Cinema Scholars interviews The Beldham director Angela Gulner and cast members Katie Parker, Patricia Heaton, Emma Fitzpatrick, and Mark Meir (who also produces) at the Austin Film Festival 2024. The annual writer’s-centric festival runs from October 24-31st in Austin, TX.
Introduction
It’s that time of year again when house fronts are adorned with ghastly ghouls and TV and movie screens are packed with spooky titles. With the latter, it can sometimes be daunting to sort out the quality from the quantity. While some thrill-seekers can’t get enough of slashers and gory fare, many other fans share a penchant for more subtle psychological horror.
For those looking for Halloween harrow from the second category, Angela Gulner’s new slow-burn creeper, The Beldham, fits the bill perfectly.
Synopsis
Following a mysterious accident, young single mother Harper (Katie Parker, The Haunting Of Hill House, Fall Of The House Of Usher) seeks a little R&R under the care of her concerned mom, Sadie (Patricia Heaton, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Middle). While there, Harper hopes to convalesce while Sadie helps care for her 6-month-old daughter. Sadie has recently taken over an old home in hopes of restoring and flipping the property. But as soon as Harper arrives, strange happenings around the house begin to plague the young woman.
A live crow appears inside the home out of nowhere. Creepy bird-like clicks and flap sounds permeate the silence of the aging home. And Harper can’t seem to avoid run-ins with multiple decaying crow carcasses. As the avian theme crystallizes, truths about the troubled young mother’s situation also coalesce.
At the same time Harper is being terrorized by the unknown force haunting the home, she must also contend with her delicate mental state. As the horrifying events ramp up, Harper is left wondering if her loved ones are gaslighting her, if she is losing her grip on reality, or both.
Discussion
The Beldham has a classic haunted house feel with a constant underpinning of anxious dread. Gulner showcases a gauntlet of traditional horror tropes spun together with a piquant sense of confusion and mystery. This combination sates the horror appetite while teasing unanswered questions right up to the surprisingly poignant conclusion.
As the details of Harper’s predicament come into clearer focus, questions about horrors beyond hauntings and apparitions will surely make viewers pause and consider what is truly terrifying in life and beyond.
As both a writer and director (plus a successful acting career) Gulner has honed an impressively original story and executed it with an ominous eye and slow, steady momentum. The outcome is as thought-provoking as it is chilling.
Performances
Katie Parker does an admirable job as the harried Harper. Though quirks in her character appropriately make viewers question what is really going on here, Parker’s deft take keeps Harper sympathetic and the audience guessing throughout.
As Sadie, Patricia Heaton’s terrific portrayal lets on that there’s more to the story without betraying the story’s careful unfolding. When certain details finally come to light, Heaton’s auspicious performance takes on even more gravity in hindsight.
Conclusion
So, if dark intrigue, plenty of spookiness, and complex family dynamics are the aim for your Halloween fun, look no further than The Beldham. But watch out! You may end up with as much emotional introspection as thrills and chills.
Cinema Scholars’ Rebecca Elliott had a chance to chat with The Beldham writer/director Angela Gulner as well as cast members Katie Parker, Patricia Heaton, Emma Fitzpatrick, and Mark Meir (who also produces). To ruin the outcome of this chiller would be a major disservice to anyone who gets the opportunity to see the film. Accordingly, Elliott, et al dance around some of the finer points of the film and focus more on the big picture. Nevertheless, we hope you enjoy this sit-down with the filmmakers behind this captivating creeper.
Interview
Rebecca Elliott:
Hi all! I’m Rebecca with Cinema Scholars. Thank you so much for joining me today to talk about The Bedlam. The only thing is, how do we talk about this film without ruining it?
Patricia Heaton:
We found we were able to do it without ruining anything. We speak in code.
Rebecca Elliott:
Okay, good! I’ve been worrying about spoiling such an original story. So hopefully I’ve drafted my questions just right. So, of course, my first question is for Angela. You’re an accomplished actress, but this is your first feature. Your feature directorial debut. And you penned the script as well.
Angela Gulner:
Yes.
Developing The Story
Rebecca Elliott:
So is this a concept that has been brewing for you for a long time, or is this something new? And how does your experience as a performer influence your work as a director?
Angela Gulner:
This story is definitely more recent and was inspired by changes that were happening in my life. Generational shifts in my own family and feeling what it felt like. We [points to producer/husband Mark Meir) had just gotten married, thinking about having kids. Moving from one space to another space in your generational line comes with a lot of feelings, some of them awesome, some of them really, really rough. That’s where the idea for this film came from.
I don’t have any formal writing training at all, but I just think actors know the story inside and out. We just know it. We felt it in our bodies moving through scripts and moving through stories. I actually think humans know the story. It’s like how we learn to speak and relate to people. I feel like sometimes the idea of story or writing is gatekept a little bit. But we all have access to the story.
As a director- Katie, you said this- I found myself wanting to just be in the space with them. So, I would hide in the closet and hide in other places. I was like, “Wait, no, I’m part of the team, too.” Maybe that’s having a theater background.
Immersive Directing
Katie Parker:
And dance in a way.
Angela Gulner:
Yes. I want to feel the energy in the space and let that teach me what the movie wants to be. That’s interesting.
