The Indiependent sits down with director Travis Greene and screenwriter Jonathan Buchanan to talk about their new home-invasion horror, 8 Found Dead.
The film was screened at Grimmfest 2023 on October 7, ahead of its digital release on 23 October 2023. The duo break down the film, explaining their stylistic and structural choices in creating a film that redefines the home invasion genre while brimming with unsettling performances and creeping dread.
The Indiependent: Can you tell us a bit about the film and what viewers can expect from it?
Travis Greene: 8 Found Dead is a story that follows two couples who head out to the Californian Mojave Desert embarking on a holiday weekend where they’ve rented an Airbnb.
Jonathan Buchanan: But alas when they get there there’s another couple already there claiming that it is their Airbnb…
Travis Greene: Rather than fighting they encourage them to stay and party…
Jonathan Buchanan:…It’s basically an inverse home invasion. It’s about these four couples: there’s our antagonists, there’s our friends that came out to the Airbnb and then we have the police officers investigating a massacre. We have all four of these little timelines.
It all takes place in one night but we divide it into chunks and shuffle the deck. People die, then they’re alive again because we’ve gone back in time a little bit and the whole time you’re trying to figure out not necessarily whodunit but who’s going to survive. There’s nine or ten characters, eight of them are dying according to the title so who’s going to make it?
Travis Greene: It’s I think a unique telling of kids going out to a cabin in the woods and madness and mayhem ensuing.
What is it like constructing a non-linear timeline and a more convoluted narrative, did you know what was going to happen narrative and then when it came to composition you decided to mix the timelines up a bit?
Jonathan Buchanan: Normally in a story like Cabin in the Woods, you have one victim at a time going outside and they get knocked off one by one. Then there’s a final conflict. We have that picking off but we also wanted to see what happens at the investigation; the cops showing up and investigating this massacre. So instead of showing it linearly, we shuffle it so that we can continue the tension throughout and follow all the storylines…leading to this end of gloom and doom.
One of the things we explored is the question of why don’t they just leave. But our antagonists weren’t these monsters. A lot of these characters stick around because of ego; they want something and they think they’re entitled to it. If you watch Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf, which is a big influence, you have this couple going to the house of Richard Burton and Liz Taylor and they’re victimised the whole night. But the reason they stay is because George Segal’s character wants something. He wants to sue them to climb the social ladder. In your typical axe murder movie, the victims realise they’re in danger right off the bat and we didn’t want to do that. We wanted to keep the tension but let the audience know that they were definitely in danger.
Who are some of your biggest influences on this film?
Travis Greene: For this, lighting wise it was Fargo and Roger Deakin’s usage of “cove lighting” especially in a full 270-degree kind of staging because I wanted to pay homage to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf. Haskell Wexler shot that and it was very simplistic but with complex staging – it felt like a stage play. I didn’t want to rely on bells and whistles and tricks and gimmicks and make it more about the dialogue and the acting and the dread. The Strangers was a big influence for us as far as like – “why are you doing this? Because you were home” – that’s one of the greatest lines in modern horror.
But the cancer story is from my life. A friend of mine invited a bunch of friends out. I didn’t know that it was about breast cancer, I thought she was going to say she got this great new job or she’s moving to New York. But it was at this really swanky dinner in Santa Monica on the beach where she told us the worst news of her life. I think that attracts more of a broader audience that might not be so hyped to horror because it makes it more realistic, and thought-provoking and it ups the stakes.
My friend is in remission which is great but I had to talk with the actress to say, this is who you’re playing, this is who you’re doing it for. That really added a bit of gravity to the scene which I think separates us selfishly. Not to trivialise her situation but it helped set us apart from the humdrum Cabin in the Woods type horror story that you’ve seen before.
It must be so nice to actually see it all come together on the big screen?
Travis Greene: The first screening was epic. The subsequent ones, I’ve got to be honest, it’s tough because now I’ve watched the film with an audience about 15 times and I’m started to get back into that mode of, “oh I shouldn’t have done that.” But that also humbles you to go back and be like I’m back at step one, be better, become better. I think that keeps you young; the search for knowledge, the pursuit of happiness and I can never be too happy with it.
What advice would to give to any inspiring writers who are hoping to get their horror films off the ground?
Jonathan Buchanan: If you’re a writer, just keep writing. Just write and write. Find friends that write and read their stuff. Read things that work, read those classics. Find the scripts from your favourite movies and read those. If you’re a writer but you maybe don’t want to direct or don’t know how to direct, make friends with the director (points at Travis). I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t know this director, if Travis and I hadn’t been friends for the last fifteen years. We were going to make a different script and I’m just standing in the right place at the right time.
Travis Greene: You never know who you’re going to meet so say yes to everything as a young person. Even if it’s doing a crappy industrial or if it’s a reality show or if it’s YouTube, TikTok or whatever because there might be someone in that crew that’ll take you elsewhere.
Some answers edited for clarity.
Words by Katie Heyes
8 Found Dead releases on digital platforms from 23 October.
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