Cinema Scholars interviews genre icon Barbara Crampton and the directing team behind the new horror film Alone With You. Dark Star Pictures will release the horror film Alone With You in Theaters on February 4, 2022, and On-Demand, Digital, and DVD on February 8, 2022.
Introduction
With everyone on COVID lockdown for nearly two years, it’s no surprise that stories of isolation are popping up among recent films. While themes of solitude are nothing new in dramatic storytelling, it stands to reason that the subject of retreat might take on an entirely new meaning in a post-pandemic landscape.
It’s also no surprise that creatives on a forced hiatus would seize the opportunity to work within the constraints of an unintentional new dogma. Necessity is the mother of invention after all, and creators often thrive within limited parameters- especially in the independent horror genre. Whether direct or indirect commentary on the pandemic, themes of isolation and existential terror are a natural fit for horror and suspense films.
When faced with the prospect of interminable quarantine, the filmmaking team Emily Bennett and Justin Brooks decided to carry on with their endeavors and lean into their limitations. The result is the new psychological horror film Alone With You.
Synopsis
In Alone With You, Charlie (Bennett) prepares a homecoming for her girlfriend Simone (Emma Myles). She lights candles, changes into something sexy, and pours herself a glass of wine in anticipation of reuniting with her love. As she readies the final touches, Charlie receives video calls from her judgmental mom (Barbara Crampton) and a tipsy friend, both of whom question the validity of her relationship.
Though she brushes off their doubt, Charlie starts to get the feeling herself that something isn’t quite right. Flashbacks to happy (and not-so-happy) times with Simone gradually hint at the details of Charlie’s concern. These ambiguous snippets also create more questions about her emotionally needy tendencies. It also doesn’t help that she is stuck inside her home due to a jammed lock, among other mysterious happenings around the apartment. As the clock ticks by with no word from Simone, it becomes apparent that Charlie’s grip on reality may not be as tight as once thought.
Cinema Scholars recently had the opportunity to interview writing/directing partners Emily Bennett and Justin Brooks along with co-star Barbara Crampton about their experiences working on Alone With Me. They reveal their inspiration for the film, working under pandemic restrictions, and literally (not figuratively) “calling in” performances thanks to technology.
Interview
Rebecca Elliott:
Hello! Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today. How is everyone?
Barbara Crampton:
Yeah, likewise.
Justin Brooks:
Great.
Emily Bennett:
Hi Rebecca. Yeah, we’re doing great. How are you?
Rebecca Elliott:
I’m good. I’m just excited to talk to you guys about your movie. Emily and Justin, I noticed that you guys have done a lot of short films together, but this is your, I believe it’s your first feature-length effort. Can you talk about how you landed on this particular story for your feature debut?
Justin Brooks:
Yeah, well this was as much a surprise to us as it was for anybody. We were actually geared up to do an entirely different feature when COVID struck and put a very quick end to a lot of productions that were getting ready, ours included. And so everybody was forced to quarantine and we, after having our little moments of breakdown and wanting to just sit on the couch and watch too much reality TV, we finally, we turned to one another, we’re just, we’re both very bad at sitting still, and we had to do something.
At first, we played with the idea of a feature, but first wanted to, I guess, dip our toe in. And so we both created a short film within quarantine, one film, Bed, directed by Emily, and the other film Pains, directed by myself. Just to see how we felt about going into something much larger.
And they turned out so successfully for us, we felt good about it, we felt like, “Yeah, let’s jump in headfirst.” And we reached out to our producers about an idea we had playing around with. They really responded to it and jumped in and then it was off to the races. We worked through quarantine, the entire film was conceived, written, and produced all during that summer of quarantine.
Rebecca Elliott:
Wow!
Emily Bennett:
And I think our working experience together, we come from such different backgrounds. I’m a classically trained theater actor. Justin is an insanely talented cinematographer, such an artist in his craft, as well as every other department in film, frankly. With our powers combined, we make a great team. And so we made several shorts together and it gave us the confidence enough to say, “We’ll try a feature, for better or for worse.” Because once we started, we were like, “Oh, this is totally different.”
But we both trust in each other, the fact that we come from such different backgrounds, you would think might make it a little difficult or we would have some kind of language barrier, but that doesn’t really exist. Creatively, especially writing the script, felt so seamless. We outlined in May, we wrote the script/scriptment in June, started shooting July 1st, and wrapped principal photography around August 15th.
