The impressively understated packaging of the movie “Watch Me” caught my eye when I opened the envelope. Many of the submissions to Horrorview try to overdo it with extra stickers, overly dramatic box art, or more. Watch Me implied just that…watch me.
The film comes from Scopofile, a production company out of Melbourne, Australia. Recently, director Melanie Ansley was kind enough to sit down and answer a few questions about “Watch Me”.
Melanie, thanks for your time. I have to say, just right out of the gate, and it’s such a stupid little thing, I really loved the cover of your film for two reasons. It’s obvious that you got a lot of influence from some of the Asian movies which have made their way to a broader audience. One incredibly annoying thing done repeatedly by those companies is to use the payoff shot as the box cover; whether it’s Ringu, or Acacia, any of those.
Your cover is a great signature shot, but not the payoff shot, so it’s memorable without cheapening the film. I love that. The second reason is I keep thinking it’s Danny Elfman from his glory days with Oingo Boingo, but that’s just a personal thing.
Anyway…
Let’s dig right in. As I said in my review, and even above, the film takes a great deal of influence from the Asian cinema. What were some of the key movies or directors which inspired the story of Watch Me?
Certainly the first influence that springs to mind and that everyone comments on is Takashi Shimizu, the director of the Grudge films. I remember watching the first Japanese Grudge movie without English subtitles, and being scared out of my skin. It made me realize what you could do with the right camera angles, a decent script, and quiet still shots as opposed to the frenetic, blood spattered trend of western horror. But I think that before I saw the Grudge films I was very impressed with two other directors: Guillermo del Toro and Dario Argento. I really enjoyed del Toro’s “Cronos”, which focuses a lot on character and human relationships within the horror story, rather than just the gore.
I like the fact that you explored some of the possibilities of those films, and took the story down a different road for the resolution. Was it a conscious decision to leave out some of the information on the mysterious redhead, to keep the ending somewhat open and viewers guessing?
Sam Voutas and I co-wrote the script, and as we went along we’d keep pausing at various plot points, and saying, “Do we need to explain that?” or “Does this need to be tied up?” And the further we went the more we felt that it was fun, for both us and the audience, to leave things open. I think what scares us about ghosts and demons and possession etc is that it’s the unnatural, the unexplained, and the unknown. We are terrified of things that we can’t explain. In terms of the resolution, we knew we needed to have an original ending, and to bring in a young teen, after you know why the email kills, we felt would add a certain dimension to the whole premise.
The shock-red hair was one piercing visual, but the most powerful recurring sight in the film is the eyes being sewn shut. What was the origin on that particular piece?
I remember us sitting and discussing what we could do to make the film freakier, more uncomfortable. We really were aiming at making viewers squeamish and tense, and we tried to think of things that people are very sensitive to, or don’t like to watch. And we came up with eyes. I can’t stand the thought of things touching the eye, I used to be so squeamish about putting contacts onto the eye and I still know people who hate seeing it. The eyes are just such delicate and fragile organs, and we rely on them hugely. I’ve also always had a paranoia of holding sewing needles or knives, I start thinking, what if I trip and fall and this thing I’m holding goes through my eye? So it seemed a good, disgusting MO for Redhead.
Frances Marrington (Tess) was a marvel on screen. She steered through emotions like a fighter pilot. What was the casting procedure for her, and for the other actors as well?
The casting was pretty straightforward for most of the roles. I met with people over coffee in a café, rather than have them audition. I’m a big believer in just getting to know someone and going off how we interrelate, rather than putting them through the “me big director, you little actor” experience of auditioning. As a first time feature director I also felt it was not my place to be having people “audition” for me. Frances was a friend of a friend, and I knew she’d done a lot of theatre and training. The key factors were really being gung-ho and willing, because the shoot always took place late into the night, and Frances really was put through a tough time. We taped up her eyes, we tied her up, we had her gagged and bound to a chair, we had her naked and freezing in a bathtub in winter. If she works with me again it’ll be a miracle. She did it all with grace, patience, and she is a great actress in my eyes, I was very lucky to have her.
Your own background is pretty breathtaking. You spent time in Taipei, Shanghai and Beijing. “Watch Me” isn’t your first film by far, and not even your first horror. Talk a bit about “Butcher”.
Thanks, I’ve never thought of my background as breathtaking! “Butcher” came from a thought I had about what I would do if I accidentally became pregnant, without any support from the father. It made me think, what could you get from a man to help you raise a child, if he refused to offer money or emotional support? Which led me to the thought of actually eating the father, so that the child is truly a physical product of both parents. It’s amazing what kind of thoughts you have early in the morning. This was one of them.
What was it like collaborating with producer/actor Sam Voutas (Taku) on the film? He provided great support for Frances, but this is his first time producing. Were there bumps in the road?
Sam and I have actually worked together on five films now, usually with him directing and me producing. This was my first time in the director’s chair, but we have worked together so much that our roles just kind of blend quite seamlessly, we pick up each other’s slack, I guess. So really Sam was great as a producer, he knew what needed to be done and what I needed as a first time director. I had my hands full without getting into all the nuts and bolts. There were lots of bumps, but for reasons other than Sam being the producer. More from me being a first timer, I think! One night on which I thought it was all going to come apart was when we had to shoot in an alleyway, and the location fell through about two hours before shoot. So Sam scrambled madly to find another dark alley, and I remember driving Frances to the scene and her asking for feedback on her performance. As I was trying to drive through traffic and answer her questions I distinctly remember screaming in my head, “I don’t even have a bloody location to shoot in, right now your acting is at the bottom of my priorities!” Not the best thing to admit to your lead actress.
“Watch Me” has hit a few of the festivals. What are the plans for the film in the future?
I’m definitely aiming for video/dvd distribution. Watch Me is meant to be one of those fun films you rent on a Friday night when you want to curl up and watch a good tense horror. I want people to be entertained, I am hoping that through places like Horrorview and the festivals it’ll play at, it can gain enough word of mouth to find a home with a good DVD distributor who will place it in the mainstream rental outlets as well as the tiny little cult video shops that I love and used to frequent religiously.
What about Scopofile? What’s next in the works for you and your team?
“Watch Me” was definitely a starter film for me, to see whether I could handle something simple. I’d like to tackle something a little more ambitious in future. I’m still in draft stages on a sci-fi script about a society where humans have been genetically altered to work and breed for the state. Sam and I are also discussing co-writing a revenge Western set in Gansu province, China. Not sure who will get to direct that one, we might have to fight over it!
Thanks for taking the time to answer questions and provide some insight for our readers. Those interested in finding out more about “Watch Me” and Melanie’s other works, check out www.watchmemovie.com or www.scopofile.com.
