Macabre Daily Interview - Director and Writer of DEATH TRIP

Hello Macabre Misfits!

Last week I had the opportunity to have a fantastic conversation with a part of the creative team behind the fantastic DEATH TRIP. If you haven’t yet, you can check out my review here.

Writer Kelly Kay and James Watts talk with me about the inspiration for DEATH TRIP, the horror of going to random strangers parties, and influences from the horror and adjacent genres.

SPOILER WARNING
If you don’t want any spoilers to DEATH TRIP, I would suggest you watch first and come back to watch this to avoid interfering with the film’s twists and turns.

The Transcript and Time Stamp from the conversation are below the video, and please forgive any misspellings and grammar on account of the transcription.

Interview Transcript

Macabre Daily  00:00

All right, so, welcome. This is Matthew Orozco from Macabre daily and I'm joined by Kelly Kay and James Watts of Death Trip. Nice to meet you both.  

James Watts  00:13

Nice to just meet you now.

Macabre Daily  00:15

Yes, we're not longtime friends, we're just meeting for the first time. So I will say, want to kick things off with a couple of questions, but also a bit of a preface in that I recently had watched Death tTrip, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I see, you know, in there's a lot of entertainment to ingest, either, you know, by choice, but why we're asked to watch. And I actually find you know, that the work that's happening in the independent horror world right now is pretty amazing. In fact, I put it up to most of the stuff that's coming out in the major label major kind of distributions. So when I saw Death Trip, there's a couple things I'll speak to specifically that I really enjoyed. But it's fine to start this off by saying I thought it was a great, great film, and it kept me guessing the entire time. And I even even induced a small panic attack during the party scene. Not not like not like, not like a you know, full blown but like I was just like, my heart was palpitating I was like, I feel like I've been at this party before this exact moment where everything goes wrong. So kudos for capturing that. So well!

James Watts  01:20

Makes us so happy to hear that We were worried that people would misconstrue that as like, our version of a good time. Like when he was beatboxing during the guitar, kind of moment. We were like, people are gonna watch this and think we're just think it's like a cool thing that they're doing, but it's supposed to 

Kelly Kay  01:36

A nightmare.

James Watts  01:37

A piling up of uncomfortable events. Sorry. No, no,

Macabre Daily  01:43

No, cuz they I'm back, I'll take this, I have a bunch of a few questions. But I'm like, hop around a little bit, because I'm a little all over the place myself. But on that note, so I thought it was really interesting how you at some I don't, we didn't grow up together. I'm meeting you both for the first time. But I feel like we've been at the same party before. And, like, you know, seeing the same people, you know, the guy breaking the bottles and everyone cheering for absolutely no reason, you know, like, the creepiness of some people's, you know, ways of conversating and trying to meet other people, you know, the just so much it was captured so extremely well. Well, so, I was wondering, was that intentional to try and capture horror of the recklessness of youth? Or was that just a happy byproduct of just the way that the the script and the film all came together?

Kelly Kay  02:31

We actually had a second party scene that was maybe not worse. But like the flip side, I would say of that, like party nightmare. That's just a fun fact. I guess this would be equivalent, this city party, and it's in our extended deleted scenes sequence. I'm getting away from a question. But yes, yeah, we wanted to make a really just like, unsettling party vibe, which was really fun. We shot it all in a night, which is crazy. Take it away.

James Watts  03:02

No, no, it was supposed to be so scary. I mean, the biggest one of the biggest messages for both of us. There's like three kind of big ones. But one, one of them is the thing of when you're young, or just in general, if you're a huge horror fan or something, and you've never been out of the city, and you go to the country, and there's like an old guy next to you. And you're like, Oh my God, I've seen Texas Chainsaw Masscre. Nothing goods happened in that house. But then like four dudes show up, and I'm just like, we're gonna go to a party want to come and you're like, "Oh, hell yeah. This seems like a good adventure." And it's like the priorities of what you're scared by are really askew, and also just influenced by the wrong things. So the idea that like the party, to us is like the scariest decision anyone can make. But also that party just want everyone to feel like it because in the reality of the movie, that party is like a huge impetus that causes one character to shift, I guess, and the next morning, I don't know I'm trying to really get  spoiling or not. So to us, it's really like nightmarish, it's like, oh, this is where and also when it's when Tatyana starts kind of coming more of a character for the first time, and then she obviously picks up anyways. Really rambling, really trying to avoid plot spoilers, but the answer is yes. I'm so glad you felt that way. Your party is supposed to be so nerve wracking and feel like cluttered.

Macabre Daily  04:18

Well, I think you nailed it. Right. When you said like, at the time, you don't realize how terrifying that situation really is. Because in hindsight, me, I'm 35. And like, if four people were to come to me in a restaurant and invited me to a party out of nowhere, my immediate reaction would not be "Oh, absolutely." Like it wouldn't there's no consideration process that it goes through. It's just right to that's not a good idea. I don't know you, like we please move away, you know, versus your 20s you're almost like, you're looking for the fix of life somehow. And that random opportunity to party with people you don't know, just scratches a really weird itch you don't have any other time in your life perhaps.

