What better way to get to know this year’s unique crew of Festival filmmakers than to pick their brains with a poll? We quizzed our filmmakers in the LA Film Fest’s Nightfall section, which features suspense-heavy and spine-tingling stories, about the genre, their filmmaking ups and downs and Freddy Krueger. Here’s what they had to say. What was the first horror film that scared the pants off you? The Blair Witch Project What’s the most challenging thing about writing horror? Treating it as a drama. The scariest things happen day to day in normal life. Fear is an inner experience, emotional and intellectual. Writing with that in mind is a big challenge. What’s the biggest lesson you learned about directing actors in a horror film? Keeping the emotional intensity takes a toll on you—and the shooting has to be designed around that. There’s only so much you can extract emotionally from an actor, but the exhaustion brings a lot of interesting unpredictability. What’s all the fuss about zombies? I don’t follow zombies. The idea has been long overused. Scariest cinema moment of all time? The whole of Alien, the motherfucker behind the dumpster in Mulholland Drive, “help” written on Regan’s stomach, the last minutes on Blair Witch, the reveal in Spoorlos… Who would win in a fight: Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, or Michael Meyers? I haven’t seen the Jason films, but Freddy has the dreamworld advantage over both, so I’d bet on him.
Santiago Cendejas / writer & director, Plan Sexenal (Six Year Plan) What was the first horror film that scared the pants off you? Michael: The Gate. I saw it when I was in first grade at a sleep over and cried until my parents had to pick me up. Tomm: Monkey Shines. That little homicidal monkey kept me awake for weeks. What’s the most challenging thing about writing horror? Michael: The most challenging thing about writing horror is to know when you want to be serious and when you want to have fun. Both are dangerous temptations. Tomm: Doing something new that no one has ever seen is always the hardest. DBPM3 may be playing off 80’s slasher tropes and cliches, but we wanted to show the audience something different. It may look like the killer is going to shoot that arrow into the character’s chest, but you’ll never guess how he really dies. Just when you think the movie can’t get any wilder and bloodier, BOOM, Ronald Reagan! BOOM! Carnivorous bunnies! BOOM! Heavy metal hot air balloons! It’s a wild ride and I guarantee no one will see the ending coming. What’s the biggest lesson you learned about directing actors in a horror film? Michael: The biggest thing I learned directing actors in a horror film is that they are all terrified for different reasons and the director’s job is to hold their hand through the scary parts. Tomm: Be patient. Acting while covered in fake blood or with a heavy prosthetic is a lot harder then you would imagine. What’s all the fuss about zombies? Michael: Thank god they don’t sparkle. Tomm: They’re fun. Killing zombies let you feel good about killing a human but with none of the morality of killing a living person. Scariest cinema moment of all time? Michael: Exorcist III—you know what I’m talking about. Tomm: The last 40 minutes of Event Horizon and The Descent. Who would win in a fight: Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, or Michael Meyers? Michael: Freddy because he can get into their head. Tomm: Freddy, easy. Well, not easy. It would be a great fight. But Freddy is going to come out on top.
