Film Name: Magenta House
Directors: Z.G. Taylor, Freddie Skerritt, Jake Bebbington
Writer: Z.G. Taylor, Freddie Skerritt, Jake Bebbington
Executive Producer: Bill Ross
Starring: Neil Duffield, Ellie Medlock
Three patients escape from an experimental facility, what will happen to the world around them?
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds, I got the chance to ask Co-Writer-Director Z.G. Taylor a few questions about the segment of Magenta House – Dualitas Hominis which will have its World Premiere at The Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on Sunday 25th January at 09:30hrs.
Q. You Directed the segment ‘Dualitas Hominis’ as part of the feature film Magenta House which has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect from your segment?
A. you can all expect lots of twists, turns and tensions (accompanied by an uncomfortable writhing within your seats that you can’t quite place the reason for!).
Q. In addition to directing you also wrote the segment. What were your inspirations when writing the script?
A. Whilst writing the overarching narrative for Magenta House, it was more a case of genre rather than specific, citable examples. The premise of all pieces was to tap into various sub-genres of horror itself, with Dualitas Hominis leaning heavily into the aspect of Psychological Horror.
Q. Did you have any of the cast in mind for the characters when writing the script?
A. Neil was the one. From the minute I set eyes on him I was like “this is him! This is the guy!”. He’s quite an extraordinarily tall man and coupling this with the height difference in Ellie (plus the small nature of our shooting location) this all comes together to generate a sense of claustrophobia that I really don’t believe would have been possible without him.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. drawing a similar contrast with inspiration, I’ve always been a big believer of thinking for yourself, letting your own imagination take the reins and experimenting with your own ideas and how you want your shots and narratives to look rather than allowing yourself to be driven solely by certain projects that made you want to create something in the first place; it’s all about finding your own voice, and hoping that your audience at least understands what you’re trying to say, even if they may not like how it sounds.
However, I still can’t help but let a little Lynchian bleed to the surface here and there throughout! If I had to choose an inspiration (gun to the head style) then, yeah, David Lynch for sure.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. I think for me, my favourite part was to see the shift in attitude of everyone involved in the project when people started realising that this isn’t just a bit of fun over the summer but genuinely shaping up to become something just that little bit more.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. one major issue than I can laugh about now but was detrimental at the time was an on-set migraine that descended on the most important day of shooting that I had for the location I was using (luckily I was allowed to return the following morning with a smaller skeleton crew to do a few reshoots) but I honestly thought I’d blown it for all of us for a second there!.
Q. What makes Magenta House stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. Magenta House isn’t a carbon copy. It’s not a direct clone of something we’ve seen on our screens before, or a rehash of something we think might be so under the radar that no one will clock it; to me, it’s a reflection of our own experimentations and a love letter to the sorts of stories we all want to tell and how we want it to be seen in turn.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. I hope that people walk away with more questions than answers. I hope they muse upon motivations, weigh decisions and truly consider what really makes someone “good” or “evil”.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. Yes! For those of you interested in comic books and graphic novels, head over to asapimagination.com and search for “Red and Brown’ – it’s the first of a four-issue limited series (brought to you via a wonderful small-press publisher) about a man named Gideon Streznik, who lives his life in the wake of a mistrial and has his faith tested further when he is called to a local hospice to hear the confession of a woman who murdered a man some twenty years prior.
Q. If someone was looking to direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. if somebody were to consider directing their own project, I’d boil it down to this:
- Consider the logistics
- Ensure that it’s structured
- Have the courage to get up and scream into the void
Magenta House which will have its World Premiere at The Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on Sunday 25th January at 09:30hrs.
You can find out more about Magenta House and purchase tickets for the film 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!
