PopHorror Let's Get Scared
I’m going to start this with a trigger warning, which I hate to do because it limits who’s going to read this and learn more about this movie, but I feel that it’s important and the right thing to do given the plot and subject matter and also what happens in the film. So here it is: trigger warning for suicide. Suicide is also discussed in this interview.
Honestly, I was intrigued about House of Abraham, written by Lukas Hassel (Slapface) and directed by Lisa Belcher, because it stars Lin Shaye. I mean, come on. She’s horror royalty. But I’m also a big fan of Natasha Henstridge and according to IMDB, House of Abraham is a movie about a cult AND promised to be an isolation thriller/horror so my interest by piqued beyond what it’s been piqued in quite a long time. I don’t think that made sense but what I’m saying is, I had to see this movie.
A woman looking for an end to her suffering, checks in to the House of Abraham, home to a mysterious cult that promises a way out. She soon discovers all is not what it seems and must plan an escape before it’s too late.
To celebrate the release of the film, I chatted with Lukas and Lisa about how the project came about, creating an extremely uncomfortable scene, horror movies, and more!
PopHorror: I’m excited to talk to you both! I really enjoyed House of Abraham. I thought it was so unique. It’s kind of a hard watch because the subject matter is so controversial and such a heavy theme. I hate to say that I had fun with it, but I still had fun with it. My first question is for you, Lukas. What sparked the idea for House of Abraham and how did the project come about?
Lukas Hassel: It’s a tricky thing because usually I tell other writers, “Write from your heart. Always write from your heart,” and in this case, it was a mixture of heart and head because the heart part of it is, I’m a fan of exploring taboo subjects. I think if you can talk about things that people are uncomfortable about, it’ll help move the needle forward. So this notion of self-determination and essentially manipulation by people that are potentially smarter than you and you are at a very vulnerable state – I see that around me everyday when I look around this country, I see elements of that – so I wanted to explore this notion of be careful who you trust when you’re at your lowest. So that was the heart part of it. That came from the heart. The head part was from an indie filmmaker perspective. I think the best chance as an indie filmmaker or producer or writer is, don’t make something that Hollywood would make because they’re going to have bigger money, they’re going to have bigger names, they’re going to have bigger PR machines behind them and so forth, so make something they would not touch. It was a matter of trying to come up with a concept that I hadn’t quite seen before, and then House of Abraham was it for me.
PopHorror: Did you write it with yourself in mind to play Abraham from the very beginning?
Lukas Hassel: I did. I had myself in mind for Abraham and I had Lin Shaye in mind for Beatrice, so those were the two characters I had, just because I’d worked with Lin Shaye before and I just admire her so much. I know what she’s capable of and nothing is impossible. She’s fearless. She’s able to go anywhere. That character needed to be able to go anywhere emotionally and I knew Lin Shaye was the person for that. Sometimes it’s helpful to have particular characters of people you know well in mind when you write them. That’s not always possible, but with those two characters I knew – because I trust myself as an actor – it was just one less character to worry about.
PopHorror: Lin Shaye is horror royalty so she can do anything. Lisa, what intrigued you about the script and made you want to be part of the project?
Lisa Belcher: First and foremost, Lukas and I have collaborated before so we kind of said let’s do this again. And there’s so many things about his writing and about the script that I like, but probably for me were the unexpected elements in this story. There are so many films out there that are predictable, and you know the direction that they’re going, and I believe that’s not the case with House of Abraham. We go in one direction and then another direction so the unexpected twists at the very end and just the journey that it takes you on and the pacing of everything, I was a big fan right from the first read.
PopHorror: I like what you said about it being unexpected because I went into this totally blind. I really was not expecting this storyline at all and I think a movie like this, it’s best to go in blind. I feel like if you know too much about this movie going in, it’s not going to have the same effect on you, and I really like that.
Lisa Belcher: Thank you for saying that. That means a lot. I appreciate it.
PopHorror: The plastic bag scene with Shannon and Alex is extremely hard to watch. Can you tell us about that scene and what it was like to shoot it?
Lisa Belcher: Yeah! So, first of all, I’m going to give a shout out to Ashley Landavaz, who is our production designer, and she had so many different versions of those plastic bags. First and foremost, obviously, was the safety and comfortability of those two actors. She had different versions of the bag that opened in the back, she had a headband deal that was open on the top so we could shoot the neck and all of that. For safety and everyone feeling comfortable, we wanted to make sure that was all in place, and I feel that was right. And then as far as shooting it with the breathing and with the painter’s masks and all of that, it was intense! I sat behind the monitor and was so freaked out and I just had to constantly get up and check in on those two actors. They were troopers. Alex letting the bag go in his mouth, they wanted it to really look the horrific way it turned out. So yeah, it was scary. Steffen Schmidt, our composer, the music that he layed on top of that is just… I don’t know. I think it’s a pretty scary scene, at least for me.
