David Amito and Michael Laicini: "We figured, if this was something that got us going hopefully there are others out there who’d feel the same way about it"
JINGA FILMSCLAPPER: I had the pleasure of watching ANTRUM last night. Is my life now in danger?
To do the edit, we’ve probably watched it over 1000 times and we’re still alive! But whether its cursed or not is entirely for you to find out and decide for yourself. We’re not entirely sure about that one… strange things have happened to us and to others. Sounds ominous, but it’s true.
From words on paper all the way through to the final edit, ANTRUM has been a personal collaboration between you both. How has the film’s concepts and themes changed during the creative journey?
The core concept and theme of the film has remained unchanged the script was written in 2014. The documentary portion, the legal notice, the 70’s aesthetic –it was all conceived from the get-go. Antrum’s themes about the power of storytelling and its allegorical [and meta] deconstruction of belief systems were clear to us then. That’s not to say that Antrum hasn’t changed throughout the process, but those changes were always in service of the film’s themes, as well, discovering new and disturbing ways to highlight those concepts.
We rallied around these themes so much so that we even let it invade our personal lives including: How we chose to handle our Q&A after our premiere in Brooklyn… discussing the film with the audience in character as though we were just the producers who made the documentary and were behind the discovery and re-release of Antrum. Not everyone was happy about that, as one disgruntled audience member started shouting at us. But it helped make Antrum into a fun little road show.
What were the main inspirations for ANTRUM?
Along with our incredibly talented D.O.P Maksymilian Milczarczyk, we watched movies like The Omen, Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, Deliverance, Five Easy Pieces for inspiration and establishing a guiding 1970s aesthetic. But we also owe a debt to movies like The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, Cannibal Holocaust too. As a lifelong horror fan we remember how deeply disturbed we were when we got lost in the The Blair Witch Project’s blurred lines between movie and reality… as horror movie fanatics we wanted to feel that again and we wanted to do that for a new generation –but also to put our own spin on that legacy.
Movies like Cannibal Holocaust and The Blair Witch Project were definitely frightening, but at the end of the day there was never any threat of a band of cannibals, or the Blair Witch coming after you. One of the things that we love most about Antrum is that it breaks the 4th wall and puts you, in mortal danger. YOU are the potential victim of Antrum. It’s fun to see how audiences deal with that provocation.
The aesthetic of ANTRUM is one of the films many triumphs, what steps did you take to ensure you captured the feel of the 1970s so authentically? and how did you prepare in order to achieve the grainy, old 35mm film stock feel that you were going for?
We’ve seen one or two comments online that we just “slapped an instagram filter on it” and called it a day. That one kind of gets under our skin, because it couldn’t be farther from the truth. We love 70’s cinema and wanted to honour it as much as we could, in every way we could within our means. Many of the old film effects in the movie were manually, and painstakingly layered in, and a lot of conversation went into striking as natural a balance as possible –avoiding the mistakes other imitation 70’s movies have made of being really overtly dirty and damaged in sort of a tongue and cheek way.
We shot digital, because it just wasn’t in our budget, or production abilities to do it any other way. But even then we did a lot of testing and research before production began to find the camera we felt would give us the closest possible film look in camera –it’s really difficult to take the cold, hard, digital qualities out of cameras like for example, RED, or any common pr-osumer DSLRS, but we found a look we liked in the Sony FS100. Then we used custom picture profiles to make the image as flat and low-contrast as possible; and then we tried to use as many 70’s techniques as possible: shooting primarily on sticks, shooting day for night, shooting scenes in masters. Not to mention the careful way our DOP supervised the colour correction of the movie. It was a lot of work!
There are many interesting facets to ANTRUM, some that send shivers down the spine and those that raise questions. Can you elaborate on that Squirrel?
It’s been so fun to see how that squirrel has become arguably one of the most notorious scenes in the movie! We took huge inspiration from Jan Svankmejer’s 1988 film Alice, which delights in this slightly off-putting (by today’s standards) stop motion animation. We then worked with multi-talented artist Kate McCafferty to build the squirrel body with articulating neck and hands. The finished product in the film uses both stop motion and puppetry, to create a feeling that is otherworldly and dream-like. We think it helps the audience question the reality of the situation. But we owe a great deal of gratitude to Kate and you should check out her other work on Instagram @katemonig.
