Many horror films have been known to have large body counts, be blood-soaked and have some sort of sadistic killer or force taunting victims. Fans of the genre know what they are seeing isn’t real, so it’s fun to be transported into a realm of terror for a few hours. Sometimes another approach to horror can also be entertaining; instead of leaving the theater exhausted from what you just witnessed, what if you were happy? This was Shihan Van Clief’s idea for his debut feature, My First Horror Film, for which Epic Pictures’ horror label, DREAD, recently distributed. He explains, “I think anytime you have an opportunity to try something different; why not? I really loved Martyrs; but I felt terrible after watching it. It was like a dark cloud followed me around for some time. That movie could mess your day up. And I wanted to see if the opposite could be done.” He also liked the no blood approach. “I don’t know if having a lot of blood in my film was necessary. The first Halloween wasn’t a blood-soaked film, but it’s no less scary. The Others or A Quiet Place didn’t have blood, but were still scary films.” Shihan talks about these topics, representation in film and much more in the below Q&A. - YouTube www.youtube.com Editor's note: the following interview is edited for length and clarity. No Film School: Can you discuss your journey of becoming a filmmaker and what made you want to get into...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Wednesday, 14 August, 2024