Rebecca Elliott:
Yeah, you’re not completely on this side of the camera all the time.
Angela Gulner:
No, I don’t like being…I don’t want to be at the Video Village ever. I want to feel the energy and be around.
Emma Fitzpatrick:
Speaking of being directed by Angela, your background as an actor is really cool to experience from the other side. I think, too, because with Katie and myself- and Patty’s obviously just a pro there was just this trust from the get. There was a trust that you knew what you were doing. That the actors knew what they were doing. If there was a correction, it felt like, I don’t know, that there was always so much discussion. It was pretty easy to pivot and know what you wanted and know what to do differently. I just felt very trusted as an actor.
Rebecca Elliott:
Katie, of course, I want to ask you a million questions, but they all lead to spoilers! So I’m going to try to keep it general. You’re no stranger to horror. What is it about genre work that brings you back to it time and time again?
Returning To Genre Work
Katie Parker:
Opportunity to act. I met Mike Flanagan when I was a month living in Los Angeles and from Virginia. He was just a struggling editor. We made a movie in his apartment a year and a half after becoming friends. I have to be honest, I was really reluctant to join the horror industry because I thought at the time…It was just scary to me. I went to the cinema to have a positive experience and not have anxiety.
But truly, the genre really embraces new actors and is a really feminist genre. Like the final girl. The hero is usually a woman surviving something. I didn’t really understand that at the time. I thought it was all just slasher stuff and Jason and that stuff. But it’s been really cool to explore the genre so much the last, I don’t know, over 10 years. A long time. But it’s not because I love horror. It just is what God, the universe, presented in my life that I didn’t ever ask for or think.
I thought I would be a regional theater actress or be like, Julia Roberts in Notting Hill. Any big actors from the early ’90s, or 2000s or what Patty was doing on network television in people’s homes every Wednesday or something. That was my model of what being a television actor was. Being in the indie horror world is not what I expected, but it’s been really enriching.
Emma Fitzpatrick:
I was just going to say to your credit, as an actor, though, I think fear is impossible to fake. If somebody’s pretending to be afraid, we don’t buy it, and so we don’t follow. You’re so good at actually being there that I think that’s why you lean that way.
Genre Film Bucket List
Rebecca Elliott:
Patricia, you obviously are a legendary actress. And you’re known mostly for your comedic work. But you also have a background in dramatic theater and on the stage. Can you talk about what it’s like to go back and forth and also tell me about your experience working in independent horror?
Patricia Heaton:
Yeah, no, it was great. I mean, unlike my friend here, I love horror. It’s like a bucket list to do a horror movie. It’s like, “Yes, look! A horror movie.” And to play a mom in a horror movie, which is a nice twist. It’s nice for me to get out of the comedy genre. Which I love and appreciate, and I enjoy doing it. But as actors, we all want to do different stuff. And we want the industry to see all the different colors we can bring to different projects. It was really a wonderful opportunity.
As soon as I understood what the script was, I was like, “Oh, my gosh, you’ve never seen a horror movie with this theme, and with such a surprise.” I was like, “Oh, this just gives it a whole other level of depth.” I was really excited to do that. It was just fun because it was all these gals, and I’m meeting new friends. Even as difficult as it is when you’re shooting at 3:00 in the morning in the middle of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, which is a lovely place. But it’s hard work. So it’s nice to have these wonderful people with a project you feel confident about.
You have smart directors and writers and smart actors, and everybody’s on the same page. We’re all working towards the same thing. So it’s really hard work, but we all know we’re going to make something wonderful.
Unexpected Opportunity
Rebecca Elliott:
Yeah. And just to point a little bit to what Katie said, I feel like genre film embraces so many different performers and just gives them an avenue to really sink their teeth into a role instead of just surface-level stuff that you see a lot.
Patricia Heaton:
Yeah, totally.
Rebecca Elliott:
Obviously, I’m a huge fan of it.
Katie Parker:
The fans of the genre are just so committed. They feel like a part of any film that you’re doing. Just having the fan base is so amazing.
Rebecca Elliott:
I guess I’m getting the high sign, so I think this has to be my last question!
Angela Gulner:
No!
Takeaways
Rebecca Elliott:
It always goes too fast! The film just hits on so many levels, and of course, a lot of them are in hindsight. Again, without getting into spoilers, what would your takeaway for the film be? Is it just to scare the audience? Or is it more about that profound, thought-provoking meditation on life and its different stages? What do you hope the takeaway will be?
Patricia Heaton:
I know when I read the script, it just opened my eyes to what it must be like to be Katie’s character. To live in that world and how frightening that is. And the helpless feeling that you have. It gave me more sympathy for people who are going through that.
Katie Parker:
Call your mother.
Patricia Heaton:
That’s what the merch should say. Just “Call your mother.”
Angela Gulner:
That’s what it says on some of the marketing!
Patricia Heaton:
Oh, is that what they say? That’s great.
Emma Fitzpatrick:
Yeah, they say, “Call your mother.”
Rebecca Elliott:
Yes! I can’t think of a more perfect way to sum it up. Again, many thanks for taking time out of your busy fest schedule to talk with me today. Have a great fest.
The Beldham is screening as an official selection of the Austin Film Festival 2024. The annual event runs from October 24- 31st.
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