Lukas Hassel: For me as a writer and creator, imagining all of these scenes throughout the film, all these things that happen, I’m just personally much more terrified of things like that than big gory things. We’re all different. Everyone enjoys different things, but for me, that is some of the most terrifying things I can imagine. Sort of waking up in the middle of the night going, let me get a breath of air! Rather than an ax in the head, that’s just a different type of horror, which is why it fits nicely into the psychological horror branch of horror.
PopHorror: Yes, it is very hard to watch. And you’re right, it’s scary. Losing your air and I’m like, how do they make it look so real? They’re like sucking the bag into their mouth. It looked so real, and I wanted to know more about it.
Luka Hassel: I just want to give a quick shout out to that as well for Lin Shaye because it’s written in the script that there was this duct tape and so forth, and then Lin comes on set and she pulls the duct tape out like that [mimes dramatically pulling out duct tape], which wasn’t in the script! That’s one of those genius moves that someone with that ability… I want to throw Natasha in there as well; the whole cast of course. When you work with actors who are so creative and so good in what they do, they’re going to come up with little moments that’ll make everything work and just pulling that out and then selling the motion of that, that made that scene work 20 times more than it might have been if it was just not even filmed. That also credits Lisa for capturing that moment and making sure it ended up on screen. Some of these small choices are in the details of what makes the scene pop.
PopHorror: I love that so much. Lisa, was there anything that you were adamant about keeping in the film, no matter what?
Lisa Belcher: Well, I’m going to jump on yours, Lukas. Initially we were looking at the budget and we’re thinking which scenes should be cut and on the table at some point, was the pool scene. I’m so happy that that ended up in the film because it’s such an intense scene. Even though we were there and we made it, and we knew that the cage was safe and had Velcro and could come off and all of that… My shoulders get tense watching that and I’ve seen it probably two thousand times at this point. That would be the scene, the pool scene because it was on a chopping block for a minute there.
Lukas Hassel: I was really defending that scene. I was like, “We cannot cut that scene,” because sometimes on paper it’s a tricky scene. On paper you could save a lot of money by cutting that out but I felt it was almost like the anchor and the beginning of the turn the film takes. Sometimes you need those trickier scenes in order to make the easiest scenes work.
Lisa Belcher: Yeah, and that was a day and a half of filming that, so it was a big investment.
PopHorror: I’m glad that you guys kept it in there because just like the bag scene, that one was really uncomfortable to watch. This movie is not supposed to make you comfortable, so I need those scenes in there that make me like, oh my God, wow! That’s why we watch horror movies and that’s why we watch stuff like this. Lukas, was there anything that you were adamant about bringing to your character?
Luka Hassel: The main thing about Abraham was just the fact that I thought it was important to also to hear him to make sense because if you just write a character that’s manipulative and evil and doing stuff for himself, it’s one thing. But if you can also come up with certain statements that are kind of outrageous statements, on one weird level they also make sense. So he would say things that if you actually thought about it, well maybe he has a point about that but you don’t want to agree with him because he has such a harsh take on life and death. But strictly speaking, he makes sense. I wanted to make sure that he was that layered character that you could both relate to at certain times with how he deals with certain characters and then at other times find him extremely repulsive.
PopHorror: Yes, he’s not an easy person to like.
Lisa Belcher: Right, right!
PopHorror: I have one last question for you both. What is your favorite scary movie?
Lisa Belcher: Wow… Well, I’ll take this one. I’ll be honest. Horror is a new love for me, so I really have to catch up so there’s a lot that I haven’t seen. But one film that I hadn’t seen and then once I knew that we were going to make this, it sounds probably a bit cliché, but was Saw. I love that movie because it is kind of in the psychological piece of it. I shouldn’t compare it to our film, but I will. Holy crap! I really enjoyed that film, so I want to continue watching the rest of them. That’s probably mine.
PopHorror: That’s a good answer.
Lukas Hassel: I love character driven stuff and so sometimes in horror you could be into films where it’s more the effects that run the show and the more outrageous. Those films screen well at festivals and the really hardcore community, but I respond well to horror that also has a good story, so I think originally, the classic is The Shining, of course. But I thought the remake of The Ring was surprisingly effective. I thought it was terrifying when it came out. Giving a shout out to the original The Blair Witch, which created a whole new subgenre of found footage so props to them for creating that, and then Paranormal Activity came out. I veer towards the more subtle horror, potentially more psychological horror. So, for me, those would be my films.
Thank you so much to Lukas and Lisa for taking the time to speak with us. House of Abraham is in select theaters now!
