Interview With Filmmaker Franck Khalfoun For ‘Night Of The Hunted’

I’m a huge fan of the movie High Tension, so it was a real treat for me to get to speak with filmmaker Franck Khalfoun (director of the phenomenal Maniac 2012) since he’s in it. Franck’s new film that he wrote (along with Glen Freyer) and directed, Night of the Hunted, just premiered on Shudder.

When an unsuspecting woman stops at a remote gas station in the dead of night, she’s made the plaything of a sociopath sniper with a secret vendetta. To survive, she must not only dodge his bullets and fight for her life, but also figure out who wants her dead and why.

To celebrate the release of Night of the Hunted, Franck and I chatted about how the project came about, working with Alexandre Aja, filming in one location, and more!

PopHorror: Hi Franck! I’m a huge fan so I’m super excited to speak with you today.

Franck Khalfoun: Thank you.

PopHorror: What inspired the story for Night of the Hunted and how did the project come about?

Franck Khalfoun: The project came about when producers came to me and said that they had seen this film at a film festival, this Spanish film called Night of the Rat – La Noche del Ratón – by a guy named Rubén Ávila Calvo. Then I got a script from Glen Freyer, who’s a writer and who had adapted the film. What was funny was the original movie – I had seen the original movie – and there wasn’t a word of dialogue in it. Then Glen wrote a movie where they started talking to each other. He said, “Oh there’s a sniper and this woman sort of caught,” and I came in and said, “Well, what kind of story can we tell? What can they talk about that sort of touches all of us? And beyond making a survival thriller, how can we maybe do something which has a little commentary about where we are and that’s more engaging for an audience, so that it holds up a mirror to society?” So I started crafting the story of a girl who’s not really a great person, who ends up in a position with somebody who might know her, who might not know her, who might be after her or not, so I added a layer of intrigue and social commentary. But primarily it was brought to me by a producer named Morris Ruskin. Then I talked to Alex Aja (High Tension) and said, “Hey, you want to get in on this? I think there’s something potentially interesting here.” And so we all got together, and I started rewriting, and we worked together. We collaborate pretty well, Alex and I, and so it was good to have him on board. That’s where it came from. It was a movie that was seen in a festival, we liked the idea, and also Covid had come up and we were thinking how we could make a movie during Covid that has a few characters? Well, how about one actor on the floor with a walkie-talkie? That should do it right?

PopHorror: Yeah!

Franck Khalfoun: That’s how the movie came about. Keeping everyone’s attention with one person on the floor and with a walkie-talkie is pretty difficult. So I thought, what can we throw in there? What can we talk about? And I’m always about trying to… All my movies sort of have an underlayer of somebody suffering and something going on with we can connect to. Not many of us can connect to being hunted down or being a sniper, but we can all connect to all the other things that have been going on around in the world and all the things that they talk about and all the subjects that they deal with. So, that was the idea behind elevating the thriller/horror genre into something that was more connective and had some more intellect, and something to think about on top of everything else. That was the idea.

PopHorror: This film takes place in one location, kind of like a locked room thriller, which is my jam. I love those. 

Franck Khalfoun: Well, you like my movies then because P2 and this one, they’re all stuck in one location.

PopHorror: What are the challenges of basically filming in one small location?

Franck Khalfoun: It’s incredibly technical. It’s very difficult because unlike other movies where you have, “enter your dining room,” “enter your bedroom,” “enter your restaurant,” “exterior park,” and you can cover those scenes and tell a story in that way. You have to constantly reinvent the space that you’re in and find different angles in which to tell the story and keep it exciting. It’s funny because producers will say, “Oh this is low budget and it’s easy because it’s only one location.” But it’s way more complicated and way more technical to pull this off than I find movies that have multiple locations. P2 was the same thing. You have to reinvent… P2 we had one floor, and I painted the floors different colors so that you felt like they were evolving. This one as well. There’s a slow progression of degradation in the gas station. The lights are on, the lights are off. Even the colors start changing. And I always say this to people who jump on to these movies, especially the department heads who are the creators, I say this is a way to shine creatively. You’re going to use everything you have in your arsenal to tell a story and you’re going to go back to the technique of painting and the lighting. You’re going to go back to school, and every range of your lighting knowledge is going to start to come out and use everything we have in the filmmaking tools to be able to tell this story. You have to dig deep but you’re also going back to the roots of college or film school. You have very little. You have a shoestring. How do you make it creative and how do you tell the story? I think with all these elements, you have to go back to the basics. This is where also acting can shine, and dialogue and writing can shine, and everybody really has a chance to show off their skills. It’s difficult, but at the same time there’s really a great way to be creative and do creative stuff. I laugh when people say, “Oh, simple. One location. Good luck.” Buried is one of those examples where like wow, you really have to rely on the acting. Camille Rowe (The Deep House) does an amazing job maintaining our attention and keeping the suspense alive.

PopHorror: That’s why I like movies like this that take place in one location because you do have to rely on more creativity. You have to rely on the writing and the acting, even the lighting and the things around you because you don’t have the other places to go to build off of, you have just this one spot. I appreciate that.

Franck Khalfoun: Me too. I find that if you’re able to create suspense in a single place and maintain someone’s attention for an hour, wow. I watched the movie recently and wow, it really moves. It reminds me of Cube. Remember Cube?

PopHorror: Yes!

Franck Khalfoun: Cube’s a movie in one location and the way they did it was ingenious, and you felt like you were traveling to this planet. When you think about it, it was a cube. I appreciate the creativity involved in something like that. 

PopHorror: Yes, I do too.

Franck Khalfoun: So, I think about that when I make my own.

PopHorror: You brought up working with Alexandre Aja again. You guys have worked on quite a few projects together. What was it like to collaborate with him again?

Franck Khalfoun: Well, you know, we have a shorthand sort of language between each other. We know the questions we’re about to ask each other. We know what our sensibilities are. We know what we bring, we bring different things to the table. And also, we don’t ever hold back. It’s always creative. If we don’t like something, no beating around the bush, no walking on eggshells. That’s refreshing in a way, because we respect one another. I have great respect for him, and I’ll let him say whether he respects me or not. But we’re able to have very honest conversations and it makes the working process fluid and also enjoyable. It’s great to be checked and not have to deal with “Yes” people. It’s like, “Oh, that’s terrible. Why would you do that?” It’s a lot of fun, and we get a good laugh out of making them movies and seeing them come to life. Filmmaking also, I find, is a very collaborative art form and all good ideas come from all different places. He has great ideas; I have great ideas. The grip may have some great ideas. I’ve had production designers have great ideas. In the end, I’ll take credit for all of them. My name’s on the movie. At the same time, if the movie’s shit, I’ll hear about it and there’s no getting away from that. “Hey, that was the grip’s idea!” Nobody cares if it’s terrible. So, we have a free flow of ideas, and it makes for better movies, I think.

PopHorror: That’s so awesome. I have just one last question for you today. What is your favorite scary movie?

Franck Khalfoun: Oh, gosh. That’s always a hard one. I’ll tell you one that’s dear to my heart because of the conditions of… I mean, I always go to Kubrick for any questions, always I would say The Shining. I would say my favorite horror film ever, but there’s been so many. So many movies that have really scared the shit out of me. A Nightmare on Elm Street is one that I’ll never forget. The right age at the right time to be really terrifying.

Thank you so much to Franck for taking the time to speak with us. Night of the Hunted is now streaming on Shudder.