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Your new movie Horrorbuku
- in a few words, what's it about?
Eric: It’s about an author who’s compelled for reasons he can’t understand
to write a horror novel set in Malaysia.
Tony: Madness, magic, mystery ensues!
Eric, what were
your sources of inspiration when writing
Horrorbuku?
Eric: I wanted to work with Shannon Callahan and Tony Pietra. Shannon and
her partner Jaime Morales at
Planet Mischief wanted to produce a movie
they could score and sound design. When I came on board to direct and act
in it, I thought we could open up the scope, so I asked Tony in Malaysia
if he would direct half the film. When he said yes, I hatched a story
about an author whose characters are across the world. It was a matter of
working with the elements we had, and drawing inspiration from
Planet Mischief’s music and Tony’s filmmaking.
How did you all end up working on the project, what drew you to
it? Eric: Shannon made it possible. She wanted to do something fun and
positive. I hadn’t directed a feature film in 10 years, but she came to me
with the idea and renewed my connection to the medium in a big way. Her
music is so good that it was easy to say yes. Building a movie around her
and Jaime’s sound was a creative joy.
Tony: Full disclosure; Eric and I spent the same years in college. All of
this could be traced back to a student film that we both worked on; after
following Eric’s career as a filmmaker and novelist, I dreamed of an
international collaboration. Eric made that dream happen and we’ve come
full circle.
Do talk about
Horrorbuku's approach to
horror!
Eric: It’s like a grab bag of horror tropes. Dreams, hallucinations,
doubles, symbolism, psychic ability, summoning spirits, psychosis. The
title combines the word horror combined with the Malay word for “book” –
“buku.” Just like the movie is half English and half Malay. It’s a horror
book, and it’s about a guy who writes horror books. The movie is about the
ritual of making horror as much as it’s about scaring the audience.
Tony: Hence, it’s a surreal, transnational lens on the (super)nature of
storytelling in that genre. I’d also like it to be an elegy to mass market
paperback fiction (which will cease to exist soon). We bookended (pun
intended) this movie with a kind of tribute.
What can you tell us about
your directorial approach to your story at hand, and about your
collaboration on the project?
Eric: We’re very different directors, but I think it clicks. The key is
that my story takes place in consensus reality and Tony’s takes place
inside my character’s fictional world (or does it?). So mine is directed
like a NY-style independent film; I was influenced by Aronofsky’s early
movies, with the countless camera setups and kinetic cutting rhythm. My
story is also very first-person and Tony’s is third-person. And Tony’s
directing style is more classical and romantic. So I served up
street-level reality and he served up a dream state. Tony: The latter was inspired by a diet of David Lynch as a kid (he died
during post on this film, so we dedicated it to him and William Friedkin,
who died during writing).
Lynchian characteristics are also in Eric’s segment. So our commitment to
a shared sense of dream logic made our teamwork possible. As a genre
piece, we conceived the second half as To Live and Die in LA meets
Spielbergian fantasy. It is a bizarre mix but that was the idea. Executing
it on a microbudget took as much imagination!
Eric, you also play one
of the leads in Horrorbuku
- so what can you tell us about your character, what did you draw upon to
bring him to life, and did you write him with yourself in mind ffrom the
get-go? Eric: Shannon had been there with the idea of me starring in it since day
one, which gave me the courage to do it. Since I’m a horror author in real
life I went in with a lot of foreknowledge. But the author character idea
really came out of the plan of connecting America to Malaysia through a
writer’s story. And even though I’ve made my living as a writer, I don’t
look like what people generally think of as a writer, so I felt mixed
about playing him. I ended up improvising a lot to make fun of the idea of
him as a writer: His wife doesn’t take him seriously, his agent doesn’t
call him back, he needs to get a day job ‘cause his books aren’t popular
anymore, his doppelganger is bullying him nonstop, etc. Do talk about the rest of your cast, and
why exactly these people?
Eric: My wife Rhoda and son Henry play my wife and son, so that was an
easy call. My older son Benny plays a younger version of me; so it became
a family project. And I had local SF Bay Area pros like GiGi Tasse, Alana
Cervantes and Sherill Quinn supporting me. They really round out the
energy and variety of the show. I was lucky to have the whole cast.
Tony: Right before Horrorbuku, I helmed a Malaysian thriller series called
Persepsi (Perception). I fell in love with the cast, so I roped in three
of them for our little indie: the young, talented Zarith Zalikha; Josiah
Hogan and Jasmine Kaar as her parents.
A few words about the shoot(s) as such?
Eric: I’ve directed three other feature films and my 48 minutes of
Horrorbuku has more camera setups than the other three combined. So it
looks fast onscreen but was slow in the making. Some days I’d only get 40
seconds of footage. Once I was in that cinematic language, I had to commit
to it. So you can’t just show a guy typing at a keyboard; you end up
shooting the keyboard and his face from four angles apiece so you can mash
them all together and keep the momentum. It’s fun to watch but painstaking
to stage. But I knew Shannon’s music would be energized so I wanted the
visuals to match her pace. And the idea from the beginning was for the
movie to feel fun. Tony: For me, it felt good to revisit some similar metafiction themes from
my debut feature, Shadowplay, but through the pen of Eric Shapiro (I was a
fan of his novels). Plus, going DIY again was liberating after years of executive producers
ordering me to shoot more coverage than needed and breathing down my neck.
I haven’t had as much fun and freedom as this and my pal Praveen Kumar
(our DP) will likely agree!
The $64-question of course, where
can Horrorbuku be seen?
Eric: Good question! It’ll be exclusive to Kings of Horror for
four months when it premieres late in 2026, but for now we’re out to film
festivals. Tony: Amazing Fantasy Fest selected it. It is competing/screening in
Buffalo, NY in September. The Dipson Amherst Theatre is the venue. Check
it out if you are there!
https://www.amazingfantasyfest.com/films
Anything you can tell us about audience and critical reception
of Horrorbuku?
Eric: So far so good! We’re hearing that it’s fast, fun, and entertaining.
A few people have told me that it scared the hell out of them.
Tony: Pull quote: “Near impossible to look away from” by The Rotting
Zombie is one such. Shannon’s score got a rave review!
Based on the experiences on
Horrorbuku, could you ever
be persuaded to work with one another again - and/or any other future projects
you'd like to share?
Eric: I’d work with both Tony and Shannon again in a heartbeat.
Tony: This is just the beginning! I’ll leave it there for now.
Your/your movie's website,
social media, whatever else?
Eric: I’m on Facebook and Instagram (even though I think about
unplugging them daily!)
Tony: Facebook and Instagram is where I’m at (along with geeky
posts on 80s cult cinema and punk rock).
Anything else you're
dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to share?
Eric: The movie has a couple things in common with
Apocalypse Now. One
being that Tony had a coronary procedure during the production window. And
I had three tumors and two lymph nodes removed from my neck in a
parotidectomy (all benign, thank God). And like with Apocalypse
Now, Shannon ended up having hundreds of audio tracks: music, sound design, dialogue,
texture, atmosphere. It really is and was a monster of a production.
Tony: Literally Heart of Darkness for me.
Thanks for the interview! |
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