I just liked them as characters.

Like they were my Mickey and Goofy.

I'm really into monsters,

just as an escape, you know?

It gives you something to put your fears on.

I was in a mental hospital for a few weeks

when I was about 14 or 15.

I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety

and I didn't know why I was sick.

What really helped me escape my reality was these things

that I was influenced by as a kid which is watching

horror movies and drawing these monsters.

I have been a monster,

I always will be a monster

and after I'm dead I will be a dead monster.

Somehow I got to see Frankenstein

which I looked at many, many, many, many times,

and there was a certain humor

to Frankenstein and a certain, er, niceness, er...

I always wanted the monster to live.

I grew up an only child, so they were my friends.

I lived with my imaginary friends.

It's what, I think,

provided the background for what I do in my acting now.

I think a lot of it was just

as visceral as really ugly things,

really frightening things,

holding my attention more than beautiful, pretty things.

We like the costumes, we like the character designs,

we like the underdogs, the misunderstood, antiheroes,

because they explore different parts of humanity

that aren't often explored.

There're all kind of things

that, if we hadn't been introduced to them,

we'd call them monsters.

There are monsters everywhere.

You know what the real monsters are? It's frigging insects.

They got claws. They got antennas.

They got multiple eyes.

They got pincers. And they walk sideways at times.

That's a creature. People don't walk sideways. That's stupid.

I feel kind of strange,

but I think that some monsters could be real.

I think monsters exist everywhere where we can't see.

I think, behind that chair, just because I can't see it,

there is something there.

If they did exist,

they'd exist somewhere where man doesn't live.

They couldn't be out in the open,

people would shoot them.

You would find them buried deep in the world.

Tromaville, which is a very small town in New Jersey.

It doesn't matter because if you're terrified of them,

they exist.

When we do find monsters, if these things do come up

from the ground or ascend upon us, like,

I just wanna be there to be, "I told you so."

My name is Adam Green.

As a filmmaker

who has had some success in the horror genre,

I... Can we just do this with graphics?

No, just keep going.

I've made movies like Frozen ,

the Hatchet franchise, er, Spiral.

I have a TV series called Holliston.

With that comes a very loyal and cult fan base.

Stop! I feel like a big enough douche

and you keep laughing at me.

You get to meet some very unique people...

Like, er, people will mail stuff.

This Victor Crowley maquette that somebody made.

This fan's underwear.

This bottle of pills that somebody sent.

Really cool stuff like artwork

that people will make for us.

Um, which is awesome.

There was this one guy, er, William Dekker.

I wish I had thought to be shooting this the moment

this stuff first arrived, er, but...

Say it!

OK, all right. William Dekker claims, in all seriousness,

that he's found monsters.

And he wants me to tell his story to the world.

Is that good enough?

I think we should hire an actor to play you.

Dick!

I'm so excited, she could explode.

I could explode. And I have!

I love Holliston.

I have a tattoo of Holliston.

Tell me what's on your arm.

I like Frankenstein .

Spiral, Frozen.

Yeah, I consider myself to be an Adam Green fan.

I have a really cool relationship with my fans,

and I think that that's because

like, when I was first starting out,

y'know, when you're making an independent movie,

you don't have marketing or advertisements,

so you really gotta do it yourself

and put yourself out there,

so people know about you and know about your movie

and after a while though, like,

the more movies you make and the more people

there are that want a piece of you, it just kinda starts to,

I don't know, I guess, takes its toll.

Now, the ones who do get through are the ones who actually

take the time to write,

like, a physical letter to my fan mail address.

And that's huge, you know,

when someone's gonna take the time

and write you a long letter or send you,

I don't know, like drawings, art, fan-fiction,

sometimes really personal stuff, I mean, it's awesome. So I...

Oh, sorry. Hold on. It's the wife.

Hello.

Hello.

Hey, how are you?

Oh, good! Where you at?

Er, I'm with Will.

Hi, Will. - Hi, Rileah.

Do you know when you're gonna be home?

Er, ah, I dunno, five or six.

I think, um, we're gonna go sit down with the guy now.

Seriously? Oh, you guys are idiots.

You guys are idiots!

Here we are at the residence of Mr. William Dekker.

I'm sorry, Detective William Dekker,

the monster hunter guy.

I've already come here twice before to sit down with him,

and the last time I asked him

if he would be cool with us putting him on camera.

He didn't say no...

Now you people know they're not to talk about this to anybody?

Oh, no. That's, like, standard on everything we do. Everybody...

I didn't realize there were going to be so many here.

Well, you want it to look good, right?

I mean, it's gotta be professional.

Which, actually, guys, can you just... Here, my...

Here, my... OK.

And is this eye good, or is...

No, you're fine.

I... you're sure? 'Cause I...

Yeah. Fine. You have enough.

About to roll!

- All right, we're ready. - Take one.

My name is William Dekker.

I am a retired police detective.

I'm 61 years old and I live in Southern California,

er, Chatsworth.

I have lived here for the last four years.

Erm, now, I know you've already told me this

but just for the sake of the cameras,

basically, what you're saying is that

you've discovered a world underneath

our own world where monsters live.

Every generation,

there are born children who are different,

And these 'different children'

are given cruel labels like

'monsters', 'freaks', 'rejects'.

And these children reach

a certain age and they disappear

and nobody knows where they go.

And what's worse, they don't even care that they vanish.

But I do.

I do.

See, these children, they don't die.

They're not even far away from us.

They're right next to us.

But they exist in their own world.

I call it

"The Marrow".

Some 100 yards beneath the surface of the Earth,

exists a metropolis

that mirrors ours in very many respects.

Life goes on down there, there are marriages,

and births, and divorces, and deaths,

and friendships, and er... creativity.

They can be free.

OK, so why don't we, kinda start at the beginning?

Let's talk about your childhood.

Tell me a little bit about growing up.

Well, I was born, um,

into, I guess you could say, a lower middle-class family

in Nashua, New Hampshire.

I was a latchkey kid,

I didn't have any brothers and sisters and I, uh,

I didn't have any real friends to speak of.

So I, er, had to occupy myself.

There was a special spot that I always went to.

And there was an old lumber company, er, you know,

that sold board feet, you know, lumber.

And it was all closed down and locked up

and the buildings there would by my fortress,

be my castle, you know?