Justin Brooks:
It’s fun because we actually come from very different backgrounds, even in the films we have enjoyed, we come from different places. However, again, when we come together, I think the exciting thing for us both is that lends us the opportunity to write films that we never would’ve written solo.
Rebecca Elliott:
Absolutely. It helps you to see a different perspective.
Justin Brooks:
So we both create films separately, but they’re very different from the films that we create together. And that’s the fun part of it, when we get together, it really is like we’re playing a game with one another, getting to toss the ball back and forth. Because we are constantly giving ideas that the other would not happen across naturally. And in that, we get to create these films that almost feel like we’re enjoying it as an audience member as well.
So it’s actually a very dynamic and fun experience to write with one another. And this film, it felt so ready, it felt like a film that just was screaming to be told, because we wrote it so quickly and we came across it so naturally, it felt right. So we really poured our quarantine catharsis into this movie.
Emily Bennett:
And I will say, the writing process, as breakneck and panic-inducing as it was, I think feeds into the metabolism of the film. So the writing process, as anxiety-ridden and crazy as it was, I think honestly, that’s organically set into the film in a way.
Rebecca Elliott:
Barbara, whenever the pandemic hit, did you ever imagine that there would still be a way for you to work even with everyone on lockdown?
Barbara Crampton:
Right. Well, I think everybody is kind of back almost to normal now. They are making movies, studios are making movies and independent producers are making movies, you just have to have a COVID compliance officer around and testing and all that. But this movie was made at the very beginning of the pandemic when we were all still at home and we did not know what was going to happen. We did not have any vaccines and everybody was still coming home from the grocery store washing their lettuce packaging.
So all of my stuff happened on Zoom and by then I was an expert in Zoom because we had been using that for a few months talking to our family and friends. So it kind of worked out. But good for them, yes, for taking that opportunity to not stop creating.
Rebecca Elliott:
It’s almost like independent horror creators are so used to working under various constraints that it’s a natural fit for that community to improvise and to take it in another direction during the pandemic.
Barbara Crampton:
I have worked on a few big productions for studios in my life and worked on bigger budget TV things, but mostly what I have done are the low budget independent movies…You are kind of reinventing the wheel every time you do it, but if you do enough of them, you get better and better at it, so it is not something that I shy away from.
I mean, there is definitely a can-do spirit with a lot of independent creators, and hopefully, you do it enough times that you do get that opportunity to maybe have a little more cushion of more money or more time or something. But we are used to working, as you say, under tight constraints and not optimal conditions, so there is a real creative dynamic spirit in the independent world that I am really proud of. Most of the people that I work with I think do an amazing job with what they have to work with.
Rebecca Elliott:
Obviously, the film has themes of isolation, but you incorporate FaceTime and Zoom and all the things that became so paramount during our time in the pandemic. Naturally, you can use technology as a plot device, but in your case, you guys made the technology parts really creepy.
Emily Bennett:
Thank you.
Rebecca Elliott:
I mean, I was like, “Oh shit, that was freaky and different!” Like a different kind of visual scare. Can you talk about incorporating the technology as more than a plot device and actually as a tool for horror in Alone With Me?
Justin Brooks:
Yeah. Well, I mean, it was first very important to us being in the middle of quarantine and a pandemic. We didn’t want to tell that story necessarily. We didn’t want to repeat the world that we were dealing with right outside our door, but rather we wanted to keep horrors that felt a little more long-lasting, a little more evergreen, and that feeling of isolation, that feeling of loss of self, identity crisis, I feel like we saw that go through so many of our friends, ourselves included, during quarantine, that was the horror story we really wanted to tell.
And that using technology to further isolate our character was, I mean, obviously from a realistic point, very helpful, we were all in the middle of a pandemic quarantine. So really leaned into the storytelling in that this is a story of isolation. We wanted to make sure our character felt more and more alone.
Emily Bennett:
Well, I will say on that topic, playing Charlie, it’s so important… the relationships were so important for me as a performer to really hold onto because otherwise I just felt alone, as the title suggests. But honestly, the technology story, I feel it grounded me as a performer because I could rely on those relationships. However, I think the technology and some people have commented about this, that we used the FaceTime and Zoom “well”, whatever that means, but we wanted to make that realistic. Because when my friend FaceTime’s from the bar, she’s never framing herself perfectly. And then she forgets how to turn on the volume, of course.
