AARON FRADKIN TALKS BEEZEL

Interviewed by Culture Coast Talks editor Daniel John. Interview transcripts might have been edited for length and clarity.

‘Beezel’ tells the tale of a sinister flesh-eating witch that lives in the basement of a suburban home, where she feeds off of the lives of unexpecting guests. This is not just any house, but your actual childhood home?

The house was a huge inspiration in writing the story! Having grown up there I knew every corner of that house, and made an effort to include every room and every crawl space. The opening scene where the boy peers through the laundry chute only exists because we had a creepy laundry shoot that led to the basement below and as a kid it was fun but also a little scary to open up the chute and stare into the black abyss. How could I not include it in my movie.

Beginning in the mid-sixties, the story spans six decades. Looking back, might genre films from earlier eras have influenced the film?

The biggest influences for this film, conscious or not, would be Sam Raim’s 'Evil Dead' films. The use of 8mm film was heavily inspired by 'Sinister'. The unpredictable nature of the story was also inspired by 'Barbarian'. While all of these films rattled around in my brain subconsciously, our movie definitely came to life from having a location in mind first. We knew we wanted to include many of the scares we developed over the years from our short horror films on YouTube and we wanted to have some kind of monster or creature.

Why a witch for the monster?

What better way to explore supernatural phenomena, possession, and creature FX packed into one movie? A witch made sense.

Even since your first student short-film, a horror-comedy-zombie mockumentary, a love of horror was there?

Horror combines everything I love about filmmaking, there are no rules. It allows me to get weird and be creative with cinematography, writing, special effects, visual effects, you name it.

Horror and comedy is a blend we’ve gotten to see many great horror auteur directors rise up from. Is there any connection between the two?

There is absolutely a connection between horror and comedy. In a sense, both have a build up and a punchline. They’re both most effective when they’re unpredictable and shocking. Without shock value, neither one would work. That doesn’t mean you have to be gratuitous to make it entertaining, it just can’t be predictable.

How early on did you know that you wanted to be a filmmaker?

I believe I was twelve when I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker. I took a trip across the country to California with my parents to visit a family friend. There, I was able to play around with a video camera for the first time. I quickly became obsessed with filming everything no matter how boring. That’s when I learned the power of editing and shaping a narrative through film.

What did your start look like when first going into the industry?

I moved to Los Angeles in 2010 during my final semester of college. There, I was set up with internships at various production companies where I was able to get an inside look at the studio system. My first paying gig was at a commercial production company and advertising agency. After working there for about a year, I quit to pour most of my savings into my first feature film, '15 North'. While that film never made its money back, it was a great way to prove to myself I could tell a cohesive story. We had some success in the film festival circuit and overall, it was a fantastic learning experience.

Victoria Fradkin portrays Nova in this film. But she is also your co–partner at large. Living, writing, producing together. Is it right that your first kiss was actually on Halloween?

This is true! We worked together for several months before our first kiss on Halloween.

Is there a future where we might get to see more Beezel or perhaps other monsters lurking in the dark corners of our houses?

We’re currently working on several scripts at the moment. An expansion to the Beezelverse is certainly not out of the question! There’s a lot of lore to the witch I would love to explore.