Johannes Roberts Talks The Other Side of the Door
Steve Barton
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Ahead of the UK premiere screening of The Other Side of the Door at the Glasgow Film Festival, the folks over at FrightFest asked the film’s director, Johannes Roberts, a few pertinent questions…
Q: How did producer Alexandre Aja become involved with this project?
A: Bloody Frenchman! Ha. He had just produced a movie with them [his producers], and they passed him the script. He really got the Pet Sematary vibe. We worked very closely together to make sure the script was as good as it could be. He would drive me mad on set! But he’s a great guy. We’ve become good friends.
Q: All your movies (F, Storage 24, 47 Meters Down) are in the fantasy genre; why do you like it so much?
A: I love to be scared. It doesn’t happen much anymore, but I admire a filmmaker so much when he can do it. But I also love fantasy storytelling. I read Lord of the Rings when I was ten, and it blew me away. And then I discovered King and Carpenter.
Q: What was the starting point for The Other Side of the Door?
A: There is a real village in the south of India called Bangrath which is supposedly the most haunted place in the world. It is totally abandoned, and no one knows why. It is all fenced off with signs… forbidding entrance after dark because supposedly the ghosts of the dead roam the place. That story fascinated me.
Q: What was the inspiration for the evil goddess Myrtu?
A: She was drawn from various Indian deities – particularly Kali. A bit of The Grudge in there as well! But basically I just wanted to cast Javier Bodet – I’d seen the stuff he’d done in Mama, and it was crazy insane shit.
Q: Tell us about casting Sarah Wayne Callies from “The Walking Dead” and Jeremy Sisto from “Law and Order.”
A: Ha! Sisto would kill you if that is how you thought of him – the guy from “Law and Order.” I am a huge fan of Sarah. Love “The Walking Dead.” She was just incredible. Got off the plane and went straight into filming in the slums. We had a blast. She got pretty ill, though, so you can see her getting thinner and thinner in the movie. Jeremy was a great laugh. I grew up on “Six Feet Under” so it was very cool to have him in the movie. Oddly, by chance, all the crew and Jeremy had just come off filming the worst movie ever made called Air Force One Is Down. He arrived on set, saw the crew, and was like, ‘Oh fuck, what have I got myself into?’
Johannes Roberts on set with Sarah Wayne Callies
Q: How much of the film was shot in India?
A: It was all shot in Mumbai. The actual exterior of the house is where Rudyard Kipling was born. The interior was all shot at Film City. We would get to work every day surrounded by all these Bollywood movies. I loved Mumbai. It’s a crazy, crazy place.
Q: What had your previous forays into the genre taught you regarding filming this one?
A: Don’t make When Evil Calls.
Q: What were the challenges shooting The Other Side of the Door?
A: Hahaha. Everything. EVERYTHING. It was crazy. I think I aged about 100 years making that movie. I loved it, though. Mumbai is awesome. It’s sheer chaos, and that suited me very well.
Q: Any recent horror movie you would loved to have directed?
A: I saw they just found a new director for IT – I really wanted to do that. It’s my favorite book.
Q: If you could bring a loved one back from the dead via an ancient ritual, would you?
A: For sure. What could go wrong?
Written and directed by Johannes Roberts, the film was inspired by classic horror stories such as W.W. Jacobs’ The Monkey’s Paw and Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. The cast also includes Sofia Rosinsky and Logan Creran.
Look for The Other Side of the Door in theaters on March 4, 2016.
Synopsis:
A family living overseas in Mumbai, India, are struck by tragedy when their 8-year-old son, Oliver, is killed in a car accident, for which his mother, Maria, feels directly responsible.
Maria falls into a deep depression, unable to function around her husband or 6-year-old daughter, who survived the crash. But her housekeeper tells her about a Hindu ritual that will allow her to speak to her son one last time. She’s instructed to head to an abandoned temple, sprinkle her son’s ashes, and when he appears at night, speak to him from the other side of the temple portal.
It soon becomes clear that Maria is haunted by her son and other spirits angered by the sacrilege of the open door.
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