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Your new movie Free
to a Bad Home - in a few words, what is it about?
Free
to a Bad Home
is a horror anthology about three strangers - a widow, a
thief, and an addict - and how they are brought together, and to ruin, by
cursed objects and those that spread them.
What were your sources of inspiration when writing Free
to a Bad Home?
Initially, Free
to a Bad Home began as a short film, something fun to work on until
we developed our next feature; however, it quickly became apparent we had
the makings of a feature right in front of us. We wanted each story to
have its own aesthetic, rhythm, and language; and undoubtedly, their
inspirations played into this. With the segment Amy, the inspiration was Ti West’s
House of the Devil. Ryan on the other hand was meant to mimic a sort of
morality tale, like one you might find in an episode of, say, Tales from the
Crypt; the film The Collector also wasn’t far from our minds, being that it
also told a story about a thief in search of a score stumbling into
something he was in no way prepared for. When it comes to Julia, we drew
inspiration not only from the giallos of Dario Argento, but also the
hypnotizing, often drug-induced nightmarescapes Gaspar Noe does so well.
Why did you choose the anthology format for Free
to a Bad Home, and were the segments written specifically for the
movie or originally intended as standalone shorts?
We’ve always loved anthologies, but as we shared, it did not start out as one.
After the first short was finished, we were brainstorming ideas around a
second short, but it quickly became apparent to us there was a narrative
thread between the two, and with a little finessing, it could easily
become something more. That’s when we leaned into the anthology format
and began developing wraparounds and the connective tissues to bring it
all together.
Do talk about Free
to a Bad Home's approach to horror!
Our first film, Entropy, is a slow-burn that eventually devolves into body
horror madness. With Free
to a Bad Home and its anthology format, we had
more freedom to explore how we approached scaring our audiences, and we
could tailor that experience to each story itself. Amy is very much a
slow-burn with ominous but sparse music and plot and terror built through
environmental storytelling, whereas Ryan commits completely to the dread
of darkness and liminal space before evolving into an anxiety-inducing
pact between predator and prey. Julia is bombastic, grand guignol; a
Halloween-drenched vibe-fest that trades creeping terror for unbridled
bloodshed. A little of something for everyone. Fun for the family!
A few words about your directorial approach to your stories at hand?
Kameron:
When I direct, I am always looking to build organic moments into the
scene. I like to let the actors make their way through a scene with a
little bit of freedom so that the characters'
beats
seem a little more genuine. For example, with Amy, I let Miranda and
Hayley improvise when appropriate; when they were having a long dialogue
at the kitchen table, I purposely did not yell cut so they would just feel
out what the characters would say or do next, and the scene made the final
cut. If you always keep the edit in mind, you can have some
experimentation on set that allows for some unexpected but welcome
surprises.
Scott:
I am very much a writer at heart, so when I am directing, I am always
imagining scenes and interactions as steppingstones towards our inevitable
film’s conclusion, and making sure those steppingstones are aligned with
what came before them. When directing, I almost feel as if I am more-so
editing in real time, as that helps me visualize where we’re at, what we
need, and where we’re headed.
What can you tell us about your collaboration as co-directors on Free
to a Bad Home?
When
it came to co-directing Free
to a Bad Home, for us, the decision was a
no-brainer. In everything we’ve worked on, we’ve always done so
together and in full collaboration with one another. When considering our
first feature, Entropy, and comparing it to the production of Free
to a Bad Home, the fact that we were both officially co-directing did lead to
opportunities where we were able to work on separate tasks but in
alignment with our communication. Also, directing is hard. Having someone
there to share the responsibility, tag you out, look at a scene from
another angle, or check your bad idea goes a long way.
From what I know, you've worked on quite a few movies with one
another, but never have you shared directing duties - so do talk about
your previous collaborations, and what made you choose Free
to a Bad Home as your first joint directorial effort?
We
do talk about and go back and watch our previous collaborations. With
those projects, nothing was done independently of one another. We were
very much involved at most levels, but at the time, we just didn’t put
much thought into the division of writer and director.