Kelly Kay  04:57

You think about all the stupid things that you've done. In your life, like, I feel like at least on one occasion with you, I've like walked into a stranger's apartment. We're like "shit they're partying let's go!" like really dumb shit. Sorry, can I swear?

Macabre Daily  05:10

You can say whatever you want 

James Watts  05:12

Off of the record cuz we're fucking gonna get raw!

Macabre Daily  05:14

No please feel free with the with the expletives

Kelly Kay  05:21

Like just things of being in the city and walking home and like somebody pulling up from like, "Hey, you want to ride?" And we're like, "okay, yeah, let's do it like" Why? Why do you do these things but yeah, and then in retrospect like that could have gone really really poorly or inviting strange people to your house and then now I'm just talking about an experience I added like going to a bar with a bunch of friends and then inviting a stranger back to the house and it was like, night time and then kind of daylight started breaking we looked in the guy were like, "Oh my god, you're like 50 dude". Like, I don't know why I bring that up. But it's just like weird things like that, where, where you're just doing stupid things. And I don't even know where I'm going with this. I just really that's nothing

James Watts  06:00

More the message of the movie a movie.

Macabre Daily  06:03

It's living in the moment. And I think it's the horrors of living in the moment that we don't realize are really scary until we look at them kind of in a different perspective or third person. 

James Watts  06:13

We are conditioned to look for, like film horror tropes in the real world, which is the dumbest advice you could ever have. Like if I'm lost maybe in the middle of like the country, and I'm younger, and I never been there before. And I'm like, about to like, I haven't had water or food and I can't find anything and I see like one dilapidated house. I'm like, maybe not gonna go in because I love Texas Chainsaw Massacre so much. Yeah. Which is like that's the person will help you probably more than like inviting someone from a bar to your house in the middle of the woods. That person is probably gonna hurt you way more than that house.

Kelly Kay  06:44

Yeah. Yeah. It's like you trust this familiarity you have with people for no real reason. And oftentimes, like, we've talked about this a bit, like sometimes it's just purely aesthetic of like, Oh, this person kind of dresses like me, or like, looks like they could belong in my circle. Like, yeah, they're probably trustworthy, especially running in more kind of like, fringe, like alt scenes. Like, yeah, this guy's a leather jacket and some pins. I'm sure he's fine.

Macabre Daily  07:05

Yeah. Growing up in the punk scene? You know, firsthand. Exactly. "Oh, you put elmers glue in your hair. Like which kind you?" know, and like, instead of like, oh, that's weird. Like, which kind of using because the school stuffs No, good. But, um, so I was so on that note, you know? Did you both grow? Ddi you both come from like a rural kind of town where this is where the film is set in? Or do you come from more of a city background?

Kelly Kay  07:29

Well, your connection James is the one with the connection to the actual location where we shot the film. We're both from Ottawa, Ontario, which is Canada's capital.

James Watts  07:38

Capital of Canada. Don't forget.

Kelly Kay  07:40

Not super Metropolitan, but definitely not like a country vibe. But yeah, if you want to talk that's cottage. 

James Watts  07:46

No, I just, I would spend my summers there for forever. It's like my great grandparents cottage. And it was sold right after we finished the movie. So it exists and then it was torn down. So no one will ever be able to shoot in that cottage again. But we know I spent a lot of time there. And I think a huge I mean, there's two huge like, I guess like I don't wanna say sparks but whatever ideas for this movie. And one was when Kelly visited went up to the college me for the first time and I was like I do not enter sign or something just like a private property. And she was like, "Oh my god, this is a sign we got to get the hell out of here." 

Kelly Kay  08:20

I think it said like "Do not enter turnaround now."

James Watts  08:23

Yes, something like that "enter at your own risk".

Kelly Kay  08:24

Yeah, we did shoot a scene with that sign. And we ended up cutting it but it's again me being like, a silly like, city woman being like, "Oh, god, that's a bad sign. Like we gotta get out of here now". Whereas you know, the stranger with a sign on their private property is the likelihood that they'll come out and like attack me or kill me are way slimmer than again, James like turning on me and strangling me for no reason.

James Watts  08:46

Yeah, much more likely.

Kelly Kay  08:49

What what we kind of get into in this in the movie, as I'm sure you saw, and I'm sure you kind of know what I'm talking about.

Macabre Daily  08:55

I did and and if it's helpful to talk about spoilers, we're happy to you know, I'm I think it can open up a lot of more questions. But I was gonna ask you about, you know, I mean, on that note, I kind of on that similar vein, if we will, I noticed there's a bit of quite a few red herrings along the way that kind of, and one of them is a supernatural angle that, you know, I kind of noticed and so I was wondering, the ending that you all landed on, was that the one you intended or did you have a few different ways you wanted this to go and ultimately, this is where it settled?

