Editorials
[Set Report] ‘Hell Fest’: A Practical Effects-Driven Halloween Theme Park Slasher
Stepping on to the set of Hell Fest in Atlanta, Georgia on a chilly night in March felt like stepping into October. The wooded off-season theme park was decked out in decorations, intricate props, heavy fog, and lighting that looked like the park was a competitor for the likes of Fright Fest or Knott’s Scary Farm, gearing up for a very busy Halloween season. The design and feel so meticulous right down to the park maps that detailed the various scare zones and haunts that it was difficult to remember that Hell Fest doesn’t actually exist. The plot follows a masked serial killer that uses Hell Fest as a personal playground, and a group of friends who race to save the patrons who believe the slayings are part of the show. It’s a Halloween theme-park set slasher years in the making.
Hell Fest is a project near and dear to prolific producer Gale Anne Hurd’s (The Walking Dead, Terminator) heart, trying to get it off the ground for years. Tucked away in a quiet corner on set, we sat down to discuss what made this project so special to her. On the story of Hell Fest, she explains, “I think it’s a fantastic concept to begin with. I am a fan of these Horror Nights. I love to go to them. I’m hooked on the idea that this would be the perfect cover for someone with evil intent.” Digging deeper, though, the film holds even more importance to her, adding, “One of my great mentors in this business in addition to Roger Corman was Debra Hill. So the idea that this whole genre goes back to Halloween that she co-wrote with John Carpenter had a huge impact on me when I was young and in this industry. To be able to do an homage to the genre that she co-created is something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time and one of the reasons I didn’t give up on it.”
Hurd has an impressive and extensive career in producing genre films. On her homage to Debra Hill and her passion for genre films she explains, “I just love the genre. I love that it’s an empowering genre for young women. But people may be surprised to know is that on Friday night when these films opened; generally, more than 50% of the audience is women. People always talk about horror as if it’s somehow only young males and it’s completely untrue.” It’s a point that further highlights a unique aspect of Hell Fest; its leads are a trio of women.
Slasher films, in general, are not only known for their body count, but it’s the sub-genre that established the Final Girl trope, the last girl standing to face the killer and survive. With a slightly unusual call sheet, Hurd answers on whether Hell Fest plays with classic slasher convention, “Really well, actually!” She laughs before adding, “Let’s just put it this way; there are people among our cast who will find strength within themselves that they didn’t know they had. That’s a theme that I go back to time and time again, whether it’s the Terminator with Sarah Connor, or Aliens, or The Walking Dead. I think that’s the kind of story that we need these days when we feel that the world is too difficult, too challenging, overwhelming, and we can’t do anything about it. It’s nice to know that when push comes to shove, we can.”
On director Gregory Plotkin’s part, he’s been a huge horror fan since childhood, smiling as he shares, “You know, I grew up loving horror. I think for my 11th birthday I took my friends to Halloween II; I already loved Halloween. I watched The Shining as a kid, and The Exorcist I saw really young. I read The Amityville Horror when I was 10 years old. I’ve just always loved horror. It’s funny, I’d actually gotten away from horror most of my career. I’d done a lot of dramas and independent comedies, so when I got Paranormal Activity I jumped at it. Just one of those amazing opportunities to get back into the genre that I loved.” On how he got involved in Hell Fest, “I read the script a couple years ago, and it was a much different form, and loved it. I’ve always thought that this type of film needed to come back; it’s the type of film that I grew up on as a kid. I’d gotten involved in the Paranormal Activity series, and everything went very supernatural for a while, but I really felt like this sort of slasher-ish film that I grew up on, that I’ve always loved, was just so underutilized in the market. So, I read the script; loved it. I think it was going in a sort of different direction, and then, I knew the people at Valhalla, Gale’s company, and I’d met with CBS, and I called my agents, I said, ‘Please, get me as many meetings as you can on this one.’”
From a tonal standpoint, slashers run from seriously spooky to irreverently funny, so where does Hell Fest fall on the spectrum? Plotkin reflects, “A little bit of both. I’m always looking for fun; I think it’s always important to like your characters. I think the big thing for me is that I take it seriously. I know a lot of horror films, and especially slasher films in general, can get campy and a little too tongue-in-cheek. I fall in love with every project I do and take them really seriously. I definitely wanted to explore character here, and have a little more serious built-in tension, and make characters that are relatable and fun that we can look at and go, ‘I want to go to this park with them.’ So I’m trying to accomplish a little bit of everything, but I’m definitely taking it a little bit more serious. I want to make it super scary. For me scary isn’t always tons of blood and so forth; to me scary is tension and letting the audience feel like they saw something when they didn’t actually physically see it on camera. I think our minds are always going to do such a better job than most visuals we see. So I’m trying to accomplish a lot of tones, but a lot more serious and respectful to the genre.”
