So now I'm trying to make my film, and people are like "horror is dead" and I'm like, "What about 'The Sixth Sense'?" and they're like, "That's not a horror film -- that's a supernatural thriller." Bullshit -- that's a fucking horror film! The term "supernatural thriller" did not exist before "The Sixth Sense"! Even movies like "28 Days Later," you will not find a single interview where [director Danny Boyle] calls it a horror film -- they call it a "viral thriller"! Despite the fact that the last third of the movie is completely stolen from "Day of the Dead"!

But I understand why. It makes sense, because when I told people I was making a horror film, it was like I was making a porn film. People said, "Oh, that's great, I love B-movies." And I said, "I love B-movies too, but I'm not making one." So now you get these awful, awful movies like "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Valentine" and a bigger problem happens: Now you have TV stars like Neve Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt say, "I wanna go be in a horror movie" and you get stuff like "Halloween H2O." All of a sudden, TV stars are looking at horror films as their vehicle to get famous. Only there's one problem: They have a young fan base and, because they're already stars, they don't want to do what's required of them in the role, i.e., nudity and effects scenes.

Which results in all these horror films being rated PG-13, right?

You get these fucking bullshit pussy-ass fucking suck-ass neutered-down castrated horror films where nobody is thinking, "How is this idea scary? How can we be pushing the envelope?" But if horror movies have shitty dialogue and a script like "Freddy vs. Jason" and they're still successful, there's no incentive to make them better.

Then why aren't the eminent directors going back to make these kick-ass $500,000 horror films -- guys like Tobe Hooper, John Carpenter, Wes Craven -- filmmakers who clearly aren't doing their best work anymore?

Tobe Hooper just did. He just shot "The Toolbox Murders" in 18 days. But it's tough for some of these guys. I think a lot of these guys -- I'm not saying anyone in particular -- got lazy. There's no incentive, they've lost their drive, they've done it, they've proven themselves. And they've just gotten beat down by the system -- every time they make a movie it's just years and years and years of all the good stuff being taken out and being told, "You can't do this, you can't do that." It takes a lot out of you, and if you're like 50 or 60 it's not easy to do that. That's why I'm setting up this company Raw Nerve, so that there will be a fund for them, for guys like Tobe Hooper.

I thought your company was called Dragonfly.

Dragonfly is my main company, but Raw Nerve's goal is to make low-budget no-bullshit fucking scary fucked-up horror movies. It's tough right now. You get a lot of scripts and they suck, so we're just waiting and finding the right people -- young filmmakers who want to do something really sick and older filmmakers that have been fucked with and have had their movies compromised. We want to be a safe haven for those people.

Would it be too grandiose to say Raw Nerve intends to reinvent the horror genre?

No. But it's up to people like me and up to the fans to support them. Because I can sit here and squawk all I want, but ultimately my movie's got to kill at the box office on opening weekend. You gotta realize the way Hollywood views "Cabin Fever": R-rated, low-budget, no stars. Can it compete with "Matchstick Men" and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico"? Can you have a movie that's just scary and disgusting and sick and people will still support it? If the answer is yes, it'll open the floodgates for filmmakers to get their movies made.

You've been called a protégé of David Lynch...

I wouldn't use that word. It's not like I went to the David Lynch Academy.

But you've done research for him and did a lot of original work on his Web site.

On Thanksgiving 1999 Lynch called me and said, "We're going on the Net, DavidLynch.com," and he invited me over to talk and start throwing out ideas. And I started helping him coordinate these ideas and produce these shoots and it was a blast. He'd been so frustrated with "Mulholland Drive" -- which had shut down at the time -- that he just wanted to grab a camera and shoot with no boundaries. And that's what we did.

Did he give you any advice before shooting "Cabin Fever"?

I said, "What's the one piece of advice you could give me?" and he said, "Keep your eye on the doughnut, not the hole." And he's like, "What I mean by that is your movie -- all the information that's recorded on those 24 frames -- that's the doughnut. Everything else, all the distractions, all the egos, all the temper tantrums, all the bitching and the whining, everything -- that's the hole. But the only thing the audience members are ever going to see is what's in front of the camera." Keep your eye on the doughnut, not the hole.

That's good advice.

Yeah. You know, if nothing else, people are finally remembering that horror films make the greatest date movies. If you wanna get laid, take your girl to "Cabin Fever." You take her to a so-called date movie like "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" and the whole time you'll be wondering when to make your big move. I personally guarantee that every two minutes in "Cabin Fever" there will be a chance she'll grab you or stick her head in your chest. Your date should be in your lap in no less than 20 minutes. If you can't score after seeing "Cabin Fever," you're hopeless.

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