Film Name: The Eyes Below
Director: Alexis Bruchon
Writer: Alexis Bruchon
Starring: Vinicus Coelho, Pauline Morel
Eugène goes to bed. Everything is calm and silent. About to fall asleep, something creeps up his legs,
his stomach and then his chest. A mass, so heavy that he realises the night won’t be as peaceful as he
thought. Writer, producer and director Alexis Bruchon wowed FrightFest Glasgow 2020 with his black
and white film noir masterpiece THE WOMAN WITH LEOPARD SHOES. Now the quirky director is back
with the second in his trilogy of oddball style with this visually arresting mix of horror, fantasy and
survival
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds, I got a chance to ask writer-director Alexis Bruchon a few questions about the horror film The Eyes Below, which will be making its World Premier at Arrow FrightFest on Friday 26th August at 13:15hrs.
Q. Your film The Eyes Below has been selected to play at the Arrow FrightFest Film Festival. Can
you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. I hope you can expect a visual experience and a sort of strange rollercoaster: The idea of the film is
basically a long chase… with someone lying in his bed for the most part of the film, who is being
hunted by an enemy he can’t see! It is also an investigative thriller with twists and turns.
Q. What were some of your influences when writing the script for The Eyes Below?
A. The idea came from a painting by Ferdinand Hodler called The Night (we can see it in the movie)
and a Japanese legend called the Kurobozu. It’s a sort of black creature who comes in your bed to lick
your face and swallow your life. In the other hand, I had this idea of a realistic thriller set entirely in a
bed, but I decided to mix these two directions. Most of the time, the characters are imprisoned in their
bed by an explicable reason (look at Misery or Jessie). This time, it’s for an inexplicable reason
surrealist idea like Bunuel’s the Exterminating Angel… at least for a part of the story. You don’t know
why the character is trapped and you will discover the reason. The film as several twists so it would
be shame to tell more…
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. For this feature, the references were very varied. I think the films by Kaneto Shindo, especially
Kuroneko and Onnibaba are huge visual references (I have transformed a scream from Onibaba in
the soundtrack by the way). I love camera movements and The Eyes Below has no dialogue, so
everything is spoken by the images. The movements tell the story. In Shindo’s movies
it’s the same thing (look at The Naked Island!). Jean Cocteau was also a big reference to build the
ambience. The principal idea of the film was to transform a simple bed in a nightmarish place. Like
Cocteau’s movies, simple places or objects becomes oneiric. In The blood of a poet or the Beauty
and the beast, a simple corridor can be a world in itself, strange and full of danger. Another Japanese
movie called Kwaidan by the master Masaki Kobayashi was very important for the colours. This ghost
story, a Kaidan-eiga, was entirely shot in the studio, very stylized, with strong colours, Oranges, Yellow,
blue, and pure white on a big canvass. In the Eyes Below, you can’t understand the story without the
colours… the beginning is in a red-orange fireplace’s light and it slides to a dark-?blue monochrome…
but once again, I can’t tell more about it… Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci are also big references. The
Exorcist, of course, which is maybe my favourite film! I can also quote All is lost by J.C Chandor, a
wonderfully clever masterpiece.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. Yes, and if you can, I think it’s often a good thing! I have a strange working process. I write the script and, once it’s finished, I don’t look at it anymore. Then, I make a very precise storyboard of each movement, each cut… and then I don’t look at it during the shoot. At each step, I only have the souvenir of what I did previously so I have always a fresh view of the story. Ideas could come more easily with this way. I’ve made the editing, the music and the sound design of the film so it was very easy for me to take the decisions I wanted.: For example, the split screen sequence came during the editing. The enemy has changed during the shoot and some ideas came when I made the storyboard. I think it’s the good thing with very minimalist budgets, you have the ability to make the changes you want but in the other hand, you have to find a pragmatic solution to be able to make it.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. I think my favourite moments are the gothic sequences with the enemy. I truly love horror
movies, it’s my favourite genre, so making these sequences was absolutely exciting. The moment were
the enemy appears behind Eugène and its hands come from under his pyjama for example. I’m also
happy with the sequences in the sheets corridor. The idea was to build a nightmarish universe with
very simple tools. Long sheets with something behind it with forms, shadows, lights. Silent
movies where so inventive with these questions. Look at Dreyer’s Vampyr, it’s just some shadows on
