Film Name: Hi-Fear
Directors: Anthony Catanes, Tim Ritter, Todd Sheets, Brad Sykes
Writers: Anthony Catanese, Tim Ritter, Todd Sheets, Brad Sykes, Josephina Sykes
Starring: Geoff Allen, Sheila Brandon Allen, Raven Black, P.J. Brescia, Brandon E. Brooks
What’s your greatest fear? That’s the question posed to ambitious young illustrator Natalie, who is
forced to create four of the most terrifying stories imaginable for the new comic book “Hi-Fear”. In
“Losing it at the Devil’s Whorehouse”, some unlucky lads out for a night of fun run afoul of a den of
sin that just might cost them their lives. A cop and a televangelist commit the perfect murder in
“When Shadows Come Alive” only to find themselves stranded in the woods with a family of
cannibals.” “The Streets are Watching” follows a homeless youth through an all-night urban odyssey
as she tries to escape from a demon-possessed madman. Finally, “Day out of Days” concerns three
isolated film crew members who find themselves at the center of an apocalyptic invasion. With each
tale more twisted than the last, “Hi-Fear” is a frightening finale to the “Hi-8” trilogy.
Following its recent selection at Horror-on-Sea, I got a chance to ask co-writer/director a few questions about the horror movie Hi-Fear.
Q. Your film ‘Hi-Fear’ has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us
what we can expect from the film?
A. First I would like to express our gratitude for being part of Horror-on-Sea Film Festival, 10 th
edition! It is a festival that gives a voice to real independent horror movies and this is very rare, so
thanks for being included!
“Hi-Fear” has a bit for every horror fan out there: a comic book inspired story, a segment that hints
at 80s horror comedies with lots of guts and gore, an Abel Ferrara kind of urban tale with a fantasy
oriented twist, a parody of of a killer priest mixed with cannibal rednecks in the woods and a sci-fi
tale of a film crew on a movie location invaded by an alien force! We offer various genres and
subgenres in one movie! It will be a fun, scary ride, so yes, be very afraid!
Q. What were some of your influences when writing the script for the segment “Day Out of Days”
plus the wraparound “What Are you Afraid of?”, and what was the process for working with co-
writer Brad Sykes?
A. We love writing and creating together, it is a dream come true for us as partners in life and work.
We are also realistic and know each other’s strengths so we take advantage of that, keeping our
egos in check, always trying to put the story first, not who’s idea is better. We try not to have a lot of
influences because we try to always come up with original stories and fresh ideas, but as a general
vibe for “Day Out of Days” we watched Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia” for the tone we were trying to
create and Brit Marling’s “Another Earth”. And speaking of Ferrara, “4:44 Last Day on Earth” was a
good model of how you can make an interesting, low-budget original movie about the end of the
world.
For the wraparound we thought of “Creepshow”, an obvious model, as a general tone, but not to try
to copy it, just homage it and create a different story. So, we came up with the character and
situations and wrote around some filming locations because we shot it during the pandemic so we
were trying to shoot outdoors, in the city, in the North Hollywood area. We were trying to find a safe
way to shoot the story and not change or compromise it. Luckily, it worked!
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. Every segment has a different style and various influences since it is a horror anthology and every
director has creative freedom. But everyone has a different style, makes a different type of horror
and that’s what Brad and I want, a variety of storytelling and visual filmmaking. Also, the directors
that contributed to our previous anthologies wanted to contribute a different idea, make something
else than the previous one, explore a new concept. The unifying link was the theme (we always have
one on these series of anthologies) and this time around it was: “What Are You Afraid Of?” so we
encouraged every filmmaker that contributed on this one to explore their inner fears. Every segment
has a different style and look, we have a bit of everything fear wise!
Q. Where there any changes from your original script during filming?
A. Not so many changes, everyone shot the original script, nothing crazy from that point of view. For
the wraparound we had to adapt to the realities of shooting during the pandemic. We usually shoot
the wraparound last after everyone finished their segments so that we can see them and create a
link between them and the wraparound segment. Initially, we wanted to shoot the wraparound in
downtown Los Angeles with extras with Special FX Make-up on. Because of the pandemic, we
changed the location with other urban spaces but in our area so we can go here and there and do
more 2 nd unit shots and used VFX instead of practical FX Make-up, which we prefer but it was safer
to go with VFX. No extras, just whoever was passing by and Brad and I playing joggers (we’re not
hams but it was hard to get extras during the pandemic in Nov. 2020, we shot between lockdowns)
and got VFX added on us. So, a bit of fun trivia.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. It is always a great experience to see your script coming out to life so every day was special to me.