Kelly Kay  09:26

We started with the ending. I knew that that's what we were doing. I basically had the idea. I mean, yeah, if we're gonna get into spoilers,

James Watts  09:34

Yeah let's just do it. Spoiler alert, it's out. Go check out DeathTripMove.com. If you hate it even better, you come back and we'll explain. Maybe you'll hate it less. For more. Who knows? boiler we're in the spoiler. We're in the spoiler zone.

Macabre Daily  09:49

Well, spoiler zones wide open, wide open, get your trench coats and your and your tarps. 

Kelly Kay  09:53

It's gonna get messy. Um, yeah. So basically, I had the idea of I mean, we're both we've both been aspiring filmmakers I guess for a long time and like very into horror movies, specifically thrillers, all that kind of thing, genre movies. And one day, I don't even know what we're talking about. But I was like, oh, wouldn't it be funny or like perfect if, you know, four people go to a cottage, three girls, one guy, and like, it's a bunch of horror stuff. And of course, like, the guy friend ends up being the killer because like, obviously, and then, like, "Yeah, that would be pretty great". And then we kind of talked about it more and developed it from there as a starting point. So then, was a matter of like, establishing Garrett, who's a male friend as like, your kind of typical, like, nice guy, soft guy. Like, why would this guy be involved with these girls? Like, how does this all make sense? Because in our lives, we're like, okay, if like, I keep bringing up you as an example, James is not going to kill me. Well, he's very nice guy.

Macabre Daily  10:50

At least not on this camera. I think he's probably the best case.

Kelly Kay  10:53

There you go. Great promo for the movie. Um, but you know, it's like, in our group of friends, like, oh, like you work to go to college with me and two female friends. Like, that wouldn't be weird. But in some circles, it may seem a bit odd. We have to like figure that all out and set it up and really work on the character dynamics, relationships and stuff like that. So we do spend a lot of time on that. And then in terms of red herrings, I mean, we just love them as a

James Watts  11:15

Well yeah, it's like the joke of we are I always love about like, the first Scream movie is like at one point you like kind of believe for a moment and maybe Henry Wrinkler is like killer or something you just like, like, why it's just the way that the amount that goes out of the way and then also the theme of like, like, Kelly, this, her like worst nightmares like right in front of her eyes, and she can't see it. But she is like, internally very scared of everything else that she shouldn't be. So it's like the red herrings for the most part, the at least the first two days, the first two mornings, like the the red herring, like it's all kind of from Kelly's perspective. It's like inside her from our, in our opinion, like inside her fear. And so like, there's two sequences in the movie that are dream sequences that we thought were very clear their dream sequences, but maybe they aren't. But they are like, supposed to be like the material reenactment of Kelly's like, I guess. Internal..  Her interiority Your interiority? Yeah, like there's like the second one is like she's terrified that this new guy maybe killed his wife and she like really loves Gary, but she's like, maybe a bit jealous because Garrett's like, looking at this. He was like checking out this girl earlier, and she like, likes Garrett. And it just like all those together, in our mind would create the dream of like, Garrett goes to this house, and oh, no, he's saving this woman. But like, That's weird. But also like, this guy's there. And like, Is there a ghost of them? But it's mostly men, and a lot of it is the red herrings and like the dread that you feel when you're scared of the wrong thing, I guess. Yeah, you're like, Oh, God, like I am in like, the just the country night thing where it's like, some people find it so peaceful, because it is some people find it like murderously silent.

Macabre Daily  12:52

Yeah, but your eyes will play tricks on you in those situations like that. Darkness is like, you know, our brains love it. Because it's, for some reason is like a perfect Etch A Sketch for like, all the things we fear the most. And it just kind of puts itself on the darkspace we're looking at. But I it's, I like the you mentioned the dynamics between the characters, because I thought, yeah, you know, I want to heap on you too much praise of like, the dynamics between those characters, which felt very genuine. And I was wondering, are you all friends? You know? Or is are you all kind of connected in some way outside of the film, because there was such a great dynamic and the example of specifically, you know, one guy and three girls going to a cabin, it's not really terrifying, in the sense of like, I'm a well adapted adult, you know, probably, you know, yeah, I'd say anytime after maybe 25. You know, that's when we start to really figure that's just my opinion, but and the other situations, that's totally reasonable to think that, like, you know, are not reasonable. We don't think at the time, but it's reasonable to expect that given we've seen the news is like, people do just go crazy. And they'll flip on something. So I think I even might have got to watch my own question. But was there a relationship outside of the film to each other before filming?

James Watts  14:04

Do you want to break down the specifics?

Kelly Kay  14:06

Like what are the specifics 

James Watts  14:07

Garrett was Kelly's bandmates fiance?

