“Monsters” was a short film idea I started developing with the knowledge that I would be attending Crypticon Seattle in May 2015 and the knowledge that actors Sid Haig and Michael Berryman would be in attendance. The idea was to show them this concept poster on my iPhone and simply ask if making a short film with the pair of them was a possibility for an Australian film maker with no feature film credits or major public exposure to his name:p However I never finished the poster in time and it seemed like a moot point to ask them about it (Especially without a completed script to show them either). Kind of wish I had now.
The idea was to make an “anti-horror film”, in the sense that ordinarily a sensation of dread and a succession of gory, violent imagery is the driving force (for most fans, I think) behind seeing a horror film. The intention was to film and treat the violence in such a way that would inhibit that enjoyment. This was in part motivated by watching interviews where Berryman discusses his personal distaste for horror films and an attempt to do something different with the horror genre. I’m always trying to be different☺
Additionally a sense of spectatorship and audience complicity would pervade the film, in a similar fashion to the way Haneke explores violence. Overall this would serve as a comment on horror films and spectatorship in general: why the hell do we enjoy seeing people mutilated and horrific acts perpetuated on screen?
The corpses of a family would be planted inside a hotel room by the two leads, Earl (Haig) and Robyn (Berryman), who are also lovers. Haig would represent the conventional masculine archetype while Berryman would represent the traditional feminine archetype. Their “job” as it were, is to create violent murder scenes reminiscent of serial killers, with cadavers provided by a mysterious agency they work for. Once inside the designated locations, they arrange the corpses and mutilate them, removing trophies, severing limbs etc.
Earl and Robyn are disgusted by their work, but are bound to it by a mysterious sense of resignation, compelled by forces larger than themselves.
With the figures of Earl, Robyn and Duke, Robyn’s homeless lover, a wider implication is made on society: as a civilization we need the “other”, figures which become scapegoats for all our fears, all the violence and “weakness” we are unable to accept in ourselves. These figures also serve to remind us to be afraid, afraid of being marginalized, afraid of the violence we are capable of inflicting on each other. Society literally employs people like Earl, Robyn and Duke to remind individuals to comply with the laws of society, from legislative laws to social expectations.
Synopsis:
Monsters Earl and Robyn enter a Hotel Room carrying body bags containing cadavers. Earl deposits a woman in the bathroom and following instructions outlined in their brief, proceeds to crush her face and skull with his foot. This abuse of the cadaver’s face is depicted in close-up, clinical, unflinching detail.
In the main room and unbeknownst to Earl, Robyn is conducting an affair via phone with another male lover, Duke, arranging to meet with him having finally decided to leave Earl. The stress of work and Earl’s reluctance to discuss his feelings has been creating ongoing tensions in their relationship. Robyn intends to tell Earl at the end of their current assignment and then be picked up by Duke.
This subplot was intended to create a stronger narrative inside the film after reflecting that the only story being told originally was the destruction of corpses by two mysterious figures. There was no interesting tension or subtext going on between the two leads without it.
At one point, after disemboweling the woman whose skull he has crushed, Earl discovers she was pregnant. He is unable to continue and tears the bathroom apart in a rage. It falls to Robyn to talk him down and console him; Earl breaks down in Robyn’s arms and reminded of the man’s sensitivity and passion, Robyn is unable to tell Earl he intends to leave him.
Earl starts cleaning up in the bathroom and Robyn hurriedly rings Duke to call off their plans. Duke is furious and hangs up, leaving us uncertain if he will comply with Robyn’s request or no.
Earl and Robyn are preparing to leave, packing away the body bags and a varied assortment of knives and implements used to mutilate the cadavers. There is a knock at the door. It is Duke, a homeless man who travels in the same circles as Earl and Robyn.
Duke confronts Robyn, forcing him to make a choice between him and Earl. Robyn chooses Earl and Duke, devastated, leaves. Earl and Robyn leave in their panel van; Robyn’s duplicitous loyalty to Earl and admission of his affair filling the space between them with a mix of relief and unease.
