Let’s jump right in with the most obvious question: Who or what is Lilith Stabs?
Well, it’s not a “what.” It’s not really a character. It’s just a name I chose to use for acting. So I don’t really look at it so much as like, if it were a comic book character then it would be a “character” that, you know, would be stuck in one little niche. But I just look at it as a name I use for working.
Would you ever consider dropping the name and the dark persona and doing something more conservative, like playing a housewife or a lawyer or something that would be totally unexpected from you?
At one time, I had considered changing (the name). But, you know, “Stabs” is a real last name. So, I guess it could work either way . . . feasibly, someone could have been born with the name, but they would probably spell it with two “b”s instead of one!
Why did you choose to work in this particular genre?
You mean horror movies?
Well, horror and dark themes. I know “Goth” is a bad term for you . . . You’ve often referred to your style as “darkly glamorous.”
I try not to fit into the whole “goth” thing. I don’t run around wearing black everyday . . . driving a black car. I don’t have a hearse that I drive around! Not that there’s anything wrong with that!(note: this is a subtle jab at the interviewer’s chosen mode of transportation. Very funny, Lilith.) But I don’t really fit into the whole goth category too well, even though some people like to lump me into that.
Was Lilith Stabs created out of circumstance the way that, for example, Cassandra Petersen created Elvira or going further back, Maila Nurmi created Vampira? Or was becoming Lilith Stabs a conscious decision – part of a plan, if you will?
I think they made more of a character, whereas I’ve made myself maybe a little more adaptable. . . If I wanted to play a cop, or if I want to play a vampire or a blackmailer or a killer or a girl who gets killed. I can do any of those.
I can’t see you as a victim.
Yeah, a few people have sorta/kinda cast me as that, but not too much.
At the risk of beating this “image thing” to death, are you fulfilling a “vision” of what you really are or what you want to be?
Well what I did was, when I originally went with this certain look, I had decided that I wanted to do a comic book and I wound up getting into one of those and my character was in there . . .Lilith, the “character.” (note: the comic in question was Razor Gothic from London Night Studios) What I did (in the comic) was create a (character) who was not your average human. That’s really all I did . .
Would you say that “Lilith Stabs” is a statement of what you want to be in the world of entertainment in the way that Rob Zombie or Marilyn Manson have created, or, more precisely, recreated themselves?
To an extent . . . but you see, I just changed my look. Not that it’s everyday conservative, either.
How did you get your start in comics and horror movies?
I had a boyfriend who collected comic books. I started looking at them and noticed all the “bad girl” comic books that were out and I decided I wanted to be in one. And I started collecting, checking them out and going to the conventions. I did not set up at any conventions. I walked through and did some networking, talked to people. Everette Hartsoe (B movie producer) pulled me aside and wanted me to do a photo with his model. Then later on he saw an ad of mine and he called me and said he was making this movie (note: “Vampire Callgirls” which would be Lilith’s film debut) and I want to put you in a comic book. And that’s how I got started – by networking at conventions – not by setting up at conventions. There are girls who do that, who set up and sell photos when they haven’t done anything. I didn’t do that.
The interview continues in part three of QUEEN B: INSIDE THE DARKLY GLAMOROUS WORLD OF LILITH STABS>>>
