An Interview with Allan Piper, Director of eVil Sublet

by Mike Haberfelner

September 2024

Films directed by Allan Piper on (re)Search my Trash

Your new movie eVil Sublet - in a few words, what's it about?

eVil Sublet is a horror comedy about a New York couple who move into a haunted apartment because the rent is cheap. But when murderous ghosts come after them, their lives depend on escaping the evil of their sublet.

What were your sources of inspiration when writing eVil Sublet?

So many! This movie is a love letter to horror films. We have easter egg homages to Psycho, The Haunting, The Shining, The Exorcist, Evil Dead, The Conjuring, From Beyond, and so many more. The title of every Jordan Peele movie is spoken as a line of dialogue. Jason Landry worked to make the original score reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann, who wrote Hitchcock's greatest scores, including the iconic scores to Psycho and Vertigo.

Do talk about eVil Sublet's approach to horror!

We used the comedy in eVil Sublet to feed the horror and the horror to feed the comedy. The only way you can truly feel scared for characters is if you like them and connect with them. If you can laugh with (or at) a character, that creates a connection where you can feel scared for them when they’re in danger.

eVil Sublet is at times also wickedly funny - so how would you describe your movie's brand of humour?

I love rollercoasters. It’s the sudden changes in direction that make roller coasters exciting. A roller coaster that goes in only one direction is just a train, which (while practical) isn’t terribly exciting. We used the comedy in eVil Sublet to lift viewers up before throwing them to the next terrifying drop.

What can you tell us about your directorial approach to your story at hand?

Both horror and comedy generally exaggerate reality, so I tried to balance that exaggeration by trying to make the world feel as real as possible.

You also appear in front of the camera in eVil Sublet - so do talk about your character for a bit, what did you draw upon tio bring him to life, and did you write  the Great Manfredo with yourself in mind from the get-go?

Manfredo is a mysterious figure, whom I won’t say too much about. I didn’t write him with myself in mind, but once the scenes were written, our producing team (Beth Ann Mastromarino, Jennifer Leigh Houston [Jennifer Leigh Houston interview - click here], Chris Pearson and I) realized that I would bring an interesting dynamic to his scenes with Alex, who’s played by Jennifer, my wife.

We had planned to shoot eVil Sublet in March and April of 2020, but Covid shut us down. Since Jen and I lived together on the set, SAG gave us permission to shoot during quarantine as long as no one else was on set. This is when we filmed the Alex/Manfredo scenes. I’m operating the camera for all of Alex’s single shots. Jen’s operating the camera for all of Manfredo’s. When Alex and Manfredo are on screen together, no one’s behind the camera.

Do talk about the rest of eVil Sublet's cast, and why exactly these people?

I wanted to work with people I love. I’m blessed to have talented friends. I concocted this story with producer Chris Pearson. For the most part, Chris and I created the roles around the people we wanted to work with.

We created the lead role of Alex for Jen, who is my wife. There are not enough multi-layered roles for women (particularly women out of their 20s and 30s). We wanted her to be funny, strong, sexy, and scary, and to play the full gamut of emotions from joy to terror.

I’ve admired Sally Struthers (Reena) all my life. We met her socially and became good friends. It turned out that doing a horror movie was on her bucket list. I was thrilled to get to work with her. Reena is a different sort of role than you’d expect to see Sally play, and that’s all I’ll say about Reena.

Pat Dwyer (Ned) and Stephen Mosher (Lorne) were the subjects of my last movie, the documentary Married and Counting. In 2010 and 2011 (back when same-sex marriage was considered controversial), they traveled the country to get married in every state that would let them, and they entrusted me to tell their love story. Having seen how electric they are on-screen together, I was eager to put them there again. This is their first time on-screen together as actors.

Charley Tucker (Ben) is a fantastic actor I’ve enjoyed collaborating with on smaller projects over the years. He’s Jen’s real-life ex-boyfriend, so I knew they’d bring a chemistry and sense of relationship history to the role.

Leanne Borghesi (Hedy) is a celebrated cabaret star. Jen and I met her almost a decade ago and were absolutely taken with her. We’d been looking for something to collaborate with her on ever since.

You of course also have to talk about eVil Sublet's main location, the haunted apartment, and what was it like filming there? And how did you find the place even?

We filmed eVil Sublet in the actual apartment where Jen and I lived. The movie was inspired by real strange occurrences that happened in that apartment. Doors would open and close on their own. Lights would go on and off. Jen repeatedly felt a cold hand touching her in the dark. She was often awakened by weird cries in the night, and once a voice screaming “MOVE!” In her ear. Not long after filming, we finally did move. We managed to record some unexplained phenomena and edit them into the movie.

A few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?

