%
>> A harmless,
% good-natured man...
% >> If you could look below
% the surface...
% (child reciting nursery rhyme)
% >> His body is divided
% into three parts...
% >> Child: That married
% the man...
% >> Complete metamorphosis...
% >> There's something here
% that's evil...
% ♪ ♪
% >> Bacteria infect and start
% a new life cycle.
% >> Child: He kissed his wife.
% He could not...
% >> But while the creature
% changes...
% >> Child: He hoped and prayed.
% Night, day, and morn...
% >> Ahh!
% Happy Halloween!
% This is a special spooky edition
% ofDirector's Cut.
% I'm Charles Monroe-Kane.
% That was a clip from the film,
% "The House that Jack Built,"
% which is a perfect flick
% for this holiday, a film that
% director William J. Meyer calls
% a "fairy tale horror romance."
% Happy Halloween.
% Welcome.
% >> Hi, Happy Halloween.
% >> What is a "fairy tale
% horror romance"?
% I've never heard of that genre
% before.
% >> Well, as it applies to
% the "House That Jack Built,"
% just working from the back
% forward, the romance is
% because Jack and Liz
% are getting engaged in the film.
% And they have
% a history together,
% which comes out
% in the course of the film.
% And the horror is
% the more visceral aspect
% of this disease that begins
% to grow on his hand
% and spreads to his arm.
% And you see that develop.
% And the fairy tale aspect is,
% what I like about fairy tales
% is, it's basically one step
% to the left of reality.
% You just look askance and
% there's something in the closet,
% there's something in the woods.
% >> Ah!
% >> And you know, fairy tales,
% I think, often are a lot darker
% than what we recall,
% or what we see in parody.
% >> If we're even willing
% to let them go there.
% I have little kids,
% and sometimes I don't end
% the fairytale, if I have
% the original ones.
% I'm not going to go there.
% But the kids are eaten in those.
% >> Right.
% >> That's good, though,
% you went there.
% We know that association.
% But no blood and guts.
% This is a horror film.
% No blood and guts.
% I would assume that's
% the way to go in horror genres,
% blood and guts.
% There's no slasher stuff
% in this at all.
% Why did you choose to do that?
% >> Well, what connects with me
% for horror, and I'm not
% the biggest horror aficionado,
% but for me, you know,
% I'm never going to be
% trapped in a cabin in the woods
% with a bunch of zombies
% surrounding me.
% I'm not going to be bitten
% by a vampire.
% But the horror that I at least
% tried to elucidate in this film
% is Jack's self-loathing,
% really, to get down to it.
% I mean, you could look at
% the whole disease thing as this
% metaphoric externalization
% of his interior fears that,
% "if she knows the real me,
% my wife will leave me."
% >> Oh, you're getting into
% real horror now!
% That's real horror!
% Not afraid of the guy
% under the bed, but being afraid
% of your wife leaving you!
% But that makes more sense
% for the viewer, right?
% >> Well, yeah.
% >> For a more mature viewer.
% >> Sure.
% >> But no use of
% the blood and guts.
% So how do you feel like you're
% able to then scare people.
% What scares you?
% What's the biggest thing
% that scares you
% when you watch a film?
% Like that's something that, wow,
% that's going to affect me
% for five or ten more minutes.
% >> Loss of control, I think.
% To me, the scariest moment
% in cinema that I've seen,
% honestly, is when Mookie
% throws the garbage can
% through the window
% in "Do the Right Thing."
% I mean, my god!
% That just...
% >> 'Cause he's out of control
% in the situation.
% >> Yeah, and it's just
% a mushroom cloud of emotion.
% >> That's interesting.
% Well, one thing we haven't
% talked about, and I want to show
% a clip from this,
% is that a lot of this film,
% there are certainly parts
% of this film that are animated.
% And I want to show a clip.
% Then we're going to come back
% and talk about that.
% Because I thought
% the animation was super.
% Talk about
% to the left of reality.
