INTERVIEW: ‘Ghosts of the Void’ is societal horror that rings (sadly) true
Photo: Ghosts of the Void stars Tedra Millan and Michael Reagan. Photo courtesy of Speakeasy Films / Provided by Millenial PR with permission.
What the characters Jen and Tyler undergo in the new horror movie Ghosts of the Void is shocking and startling, and serves as a social commentary on the difficulties of staying employed, staying married, staying sober and staying within a safe space, such as a house or apartment. Jason Miller’s new film, which is now available on digital and VOD, follows this couple as they struggle with many different problems, leading them to a life living out of their car in a vacant lot. That’s when the scares begin, scares rooted in real fears that people face when security is not secured.
Terra Millan stars as Jen, and Michael Reagan stars as Tyler. The two actors are the main focus of the narrative, that is until the masked killers show up outside their car. By the time these villains show up, their marriage, their sobriety and their well-being have already been put to the test, and now their very survival is on the chopping block.
Miller, who wrote and directed the feature, recently exchanged emails with Hollywood Soapbox. He opens up about bringing his cinematic dreams to life, despite a low budget. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
Do you feel that Ghosts of the Void is a commentary on some issues facing society and families in 2023?
For sure. As soon as I had the premise in mind of a horror/thriller set around two people sleeping in their car, I knew I couldn’t gloss over the various factors that got them there. And I also knew that the horror element, whatever that ended up being (I tend to find the story as I go along), had to reflect, either literally or metaphorically, the fears and anxieties that come with being at the end of your rope financially — a fear I knew all too well, as many people my age do. If I had to narrow it down to one issue, I’d say it’s about mental health as it relates to the struggle to stay afloat while chasing your dreams. Mental health care is often seen as a luxury in this country. Jen and Tyler, like many people in their situation, neglected it altogether after their access to it began to dwindle. The events that unfold on this night are a reflection of this neglect.
How did you cast your two lead actors?
We used a casting agency based in Chicago, where we shot the movie. Tedra and Michael’s auditions showed me exactly what I was looking for. For Tyler I wanted a kindness and gentleness that masked a dark side. I gave the actors two very different scenes — one from very early in the film, and one from a bit later as his darker side emerges. Michael nailed both. And for Jen I wanted a quiet strength. She has to balance the stress of keeping them afloat with the tenderness and patience needed to deal with Tyler’s mood swings. I wanted to see that, and then I wanted to see what that looked like when it broke. Like Michael, Tedra nailed it. We brought them together for a chemistry test (a virtual one because 1.) Covid, and 2.) none of were in the same city, and we were working on a very low budget), and I knew I had my Jen and Tyler.
Did you change the script after you started directing the feature, or did you stay faithful to the original words?
No, we definitely changed some things. For various reasons. Firstly, in general, I like to give the actors freedom to improvise. I like exploring what the dialogue can be when it’s freed from what works on the page. And I listen to the actors. If a line doesn’t work, or if it’s out of character, I pay attention to those notes because these guys are doing the work to map these arcs out. Secondly, being a low budget indie film, there were of course setbacks. You’ve got to be flexible. Sometimes you’re pressed for time, and suddenly you’ve got to turn five setups into two. And that might change the blocking, and then changing the blocking might change some nuance of how the characters react to each other. Or we might have to simplify a whole action, either because of time or some other unforeseen problem, and suddenly something that was several beats becomes one beat.
In an extreme example, we lost a full day of shooting because of a location falling through. This was at the very end, where we had planned to shoot the flashbacks. I ended up having to scrap about half of those scenes. So I sat down with Tedra and Michael and said, “Look, you guys know these characters and their stories better than anyone. We have to figure exactly what scenes we need and what scenes we don’t, and we have to figure it out today.” So we talked it out, discussed what we felt had to be most clearly communicated, and figured out ways to work some details from cut scenes into the ones we were able to shoot.
Do some of the scares in the movie come from real fears you have experienced or thought about?
Certainly, especially the psychological stuff. I’ve come to appreciate psychological horror more as I’ve gotten older, after having to face more stresses and having more responsibility because I started to know what it feels like to have that pressure and to realize that your mind is all you’ve really got. The idea of losing it to stress and anxiety is terrifying. So the parts where Jen can’t be sure of what’s real, the idea of her trying to escape her own intrusive thoughts but not being able to outrun them — I wanted to capture what it feels like to be overwhelmed, when you’re lying awake at night unable to sleep, too exhausted to think straight.
And then, on the subject of being at the end of your rope, I thought a sort of “home invasion without the home” was a great way to explore that. You can feel very vulnerable, very exposed. So simple scenes like the Jeep pulling up behind their car or the homeless man peering in through the windshield is very much about that. And then there’s the fears we feel chasing our dreams. It can start to feel like time is slipping away. In the movie, we see Tyler’s dreams fading away as he slips into writer’s block and alcoholism. I wanted there to be a lot of overlap between the drama and horror. I wanted the drama to start to become horror at a certain point. This is also represented through the scenes in which Jen is losing her sense of time, as she begins to hallucinate moments in which she’s told they’ve been there for weeks.
Did you have to cut any corners due to a limited budget?
The script was written for a low budget, so there wasn’t much in the way of fx or production value that had to be sacrificed. But limitations can creep up in other ways. For example, we had to cut our shot list in half every night because we overestimated what we could do with our crew size and the gear we had access to. The lighting was complicated — the lot itself had none and was pitch black. My DP and I knew we wanted to be able to see around the car and not just have it look like they [are] sitting in a single pool of light, but lighting that much takes time. We had an excellent crew, but there’s only so much a small one can do when having to set up lights in the pitch black cold, night after night, especially if you’re working with limited lights, when you’re constantly repurposing lights each setup.
We’d decided early on to shoot 10-hour days, which I don’t regret but do wish we’d thought out a little better. I don’t know what we would’ve done differently except to maybe start from a simpler place shot-wise. We ended up there, and it all worked out. Less is often more. When we wrapped principal photography, I honestly wasn’t convinced we had the whole movie in the can. I was certain we’d need to get pickups, which may be common on a studio film, but on a low-budget indie was not a guarantee. Fortunately, I had an excellent editor in Brendan Jamieson, and we were able to find the story in the pieces we got, which I found miraculous.
What was your Halloween like?
My Halloween was pretty quiet and simple. My son was a bit under the weather, so we kept our trick-or-treating limited to one or two stops at some friends’ places before calling it a night. But it was fine. Spooky season in general is my favorite, and the weeks leading up to Halloween night were filled with horror movie binges, not that that’s too different than any other time of the year. My wife and I have one tradition of trying to watch all the Mike Flanagan shows this time of year. We at least have to get through Hill House, our favorite. This year, we got through all of the shows and capped the marathon off with House of Usher, which was awesome. I also liked getting caught up on some new movies, including When Evil Lurks, which was great. I also enjoyed Cobweb. So, yeah — that’s what my Halloween was like: quiet, simple, watching great horror movies/shows.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Ghosts of the Void, written and directed by Jason Miller, is now available on digital and VOD. Click here for more information.
