THE UNFAMILIAR, AN INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR HENK PRETORIUS

Today we welcome writer and director Henk Pretorius to the site to chat about his latest horror film The Unfamiliar, where a British Army doctor comes back from a war, thinking that she has PTSD only to discover that there is a more daunting malevolence at work making the life that she knew unfamiliar.

​Hello Henk, how are things with you? 
 
I am excited, nervous, insecure and sometimes overly confident.
 
I have been emotionally, physically and otherwise invested in The Unfamiliar for the last five years and the film is about to be seen by an audience. Although I have made numerous other features before, this is the first one I have made for Britain and North America. It is a massive jump for me as a filmmaker from being a local South African filmmaker, to having a more global presence, and I can honestly not predict the outcome.
 
The one thing that assists me in my current state of mind is a bunch of spiritual Ram Das podcasts about how one should detach from your emotions. Which I am usually able to do, but this is so new.
 
Your filmmaking career began in South Africa, what are the most significant differences between making films in South Africa and the UK?
 
I thought that the in-front-of-camera talent in London is incredible. The pool of highly skilled performers to choose from, and their dedication to the craft, is commendable. 
 
The on-set Heads of Departments in London was a bit less experienced than the Heads of Departments I usually work with in South Africa, which was cool because it reminded me of making my first film back in 2006. I will probably work with a bit more experienced team of HOD’s going forward in the United Kingdom, but there is a certain romance in working with a crew that is still trying to find their voice in a noisy industry. I hope that the film means something for the team of HOD’s that worked on the movie with me, hence why I tried to name everyone in our marketing campaign too.  My first film in South Africa started a wave that led to a more economical suitable independent sector. The film industry in the United Kingdom is more mature in that sense than South Africa, so time will tell if the film had a positive effect on other people’s careers.  
 
On “The Unfamiliar”, I worked with post-production companies in both the United Kingdom and South Africa. This was a phenomenally positive experience. I had the pleasure of working with composer Walter Mair in London, who’s work made a sizeable difference in how an audience may emotionally receive the film. The colouring of the "picture" and the visual effects on The Unfamiliar took place in The United Kingdom and the final mix in South Africa.
 
In summary, I would say that the British industry is more mature than the South African industry, which makes the approach generally in South Africa more entrepreneurial. Employees in the United Kingdom has a more Swiss-clock maker approach to solve particular problems, rather than taking on vastly more responsibility that South Africans are known to do. Off course I am generalizing, and off course both methods have their merits.
 
 
You got to work with Nelson Mandela's grandson on the film Fanie Fourie's Lobola what was that like?
 
Kweku Mandela doesn’t talk about his heritage but did introduce me to a couple of his family members. I haven't met anyone in the Mandela-family that was in politics, and everyone was super unique. Which, I think it a sign of good parenting, where the sons and daughters of your children are all encouraged to follow their dreams. I also believe that it ties in with The Great Nelson Mandela’s life’s goal: to give all the opportunity to become the induvial they want to be, irrespective of their race or gender.  This ideal, in my opinion, really translated in all the Mandela family members I have met.
 
I loved making Fanie Fourie’s Lobola because it was a cultural clash romantic comedy that I envisioned to show how South Africans can move forward and celebrate shared traditions. I meet people in South Africa, in all walks of life, that watched the film, and it had a positive effect on their journey. The idea that a story can offer people an alternative, and sometimes more positive way of thinking about life, is one of the great perks of being a filmmaker.
 
Before The Unfamiliar, you were primarily known for writing and directing comedies, what prompted the move from laughs to scares?
 
Most people I know that believe in the phycological concept of “having a personality” describe me as A-type. I am always up for a challenge and to evolve beyond my comfort zone. I am someone who is never completely happy with what he has achieved and always want to obtain a little more. Or grow a bit more, which led me to the need to decode the horror genre.  Luckily my fascination with the film genre was supported by my horror-fan producer and business partner: Llewelynn Greeff as well as our company CFO and producer: Barend Kruger. Llewelynn’ sister was so excited about us wanting to do a horror film that she dropped a massive box of horror films at my house. I watched these, which translated into the scariest and most anxious two weeks of my film career, but I eventually noticed the poignancy of the genre.
 
The horror genre to me now is best described as the search for truth and, ironically, finding the light in the face of perceived darkness.  The best horror films to me managed to capture the dark in a way that brings new understanding to our psyches as a human race. For example: How we deal with fear, in the face of clear and imminent danger, is, of course, a deep reflection of our character.
 
Do you think your experience of setting up "the punchline" in your comedy films gave you an insight on how to set up the "scares" in The Unfamiliar?
 
