Producer Eric Thirteen Reveals His Disposition; Exclusive Images!
Steve Barton
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Anti-depressants come with a lot of side effects – one of the most absurd, as anyone on them will tell you, is that they can “increase thoughts or motivation of suicide.” Seriously.
In Disposition, a quiet girl (Sara Malakul Lane, Sun Choke, Beyond the Gates) finds herself literally stalked by her own darkness. As she struggles with medication and coping with depression, she finds herself constantly envisioning her own violent suicide.
The film is directed by Eric Thirteen, producer of Rob Zombie’s 31 and the upcoming Adam Rifkin movie Director’s Cut featuring Penn Jillette and Lin Shaye.
“I partnered with Sheila Mia Seifi – she designs crazy gruesome effects. We’ve talked about how recent horror has had outstanding FX work, but often used to comedic ends. We wanted to swing the other direction. See how modern ultra-violence can enhance a serious 70s-style slow burn. Splat pack meets Roman Polanski,” Thirteen tells us.
Seifi can be seen both behind and in front of the camera at Eli Roth’s Crypt TV. Working in the lab of colleague Rob Burman (Terminator 2, The Thing), she designed every effect to be 100% practical. All on-set, all in front of the camera. Casually sitting across from the original mask of Donnie Darko’s rabbit Frank, Seifi recalled the design process. “I’ve know Ron Burman since the beginning of my career. I’m lucky to call him a mentor and friend. He’s a 3rd gen FX artist who has decades of tips and secret tricks, some of which were used in Disposition.”
Thirteen describes the whole film as an arthouse collaboration: “We picked the crew really carefully. I avoided the whole Hollywood network. We looked at our favorite modern horror films, why they were good, and who worked on those aspects. Then we tracked those people down one-on-one to bring them on board.”
DP Will Barratt (Adam Green’s Frozen, Hatchet) worked to make sure every shot told the story visually. Devin Johnson (Last House on the Left) came in from Hans Zimmer’s personal studio to write and record the score. A single live cello performance was used to help add a voice to the mind of a very quiet character.
“A lot of people came on board because the script spoke to them. Half our crew must have related to mental illness in some way. For them it was heavy.” For others, it was a different kind of challenge. “I watched Suziey Block’s physical struggle in the movie Entrance. I sat down with her and showed her this extremely naked, bloody role. She saw what it demanded and said, ‘Fuck yeah.’”
Disposition will be touring festivals later this year.
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