% I found that animation
% really helped me go to the left
% of reality and watch the film.
% So here's a clip.
% Can you set it up for us?
% This is where he goes through
% that tunnel in the woods.
% >> Yeah, so right before this,
% Jack has been gardening.
% And his wedding band is stolen.
% By this thing.
% And he chases it into the woods
% to reclaim his wedding band.
% I believe that's what
% we're seeing here.
% He's going through the glens
% beside their home.
% >> To get back the wedding ring.
% >> Right.
% >> All right, let's check out
% a clip from
% "The House That Jack Built."
% >> My name is Jack.
% I can't tell her.
% She'd leave me.
% (creature laughs)
% I'll fight it.
% >> I need to work on
% my horror laugh.
% I love that.
% That's a great clip from
% "The House That Jack Built."
% Animation.
% Tell me about it.
% You did all that yourself,
% right?
% >> Yeah.
% First, the story came.
% I developed it with
% Jeff and Georgia Lyon,
% the producers of the film.
% After I wrote the script,
% then I said, okay,
% how am I going to achieve this.
% A lot of it came to just
% incorporating PhotoShop
% and After Effects,
% and other off the shelf
% software on my computer.
% And developing the effects
% through various techniques
% that I learned.
% >> How long did it take you?
% You're a novice doing this,
% in a sense.
% >> Yeah, well, post-production,
% including editing, picture,
% sound, doing the ADR recording,
% and the visual effects, was
% a year and a half or something.
% >> Why?
% (Jeff laughs)
% Why would you dedicate,
% I mean, it's a great film.
% But you're not going to make
% a million dollars off it.
% Why did you do it?
% >> You know, when you begin,
% you have this story to tell.
% And you have this entity
% that's inside of you, like
% the chest burster in "Alien."
% >> Sure.
% >> And it has to get out there.
% And you know, coming home
% from work, and sitting down
% in front of the machine
% and just putting in the time.
% It was like a part-time job,
% I guess.
% You know, the creative freedom
% is peerless.
% >> I want to talk about
% some other things.
% The animation is fantastic.
% I really liked it.
% But there are some other things
% in the film that in some sense,
% are fairly simple.
% The film starts
% with a dollhouse.
% There's this great dollhouse.
% And then there's this use
% of an old photograph.
% There's also the use
% of nursery rhymes.
% There's use of some other really
% set images like that,
% that to me, really got me
% scared, really set me on edge
% a little bit.
% And I wanted to ask
% about those images.
% What do you think those images
% do to a viewer?
% When someone sees a dollhouse
% in a field,
% or someone hears a little girl
% doing a nursery rhyme.
% Where do you think that takes
% the viewer?
% >> You know, I guess
% I'm a little surprised at
% some of the things that people
% come up to me that have seen it
% and say things like that.
% Another friend of mine mentioned
% the dollhouse in the field,
% where it's a solitary image,
% as putting him ill at ease.
% I guess I was a little myopic
% in the sense that, you know,
% I just approached it as the way
% that Jack proposes to Liz.
% >> His proposal is to put
% a dollhouse in a field,
% and have little dolls, and have
% their pictures on the dolls.
% >> Yeah.
% >> It was totally creepy.
% I'm like, oh, my god.
% That was the creepiest thing
% in the film.
% I love it.
% You're just like, that's
% just how you told the story.
% >> Well, I guess lucky for us,
% Liz did not think it was creepy.
% >> Thank god,
% she would have left him
% and you'd have no story.
% That wouldn't be good.
% Well, and on top of that,
% in the film where you have an
% old black and white horror film
% that's being played,
% which actually,
% you re-created, right?
% >> Right.
% >> And why that?
% What were you trying to do for
% the viewer, to show that
% in the background?
% >> Just to lay it out there,
% I was totally inspired by
% Brad Bird's "The Iron Giant."
% There's a sequence where
% the boy is watching
% an old Sci-Fi film.
