Multi-hyphenate artist Tara Subkoff on the influences and art of her first film, #HORROR.
This writer has been raving about the arthouse horror gem #HORROR for weeks both here and elsewhere with full knowledge that it wont speak to all of our readers. Because #HORROR is not a conventional horror film. Its strange, meandering, arch, often austere and restrained and relies heavily on a contemporary social trend to hammer home its points. Less a movie than a theatrical art installation designed to affect its audience in weird ways.
And we can credit visionary writer/director Tara Subkoff for the lions share of its awesomeness.
Subkoff started her professional life as an actress in such films as THE CELL and THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO, but then deviated from her front-of-the-lens path by pursuing a myriad roles in the liberal arts. Shes a noted fashion designer (her celebrated line Imitation of Christ now called Imitation was co-founded with #HORROR actress Chloe Sevigny), artist and now, filmmaker. Her immersion into the art world figures heavily into #HORRORs singular aesthetic, one that turns a conventional narrative about mean pre-teens battering each other senseless into an unnerving work of designer terror.
SHOCK had the chance to sit down with the infectiously energetic Subkoff to discuss her influences and the art of making beautiful trash.
SHOCK: My first thought while watching #HORROR is that it recalls the great European genre filmmakers like Polanski and Argento and especially, in terms of design, the latter. Was Dario an influence at all?
SUBKOFF: Oh yes yes. Im a huge fan of SUSPIRIA and especially, THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMMAGE, with that whodunit flare. I love all of Darios films but that one specifically comes to mind as an influence on #HORROR. And thanks for that because no one has made that connection before.
SHOCK: Well, again, its not just the giallo-esque plotting, but its the fact that every prop, all the mise-en-scene, all of it is there to serve a visual purpose. How hands-on were you in respect to the look of the film?
SUBKOFF: I was completely involved in all of it. I designed it with my brother Daniel Subkoff and a lot of the art in the film was from my husband, Urs Fischer. We also called on lots of our friends in the art world; people like Rob Pruitt, Julian Schnabel all of these people were my friends and loaned me real art, not knock offs, which raised the production values. Having real art was integral to the story. Basically, the art is a character in the film; it witnesses, it watches the events in the film. Thats what art and objects do. They witness the passage of time, they hold energy. And my father is an antiques dealer so we borrowed all of the furniture from my father, some of the more eccentric strange pieces. I also used my own furniture; it was a very, very personal project.
SHOCK: Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn refers to movies like this as fetish films. Do you agree?
SUBKOFF: Absolutely! The fetish of objects but also our cultural fetish for wealth. Our culture is so obsessed with money and the richest people; were so obsessed with it. Were a culture now of seeming and not being. Theres such a careful curation of image now, with selfies and instagram you never get a true feeling about who anyone really is, just how people want to perceive them.
SHOCK: Do you have kids?
SUBKOFF: I have a step daughter who is six.
SHOCK: So does that central point of the movie, that of children left alone with this overwhelming, potentially destructive technology, resonate with you?
SUBKOFF: Oh yeah. I wrote this 4 years ago and a lot of my friends kids were 12 and they were being severely cyber-bullied. Its scary to see the platform of cruelty that exists now. I was badly bullied from about 10-12 on the bus, but then I could get off the bus and go home. But now, theres no going home. You put it down, if follows you. Its almost science fiction, its very VIDEODROME. You turn it off, its still happening. You can pretend its not happening but kids know that it is. This can follow them their entire lives and how does that affect their minds and future? Thats way scarier to me than a ghost
SHOCK: You re a horror movie fan, I presume
SUBKOFF: Yes! I used to go out with Jonathan Craven so I was close with Wes and I love his movies. LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS are big ones. I love all serious horror movies with fully realized character arcs. THE EXORCIST. THE SHINING. My God THE SHINING I mean, does anyone really know anyone in THE SHINING?
SHOCK: So, how do people pronounce the title of the film? Is it “HASHTAG HORROR”?
What do you call it?
SUBKOFF: I call it “HASHTAG HORROR” because I feel that the word hashtag is very important. I wrote the film as to take place in the not too distant future and, hey, were there now
SHOCK: The sound design and the music is also an integral part of the films impact
SUBKOFF: I love music, but now Im half deaf (Subkoff had a brain tumor removed in 2009 that left her without hearing in one ear) and I hear smaller sounds a lot louder and more irritating than normal people do. So little sounds make you angry and frustrated and since I know that and work with that daily, I thought that would be an interesting experiment to use here. Like, the volume actually increases as the movie goes on. But I love music, I wanted it to be strong , to have a female voice and I found that voice in (composer) Erica (Anderson). You know, female movies are almost always about a man, but I tried to use women in as many departments as I could in this film. Hopefully that doesnt alienate male audiences, but rather, makes them more intrigued. Women do make up more than half the population after all!
IFC MIDNIGHT begins rolling out #HORROR to select US theaters and VOD this Friday. Watch for it. And, if you can, see it on the big screen its an experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqPFhcA_AcQ
