Last Updated on May 1, 2024 by Angel Melanson
Infested is high on our list of most anticipated new horror movies for 2024. Sรฉbastien Vaniฤek'sย Cรฉsar-nominated spider horror crawls onto Shudder on Friday, April 26th. Vaniฤek and crew enjoyed a wildly successful festival run, including a Best Picture (Horror) and Best Director (Horror) win at 2023โs Fantastic Fest.
The director is slated to tackle an upcomingย Evil Dead spinoff, which is sure to be mean as hell. After making our skin crawl with spiders overtaking an apartment building, Vaniฤek has plans to make us hurt when he unleashes his take on Deadites into the world. His take on making movies is best summed up as such: “I want them to hurt, to live the thing.”
Vaniฤek stopped in to discuss working with real spiders, French horror movies, and what we can expect from his upcoming Evil Dead movie.
Thisย is your feature debut, and you bit off quite a lot here.ย Tons of action, effects, and veryย heavyย emotional moments with these characters.ย What was theย hardestย part of this to pull off?
During the writing process, for me, it was characters because I've made 50 short movies over the past ten years, and I didn't go to a cinema school or anything.ย I wasย justย doing stuff in the street with my friends, showing things, and working on sound and image.
When I had the opportunity to do a feature film, I knew that I needed great charactersย in orderย forย the audience to identify with and be closeย to.ย That was aย reallyย new thing for me during the writing process. And it was another when I had to direct the actors. You have to work with them and tell them what to do and this kind of stuff. That was new to me, so I needed to work with actors who would understand that weย areย from the same generation and doing something new.ย
In France,ย nobody has doneย a movie with spiders, so we have to make the best movie possible for people to live somethingย really strong.ย Iย basicallyย put everything into this movie, studied a lot, and learned a lot. And I will learn on the next one and the next one. It's a learning process that will never end.
During the writing process, how do you know when you have created fully formed characters that we can connect to?
Youย never know when you are in the writing process,ย because it's only words on a piece of paper. For example, there's a scene thatย feltย right written on the paper.ย I knew that the audience would feel this girl's pain, but it's only words on a piece of paper.
They start to live when you meet a good actor, and youย give them freedom and tell them that it's not about the words,ย it's about what's under the words.ย If they want to say it in another way, or justย show it with their eyes or something like that, that's when the character is starting to live.
That wasย really, reallyย interesting withย Kaleb (Thรฉo Christine), because during the writing process we were a bit afraid that the audience wouldn't identify with him because he's in such a bad mood all the time and he talks badly to other characters, but he's an orphan. He lost his mother,ย he'sย afraid,ย he's alone. Thรฉo did a perfect job and made this character come to lifeย because he became this child. When you see Thรฉo, you seeย a child who is lost. The actors areย really important. They did such a great job, and they made these characters live.
This movie is also very much about the people who nobody else is coming to help. They have to help themselves and help each other. What made you want to tell their story?
I come from the suburbs.ย In France, suburbs have such a bad reputation, and it was hard to grow up in an area where you find so many beautiful things,ย andย whenย you go out of the area, you understand that people hate this area, this neighborhood.ย We have aย badย reputation. I have aย badย reputation. I don't know why.ย
That's why the parallel with spiders was really easy. Spiders are treated the same way. People hate their shape, so they kill them or put them out.ย It'sย basicallyย the same with suburbans in France, so it wasย prettyย easy for me to talk aboutย these difficulties we have.ย I wanted to show the beauty of the suburbs.ย
The beauty is that everybody knows each other. When you grow up in a building every woman is your mother, every man is your father or uncle. You can go to your friend's house andย everybodyย knows each other, all the mothers in the building know each other and can say, “Can you take care of my kid for about two hours because I have to go to the grocery store?”
