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No Film School: Can you talk about how you got connected to the film? What initially attracted you to the script?
Mary Beth McAndrews: I initially read the script in 2018 when I was in grad school. I had known Jamie Alvey, the writer and one of the stars of the film, from Twitter. We were both writers on some of the same websites, so we were connected online. She was posting about a rape-revenge script she had written and at the time I was neck-deep in research about rape-revenge films, specifically rape-revenge films directed by women. So when I saw that, it was just like cat nip. I had to read it. She sent it to me and I immediately knew it was something special. I had no power in that moment to make anything happen with it, but I knew I wanted something to do with it. I needed to help make it a reality because one, I knew Jamie and loved her work. Two, it was such a research interest of mine, so how cool would it be to shepherd in a new movie like the ones I had been writing about academically?
Years later, I got my job at Dread Central and with that position came some really awesome opportunities to collaborate with Epic Pictures and their horror label, Dread. I began doing some producing work with their lower-budget titles, which I really loved. I had produced before for TV channels such as Animal Planet and Discovery Communications as a social media and digital video producer. So I had worked on shoots and directed things for social media channels for interesting things like Bigfoot and animals, but never thought of that like as a director, even though I was. In having that experience and having that producer experience, I was able to push the script in front of Patrick Ewald (Epic Pictures CEO) and his team and really bang the drum for a while until they finally said ok. They asked if I wanted to direct it, which was insane and never happens to anyone. It would have been crazy for me to say no, so I took a leap of faith and here we are.
NFS: Did you watch any particular films before production commenced to get inspiration for Bystanders?
MBM: I didn’t want to watch a lot of stuff right before because I didn’t want to copy anyone. I didn’t want to copy anyone’s shots. With that being said, the movies I watched beforehand had nothing to do with research, they were just for fun. I watched a lot of found footage movies.
Way before, in preparing for my master’s thesis and in thinking about this movie, I think very early on I did watch a few. When I got attached to direct and as production approached, I didn’t watch as many, but films like M.F.A. by Natalia Leite and Coralie Fargeat’s Revenge, she is obviously having a moment right now with The Substance. Those two will always have a place in my heart in terms of inspiration. Those were huge for me, not just visually but thematically and emotionally and what we wanted to get across. Other films include Violation, which I had our DP Chance Madison watch, to get an idea of the color palettes we were thinking about for Bystanders. Another film I watched in prep for this was The Strangers. I was looking at home invasion movies, as well as rape-revenge films. I wanted to stage a home invasion film in another way.
"I learned you don’t have time to panic in those situations. You just have to find a solution and figure it out as quick as you can."
NFS: What did you shoot the film on?
MBM: Our DP, Chance Madison had a red camera. We had a one-camera setup and did different shots and angles with that.
NFS: Were there any challenges that you encountered during the shoot? How did you overcome them?
MBM: I feel like shooting a movie has so many challenges. Once we had the camera up and rolling, every issue that came about, we knew we could fix. We have the money, everyone was on set. If there was a problem, we just figured it out.
One of the biggest challenges was the weather. Most of this movie is filmed outside, so we were beholden to the weather. The other problem was the cabin where we were filming. The cabin had a tin roof, so when it was raining, it was really loud inside the house. It would echo throughout the house and there was nothing we could do. One of the most violent thunderstorms I have ever seen in my life happened during the shoot. I have videos where it looked like aliens were coming down. We thought it might be the rapture, it was so bad. We would go to a gas station every morning for ice and snacks and the next day the attendants said they were worried we might have gotten washed away. Thankfully though, that particular storm didn’t last all night, and we were able to make our shots, which was shocking. We were sitting around in a circle for an hour discussing what we could move around and what the new plan would be. Once the rain stopped, we didn’t even have to worry about the plan. That taught me the beauty and power of planning ahead and always having a plan b because it will come in handy more often than you think.
There were other challenges with getting blood out of clothes and pants ripping, but it all worked out. I learned you don’t have time to panic in those situations. You just have to find a solution and figure it out as quick as you can.
NFS: Most of the film takes place in the woods outside at night. What did you find was key to creating the right look of moonlight?
MBM: That is an amazing question because I don’t have a clue on how to do that. I am new to directing. I know the importance of lighting and tech things, but our DP Chance had to step in for this one. Chance and the lighting team had this incredible light to mimic the moon. We called it the “moon light” because it was a giant light that we would place in the back of shots to replicate the moon. My favorite thing about the light was every night it would get flocked with moths. I am a huge moth person, I love them. I even have a moth tattoo. I went National Geographic looking at these moths on set. I would have moth discovery hours showing off all the different moths to the crew, that was my contribution to the lighting setup.
'Bystanders'CREDIT: Dread
NFS: The secluded cabin in the film almost acts as another character. How did you find this location?
MBM: That cabin was the cabin of my dreams. Our producer, Jeff Seemann, found it on Airbnb. The location where we filmed was in Mount Olivet, Kentucky, which I believe is in the smallest county in Kentucky. I was told that several times. Everyone who lived there told us that and was so excited we were there. Jeff found it and went on a tour and what was beneficial about it was that it had a ton of land. So we could shoot everything on the property. It was exactly what we needed. I loved that cabin so much. Sometimes I look at pictures of it and wish I could live there.
There were some creepy dolls in it though. They looked like they could be out of a horror film, so they were perfect.
NFS: What was the most complicated scene to shoot? Why?