After Entropy, Scott suggested the idea of co-directing, and that was pretty
much it. It made sense, and it didn’t really make a lot of sense of why
it hadn’t been considered before.
What can you tell us about Free
to a Bad Home's key cast, and why exactly these people? The
cast of Free
to a Bad Home is a mixture of cast members from Entropy as
well individuals we’ve never worked with before. We are very fortunate
to work with William E. Newton as our director of photography, and through
his connections and relationships in the Cincinnati film scene, he was
able to recommend many of the key players in our films. We put together an
incredibly talented cast with a wide range of experience and interests for
Free
to a Bad Home, and we are truly indebted to them for their commitment
to our project. Do
talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere!
Kam:
With Amy, the set was very loose. My crew and myself went up to a
farmhouse owned by Hayley Sunshine’s family and they allowed us to shoot
up there. The Walkers owned the property and were very gracious in
allowing us to sleep and film on location. At the time, Amy was only
supposed to be a short film, so we kept it very loose and everyone had a
great time.
With Ryan, we shot this segment at our parents’ house. This shoot was done in
one night and the atmosphere was more serious (but still fun) than on Amy.
With Amy, we would shoot our scenes and then just hang out till we fell
asleep. With Ryan we lost 4 hours of footage due to a card corrupting…
so, it was all hands on deck and we made up the time lost.
While
shooting Ryan we were fully aware that we were going to turn this into a
feature anthology film, so the pressure to ensure perfection was starting
to settle in. Luckily, we worked with a lot of the same people and the
machine was well-oiled by this point. Our sister and now co-partner of HaleHouse Kristen,and her amazing
husband Robert started their amazing
work doing the makeup and effects on this segment.
On
Julia everyone was just having an absolute blast. It’s no secret that we
wanted this segment to be extra loud and crazy, so everyone just fed into
that. Shooting the drug scenes and the anticipation of shooting the mayhem
at the Halloween party was palpable. When our actresses were up for their
death scenes, the glee was infectious. Who doesn't want to film an
incredibly violent death to neon-soaked lights?! Kristen and Robert did
such an amazing job and brought such a fun ambience to anything they do,
so when they had to rig up a blood machine, everyone was pumped!
The
$64 question of course, where can Free
to a Bad Home be seen?
Free
to a Bad Home
is scheduled to be released on 2/17/2023. You can find it on
Amazon, Tubi, and Vudu to name a few. Anything you can tell us
about audience and critical reception of Free
to a Bad Home? Reviews
are beginning to roll in for Free
to a Bad Home, and they’ve been
wonderfully positive. It’s rewarding to see the film being embraced in
the way that it is by the critics who have seen it so far. As for audience
reception, we shall see! We did host a theatrical screening for one night
last fall for the film, and I think it’s fair to say they had a great
time, even if they were squirming in their seats. Any future projects you'd like to
share? We’ve
always got something in the pipeline. We’re about to wrap pre-production
on a short that’ll put a twist on typical haunted house tropes. We’ve
finished our screenplay for the feature Effigies and are also working on
the screenplays for another feature, Room Tone, and a web series, Scarefield.
Your/your movie's website, social media,
whatever else?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HaleHouseProductions
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/halehouseproductions/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Halehouseprodu1
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Anything else you're dying to mention and
I have merely forgotten to ask?
Kameron:
We would also love to mention some of the amazing people who worked on
this film as well. The fantastic music was made by Dave Howell and Justin
Miller. Dave did Amy and Justin did the other segments; their music is
just perfect. Also, William E. Newton was our amazing DP who just fully
understands what we are trying to do and perfectly executes every camera
shot and steady cam movement.
Scott:
For those who would like more of my work, I have published my dark fantasy
series The Bones of the Earth and my horror novel In Sheep’s
Skin - available on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/stores/Scott-Hale/author/B00ERXPWFE
Thanks for the
interview!
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