We shot most of the movie as we were coming out of Covid lockdowns. Producer Beth Ann Mastromarino served as Covid safety coordinator and kept us all safe. There wasn’t a single infection on our set. We had a larger crew for some of the more involved scenes (including key team members Aaron Tabackman, Brandon Cruz, Matty Greene, Norman Blake, Gail George, and Kevin Arota), but for most scenes I served as a one-person crew to keep the number of people on a small set to a minimum.

The $64-question, where can eVil Sublet be seen?

Don’t worry, it costs less than that! You can rent or buy eVil Sublet on Amazon, Fandango, or inDemand.

Anything you can tell us about audience and critical reception of eVil Sublet?

It’s been gratifying to hear audiences laugh, gasp, and scream at all our screenings. Even the audience in Slovenia at the Grossmann Fantastic Festival, who watched with subtitles, got the jokes and the scares. We’ve won 11 awards at 9 festivals. One of the most gratifying things is to see that eVil Sublet seems to delight both hardcore horror fans and people who hate horror movies.

Any future projects you'd like to share?

I’m working on a new horror comedy script that’s a vehicle for Jen and Sally — literally a vehicle because it’s set in a car on a road trip gone wrong.

What got you into filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive any formal training on the subject?

I took film courses at Harvard, BU, NYU, and USC, but the best film class I ever had was Mr. Bill Blackwell’s film studies class at McLean High School.

What can you tell us about your filmwork prior to eVil Sublet?

I mentioned Married and Counting. That was narrated by George Takei and was on almost all streaming platforms until recently. My first feature was the cult comedy Starving Artists, which the Boston Globe called one of “the best films you’ve probably never seen.” Taking that film to festivals, I met filmmakers Phil Leirness and Jerome Courshon. Phil was the second unit director for eVil Sublet. Jerome went on to found Lion Heart Distribution, which released eVil Sublet.

How would you describe yourself as a director?

I hope in at least one way I’m the opposite of two of the directors whose work I most admire. My love for Psycho and The Shining will be clear to eVil Sublet viewers, but I would never want to treat my actors the way Hitchcock and Kubrick reportedly treated theirs. I have too much respect for both their craft and humanity to think you have to push actor to the brink of a breakdown to make them play a character on the brink.

However, I will confess that as much as I tried to avoid it, I did subject Jen to something I knew would terrify her: Riding the Spook-a-Rama in Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel Park, where one of eVil Sublet’s biggest scares takes place. The Spook-a-Rama is one of the oldest operating dark rides in the country. The cars that carry you through it were likely the inspiration for Disney’s Haunted Mansion's “doom buggies”. Jen and I love Coney Island, and over the years we’ve become good friends with the Vourderis family, who own Wonder Wheel Park. Several years ago they let us film one of Jen’s music videos on the Spook-a-Rama, which is when I discovered how much it scared Jen.

Now Jen doesn’t scare easily. She grew up in a haunted house. She was nearly the subject of an exorcism once. She’s survived a major car wreck. She’s tough. But something about the Spook-a-Rama gets to her.

On eVil Sublet, we filmed part of our scene with the ride shut down, which Jen was ok with. But we also needed to film her with the ride operating. We needed a shot of her on a buggy going into and out of the ride, and we needed another shot of her in the buggy, moving through the ride. There was no way to accomplish this without making her ride the ride all the way through twice. Unfortunately, the shot of Jen on the buggy inside didn’t come out. Instead of making her ride a third time, I decided to try to use footage I’d previously captured for the music video, hoping that under the weird lights of the Spook-a-Rama, no one would notice. But when Beth, the producer, saw the cut, she put her foot down. Not only was Jen wearing a completely different outfit, but she had a chin-length, black bob instead of long blonde hair. Jen had to go back and ride again! I suspect that’s the last time she’ll ever do it.

Filmmakers who inspire you?

I’m particularly inspired by the Adams filmmaking family (Hellbender, Where the Devil Roams, Hell Hole). I love their model of making a series of films with the people they love. That’s essentially what Jen and I are trying to do.

Your favourite movies?

Too many to name! But the films I’ve named so far are all among my favorites.

... and of course, films you really deplore?

Making movies is a hard, collaborative job. Even the worst movies reflect intense labor from countless people, many of whom have poured their heart into what they’ve done, so I’m not going to trash talk any of them.

Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever else?

Feeling lucky? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results? (commissions earned)

The links below will take you just there!!!

Find Allan Piper at the amazons ...   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.de Looking for imports? Find Allan Piper here ...   eThaiCD.com Your shop for all things Thai

Find evilsublet on Facebook and Twitter. I’m apiper13 on most social media platforms.

Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?

We financed eVil Sublet partly with the offer that supporters would have their faces turned into ghosts in the shadows and corners of the apartment. More than 200 ghostified faces are hidden throughout the movie. We’ve found this makes the movie scarier. People will jump in the middle of a scene when they suddenly realize there’s been a face peering out of the shadows the whole time. We’re thinking about offering some kind of prize to the fan who can spot the most ghost faces.

Thanks for the interview!

© by Mike Haberfelner

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