Kelly Kay  14:11

Yeah, we have like very weird, like, we all kind of run in the same circles or like kind of adjacent circles. Garrett. Yes. My bandmate Gabby's fiance at the time. Yeah.

James Watts  14:22

Check him out.

Kelly Kay  14:22

Yeah, there you go.  Yeah, so we knew him like we were not super close friends, but we knew he had acting experience and he had kind of the perfect vibe and face or

James Watts  14:33

The "Jonah Hill" eyes.

Kelly Kay  14:34

Jonah Hill Stare. Um, so we knew that we wanted him involved, assuming he was like down for it. And then Melina and Tat (Tatyana) are both. Or at the time, were both kind of participants in the Montreal Anglophone comedy scene. So either doing stand up or sketch or improv and we ended up 

James Watts  14:55

We didn't know them either. 

Kelly Kay  14:56

Yeah, we didn't really know that. Like I'd seen them do stand up before like, Oh, yeah. Cool, like, they seem cool. And we just all kind of met. And

James Watts  15:04

The answer is we weren't before, but we are now.

Kelly Kay  15:07

Yeah, it's a very good bonding experience to be 

Macabre Daily  15:09

The greatest gift of all right?

Kelly Kay  15:11

Exactly. 

James Watts  15:12

The way that we did it was we just met the people. And we were like, who can we find the most chill, I guess? Yeah. And then we kind of all hung out. And then everyone would just rehearse for like three months. And then they kind of wrote with the exception of Kelly and Garrett, whose characters were like, on a pretty straight path that we knew. And also Kelly's the writer, so she could do whatever she wants us revisions. Yeah, but um, everyone kind of like made their own character, because we knew that they wanted them to have their own names. And so we kind of had a rough script, but we just, we just did improv, like three months, wrote everything down and kind of picked the best of it. And when we shot it, we were like, are you doing this, this this this and everyone was like, locked and ready to go. As if they were hanging out for years.

Kelly Kay  15:54

And like obviously, we had the main beats down and what we needed to hit, and then everyone's relationship to one another within the movie. As you've mentioned before, we originally call them like Ross, Rachel, Phoebe and Monica in terms of like, Who knew each other for how long? It's like, I'm Rachel Garret is Ross, Melina's Monica, because like we all went to high school together then Tat /Tatyana is Phoebe because she's like, kind of a newer friend. And I don't know. So that's how we kind of had everyone outlined. It was really fun. 

James Watts  16:19

And we also thought like, Oh my god, wouldn't it movie a sensational episode of friends be if Ross just started fucking killing. And Phoebe's The one who bested him. In the end, it was just like a great thing. It's like everyone loves TV. Everyone hates Ross. Yeah.

Macabre Daily  16:34

I mean, it's almost like you take some of these premises, you flip them on their head, like, if you've seen Freaky at all, you know the idea. It's just Freaky Friday, except you Freaky Friday with a serial killer, like, it's genius, you know, but like, you take these simple ideas of being able to, you know, take what is it pretty much a very pedestrian experience of someone being in the friendzone in perpetuity, and that friendzone is turning into a murderous rampage, described entirely off of the entitlement of being a male and white male in today's society. I picked up on I mean, I don't again, I don't know if any of that was intentional around the use of making this feel really much in this moment, in regards to just the way in which characters handle certain situations, you know, even the fact that, you know, some people are adverse to things like drugs and alcohol, like it paints a different picture of the typical, you know, horror, horror character, if you will, as being someone who is not, you know, tirely entirely they not everyone, the final girl is to be virginal, it's like, some people are just operating on their own wavelength. And thought you all did that really, really well.

James Watts  17:37

You're the first, but we were so upset, we read so many reviews, and maybe like, two people even mentioned that as a theme. No one really picked up on it. And we were like, oh, cuz that was like, to us a very exciting part about the movie.

Kelly Kay  17:50

Like why I don't understand why Garrett does what he does. Like, how is this guy that killer? It makes no sense. But like,

Macabre Daily  17:59

Have you read the news?

Kelly Kay  18:01

Yeah, exactly. It's just like this guy. He feels entitled to my character's body time and mind and like the second you know, it's like, you're allowed to have a fling, whatever. It's like, it's so frustrating 

James Watts  18:12

 He sees her have a meaningless hookup.

Kelly Kay  18:14

Yeah, exactly. 
James Watts  18:14

Right after he did, he's like that, this will not stand. 

