Wantagh filmmaker premieres horror film 'Ketchup on Waffles'

John Theissen Jr., a Wantagh resident and young filmmaker, recently premiered his new independent movie, “Ketchup on Waffles,” at the Bellmore Movies and Showplace theater on Aug. 24.

The next step is for the 24-year-old Seaford High School alumnus to submit it to film festivals for a chance to win awards.

Dozens gathered in the theater to watch the feature-length film, which Theissen described to the audience as “demented, depraved and deranged.”

“It’s actually a dark comedy,” Theissen told the Herald. “I actually see it as a satire, as well as being a horror film.”

According to Theissen, the film is loosely based on a true story about an incident at a Long Island diner in the early 1980s, where five men robbed the establishment and terrorized its patrons. In his film, a group of armed masked men go on a rampage at a 24-hour diner, committing assault and murder while filming their horrific escapades.

The film's cast brings Theissen's dark vision to life, with Czarissa Moreno playing Abby and Hector Rivera as Ryan, a couple whose night at a local diner takes a horrifying turn. Rob Rappa, Max Unlu, and Ian O'Boyle portray The Blue, The Red, and The White, respectively, a trio of masked men who terrorize the patrons in a chilling and chaotic rampage. Their names are taken from the color of the masks they wear.

The movie is about disturbing the comfort of everyday life, Theissen noted. He added that stories of violence could happen in unexpected places, such as diners, where people go to grab a bite to eat and have a good time.

Part of the inspiration for the movie came from when Theissen was a senior at Seaford High School in 2018. On Feb. 14 of that year, a gunman killed 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. For Theissen, that mass shooting, carried out by a former student of the Florida school, had a lasting impact on him.

“I was scared to go to school, because school is supposed to be a comfortable setting,” Theissen said. “You just don’t expect those things to happen.”

For his newest film, scenes of the diner were shot at the Sunrise Diner in Wantagh, of which Theissen holds fond memories because it was an establishment that his father took him to all the time while growing up.

“It was great,” Theissen said about filming in the diner, “but it was also weird to see these events happening in this diner that I’ve been going to since I was a little kid, and ever since filming, I see that diner in a new perspective.”

His father, John Theissen Sr., is the founder and executive director of the John Theissen Children’s Foundation, a nonprofit that helps sick and underprivileged children through donations and fundraisers. At the premiere, his dad said he was proud of the work that his son put into making the movie.

“I’m incredibly proud to see his dream come true,” his dad said. “He put this all together.”

Additionally, Theissen said his new film was influenced by French cinema and European crime and horror films. Overall, Theissen said he’s been influenced by numerous filmmakers, such as Martin Scorsese, Michael Haneke, and Gasper Noe, who Theissen said was a major inspiration for his newest film.

According to Theissen, he has held a passion for movies for as long as he could remember. His father recalls him being passionate about cinema since he was five years old.

“I always loved films,” the young filmmaker said. “I always loved movies, I always loved writing and directing movies. Since I was a little kid, I used to play with my action figures and make movies out of them when I was very little.”

In high school, Theissen said he took a film course where the class would come together as a team and make a movie throughout the school year. That movie, he said, was “Duet,” a coming-of-age musical about a young pianist who moves in with his uncle after losing his family in a car crash. The student film, he added, won several awards, including best screenplay at the 2019 New York Long Island Film Festival, and won Most Least, an award for the best film made on virtually no budget.

In 2021, he made “Loving Polly,” which won best horror film and best actor, at the New York Long Island Film Festival the following year. Theissen described it as a dark, experimental horror film, which is currently available for purchase on Amazon prime. At the Hollywood Gold Awards in 2022, the film won best experimental film.

For “Ketchup on Waffles,” Theissen directed, wrote, produced, edited and composed music for it, and he’s also credited as cinematographer and director of photography. He added that the film was made up of a small crew with a few actors, production assistants and a makeup artist.

Theissen said he is currently writing multiple screenplays and has “a bunch of different ideas” for future projects. In the meantime, he’s focused on the distribution of his new film and taking it to the festival circuit in hopes of winning awards.

He expressed appreciation for his high school film teacher, Curtis Tripoli, for teaching him filmmaking, and also thanked Sunrise Diner owners for letting him use their restaurant for filming.

For Theissen, the most exciting part about being a filmmaker is hearing the reactions from the audience during his screenings.

“I make movies that I want to get strong reactions from,” Theissen said. “That is really important to me, to make a movie that is something that people could talk about long after the credits have rolled.”