Updating the slasher is difficult. A subgenre entirely of its time, from politics to values, most modern gos simply attempt a throwback, either via period piece or overt homage; never mind the fact that the majority of golden age entries werent all that terrifically made in the first place. Director Trevor Matthews (who starred as the titular Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer) makes an earnest effort in Girl House however, embracing an internet age and even defying that its concept seems ripe for found footage.
In Girl House, as an attempt to make some extra cash while away at College, Kylie moves into a house that streams content to an X-rated website. After a deranged fan hacks in to determine the house’s location, she finds herself in a terrifying fight for her life.
Shock shared some brief words with Matthews on the film, now available on VOD from eOne.
Shock Till You Drop: Your slasher isnt so much interested in being a throwback. Its firmly set in the now.
Trevor Matthews: Yeah, thats right. We were trying to make kind of a classic slasher feel, but it was certainly meant for a contemporary audience and set in kind of this digital era that we currently reside in. So, it follows kind of a classic slasher structure in a slow burn approach. It was actually pretty similarly modeled to the original Halloween as far as screenplay structure. We almost kind of coined it as a slasher film for the digital era.
Shock: How did you arrive the Girl House concept?
Matthews: We actually came up with the Girl House concept and the Cam Girl idea first, and thought thats just an amazing setting for a slasher film. The more we talked about it, we hadnt seen that done before. It felt really fresh and original. I loved the idea of integrating all of these different camera angles, with iPhones and laptops and security camera, and of course the A camera telling the story. It had tons of opportunities for unique independent filmmaking.
Shock: Theres a long history of slashers reinforcing conservative values and punishing sexual activity. How did you want to approach that?
Matthews: I think that the story is kind of a cautionary tale against being too liberal with your identity. With Facebook and all the other social media available today, everyones posting all of their personal information online. At the heart of it, this was kind of a worst case scenario with being too liberal with all of the information. Not everyone out there receiving this information is so nice. They can be obsessive. Theres plenty of examples of stalkers and those type of people. We were kind of telling the cautionary tale of the innocent heroine treading lightly into this world.