That doesn't happen in big cities. I discovered that when I moved closer to Paris, and I found it's not the same. Suburbs can have a bad reputation, but they're also the place where you have so many beautiful things. I wanted to show them and show people who have to survive with each other. They take care of each other, and you will see that problems don't come from the inside;ย they come from the outside.
Youย absolutelyย captured the community of that.ย Iย kind ofย fell in love with everyone in the building, so I was upset for most of the movie.ย Are you an arachnophobe? Are you scared of spiders?
No, I'm in love with all living creatures. I wanted to film them really close so people could understand how complex and beautiful they are. I'm more of a lover of small things.
So you're a Kaleb, then?
Yeah, butย the problem with Kalebย is that heย putsย spiders and things that he loves in boxes. And when I love something, I want to see it free. I hate zoos. I hate to see animals in cages. Let it free if you love it.ย It's beautiful when it'sย wild,ย when it's free.
What are some of your inspirations for confinedย horror,ย or even movies that take place in an apartment building and use that settingย reallyย well?
I tried toย stay away fromย references and things like that because I wanted to build my own thing and have a new way of showing things.ย Obviously,ย I'm not farย awayย fromย Alienย because I'm a big fan of Ridley Scott andย Alien.ย It's people from the working class.ย Theyย justย want money and they're trapped in a spaceship with a monster, soย you can see parallels with my movie, obviously,ย butย one of the movies that wasย reallyย close to me during the writing process is not a horror movie.ย It'sย Green Room, from Jeremy Saulnier.ย
It's about punk bands in a concert room, trapped with Nazisย andย they have to survive. It's just one hour and a half in a concert room, and theyย have toย escape. It'sย really, reallyย intense, and the concept isย really simple. That's the movie that stayed with me during the writing process.
Does putting that boundary on yourself end up making you more creative?ย Limiting the action to one spaceย while alsoย expanding what you can do within that space?
Yeah, I'm a big fan of boundaries and limits. When you'reย toldย “We don't have enough money to do that,” youย will have toย have the best idea possible. For me, being a good director is facing problems. It's not about having the best ideas or the best shots. It's facing problems because you will have problems during the entire shoot.
The first problem is money.ย You willย never have enoughย money to do what you have in mind, so you have toย come up withย better ideas.ย Steven Spielberg is the best master of it. Inย Jaws, he had a shark that didn't work. Withย Saving Private Ryan, the sun wasn't in the right place, but the setย was already built, and he had to have the best idea, so he had this idea of the long shot scene with the sniper. It's always about facing problems.ย I thinkย whenย you haveย limits, boundaries, and things like that, itย will improve your creativity.
Is there anything that you would have loved to include in this but weren't able to, for whatever reason, you had to work around it?
Yeah, it's an interesting question, but I think that I've done the best movie possible with what I had. And if I had more money or more things, it would haveย been,ย another movie.ย Maybeย aย worse movie with more money.ย When you have problems and no money, you are creative, so I'm happy with what I have.
So you're not afraid of spiders or any living creatures. What are you afraid of?
I think, even as I'm getting older and starting to understand it, it's time because it's something that I don't understand and I can't.ย It's somethingย thatย humans invented to have references, but it'sย suchย another thing in the universe.ย I don't likeย it.
Tell me a littleย bitย about creating the creatures, creating these spiders, because you had to have lots of them, and they're interacting with your actors. What was that process like from start to finish?
We were lucky enough to work withย realย spiders. We had 200 real spiders on the set, so we were able to study themย reallyย closely.ย Iย drawย a lot, so I drew a lot of different spiders and tried to show the VFX team how I wantedย the spidersย to behave and how theyย work.ย Becauseย what's frightening about the spiders isย the factย that they have eight legs, and each leg acts differently. It movesย reallyย fast from this point to this point, where you never know what it'll do. We had this hazardous side that we had to create, the fact that you never know what spiders will do, and we had toย createย this feeling for the audience.ย
It's hard to create it because you have to master everythingย when you areย in the CGI process, but how can you master hazardous? That was the thing.ย We were lucky enough to have a lot of shots with the real ones, and the CGI team was able to study them really, really closely, and weย have the CGI spiders that are realistic, I think.