MBM: The most complicated scene to shoot for us was anything that had to do with a blood gag. Our production designer, Ben Miller, was our effects person too. Ben is a special effects wizard. What he was able to accomplish from tubing from bicycles and corn syrup should be studied.
The scene that we were really worried about was the scene when Gray bursts into the cabin and shoots one of the frat boys. We wanted that gunshot to look so good, but we only had one shot to get it perfect. We weren’t totally sure it was going to work either. Ben thought it was going to work and I believed him, but I didn’t know. It seemed very simple, but we only had one shot to get it perfect. We practiced and we had a lot of blocking, but we didn’t have the actual gunshot and blood squirt. The shot you see in the movie, all of us behind the monitor, we were jumping up and down about how good it looked. I almost cried I was so happy. That night we uploaded everything from the day to our hard drive and made everyone watch. Even without all of the masking to hide some things, it looked so good. It was such a triumphant moment.
NFS: You are the editor of DreadCentral, so you see a lot of horror films. What do you think are some of the key elements that make a horror film effective?
MBM: Something that I have learned in all of my years watching movies, good and bad, is you shouldn’t be making a horror movie just to scare people. You should make a horror movie because you want to scare people, but you should also really care about your characters. What can happen really easily, in any movie, but in horror especially, it can be really easy to focus on the gimmick, rather than on the humans on screen. It’s also really easy to rely on jump scares, which I don’t think are a bad thing, I love a good jump scare when it is well placed. You can’t solely rely on things like that though. You have to tell a really good story on top of the scares. If you have a good story, then it shouldn’t be difficult. What happens so often is people write movies they think people want to see instead of what they themselves want to see, and understandably people want to be marketable. They want to pitch things that are marketable, which I understand is the time we live in now.
The best movies I’ve seen are weird indies that are not beholden to anyone but themselves. They are willing to take those risks. For example, Skinamarink. There is another one that no one talks about called Soft Liquid Center from 2023. These movies are taking tropes and expectations of horror, but putting them in another context and doing something differently, while also telling a really interesting story. I think that’s just so important, your story. If you are focusing on that and equally concerned about that and your characters, as well as scary moments, I think your horror movie is in good shape.
CREDIT: Dread
NFS: Do you have any tips or advice for people who are about to make their first horror film?
MBM: From a practical mom perspective, don’t forget to eat and drink water. I know that sounds silly, but it is so easy when you are locked into the monitor and locked in to get that next shot and making sure everything is going to plan, to not take care of your physical form. I personally become a gremlin, and not in a good way, when I am hungry or dehydrated. It really does impact your ability to direct effectively.
Practical advice aside, don’t be afraid to trust your gut and ask for help. Also, get ready to kill your darlings. I know that sounds so basic, but truly those are the three things I learned the most. I had so much anxiety going into this, worrying I wasn’t going to be able to do it. Once I started doing it and trusting my gut, I felt really confident. I realized that second-guessing myself was just making the process harder. I know it’s easier said than done to stop being so self-conscious and worried, but when you are on set there is such a feeling of go go go, that when you have that confidence, it becomes so much more fun.
If you are self-doubting ask for advice or an opinion. The crew is there to help. There were a few things that wouldn’t have existed in the movie without suggestions from our crew. There is a moment where the girls go to the cabin and when the frat boy is about to close the door, he sticks his head out and looks back and forth, that really sets the suspicion in the scene. That was a suggestion from our lighting guy, Jeff. It was a great suggestion that made it into the film. That’s not always going to happen, and you aren’t always going to have time for that, but if you can really listen to your crew. That collaboration is so important. Just because you are the director doesn’t mean that you know everything. I certainly didn’t. Being able to ask for help and admitting that you don’t know everything does go a long way. If you try to act like you know what you’re doing and you don’t, it’s way more obvious than you think. Just don’t be afraid to ask for help, people are there to help you and if they judge, they shouldn’t be on your crew.
NFS: What personally attracts you to the horror genre?
MBM: I have loved horror movies since I was four years old. I know it’s an inappropriate age, but you can blame my father and more importantly my dad’s dad, who showed me Jaws at the age of four. That instilled an absolute abject terror in my soul of the ocean but also got me addicted to that feeling. I was a scaredy cat, I was scared of the dark and slept with nightlight forever, but I always loved scary movies. This always baffled my mother and continues to baffle my mother.
The genre is the most perfect, beautiful, fucked up place to tell stories about everything. You can tell anything in horror. You can tell it very obviously or you can use metaphors. You can make a silly movie, you can make the most messed up thing anyone has ever seen, or you can make a cute little guy, like in Gremlins. There are so many things you can do in the horror genre that are incredible. Every time I watch a new horror movie, it’s always amazing to see what people are doing and how they are interpreting the genre. I want more people to accept it. I talk to so many filmmakers who say, no, this isn’t a horror movie, it is a psychological thriller and honestly that and horror is the same thing to me. I think they are so similar, and I think that people are so scared of the word “horror”, but it’s such a beautiful genre. You can tell so many different stories in so many ways.
So many incredible filmmakers got their start in the genre. So many people say it’s easy to make a low-budget horror movie. That’s funny to me that you think it’s easy and that’s where you want to get your start and a lot of people do. There is a lot more freedom in the genre and so much more creativity and everything about the genre, even if I’m not totally terrified, I don’t need to be terrified to love horror. There is always something new happening in the genre, no matter what. It’s so exciting every time. Horror is always on the cutting edge and the genre to be in, especially if you want to know what’s next in cinema and what fears and anxieties, we as a culture are trying to parse through.