Kelly Kay  18:17

Yeah. Because I belong to him because we kissed or whatever, you know, and we're friends. So he fills in the blanks in his own mind, and he decides that he's entitled to me, and then I am not part of that conversation, because I'm just a lowly woman, or whatever. And then, yeah, he flips. And snaps.
Macabre Daily  18:35

And I think that kind of triangle is so common, though, in so many friendly relationships, you know, and I think, you know, we don't, we don't have to get too heavy. But, you know, that's what kind of how it happens. You know, like, that's when when rape happens among friends. Like, that's how it happens. It's not because someone just decided one day like, it's, it's this, almost this expectation is not met. And because of that there's this some something in the society, you know, something in the world is telling us whether it's our parents, you know, what, we've watched the entertainment, you know, whatever it is, is telling us, this is yours. And all of a sudden, like, it's not, you know, I think it was, you know, I'm gonna go off on a tangent, but I think one thing that you've all tapped into that's really effective is this idea that what scares people today is not what scared us before. But really what is happening every day, it's just happening to you. You know, like, if you're in that friend group, you know, imagine what it would be like to be in that friend group. And I think that that's a pretty powerful place to be in. When you were writing this out, did you write this all out so much to a tee? It sounds like there wasn't improvisation, but when it comes to like the specific ways in which people react to certain things, even the part where Garrett's in the restaurant, and he's totally downplaying these other four guys, on the basis alone of them being just competition to him. Like, how much of that is scripted out, or how much of that is just you all riffing on me on the situation?

James Watts  19:55

With that one, it's like, well, you remember, but it's like that one is literally just like They go to the restaurant there we a show that they are drunk now. And they're like these guys come in they're charming to the three of the characters and yeah, just Garrett is like trying to make excuses and we thought it was funny to have him be like we're just the cars we got. And then it was a way to have the car be at the restaurant but also Yeah, that whole it's so funny because the party sequence I love so much but it is the longest excuse for like a setup. In any like, it's just the whole thing exists to make Garrett jealous. Yeah. So that basically that the beat would be like, they talk with foot. The guys come over Garrett's not into it. The guys kind of bully Garrett a bit. Everyone votes and they get in the truck.

Kelly Kay  20:44

Mm hmm. Because like our rehearsals were by and large with like their core cast. So myself, Tatyana, Melina, Garrett. But did we even rehearse with those guys? 

James Watts  20:53

Yeah, we did. Like a minute. 

Kelly Kay  20:56

Yeah, but like some certain segments, obviously, we didn't have as much time to like work the way we'd like to work. So a huge credit to like every single performer involved. Just like really turned it out. You know, whether or not we were sure it was gonna happen. Like it just it was amazing

James Watts  21:11

Was like allowing it's like funny like to, at least to us, like the movie is pretty. Like we find it pretty funny like typically. So the one thing I find really, I find genuine scary. Not funny is like the whole, like, third morning when they find Kelly and their. Like to me that's just like a scary moment. But the rest of it is like the tension is almost like so comically thick. The whole movie that we're like, and the fact that especially the second time watching it, the fact that the idea that Melina and Kelly are like such old friends with Garrett that like, and Tatyana is such a new enough friend that when when it's like "Garrett just kissed me." She's like, he what? Yeah, her being like, it's fine. It's fine. You have to save him from the guy next door. It's like no, no, when he kissed you were like, just having one character who's like, far enough away removed from a person to be like, no, that's objectively weird. What are you doing? Yeah.

Kelly Kay  22:00

And there's a lot of ignoring of red flags on the part of Melina and myself.

James Watts  22:06

It's like, you can't be a bad guy. He has like a yoke on a T shirt.

Kelly Kay  22:09

Exactly. That's the moral of the story for us.

Macabre Daily  22:12

But we also ignore so many red flags, like of our friends, right? Like, I mean, you know, it's, it's these these the faults on our friendships are not so much are that they're not there. It's just that we're seeing them differently. We're not seeing them as a fault, necessarily as much as something that we can excuse. And, you know, again, I think that's, I think the horror hit for me at least on a couple levels. One being the very superficial level of people are dying. And the effects which are quite good. You know, like, are very good at showing you how just terrifying that is. The second though, and again, the more subterranean and like, you know, darker theme is like, this could happen to anybody. And this happens a lot, as you know, as it not so much to this extent. But this is how this kind of thing happens is having people like this in situations like this, and then having someone who doesn't know how to act and has been either condition in some way to think that they're owed something and the part where he continually goes and tries to make out every person there. I just thought, like, it's it's almost comical, but it's happening in such a point where it's like, this is not funny at all. Like why does he think What is he doing? He's almost like a machine like he's a Duracell. You know, like the Energizer Bunny, just like except for kissing, not banging a drum. Now, on inspirations, what were some things that inspired you all in regards to not just the narrative, but also the visuals because I did pick up on a couple things that felt a bit homage to The Shining. I'd love that kind of drone shot I think, which is 

Kelly Kay  22:33

Very classic.

James Watts  22:41

You know how hard that shot was to get in The Shining, whatever in the late 80s, early 80s, late 70s? 

Macabre Daily  23:45

Late 70s yeah.