Setting up a scare and the building of tension is rhythmically similar to building towards a laugh or creating a comedic film. In a sense, you have set-up, and a punchline for both genres and timing are incredibly important in both.  I think an excellent example of that is Jordan Peele’s work, and how he has mastered comedic timing as well as the incredibly impressive: “GET OUT” horror film.
 
However, storytelling across all genres all have the golden thread of the pursuit to create memorable characters, with strong arch’s, in a uniquely told plotline at their core. These story principals never really change across genres, and I believe in dabbling in different film genres makes you a more skillful filmmaker. The horror genre’s command on the film making medium surely left an imprint on how I can use the medium to strengthen my next film with. My background in comedic films helped infuse my understanding of the rhythm behind a scare.
 
 
In 2012, you co-founded the Britain-based company Dark Matter Studios with Llewelynn Greeff, what was the reasoning behind setting up your own film production company? 
 
The truth is that I, as a young director, was born into a country with no real opportunities to make a living from directing films. It inspired me to think of both the business side of things, as well as the creative facets involved to make a film. I joined another film company as a partner and helped steer the company into creating several commercially successful South African films.  My ambition soon outgrew South Africa as a market, and Llewelynn flew to South Africa to introduce himself to me and my previous company. Although Llewelynn had no experience in producing a feature film, we shared a couple of essential characteristics as people. We had integrity in our business dealings, we both took responsibility for our actions, and we had a dream to open a company where filmmakers can make a sustainable living out of films.
 
Llewelynn made me two promises before we opened Dark Matter Studios in 2012: he will take responsibility of the almost impossible task of raising money for our endeavors, and he is strong enough not to let the industry corrupt him. I promised Llewelynn that day to create content that people will want to see and always to stay loyal to the bigger picture of building a sustainable industry in the creative arts rather than just jumping at a career opportunity.   This code of conduct is why I prefer being part of our Dark Matter Studios family, rather than building my career on my own. Success also feels better shared than when it’s only focused on you as an individual.
 
So, out of the impossibility of making a career in film in South Africa, we now have a functioning British production company, with a global distribution reach and numerous creative assets we are motivated to create soon.
 
 
What has been the hardest thing associated with running your own company, and what has been the most rewarding thing related to it?
 
I luckily don’t run Dark Matter Studios alone; I do it with Llewelynn.
 
The hardest thing about running a company is that you are always 100% responsible for both the things you can control as well the things that are outside of your control.
 
The best thing about running a company is that with taking on this responsibility, you have the freedom to make choices. And these choices ultimately significantly contribute to your fate.
 
What is the biggest hurdle you face as an independent film production company? 
 
If you ask Llewelynn, he may tell you it is raising the capital for producing, distributing and marketing our intellectual properties.
 
I would say it is predicting what intellectual property to create next that may be in demand for the trends of tomorrow and will justify the budget spent on creating and marketing them.
 
In truth, I think it is both raising the money and creating assets for sometimes a distant future.  Plus, the added pressure to run all day-to-day tasks associated with managing a business. 
 
 
Your latest film The Unfamiliar, at first look, could be considered just another "possession horror film,(it's OK folks it isn't, when the film is released be sure to check it out). There's a lot of twists and defying the expectations that have commonly become associated with possession-type horror movies. How were you able to keep that originality while paying homage to the stories that came before?
 
I think it has to do with respecting the audience enough to know a film will only really appeal to them if it’s fresh.
 
I then do an incredible amount of research into the genre, the subject matter, as well as everything that surrounds the film. Luckily, Jennifer Nicole Stang, who wrote the script with me, helped me with the research.
 
I also wanted to make a film that appears to be one thing, and then turns out to be something completely different. A film that uses horror tropes to guide and sometimes, miss guide the audience to a different conclusion.
 
I am a fan of John Carpenter’s idea of activating an audience’s imagination oppose to showing the monsters, as well as the modern master of horror: James Wan. His ability to make the building of tension truly cinematic is something I thrive to achieve. I was also inspired by Jennifer Kent’s thematically rich telling of The Babadook yet tried not to borrow any story ideas from any of the films.  
 
The film could be considered "heavy" in the sense that it touches on a soldier's PTSD, feeling like a stranger in your own family, being a  stepmother, and many others that I don't wish to spoil. How did these elements come about?
 
The idea of the film being dramatic grew out of my affinity for drama as a genre. I think that our “human suffering” is an essential emotional-in for an audience in identifying with a character, and I use dramatic beats even in my more comedic films. There was another film: Ready or Not, that was quite a lighthearted and delightful film to me, and I remember watching it and thinking: maybe I should have put more “laughs” in The Unfamiliar. And then I thought: even a comedy-horror like Ready or Not has a dramatic backdrop of the prejudges of classism, and it’s that backdrop, that I believe, creates the connection for the audience with the lead character who, is this particular film, disrupts the class system. 
 