% And you can do this really
% interesting edit, where you edit
% between the old-school
% and what you're doing.
% And you can create this
% relationship with juxtaposing
% this unreal situation
% with your situation,
% which is supposedly real.
% So Jack is watching this old
% Sci-fi film that we also shot,
% edited and treated
% to make it look old.
% And it has this metamorphic
% transfiguration thing
% that's sort of paralleling
% his experience
% and what's happening to him,
% but in a more light hearted way.
% So hopefully, there's some
% laughter in there, as well.
% >> Well, I want to show a clip.
% I want to go back
% to the dollhouse.
% I want to show a clip because,
% we'll leave it up to the viewers
% here watching to decide.
% You just do this as
% a piece of romance.
% I find it the scariest part
% of the film.
% So let's show the clip.
% We'll let people decide.
% This is the famous
% either romance clip
% or I think horror clip.
% This is the dollhouse scene from
% "The House That Jack Built."
% (car door closes)
% >> Hey, look at that.
% ♪ ♪
% Let's go check it out.
% >> No.
% >> Come on!
% >> I'm not going out there.
% >> Fine.
% ♪ ♪
% >> Oh, that just gives me warm,
% huggy, romance feelings
% all over.
% It's so romantic.
% So romantic.
% I love it.
% It's not scary at all.
% So, how did you get
% so passionate about filmmaking?
% Where did your love
% for the cinema start?
% >> I just want to take a quick
% shout out to Matt Knutson,
% Theresa Cheney
% and Christopher Carbeaux,
% the actors in the film.
% >> Shout out.
% >> It would not exist
% without them.
% I don't remember what year
% it was, but Akira Kurosawa
% was getting a lifetime
% achievement award at the Oscars.
% And I believe
% it was Coppola and Lucas
% that were giving it to him.
% And I hadn't heard
% of Akira Kurosawa.
% Living in the Midwest,
% I wasn't really exposed
% to foreign films at that point.
% And they showed clips
% from his movies, and it just
% completely captivated me.
% In particular, they showed a
% clip from "Throne of Blood,"
% which was his version
% of MacBeth.
% And Toshiro Mifune, the great
% Japanese actor, is being impaled
% with innumerable arrows.
% And to find out later
% that they actually shot arrows
% at him off-camera.
% "Hold still Mifune, we've got
% a couple more coming at you.
% Stop moving so much."
% Just the ba-ba-ba-ba-boom.
% And just the stark imagery.
% It was a fantastic
% black and white film.
% They showed clips from "Ran,"
% his color masterpiece, just,
% it was just epic beyond epic.
% Just fell in love,
% and started to find out
% who makes these films,
% where do they come from.
% >> There you go.
% Well, thank you very much
% for joining us,
% I love your films,
% and please make more animation,
% come back on, I would love it.
% I showed a bunch of my friends
% the film, they loved it.
% Thank you very much.
% And thank you all very much
% for joining us today.
% You know, Halloween films
% can come in a variety of genres,
% from the suspenseful,
% from the slasher,
% even to the funny.
% Here's a previous interview
% we did with filmmakers
% Ben Wydeven and Doug Gordon,
% who take a very different take
% on what horror means.
% >> It's funny, you're talking
% about horror and talking about
% atmosphere.
% Your film, not to give too much
% away, but there's no gore.
% There's no blood and guts in
% this.
% And I think about the way horror
% has gone, you know,
% from "Friday the 13,"
% and "Halloween."
% "Halloween" was all build-up,
% the whole film.
% To now, the soft films, which is
% just completely blood and guts
% and no build-up.
% You don't do any of that.
% You don't pull any of the blood
% and guts punches.
% Why do you not do that?
% >> Well, I didn't really grow up
% with the slasher films.
% I watched a lot of Alfred
% Hitchcock films.
% When I was younger, my mom
% started this thing with our
% family.
% Every Sunday night, we'd watch a
% movie.
% And for a long time, we were on
% an Alfred Hitchcock streak.
