David DeCoteau knows what chills and thrills his loyal gay fans. Although his films are populated by witches and warlocks, madmen and werewolves, boy band zombies and killer leeches, it’s the buff, Abercrombie & Fitch-type males (noticeably outnumbering the buxom babes) who steal the show. Indeed, DeCoteau is the preeminent B-movie schlockmeister of our generation, and he can attribute his growing success to a secret ingredient: boxer briefs. And lots of them. So many, in fact, that Calvin Klein should cut DeCoteau a check for some of his profits.

With the new, limited-edition DVD release of Beastly Boyz, the 53rd film he has directed, DeCoteau has cornered the market on homoerotic horror. Despite the dark subject matter of his films, the surprisingly affable 44-year-old filmmaker is winning over legions of horror fans, straight and gay alike, with his edgy, provocative blend of low-budget celluloid scares sprinkled with shots of the underwear-clad male form. If the success of DeCoteau’s drive-in-creature-feature-meets-Bel-Ami-style of filmmaking is surprising, no one is more surprised than the director himself. DeCoteau’s homo horrorfests are now attracting some mainstream Hollywood attention, too, with notable talents like Eric Roberts, Michael Bergin, Adrienne Barbeau and Joanna Cassidy taking notice and signing onto his films.

We recently talked with this pioneer of queer horror, discussing everything from his earliest influences, to the business behind his homoerotic horror film formula, to which of the Golden Girls actresses once turned him down.

AfterElton.com: Talk a little about your latest film, Beastly Boyz. Even as a fan of your previous films, this one was an interesting and provocative departure from the formula you established with Voodoo Academy.
David DeCoteau: I opened my big mouth and announced I would start a more provocative style of movies under a label called Rapid Heart Extreme. It took two years to put the first film together, which I ended up financing myself. It is currently playing on the here! network and is available for preorder on DVD exclusively at www.rapidheart.com. It is a strange and sexy movie. I blushed while directing it! [Laughs]

AE: Do you feel that people view you as any less legitimate, having switched to D&A films versus your earlier, more — ironically — socially acceptable, T&A films?
DD: Here’s the list of reasons why after 26 years in the film business I have followed this carefully chosen formula. One, these are the types of films I want to make. Two, I can’t compete in the saturated T&A market. There is too much product.

Three, none of the actors I hire will do anything beyond what I have done. No nudity … no gay kissing … no overtly gay characters. If they were to do these things, it would be for a big-time director on a huge budget with a film opening on 1,000 screens and co-starring a big name like Julia Roberts.

Four, no overt nudity or sex or violence allows for seamless export to all foreign countries. It also allows for R or PG-13 ratings and distribution to Blockbuster, Wal-Mart, etc. Five, no nudity also opens up my talent pool to 95 percent more actors, and allows those actors to use my movie to get more work in legit movies. Almost all actors come from other parts of the country … some are very conservative.

The list goes on and on. I talk about it at length on my internet radio show via my website at rapidheart.com. … Tune in, it’s free!

AE: Is it difficult finding investors for this type of film?
DD: Many investors come back to fund my movies because the films are relatively successful. No one is getting rich, but the films do well. They are low-budget, but since I shoot on film, they do cost money. I have been lucky that I have private investors, banks and other funding sources to support my films. The reason for this is because I make sure the movies are promoted heavily and recoup the investments. This is not easy. I spend 90 percent of my day putting financing deals together. Not as sexy a job as you may think, eh?

AE: Who exactly is the DeCoteau audience? Is it mostly gay men? Curious teenage boys? Ladies looking for beefcake?
DD: I can only guess by the emails I receive. Mainly gay men, but quite a few straight girls and even a few straight guys who show them to their girlfriends.

AE: There has long been homoeroticism in horror films, but traditionally these images were relegated to the lesbian variety found in such films as The Hunger or any number of early Hammer films. What spurred the idea to explore male homoeroticism in your post-Voodoo Academy films?
DD: Anger. I was so burnt out at that time that I wanted to lay it all out on the line. Charlie let me make the movie cheap and turned me loose. I didn’t care what people thought. I wanted to make a movie I wanted to see. That was it. When it became a hit, I realized my calling [laughs], and I made the switch. To make genre movies that I wanted to see and keep doing it until the market says stop. All indie filmmakers are slaves to the market anyway, and so far people are supporting my movies.

AE: Let’s talk a bit about the hunky actors in your films. Are they aware of the homoeroticism? Are any of them gay themselves?
DD: Don’t know if any of the actors are gay or not, but they certainly know they are in a movie that will celebrate their beauty. They’d be stupid to not want to be in a movie because gay men watch them. Actors want to be sexy and appealing. They know with me they will look terrific, because I really care about them. I want them to look like movie stars. If an actor told me he was worried that men would lust after him watching them in a movie, I’d tell him to leave the business and get into some other line of work!

AE: Have any of the actors from your films benefited from the, um, exposure and gone on to other, higher-profile roles?
DD: Many. There is a link on my site that lists my “alumni.” I have had major industry players call me and ask, “Where do you find these guys?” I tell them that they find me!

AE: What’s up with so many boxer briefs in your films? Is this a fetish?
DD: It is as sexy as my actors will allow, and I also don’t want to shoot nudity anymore. Not necessarily a fetish, just my taste. So far so good, eh?

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