PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Driven by a passion for horror and film, Director/Writer Erica Summers found her calling as a filmmaker at a young age. Gaining extensive behind the scenes work as a grip, Erica went on to write, produce, direct and edit indie films in various genres, including a powerful drama entitled Rag Doll (2011), which resulted in a charitable donation to a great cause. However, her passion for genre films brought her inevitably back to horror. After releasing Loverboy in 2012 and Mister White the following year, Erica went on hiatus. Drawn by the area’s haunted legends, myths and unique lore, the filmmaker relocated from Florida to Louisiana where she rekindled her passion with her soon-to-be released feature film entitled Obsidian. I recently caught up with Erica to discuss her start in film, her work as an extra in films like Fantastic Four, her experience in what is often perceived to be a male dominated industry, and her exciting upcoming release!
PopHorror: Hi, Erica! Thank you for speaking with me.
Erica Summers: Of course!
PopHorror: So, to start things off, are you and have you always been a horror fan?
Erica Summers: Oh, absolutely! I’ve been a horror fan since I was probably way too young. (laughs) I was having my first nightmares about Freddy at 3 years old. So, my parents started me very young.
(both laugh)
PopHorror: That seems to be the case with many genre fans. Have you always wanted to pursue filmmaking for a career?
Erica Summers: Actually, no. I originally wanted to be an actress. At the time, I had a pretty big ego, and I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t being cast for any of the local plays. I knew that if I were to ever get noticed, I needed to be in something. So, in early high school, I wrote a 15 page script for a horror movie in which I would be the star. Along with my friend, I went to work setting up my father’s camera on the tripod for the first scene. That’s when my friend asked me who would direct since she had no idea what to do. So, along with starring in this zero dollar budget movie, I decided to take on that role. I started the camera and told her what to do, as well as my brother and sister. I suddenly realized that everyone was listening to me and doing everything that I said! And the inner bossy side of me love the power it gave me!
(both laugh)
I cut the movie together after we filmed everything, and I realized that I’m a terrible actress, which was why I wasn’t getting any auditions. But I loved bossing people around. (laughs) Everyone had a fun time shooting the movie knowing that it was going to be just for our friends and family. Everyone kept asking when we were doing another one, so we kept shooting more and more while throwing a couple hundred dollars at the budget to shoot longer movies. I starred in the first couple films because I still had a hope that I could become better in front of the camera and become an actress. (laughs) After the third movie, I realized that these films were much better when I wasn’t in them. I’ve stayed behind the camera ever since.
I experimented with some drama and comedy, just to try some other genres. The comedy film was about two adult children of rival mob bosses who fall in love, fake their deaths and run away together. That was very fun, but comedy just has different timing. And then we shot a drama called Rag Doll which enabled us to raise quite a bit of money for a charity in Florida called Kids House of Seminole. Fifty percent of our profits went to their cause of handling cases of sexually abused children. While it received quite a bit of attention and people really loved it, I just feel like the horror genre is where I’m suppose to be.
PopHorror: The brief time you spent exploring other genres sounds like it wasn’t a waste by any stretch of the imagination, but that you need to go with what you’re passionate about. I’m aware that you have extensive experience from grip work to writing, producing, directing, special effects, cinematography, acting and editing. What would say is your favorite part of the filmmaking process and why?
Erica Summers: That’s an excellent question! I love all aspects of filmmaking. There are parts of the process that I sometimes find myself not particularly enjoying in the moment, but as soon as it’s over, I find myself excited to do them again for my next project. (laughs) One minute, editing is my least favorite part of the process and, as soon as I’m done editing, I can’t wait to edit another movie.
I feel that editing is one of my strengths in the process because I’ve been able to salvage scenes from shoots that didn’t go as great as I’d hoped. And I feel like my favorite part is the writing process. I love sitting down with a fresh piece of paper or a fresh Word document on the computer and thinking up something that people might enjoy watching, something that I might enjoy making, something that we haven’t seen before.
PopHorror: Awhile back, you were an extra in Fantastic Four. What was it like working on such a big production? What’s your favorite memory from the shoot?