% That was pretty cool.
% We'd watch like almost all the
% mainstream Alfred Hitchcock
% movies.
% >> Was there a moment you're
% sitting with your family on a
% Sunday night, and you're ten or
% twelve, and you say to yourself,
% oh, man, I want to do that.
% >> Not immediately, I don't
% think.
% I've always been really
% interested in making films.
% But like when I was younger,
% I didn't really know which genre
% I wanted to do.
% When I was in college, I was
% doing a lot of comedy, because
% that's what my friends wanted to
% do.
% It's easier to do comedy,
% because like I sai you get the
% immediate feedback.
% With horror, I didn't realize I
% could do horror until when I did
% another movie and then I
% realized it scared the crap out
% of people.
% My friends got goosebumps and so
% I realized, okay.
% >> So you were sold.
% You'd rather give goosebumps
% than make people laugh.
% So would you go back to comedy,
% or is this it?
% Is this the genre you like?
% >> Comedy is fun, but I mean,
% it's not really the movie I want
% to see on a Friday night.
% In 2004, I saw Michael Moore.
% And one of the things he said in
% the press conference was that he
% tells filmmaking students to
% make the movie you want to see
% on a Friday night.
% And after I heard that,
% a couple years later,
% I made "The Medium."
% And I started to think about it.
% I do like the darker,
% suspenseful films.
% And we really, in the last ten
% years, there haven't been a
% whole lot of really good
% suspense films.
% >> Yeah, I agree.
% Speaking of "The Medium," let's
% see another clip from the film.
% Why don't you set this next clip
% up.
% This is the one with the needle
% in it.
% I love this scene.
% >> The needle.
% They are in the hallway, and
% Raymond is touching the wall.
% He's trying to figure out what's
% going on in the building.
% And the tall guy with the meter
% isn't really telling him
% what's going on.
% He's kind of in denial about it.
% And so, Raymond's kind of
% walking around trying to figure
% it out on his own.
% >> Well, let's see a clip from
% that film.
% This is a clip from
% "The Medium."
% >> If the needle jumps,
% let me know.
% >> Where are you going?
% >> Not far.
% I know the spirit's present.
% >> What?!
% >> Shut up!
% Come on, spirit.
% I mean no harm.
% I'm only here to help.
%
>> (spirit): Raymond...
% >> Ahh!
% (door creaks)
% >> Get out!
% >> Ah!
% >> Hey, the needle's moving!
% (knocking echoes)
% >> I want to talk--!
% >> What the hell are you
% talking about?
% >> Who is she?
% >> Who?
% >> The woman who haunts you.
% She wears a white dress
% and has long red hair.
% >> She's here?
% >> Yes. Tom, who is she?
% >> I don't know.
% I thought you did.
% >> No.
% >> Now, another part of that
% clip that I think really shows,
% and this film shows,
% is sound design.
% Because sound, you know,
% you have setting in that
% you have a super creepy setting,
% and that's perfect.
% But I think the other thing
% that's very important
% for a horror film is music.
% I've got to have the creepy
% music.
% "Jaws" without the music
% would just be a terrible film.
% So tell me a little bit about
% the sound design.
% Did you do it?
% >> I did the sound design.
% The music was done
% by two friends of mine,
% Corey and Jason,
% of the band Planet of Nine.
% They did the music for it.
% For the audio, a lot of the
% stuff I did, I was living in an
% old house at the time.
% And there was this metal shower.
% And I got my boots on and I set
% up my microphone above it, over
% the shower.
% And I just stood in there and I
% would pound on the walls.
% I would breathe in and out
% heavily.
% And there was this echo to it.
% I would deepen it up in post
% production.
% I'd throw that in there every
% once and a while.
% And it sounds, you can't even
% tell that it's my breathing.
% It just sounds like a rumble.
% >> Do you add, I'm curious,
% not to get too geeky here.
