KIDS VS. ALIENS: Part Two Of Our Interview With Director Jason Eisener

Back in September at the annual Fantastic Fest genre film festival, writer/director Jason Eisener sat down with Cinema Scholars to chat about his latest film, the sci-fi adventure Kids Vs Aliens. Today, we share part 2 of that interview. RLJE Film and Shudder will release Kids Vs Aliens in Theaters, On Demand, and Digital on January 20, 2023. 

Introduction

There’s something uniquely captivating about stories of children in peril. From classics like The Goonies (1985) to hardcore horror films like the It franchise, seeing kids fight against the odds creates a heightened sense of thrill and terror that exceeds similar fare with adult counterparts. Is this because children represent our innate innocence and vulnerability? Or maybe the naturally precocious nature of kiddos nicely counters the seriousness of a dire situation?

Whatever the reasons may be, films about unsupervised children running amok in dangerous predicaments have long been a popular staple of cinema. Even when the intended audience may or may not be over eighteen years of age. In Jason Eisener’s new film Kids Vs Aliens, the director aims his no-holds-barred filmmaking approach to this much-beloved sub-genre with a hardcore and heartfelt tale. 

Synopsis

Gary and Samantha are close-knit siblings. Though Samantha is a few years older, she still enjoys joining her brother in their hobby of making homespun monster movies with a professional wrestling twist. Like big sisters are wont to do, Samantha is charmed by the high school bad boy and soon starts to ditch her bro and his buds for more mature exploits. In no time, however, that family drama becomes moot as an extraterrestrial threat throws everyone into a tailspin. Now, instead of dealing with the usual rites of adolescent passage, the crew is tasked with saving themselves and the world from certain alien doom. 

Kids Vs Aliens is as straightforward as its title. Eisener quickly, but effectively, races through character development and any pertinent backstory to get to the good stuff. The typical wise-cracking kid trope is strong as is the familiar full-bodysuit-clad style of aggressive extraterrestrials. Think early Peter Jackson a la Bad Taste (1987) with a satisfying blend of terror, gore, and kinetic camp. In perhaps the most surprising twist, some of the more serious moments of the film shine thanks to some truly tear-jerking performances by the young cast. Though brief, these interludes help balance a movie that otherwise sticks to the formula. In a good way. 

Here’s part two of our interview with director Jason Eisener, where he elaborates a bit more about working with his young cast.

Interview

Rebecca Elliott:

Jason Eisener:

Well a lot of them are from Nova Scotia where I’m from. Everyone’s from Nova Scotia, except for the kid who plays Gary, Dominic [Mariche], and the kid who plays Jack, Asher [Grayson]. Those two actors were from Vancouver, but I did a whole Canadian-wide search with casting agents, calling up every kid actor they could find. I looked at so many tapes and I was so lucky to find the talent back home.

A lot of people who worked on my movie, they worked on my first feature film ten years ago and they’ve been working in the film industry. And so a lot of people had worked with some of these kids that are in my film on little things, background performers or whatnot. 

Jason Eisener:

No, not really. The only difficult part is just having to deal with them having to get homeschooled while you’re in production. So you only get so many hours with them.

Logistics

Rebecca Elliott:

Yes, the literal logistics of it.

Jason Eisener:

Yeah, so if I was shooting a scene and there were two kids here or whatever, and I’m just shooting this way for a moment, they were like, “Okay, can we take this kid to go get tutored for fifteen, half an hour?” I would often have to…the AD would come to me and it would be like, “Okay, we have to bank so many hours of homeschooling for actors, how do you want to block things out?” I’d have to figure out, okay, I need this kid to feed off this kid, even if he’s not on-screen, it’s just important for that kid to be there.

Rebecca Elliott:

As a result, you really have to really be strategic about your shot list and how you set everything up time-wise too.

Jason Eisener:

Totally, yeah.

Rebecca Elliott:

Oh my God. I bet that gets really complicated!

Jason Eisener:

That was the hardest part of it. But working with the kids was great.

Working With Kids

Rebecca Elliott:

Working with kids is crazy alone, much less on a film set. Do you have any fun kid stories, like just behind the scenes?

Jason Eisener:

Gosh. Let me think. They were thriving so much. I tried my best to create a safe environment where they could feel like they could bring their ideas and have fun and just kind of feel that they’re…

Rebecca Elliott:

Like they’re allowed to be kids…

Jason Eisener:

Yeah. Their kids, but they’re getting to do a movie and they’re seeing all these cool things.

Rebecca Elliott:

Uh-huh, but stay on task. That’s hard too sometimes for kids.

Jason Eisener:

Oh yeah, totally. There would be those times, trouble getting focused or whatever. But I love working with them so much. I’ve worked with all kinds of different actors, old and young. And sometimes for me, it’s more nerve-wracking working with older experienced actors.

Rebecca Elliott:

Right!

Jason Eisener:

Because sometimes you can get manipulated by someone who is so experienced. But with kids, they’re just so… a lot of the times, they’re just so down to do something fun. And I’m always trying to do something fun in front of the camera. So I just like that energy.

A Sequel?

Rebecca Elliott:

Totally. Well, speaking of working with kids again, not to get into spoilers or anything, but it seems like this film is set up perfectly for a part two.

Jason Eisener:

Yes.

Rebecca Elliott:

Is there a part two in the works? 

Jason Eisener:

In my mind there is.

Rebecca Elliott:

We need to spread the word!

Jason Eisener:

Yes, spread it. Spread the word. Tell people to watch this movie and if you like it, be loud about it because that will help me get the next one made.

Rebecca Elliott:

Yeah. The ending left it pretty open for a sequel. I was like, what? No! I have to know what happens. It’s so great.

Jason Eisener:

So yeah, we got it plotted out. And that was actually one of the fun things on set was we told the kids we want to do another one of these. And so their imagination was going nuts. Every day just pitching me ideas for scenes and stuff. And they were great. They were like, oh hell yeah, we’re going to use that idea. So we’ve got an outline for the next one.

Rebecca Elliott:

That’s awesome. And the beauty part is, it’s sci-fi. So if they age or whatever, you can mess with the timeline however you want.

Jason Eisener:

Right! You can spend some time wherever they’ve been off to and before they make their next move.

Rebecca Elliott:

Yes! Exactly. All right, I guess I should wrap this up. I have like 50 more questions. You know how these things go.

Jason Eisener:

Yeah.

Rebecca Elliott:

Thank you so much for chatting with me.

Jason Eisener:

Yeah, thank you. It was great.