The Set and Practical Effects
Being on set, submersed in the Halloween theme park world of Hell Fest, there’s a distinct focus on practical effects. There’s a pride in speaking with the cast and crew on the film’s heavy reliance upon real over CG. Given free rein to explore the set’s row of carnival games, themed in horror and Halloween, production designer Michael Perry explains a key take away that he learned from director David Robert Mitchell on the set of It Follows; keeping the design timeless. Each scare zone of the park has its own distinct theme, growing more ominous as the narrative furthers into it, but Perry’s aim was to avoid placing the film in any one specific time. Hell Fest could be anywhere at any time, with classic zombies and clowns to even Depression-era scare actors.
Prop master John Sanders (The Walking Dead) pulls out a case full of ominous ice picks, each one serving a different purpose in the filming process. The one he’s most eager to show off, though, is the retractable ice pick. With more and more films relying on CG effects, this marks the first one he’s built in 10 years. Sanders also pulls out a few more weapons to be used in the film by the masked killer, all shown with glee and pride that indicate he’s just as much of a horror fan.
As excited as the crew are about the set, and the practical driven nature of production, they’re all extremely enthusiastic about the special makeup effects that artist Lucas Godfrey and his team are working on. Plotkin may be favoring atmosphere and tension over gore, but that doesn’t mean Hell Fest won’t have its fair share of grisly bloodshed. “There is a good amount of blood. There’s a head smash with a high striker. So we did a silicone life cast with an actor, we’ll fill the head with blood and smash it with a 15-pound sledgehammer. That’s going to be fun. I’m actually just looking forward to the testing on that one, figure out the different guts we can put inside to really make it splatter like brains.” He says, then grins and adds, “Then we’re stabbing another in the eye with a syringe, and we’re trying to make it really nasty. We’ve got to do a life cast of him, making the eyes for him so when he puts it in, it will spew out. Very Zombi reminiscent, like the splinter in the eye.”
Back in Godfrey’s shop, he shows off a variety of intricately designed masks for the film, all of which that indicate Hell Fest isn’t the average type of Halloween theme park. Mutant bug costumes that spit slime at unwitting patrons, steampunk creatures, and giant beasts among the typical demented clowns, horror film based killers, and more. With only three weeks to prep before production, Godfrey explains, “We rented some stuff from Netherworld Haunted House. We got a couple things from them, but for the most part we either found local mask makers and bought a couple of their things and we made 90% of them.”
Netherworld Haunted House, one of the nation’s largest haunts, isn’t just involved with Hell Fest by way of props and costumes. The scare actors are involved as well. The experienced actors make up most of the film’s scare actors, lending their experience to contribute to the effective mood of the film. Godfrey adds, “We tried, for the most part, having the mostly haunted house actors as the people playing haunted house people. Because they’ve got to run around and pretend like they’re scaring people, and there’s an art to it. Having the actual scare actors doing it is great.”
The Scene Observed
The scene being observed that evening gave a taste of the terror to come for the lead cast. Amy Forsyth, Reign Edwards, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Christian James, and Matt Mercurio all in character as the group of friends excited to attend Hell Fest, the traveling Halloween scream park. Washed in purple and orange lights with heavy fog pumping through, scare actors in costume everywhere, the group gushes over the decorations on display; in this scene a ghastly life-sized skeletal horse catches the eye of Bex Taylor-Klaus’ Taylor, the free-spirited close friend of Edwards’ Brooke. On the outskirts is Forsyth’s Natalie, the shyest of the girls and estranged best friend of Brooke.
The scene establishes some of the group dynamics but the moment is punctuated by a scream, followed closely by a girl screaming, covering her mouth and what appears to be blood. The characters’ reactions are a mix of confusion and excitement, unsure whether this is part of the show. It’s a scene that gives nothing away in terms of plot, but sets up anticipation for what’s to come.
