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Your new movie Ouija
Witch - in a few words, what is it about?
Ouija Witch
is a revenge flick. A woman, Sarah, gets violently attacked by a
small group of men. Immediately afterward, a local shopkeeper with
malicious intent, manipulates Sarah into using a Ouija board to summon an
ancient spirit to exact revenge on the men.
How did this project fall together in the first place? Our
producing team has been making films since 2019. Simply said, we're trying
to build a library of films and Ouija
Witch seemed like a solid idea that
would fulfill both our creativity and business interests. We love making
horror films. We're not trying to reinvent the genre with each film.
Instead, we just want to improve as a filmmaking team and make some fun
content for horror fans like us. What
were your sources of inspiration when dreaming up the plot for Ouija
Witch? And do you have any personal experiences with Ouija boards?
Ouija films traditionally have solid audience attention, so we wanted to keep
that in mind. I've been obsessed with Salem, Massachussettes for my entire
life - affectionately referred to as 'Witch City' and 'The Halloween
Capital of the World'. Salem is most notably known for its dark
history and the hanging of alleged witches. I've wanted to incorporate
Salem in a film since we started making them. So the 'witch' was directly
influenced by Salem.
I've used a Ouija board in the past on a few occasions. When I was
fourteen, I had a sketchy experience using one. I was visiting my friend
in New Jersey and we went to a block party. A few kids were playing with a
Ouija board and I hopped in. I didn't know any of them. When it was my
turn, I asked a question that I knew no one would know - 'what is my dad's
middle name', which is not a common name at all. The planchette
slowly moved to the first letter, then the second, then the third... I got
freaked out and let go and walked away. I can't say if it was supernatural
or my subconscious guiding it, but it was just really strange. I
haven't played around with one since. Our director and producer have some
experience with them as well. Check it out:
Robert
Michael Ryan (director of Ouija
Witch): https://youtu.be/LIk92bnheTg
Jeff
Miller (producer of Ouija
Witch): https://youtu.be/x5WOa-rK21Y
You've
written the story for Ouija
Witch together with the film's director Robert Michael Ryan - so
what can you tell us about your collaboration with him, both during the
writing process and during the shoot? Robert
and I have been working together since 2012. We're always talking ideas
and we each have a long list of projects we want to do. Some are more
exciting than others, and so we're always trying to choose what to produce
next based on a few factors: What money do we have available, scheduling,
difficulty of execution, and market/commercial/business prospects. Ouija
Witch
was a good match across the board, and after we developed a solid
treatment, along with Jeff Miller [Jeff
Miller interview - click here], we shot that over to John Doolan to
write the script. And he delivered an amazing script. The film we executed
doesn't truly do the script justice, but that's the game of low budget
filmmaking. Also do talk
about working with Ouija
Witch's screenwriter John Doolan, and what made him perfect for
the job?
I've known John since we met back in 2008. I worked on a film he wrote, Sasquatch
Assault, with Synthetic Cinema
Int'l. Then I did another film
with them, also written by John, called Alien Opponent. I love those guys
and love the scripts. John is a magnificent screenwriter with a keen sense
of humor for his characters, and he's also a vault of horror knowledge.
We're hoping to continue working with him very soon. How would you describe Ouija
Witch's approach to horror? We're
all enormous fans of the genre. There's not a better genre to work in, if
you ask me. Horror inherently has no limits - each film/story can be
completely fabricated without regard to real life mechanics. Audiences
almost expect that in some ways. Horror is a celebration of the fear of
the unknown, and as filmmakers you get to create what the 'unknown' is.
For Ouija
Witch, I won't say that the film is unique at all, nor does it
satisfy every horror lover's dream. With Ouija
Witch, we wanted to
continue experimenting with horror filmmaking. The goal is to improve with
each film and so that in a few films time, we'll be better equipped to
really deliver something special and unique.
What were the main
challenges of bringing Ouija
Witch to the screen from a producer's point of view? Typically,
for lower budgets, you want to keep locations, cast size, and shooting
days to a minimum. But with Ouija
Witch, we had the good fortune of
filming in my hometown, with a local crew made up of friends, so our Dollars stretch a bit more. Still though, filming a 90 page script in 12
days is tough. We didn't have any insane issues on this one, just the
typical juggling of actor schedules, making our 10-11 hour days, and some
colder than expected weather. How
hands-on or hands-off a producer are you actually? I'm
extremely hands-on. That's the only way I would want to produce. I like
being a utility guy when necessary, helping out wherever needed. Generally
though, I just like taking part in all of the creative decisions
throughout the film. Do
talk about Ouija Witch's
cast, and why exactly these people? We
had the best cast. We worked with many of the same actors that we've
worked with in the past. We held auditions and there were roughly 3000
actors that submitted, which was fairly overwhelming to sort through. Jeff
Miller brought in Sean Young, which was incredible. She was a Hollywood
A-Lister back in the 80s so we were extremely lucky to have her join us
for a day. Our entire cast is extremely talented, which you don't usually
get on small indie films. Casting, finding the best actors for the role,
is arguably the most important thing to me.
As you're known as
an actor first and foremost, did you never feel the urge to step in front
of the camera in Ouija Witch
as well? Nope.
I thoroughly enjoy producing and directing, sometimes more than
acting. I love working with actors as a director/producer. I feel like I
can see or understand their process, or what they're doing in a scene,
and then give relatable and useful notes, if necessary. I do
anticipate acting in something I produce down the line, but I'm not sure
what that would be just yet. What can you tell us about the shoot as such,
and the on-set atmosphere? This
being our 4th film together, we're a slick movie making machine at this
point. Our sets are pretty stress-free. There are always difficulties on
set, comes with the territory, but we navigate those so well at this
point. Usually it's time constraints more than anything else. We try to
keep the set fun, welcoming, and free of ego. Anything you can tell us
about audience and critical reception of Ouija
Witch? We're
hoping to hear more - it's been pretty limiting so far. We haven't heard
much either way. It's usually a mix of good/bad reviews, all of which are
welcomed. In many ways, I like to hear the 'bad' reviews as they can
sometimes lead to growth. Once Ouija
Witch starts hitting the free
streaming platforms, we anticipate seeing more reviews out there, Any future projects you'd like to share?
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We have a few in the works
- one currently has a working title of Casket. That's about a small gang
of gravediggers who unknowingly unearth a cursed casket. It has elements
of It Follows and Escape
Room, maybe a bit of Saw. Your/your
movie's website, social media, whatever else?
Please check out our YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/@salemhousefilms
And
our company page is at www.SalemHouseFilms.com
Ouija
Witch is currently streaming at:
Amazon: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/Ouija-Witch/0LT0BLIDXISF0N55E7GW8QQODA Apple
TV: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/ouija-witch/umc.cmc.5rvhmtk19m67muiwouusz9w29 Vudu:
https://www.vudu.com/Fcontent/movies/details/Ouija-Witch/2349955 Anything
else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
You
can find some BTS vids from Ouija
Witch at our YouTube page, making
of the Ouija
board, actor auditions and more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Unkpj9MAQ
Thanks
for the interview!
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