Erica Summers: I have actually been an extra in a few big productions including Pitch Perfect 2. I’ve also done grip work on other big projects. As for Fantastic Four, it was a really interesting day on set because one of my best friends who gave me my first shot at grip work on a small budget film was working on that set. So, I was introduced to quite a few people who would later become great co-workers and bosses. It was incredible because they transformed parts of the shooting location in Louisiana to look like New York City down to the detail. More than anything, it was exciting to see how my friend worked on a big budget production and how much different it is from working on a small budget movie.
PopHorror: Your most recent film, Mister White, is the story of a bullied, troubled college student who’s psychotic hallucination turns out to be more real than expected. What inspired you to write this film?
Erica Summers: Mister White was influenced by the legend of Madame LaLaurie, which I heard about while living in Florida. Madame LaLaurie was a famous noble doctor in New Orleans who has been portrayed in such genre entertainment as American Horror Story. During her life, she secretly locked away some of her slaves and performed experiments on them. It’s said that LaLaurie’s house burned down with many of the slaves still in it. The house that’s there now in the French Quarter is said to be incredibly haunted. Just reading the accounts of what horrible things LaLaurie did to her slaves really unnerved me. At the same time, I was very terrified of voodoo. I feel that in order to possibly scare an audience, I need to project my fears into my work, (laughs) which is difficult when you were having nightmares of Freddy at 3 years old. So, for Mister White, I did research into LaLaurie as well as voodoo, hoodoo and the differences between the two practices.
I also wanted to write a script that was relatable. I was bullied quite a bit in junior high and high school. So, the main character of Tyler, portrayed by Andy Salgado, was very loosely based on some of my experiences getting bullied as well as experiences of other people who shared their stories with me. The main character also has a mentally ill mother, which also stems from my own life. I have a mentally ill mother, and I use that influence as a reoccurring element in my projects. Because, again, I have to write about what scares me.
PopHorror: I recently watched Mister White and enjoyed it!
Erica Summers: Thank you!
PopHorror: Were there any other particular influences that you pulled from in writing and directing this film?
Erica Summers: Yes, actually. My all time favorite movie is Pumpkinhead from ’88 starring Lance Henriksen. So, Mister White was my homage to that cult classic that tells the story of someone who summons a monster for which they think are the right reasons, but the evil doesn’t stop until everyone is dead.
PopHorror: That makes perfect sense!
Erica Summers: I definitely took a general theme and element that parallels that film as a nod to it. I’ve had quite a few people pick up on that, and it makes me so happy when people see the parallels between the two. Because, no matter how old Pumkinhead gets, I try to keep the good things from my childhood alive in any way that I can.
PopHorror: Another thing that comes to mind is the scene in Mister White where the girl is being used as a puppet. You had to have taken that from Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. [read the PopHorror retro review of the film here]
(both laugh)
Erica Summers: Yes! That’s the one that gave me the nightmares when I was a child. I was terrified that Freddy was going to turn me into a puppet, and I kept grabbing at my arms thinking he was going to begin puppeteering me. (laughs) So, that’s when my parents stopped letting me watch horror for a brief amount of time. I actually got to meet the actor who was in that scene at one of the festivals when I was touring with Mister White! It was such a strange coincidence and a surreal moment meeting the actor who inspired a scene in my film that I was currently showing. Obviously, on my budget, I wasn’t able to do Nightmare on Elm Street much justice in my homage, but I still love that scene so much!
PopHorror: Of course, being a small budget indie film, you had your limits, but I think you got across exactly what you intended. What was your favorite memory from filming this production?
Erica Summers: There was a two day stretch when we were filming on my friend’s property in Florida. The cast and I packed up a bunch of camping gear. We had a day of filming followed by a big barbecue and a birthday party for one of the cast members. Some of us slept outside in two big tents placed side by side. So, we were staying up way too late telling jokes and stories. It was a great bonding experience full of laughter. It was towards the end of shooting, everyone was familiar with one another, and there was so much camaraderie.
PopHorror: That sounds like a great way to end a production! I’m aware that you have a new film in the works called Obsidian. Could you tell me a little bit about what this upcoming feature?