In between takes, the actors huddle together under blankets to ward off the chill of the night, sitting down to talk more about what being on a set of what feels like a very real Halloween theme park has been like. Taylor-Klaus shares, “I kind of take after Brooke in that I more revere it than fear it. So I’ve just been geeking out over all the Netherworld costumes.” Forsyth adds that the best is yet to come for them, “I’m really excited for when we switch to interiors for some of the mazes and stuff. Someone said, ‘If you think this is great, wait for the mazes.’”
The production design and atmosphere the crew has created makes it easy for the cast to stay in character, often giving genuine reactions to the set and scare actors. Of course, it’s revealed that director Gregory Plotkin has a tendency to keep his actors on their toes. Actor Christian James, who plays Taylor’s boyfriend Quinn, says of Plotkin, “There’s one of the scenes where we’re walking and taking in the park and there’s a lot of scares around and you know some of the planned ones that are going to come up but Greg has been good about sneaking whispers to these people and just out of nowhere you’re doing a take and you think everything is cool, calm, kosher, and the same way, and all of a sudden something pops up behind you. It’s been cool. It’s real, not fake by any means. “
Actor Roby Attal, who plays Natalie’s date Gavin, shares his experience, “When it comes to film, you run scenes over and over again, and there was this one part where me and Amy, who plays Nat, are both running the scene over and over and over again and there’s this one scare actor that’s just kind of standing in the path. We’re walking through the park and he’s just standing there. And then as we’re doing this scene over and over and over again to get different takes, he didn’t move on any of them. On the final take I guess Greg had whispered to him to scare the shit out of us, so finally on the last take he screams and she freaks the fuck out.”
It’s clear that Forsyth had developed the reputation as being easiest to scare among the cast. When asked about it, the group erupts into laughter as Forsyth admits, “I’m a really jumpy person, so it’s easy for little things to spook me. But I’d like to think that somewhere in me there’s a bit of resolve so that if I were actually in this situation I’d be like, ‘No! I got it!’” It’s an empowered thought that brings a reminder that the three girls are the leads of the film, which brings about the question on how this slasher handles the Final Girl. Forsyth muses, “I think it’s just funny that ‘final girl,’ singular, has been a thing for so long.” Taylor-Klaus brings up her time as Audrey Jensen in Scream: The TV Series, “On Scream, we tried to make it final girls, and it worked in some ways and it didn’t work in others. I’d like to think that final girl isn’t the only way to do it anymore. It’d be nice to push those old rules and see how far we can bend them.”
The cast and crew have developed a close-knit camaraderie filming Hell Fest, Gale Anne Hurd’s homage to Debra Hill and slasher that may potentially subvert slasher conventions. There’s a clear reverence on display for the practical effect driven route chosen for the film over CG. Plotkin favors tension and dread over gore, but its clear fans will be satisfied there as well. The only question left remaining is the inevitable talk of sequel potential that comes with slasher territory. Hurd answers, “We want to tell this story the best way that we can. That decision will ultimately be made by the audience. If they really like it, I’m sure we can figure out a way.”
Hell Fest will open to the public on September 28, 2018.
Editorials
Before ‘The Blair Witch Project’, ‘Alien Autopsy’ Showed How Real Found Footage Could Feel
The line separating artist from con man is a lot thinner than you might initially believe. While I think we can all agree that lying for the sake of profit is actively malicious behavior, isn’t it also true that the faux documentary aspect of The Blair Witch Project is half the reason why that film became such a cultural phenomenon? After all, if there’s one thing filmmakers have in common with stage magicians, it’s that misleading and misdirecting audiences is simply part of the job.
That’s why I’ve developed a habit of mostly ignoring the moral quandaries behind many of film and television’s biggest “hoaxes” in favor of appreciating the narrative elements that drive productions like Mermaids: The Body Found and even Animal Planet’s highly underrated The Cannibal in the Jungle. However, if there’s a definitive case of a highly publicized broadcast fooling the world into taking it seriously, it has to be Fox’s infamous 1995 TV special Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction.
It’s been over three decades since that eerie footage first haunted television screens right at the peak of the ’90s ufology craze, and in that time, the video has taken on a life of its own. From countless parodies and references in everything from The X-Files to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (as well as John Dower’s recently released tell-all documentary The Alien Autopsy Scandal, which I’d highly recommend to genre fans everywhere), there’s no denying the legacy of the Alien Autopsy video. However, I rarely see the tape discussed as what it truly is: a highly convincing found footage film directed by a passionate stage magician and brought to life by masterful practical effects work.
That’s why I’d like to invite readers to join me on a deep dive into one of the most infamous broadcasts of all time in an attempt to reevaluate the footage as a fascinating narrative experience rather than a complete hoax.