And so we wanted to make those things realistic, but also those are the only windows into the outside world Charlie has. They’re imperfect. She can’t control the camera. And so that further leads Charlie into more anxiety, less control over the outside world, less control over how she can talk to the people closest to her. And I think in that way, that fed into the theme of this isolation that we were trying to really drive home.
Rebecca Elliott:
Plus, I mean maybe in a roundabout way, it enables you to get an incredible genre actress like Barbara Crampton to, it’s weird to say, call in a performance, haha. But how did you shoot her Zoom stuff for Alone With Me?
Emily Bennett:
Barbara. She does anything but call it in. That woman is there for you. A dream.
Rebecca Elliott:
I kid! I kid!
Justin Brooks:
First of all, getting Barbara was an absolute dream. For two fans of horror, I mean, Barbara is an icon. To have her involved, and for her to be so supportive of the story and of the character…to be perfectly honest, it’s a real nice ego boost when Barbara Crampton says you’ve written a nice script. So it was wonderful to work with her, she’s such a giving performer. And we made things even more difficult because she had to film her own performance. She was her hair and makeup.
Emily Bennett:
We sent her a GoPro camera and the recording equipment. She was in it to win it, she was there with us. We rehearsed and it was… I mean, it was a lot more than an actress of her caliber… it’s a lot more than I imagine she’s asked of on a day-to-day basis.
Justin Brooks:
I was able to work with her through Zoom on the technical side and make sure we were all set there. And then on top of the technical aspects, she would perform with Emily. And she gave us wonderful performances. She gave us time to rehearse and work through that stuff. So a lot of the directing and the working with Barbara happened before the camera was rolling. We worked for the character. We discussed the relationships and then went to work. And she gave some beautiful performances that, later on, Emily would use to perform against for her takes due to our technical capabilities.
We actually had to gather both performances separately, which is hard, certainly hard on an actor to not have a scene partner, but that’s partially how Emily worked as a co-director in that she and I would talk a great deal about the performance beforehand. And Emily would almost direct our other actors through her performance.
Emily Bennett:
As Justin said, this took a lot of pre-production. A lot of discussion between the two of us before recording these scenes with these brilliant actresses- Dora Madison [FaceTime friend] included. And yeah, and as an actor and a co-director, I wanted to give them enough to react to, because that’s being a good scene partner. I wanted to give them the opportunity to really shine so that then I could use their best takes in my performance. And then we combined all of that in post. So it is a massive mind-bender of constructing this film, but I don’t think it could be any other way.
Rebecca Elliott:
And Barbara, what was the experience filming Alone With You like on your end? You had to switch gears between the technical aspect and then, of course, performing.
Barbara Crampton:
Yeah, it worked out fine. They sent me a camera through the mail and Justin helped me set it up. I put it right next to the computer screen and turned the camera on, and as you said, I was my own makeup artist and cinematographer, and lighting designer. They also filmed me from their side looking at Emily’s computer screen talking to me, so then they had two different versions of it. It seemed to work out just fine.
It was a little daunting to feel like I had to be in control of everything, and make sure that everything was going to be okay and match and look good. So I felt like I had a little more pressure on me, but it was also very exciting to work on something. I had not done anything for a number of months and did not know when we were going to be able to do anything, so I was all game for that.
Rebecca Elliott:
You have worked with visionary directors, like Brian De Palma, and of course Stuart Gordon, but then you have also worked with a bunch of fabulous first-time directors. What have you learned throughout your career about understanding a director’s vision of the movie they are making? And on the flip side, has there ever been a movie that turned out completely different than you expected?
Barbara Crampton:
Well, even Stuart Gordon, when I worked with him was a first-time director, so I have worked with a lot of first-time people. Stuart Gordon was the first one, and then later on in my career, I worked with Adam Wingard when he did You’re Next. That was not his first movie, but he came from the scrappy independent world of making movies for under $100,000. The budget was about $700k and that seemed like a lot of money at the time.
I also worked recently with Brandon Christensen and who was another newer director in a movie called Superhost. He had done Z and Still/Born before. So, a lot of these people that I have worked with have gone on to have amazing careers like Adam doing Godzilla vs. Kong and Stuart Gordon who had a really prolific career, and Brandon Christensen I think is another one who we are going to see a lot more of.
