As you may have heard in last week’s episode of the podcast, everyone at Frightday is head over heels in love with Pod. Unbelievable performances from an intimate cast, in addition to visual & auditory attacks equivalent to a rollercoaster with brake problems, culminate in an experience that is equal parts fun & terrifying. Director/writer Mickey Keating (Ritual) was gracious enough to share with us the films that lead to its inception.
[customfont1]1) The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street/Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up? (The Twilight Zone)[/customfont1]
I can’t describe the influence The Twilight Zone has had over my sensibilities as a storyteller. Rod Serling is one of my all-time favorite writers and I consider POD a true, sincere love-letter to his work. These two episodes deal so brilliantly with paranoia and the idea that human hysteria is worse than any otherworldly creature. MARTIAN is set in a snowy diner and terrified me when I was younger. I could honestly wrap up my entire list of Pod’s influences with these two episodes alone.
[customfont1]2) The Manchurian Candidate (1962)[/customfont1]
The government has been infiltrated by the enemy and soldiers are being brainwashed to commit horrible, heinous acts. Does it get any better than that? This movie is immaculate. It’s about people dealing with something so much bafflingly larger than themselves, the uncertainty of identity, and the military as the flawed, corrupted enemy. You feel the weight of the world on your own shoulders as you watch.
[customfont1]3) The Andromeda Strain (1971)[/customfont1]
This film has hands down one of the greatest sci-fi scores ever created. We used it as temp score every step of the way in our rough cuts. But beyond that, it’s a beautiful film about a small group of people dealing with something way bigger than they ever anticipated, trying to figure it out as they go along. That sense of overwhelming dread in this film served as a huge inspiration.
[customfont1]4) The Ninth Configuration (1980)[/customfont1]
This one’s exclusively for Martin’s character. It’s a film about disturbed vets who spend their days in their own fantasy world. There’s a devastating scene where Scott Wilson’s character wanders away from the institute and ends up in a bar, where he becomes the subject of violent ridicule by a gang of thugs. It’s heartbreaking. As soon as I saw that, Martin made total sense to me. It was much easier to write the script from there.
[customfont1]5) Silent Hill 2 (video game)[/customfont1]
I know, I know, this isn’t a FILM, but that doesn’t mean that it served as any less of an inspiration. Everything in POD’s soundscape, the lighting – even the way Martin is dressed in the opening of the film – all homages to the brilliance of Silent Hill 2. What’s so wonderful about this game is that it forces the audience to torture themselves with their own anticipation. Whatever could be lurking in the dark is made exponentially worse by your own imagination. With the help of a Lynch-inspired, pulsing soundtrack, of course.
[customfont1]6) Bug (2006)[/customfont1]
I adore this movie front to back. I may be the only guy in the world who prefers it to The Exorcist. I think I love it so much because it’s an obvious nod to The Twilight Zone episodes I mentioned earlier. It’s The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street in a filthy motel room. It examines paranoia and fear as an infectious entity, pretty much without clarifying a true antagonist. The power of persuasion and the willingness to believe stories as “fact” is the most dangerous entity of all.
[customfont1]7) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)[/customfont1]
Perfect. Bliss. The wardrobe in POD is a direct homage to the characters in this film. The score is brilliant. The camerawork is kooky. If you haven’t seen this movie, run to watch it. Watch it before you watch my film. It’s a masterpiece.
[customfont1]8) The Mist (2007)[/customfont1]
The Mist, like Bug, represents to me the best of The Twilight Zone’s next of kin. It’s an examination of what people do to one another in horrifying circumstances. The creatures could pretty much just kick back and let humanity murder one another inside the grocery store.
[customfont1]9) Ils (aka THEM) (2006)[/customfont1]
If you haven’t seen this French horror film, I won’t spoil it for you. It’s stripped back, simple, terrifying. We used this one as a big reference for the lighting. There’s an immaculate scene where Michaël Cohen’s wanders through the inky darkness, with just the flickering glow of a lighter. The claustrophobia in this film is top notch.
[customfont1]10) Cache (2005)[/customfont1]
I can’t really say why this movie was such an influence to me without completely ruining a major spoiler in both POD and Cache. Just watch it. It’s Michael Haneke. He’s one of the greatest living filmmakers working today. Why aren’t you watching it yet?
[customfont1]11) Taxi Driver (1976)[/customfont1]
Travis Bickle was, first and foremost, the jumping off point for Martin’s character. A traumatized veteran who drifts through the world with a growing manifesto and ends up wreaking some serious havoc. Brian Morvant and I talked a lot about Martin’s perspective on the world, that if this “Pod” conspiracy didn’t show up on his doorstep, Martin would probably veer off and take a similar descent into more realistic violence that Travis did. Plus the mohawk.
[customfont1]12) Death And The Maiden (1994)[/customfont1]
Yet another paranoid, tense drama where you have absolutely no fucking clue who’s telling the truth. We don’t see what happened in the past, we just hear about the horrible ordeal through the filter of an unreliable narrator. The tension in this movie is perfect. The film consists almost entirely of three characters in an isolated house, sifting through accusations and lies. It’s so perfectly upsetting and frustrating. The performances are top notch. Roman Polanski is king.
[customfont1]13) Magnolia (1999)[/customfont1]
I think this one might seem out of left field to most of you, but I absolutely worship the dynamic between Philip Baker Hall and Melora Walters and used it as a starting point for Ed and Lyla’s relationship. The coke-sprinkled furniture, the blaring music in the filthy apartment, it’s all my loving nod to PTA.
If that’s not enough for you, I also recommend
Streamers (Robert Altman)
Cutter’s Way (Ivan Passer)
Tape (Richard Linklater)
Cabin Fever (Eli Roth)
The Boys From Brazil (Schaffner)
Shock Corridor (Sam Fuller)
Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols)
Watch Pod‘s chilling tension build on VOD, or at select theaters right now.