% But do you add the music and the
% sounds after the film, or do you
% have these sounds and then you
% kind of incorporate them in?
% Or do you say the film's done
% and then you sit there and add
% the soundtrack?
% How do you put the sound in?
% >> It's kind of an evolution.
% Once I've cut it together, I
% kind of see how it looks and
% then I can add the sounds where
% it's appropriate.
% >> It's super creepy, and very
% appropriate.
% I think that's a big part of the
% goosepimples that you get from
% watching a film that way.
% We're going to see one last
% clip.
% But before we do, we're also
% going to be joined by another
% filmmaker, Doug Gordon, that you
% edited for, for his film,
% "Zombeatles."
% Before we get to that,
% we're going to see one more clip
% from "The Medium."
% Then we'll invite Doug up and
% we'll move forward on that.
% Let's see one more clip
% from "The Medium."
% (grunting and coughing)
% >> Mother--
% She's your mother!
% Ahh!
% What about your mother?
% >> I know how she died.
% >> I killed her!
% >> I'm talking to the man
% who killed her.
% I'm talking to his son.
% >> You cannot have him.
% >> Him?!
% I have a son?!
% I want to see him.
% (indistinct)
% >> Need to resist him.
% I need you to resist him!
% (screaming and grunting)
% Ahh!
% >> What happened to my mother?
% (woman gasps)
% >> Your mother was killed.
% Strangled to death
% by your father.
% He wanted to see you,
% but your mother gave you up
% for adoption to protect you.
% >> That child is mine,
% and I want it.
% >> You cannot have him.
% >> Him?!
% I have a son?!
% I want to see him.
% >> Your mother died
% protecting you.
% (indistinct)
% >> She was murdered.
% And dumped down here.
% Just like you're going to do
% with me.
% >> Welcome back.
% We are now joined by Doug
% Gordon, the director of the film
% the "Zombeatles."
% It was edited by Ben Wydeven.
% Let me see if I can describe
% this film for you.
% "Zombeatles" is the name.
% It's a mockumentary about the
% Beatles, as well as zombies.
% It's full of brain-eating
% zombies, Beatles, all narrated
% by a kilt-wearing zombie
% journalist.
% Doug, how did I do?
% Did I describe it?
% >> That's very good.
% That's pretty much bang on.
% >> What about you?
% You walk into somebody, they're
% in the elevator for one minute,
% like, so you made a film.
% What's your film about, what's
% the "Zombeatles" about?
% >> I like to describe it as
% "Night of the Living Dead"
% meets "This is Spinal Tap"
% meets "All You Need is Cash,"
% a Beatles parody.
% We really went to school
% on that a lot.
% >> What a great description!
% You know, what I want to do, and
% I don't normally do this
% quickly, but I think a picture
% is worth a thousand words.
% So what we're going to do is
% we're going to show a clip from
% this over-the-top film.
% Then we're going to come back
% and talk more about it.
% What we're going to do right now
% is we're going to show a clip
% from Doug Gordon's
% the "Zombeatles."
% >> Paul and I were in art school
% together.
% >> Oh, we were dead
% and very hungry.
% >> We were bitten
% by some skiffle zombies.
% (low, guttural grumbling)
% In Pool of Liver,
% and after that...
% >> We ate
% Bobby and the Bouncers.
% And they were very tasty.
% >> We were never the same.
% ♪ ♪
% ♪ OOh, I need your love ♪
% ♪ Babe ♪
% ♪ Yes, you know it's true... ♪
% ♪ -- ♪
% ♪ While I'm eating you ♪
% >> You do not see that
% every day.
% That was a clip from
% Doug Gordon's film,
% the "Zombeatles."
% I don't even know where to
% start.
% First, it's a mockumentary.
% Why a mockumentary?
% >> A mockumentary, Charles,
% because that's something that
% you can do fairly easily without
% a budget.
