D-Railed (2018)
Director: Dale Fabrigar
Writer: Suzanne DeLaurentiis, Dale Fabrigar, Everette Wallin
Starring: Lance Henriksen, Tonya Kay, Frank Lammers, Anna Ross, Shae Smolik
Passengers on a train that crashes into a river must decide whether to risk waiting for help in the wreckage or take their chances in the murky depths below.
In a new interview in the series leading up to Horror-on-Sea Film Festival, I got a chance to ask D-Railed writer-director Dale Fabrigar a few questions about what we can expect from the film.
Q. Your latest horror film D-Railed has been selected to play at Horror-on-Sea. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
First, of all, I wanted to say how excited and honored we are to be invited to your festival. It is a thrill to be a part of your weekend celebrating horror from all over the world and being able to share our movie with your audience! Our film is a fun tale that mashes-up a variety of genres of suspense/horror/thriller movies. It is quite different and has a unique “taste” to it. If you enjoy classic Hammer type movies with interesting characters, B-movies, creature features, vintage trains and a dose of suspense…This movie could be for you. You can expect a fun ride.
Q. You co-wrote the film with Suzanne DeLaurentiis and Everette Wallin. What were some of your inspirations when writing the script?
Inspiration came through many forms. Although the script and story are original to our tale, many of the situations and occurrences were based on actual, historic railway accidents. But the deep inspiration for this film stems from a personal and dark place. After the sudden passing of my father, I began to ponder the idea of how fleeting life is and how little control we have about what happens to us – Let alone death. The mystery of it all. We fight as long and hard as we can to live, but eventually death comes to our door. However untimely, young and old. It is a reality that we all must face. For many, that is a horrific notion.
This film is an outward expression of my own fears and how I deal with it. I was able to fold these ideas into Suzanne’s initial premise of wanting to do a movie about a train that crashes into a body of water and gets attacked by monsters. I then came up with a story and developed it together with Everette Wallin. He was instrumental in writing the screenplay and bringing my dark vision together on the page. He brought a distinct and memorable voice to our characters in our story. When you watch the film, you will see what I mean.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
The film is a modern-day tale, but because of the vintage costumes in the movie and historic dining train setting, it has historic nods to period films like, Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, Clue and 70’s Tragedy movies like, Earthquake, The Poseidon Adventure and Titanic. It wasn’t easy to pull it all off on our indie budget, but somehow we managed to do it.
Q. Where there any elements of the original script which were adapted during filming?
Yes. There were many. Due to budgetary and time restrictions, there were many changes that were made from the original script. A few turned out much better than I expected. The chase down the staircase was originally written to happen down a long hallway. But when I spotted this old janky staircase, I loved the way it looked. I knew I had to shoot it there instead. Filming what immediately follows was the real challenge. Rigging the shot in that space was tricky. You’ll just have to see the film to know what I am talking about. It’s visually arresting when you see it for the first time. Horrifically beautiful, I think.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
Like any low-budget film, we were always up against the clock. We shot the movie over 12-Days. (I should probably say “nights”). 95% of the film was shot entirely at night and that is always physically and mentally tough on the cast and crew. It was a rather ambitious schedule and there was almost never enough time to do the many things we needed to do within the veil of darkness. Weather also played a big part in our struggle to make our movie. We were suddenly rained out one night and it put our production in a furious scramble. Period wardrobe and hairstyles, practical FX, visual FX, working with a minor (child actor), working in water…But it all came together.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
Some of my personal favourite moments were seeing the film come to life as I envisioned it. It is very tough to make things work under such budgetary constraints. But when things come together, I am reminded how magical film making is and how important collaboration and teamwork is in transforming a vision into reality. I am forever grateful for the hard work of my cast and crew. There were so many memorable moments during filming. Some of them were:
1) Working with my wonderful and talented cast. (They gave so much to bring their characters to life in this rather heightened tale)
2)When I first saw our cast in costume walking through the steam at the train station.
3) Working on a real-life, historic Steam Train and Dining Car.
4) Finally seeing our “Creature” come to life in all of its sharp-toothed glory
5) Filming on a practical train set angled at 25º degrees.
6) Filming in water. 7
7) Filming the bloody “Kill Scenes” – Just to name a few…
Q. Lance Henriksen appears in the film as Manny. How did he get involved in the film?
Working with Lance was a dream-come-true. I originally wrote the role of “Manny” with Lance Henriksen in mind. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that was going to happen. My producers had other actors in mind, but I kept reminding them about Lance. Long story short, we somehow got the script to him and after reading it, he loved the overall story and wanted to be a part of supporting our film. Prior to filming, we had a fabulous meeting about the story, his character and his understanding of the script. It was very exciting to hear his ideas and get his feedback. Lance plays a minor role in the film but brings with him the necessary gravitas and wisdom needed to balance out our cast and pull our story together in the the end. It’s rather beautiful. He is perfect in it. I wish I could have done more with him. I still can’t believe that happened and I am forever grateful for his involvement.
Q. What makes D-Railed stand out as something different in the horror genre?
Some call it a unique, “mash-up” or “genre mixing” film because there are so many different ideas and moments in the film. Some may think that it was an accident or that we didn’t know what we were making. Quite the contrary. This has always been by-design from it’s very inception. I wanted the audience to feel each act transition along with our characters. It was great fun re-shuffling the deck of story expectations and mixing things up to create this strange and different story. Is it perfect? Definitely not. Does this all work? Maybe for some and not for all. That remains to be seen. But it was a creative leap-of-faith to tell this story the way we did and make this sub-genre film the best we could with what we had.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
My hope is that the film resonates with audiences long after the credits roll. First of all, I hope people are entertained. I also hope it causes people to laugh and recall the fun and entertaining moments, but then sneaks into their sub-conscience to think about the film and what the filmmakers might be trying to say. I ultimately want people to FEEL and think about what they have just watched. To think about life and death and what that might mean to them – Through the layers of the film.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
I am currently working on an entirely different type of movie. A family Christmas Movie is currently in the making. It’s a refreshing step away from all the darkness I’ve currently been enveloped in. But I look forward to returning to horror soon with a Hard-R, Horror/Thriller passion project of mine that celebrates the traditions and dark folklore of my Filipino culture.
Q. If someone was looking to direct their own film what advice would you give them?
I would say: PREPARE and BE READY FOR ANYTHING. You can never be over-prepared. Prepare for the worst. Prepare for the best. Prepare to be great. Things rarely go exactly the way you plan them when making a movie. When you’re on set, be open and flexible. Good ideas come from all over, sometimes at the worst times. Alternate solutions come from being properly prepared. Just don’t give up. Aspire to do the best you can with what you have. And one day, (I truly believe) things will align and you will eventually get the chance to do your dream project the way you want to do it. And at that moment, you will be PREPARED and READY FOR ANYTHING.
You can keep up to date by following D-Railed and director Dale Fabrigar on Instagram
D-Railed will be playing at Horror-on-Sea on Sunday 12th January at 15:00 hrs
You can find out more about Horror-on-Sea and purchase tickets for the festival here:
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
