THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS: Interview with Director Nick Simon

The Girl in the Photographs is set to have it's world premiere at the 2015 Midnight Madness program. The film was co-written and directed by Nick Simon. The film also has the amazing Dean Cundey (Jurassic Park, John Carpenter's Halloween) as it's cinematographer. The late Wes Craven was also an Executive Producer on the picture. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Simon about the movie. -- Robert A. Mitchell

You were born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. What initially drew you to film making and how did you pursue this passion? 

What drew me to film initially was just how big it all seemed. I was four years old when I saw Star Wars for the first time and that changed my life. It wasn’t until I saw the poster for Escape from New York that I became obsessed with film.  That film was my gateway into the genre. Growing up in the 80’s and being adverse in all things sports, the cinema quickly became my church.  My mother is a big fan of horror and true crime novels about serial killers.  That had a huge impact on me as well.  I purchased more than a few copies of Halloween and A Nightmare On Elm Street on VHS when I was a kid. The tapes kept wearing out.

 Where did the idea for The Girl in the Photographs come from?

Oz Perkins and I started working on The Girl In The Photographs right after we completed my first film, Removal.  It was always sort of a hobby spec script that we kept going back to. We both went on to write other scripts while continuing to revisit Girl. The initial idea was to try and come up with a current story that had the same pace and feel as an 80’s horror film. It wasn’t until Wes Craven read the script and loved it when it became something I actively tried to get made.  

The still I have seen for the film looks very haunting and ominous. What was the look you wanted to bring to the film?

Capturing the look and feel and tone of the picture was extremely important to me.  I really wanted this picture to feel like the films I loved growing up. I wanted to be very specific about where the camera was pointed at all times, yet still give the picture a moodier look while being beautiful at the same time. Hiring the right cinematographer was essential to the process.

You worked with legendary cinematographer Dean Cundey (Halloween, Jurassic Park) that must have been an incredible experience. What was it like to work with Mr. Cundey? 

I’ve described working with Dean Cundey as a biblical experience. Every day in prep and on set was like a master class in cinema.  When I first approached Dean to shoot the picture, I remember saying to him, “I can hire a DP and show him all of your films, or you could shoot this picture!”  Luckily, he loved the script and understood what I was trying to achieve.  I hope to work with Dean again. He shot some of my favorite films of all time.

Wes Craven was an Executive Producer of the film. As you have said he was your mentor. Could you share something that Mr. Craven imparted on you about film making and life?

Wes was instrumental in getting this picture made. He was there every step of the way.  He had some ideas on a few script tweaks, he was involved in casting, every day he would watch dailies of our principle photography and gave me weekly notes on the edit. His notes during editing were always geared towards what the audience will see and learn in each scene.  He was very aware of how people watch horror films. Wes is a master filmmaker and having that kind of feedback was invaluable. He is one of the reasons that I am making film and his work has been such a huge influence on me. This film is for Wes. I’m happy that he wasn’t disappointed and loved the picture in the end. 

What kind of cinematic experience awaits the audience of The Girl in the Photographs?

We all worked very hard to give the audience a throwback horror/thriller with modern story elements.  I’m hoping that the audience enjoys the film and they are able to laugh as well as be terrified. I hope they will see the influence and impact that the horror films of my youth had on me. 

THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS screens:
Mon, Sept 14, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Wed, Sept 16, 5:00 PM SCOTIABANK
Fri, Sept 18, 9:15 PM SCOTIABANK

ALMOST HUMAN Premieres Tonight!

Get out your bloodied implements and lock the door against unspeakable terror (and maybe wear safety goggles or something to keep it out of your eyes if the poster is anything to go by) because ALMOST HUMAN premieres tonight!

Seriously, really consider safety googles. Or maybe some kind of hazmat suit because that poster reminds me of John Carpenter's The Thing, if the Thing was also an ax-murderer, which is at least six times worse than the regular the Thing.

