With the 2018 Atlanta Horror Film Festival kicking off today, there will plenty murder, fear and gore to witness during the three-day event. But what shouldn’t be overlooked is one other valuable component to the genre – comedy.
Director Nate Bakke is bringing that element in spades on Day 1 via his film Vinyl Destination, which airs during the “Killennials” short film block tonight at 7:30p.m. I spoke with Nate about the concept behind the film, if the Eagles’s music is really murder inducing, and what’s in store for the future.
What sparked your interest in making this film?
I always heard stories that if you played the Eagles record backwards you would hear hidden messages. I just thought it would be funny if we had our own record that would possess you and feed you messages from a demon.
That was the start. My writing partner Dan Cummings, and this is really weird, has a friend who can speak backward into a recorder. And then when he plays it backward it sounds like it’s going forward. [In the film] when the record is speaking, the actor who plays that part spoke everything backward then played it forward.
So yeah, knowing a guy who could do that is really what sparked the idea.
I am reading into this too much by the fact it’s an Eagles’ record that makes the characters do evil things?
[Laughs] No, there’s nothing into that. I love the Eagles!
When balancing horror and comedy, did you know from the beginning you wanted to lean more towards the comedy side?
We knew from the get-go it would be a comedy. I don’t know if I could make a true horror film, to be honest. I would definitely try it – I love the genre.
When I think of the horror films I used to watch like Scream, it’s actually really funny. There’s a natural comedy that comes out of the horror genre. I wouldn’t mind making a feature at all.
What other projects are in the pipeline?
I just directed a feature comedy called Man Camp. We just started submitting it to festivals.
It’s about three brothers who go up to the family cabin every summer to remember their Dad who passed when they were younger. This time they walk in on their Mom with a new guy. It kinda upsets them and they proceed to try and get rid of the new guy with silly pranks and what-not.
For those who will be seeing your work for the first time, what would you say is your overall approach to filmmaking?
I’m always looking for a seed, something to create out of real life. A little nugget from where I can imagine the world around it.
There’s an interesting short film by Spike Lee about how you see shoes up on telephone wires. He just imagined a story about how they got up there. I’d like to ask him one day what made him think about that. It goes back to taking that one real life thing and just expanding on it.
The Atlanta Horror Film Festival runs from Thursday October 25 through Saturday October 27.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 