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[Sundance ’12]: ‘V/H/S’ Filmmaker David Bruckner Talks Emerging Media, ‘The Signal, And ‘Enter The Void’ As An Influence

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Writer/Director David Bruckner made a name for himself with 2007’s The Signal. Now, as one of the directors of V/H/S – a film that breathes new life into the stagnant found footage genre – he’s able to explore his fascination with the sociological repercussions of technological immersion in deeper, more horrific, areas.

I spoke with Bruckner recently about his interest in media, V/H/S, his new short, and what’s coming up next for him.

In the film, “When a group of misfits is hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they bargained for.

Hit the jump to check out the interview! How did you get involved with the project?

“I heard through a good friend of mine, Jacob Gentry who worked on The Signal with me, that the producers were looking for filmmakers for a found footage anthology. And that is probably the only kind of anthology right now that I think can work.”

Without giving too much away, what were the visual influences for you short?

“I saw Enter The Void last year. I saw it once and I don’t think I need to see it again. There’s a filing cabinet in the back of my brain that’s got ‘Enter The Void’ in it if I want to go there. And I thought found footage, especially POV, was a really exciting idea. You could role play with a central character and literally be forced to be them no matter what kind of situation they got into. I knew that I wanted to do something like that and I quickly threw them a treatment of what I was thinking.”

Having seen the film, it feels like a lot of the segments are thematically connected. Were there marching orders given going in?

“I knew nothing of the other shorts before I started. I was surprised when I saw it to see so many similar themes.”

What was one of the plusses of doing a brief segment like this?

“If you don’t have to commit to a feature you can loosen the reigns on what’s expected of you. You can try something new. The vibe was, ‘go do something crazy and we’ll be hands off’. “

How is this an evolution from The Signal?

“I seem to be really interested in media and the way media has transformed our worldview and what we think and the insanity that erupts from that.”

You recently completed another short, right?

“I’ve done a short film that’s going to festivals now called “Talk Show” that has a lot to do with the torture debate in mainstream media and what that became on cable news and what not. That has some definite horror elements to it as well. It’s the kind of subject matter I’m drawn to”.

What’s up next for you?

“There’s a couple of things I want to do. Right now I think I’m interested in engineering some straight suspense. We’ve got a mystery that we’re working on, a well structured horrific piece. But there’s definitely a piece that I’m really moving towards that I may not be ready to do that very much revels in how dark and horrific the internet can be. I’m not sure if I’ll tackle that next though, it might be a few projects down the road.”

The internet moves so fast you’ll have to rewrite it a bunch before then.

“Yeah I’ve already run into that. I’ve already had a project be completely outdated within two years. You have to get a real hypothetical. You almost have to get sci-fi to talk about the present sometimes.”

V/H/S premieres at the Sundance Film Festival as part of their Midnight Programming On January 22nd.

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‘Late Night With the Devil’ – Exclusive Clip Begins the Supernatural Horror on Halloween 1977

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The upcoming Late Night With the Devil is one of the most buzzed about horror movies of the year, currently 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and earning rave reviews from both Stephen King and Kevin Smith. King raves that the film is “absolutely brilliant,” adding that he couldn’t take his eyes off it. Smith comments, “I love it. It’s Rosemary’s Baby meets Network.”

David Dastmalchian (Dune, The Suicide Squad) stars as the host of a late-night talk show that descends into a nightmare in the Ghostwatch and WNUF Halloween Special-inspired film.

IFC Films & Shudder will release the hotly anticipated Late Night with the Devil theatrically on March 22 before it heads to Shudder exclusively on April 19, 2024.

Begin the horror with a brand new EXCLUSIVE clip below…

David Dastmalchian stars as Jack Delroy, the charismatic host of “Night Owls,” and the film traces the ill-fated taping of a live Halloween special in 1977 plagued by a demonic presence.

The energetic and innovative feature hails from Australian writing-directing team Colin and Cameron Cairnes (100 Bloody Acres, Scare Campaign). 

The film premiered last year at SXSW. Meagan wrote in her review out of the fest, “Late Night with the Devil captures the chaotic energy of a late night show, embracing the irreverent comedy and stress of live television with a pastiche style. It’s a clever trojan horse for a surprising horror movie that goes full throttle on unhinged demonic mayhem.

“The ingenuity, the painstaking period recreation, a riveting performance by Dastmalchian, and a showstopper of a finale make for one Halloween event you won’t want to miss.”

Spooky Pictures founders Roy Lee (It, The Grudge, The Ring) and Steven Schneider (Pet Sematary, Paranormal Activity, Insidious), Derek Dauchy (“Al Kameen”) and Future Pictures’ Mat Govoni (“Lone Wolf”) and Adam White (“Lone Wolf”) and John Molloy are all producing.

Joel Anderson (Lake Mungo), Rami Yasin, and David Dastmalchian executive produce.

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