Johnny Terris

Born in Toronto and raised in Nova Scotia, Dutch-Canadian Johnny Terris is an actor, filmmaker, author, ex-dance/choreographer, ex-model, editor and visual artist who is known for his overwrought, graphic films that consistently push the boundaries of psychological and surrealistic underground film. After shooting his first short film in 1987, his early career was cemented in trashy, politically offensive comedies; two of which consisted of a small town mother and daughter team who drink contaminated tap water and go insane and another about two white trash, disease-infected street prostitutes who go mad and beat each other to death while locked inside a trailer. While the early films were created in somewhat as disturbing comedic-style violence and complete annihilation of filmatic structure and formula, it was 2004's horror opus 'Inside Inoxia' that put Terris on the map as a filmmaker who can blend beauty and horror simultaneously. Whether it's a warped psychedelic fairy tale populated with evil witches, demonic visuals and black magic mantras or a blistering old school heavy rock soundtrack with electric visuals of street-tough headbangers from the wrong side of the tracks, Johnny Terris has come to define a unique take on underground cinema. He blended gay visuals with gore/horror imagery some 5 years before it became gay alternative chic to do so and was the first and only filmmaker to ever depict queer metalheads in a masculine, rough and non-campy way. Although known for the ability to drastically change his look into a wide variety of different characters, hardly any contemporary critics have mentioned his films or work and he likes it that way. In fact most of the world has no idea who he even is despite having over 20 years in the industry. With a strict motto of "underground should stay underground", he is often extremely reclusive and never one for self-promotion. The vast majority of his work remains hard to find or only available exclusively through him and is usually embraced by the younger punk, metal, and anarchist audiences who shy away from mainstream and indie art. Ultimately, Terris will never win over the masses with his quintessentially niche brand of scattershot narratives, most likely due to his uncomfortable and brutal method of completely annihilating stereotypes and his hostility towards the archetypal film formula; but yet its the sexual imagery combined with dark stylized nightmarish landscapes and fractured visuals that is exactly what his fans adore. 2002 saw him relocating to Maui Hawaii to study boxing and martial arts before taking a lead film role in Birmingham Alabama where he played a psychiatrist in the drama thriller "Silent Alarm", who oversees the mental breakdown of a depressed young man addicted to painkillers and emotional trauma who is unable to speak or tolerate speech. In 2004 he was featured in a television commercial for Safehouse Women's Shelter in which he played an abusive husband and played the disobedient and lazy husband in the comedic film "Faux Paw" which was screened to sold out audiences at Carver Theatre in downtown Birmingham. Although his roots remain in underground art, Terris has flirted with television and more independent cinema from time to time. In 2015, he was cast as one of the leads in the Thom Fitzgerald award winning, dramatic television series "Sex & Violence", playing dry and sarcastic therapist Manny McNeil, working with Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis. Whatever direction he goes into, filmmaking seems to be his main forte and Terris is not of course, without his comparisons. In the past he has been described as an underground Dario Argento and his early films have been compared to early David Lynch, 1970's XXX cinema and the Cinema Of Transgression NYC underground film movement from the early/mid 80s. There is no doubt that Johnny Terris has turned his obsession of the surreal into an independent profession and is an unapologetic artist who beats to his own drum regardless of repercussions or critique. In 2011 saw the release of an autobiography on his life and films titled "Sinister Splendor & Broken Glass: Memoirs Of An Underground Filmmaker" and in 2014 he released the book "Throwdowns At Recess", a collection of his early scripts and screenplays done in short story format.