Michael Rousselet and Tomm Jacobsen / directors, Dude Bro Party Massacre 3 What was the first horror film that scared the pants off you? Ugh. The Exorcist. Even today if I see an image of Linda Blair it gives me nightmares. What’s the most challenging thing about writing horror? Directing horror—grounding it in real stakes. You start talking about burning someone alive long enough and it starts to feel normal. I found it important to remind everyone of what we were ACTUALLY talking about a lot so we never lost sight of the truth of the moment. What’s the biggest lesson you learned about directing actors in a horror film? Blood is sticky. What’s all the fuss about zombies? I think there is something extra terrifying about a slow approach of death. Zombies have the slow-mo walking thing down so throwing them into anything ratchets up the tension—you see the inevitable coming at you and there is no escape! This is what I loved about David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows—the pacing of the approaching danger, slow and deliberate. Scariest cinema moment of all time? The shower scene in Psycho. I mean, come on! Who would win in a fight: Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, or Michael Meyers? Despite his lumbering pace, hands down Michael Meyers. Maggie Kiley / director, Caught What was the first horror film that scared the pants off you? Poltergeist. I was scared to sleep for weeks. What’s the most challenging thing about writing horror? Knowing which scenes that don’t scare you in the script will actually be terrifying on screen. And what scenes that are scary in the script won’t translate well on screen. What’s the biggest lesson you learned about directing actors in a horror film? In horror films you are dealing with extreme situations. Because of that, it’s very easy for both actors and the director to fall into the trap of overacting. What’s all the fuss about zombies? I think Zombies inherently create realistic fears that we can all relate to individually and collectively: cannibalism, an apocalypse, and a plague or virus that will affect us all. Scariest cinema moment of all time? There are so many, but when I was a kid, Zelda’s Death Scene in the film Pet Sematary stayed with me for years. Who would win in a fight: Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, or Michael Meyers? Freddy Krueger, without a doubt.
Eytan Rockaway / director, The Confines What was the first horror film that scared the pants off you? I don’t really have a defining first film that scared me, but The Shining was pretty damn scary, and The Sixth Sense is probably the scariest PG-13 movie out there. Every rom-com with J-Lo scares me, too. What’s the most challenging thing about writing horror? I think in our case, the most challenging part in the writing was balancing the horror with comedy. We really wanted to make a scary movie. It had to feel real, like good slasher movies. But we also wanted big laughs without sacrificing the terror. There were plenty of times we came up with things that were really funny, but too silly to play real in the movie, so those ideas never made it on the page. What’s the biggest lesson you learned about directing actors in a horror film? I think I learn a million lessons every time I work with actors in any genre or format. My trick is to find really good actors that make my shitty scripts sound and look good. What’s all the fuss about zombies? I absolutely love zombies! I would argue I’ve seen a pretty good chunk of the zombie movies out there. (I mean, have you seen the Italian ’70s movie with a zombie vs. shark?!) I also edit the show iZombie on the CW and it’s a great hybrid of drama and comedy. Zombies can be great if done well (surprise, they’re not always). Shaun of the Dead of one of my top movies of all time. Scariest cinema moment of all time? There are great, fun scares in The Descent. The Shining has some really frightening scenes. Psycho made me avoid showers for a long time. But personally, as a kid, I lost my shit when I found out Luke Skywalker’s dad was Darth Vader—and then he got his hand cut off. Who would win in a fight: Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, or Michael Meyers? Do they have to fight? Can they all just join Monsters, Inc? Or create their own Avengers-type team and kill off bratty teenagers for good? Or if they have to fight, can it be a hybrid rom-com, and be over a woman? I’d watch that movie.
Viet Nguyen / director and co-writer, Crush The Skull What was the first horror film that scared the pants off you? The Exorcist, 1973. What’s the most challenging thing about writing horror? Ratter is less of a horror than a psychological thriller. But the same challenges apply. Not only do you have to maintain tension, you have to up the ante throughout the film and, of course, end strong without being predictable. What’s all the fuss about zombies? Great question. Scariest cinema moment of all time? The Exorcist, 1973. Little Regan strapped to the bed as she turns her head, completely around. Shivers…
Branden Kramer / writer & director, Ratter What was the first horror film that scared the pants off you? The Exorcist scared and still scares the hell out of me. Any film dealing with the church or organized religion or cults always affects me. What’s the most challenging thing about writing horror? I would say keeping it familiar, yet original. Finding a nice balance between these two things is imperative and extremely hard to do well. What’s the biggest lesson you learned about directing actors in a horror film? Just that directing actors in horror is no different than directing actors in any other type of film. As long as the actor truly believes what they’re doing or experiencing, it’ll be real to the audience. Seeing and feeling that belief is the most important thing. An audience can sniff out false moments a mile away.
Adam Schindler / director, Shut In Jade Estrada / Film Independent Blogger
