PopHorror Let's Get Scared
It was a gray, overcast day when I had the opportunity to speak to artist and filmmaker Scott Philip Goergens; a day much like those depicted within his movie, 29 Needles, as if nature was helping set the perfect backdrop to my morning conversation. My mind was still reeling from what I experienced with Goergens’ first feature, in what I could describe only as a slow-burning, stomach-churning descent into perverse self-destruction. It’s beautiful and revolting within the same frame, a volatile mixture bound to meet controversy and, in my humble opinion, eventual cult status (you could read the review from fellow PopHorror writer, Rebecca Rinehart, here).
29 Needles follows Francis Bacon (Brooke Berry), a man battling his demons and teetering dangerously on the edge. The copious amounts of rough sex, alcohol, and self-mutilation no longer appease what grows inside of Francis.
Wasting no time, I ask Scott what inspired him to create such a subversive film. “I guess that I’ve always been interested in the BDSM community,” says Goergens. “I’m not in that community, but I’ve had plenty of friends that are, and it’s been an intriguing thing for me.
“And on top of that, I also have been really curious about the logic and the drive of a serial killer. Now, those two things are completely opposite, but I thought there’s a similar pleasure in inflicting pain or receiving pain in some way, and I thought to create a storyline that would overlap those without making it seem like the BDSM is like that at all. Make sense?” I tell Scott that it made perfect sense to me, and that I, too, was intrigued by what made serial killers tick, often partaking in documentaries and books highlighting the psychology of killers. It’s simply fascinating, but what was also equally as fascinating was the fact that Goergen’s flick wasn’t always intended to be the feature that it became. I inquire about the evolution of 29 Needles.
“I have these story ideas in my head, and I thought that I need to kind of generate some income to be able to create those stories, because they would be a little bit more cost prohibitive. I thought maybe I could make something that was more just like horror-erotic that would just appeal to this kind of audience. Quickly I realized, just with that flash, ‘Oh, I could maybe do something like that!’ And then I realized I didn’t want to just put something out there like that. I needed a compelling story involved.
“As an artist, I wanted to really create something that felt more like art than just kind of slapping something together to generate some funds for another film. So I developed this character and story that I could create on somewhat of a limited budget. Actually, quite a limited budget,” he answers.
For $2,500 and years of dedication to his vision, Scott and company crafted something special with 29 Needles.
He continues on, “Now, that being said, all that money came from me, and I don’t want people to think that that was post-production at all. That was just production and pre-production. I created it for that, but in order to kind of get it to festivals and promotion and everything like that, all the other arduous tasks involved with getting it complete, it racks up… but it was still created for that. All the cast and crew were volunteers, so I thought, ‘How can I utilize a low budget and not make it feel that way?’
“A lot of people go and use a mockumentary style because it can hide a lot of budget issues. And I definitely didn’t want to go that direction, because I didn’t feel like the story lent itself to that style, and also it felt like that style has been really done a lot, and I wanted to show that ability using a different style. I changed a lot. The camera work was more still and voyeuristic where I didn’t have to do any Steadicam work. It was more like a camera spot still, and it panned, but that’s about it. So I was able to hide a lot of budgetary issues. And then the volunteer cast and crew was essential, because they made it.”
Scott is receptive and engaging… nothing like the character he created. Francis is a man who was set on self-destruct mode years ago, with kinks and behaviors most actors would never be brave enough to ever put on screen. But newcomer Brooke Berry was ready, willing and able. After finding his volunteer cast and crew on different sites, including Craigslist, Goergens miraculously came across Berry.
“Brooke was willing to do everything,” laughs Goergens. “There were definitely things I was saying I didn’t want to do. Brooke was like, ‘Yeah, let’s go for it!’ And I’m like, ‘Well, no. We’re not going to do that.’ Brooke was all in. In for the win. She was amazing throughout the entire production. And I say ‘she’ because she transitioned a couple years ago. But obviously, during the filmmaking, Brooke was male.” Brooke was a goddamn powerhouse in 29 Needles, diving headfirst into the abyss that Scott wrote.
The journey Goergens’ cast and crew had with 29 Needles was a long one, with filming beginning all the way back in 2006 and continuing to 2009, with more time spent on post-production between himself and sound engineer P. Andrew Willis. And then, in 2019, all of this hard work and commitment to a vision paid off when 29 Needles was welcomed to have its world premiere at the famed Nightmares Film Festival, earning the Best of the Festival Award and opening doors for distribution through Unearthed Films, an experience that had to be surreal.
“It was pretty surreal, but I have to say that from the beginning, I was determined to make this movie, so I would say yes, it is indeed a passion project. A lot of people have those, and I knew that this movie was going to get made, and if I had to pay for the pressing and release it like a DVD and just allowed people to buy it off of my website, and I did it all myself, that I was going to make it. But at the same time, when I was done, I talked to Andrew and I said, ‘I think I’ve made an unwatchable movie.'”
