Interview by Geno McGahee
THE EVIL INSIDE HER has just been released on Amazon Prime and has been making some serious noise. A horror film in the vein of CABIN IN THE WOODS, the film brings the scares of isolation and survival. The film features great performances by Melissa Kunnap and Eric Roberts and was released by CINEMA EPOCH.
Director James Suttles has done just about everything in the world of film, including cinematography, editing, producing and directing. He took some time to sit down and speak to Scared Stiff about his film journey, THE EVIL INSIDE HER and future projects…
GM: Your film was just released and it’s coming out with a full head of steam. How were your experiences during the production of this film?
I’ve been working in this industry for a long time and one of the keys I have found to making the experience successful and rewarding is finding quality collaborators to bring in to the film. My company is based in Asheville, NC and we have an incredibly rich pool of talent that work in the industry all over the country, yet most of us never work close to home so these projects give all of my team a chance to do something they love, work in an environment that their contributions are respected and we all get to sleep in our own beds every night. I say all of that to make the point that the production of this project is more like a family reunion where we all love what we are doing and love the fact we get to do it close to home.
More specifically to the actual production, this was a fast paced shoot, 13 days total in 4 locations. My team works fast and efficiently so we never went over a 12 hour day and had a few days closer to the 10 hour mark. We shot in the remote mountains of Wester North Carolina in February and struggled with cold temperatures but Melissa, who plays Vikki, was a trooper being that she was required to be in her pajamas for the majority of the day and night exteriors.
GM: Can you tell us a little about THE EVIL INSIDE HER and what the fans should expect when they sit down to view it?
The Evil Inside Her is a play on the classic “Cabin in the woods” horror trope. Four friends going away for the weekend in the mountains and all kinds of horror descend upon them, yet our take was a bit more internalized within the group as the antagonist develops from within, in what I think is a very unique approach. There is a lot of subtle social commentary buried deep within the characters and plot but in the end, the movie is a pure popcorn flick for horror fans to enjoy and non-horror fans to look away and screech in moments of tension and gore.
GM: What was the most enjoyable part of the film process?
For me, everything is enjoyable in the filmmaking process. A lot of times filmmakers talk about the trials and tribulations of the filmmaking journey and the struggle it took to bring their film to life but I approach every project with an appreciation that I am one of the lucky ones that gets to make movies for a living. From the casting an crewing process where new friends and collaborators are met and who I select based not only off of their talent but also their energy and drive to make the very best project possible, to the days on set freezing yet we are all still laughing between setups and pushing forward to do our best, I truly believe every aspect of the filmmaking journey is a gift and something to be appreciated.
GM: What is the most frustrating part of the film process?
For me that would be the post production phase. To do it right you have to take your time and mold the edit into the absolute best film you can but post is also where the deadlines begin to feel arbitrary yet are very real dates and the pressure to finish can feel like a burden. I love trying new versions of scenes and molding and manipulating every aspect of the edit just to see if we can improve the film a little but that clock is always ticking in the background to get the film out the door.
GM: What got you into film? What inspired you and who were your early inspirations?
There was a Disney movie in the Mid-nineties entitled “Heavyweights” that I was cast in as a featured extra and ended up working some 20+ days on pretending to be a kid at camp, void of classes and homework. I was 13 years old and fell in love with the process. Watching adults make believe for a living and the fact you could get payed absolutely blew my mind. I love telling stories and this seemed like the perfect career. I took the money I made and bought my first camera and started making movies non-stop. I was lucky that my teachers throughout the rest of my education was supportive and most if not all of my reports and school projects were movies that I made including versions of The Most Dangerous Game and The Monkey’s Paw.
I loved movie’s growing up, I loved every kind of movie there was from Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg to Kevin Smith and Harold Ramis. It didn’t matter the genre as I would stop at the local video store 4 or 5 times a week and rent 4 VHS’s at a time. I absolutely loved cinema. Movies were a way to explore characters and places that only existed in the imagination of the filmmakers and to me that was inspiring.
GM: With the digital market for film becoming a difficult place for filmmakers and piracy and the acceptance of it on the rise, how does a filmmaker overcome it and make a healthy profit?
Luck, persistence, talent, experience and even more luck? I’m not sure. Independent film is a hard business but I do know you have to hustle and keep pushing forward. No one is going to make it happen for you and there is no magic recipe. I’ve seen great movies never make a dime and horrible movies make millions. My advice, keep the budgets low, the production value high and make a movie you would pay to watch if you were not intimately involved. Passion projects are great but you can put all of your energy, time and investment into a film and if no one watches it, you are stuck finding a second career. I say look at the long game and have a plan to make many movies over the life of your career, not just one.
GM: What is your next project?
We are very close to wrapping up post production on a film I Produced and DP’ed under the banner of my production company entitled “The Good Things Devils Do” starring Kane Hodder, Linnea Quigley and Bill Oberst jr. which was an fun experience given I grew up watching Kane and Linnea in some of the most iconic horror films of the past 40 years. I will also begin production this fall on my next film as Producer/Director entitled The Bewailing that I am excited to produce. It is an incredible horror story that follows a family dealing with the emotional struggles of a battle with an extreme physiological illness that suddenly appear in their young child but it is ultimately revealed to be a parasitic creature who feeds on anxiety which leads their young daughter to commit unimaginable horrors. It reminds me of a cross between Rosemary’s Baby, The Omen and The Exorcists with a modern creature addition to spice it up.
GM: Any closing comments?
Check out www.suttlefilm.com and www.theevilinsideher.com for more info.