Erica Summers: This film is about a stage one clinical trial for a new tissue regeneration drug called Obsidian, just as it enters the first human testing stage. The way this drug is administered requires that the scar tissue and wounds intended on being repaired need to be reopened. The drug then works in a similar way as cancer where it fixes the damaged tissue. Unlike cancer, it knows when to turn itself off. So, the story follows the people who undergo this procedure for different reasons. They befriend each other. Things begin to take an exciting turn when the medicine begins to work and each character begins to get their life back. There’s several side plots and a really cool twist when plans begin to derail for various reasons resulting in a brutal bloodbath by the end.
Obsidian is mostly a body horror feature, but it has quite a few different kinds of genre elements as well. It’s a very unique film that has a little something for everyone. We had a producer sign on who shopped it around to bigger named actors who took the job based on the script as well as me being a female director, which isn’t entirely common in the horror genre. So, it’s a very exciting project that I can’t wait for people to see!
PopHorror: Speaking of being a female in what is often perceived to be a male dominated industry and genre, do you see this as a challenge?
Erica Summers: I’m used to being a female in a male dominated industry, between being a female horror director to being the only female in Louisiana that I know of who does grip work. I dealt with quite a bit of sexism early on in my work in film, as well as in the early stages of Obsidian. So, I’m used to it. But it definitely does still pose a challenge.
There are quite a few people out there who really want to see female directed horror film. I have friends who will literally support anything I do because they’re glad to see a woman doing it. But there have been times on the festival circuit to where immature responses are focused around me being female rather than an audience’s response to the film I’m showing. It’s really frustrating, because I want them to take my movie seriously. But there can be some positivity to come from it. Sometimes, films will get accepted into the festival circuit because they so rarely get a Q&A with a female perspective.
PopHorror: Awhile back, this was a hot topic due to Jason Blum, owner of Blumhouse Productions, expressing his opinion that there aren’t many female directors interested in horror. What would you say to that?
Erica Summers: I would say that is absolutely not true. (laughs) There are plenty of us weirdos out there who want to scare the bejesus out of you just as much as any male director. The problem is that quite a few people don’t take us very seriously during the pre-production stages of filmmaking. I self-fund my films. If I had to rely on people to fund my movies, I probably would still be waiting on the funds for Mister White. I feel like if you are a woman and you want to make horror, you often have to work harder than men in the industry, because there’s just so little help out there for us. No one is going to do it for you. You just have to bust through and do it yourself. But it can be done. It was wonderful to have so many of my female friends who also love horror helping out behind the scenes for Obsidian to create the special effects, which are all practical effects.
PopHorror: CGI can have its place, but practical effects are usually the way to go, for sure! Going back to your upcoming feature, how soon might we see a release for Obsidian?
Erica Summers: We actually just wrapped principal photography about two to three weeks ago. It is now in post-production, and we are aiming for a local premiere in late May or early June. We would like to have it done in time to enter into the major horror festivals in 2020. I’ve made quite a few great contacts with festival runners and convention coordinators during the festival run of my last few films. Since a bit of time has passed between my last film and this one, I’m really excited to get the ball rolling and see what new heights I can reach with my rebirth into the festival circuit.
PopHorror: That sounds very exciting! Obsidian sounds like it’ll be a great film. Do you have any other projects that are on the horizon?
Erica Summers: I have been asked to speak at a local school near New Orleans about film, and I might be directing a short horror movie completely staffed by a crew of 8th graders, which sounds like quite a bit of fun! I have a short film script that I wrote awhile back about a rougarou, which is the Cajun version of the werewolf. According to legend, he’s a like a werewolf version of Krampus in that he attacks and eats bad children.
(both laugh)
So, I think it would be fun to create a big werewolf costume and shoot a short film about the rougarou getting a bad child. And, probably next year, I’ll start on a new full-feature, which I would like to be a snowy human on human horror film shot in the Connecticut or Massachusetts area.
PopHorror: That sounds fun and exciting! Thank you, Erica, for your time.
Erica Summers: My pleasure!
Coming from a place of love, passion and dedication for the genre, this filmmaker is one who has flown below the indie horror community radar for far too long. With her last horror feature, Mister White, currently streaming on Amazon Prime, I’m excited to see what Erica has in store for her return to the genre of thrills and chills!
