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Your new documentary Valley
of the Shadow: The Spiritual Value of Horror - in a few words, what is it about?
This
documentary was intended as a defense of the horror genre. As a Christian
myself, I've heard countless objections to horror, with people
calling it "ugly", "evil", and even
"demonic". They see the narrative
and thematic interaction with the darker elements of life as potentially
dangerous. I wholeheartedly disagree and wanted to make the
argument that horror can allow both artist and audience to engage with
these elements in a thoughtful and helpful way. I wanted to help a
Christian audience see the value in a genre that they've been very comfortable
dismissing.
What
inspired you to make this documentary in the first place, and are you
personally a fan of the horror genre?
I
really like horror. I think that the extreme nature of the stories and
imagery can allow filmmakers to explore certain concepts and principles
in a more frank and imaginative way. There are horror films that
have been so emotionally effective for me that they've actually changed
the way I've looked at things like happiness, grief, and faith.
Going
through your filmography, one can't but notice that you've come back to
the topic faith and filmmaking ever so often (including a talk show of
just that name) - so why is that, and, if you don't mind a personal
question, do you consider yourself a religious man, and your take on (organized) religion as such? I
was raised in the Christian church and came to accept it as my own in
my teens. As I've gotten older, I've definitely come to understand that,
while I do believe that Christianity is true, many of its followers
(including me) are very broken people who try to embrace extremes
that aren't actually found in the Bible as a way to deal with some
of the more abstract and difficult aspects of the faith. This definitely
has impacted the way a lot of my fellow Christians have approached
film and has sometimes put me at odds with more mainstream Christian
understanding of art and culture. Do
talk about the research you did for Valley
of the Shadow: The Spiritual Value of Horror for a bit! This
wasn't necessarily a research-heavy project so much as an analytical
project. As we discuss the various themes that horror movies
explore, we certainly read about lesser-known examples of those themes.
We wanted to be somewhat comprehensive within our specific boundaries,
so we tried to incorporate as many smaller titles as we could. What
can you tell us about your movie's co-writer Reed Lackey, and what was
your collaboration like? Reed
is my go-to resource for horror. He's a brilliant writer and a very
out-of-the-box thinker. I first met him as a fan of my podcasts Battleship
Pretension and More Than One Lesson, and we became fast friends.
Soon, he was one of my co-hosts for More Than One Lesson, which
approaches film from a Christian perspective, before going on to host
his own podcast, The Fear of God, which explores the intersection of
horror and faith. When the time came to make this film, there was no
question in my mind that I'd want him to be involved in some capacity.
Valley
of the Shadow: The Spiritual Value of Horror covers a lot of
ground when it comes to horror and faith - so are there any stories you
regret not having covered in your movie? Yeah,
I decided early in the process that we'd be focusing primarily on
western horror, specifically horror movies produced in Europe and the
United States. This was partially to keep the runtime down, but also
to keep our intended audience interested. It was already a tall order
to ask them to entertain the notion that there is value in horror,
but I think they would have specifically lost interest if we started
to incorporate horror from Eastern countries. I feel bad about that,
because obviously countries like Japan and Korea have made huge contributions
to the world of horror, but we opted to go with what might
be seen as more accessible. Do talk about Valley
of the Shadow: The Spiritual Value of Horror's host Bill Oberst jr
[Bill Oberst jr interview - click
here], what made him perfect for your movie, and what was working
with him like? I
first interviewed Bill on my podcast More Than One Lesson several years
ago. I was fascinated by his story. It's one thing to be a Christian
who likes watching horror movies, but it's quite another to be
a Christian actively working in that world. I know that Bill has had
to put up with a lot of criticism in the Christian world for his career
choices, but he speaks so eloquently about it that I thought he might
be interested in the project. He was very enthusiastic about it and
was a joy to work with. He was always willing to do multiple takes because
he so believed in the purpose of the film. What
can you tell us about your directorial approach to your story at hand? I
don't consider myself much of a director, really. These aren't narrative
films and aren't even really traditional documentaries. They're
more like video essays, which I see more as an extension of my film
criticism than something inherently artistic. Nevertheless, I suppose
my approach to this film, both in the writing and the editing, was
to seamlessly flow from one topic to another, showing how horror can
connect so completely to itself. The
$64-question of course, where can Valley
of the Shadow: The Spiritual Value of Horror be seen? The
film is available on the ReDiscover Television streaming platform and
on Vimeo on Demand. Anything you can tell us
about audience and critical reception of Valley
of the Shadow: The Spiritual Value of Horror? So
far, there hasn't been much reaction. The film is very small, but the
handful of reviews that we have received have been mostly positive.
They seem to understand and sympathize with what we were trying
to do with the film, which I appreciate.
Any future projects you'd like to
share? No
projects on the horizon. As I said, I don't really consider myself a
filmmaker, so I'm not actively looking for another film to make. I work
primarily as a college professor, teaching film history and aesthetics.
If another idea comes up, I'll pursue it, but I don't see that
happening for a while. What got you into filmmaking to begin with, and
documentary filmmaking at that, and did you receive any formal training on
the subject?
I
have a Bachelor's Degree from Columbia College Chicago in Film and a Master's
Degree from UCLA in Cinema and Media Studies, so I at least have
some understanding of how to make a film, but my concentration was
mostly on film theory and analysis more than production. I first moved
to Los Angeles to be a screenwriter, but moved away from that pretty
quickly when I discovered how much I love film criticism. I really
see this film - and my previous one, Reel
Redemption: The Rise of Christian
Cinema - as an extension
of my criticism.
What can you tell us about your filmwork
prior to Valley of
the Shadow: The Spiritual Value of Horror? I
made a microbudget documentary called Reel
Redemption: The Rise of Christian
Cinema in 2019. It was released in 2020 and
received some very
nice reviews. It is about the relationship between Hollywood and the
Christian community, ultimately culminating in the emergence of faith-based
film in the last 20 years. I'm pretty proud of it. Filmmakers
who inspire you?
There
are scores of filmmakers that I find inspiring in general, but the
two that most inspired this film are Thom Andersen, who made a marvelous
documentary called Los
Angeles Plays Itself, and Rodney Ascher,
whose Room
237 was a huge stylistic influence on this movie.
Your favourite movies? My
personal favorite top ten movies are:
Lawrence
of Arabia, 12
Angry Men, Werckmeister
Harmonies, Alien, The
Best Years of Our Lives, The
Night of the Hunter, Bicycle
Thieves, Jaws, Citizen
Kane, Nashville. ...
and of course, films you really deplore?
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Struck
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tylersmith82.com
battleshippretension.com
morethanonelesson.com
Anything else
you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Nothing
I can think of. Thanks
for the interview!
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