According to the teaser trailer for “Sin-Jin Smyth,” an upcoming horror/thriller film, “Every Halloween at midnight, The Devil simultaneously appears in two places … the high plains of India, and a quiet cemetery in Kansas. October 31st. Two Federal Marshals have a midnight prisoner transfer of a man with no past and no identity. He is known only as … Sin-Jin Smyth.” The film is set in the near future with the world under martial law in the climate of World War Three. “Sin-Jin Smyth was written and directed by Ethan Dettenmaier, and its cast includes Roddy Piper, Richard Tyson, Kevin Gage, and Jenna Jameson. As well as selling and directing his own work, Ethan has also scripted work for Steven Seagal, Oliver Gruner, the producers of The Blade films, and has worked on projects designed for Owen Wilson, Jamie Foxx, Damon Wayans, and several others. The following interview is between Guilfordian writer Ben Dedman and Dettenmaier about his upcoming films “Sin-Jin Smyth” and “Knight Fever,” as well as his other experiences and projects in the film industry.

Q: So, according to IMDB you started out in the film industry by working for Warner Brothers in the mail room.

A: That’s right.

Q: How old were you when you started there, how long did you stay there, and what was your big break that got you out?

A: I was about 28 when I started there and they fired me about a year into it (opens a beer). So my big break had to wait ’til later.

Q: What other projects did you work on before Sin-Jin Smyth?

A: “Knight Fever” was the script everyone seemed to want a piece of. That script (written in 2000 and now in pre-production), about renegade GI’s in Vietnam working with the Khamir Rouge, trafficking opium to the (United) States in the bodies of dead GI’s and a special task force of SWAT, Vice and The Bomb Squad that are assembled to stop it, was what got me out of my “day job.”

Q: What happened with that script?

A: It became a work sample around town and got me hired out as a script doctor, which is basically a hired gun who gets brought in to punch up weak material.

Q: What stage of production is Knight Fever in now?

A: We are in (the) pre-production/casting phase of “Knight Fever.”

Q: What is your favorite project that you’ve worked on?

A: That depends; there are moments where all the work has that effect. (It) depends on the day and date.

Q: How about today? What is your favorite project today?

A: “Soldiers of Destruction,” which is based on true events, follows a platoon of German Panzer commanders who survive the battle of Stalingrad to join the ‘bomb plot’ to kill Hitler. Also “Battle Flag,” about Navy Seal advisors in Vietnam.

Q: And why?

A: “Battle Flag” is a script that is unforgiving. It’s unapologetic … it works without the emotional back bone that most scripts require … and it’s all fire power! Sometimes when you are free to write a hard-hitting script without being concerned of the consequences it breaks the conventional format that can ‘slave up’ the creative process and can get entertaining.

Q: Who would you most like to work with?

A: Alan Ladd Jr., the man who gave the production green light to Star Wars, Alien, The Omen, and Young Frankenstein, Darryl Zanuck (Jaws), Coppola, Pollack.

Q: Whose work do you respect the most?

A: In addition to Ladd and the others . Kurosawa. John Ford. (Orson) Welles. Walt Disney.

Q: And from an actor/acting stand point?

A: Oldman, Bruno Ganz, David Suchet, Jeffrey Wright. Geoffrey Rush…

Q: What are the biggest difficulties you’ve had to overcome to reach where you are today? What have you had to learn to make things work?

A: Tolerance. Being a low-level player you have to slug your way through a lot of shit, but it builds character. You either break them or the situation breaks you!

Q: How did you come up with the idea for Sin-Jin Smyth?

A: In 2002 a producer had read a horror script I had written called Tatterdamalion … We, my partner Lota Hadley and I had just started renting an independent office at Warner Brothers and he came to see me to talk possible low budget film ideas…I wrote up a list of 25 log lines (Story ideas) and Sin-Jin Smyth was on it … He didn’t want anything to do with the Devil because the subject matter made him nervous. But I thought it was interesting, the idea of a midnight prisoner transfer, a maximum security situation and…SATAN! AHHHHHH! What more do you need to wreck a police mission right!?! So, I decided to hammer out a script in any event and that is what became Sin-Jin Smyth.

Q: You say that it has a politically charged ending…

A: I didn’t say that, the distributors say that. To me, it has the right ending.

Q: What studios did you pitch Sin-Jin Smyth to, and why did they reject it?

A: It went to Warner Bros. who thought it was too violent/dark. Also Warner Independent. An early draft also went to Sony and few others.

Q: Are you back on good terms with them, including Warner Bros.?

A: Depends on who you talk to.

Q: What stage of production are you in with Sin-Jin Smyth?

A: Sin-Jin Smyth is in distribution talks right now with Lion’s Gate, The Weinstein Co., [and] Warner Independent.