On Oct 16, 27-year old writer/director Richard Bates Jr delivers season’s bleedings in time for Halloween with the horror/comedy Excision. Bates’s feature film debut stars such gay icons as director John Waters, pornstar turned actress Traci Lords and Malcolm McDowell.

The blood-drenched plot follows outcast teen Pauline (AnnaLynne McCord) in her effort to connect with her mother (Lords) while curing what ails her sister and performing amateur surgeries, both real and imagined. Oh, and planning premarital sex.

An official selection of both the Sundance and Fantasia 2012 film festivals, Bates came up with a unique marketing plan for screenings. “I made a couple hundred bloody tampon souvenirs,” he says. “I spent two nights making them and then realized I was going to have to carry them with me on a flight. I was terrified of one of the security agents opening this bag in front of everyone. We went into Sundance -- that first week is a lot of industry types -- and were throwing bloody tampons at them.”

Bates admits he takes his cue from Waters, who plays therapist Reverend William. As a teenaged outsider, Bates discovered his father had secretly seen Water’s infamous film Pink Flamingos twice, which led to an odd coming-of-age moment as father and son watched the cult classic together. Now friends with Waters, Bates is getting some advice from the master.

“John told me, ‘The best thing that could have happened to you is getting caught with those bloody tampons.’”

Excision is out now on DVD across North America. Watch the trailer here. excisionmovie.com