The PTSD element in the film was inspired by a group of marines that I hung out with in LA when writing the script with Jennifer. The idea of a mother trying to keep her family safe, in the face of danger, was inspired by my observation of just how brave people can be when it comes to protecting their family. The idea of making the lead character be a stepmother showed the cracks of her alienation and the insecurity that Izzy experienced in an attempt to fit into the family nucleus.  
 
And what was it like dealing with that subject matter?
 
The balance between the genre and weight of the subject matter was the challenge. The film had to deal with it freshly, without taking away from the seriousness of someone experiencing PTSD, yet as you know, the film is not really about that. So, it can’t just be used as a device, because that will come across as exploitive. It has to be dealt with, with enough care to motivate the inclusion, but not with too much screen time to confuse the genre and the audience of horror films. Time will tell what the majority of the audience thinks, and you will only honestly know the impact when “the lovers” outweigh “the haters” of the film. 
 
 
Why Hawaiian folklore?
 
Jennifer Nicole Stang read this incredibly thick book of Hawaiian mythology that she brought to my attention. The amount of the culture that most people didn’t know about Hawaii captivated our imaginations as writers. The idea that Hawaii is often portrayed as a tourist destination and that only a small number of films have attempted to portray a more three-dimensional picture of its inhabitants, was also inspirational.
 
I was born in Cape Town, and sometimes people think they understand the complexities of living in South Africa just because they have read about it or visited it for a short holiday. And although I love the fact that I come from a place that tourists want to visit, and I hope people continue to do so, I also know that living in South Africa and experiencing its people is vastly different from the holiday experience. I can’t possibly hope to capture the spirit of Hawaiian people in ninety minutes, and it is also not the point of the actual film. Yet, I do hope that it inspires interest in the culture or any foreign literature for that matter. I have made numerous films that explore different cultures, and I have often found myself wanting to know more, the more I get to know the customs, rituals and traditions of the people. I have also found that people stripped from their culture, behave in quite a similar way, which off course brings us closer to the shared human experience and each other in the process.    
 
Without giving too much away, what was it like having actors embodying multiple characters?
 
To take Tommy, the lead character’s son, as an example. His inherent understanding of the different dimensions he played was already evident in his audition tape. He had this almost superhuman quality about him to remember lines, stage direction as well as the more emotive and physical requirements of the role and just did it, seemingly without thinking about it.
 
I was very impressed with the amount of research the cast brought to the roles and the effort that went into their preparation. It is easy to direct a well-prepared cast, and so it was, for the most part, a gratifying process. I made them all the promise that I would put as much effort as humanly possible into all the other facets of filmmaking to make sure that their performances are shown in the best possible light, and I hope they are delighted with the result.
 
 
The film has multiple locations, such as the UK, Hawaii, and a netherworld, what were your techniques to stylistically set them apart?
 
 I used different lighting methods and grading to set them apart. If you view the scenes set in Hawaii, the grade is much more saturated than the scenes set in England. For the “netherworld” we used the colour of a corpse as a model construct, in finding the right hue for the blueish tint. Andy Lee was the colourist on the film, and we spent a lot of time on each sequence to make sure they are different to the other setting. We also used a 35 mil film grade as filter to tie all the worlds together, and I wanted to make the film seem very organic and have a classic cinematic feel.
 
The production design played a role in setting the worlds apart too. You will rarely notice a shot in Hawaii without the presence of a tropical plant in the frame, for instance. And the sound design by especially Jim Petrak contributed significantly to how the different worlds would sound. Jim came up with this idea to take all the natural sounds and “atmos”, out of the netherworld. The idea that this is a place of death, where nothing, not even sound survives, motivated the choice. Most of the music used in the Hawaiian scenes also had an authentic Hawaiian instrument in them. Walter Mair imported Hawaiian instruments and combined them with classical and other musical instruments to create a unique feel for the film. 
 
What inspired you to tell this story?
 
My inspiration to tell this specific story is because I wanted to create a film that has a lot of unique twists in it. A film that is difficult to predict. Finding ways to twist the plot activated the left and mathematical part of my brain. In contrast, my emotional sphere was activated by the journey of watching a mother go to heroic lengths to protect her family from an invisible enemy. 
 
Where and when can we watch The Unfamiliar?  
 
The Unfamiliar is available on all digital platforms on 21 August in North America and on 11 September in the UK. We are announcing more dates soon, and it’s best to follow our socials for dates on @unfamiliarmovie for details around other releases.
 
Your next project is called Novus, can you tell us what this film is about? 
 
At this stage, I can only say that NOVUS is just the working title for the film and maybe changed after production. The word NOVUS gives you a clue what it is about because NOVUS means: “to renew” in Latin.
 
 

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