AN INTERVIEW WITH ROBBIE BRYAN

12.07.07

With horror gradually being dominated by the PG-13 remake and the highly commercialised franchises, independent films have become a breath of fresh air for the horror fan. MJ Reviews was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to interview Robbie Bryan, who will be directing the indie horror flick iMurders.

Firstly, tell us a little bit about iMurders. It’s looking to be one of the most exciting independent films of the year.

iMurders is an Agatha Christie-esque Murder Mystery with a good does of horror. It surrounds eight people in a Myspace-like chat room, who are playing a "game" which requires "eliminations" but in reality, people are being murdered in their own homes, which begs the question in Cyberspace, "do you really know who you're talking to?" It also deals with haunting and loneliness that only allows one to feel comfortable in front of a computer screen.

When will you be starting principal photography?

The plan is to begin right after Labor Day. We were waiting on Linda Hamilton, who we are thrilled to have in out cast, to finish another gig. When do you aim to be completed? Well, it's a 24 day shoot, and then we'll be editing and sound mixing for about 3 months, so hopefully, we'll be done in time to get it ready for Slamdance in January.

What kind of release are you aiming for iMurders?

Certainly a limited theatrical, and then the usual course of DVD, PPV and Foreign.

Your production company, Good to Be Seen Films, has been involved in a number of productions over the past decade. What made you shift to actually directing films?

I think I have kind of evolved from an actor, into a story teller, and though I wrote The Stand-In, I didn't direct it, and to be honest, if you're going to make films in more modest budget levels and write them, you really don't want someone elses vision of what you have created and envisioned ending up on screen. Because they are modest budgets, you don't have a studio dictating who gets to helm them.

What films did you draw inspiration from when creating iMurders?

Well, this film certainly has again, a sort of Cyber 10 Little Indians Feel, and I wanted the death scenes to have a bit of a Seven vibe, so the audience can envision in their minds what kind of pain and torture these souls went through, but still be jolted by the visual images they are seeing on screen. A slight variation from the "Torture Porn" genre. There aren't many deaths, but the few will be pretty intense.

Finally, horror has, at least in my opinion, become a genre dominated by cash for studios – horror fans end up out in the cold. What’s your view on this?

To an extent, I certainly agree and this is how. It's sort of the Clerks, Brothers McMullen Syndrome (yes, I know different genres), even Saw applies, where creative movies are made, low budget and done well, and make a surprising wad of cash, so the studios step in, seeing a "cash cow", throw BIG money into sequels and retreads thinking, sadly narrowmindidly, that that's all audiences want to see, but start putting the much higher budgeted films into formulas that some accountant has surmised must be included into the film to now make enough money to justify the higher budget, and the creative nuances get lost. But hey, people need to make a buck too, I just wish the "suits" (credit to "Billy" from Entourage) would allow creative people to do there thing. On the other hand, having invested my own money in projects, it's nice to see a return.

We’re looking forward to iMurders immensely. Thank you very much for this interview, and we hope to hear more from you.

Enjoyed it guys, thanks!