% And just this idea came
% together, because my character,
% my Scottish comedian, zombie
% comedian character, Angus
% MacAbre, Scotland's funniest
% zombie comedian, I performed a
% few years ago at a Halloween
% Bash at the High Noon.
% And I performed live and undead.
% I did some undead pan comedy
% stylings.
% And also on that same bill,
% the Fab Gore, the "Zombeatles,"
% which is a side project
% of the Gomers, they performed
% at that same event.
% Then, several months later,
% I thought, I just woke up one
% morning with this idea, hey, why
% not combine the two and put it
% into this mockumentary.
% This sort of takes the zombie
% idea into a whole new direction
% by developing what I like to
% call a zombie verse.
% Zombies have evolved.
% You know, they started by eating
% the stupid people.
% Because obviously the stupid
% people are the easiest to catch.
% So then, they run out of stupid
% people.
% You've got to put more effort
% into tracking down the smart
% people.
% As you eat the smart people, you
% absorb their smarts, their
% brains.
% And that allows you to evolve
% in a Darwinian fashion.
% And the zombies are now creative
% conscious, intelligent creatures
% with their own arts,
% entertainment pop culture scene,
% of which the Fab Gore and Angus
% MacAbre are a part.
% >> You know, I've seen a lot of
% independent films, and some of
% them are kind of weird ideas.
% I have absolutely never seen
% a film like this in my life,
% not even close.
% Did you sit down, so obviously,
% there was a meeting of the
% brains, no pun intended.
% You have the Gomers and they're
% a rock band.
% These guys are doing
% this Zombeatles idea,
% the zombies and Beatles.
% You have the stand-up comic idea
% guy who's also a zombie.
% So, hey, this is like
% the perfect idea.
% You put them together and you
% want to make the film.
% Was unique your goal?
% Like you sat down and said,
% okay, I want to be as unique
% as possible.
% I want this to be as over the
% top as possible?
% Or was your goal just to be pure
% to the form of the documentary?
% >> A combination.
% But for me, the key is to be
% unique.
% Like the founder of Sun Records
% says, if you're not doing
% something different, you're not
% doing anything.
% And I really believe that.
% Whenever I'm doing something
% creative, I try to think, what
% hasn't been done before.
% >> Well, let's see the Satan
% scene from "The Zombeatles."
% >> I said what I said, and
% people take it the wrong way.
% Now you have all this.
% >> And what was the prince of
% darkness' response to Jaw
% Lennon's provocative comment?
% >> Was I upset when I heard what
% they said about, you know,
% being bigger than Satan?
% No, come on!
% I love those guys.
% You know, it's show business.
% It's not show friendship.
% Am I right?
% I mean, come on.
% I've got to tell you, betrayal
% on that level, I felt as though,
% you know, they picked that up
% from me maybe, a little
% something, I don't know.
% You know, but you know,
% you gotta respect them.
% They--
% (happy cell phone ringtone)
% I gotta take this.
% It's Tom Cruise.
% Tom.
% Tom, slow down.
% Listen, I know, I heard.
% My people are on it.
% I know.
% We're fixing it.
% It's all right,
% everything's good.
% Tom, I gotta go.
% I'm doing--
% Tom, listen--
% I'll see you in hell.
% Okay, bye-bye.
% But no, they were fine.
% Me and the Zombeatles,
% we're fine.
% >> Wasn't that revealing?
% >> Thank you very much
% for watching this Halloween
% edition ofDirector's Cut.
% For more information on
% "The House that Jack Built"
% please go to:
% wpt.org/directorscut
% And while you're there,
% send us an email,
% we'd love to hear from you.
% Stay tuned.
% Up next on
% nDirector's Cut Presents,
% you see all three films
% we just talked about,
% including a short by filmmakers
% Aaron Yonda and Matt Sloan,
% titled "The Life and Death
% of a Pumpkin."
% Thank you very much,
% I'm your host
% Charles Monroe-Kane,
% and for everyone here
% atDirector's cut,everyone,
% thank you for joining us.
% Check the gate.