At least six times worse

ALMOST HUMAN Screening Times:

Tuesday, Sept 10th, 11:59 PM RYERSON

Wednesday, Sept 11th, 7:15 PM SCOTIABANK 3

Friday, Sept 13th, 2:30 PM SCOTIABANK 9

Top 5 CANADIAN HORROR Films

Canada is no stranger to scares, and Midnight Madness is proud to showcase homegrown horror as part of our programming. Before The Afflicted debuts tonight, we thought we'd come up with a list of the top 5 horror films that make us proud to be Canadian.

#5 - Father’s Day (2011)

When Canadian up-and-comers Astron-6 teamed up with horror heavyweight Troma, the brual and hilarious Father's Day was born. Premiering at the Toronto After Dark film festival in 2011 with another feature Manborg, Father's Day blew audiences away with a unique blend of horror and politically incorrect humor.
 
#4 - Pontypool (2009)

Snow. Sleet. Zombies. Everything Canadians have come to fear get mashed together in Bruce McDonald’s adaptation of Tony Burgess’ zombie fever dream of a novel. Set in the tiny town of Pontypool, Ontario (look it up on a map, it's seriously tiny) Pontypool combines the bleakness of Canadian winters with the claustrophobia of being trapped by a zombie onslaught.

#3 - Cube (1997)

Vincenzo Natali's first feature film Cube was filmed with a modest budget but an overwhleming surplus of creativity and creep factor. The novel concept and simplistic execution made the film a cult hit, and endures as one of Canada's most talked-about cinematic exports.

#2 - The Fly (1986)
David Cronenberg's 1986 adaptation of the classic sci-fi tale The Fly is often cited as the best example of a remake done right. The special effects are astonishing, but it's the chemistry between costars and then real-life couple Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum make the film a harrowing emotional experience that sets the film apart from its kind.

#1 - Black Christmas (1974)

Bob Clark's holiday classic Black Christmas put Canadian horror on the map. Credited as the first film to define the slasher subgenre, Black Christmas is also said to have been the inspiration behind John Carpenter's Halloween.

Don't miss what could be the latest contribution to this list! The Afflicted premiers tonight, only at Midnight Madness!

THE AFFLICTED Screening Times:
Monday, Sept 9th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Wednesday, Sept 11th, 8:45 PM SCOTIABANK 9

@thesubstream ♥'s Midnight Madness #5 - THE WARD

"An old-school horror film, from an old-school horror filmmaker."
-John Freakin' Carpenter

REVIEW:

John Carpenter's face loomed on the screen, projected above the cast of The Ward who had come on stage to introduce the film in his absence. He was needed in L.A., he said. Jury duty intervened, apparently, but we were to enjoy what he called "An old-school horror film, from an old-school horror filmmaker." He was dead right.

The Ward is set in the '60s, in a special ward of a creaky, rusty, spooky mental hospital. Kristen (Midnight Madness fave and deservedly so Amber Heard) is delivered kicking and screaming to her room, one recently occupied by the mysteriously departed Tammy (Sali Sayler). The spooks and ooks start immediately, and as Carpenter himself said, they're decidedly old-school. Kristen's blanket is pulled by an unseen force under the bed, beads appear scattered on the floor, a mangled girl's face appears in her cell's peep-window before disappearing. Soon the other residents of the ward begin to disappear and Kristen must unravel the secret behind the ghost that is terrorizing them… before it's too late!

It's old-fashioned, high-spooky stuff pitched squarely at the horror-lover's nostalgia bone. There are a handful of goofy, clunky script moments, the majority of which are explained in hindsight as the film nears its not-incredibly-surprising surprise ending, that trouble things a bit. The details of the machinations of Kristen's perambulations and escape attempts - locks picked with letter openers, a massive ventilation system accessible from directly behind a toilet - are the kind of stuff that would be aggravating had the film taken itself more seriously. It also doesn't hurt things that Amber Heard, as out of place in a '60s period piece as she seems, as Hollywood thin as she is, is fantastic.