a wall! it’s the most exciting part of filmmaking. The editing is also a part I love because you build the
structure.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. Well, it’s a cliché but when you’re making a film with barely no budget and a crew of three people, you have to expect some problems. But I had a wonderful crew! Vinicius Coelho who plays Eugène and Pauline Morel who plays the Enemy were absolutely outstanding. I can’t thank them enough for their work on the film. I wrote the script but Pauline had some of the best ideas for some sequences. She was also the first assistant and we made the set design together. I tried to make a strong preproduction. When I designed and built the set, I tried to manage all the technical problems. For example, we built ourselves a crane with a special head which allowed the camera to go absolutely everywhere. I also built a sort of rail on wheels to make some of the travelling. The bed itself had a huge structure with strings in order to go everywhere with the camera. I was the Director of Photography and cameraman on the film so it was very supportive: make the right light, then talk to Vinicius and after go behind the camera and make the shot… Covid was also a real pain because we had short days because of the curfew in France. But at the end, we made the film, from the first word on the script to the last cut in only eleven months. I have to say it was the best experience in my life with the first feature. I loved every step… and suffering with pleasure, I think it’s the goal!
Q. What makes The Eyes Below stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. I hope it will no sound pretencious but the goal of this film is to make a strong visual film using very simple tools and a very tiny starting point: a man goes to bed and we see what happens. The concept was basically to transform a place and boring situation in a weird and exciting nightmare. I don’t know if we reached the goal (I will see what the public at FrightFest will react) but it was the spirit of the project.
I hesitated to make a very violent, gory film but I finally thought that playing with the offscreen, the ambience and an immersive script would be better. So, don’t expect a lot of blood but more erected hairs on the legs!
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. To always check under their sheets before doing to bed! more seriously I hope that people will
plunged into the story like the main character. I decided to make a no dialogue film to let speak
the other aspect of filmmaking: the music for example which is hugely important in the impact of
each sequences. I like dialogue, but sometimes they are too present. I don’t think that you
necessarily have to built a character on what he says and feel, you can bring this information by
his actions and reactions. Once again, silent movies at their best always played with this
aspect because your camera, editing and music have always accurate to tell the right sentence.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. Yes, many projects but first of all, the Eyes Below and The Woman with Leopard Shoes are part of
a trilogy about thriller. The next film will be a paranoid thriller. It’s in hairsreproduction and I except to
shoot it at the end of the year. It’s called Cubng Point and it will tell the story of an editor, working
on a film who discover something in it… I have another project, I work on it for now ten years and it’s
now ready to be made! it’s not a big expensive movie at all but I can’t make it in the same conditions
as the trilogy. It’s a dream project with seven different versions of the script and hundred and
hundred of drawings. It’s about the disappearance of two women during a night… but, sorry again, it
would be a shame to go further!
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. I would say that the most important thing is to be able to control your project… But in the other
hand, all the challenge is to not waste your story because of a lack of money, or crew, or
connections… so, if I speak for me, the game in this fragile balance is: have a story in mind, write
it as you want, without restrain yourself by fear of being realistic, but always have in mind that
you will have to shoot it by yourself. We made The Eyes Below for 4000 euros… and in fact this
no budget process is the most exciting because you have to deal with real cinematic aspects of
filmmaking: the off-?screen, the practical effects, building clever sets and technical equipment
with just some pieces of wood and metal. More important, it’s the occasion to create your own
style. I know that it’s now very pretentious to speak about style but I think it’s the essence of
cinema: tell a story in a personal and stylized way. I’m an autodidact, I never went to a film school
and I never made any short films before The Woman with Leopard Shoes. These two features
were my school so in any case, it’s a fantastic journey to embark in and I can’t wait to continue
the adventure!
The Eyes Below will be playing at the Arrow FrightFest Film Festival on Friday 26th August at 13:15hrs.
You can find out more about the festival and purchase tickets here: https://www.frightfest.co.uk/
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!