The tension in the bathroom scene is my favorite. That would be fun to watch with an audience.
Yeah,ย I thinkย that's whatย made me want to do this scene.ย It'sย justย the perfect scene for the audience because you can laugh, you canย scream, and there isย basicallyย everything in five minutes.ย That was theย mainย goal of this scene.
Ifย this was a short film or you did a proof of concept, it would have been this scene.ย You also do a lot of fun things with light in this movie, youย use interesting light sources, but you build the tension and suspense with your use of light. Was that always in the script or did that evolve as you were shooting?ย
Whenย I'mย writing a script,ย I'm always thinkingย about the image.ย Sometimes, I don't have the scene, but I have the image. When I knewย that theย movie would be in the dark at some point, I was like, okay, how can I lighten the dark? I had to add the best ideas to put lights in the dark, and that's how I came up with firecrackers and things like that. I thought that would be interesting and make the spidersย reallyย frighteningย because when the firecracker explodes, you see spiders fall, but only for half a second.ย
That's an idea that came up quite early during the writing process. I was drawing things and images and colors. Even if the movie is in the dark, I wanted it to be colorful, Iย needed colors.
I want to see your drawings.ย I feel like youย have some really cool stuff behind the scenes for this.
It's like 150 pages. The artwork book is quiteย bigย because I had to convinceย a lot ofย people to do this movie, not just with a script. I had to convince them with this artwork book.
Would you personally have a higher chance of survival if youย were trappedย in an apartment building filled with giant spiders or filled with Deadites?
I think that'sย my main thingย is, I would not panic.ย That's one of the things that I haveย is,ย Iย kind ofย never panic.ย I'mย alwaysย processing what's happening, and I react.ย Butย I thinkย I would preferย to haveย bigย spiders in my room rather than Deadites because Deaditesย justย want to hurt you.ย Spiders can stay on a wall. Even if the spider isย really, reallyย big, it canย stayย on a wall, and they don't want to touch you.ย They will never eat you, soย then,ย you don't exist for them.ย Deadites are another story.
Speaking of Deadites, your next project is that Untitledย Evil Deadย spinoff. First, tell us, how the hell did this come to be?
I won some prizesย inย Fantasticย Fest in Austin.ย I had Best Director and Best Movie.ย I think that'sย when the phone started to ring, and the studios in the US were asking, “Oh, who's this guy?ย What's this movie about spiders and everything?” So my agent told me, “Okay, you have a lot of meetings,” and the meetings were with Warner Brothers, Fox, etc. And I was like, “What the… ?ย What's happening?”
I had meetings with Ghost House Pictures, New Line, and Warner Brothers. One day I got an email asking if I would be interested in talking about Evil Dead.ย Theyย told me, “We are interested in what your Evil Deadย would be.”ย I think that's the question that I like the most because it was not: “We have this character and this story and this script. Would you like to do it?”ย
It was: “What would your Evil Dead be? You have the franchise, you have the universe, you know the characters. What would you do with everything?” You basically have a box full of toys, and they ask you to use these toys and tell your story.
I loved the question so much that I wrote fifteen pages with Florent, my co-writer on Infested. They liked it, and now, we are writing it.
I love that they approached you and said, “What would you do in this space?” because that still allows you to be you.
Yeah, sure.ย That's what I likeย because one of my main fears isย not havingย creative freedom, especially in Hollywood.ย We have so many stories of European directors who went to the US and were destroyed by the studios, and I was afraid of that. I told my agents, “I think I will stay in France for a few years.” And when they came up with this idea, they wereย reallyย protective of me.
Evil Dead gave Fede รlvarez and Lee Cronin a chance, and I had the opportunity to have a Zoom with Fede รlvarez to ask him a lot of questions about the creative process, the production andย the post-production. He told me it was really, really nice to work with them. He did another movie with them,ย Don't Breathe. I think that he loved working with them. I trust him and I trust these guys, and I'm glad.