Thankfully Carpenter's The Ward is content to be slightly goofy, shooting for pleasant spookiness over gore and favouring instead that old horror saw, the jump-scare. The ghost in The Ward appears in windows, in showers, in mirrors, in front and behind of characters, from above and below, from inside locked doors and at the end of empty hallways. The film is an absolute masterclass on the art and science of shooting, cutting and scoring these shout-out-loud scary moments. It's not surprising. Carpenter's been doing this for a long time, and while the film's stolid nostalgic tone leads to a few goofy moments, it only adds to the film's charm.

Red Carpet Hotness for THE WARD!

Female fans of Midnight Madness got an international dose of red carpet eye candy earlier this week from the likes of USA's Josh Hartnett, Japan's GACKT, Canada's Hayden Christiansen, and Biker Dude Magazine's Sexiest Man of the Year runner-up, Ron Perlman. But last night's screening of John Carpenter's The Ward brought a bevy of beautiful females (and Jared Harris of Mad Men) to Midnight Madness that rivals even the red carpet of last year's Midnight Madness selection Bitch Slap. Ian Goring was there, and thankfully his very expensive camera didn't melt from all this hotness! Check it out, and try not to go insane!

All The Boys Love Amber Heard ("Kristen")

Amber Heard strikes a pose. Is there any way to make her NOT look hot? If you find one, the science community would like to know.

Danielle Panabaker ("Sarah"), Amber Heard, Laura-Leigh ("Zoey"), and Mika Boorem ("Alice")

Lyndsy Fonseca ("Iris") poses for a picture that is so hot that the hard drive in my computer is starting to fail.

D.R. Anderson ("Roy") and Jared Harris ("Dr Stringer")

Mika Boorem brings it on the red carpet

John Carpenter may not be gracing the pages of Maxim anytime soon (hopefully) but he sent a special message to the Midnight crowd since jury duty prevented him from attending TIFF.

I love you, Laura-Leigh! Call me!

Colin "The Luckiest Man on Earth" Geddes whispers in Amber Heard's ear and gets a kiss. Transcript: "YARRRRRRRRR!!"

John Carpenter's The Ward screens ONE LAST TIME, guys!
Sunday, Sept. 19. 12:15pm Scotiabank Theatre 1

Tickets can be purchased at the offical TIFF site.

John Carpenter's The Ward Intro & Q&A

Thanks to the LA Legal system John Carpenter was unable to attend last night's screening. But nearly the entire cast did! Below Amber Heard talks about what drew her to the role, and the cast talks about what can happen when filming at a function mental hospital.





John Carpenter's The Ward screening times: Sunday, Sept. 19. 12:15pm Scotiabank Theatre 1 Tickets can be purchased at the offical TIFF site.

John Carpenter's The Ward Unlocked (Part 2)

More behind the scenes footage from John Carpenter's The Ward. (Part 1 is here).

This might constitute a spoiler. You've been warned. Here's the farm house burn:

John Carpenter's The Ward screening times:
Monday, Sept. 13. 11:59pm Ryerson
Sunday, Sept. 19. 12:15pm Scotiabank Theatre 1

Tickets can be purchased at the official TIFF site.

John Carpenter's The Ward Unlocked

Some interesting behind the scenes footage from John Carpenter's The Ward.

Next up: John Carpenter burns down a farm house.

John Carpenter's The Ward screening times:
Monday, Sept. 13. 11:59pm Ryerson
Sunday, Sept. 19. 12:15pm Scotiabank Theatre 1

Tickets can be purchased at the offical TIFF site.

Midnight Producers Part 1: Peter Block - JOHN CARPENTER'S THE WARD

This is the first in an ongoing series, Meeting The Producers Of Midnight Madness 2010.

Don't let the big name talent fool you, the ten films that make up this year's Midnight Madness programme have all been made outside of the traditional Hollywood studio system. These ten independent features have all faced their own challenges and the standard ones of not enough time and not enough money. I recently had the opportunity to pose questions to the producers of the films so please follow me as we Meet the Producers of Midnight Madness 2010. Let me introduce you to Peter Block.

Mr. Block, formerly was President of acquistions and co-productions of Lionsgate. In 2008 he formed A Bigger Boat productions in order to produce and distribute genre films and television.