James Watts  23:47

Yeah. And then did like they did it like 1000 times it was perfectly stable or whatever. And then now it's just a thing of being like Yeah. So we thought it was cool. And that was a fun we like the thing of like being eaten by the woods. But do you know like, I'm, I can say that I looked at my like, about a year ago, I looked at my letterbox like year in review, like all the movies I'd watched from that time period. And the two directors I'd watched the most were Robert Altman and Brian De Palma, which is like an accident. But I'm sure there's one sequence in that movie that is I'm sure ripped off. 

Kelly Kay  24:20

Like the woods thing? 

James Watts  24:21

Yeah, we're Tats like walking into like Garrett locks in the frame. He's like following. Yeah, but like, honestly, yeah, for me, at least I just love the thing that people hate the most about Robert Altman movies and I think you will hate about our movie as well is I just love when people talk over each other for like, so long. I can watch that for hours and I have maybe it's like an ADD thing but I just like you could choose which part of the conversation you want to listen to if there's like two characters talking. You could just choose one it's I like it.

Kelly Kay  24:46

Yeah. And again, bringing back this no go zone into the conversation of like, we watched Baghead really early on when we were kind of developing this. We're like, yeah, that's that's kind of the

James Watts  24:58

Like what mumblecore is

Kelly Kay  25:01

Mumblecore being the no go zone, but it's impossible to I think talk about this without even like mentioning it because it makes things seem like it made filmmaking seem more accessible. You know, like, okay, I could probably do something along these lines ish. You know what I mean?

Macabre Daily  25:18

I also I think grounded characters. I mean, I think I know I don't love all the mumblecore films out there but I will say that they do a really good job of capturing, particularly teens and young adults angst extremely well. And that's something that Hollywood has traditionally not been very good at, unless it's under the lens of something really traumatic. You know, it's easy to investigate trauma intimately, but we're trying to investigate you know, people just living their life intimately. It always has to be somewhat kind of extreme, you know, or it has to be somewhat extreme in some regard for us to know for it to be feel producible but I think that's what we got from this is just that sense of reality. 

James Watts  25:55

That's something I always talked about why I love the way I would always love the mumblecore movies is like, even if they're in on the joke or aware of it, they're like the most accurate, honest, like satirical movies about that age group or that type of like privileged 20 somethings just like a college like the whole drama for that movie is like the break up was weird. And I'm still kind of thinking about it. But it's there just because they're very honest. To the benefit or not. They're very like, they're, they're very fun to watch now. Because Yeah, you're like, Oh, god, it's like miserable if you like like peeling off your own skin or whatever that feeling is.

Kelly Kay  26:30

Cringing, I think they call it cringe now.

James Watts  26:33

The cringe posts that we've liked the feeling of when you feel like uncomfortable your arms when someone's doing like, embarrassing performance or something. That's like my favorite. I watch movies like that for hours. I love it. So uncomfortable.

Macabre Daily  26:46

I love the shocking displays of discomfort like it is, it is it is I am also as an ADHDer or myself, I also find chaos to be quite inviting. And for the same reason I find that you know, the authenticity of being able to present people as very flawed. But just as human like makes it easier, you know, it's easier to receive that then is something that you just can't buy. Because we're we are driven entirely by what interests us and what excites us. And like that's not it's not exciting to look at something that doesn't look can't be seen as real.

James Watts  27:17

No, and they also are very movies like that. I find it very, it's like I remember reading once that oh my god, A Woman Under the Influence. And then movie came out. People were like, oh, they're like cheering for Peter Falk. And then like 10 years later, people were like, booing Peter Falk. And then 10 years later, they were cheering for him again. And it was like whatever way the pendulum whatever like that and the way society was feeling about at that moment, that moment, they were like that movie. It's like the Le Tigre song, which is, misogynist  genius. But it's like you could Oh, the only reason that it's like a fun debate is because it's so object like objectively honest and human. So you're like, even if Cassavetes has the wrong opinion, it's still like the characters are all rounded enough that you can just move from wherever you want. I guess.

Macabre Daily  28:05

Well, you have to have someone to root for I recently watched a movie it's a Netflix one that was an original line that has some very irredeemable characters, you know that I found myself at the end of it feeling I don't want and they didn't want anything good to happen to any of these people like I go and ultimately thing good things to happen to bad people. So I don't know if it's trying to tell me something that I'm not ready to hear. But ultimately, I wanted to know a little bit more about you know, your all's like are you all horror fans? And if so, what was the first horror movie that really grabbed you? And what has become, you know, really your favorite horror film over time?

Kelly Kay  28:39

I got this. We're talking about this relatively recently. For me, I think. The first was Poltergeist. And that was when I was like eight or nine or something like watching it on TV one Halloween with friends and being like, A, this is long as hell and B like, this is so scary scared the shit out of me. So that was one and then like, maybe The Sixth Sense even though that's not really a horror movie now, but at the time seeing it when you're eight or nine, you're like, Oh, my God. So scary. It was really terrified. Those are two big formative ones. And my cousin once around that age described the plot of The Blair Witch Project to me, and I couldn't sleep. I don't know. I didn't even see it. I was like, Oh my god, this is terrifying. I keep saying that. Those are three. And then now. My favorite horror film is Inland Empire. Because 

James Watts  29:36

Does that count as a horror movie.? 

