by Reuben Stojanovic-Rowe
Starting a Zoom Call with “Are we recording?” seems rather ironic when talking about a found-footage horror film with the talented duo responsible for it, but here we are.
Following his well-received film After She Died (2022), Puzzle Box is Jack Dignan’s attempt to bring back a genre that sparked his love of films.
“I grew up when found footage really took off with the Paranormal Activity films and seemingly, every horror film coming out for a few years,” admits Dignan. “It was a shame to see this sub-genre fizzle out and disappear.”
It was only an amount of time for it to make a resurgence and Dignan was there to contribute his take.
“There’s an audience for it again. The new V/H/S/ movies, Skinamarink. I asked myself if I was going to make my own found footage film, what would it be like?”
Development of the film was incredibly quick, with Dignan recalling that the concept for Puzzle Box came about only late last year.
“I came up with the idea in November. And then we pitched it around December. Started shooting in March. It was always intended to be a character-piece about these two sisters [Kait and Olivia]; what they were going through, what they were struggling with. Once we laid it all out on the table, it just spiralled into this weird, scary, surreal nightmare.”
For inspiration, Dignan looked back at the classics. “We screened Blair Witch the night before shooting started. Just to get into the creative flow for this film.” Another source was the 2007 Spanish found footage horror [REC]. “[That’s] A huge inspiration that starts similarly to this film. People in rooms, lots of natural lighting, the light on-top of the camera leading the way. And the use of night-vision. I love that film.”
Lead actress Kaitlyn Boyé, who plays protagonist Kait [below] willingly accepted the part, professing her love for the genre and getting the chance to work with Dignan. “The creativity that comes with this genre got me so excited and it’s so rare to get an opportunity like this as an actor. Just having that freedom and creative control. Being given the camera and all the movement and improvisation behind it. It’s such a special genre to play with and Jack was just someone I was very keen to work alongside.”
Puzzle Box certainly lives up to its title, constantly curve-balling the audience’s expectations with an array of twists and surprises. For Dignan, it was always the intention to make it a slow-burn mystery.
“It was a loose narrative from the get-go. Despite having a finished script, it was constantly evolving up to the day of shooting and yes, even during. While the general structure was the same, we were still figuring out different pieces. The ending, I believe changed four or five times.”
This loose approach would carry into the performance capture as well, with Boyé [left] voicing her excitement of the hands-on experience.
“The shoot was really run-and-gun; going for multiple-minute takes. It was a real challenge shooting in the dark with just a camcorder, where my only vision was in the little viewfinder. That house was pitch black. There were three flights of stairs that we had to run up-and-down multiple times. Not knowing where [co-star] Cassandre [Girard] was hiding to chase me.”
Girard [below] plays the screaming monster of the film, who chases Boyé around the house. Dignan confirms that all the horrific screams in the film were done by the actress.
“Yeah, that was Cass [bottom] screaming. She recorded all her screams ADR in a studio at a later date. On the day, she would mimic screams by doing a hiss, which was very unsettling. The sound designer was very unnerved by it. There’s an entire 2-hour library of screaming sound from Cass on a USB somewhere, which were brilliantly placed throughout the film by our great post-production sound team. She definitely sacrificed her vocal chords for this film.”
“My screams were all done on-set,” Boyé admits and laughs about. Dignan confirms: “Yes, even when she wasn’t told to.”
Along with taking on this physical shoot, Boyé also carried the extra responsibility of this being her first lead in a horror film, following supporting roles in The Furies and the two Skinford films.
“It was really confronting,” she admits. “In other horror roles I’ve been in, they were supporting characters who get killed off [laughs]. Which, don’t get me wrong, is always so much fun to do. But this was the first time I got the perspective of playing someone in the lead. It’s admitting to yourself that everything is happening to you in the narrative. So, it was surprisingly emotional to deal with that and balance that on-set. And I found that was so fascinating navigating that space.”
For Dignan [left], he couldn’t have been prouder of the results. “I trusted the actors a lot. And Kait was just fantastic. You know, it’s such a different way to shoot. You block out the scene, talk through the general movements, camera angles and then you leave it to the actors to essentially take charge of shooting. But everyone was just fantastic. They knew exactly what the film needed to be. They always brought something extra to the table that I didn’t even think about.”
Like any good horror film set, Boyé admits that the Puzzle Box set saw its fair share of eerie atmosphere. “We made that house haunted [laughs]! As the shoot went on, some of the corners of the house just felt a little creepier. Bringing in a lot of strange energy for sure.” Dignan didn’t seem to mind going to the extent of staying at the ‘haunted’ location over the weekend shooting b-roll alone to provide some “connective tissue between scenes.”
Reflecting back on the experience, it is evident that both Boyé and Dignan took a lot from the process that has helped them form artistically. Boyé is thankful for the challenges that she faced and says she would collaborate with Dignan again in a heartbeat.
“I learned so much from the making of this film. It redefined my entire approach to acting and filmmaking in general. I am constantly inspired by Jack, who has such wonderful creative energy to be around. To have that trust in Jack and with such a passionate crew… It goes to show that if you have a good story and people who are passionate to make it with you, it will turn into something really special. And even now, I’m still reflecting on the experience.”
Even for Dignan, who started working in the industry from a young age and has experience on high-budget film sets such as Marvel Studio’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and George Miller’s upcoming Mad Max prequel Furiosa, he seems grateful for the journey he has undergone as a filmmaker.
“I think there have been two different points in my life where I sat back and went, ‘Oh, that’s how you make a movie’. They were the first day I worked on Shang-Chi and then when I went to make my first film After She Died. You come out of film school, having done all these short films with your buddies and you step foot on a professional set, where there’s hundreds of people and millions of dollars of gear around you. And you immediately tell yourself, ‘Yeah, I get it now’. And then going into After She Died, I was slapped in the face with, ‘Oh, I don’t know actually how to make a movie’. You have to be always willing to learn. And even on this second feature, Puzzle Box, I was learning so much that I am going to take away. It’s such a generic thing to say, but you just have to push yourself. The more you do, the more you learn. I have so many ideas bottled up and the experience making Puzzle Box will definitely help me realise these ideas.
“I think it’s just a very exciting time to be in horror,” he continues. “Horror has always been a reflection of the world, of our fears and our personal failures. So, it’s never going to go away. There is some really creative movies coming out of Australia,. You have the recent Talk To Me, which was fantastic. Australian director James Wan came out with Malignant, which is one of the most batshit insane things I’ve seen in my entire life.”
“Yeah, so many exciting new voices coming out and redefining the genre in so many different ways,” Boyé adds. “I adore Jennifer Kent and the work she did on The Babadook. I really feel blessed to work in this genre now.”
Puzzle Box is available on Digital from 18 April 2025
