Exclusive Interview with Director Josh Forbes on Contracted: Phase II
Staci Layne Wilson
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Picking up where the first Contracted left off, the sequel has Riley (Matt Mercer) searching for a cure to the virus that destroyed his girlfriend, Samantha (Najarra Townsend). It’s a race against the clock as he must stop the carnage before it consumes him and the entire world.
We had a chance to get the official word from Josh Forbes, the director of Contracted: Phase II, on not only the making of the film, casting choices, and zombie gore, but also the aftermath and his take on original director Eric England’s public denouncement of the sequel.
Dread Central: We love Mayera Abeita’s special effects makeup. She’s one of the best in the indie biz. Talk a bit about how she builds on her work from the first Contracted film, how closely the two of you collaborated, and what are some of the gooier, grosser looks in the film…
Josh Forbes: Mayera is a genius. She’s able to take a minuscule budget and turn it into a million bucks. Samantha’s look in the first film is so iconic. Specifically the asymmetrical eye. It’s so simple but so effective.
Mayera really had her work cut out for her with this one. There was a gore gag every day of shooting. It was insane! I don’t want to spoil it, but there’s a zombie at the very end of the movie that’s as good, if not better, than anything I’ve seen in any zombie flick.
We collaborated really closely. I kept sending her disgusting YouTube videos of people extracting botflies from their heads and zit-popping videos. NOT SAFE FOR LIFE!
http://youtu.be/d7Iw0-7EMUo
I wanted those scenes to have the same icky appeal that those YouTube videos have. Those videos are mesmerizing. I can’t stop watching them. Maybe there’s something wrong with me.
I’ve since worked a couple times with Mayera on music videos. We worked together on a video for The Offspring called “Coming for You.”
DC: Your lead actor, Matt Mercer, was in talks to write and direct this sequel – at least briefly. So, can you talk about how that morphed into a different writer and you directing? Was Matt always going to be the main character in this continuation of the story?
JF: I’m assuming you’re referring to Eric England’s recent blog post. That was all news to me. I had no clue about that. I love Matt Mercer. I’m sure he would have made a great film.
I’ve tried to stay out of the politics of this whole thing. It’s no secret that Eric England, the writer and director of the first film, has had problems with our movie. It sounds like it’s primarily based on disagreements with the producers. He’s gone out of his way to trash our film, which is frustrating and unfortunate. It makes him come off like a bitter ex-boyfriend. It’s also hurting his wallet since he has points on the film. We’ve met for beers and he’s a really cool, creative hard working dude. I wish him all the best; I just wish he’d stop treating this like a competition.
When I got the call, the script was pretty locked down and approved by IFC Midnight. Most of the cast and crew were set and we were ready to rock and roll. I didn’t really have the luxury to futz too much with the script. Which is why I keep likening the experience to shoot a TV episode. It felt very punk rock and DIY in a lot of ways. Which was a lot of fun for me.
As far as Matt being the lead, I’ll be honest: I wasn’t a fan of the idea. I really wanted it to be Charley Koontz’s movie. Nothing against Matt, but Charley was my favorite characters in the first film. He’s so hilarious. Of course now Charley is on “CSI: Cyber”, so we were lucky to get him to come back for a day of shooting.
Matt’s character in the first film was really off-putting. He reminded me of Greg Sestero in The Room. You can tell he’s a great actor but he’s being underused. It felt like he was stuck in “The Twilight Zone.” I mean, c’mon… Najarra is hot, but you’ve gotta have a screw loose if you’re having sex with her while her lips are falling off.
After I met Matt Mercer in person, that all changed. He’s such a sweet, smart, sensitive guy. He has a real vulnerability to him and also a strength. We talked about the script and decided we were going to make this the story of a mama’s boy (or grandmama in this case) taking charge of his life. It’s about a passive character becoming active. He basically transforms from a wuss to an action star. There’s an amazing scene at the beginning where he accidentally kills a zombie by holding a knife out and closing his eyes. Contrast this with the ending where he’s in a badass knock-down drag-out fist fight. It’s quite a transformation.
DC: Before you were brought on the direct Contracted: Phase II, had you seen the first one? What did you think?
JF: I had seen the poster and the trailer, which are both amazing. When I saw the film, there’s a lot I liked and a lot that I thought I didn’t. The concept is brilliant. I really loved Mike Testin’s cinematography. Najarra is captivating. She’s totally a star. The choice to keep Simon Barrett out of focus was really interesting. Mayera’s gore work was outstanding.
It was much more of a slow burn than I’m into. I didn’t really buy all the interpersonal drama. I wasn’t sure why she had to be bisexual AND a former drug addict. It felt like two after-school specials smooshed together. And the whole flower competition thing was straight-up wacky. I understand what they were going for, but it was just weird. Also, the date rape aspect was really strange to me. Personally I would have liked it better if she volitionally had chosen to sleep with him and then reaped the consequences. The date rape complicates the morality of it. Which I’m sure some people find interesting.
