Film Name: Set Menu
Director: Denim Candenza
Writer: Denim Candenza
Starring: Marcos Gonzalez, Ruben di Groovie, Pablo Fontenla, Érika Lewis, Diego
“Mina” Botieso Churrasco or stew?
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds, I got a chance to ask Writer-Director Denim Candenza a few questions about the film ‘Set Menu‘, which has been selected to play at Horror-on-Sea on Sunday, 25th January at 20:00hrs.
Q. Your film Set Menu has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect?
The Horror-on Sea public will encounter horror and comedy seasoned with a dash of gore. We hope the audience will be equally traumatized and amazed.
Q. What were your inspirations when writing the script?
A. Well, we just fantasize about saying the most inappropriate thing in the less appropriate scenario. That turns us on. Also, Miriam works at the GFFF (Galician Freaky Film Festival), so we created the kind of short film we’ d love to see in this event.
Q. Did you have any of the cast in mind for the characters when writing the script?
A. To be honest, no, but now we can’t imagine this story with another cast. Specially Pablo Fontenla, this guy took his character to another level. That was epic.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. Many of the influences are unconscious, as a result of all the movies we have seen. Despite of that, we have two moments which are deliberately based on a specific scene: the entrance of cousin Ramiro is based on Inglorious Basterds (2009) Bear Jew and we also took the concept of Pearl’s ending credits to make ours.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. The melodies that sing cousin Ramiro were an idea of Pablo Fontenla and María Gutiérrez (the makeup artist). If you’re curious about it, La fiesta de los maniquíes (Mannequin Party) is a Spanish song from de eighties composed by a band from our city, Vigo, called Golpes Bajos.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. We were really tired at the night of the second day cause we had been working for so many ours. The team was exhausted but, suddenly, it was time for the bloody scenes and everybody become really excited with the idea of shooting it.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. Luckily not. We can say there were no incidences.
Q. What makes Set Menu stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. Maybe the crazy comedy. We are great fans of Sam Raimi’s saga Evil Dead (1981) and admire the capability of mixing both horror and laughs. It’s not easy because it may happen that one of the ingredients doesn’t work. So, we haven’t created anything new, but perhaps this short of idea and tone is not the most common one in the genre.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. We hope to give them a good memory each time they check a restaurant’s menu.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. We’re working with our mate Josiño Araujo on a documentary about Luis Barboo: a Spanish secondary actor and stuntman, born in our hometown, who worked with big stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Clint Eastwood, Sean Connery, Kirk Douglas and many more.
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. The best film school in the world is watching films, so watch as much as you can. Also make a team of nice people full of enthusiasm. (and if they have good skills, it’s even better).
Set Menu will be playing at Horror-on-Sea on Sunday 25th January at 20:00hrs.
You can find out more about the film on Instagram here.
You can find out more about Horror-on-Sea and purchase tickets the Set Menu 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!