1) What did you learn from being the President of Acquistions & Co-Productions at Lionsgate that informed your decision to form your own production company A Bigger Boat in 2008?

What I had learned in my time at Lionsgate, and as far back as the early '90s when I found that a company could actually exist on a slate of straight to video horror titles, and sometimes you discovered fantastic new directors, such as Guillermo del Toro, "Cronos" and Peter Jackson "Dead Alive". I also learned that the horror audience was vibrant, dedicated and social. Whether the films were good or bad, was often not nearly as important as whether there was a great death scene, or even a really bad line-reading. The audience showed up again and again and shared their experiences with one another.

By 2008, I had spent the better part of a decade at Lionsgate, and had been able to chart its course into the genre world from the arthouse circuit; I can still recall the great conversation when we were able to convince Chairman Jon Feltheimer that (a) "House Of 1000 Corpses" really was an arthouse movie (perhaps one for an outhouse crowd), and (b) that he should never watch it. So began a great trajectory beginning with "Cabin Fever", right here at TIFF, which allowed us to not only play in the genre sandbox, but to dig deep for hidden gems that other studios wouldn't touch, like "Devil's Rejects", "Hard Candy" and "The Descent". After spending time finding and producing commercial (Saw, Crank, Open Water) and critical (Crash, Girl With A Pearl Earring, Fido) successes for the company, I had a chance to fully delve into the indie producing world, while at the same time further exploring some of my genre sensibilities. There were stories I was still interested in telling, and directors (like genre-fave Adam Green, new-comers like Mark Tonderai and the legendary John Carpenter) that I wanted to work with. Plus, in A Bigger Boat, I already had a great company name picked out and, with the help of my pal Tim Williams, a fun animated logo...

2) The Ward was made outside of the studio system, what were some of the unique challenges this presented?

The Ward was made outside of the studio system for a variety of reasons. Firstly, we (my partners at Echo Lake Productions, and I) wanted to entice John Carpenter to direct the movie, and we knew John was partial to his independence (we found out later that that sentiment extended to "from producers" as well!). Secondly, the industry was changing. Studios were less interested in lower budgeted genre fare, in favor of tent-pole releases with name stars to drive ticket sales, and with it corporate earnings and stock prices. Along those same lines, most studios are more interested in keeping cost commitments as low as possible, preferring to explore co-production ventures, off-balance sheet financing, and pursuing post-production acquisitions over pre-production financial commitments.

So, while no studio came aboard before we made The Ward, it did open up some possibilities elsewhere. Many foreign territories have distributors with output deals with different Hollywood studios, and their offerings reflect largely what the studio feeds them. So your film doesn't always end up with the right distributor overseas, but rather the one with whom the studio has a pre-existing relationship. We got to approach each territory separately, and our foreign sales partner --- Glen Basner's FilmNation --- did a masterful job setting us up with enough pre-sales overseas --- to distributors excited at the prospect of a new John Carpenter film --- that we were able to finance the movie, albeit with less than John or we hoped. And so began the search for where to shoot, a decision complicated by the ever-changing exchange rate of the U.S. Dollar. So initial explorations of Toronto and Winnipeg eventually gave way to a terrific team in Spokane Washington, which had an unknown production team but a great tax rebate program. But in then end, it all comes down to not the elements you don't have, but the quality of the ones you do, and we have a great story, a camera-friendly and talented cast, and a director who knows a thing or two about the art of the scare. I'd say we're doing ok.

3) I recently spoke with David Cronenberg and he said that in today's climate your past track record does not matter anymore. Each film has to be tackled as though it was your first project. You yourself have an impression track record, how are you finding the business of raising money for a project?

I think David's right in some regards, but let's not forget: he's David Cronenberg, and he's done some of his most outstanding work lately with "Eastern Promises" and "History Of Violence". So I could disagree and say his body of work makes him ever-relevant, and at the same time his recent work is so strong that anyone would love to have the opportunity to be involved with a new project. But overall he's correct and it's as much a function of the "what have you done for me lately?" mentality as it is a matter that studio needs (and studio personnel) are ever-changing, coupled with the collapsing of industry windows and revenue streams.