That said, a lot of people really adore the first film. There was a lot of pressure to appeal to those folks while also bringing in people who weren’t fans of the first. I’m sure there are folks who wanted more of the same slow pace from the first film. I’m sure there’s an equal number of people who loved the last two minutes of Eric’s movie and are looking for more action this time around.
Phase II is such a different movie. It has all the gore and more that people loved in the first one, while expanding the scope of the story and building up the intrigue of our Big Bad: BJ. When I read Craig’s script, I got excited. It was full of really crazy, exciting scenes. Especially with the discussions of a Phase 3 around the corner, it read more like the pilot for a kickass TV show, complete with some really cool cliffhangers. It allowed us to not worry about tying up the loose ends and just go for it.
In my opinion it’s 1000 times more entertaining than the first one. The first film is essentially a kitchen sink drama with some gore thrown in. Ours is relentless.
https://youtu.be/LHjUhvTg2Bg
DC: Your story picks up where the first one left off, but how far does it deviate from the spirit of the original?
JF: What makes the first film interesting is that it’s basically the moments before a typical zombie movie. Ours is essentially the moments before a massive outbreak film. Most zombie films are about the survivors; these films are about the infected and what they go through before they change. So, in that way they are similar. They both have that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead feel of focusing on a minor character in a bigger narrative.
Like I said, ours moves at a much faster pace. It’s less about the personal drama and more about the mystery of the madman behind the disease. There are a lot of external forces in play, and Riley (Matt Mercer) is just trying to keep it together through all of it. Our film is also much more self-aware than the first film. It’s filled with fun cameos. Whitney Moore from Birdemic makes an appearance. Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead, the directors of Spring and Resolution, play a pair of cops. Richard Riehle shows up out of nowhere. Matt delivers some lines that have a Bruce Campbell level of absurdity. Stuff like, “Take that, you bastard!” when he had to pull a maggot from his chest with his teeth. Everything is played very seriously, but the movie gets a lot of laughs.
DC: From Tod Browning’s Freaks to the Cronenberg era, and now the zombie virus craze… horror fans just can’t get enough. What, in your opinion, is the enduring appeal and fascination with body horror?
JF: Body horror is real. We’re all falling apart. We’re basically just rotting meat. I’m not afraid of ghosts because they’re not real. I don’t stay up at night worrying about vampires. But I do worry about my body falling apart. Typically zombies represent being overtaken by swarms of the “other,” but in this film I think it’s more about the fear of dying.
DC: What kind of horror movies do you enjoy, as a fan?
JF: I’m a big horror comedy fan. My friend Todd Strauss-Schullson made a movie called The Final Girls that is the best horror comedy I’ve seen since Shaun of the Dead. Another friend, Ryan Spindell, did a short film called The Babysitter Murders that I’m really inspired by. You should definitely seek those out. I’m a big Takashi Miike fan and have been going through his work. He’s so prolific it’s mind-boggling. If you haven’t seen Gozu or Happiness of the Katakuris, you’re missing out.
I’ve also been on a Neil Marshall binge. After seeing his work on “Game of Thrones,” I went back through his films, and they’re all so good! I love how he combined action and horror. He just did a segment of an anthology film called Tales of Halloween that is really amazing. It’s about a killer pumpkin. That whole film is really great. Mike Mendez, Lucky McKee, Axelle Carolyn, and a bunch of other great filmmakers did segments. It played with our film at the Bruce Campbell Horror Fest. Highly recommended.
On the TV side of things, I’ve been enjoying the heck out of “Attack on Titan.” It’s so great.
Speaking of Japanese films, this isn’t exactly horror, but there’s a movie I found on Crunchyroll (it’s also on Amazon) called Fine, Totally Fine. It’s about a guy who’s obsessed with building a haunted house. It’s more of an indie comedy, but it’s really hilarious.
IFC Midnight and BoulderLight Pictures released Contracted: Phase II on VOD, and it’s available NOW!
Contracted: Phase II co-stars Matt Mercer and Alice MacDonald are back, joined by Peter Cilella, Marianna Palka, Morgan Peter Brown, Laurel Vail, Anna Lore, and Suzanne Voss in a follow-up that ups the ante and expands on the first film’s modestly scaled origins. Craig Walendziak wrote the script.
Synopsis:
Contracted: Phase II follows the story of Samantha as she suffers from a mysterious and degenerative disease. The film centers on Riley, one of the last people to come in contact with Samantha, as he scrambles to track down those responsible for the outbreak before the highly contagious disease not only consumes his body, but the world as we know it.
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