I kind of feel the same about Emily and Justin and Alone With You. I read the script and I really loved it, I thought it was well-written and has some surprises I did not expect, especially towards the end. When I spoke to them on Zoom when I first met them, I was really struck by their professionalism and how strong their vision was, and how prepared I felt they were when I asked questions about things. And it is so far as working with a lot of new young directors.
Sometimes these people come and go. So I have done a movie where I have thought, “Oh, okay, well, it was not as good as I thought it could be.” For whatever reasons or constraints, that happened to be the case. But people that have a strong vision and are really prepared and have specific details worked out about what they want to do and how they want to do it, are the ones that continue to grow and will make it in this business. So I have been fortunate to work with more directors that are new and upcoming. I really feel like it is part of my privilege to work with new young artists that have such strong ideas.
To answer your question about working within the vision of a particular director and how that works…I feel like every single director I work with is a little bit different. The good ones, even if they are young, usually have a strong knowledge of horror. Mostly I work in the horror genre, but I have worked with Ricky Bates Jr. recently on King Knight, a movie that was kind of a comedy. They have a deep knowledge of filmmaking and of the genre in particular. But I feel like it is also my job to work in whatever framework they need me to work in.
For example, Stuart Gordon was a more heavy-handed director. If he could play any part in the movie, he would. He was very specific about gestures and the way to say things and where to move and what to do in ways that maybe other directors would be a little bit more collaborative in, in terms of asking me, well, now what do you think about this? How would you like to do this? Then we would talk about it and kind of decide together. Some directors do not want you to change any dialogue. And some directors will say, do you think there is something better? You should think about yourself.
Rebecca Elliott:
Right. You have to figure out their formula.
Barbara Crampton:
It just depends on who you are working with. I feel like it’s my job to serve the director. However, they want to work with me is what I will do. And I do not think one thing, or one way of working is better than another. I mean, Woody Allen is very famous for not really having a set script and going off book a lot. So, you know, the dialogue does not mean as much to him. And then some people are very specific about it. Some people are more in tune with the vision of how they want the movie to look visually. It is really important to them, how you move.
So every instance is really different. And if you can not get along with your director, I think there are problems. It is my job to get along with the director as well as I can, and also to help them see their vision through it.
Rebecca Elliott:
In Alone With You, the horror aspect is not necessarily gratuitous, but it still feels very visceral. A less is more situation, I guess you could say. Without giving away spoilers, can you talk about the choice to be a bit more abstract about some of the actual gory stuff?
Justin Brooks:
I think it started in the tone that we wanted to set with Alone With You. Emily and I are big fans of the mid to late ’70s, horror, early ’80s horror. A lot of that was a horror of the mind, along with the more external horror. That was very much the type of film we wanted to make. We knew the tone and the language very early on. Both of us are such fans of a scavenger hunt of a film too. Something that really encourages multiple watches to really fully, key every little piece along the way. That’s the film we really wanted to make.
Now, that of course brings its own challenges in trying to film something where you’re literally taking apart your world the entire time and putting it back together. That created its own challenges in us trying to make sure we maintain a through-line through the film. I think for both of us, we, of course, like any horror fan, we’re such fans of the kind of gore-hound fun stuff. But this was a very personal film, a very quiet type of horror. This is different.
Emily Bennett:
It’s dreadful.
Justin Brooks:
Yeah. We’re both very attracted to the word dread. That is the type of thing we really lean into, something that leaves you uneasy the entire time. Rather than the quick bang and slash, we wanted to leave you with something to pick on the entire way through in Alone With You.
Rebecca Elliott:
I mean, it’s fun to have the gratuitous stuff, but sometimes it’s just as effective to just give little blips of what’s going on and let the audience fill in the awful blanks themselves. And on that note, I think we’re out of time, you guys. I wish we could talk longer!
Emily Bennett:
Oh, well, it’s a pleasure to talk to you, Rebecca. Thank you so much.
Justin Brooks:
Yeah. Thank you.
Barbara Crampton:
Thank you, Rebecca!
Rebecca Elliott:
Y’all have a great day. Thank you so much. Good luck with everything.
Dark Star Pictures will release the horror Alone With You in Theaters on February 4, 2022, and On-Demand, Digital, and DVD on February 8, 2022.
