Carrie meets It Follows in Marla, a new horror experience from writer-director Lisa van Dam-Bates. Starring van Dam-Bates, Travis Johnny Ware, Jason Stange and Katie Hemming, the film explores the terrifying account of a girl who goes to get an IUD implanted by a family friend turned doctor who then commits a deranged act. The event has deadly implications for those close to her. Marla premieres on digital and DVD November 5 from High Octane Pictures. We caught up with Lisa and asked her a few questions about the movie. Here’s what she had to say:
MARLA is quite an interesting film -something very different from the norm. Did you consciously set out to make something people don’t see every day?
Lisa van Dam-Bates: I did. I wanted to make a horror movie specifically for women – I know a lot of women that are horror fans, like myself, but very few movies are made FOR us. I also wanted to make something that didn’t fit into a singular category. I think that’s becoming more common – blending horror with other genres to make something that engages more people – and I think that makes the genre all the more impactful too.
Can you tell us about some of the filmmakers who influenced your style – at times, it plays a little David Lynch or Cronenberg…
LVDB: You know, both of those comparisons keep coming up. I do like Cronenberg, but he’s never been a favorite for me. It’s a little odd to me to hear the David Lynch reference because I’m really not a Lynch fan at all. I have an eclectic taste in movies and am a little all over the place. Marla is my first time writing, directing, acting… making anything like this. I think that it’ll take me a while to develop something that feels like my own style and it’ll be influenced by lots of things that I’ve consumed along the way.
And before we go any further, you poor, poor thing… being covered in all that blood! What did you use for the gooey stuff?
LVDB: I actually made all of the blood that we used in the film, from scratch! I love blood. I have about 5 different recipes that lend themselves to certain things. My boyfriend is diabetic, so when he would prick his finger to test his blood sugar, he’d give me a smear and I would adjust batches of the stuff accordingly. I won’t give away my recipes, but I’ll be selling blood in bulk soon.
How do you think the movie might have been different if you’d sold the script to a studio who proceeded to turn it into a big-budget, star-driven vehicle? I wonder whether that would even work as well as it does here?
LVDB: I’m sure it would be way better, right? You mean what if the film had an experienced director, A-list actors, as many shoot days as they wanted, all the best camera equipment, whatever locations they wanted… How would it be different? I think that’s impossible to say. I’ll be interested to see the studio remake in 15 years.
Did you always intend on directing, let alone headlining the film?
LVDB: I did. Writing is writing, but directing is writing too. I can’t imagine writing a script and having such a strong vision in your head and then just passing it off to someone else to execute. I actually set out to write a feature just so I could try acting. I realized part way through the writing process that I was censoring things that Marla does, knowing I was going to play her. So, I put the acting bit on hold during the writing and figured I’d reevaluate when it was done. Then, things were so crazy in preproduction that I never really thought about it and just ended up doing it. I remember having a couple of minutes to myself before the first sex scene – I was getting ready in the bathroom and looking at myself naked in the mirror and I just thought “what the f*ck am I doing? Why the hell did I sign up for this? All those people are about to see me naked! This is insane!” but it was too late at that point – we’d already filmed half the movie and there was a house full of hired crew members and actors waiting on me.
Where or when did you cut your directing teeth?
LVDB: Right here, you’re looking at it! I’d only been on one film set before and it was just as an extra for one day. I did do about two weeks of rehearsals with the actors before we started principal photography and that was a really great way to get my teeth cut, if you know what I mean.
How long ago did you start writing the script for this one?
LVDB: I sat down to write the first scene exactly one year before we started production. The first version of the script was about 400 pages and has only one scene from the final script… So, there was a lot of rewriting over the course of that year.
Did it take a while to get the film off the ground? Was it a lot of door-knocking?
LVDB: Brandon (our executive producer) and I were actually living in Austin, TX when I was writing the script and we had intended on filming there. After a couple of months of trying to get the logistics locked in, we realized that Austin isn’t a very indie-film friendly place. Rent is crazy, people are broke and there are lots of LA projects that poach local hires last minute. So, we moved back to Washington where I had some family and friends to help make it happen. When you have no budget, you really need those little favors along the way. You know, an aunt that lets you take over her entire house for a week, a mom who does the same… Friends that you’ve known since middle school to act for free, etc.
When did you complete your first cut?
LVDB: The first cut took a long time! Our first editor spent about 9 months on a cut. I was really unhappy with it, it wasn’t the movie that I wanted to make at all and I was really worried that we just didn’t have the footage to get where I wanted. I hired Jodi Darby, a Portland based female filmmaker to help with a second edit and she was able to get the core story closer to where I wanted. Then, my good friend Ryan Enkema, who also was the 1st AC during production, jumped in and did an edit. Ryan and I worked on it for a couple of months, and he really understood my vision. With a couple pick-ups we were able to get it where it needed to be.
Has the film been doing the festivals or did you decide to bypass all that and go straight to the consumer?
LVDB: We did a couple of festivals… I’m not sure that I see a whole lot of value in going the festival route, personally. I’m pretty reclusive and I get really uncomfortable watching people watch the movie. Festivals are expensive and, from what I can tell, unless you are getting into the really big ones, festivals don’t necessarily help you sell the movie. So, we did a couple and then decided to just sell it and get it out there.
What kind of doors has Marla opened for you?
LVDB: Well, it isn’t out yet, so we’ll see what that brings. It’s already led to a lot of really good local connections though. I am co-writing a horror feature right now with a good friend who I met in 2017 on a different production. I sell lots of fake blood to local FX artists and filmmakers. Doors are slowly creaking open, which is awesome.