After accidentally killing his lead star, a has-been hollywood producer turns to an ancient herbal elixir, in the hope that it will save his career. He makes a dark deal that unleashes a band of bloodthirsty, shape-shifting, ferocious beasts on LA.
This is the premise of Beast Mode, a fun horror comedy anchored by a strong veteran cast currently available On Demand. If you are in the mood for a good 80’s throwback creature feature, you should definitely check it out.
We recently spoke with directors Chris W. Freeman and Spain Willingham about the film.
The film has a surprising amount of humor to balance out the horror. Was it always in the script or did it evolve during shooting?
CHRIS: Well, we certainly went into it trying to strike the right balance. Things quickly change once talented actors start improvising and the blood starts flowing on set. In those moments, it was like everyone wanted to get their hands dirty and join us on the lower deck. I like to make Titanic references. Some of my favorite moments in the film, and maybe some of funniest ones, evolved in an organic way on set.
SPAIN: It was mostly there in the script, but on the day of shooting we may have had a fun idea or two that we would also shoot and then use the funniest take in editing.
The story can be seen as an allegory on the dangers of fame and of Hollywood? How much of the story and characters are based on real life?
CHRIS: There are certainly exaggerated versions of people from my real-life walking around on the screen in Beast Mode. Hollywood is wonderful, but fickle and as George Burns said, “a hideous bitch goddess.” Personally, I think it’s hilarious how uninviting the industry can be to an outsider and I took quite a bit of inspiration and joy poking fun at experiences from my time as an assistant on Michael Mann and Tim Burton movies.
SPAIN: I think a lot of it was based on the real life horror stories you would read about more so in the 80s and 90s about the bad boy actors that would trash hotels and just be complete A-Holes after a little fame, it was sad but at the same time hilarious at times, so that was some of the basic inspiration for some of the characters.
The film has an 80s throwback tone and style. Are there any particular films that influenced you?
CHRIS: Raimi’s Evil Dead films had a profound impact on me in the 80s and I wore out VHS tapes of John Carpenter’s The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China. On the comedy front, I loved the absurdity of the Police Academy films, and 80s movies in general that seemed to be wholly aware of what they were.
SPAIN: Frank Henenlotter is one of my favorite Directors from that era, his movies like Frankenhooker, Brain Damage and the Basket Case Trilogy really affected me, as well as the films of David Cronenberg, Stuart Gordon and David Lynch. But I’m also a massive fan of the more traditional crew like John Carpenter, Wes Craven, George Romero and Tobe Hooper. I was obsessed with their work growing up, and still am!
One of the strengths of the film is the veteran cast such as C. Thomas Howell, James Hong and Ray Wise? How did they become involved in the project?
CHRIS: I found myself asking the very same question every day on set. I directed C. Thomas Howell on another film and was blown away with his commitment to the role. I was sold. We wrote the lead role for him specifically and once he agreed to join us, we kept writing roles for some of our favorite actors. Directing names like: Ray Wise, Leslie Easterbrook, James Hong, James Duval and Robert Costanzo was a bucket-list moment. We were blessed and shocked to have them all together in our film.
SPAIN: Like Chris can tell you, they didn’t do it for the payday ha! In all seriousness they each really loved the script and the character they got to play. They don’t do indie movies all the time really so it has to be something unique, and they thought this would be a fun one to do, and we had a blast making it with those Legends of the Screen!
Did COVID affect the film’s production at all?
SPAIN: No, we have been wrapped for some time, we actually took it on the road last year and then decided to release it in 2020. It would have been a bummer had it affected the release but we are so excited it’s finally out for everyone to watch.
What other challenges did you face during production?
CHRIS: Extortion. Theft. Threats. Ya know, the usual. Shooting in LA is awesome, but folks are savvy there. They know if they make noise while you’re filming you will pay them to go away. Stuff like that. It was pretty tricky shooting James Duval as two characters and having him punch himself in the shot too. It was a really tough but rewarding production in every way imaginable.