I disagree, noting the excitement from extreme horror fans for the film’s impending release, the buzz it created at festivals and the fact Unearthed quickly added 29 Needles to their roster.
“I just thought, ‘I’m going to make something, and the audience will find it, or if there’s an audience out there, I will make sure that they find it.’ That was my determination and my drive. I’m going to do what I see as my vision, and hopefully it will find the audience, and the audience will find it. I would say that everything fell into place and in the time period it was supposed to, and the fact that Nightmares Film Festival took it on. I just decided I’m going to put it out there to a lot of festivals and see what they say.
“And as most filmmakers, you get a lot of rejection, and I was expecting that, you know? But I also wasn’t even certain if festivals could legally even show it,” Goergens says.
I chuckle at this and tell him that after watching his film, I feel I missed out on an opportunity of a lifetime to see it in a communal viewing environment. Nonetheless, it still was quite the experience.
“It was an interesting viewing,” he laughs. “That was great because when it happened, I remember it was… Nightmares Film Festival was the first festival that gave me some feedback that I thought it could potentially show. I did get emails from some other festivals asking about this and that, outside of the United States and inside the United States, but it ended up not getting accepted. Then I got an email from Nightmares just asking if the film was accepted, would it be the world premiere or would it be a regional premiere. And I thought, ‘Well that’s an important question!’”
An absolutely important question! Scott continued, “So then shortly after that, I got the email and I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ I call Andrew, and I let Brooke know, and I was like, ‘We’re going.’ We all flew there… well actually, we flew there. Brooke drove and met us there, and it was amazing. Brooke was thrilled and loving the attention. It was like… I don’t know. It was just so surreal. Brooke knew, ‘Okay, this is what I want to be doing.’ Brooke was not an actor at all and had never done anything like this, but there’s a natural talent there.”
I agree wholeheartedly with this. Francis’ wanton descent and terrifying inner turmoil are portrayed in a fearless performance, and it doesn’t go unnoticed. I can hear in Scott’s voice the deep admiration he has for Brooke and a sadness that she isn’t around to revel in her popularity and witness what is a new era for 29 Needles. Sadly, Brooke passed away not long after the premiere at Nightmares.
Goergens confesses, “I basically told Brooke, I was like, ‘I want to get this one done before we work on the next one,’ because I was going to have Brooke in all my films because, why not? And when Brooke was there, it was kind of like the great start for the next step, because we all were excited about what was going to happen—where it was going to go—because we were all pretty patient with getting it out there. But that process was incredible. And then I remember winning, and that was incredibly surreal. I think I showed a clip at the end of the ‘Making Of.'”
Indeed, Scott did include a clip as part of the special features on the Unearthed Films release, and you can tell he is taken aback, thrilled that the passion project was acknowledged with such a prestigious win.
But then, within our conversation, he candidly shares his memory of the evening. “Brooke got an award for Best Lead. Well, not an award, but got nominated. And then the movie got nominated for Midnight Film, and it didn’t receive either of those. When those awards passed, I was like, ‘Eh, okay.’ I didn’t even know there was another award. And then at the end, I was like, ‘What? Oh my gosh!’ My jaw was on the floor. Having gotten it all the way to that point, and then it wins such a prestigious award, it was like, ‘Wow! This thing has an audience.’
“Without Nightmares Film Festival, I don’t know if it would have gotten that audience. I’m so thankful. And then quickly people are just mentioning that Unearthed, that Stephen Biro, needs to see this and I was like, ‘Okay!'”
Wise move for Nightmares to screen the film and for Unearthed and for Goergens to connect, because 29 Needles is proving to be a hot commodity. Copies of the film have been feverishly purchased since its presale which was made available on January 18th and will remain for 30 DAYS ONLY via Unearthed Films (so do not procrastinate!)
Through pieces of his art and now his filmmaking, Scott Philip Goergens has purposefully tried to highlight the macabre, and he definitely seems to have the chops for it. For someone that presents an exciting addition to the future of the genre, especially one that lends representation to the LGBTQ+ community, I ask Goergens why he prefers horror.
“At a very early age, I loved horror. I can’t say why. I don’t know specifically why, but there’s lots of little things about that people… If you met me in person, you probably wouldn’t realize that unless you saw my house and maybe the way I dress sometimes, shirts and stuff, that I’m such a horror fan, and like some of the more brutal stuff even.
“I would say that the appealing thing about it is, I think if you sit in something that is really uncomfortable and you process it, you learn how to overcome it and survive it. So I feel like basically like life, you come across many different challenges that feel like you couldn’t get through these things, but yet you can. And sometimes you watch movies where the characters don’t get through it, but you as a viewer have to process that in some way. And I feel like that is something that drives me. It’s almost the light from the darkness in a way. And I strive to continue to create challenging things that people might need to sit with and process.”
We thank Scott Philip Goergens for his time and hope you don’t miss your chance to own this subversive, award winning film, 29 Needles, the latest Too Extreme For Mainstream title now available to order at Unearthed Films.
Check out the trailer down below!