The TV Special That Convinced Millions It Was Real
Ray Santilli next to Extraterrestrial replica in ‘The Alien Autopsy Scandal’
For starters, regardless of whether or not you believe that there was in fact an extraterrestrial crash in Roswell during the summer of 1947 and that some form of autopsy was performed on the victims, the producers behind the black & white recordings, Ray Santilli and Gary Shoefield, insist that their video was a “restoration.” Though I’d argue that the proper word is “remake”of genuine footage that was too damaged to air on television. That’s why the duo went on to recruit filmmaker and eccentric magician Spyros Melaris and sculptor/monster designer John Humphreys to bring their version of the autopsy to life and sell it to the highest bidder.
This is where the story of the Alien Autopsy as a narrative experience really begins. Melaris claims that his approach to the faux recording consisted of striving for extreme period accuracy in both shooting equipment and setting while also planting subtle details that would initially seem like mistakes but could later be revealed to actually fit the time period. That being said, the filmmaker was under the impression that the short would be released for free as a PR stunt, with the team later producing and selling an informative documentary chronicling exactly how the footage was faked and commenting on how easy it is to manipulate public perception with a good old-fashioned magic trick.
This obviously isn’t how things went down, and that’s likely the reason why Melaris has since distanced himself from everyone else involved with the project. Yet, no amount of behind-the-scenes drama can undermine the genuine effort that went into making the short as impressive as it is. From the sourcing of real animal organs from a local butcher to make the organic part of the creature more lifelike to the highly detailed sculpt that made use of a hollowed-out underlayer that could be filled with fake blood and assorted viscera, there’s a reason why so many Hollywood specialists are still impressed with the artistry on display here.
Of course, the believability is only half the story, as I think that the best part of the autopsy is how Melaris builds on the existing tension by obscuring certain details and often embracing the chaos of what a real examination of extraterrestrial life could feel like. The camera often goes out of focus at just the right time to make certain effects hit even harder, and we can only speculate as to what the hazmat-suited doctors are gesticulating about during the operation. There’s a real air of mystery to the whole thing that almost makes it feel like a cosmically terrifying, cursed film containing forbidden knowledge that civilians were never meant to see.
So when Fox’s Fact or Fiction brings in the specialists to comment on the film and its otherworldly subject, it’s no surprise that we end up with one of the most memorable mockumentaries of all time – albeit one where the participants are unaware that the footage they’re commenting on is basically a large-scale practical joke. A joke that the network was obviously in on, as many participants claim that the TV special cut out significant portions where guests point out that they believe the footage to be an elaborate hoax.
The Lasting Impact of the Hoax Turned Cultural Event
Regardless, I remember going to bed terrified after watching reruns of the special and thinking about the respected pathologist who claimed that the body was almost certainly inhuman, with even effects maestro Stan Winston commenting on how difficult it would be to recreate some of these visuals through practical puppetry. That’s not even mentioning Jonathan Frakes’ dramatic hyping up of the disturbing imagery as if he was talking about the tape from The Ring, with his spooky demeanor here likely being responsible for his later role as the host of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction a few years later.
Personally, I’d argue that the Alien Autopsy phenomenon had just as much of an impact on me as a horror fan as The Blair Witch Project, a film that was almost certainly influenced by the success of this immensely popular hoax (to the point where they even produced their own TV special commenting on Heather’s found footage). Even if Fox didn’t intend to produce a narrative feature about the aftermath of the Roswell crash, the end product still holds up remarkably well as a highly entertaining mockumentary exploring the idea that we may not be alone in the universe.
While neither Santilli nor the rest of the production team has ever commented on this, I also think it’s very likely that the idea of a faux Alien Autopsy could have been influenced by Dean Alioto’s The McPherson Tape/UFO Abduction. I’ve already written about how this granddaddy of found footage was co-opted by rogue ufologists who began selling bootlegs of the tape at conventions as if it were real evidence of a close encounter, so it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine that Santilli and company could have heard about this phenomenon and been inspired to come up with their own highly profitable hoax.
At the end of the day, it’s unlikely that the Alien Autopsy film is recreating any real footage from Roswell, but I can still appreciate the short and the accompanying television event as a standalone horror story that still influences the way we see found footage to this very day.
After all, the possibility that something could be real is often much scarier than finding out for sure – and that’s why I think Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction is still worth revisiting three decades down the line.
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