Moreover, movie years are like dog years: by the time your movie gets made, released and finds it's way to a studio (non)profit statement, another 600 films have come and gone through theaters, to say nothing of those that bypass theatrical altogether. By the time you want to make a follow-up to your movie, the first one has been released and critiqued, amortized and analyzed, and most likely already replicated enough times so that's it's either deemed a classic or already forgotten. And all of that is further enhanced by the fact that everyone's always looking for a reason to say "no"; rarely does anyone get fired for not green-lighting a project, but the corollary isn't always true. So you've got to make sure your successes are recent enough to stay relevant in an ever-changing marketplace, and you've got to have a package that demands a "yes" when both economics and job preservation dictate otherwise. In other words, I'm no longer the guy responsible for "Saw" or "Open Water" or "The Descent"; I'm just the guy who this year made "Frozen" and The Ward and released "The Disappearance Of Alice Creed". And I'm hoping I can still get the director of "Scanners" on the phone.

John Carpenter's The Ward screens:

Monday, Sept. 13. 11:59pm Ryerson

Sunday, Sept 19. 12:15pm Scotiabank Theatre 1

You can buy tickets from the official TIFF website

John Carpenter - "It's in the blood."

(Kurt Russell and John Carpenter on the set of Big Trouble in Little China)

So again... After an 8 year hiatus from feature filmmaking, John Carpenter is BACK (!!!!!!!!!) with a new film; John Carpenter's The Ward, which will have its World Premiere on September 13th at TIFF.

Icon vs. Icon just posted a lengthy and delightfully honest interview with Mr. Carpenter, in which he discusses his career, his hiatus, future projects, video games, and remakes/getting paid.

Check it out here: The Legendary John Carpenter Discusses His Past, Present & Future In Cinema!

John Carpenter's The Ward screens:
Monday, Sept. 13. 11:59pm Ryerson

Sunday, Sept 19. 12:15pm Scotiabank Theatre 1

You can purchase tickets from the official TIFF website.

Genre Icon: John Carpenter

In the past few years some genre icons have premiered their films at Midnight Madness: Dario Argento with Mother of Tears (2007), George A. Romero with George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead (2007) and George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead (2009), and Stuart Gordon with Stuck (2007). This year, John Carpenter becomes the latest genre icon to premier a film in Midnight Madness with John Carpenter’s The Ward.

It has been nine years since Carpenter's last film so younger genre fans might not be familiar with his earlier work. But if you enjoy slasher films like Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street then John Carpenter is the man to thank. It was 1978’s Halloween (directed, scored, and co-written by Carpenter) that contemporized techniques like the masked villain POV shots and jump scares that are still used to thrill mainstream audiences today.

If you don’t believe me go watch the original Scream; I’ll be here when you get back… Did you notice the kids watching Halloween while Jamie Kennedy explains the rules of modern day horror films? If Wes Craven credits Carpenter with writing the rules for slasher films who am I to argue?

Some would say Ridley Scott and James Cameron pioneered mainstream use of post apocalyptic futures in the 80s. Obviously those people never saw Escape from New York. A full decade before The Matrix and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Carpenter was cluing North American audiences into Asian martial arts/wire-fu cinema with Big Trouble in Little China. Before everyone started remaking everything in the last few years, including a Rob Zombie remake of Carpenter’s original Halloween, Carpenter himself was showing the world how to do remakes right with The Thing.

If Carpenter isn’t an icon I don’t know who is! Don’t miss your chance to be at the World Premiere of John Carpenter’s The Ward on Monday, September 13 at 11:59 pm at the Ryerson. It is also eligible for the Cadillac People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award so don’t forget to vote!

Screening times:

Monday, Sept. 13. 11:59pm Ryerson

Sunday, Sept 19. 12:15pm Scotiabank Theatre 1

You can purchase tickets from the official TIFF website.