I think you'reย in good hands.ย Can you tell us anything at all about yourย Evil Dead?
Obviouslyย not, because we are currently in the sandbox. We are gathering the sand. The only thing is that I'm aiming to do something mean.ย I want toย doย a movie that hurts the audience,ย becauseย I thinkย that's the essence ofย Evil Dead.ย When you see anย Evil Deadย movie, you want to be hurt. You want to come out of this movie, like, “Ugh … ” And I want people to experience that. I tended to do it withย Infested, to hurt the audience, to make them feel through their body.ย Withย Evil Dead,ย I will do it 150%ย more,ย because I want to have a mean andย badย movie, something that's really like a bad guy.
You're coming for us.
I don't want to meet him.
Do you have some French horror movies that you think deserve more love in the States?
I don't know which movies are not famous in the States, but obviously, you know Alexandre Aja, who's doneย The Hills Have Eyes, and a movie calledย High Tension.ย High Tensionย reallyย stuck with me when I discovered it as a teenager. It's really, really, really rough. It's really intense. And it's a movie that deserves to be seen in the US.
I just learned so much about you right now. You're talking about wanting to make a meanย movie,ย you want to hurt the audience, and there it is.ย High Tensionย andย The Hills Have Eyes, I'm getting so much insight into you.
Yeah, you will feel things.
You like the brutality.ย You want to take the audience andย justย pummelย them.
Yeah, I don't want them to be in a comfortable situation in their living room or in their seats eating popcorn. I want them to hurt, to live the thing. When you pay 15 euros, you want to be on a roller coaster. You want them to take your body and yeah, I think you want to live things.
What are your five favorite horror movies of all time?
Of all time, it's aย hardย question because one of my weaknesses is that I didn't see enough movies. I'm working on it, but I was more in the street making my movies than watching movies. I'm working on it, but my favorite movie of all time, for example, isย Gladiator. It's not a horror movie at all. I'mย really basic. But I would say the movies that stuck with me were Hereditaryย fromย Ari Aster, and the other isย It Follows.
It Followsย is not gory, you don't have blood, but you feel unsafe all the time. You are inย a positionย where you are afraid of all the extras behind the main character, and you are always looking at the background. It's the type of movie I love, when you experience itย andย you aren't just watching a story, you are experiencing the story.
It's the same withย Hereditary. You are in a bad mood, inย bad shape, you feel things that you don't want to feel, and you are glad when you go out. You're like, “I can breathe.”ย Irrรฉversible, from Gasparย Noeย is a really hard movie to watch.ย It'sย reallyย horrific. And the last one is not a horror movie, but I think it's kind ofย horrific.ย Requiem For A Dreamย really sticks with you, and you leave it like it's a horror movie because you go down with the characters, and that's the thing that a horror movie does to you, I think.
Based on the kind of movies you like, I'm very afraid for us and excited about yourย Evil Deadย movie, because I think you're not going to be very gentle with us.
Yeah, I hope so.ย We are writing the stuff, but yeah,ย I thinkย that's what you had inย Evil Dead Rise. That's what you had with Fede's movie. You were hurt by these Deadites.ย You felt it.ย And it'sย reallyย camera work, andย sound, and things like that.ย I think that's what the crews and the team of Sam Raimi found, in Infested, this craft.ย Andย Sam is a guy whoย hasย invented crafts in cinema.ย I think that I cannot understand why they came to me.
I 100% understand why they came to you. Watching your movie, it's clearly a perfect fit, and I'm so happy for you.
Yeah, I will try to do something good.
We have full faith that the latest Evil Dead entry is in good hands, Sรฉbastien. Watch our full interview with Sรฉbastien Vaniฤek below. Infested is streaming on Shudder on April 26th.