The music used is fundamental in heightening the mood and the film’s thematic weight. What process did you embark on in order to find the right music for the films setting?
If you watch the opening of Rosemary’s Baby and Antrum side by side, you’ll get an idea of what we were aiming for with the film’s main theme. We knew very early on Antrum needed a theme song that could have “ear worm” qualities, something you could whistle or hum and recognize. And the ear worm quality was meant to be sinister, because we liked the idea that if one watched Antrum and a day or two later found themselves humming the theme song, unable to get it out of their heads, they may assume the curse was getting to them. We also talked a lot about binaural beats. Basically, our composer Alicia Fricker took those ideas and flew with them, wrangling all of these ideas into a maelstrom of beautiful and unnerving melodies and sounds that we’re really, really proud of. We owe a great deal to her for working with us on this incredible score @happiness_coach_alicia
How was the footage used for the prologue created?
Same way everything Antrum was created. By us on a shoestring of a budget. One of the guiding principals of the documentary portion was aesthetically we wanted it to look as modern and unlike Antrum as possible… so that when Antrum began it really felt like something else, something that couldn't have been made by the same people who made the doc.
What was the casting process like for ANTRUM?
The casting for the film within the film took place in Los Angeles. Such a huge pool of talented actors here, we were extremely lucky that we found and had the pleasure to work with everyone. Rowan right of out the gate was the strongest contender for the role of Nathan. I think we drove him a little nuts by making him audition 3 times for the role, but we wanted to make sure he could perform what the role demanded of him. Despite being 6 years old he was one of the most professional actors we’ve ever worked with, I mean he still is but he is not a little kid anymore. Nicole was incredible in her first audition, but we were certain she was in her 20s and so too old for the role. Later we found out that she was just this insanely mature and intelligent 16 year old… which is basically who Oralee was. As far as we are concerned we feel cast perfectly.
How did you anticipate people would react to ANTRUM? and did this differ from the actual response from both audiences and within the industry?
We are horror movie nuts, so we approached Antrum first and foremost as a die-hard fans of the genre. We thought we made a movie that we would’ve gone crazy for if we got to see it, so we figured, if this was something that got us going hopefully there are others out there who’d feel the same way about it. But the truth is, and what we are learning, is that once you put a piece of art out into the world, there really is no controlling how people will receive it, or what climate it will be received in. And we never expected the film to go viral, several months after its release! We also weren’t expecting Antrum to be as divisive as it has been, but we actually like the dialogue that this debate has created. It’s been a thrill!
When it came to the industry, we think many distributors didn’t really get Antrum, or understand the potential it innately had. We think the film within a film aspect was and remains confusing and they generally weren’t willing to take a risk on it. Only later was it apparent that there was a wide audience for this film. Thankfully UNCORK’D Entertainment put us out, and we became one of their best performing titles.
How much do budget constraints impact the production of an independent feature such as ANTRUM?
We know people who’ve spent more on a semester of film school than we had to make this entire movie. It was extremely tricky and at times kind of scary. Imagine what it was like for us to ask a woman –who was a complete stranger- to meet us (three guys) in the middle of a forest at night, where she needs to strip completely naked, and get onto a rickety boat on a river for a shot we needed, and give up a few hours… all for like $100. As you could probably imagine we didn’t have many takers for this offer. Thankfully it worked out, but it wasn’t easy… you could say that about a lot of things we managed to pull off for this movie.
Do you have projects on the horizon, what does the future hold for you both?
Yes, David and I are working on a streaming horror series, a genre mashup about a disfigured exorcist. A horror hero story that we have been living with and developing for nearly a decade.
And finally, is ANTRUM really the deadliest film ever made?
Antrum reached peak popularity during a worldwide pandemic… I think you could make the argument.
ANTRUM is available to watch ON-DEMAND. Read CLAPPER’s review.