Exclusives
Miller Elaborates on ‘Banshee’ Production
Bloody-Disgusting recently caught up with director Steven Miller, who is currently putting the finishing touches on Scream of the Banshee, part of After Dark’s 8-part ORIGINALS series arriving this October. Penned by Anthony C. Ferrante (Boo!), the pic is an “old school” creature feature (more info) that stars both Lance Henriksen and Lauren Holly.
“After Dark called me this past November and said, ‘Hey, we have this movie for you,’” Miller tells BD. “They were a fan of my first movie, which was AUTOMATON TRANSFUSION. It was really quick. They got the script and then they handed it to me. From getting the script to shooting was literally a month or less. We shot in Louisiana in Baton Rouge. They’ve got some crazy stuff going on down south. It’s a great place. Everybody there is really cool and the crews are really nice. We shot this movie in 12-15 days, depending on how you look at it. It’s very quick, very hectic, but a lot of fun.”
To tell his tale about a shrieking Banshee that dooms all who hear her scream, Miller was able to score two impressive leads in Lauren Holly and genre icon Lance Henrickson. “Lauren is one of those actresses that is amazing to work with,” says Miller. “She’s worked in TV before on CIS, which was important when you’re shooting on this tight of a schedule and only doing two or three takes.”
“Lance is rad,” adds Miller. “Any time you get to work with the man, Bishop, he’s awesome. He’s one of those dudes that just comes in and kills it every time. You don’t have to give him much direction at all. I talked to him on the phone before we got there, which was fun, and just kind of went over his character and what we wanted him to be. He got there, put on a wig and just knew what he was doing. He kicks in some doors, tries to blow away some Banshees like they’re aliens. It’s fun.”
Miller hopes banshee will be a return to fun monster movies of the ’80s such as 1985’s FRIGHT NIGHT, which the director says he looked to for inspiration. “I really love Fright Night. We looked at that movie a lot because it’s fun. It’s not crazy scary, but it’s fun. And that’s where we were trying to take BANSHEE. Yeah, it’s going to have its scare moments, but ultimately it’s a monster movie. And so, especially for kids nowadays who’ve seen everything, we really just wanted to make it fun and cool and more of that kind of atmosphere.“
A bedtime lullaby soothes an unsettling newborn in our exclusive clip from Nightborn, from Hatching filmmaker Hanna Bergholm.
The dark fable makes its debut on Shudder on July 31.
Seidi Haarla (Compartment No. 6) and Rupert Grint (Knock at the Cabin, “Servant”) star as new parents in Nightborn, and this exclusive clip highlights mom’s harrowing transition into motherhood.
In Nightborn, “With dreams of starting a perfect family, Saga and her British husband Jon move to the isolated house where she spent much of her childhood, deep in the Finnish forest. But as soon as their baby is born, despite the reassurance of all around her, Saga knows there’s something terribly wrong with her son. As their marriage starts to crack, Jon struggles to support his wife, but only Saga suspects the terrible truth about her newborn.”
Pamela Tola, Pirkko Saisio, Rebecca Lacey and John Thomson also star.
Bergholm teased of her maternal horror movie, “In Nordic countries, there’s a long-standing mythology of trolls living in the forests. In ancient times, people truly believed that trolls inhabited the woods and had a kind of control over nature. And in Nightborn, the forest reflects Saga’s emotions and the animalistic, primitive physical side of humankind.”
“Hanna Bergholm’s audacious sophomore follow up to Hatching delivers tension and shocking moments surrounding parenthood and self discovery — with a touch of humor,” said Emily Gotto, senior vice president of acquisitions and production at Shudder. “We are thrilled to share Nightborn with audiences.”