I loved the crew and their spirit, everyone worked so well together. Seeing Brad working with
Salvatore, our Director of Photography was a joy. In the script, the light changes (we’re dealing with
climate change) so it stays light later and later. I loved the lighting we were creating, since it was a
challenge to accomplish that and preserve it continuity wise.
One of my favourite moments was shooting the ending of “Day Out of Days” on location, the actor,
Patrick was running, getting in the car, leaving the house, and the camera was passed from our
Assistant Camera to our DP, in a seamless way, it created a nice shot, long take that I love. In
general, we had fun since we shot and lived for 4 days in a remote cabin, 1 hour and a half away
from Los Angeles (luckily we shot it at the end of 2019) and each night we had dinner together and
talked about movies, so we had a nice group!
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. No major issues except the place was supposed to be quiet, isolated, that’s why we picked it, ideal
for the story, a remote mountain small town. But once we got on location, we started to hear
chainsaws in the distance, they were cutting trees further away, so that created noise, sound issues
that we had to fix in post. Luckily, Robert, our sound mixer on set was great and tried his best during the circumstances and Brad was experienced to record the lines separately also, just in case. But that
was it, which is lucky.
Q. This is the third film in the ‘Hi-’ series which brings together a collective of indie horror writer-
directors. How did the original idea for the series come about and can we expect any more films in
the series?
A. It started back in 2013 when Brad had “The Pact” released professionally, a movie he shot in
college on Hi-8 with friends. The dialogue continued on Facebook with Tim Ritter and other
filmmakers reminiscing about how fun it was to make movies with friends back in the day. So we
decided to make one similar, with a few people and a camera, but use the professional experience.
Keep the spirit and the creativity and shoot on an analog format (some actually did shoot on Hi-8).
So we invited 8 horror directors to shoot 8 segments, that is how :”Hi-8” aka “Horror Independent 8”
was born. It was well received in the indie circuit, festivals, press, so we felt like we should do a
sequel, “Hi-Death” was born, this time we decided to shoot on HD and have “death” as a theme.
After that, we were asked why not have a trilogy, make one more. So, we started “Hi-Fear”. We
wanted everyone of them to different but they also have small links to each other, like Easter eggs, if
you watch them, you will find them, if not, it is OK. “Hi-Fear” is the last one, making horror anthology
is very hard, we started working long-distance before that was popular (every director lives in a
different state) and it is really hard. But we enjoyed making these movies and meeting a lot of
people in the process, it’s been fun!
Q. Hi-Fear brings some new and returning directors to the series. What was the process when
selected what director to bring into the series?
A. As the series progress, we have longer segments, so we can’t invite as many directors back. On
“Hi-Fear” we have Brad, Tim and Todd that contributed to “Hi-8” and “Hi-Death”, the original
directors and Anthony Catanese who did a very nice segment for “Hi-Death”. It depends on various
factors, how we worked with each director, past experiences, if they are available, etc. In this case,
we became friends with everybody so it is like a small family, our horror family.
Q. What makes ‘Hi-Fear’ stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. It is a true independent horror movie! The stories are very original and unique, the tone is
different. It is diverse, edgy, envelope pushing – on a story level and on the gory side!
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. To enjoy it! We also hope to create a conversation, see what segments people like and why, what
resonated with everyone. We’d love to hear from the fans!
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. We always work on various projects, right now we are working on the release of “Hi-Fear” (just
finished an EPK for the DVD) in USA, and revise a script that we’d like to shoot next year. And a few
extras for re-releases of some of our earlier work, shhh!!!
Q. If someone was looking to get into filmmaking, what advice would you give them?
A. If you can, go to film school to learn the basics and meet like-minded people. Watch movies, try to
work on professional sets to learn and make shorts. Just go for it, don’t overthink it, pick up a
camera, a few friends and shoot a story. Learn from your mistakes and experiences and keep going.
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!
