PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Recently, we’ve been telling you a lot about Hungarian filmmaker Jozsef Gallai and his thought-provoking indie horror projects like I Hear The Trees Whispering, Aftermath, and Project Skyquake. Now, he has a new film called A Stranger In the Woods starring horror indie darlings Bill Oberst, Jr. and Lynn Lowry along with Gallai alumna Laura E. Wilson, and we couldn’t wait to find out more about it.
PopHorror: Tell us about your newest project, A Stranger in the Woods. What is the film about?
Jozsef Gallai: The movie is about Edith, a young film student with the intention of making a documentary about an elderly man called Victor who has been living and technically hiding from the world for many years. But as secrets from his past come to light, their strange relationship takes a fateful turn and it soon becomes clear that no one is what they seem.
PopHorror: Where did you get the idea for this story?
Jozsef Gallai: My wife, Beata, and I made up the story during the first wave of the pandemic. We had time to do it as there were serious restrictions in our country. We talked a lot about this story. Ideas came and went. Initially, we started with more characters, but eventually, we reduced the number of them for financial reasons. I wouldn’t like to be too specific about the direction we took the story in, but we wanted the viewer to sit down in front of the film not knowing where it was going until the end.
PopHorror: What was your process for writing the script?
Jozsef Gallai: Once the main ideas and directions were set, I started writing the script in August 2022 and, if I remember correctly, I finished the first draft by October. Usually, the whole process is a bit longer for me because I write in my mother tongue first, then translate the whole thing or ask for help with the translation. I intended the two main characters to be played by Bill and Laura from the beginning, I didn’t have a plan B or C in case they said no, but I was confident that it would be a good enough story for them and they would want to be in it, and luckily, they did. I worked with them to finalize the further versions of the script, and I was very pleased with the meticulous and close collaboration.
PopHorror: How is this film different from your others?
Jozsef Gallai: I very much like to hide the whys in my stories and invite the viewer to work on the film a little bit, and I think this picture does that quite well. On the surface, it could be another found footage movie, but for me, the genre is more of a wraparound to show an unusual relationship between two very complex characters. Victor and Edith are characters who can easily stand out from the others we can see in similar genres, whether we are examining their relationship to each other, their lives, or even any moves they make. Of course, A Stranger in the Woods has some of my trademarks if you like, but even the colors, the tone or the ending are different from what the audience is used to from me.
PopHorror: At this time, filming for A Stranger in the Woods is over, and you’re in post-production. What was filming like this time around?
Jozsef Gallai: In fact, we have already finished it. The post-production phase is over, too. It was different to film this time than, say, last year or the year before. This year, we finished our science fiction drama, Aftermath, which will be released in January 2024, but for example, the two are almost incomparable. During filming, there were only seven of us: the two main actors, the film’s editor and producer, a make-up artist, a photographer, a production assistant, and myself. It was a bit like an early autumn camping trip, except that people don’t shoot 80-minute films there. Since a good part of the film takes place in and around a single location, there wasn’t a lot of time spent travelling, and the genre also gave us room to try out and experiment with different versions. We spent five days on location, and including Lynn and Shawn’s scenes, we had a total of seven days of filming.
PopHorror: Tell us a bit about your cast and crew.
Jozsef Gallai: I don’t think Bill Oberst Jr. needs to be introduced to anyone. We’re talking about an Emmy Award winner horror legend who perfectly merged with Victor’s character. It was a lifetime experience to film with him, and I hope to have the opportunity to do so again in the future. This was my fifth time working with Laura Ellen Wilson, this time playing a completely different character than she did in my previous movies. I really like working with her because we understand each other very easily, we have a similar mindset, and Laura is very dedicated and professional.
Lynn Lowry is a horror legend in the movie business. At first, I was kind of shocked when she approached me to work with her, but it was also a very great pleasure. Shawn Michael Clankie has been there to help me since I started making horror movies, and he also played his character professionally. There are some voice characters, too, and that’s where Scott Cassin, Marvin Maddicks Jr., Tracy Allen and Fountainblue Tielman came in. They basically rounded up the cast.
Longtime collaborator Gergo Elekes did an awesome job with the editing and sound design of the picture. I felt confident in production assistants Bálint Szántó and András Babodi’s work. They helped me a lot before and during the shoot. Though it was the first time I worked with makeup artist Kamilla Mira Kovács. She got used to the pace very quickly and was extremely professional. Everyone did a fantastic job, and I feel honored to have worked with them.
PopHorror: Did you encounter any difficulties during the filming?
Jozsef Gallai: There were a few, yes. The house that functioned as the main location was quite difficult to get to by car, and on the third filming day, the locals were doing all sorts of agricultural work not far away, which meant that we had to restructure the days a bit. On the last day of filming, some important shots from the memory card were lost, but thanks to Gergő [Elekes] we managed to recover the data and finally finished on time, but the last filming day was extremely tiring.
PopHorror: When can we expect the film’s release?
Jozsef Gallai: I hope to have the film available to everyone by mid-2024, but I would like to have the first screening at a major festival in the spring. Fingers crossed.
PopHorror: What’s next for you?
Jozsef Gallai: The next one’s title is The Black-Eyed Children, based on a famous urban legend. Although the film will be in the vein of horror, mystery and science fiction, I would like to take a slightly different approach to making it. I’m excited about the possibilities and I hope to make it the way I envisioned.
