By John Noonan
Sean Byrne’s last film was the prom-from-hell horror, The Loved Ones. His sophomore effort, The Devil’s Candy, is a darker, far more brooding affair that sees artist and metal fan, Jesse (Ethan Embry), and his family being hounded by Ray (Pruitt Taylor Vince), the previous occupant of their new home. To make matters worse, Jesse has begun to hear voices in the house…the same voices that encourage Ray to kill. FilmInk caught up with the extremely busy filmmaker at The Melbourne International Film Festival to talk Metallica and David Lynch.
It’s been six years since The Loved Ones; have you been focusing all your energies into The Devil’s Candy? “No. It was actually a happy accident that The Devil’s Candy ended up being the first project to go. It’s a bit of a cliché, but I got lost in development hell. After The Loved Ones, I got a US agent and manager, and the general school of thought is that you’re meant to have five projects on the go at once. So, I ended up trying to do that. I did two page-one rewrites for other companies, which took years out of my life. And those films didn’t end up getting off the ground! In the interim, I kept coming back to The Devil’s Candy. I just kept reshaping it, because the horror market kept changing during that time. It was like, ‘Right! It’s going to be more supernatural!’ [Laughs] And eventually that ended up being the project that landed first. And now I’ve completely rethought my career. I’m going to focus on my own work first and foremost. For me, more ends up being less. All those projects were moving forward at a snail’s pace. If I’m committed to one idea, and expending all my energy on that, then there’s that one percent difference hopefully.”
So, it gives you more control? “Yeah, absolutely. The big danger is that then the film doesn’t get up off the ground and I’ve wasted a few years trying to write something. I’m in that stage at the moment writing another script. It’s a spec script, so if it doesn’t sell, I’ll be like, ‘Well, I’ve fucked up! Should have had five jobs on the go!’ [Laughs]”
When you spoke to FilmInk about The Loved Ones, you mentioned how comedy can take over dark plot matter. The Devil’s Candy doesn’t have that problem. Were you always thinking that your next project would be darker? “It’s just horses for courses. The Devil’s Candy deals with children in peril. There wasn’t really much scope for levity. [Laughs] The Loved Ones is a slightly tongue in cheek slasher film. They’re very different sub-genres. If there was too much comedy in The Devil’s Candy, people would just go, ‘Oh, he’s really sick!’ There are just a few laughs within the family context, but I always prefer that anyway. Even in The Loved Ones, the comedy was situational. I kept asking myself, ‘Yes, this is funny. Yes, it’s completely absurd, but is it authentic and in the moment?’ With horror comedies, it’s a difficult line to tread, and if you want to be comedy first and foremost, then the horror gets diluted.”
In The Devil’s Candy, you’re touching upon Satanism and heavy metal music. You must have wanted to keep the film grounded so it didn’t go into parody territory. “Absolutely. Most horror films that depict heavy metal characters treat them as buffoons. So, I was very wary of that and I wanted to show a genuine alternative family. The music that this family listens to, particularly the father and his daughter, and the way that they dress, is a genuine reflection of them! You can be an adult that loves metal, and you can love your daughter. It doesn’t have to be Spinal Tap.”
What’s your relationship with metal growing up, and how has that influenced the film? “I’ve always loved metal. My circle of friends has always been into metal. We would regularly have metal nights where if anyone played anything non-metal, you were ejected. [Laughs] I love it. Musically, it’s so complex. And emotionally, it’s so driving and heroic and determined. Cinematically, it’s very intense; it’s just under-utilised. It can propel a narrative forward. And I try to think about that when it comes to song choices. Rather than just imposing songs on a film because they might be popular, I think about how they advance the narrative.”
And the sound itself is such an important part of the film… “I wanted to create the feeling that Hell was rising; aurally as much as visually. Possibly even more! And [metal band] Sunn O))), who provide the voice of The Devil [in the film], are the best exponents of doom metal at the moment. There is no other music that scares me like their music. I was inspired by the Gregorian chant in The Omen. It was a case of, that was the ‘70s, what’s the modern equivalent of that, which is genuinely terrifying? And I couldn’t look past Sunn O))). I also wanted to create that sense of dread closing in. I’m a huge David Lynch fan, and what his films do so well is that you slide from an objective, naturalistic world into something more subterranean. The soundscape plays such a huge part in his dreamscapes, where the literal sounds of the real world slide away and, before you know it, you’re in a nightmare. That’s fun; expressionism is much more playful.”
The film ends with “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Metallica; were they easy to approach? “Getting Metallica was a miracle. I always write song choices into my scripts. The producers read the script and they were like, ‘Well, you’re not going to get any of these!’ Then a funny thing happened. Our producer, Keith Calder’s father used to own Jive Records. Because he had risen through the ranks with Metallica’s manager, they formed a friendship. So Keith asked his dad to get in contact with him. Metallica’s manager said that they’d have to see the film, so we sent them a fine cut. They really liked the film. It is a bit of a love letter to [Metallica guitarist] Kirk Hammett, so it’s no wonder. [Laughs] Anyway, they loved the film and gave the song to us at an absolute steal. Once we had the ‘Beatles of metal’, we got Queens Of The Stone Age, Slayer, Pantera, and Spiderbait; none of these bands could ask for anything more than Metallica. So, I got all my number one choices. I’m convinced that it’s the highest profile list of bands on an independent film.”
It must be a case of them appreciating the work ethic of putting something out there. “I find it really inspiring. They’re obviously not greedy, and they appreciate the underdog. They provided four of their classic tracks to Hesher [Spencer Susser’s 2010 film] for nothing. And they provided music for free for the Memphis Three documentaries. So, they definitely have a social conscience. I love the fact that they help the little guy out.”
You have a fantastic cast, but Pruitt Taylor Vince stands out. He could have quite easily just been an overtly theatrical bad guy. Were you always clear about how his character should be portrayed? “I’m not a fan of the one-dimensional villain. The worst thing that any actor, as an antagonist or protagonist, can do is put a label on themselves. To only play the character ‘angry’, for instance. It’s not realistic. You need an actor who is brave enough to break it down and play the man, rather than the monster. It is quite an empathetic performance because this guy is basically being assaulted by voices. And you don’t know whether they’re real or a product of a mental illness. So, he’s a victim, in a way. I find that far more interesting if you have a genuine relationship with the villain. Then the character is more relatable and, by association, you’re much closer to the evil. That’s why Hannibal Lecter lives on in people’s imagination. You get to know him as a man. That’s very different to Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger.”
Is there anything that you learned from The Loved Ones that you brought over to The Devil’s Candy? “The main thing that I’ve learned is that I can get to the end of a feature and not die, which is encouraging [Laughs]. In all seriousness though, it is a marathon, and not a race. And I was so stressed on The Loved Ones, just because the shoot was so short. There is a tendency not to take a breath, and if you’re not stopping, then opportunities can slip by. So I try to remind myself to just be in the moment. The Devil’s Candy was a similar schedule to The Loved Ones, but I also tried to prioritise and not waste any moments. If anything, I just wanted to be calmer.”
The Devil’s Candy plays at The Melbourne International Film Festival on August 12. To buy tickets to The Devil’s Candy, head to the official website.
Saw this film last night at Miff, i loved it! Hopefully it doesn’t take another 5 years to see a new film from this guy.