One of the more intriguing films to be showing at Fangoria x Monster Fest 2019 has to be the debut feature film from American screenwriter/director David Marmor. The film has already received praise from its screenings at festivals in France, Canada and LA and now it is Australia’s turn to take a look at this brand new horror.
“I’m over the moon about it,” says Marmor when I ask him how he feels about the fact that his film is about to screen at Australia’s biggest horror film festival. “It is a huge thrill to be part of the Monster Fest line up… it is a huge honor for any horror filmmaker. I pinch myself that anybody at all ever gets to see anything that I do. You know this is my first feature and so far the response has been much better than anything I could have hoped for. I just wanted to not completely screw it up and the fact that it is getting out there in the world is really amazing. To have it out there and in the other hemisphere is kind of incredible so I hope it translates.”
As we begin to talk about the plot of the film we discuss just how daunting it is when you move out of home for the first time and Marmor says the idea for the film came from his own experiences. “The initial idea and the feel of it, the emotional centre came from something very autobiographical… my own experience of moving to Los Angeles,” he explains. “Very much like Sarah I came here in my early twenties wanting to pursue this dream. Not knowing anybody I found myself in this apartment complex which is very similar to the one portrayed in the movie. It was a very disorientating experience, I had never lived in a city like LA which is very sprawling and monotonous and I had never lived in an apartment complex… and I find apartment very odd. I mean I got used to it over the years but when I first moved in you are packed in with people on every side of you, there are people above you and below you and you see them in the hallways and you wave but you don’t really know their names, and these are the people that if any emergency came up you would have to go to first for help. It was such an odd experience to have these people I didn’t know anything about but I was sharing a wall with them… it was there that the seed came from, it came from that creepy feeling.”
You can listen to the full interview with David in our audio interview.
You can get tickets for 1BR’s screening at Fangoria x Monster Fest 2019 at www.monsterfest.com.au