SPAIN: We had a few pick-ups to shoot, so getting the cast and crew back together again took some scheduling, but we managed to get it all in the can, even if it took a little longer than planned.
Through the strong use of actual locations, Hollywood is another character? How were the various locations chosen? Were there locations that you wanted to use but could not?
CHRIS: Hollywood had to be a character in this film. It’s a beautiful and complicated place. We were very intentional in shooting both The Valley and Hollywood proper, because they carry such contradicting images. Like “below” and “above the line”. There’s also this seediness and splendor to both and we wanted to celebrate that with palm trees, the Walk of Fame, Hollywood nights, but also sex shops, nail salons, storage unit hell and of course, wrap parties and star trailers everywhere. We had plenty of shots we had to cut too, but we always planned on featuring the city and, not to be too corny, but when I take a step back and see how the world has changed in 2020, I am grateful to have shot this film in Hollywood and took that a bit for granted during the hectic nights of the shoot.
SPAIN: Shooting in Hollywood was a dream, because we never had to dress up the background to give it that Hollywood look, and shooting on the actual Walk of Fame was really cool because it’s the kind of landmark pretty much everyone knows – we had a ton of fun getting to shoot this movie all throughout Hollywood.
I liked how each actor’s beast was slightly different. Who did the make-up? Was it all practical or was it enhanced by CGI? The kills were effective without being overly gory.
SPAIN: Thanks so much, we tried to be over the top but not so gratuitous that it was off putting – Julie Hapney was in charge of all things Makeup/Gore/Effects and it was Brian Wade who created the look of our monsters, he made a very unique “Beast” for us and we definitely want to work with Brian again, no question! It was around 85 to 90% practical, and some of the VFX/CGI was just to touch up – we are huge fans of practical makeup and would love to go a bit more extreme if we are lucky enough to do a follow up.
I noticed the 3 different people were involved in creating the music for the film. How did that come about?
CHRIS: Like Spain said, there were a few different tones (horror, comedy, fantasy) we wanted to achieve and we needed to bridge gaps between 80s synth pop, ELO-esque stuff with modern electronica as well as traditional percussion, drums, organic stuff when the cream is involved in scenes. Paul Cristo nailed the comedy and 80s vibe. The rest of us added some horror cues and it was fun contributing to that, especially at the climax when the beasts fight.
SPAIN: Well, we just felt it would be too daunting for one person to score the entire thing, so we felt like breaking it up and letting a few different composers try out different moments might be fun, and it actually worked out really well in the end.
Is there anything else about the production that you would like to highlight?
CHRIS: We would never have achieved this without the help of a fantastic LA crew and an amazing DP, Matt Ryan. Color was very important to us and Matt made sure we stayed on point. Horror sound is difficult too, especially in a monster movie and Juniper Post carried the water for us on that. And our Executive Producers like Sudhir Dubey, Robert Lutz and Michael Yopko stood by the project and believed in it all the way. There are many times when that is not the case, and just like in Beast Mode, EPs have no clue what they are doing and only care about one thing.
SPAIN: I think after we wrapped and we were transitioning to Post-Production, when we started to watch the footage and started getting the first teaser out, we were seeing what we captured and it was then that we knew we made something really fun. It can be a hard thing to capture a balance of comedy and thrills, and I think you can tell we had a blast making it – but it was really special when we first started to watch scenes being put together.
What are the plans for the film?
SPAIN: We did a nice amount of film festivals, and now the film is out – Feels so good! We really hope people love it, or at least get it. We feel right now people could use a laugh, and we think if you give Beast Mode a shot you’ll share some laughs with some friends, and that’s super important in these crazy times!
CHRIS: We hope to get the word out and see how fans of the 80s feel about it. And we are planning a sequel: Beast Mode Too. Here’s hoping we get the opportunity to make it!
Beast Mode is currently available On Demand (Check with your local cable provider) and on streaming services such as Amazon Prime and Google Play.