Kelly Kay  29:39

Because it elicits the same like feeling like it's the only thing that's really like haunted me, I think, since then, like in a really like lasting way where I'm like, I'm shook after like, I can't move. Like I like I really feel it deeply. And I think about it for a long time afterwards. And I think that that's a that's saying something that makes it a horror movie.

James Watts  30:00

No, it's good. 

Macabre Daily  30:01

I agree. 

James Watts  30:03

I think about that movie all the time that scene seen where she says something while they're in the middle of a take, she goes, "Oh my god, that sounds like a line from our film" and you're like, Oh my god, she's become so detached. It's like the scariest feeling ever

Kelly Kay  30:13

Yeah, it's very, like, in some ways, like realistically very scary, like losing your mind moments.

Macabre Daily  30:19

Like Requiem for a Dream. It's scary, because what you're seeing actually happens, you're just seeing it in a very visually chaotic way. But it kind of describes, I mean, again, I go back to the scene in the party near the end, where things are unraveling at a very quick pace. You know, like, you know, part of that reaction I had from it has a lot to do with the way in which it was edited, right. You know, there's a lot of moving from that strobe room, which, for some reason exists in every weird party that exists. It was always a room that has a light that doesn't work. Yeah, just put a light there. And just like there's like some weird music coming from somewhere, but it's just so disorienting, then you have obviously the woman just literally peeling her skin off in front of you. So I think that that level of normalcy is also very terrifying, because it is just, you know, it exists.

James Watts  31:08

I don't know, the scariest part of Blair Witch Project. But when everyone talks about the thing that when I remember that movie, The scary thing is when I think Mike is his name, but when the guy kicks the map in the river like, "I threw the fucking map in the river" and you're like Jesus Christ, why do he do that? Is the scariest thing of that movie, cuz you're just like, okay, it's like, this is a very human. Mm hmm. Right? Yeah. I don't know. I was what I didn't even know what I would. What did I said my favorite horror movie was Scream on a website. But that was because it was like a fun movie to talk about. 

Kelly Kay  31:33

But The Shining you said... 

James Watts  31:34

The Shining, I probably seen The Shining more than anything, but I do think that that is, I just find The Shining really funny. Like, I could watch that. It's also one of those movies that like, if it's on, I'll just be like crazy. And then I can just watch the whole Shining. I don't know why. And I said, like, I like movie. I like the thing of like, oh, there's no question who the villain is just like she starts off at 11 and then just whatever. But um, probably honestly like Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That is also very funny movie. That's also I made a list for something but it was just it was so detailed, because I was just like I couldn't everyone's asked, I know answer this question. I feel like I love Yeah, I'm

Kelly Kay 32:13

Also gotta never forget that Matthew McConaughey

James Watts  32:17

Texas Chainsaw Massacre three?

Kelly Kay  32:19

Like next class..?

James Watts  32:21

It's when leatherface has a sister or something, right? There's this one with Renée Zellweger. And it's the cover is amazing when I was a kid at video stores because it's like, the lipstick is the chainsaw. And you're like, this is not your your granddad's Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It's a new one.

Macabre Daily  32:37

And it was the only it was the only time I'd ever seen a new release of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre film like displayed on video. Like I was technically old enough when the face was released to like be alive, but like, Don't think an infant was allowed around the tapes at that time. But you know, the next generation is something that truly unhinged performances from actors that would never act that way ever again. Like you'll never get that performance out of Renée Zellweger even in Judy. Like she didn't deliver the same level of insanity that is required for the next generation. 

Kelly Kay  33:07

My favorite Matthew McConaughey role like by far.

James Watts  33:10

You're very attracted to him in the movie.

Kelly Kay  33:11

He's like super hot in that movie. I don't even remember what he does. 

James Watts  33:14

He has like a weird robot legs that are very sweaty.

Kelly Kay  33:19

It's unhinged.

James Watts  33:21

I watch boys to the side like last night and he is a hunky Manic Pixie Dream top man in that movie. I think you'd like it. Same era.

Macabre Daily  33:31

Take it back to the key Matthew McConaughey performance the one that the Oscars won't give him the credit he deserves for but  

James Watts  33:36

Killer Joe? 

Macabre Daily  33:37

Yeah, killer, Killer Joe or Texas Chainsaw Massacre  the next generation because either wars, hopefully hills, maybe one day I'll get to talk to Matthew McConaughey and ask him about it and be maybe the first and last person to do so. But I guess my last question for you both is what can we expect from you next and I will preface this by saying I've seen a lot of really amazing horror coming from Canada. I don't know what's happening over there if pandemic has just been treating all extremely well in regards to the creativity but there's been a lot of really great Canadian horror films coming out so I want to know what's next for you both?

