USA, 2019
Director: John Woodruff
Writer: Jonathan Murphy
Stars: Larisa Oleynik, Erin Daniels, Christian Oliver, Don Frye
Synopsis: Fifteen years ago, two teenage girls were murdered at Merrymaker Camp. The case was filed an animal attack, the camp was condemned and the killer never found – but something horrific still waits in those woods… Now, the camp is ready to do business once more. Writer Roland Baumgarner, who made his name with a book on the topic, has been invited to the grand re-opening…
Director’s statement: While horror is one of the oldest, most important genres of story that there is, it is also one of the most underrated and despised genres as well… why? This is a question that has plagued me for years as an avid fan of horror. Is the genre discredited due to a reliance on exploitational factors such as excessive levels of gore and sex? Sure! Are unfair stigmas attached to the genre due to an overwhelming number of genre pieces that rely too heavily upon shock value to reach an audience and compromise story as a result? Absolutely! But then again, most of the greatest horror films ever made do not rely on these exploitational factors. Which leads me to believe that at the heart of it all, it is something deeper. Something darker.
You see, true horror is merely an inversion of romanticism. After all, what is romanticism but a depiction of humanity at its best? So I believe that many people shy away from horror because it has the potential to show us a side of ourselves that many people don’t want to see. Horror has the ability to hold a mirror up to its audience and show us that as humans we ARE the monsters, the creatures, the things that go bump in the night. And THAT is the scariest thing of all. This is what ANIMAL AMONG US is about. Presented in the guise of a campy horror flick full of twists and turns to keep the viewer guessing, this film was designed to be the most fun, colorful, fast paced, funny, non-exploitational scary movie that we could possibly make.
It sets up all of the tropes of the genre to lead the viewer into a cliché’ only to then break that perceived cliché’ at the last possible moment causing the viewer to constantly question who or what the monster is. My hope is to keep the audience guessing throughout the film, constantly changing their perspective on who or what the monster is and who the good guy is or isn’t right up until the last frame. Much like in life. Are we monsters or are we victims? Are we heroes or are we villains? Or, is the choice up to you, the viewer?