Kelly Kay  34:13

Working on some stuff you want to go for it Yeah. 

James Watts  34:16

you want to need to do a dance there's there's two ways you really want to make one we're gonna wait till we get more money and maybe make another one. See that we were talented enough to do this one justice but really want to make like a full on body horror actor in Toronto crossover Degrassi style horror freak show movie.  And the one we want to make next really badly is like it would be like kind of you were in the party scene and the with the girl peeling off her skin that like that feeling of that scene. We really want to make a movie that just that for like an hour and 20 minutes stretched out

Kelly Kay  34:55

And incredibly gory and crazy and

James Watts  34:58

Two women in a cabin like persona, what kind of Britney Spears vibe, just fully gory.

Kelly Kay  35:04

I realized today it's like if this one is like women's relationship to men, the next one will ideally be women's relationship to one another. And then the last one will be a woman's relationship to herself, and they get progressively more disgusting, which is hilarious.

James Watts  35:19

Yeah, the third one we really want to do the like, obviously, you're in Canada and you love horror movies like David Cronenberg is like your God, I guess. But I also just like, the Possession, that movie where the and the woman in the subway, what's her name at Adjani that she's so good anyway. But yeah, the scene she has in the subway, we just like would love. I want to just film like six scenes like that. It's like the movie. It's pizza emoji. Like, I want more. But yeah, that's it, we really don't even know if we'll be able to make any of these movies. We're just really what

Kelly Kay  35:52

We're working on it.

Macabre Daily  35:54

Well, I hope you can. I hope you can. And because I really, you know, again, I say this with pure kind of, you know, pure from the heart, I guess is that some of the work I've seen, you know, the folks from bright Hill Road I spoke to before and they put me I love their film as well. And they had, you know, we're putting out some great work in Canada. So I think that whatever is happening in Canada, let's keep , make sure you all can do more of it. And you'll certainly have support from us over here just so you know, so we'll always look at the content and certainly would love to carry on another conversation at some point about you know, great Canadian horror we're missing out on because I think there is a lot that we probably here in the states don't aren't aware of and you know, that's there's something important there. So 

James Watts  36:41

We would love to we made a list that we didn't even submitting that was like our favorite Canadian horror movies. And I like I'm obsessed with Canadian horror movies. I find them really, I don't know, they're my yeah, I would love to talk about it. It's the weird Canada's so weird. The and also I do have this fun. It's like this. This is a very long diatribe. But the thing of like, how like France and America, argue over who invented film first or whatever, there is like the thing where the same year Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Black Christmas came out. Mm hmm. And it's the thing of like, was it Clark Bob Clark in Canada? Or was it Tobe Hooper in the States? It's like, we'll never know. But I I want to say it's Canada, but I I want to give it to Texas Chainsaw because I love it so much.Kelly Kay  37:22

Yeah. Well, good.

Macabre Daily  37:24

You it can be great for different things. Yeah, I mean, I give Black Christmas full credit for being the first real slasher, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre gave us the first real monster that wasn't a actual monster, like a first human monster and horror and not so much the kind of actual universal monster.

James Watts  37:43

I think the thing that freaks out everyone when they watch that movie, especially when they're so young, because obviously when they're young, they understand human emotion, as much nuance as you obviously would. But like the fact that leatherface cries like a baby, like he's just like, really scared, like, Oh, God, why is he scared, he's a big man.

Macabre Daily  38:01

it taps into it taps into the thing we like to think about the most, which is our most vulnerable and kind of affected populations. And you know, the fact that someone has like a child like mine that has a murderous capability is like it's just the number one fear for pretty much every suburban parent in America. It's like a murder. I mean, just something that has no inhibition, but also is entirely human in its own right. It's only it's only that it's only theft when you when everyone knows where it came from? It's not theft when no one can make the connections. So I think 

James Watts 38:23

That's another thing we ripped off is the end of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Because I'd like I when I saw that like Tobe Hooper remixed it before he died and I saw some screening of it. And he turned the chainsaw up at the end like way louder than anything which is like Jesus Christ, but so cool. So that we were just like, what can we like have like just ripping through the final theme? And then that we're like, oh, we'll just cut everything out and just use the snowmobile. So yeah, that was probably we rip that off from Texas Chainsaw Massacre and I'm just now really think about what did we steal from and I know there's so many things yeah. But

James Watts  39:04

We didn't do it just to rip it off. It has a happy coincidence, the snowmobile really exists to be the funniest thing that could distract you at a time when he is like seem seemingly in charge of the situation. He's like, Wait, what? snowmobile crazy and then just long enough for him to get hit. We found that really funny. Yeah.

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