Horror movies &stuff "Frayed" Interview Series: Part 3
In the third and final part of HM&S.com's "Frayed" interview series, we chat with "Frayed" Co-writer, Executive Producer, and Set Designer...Kurt Svennungsen!
MR. H:You, along with your wife, Dana, helped pen the script for "Frayed". What did the both of you try and specifically add to the script above all else?
Kurt:I came up with the original idea for the script - A murder caught on video that takes place in a family's home, then goes into a story about family demons.
During the writing phase, it was important to me that the story be believable. I felt as though the audience has to be able to relate to it in one way or another for it to be effective. There were a couple of news stories going around at that time that were pretty disturbing that helped spark some inspiration.
My wife Dana helped write the dialog for the two characters Sara and Veronica. We would write the scenes out and then she would fill in the girls' dialog and then we would go back and edit it. It worked out great.
MR. H:When people see that five writers were involved in the writing process for a film, they usually cringe thinking there were too many hands in the proverbial pot for this to be any good. But in the case of "Frayed", do you think it might be one of the few exceptions?
Kurt:Absolutely. Norb, Rob and I wrote 99% of the script. One thing about the three of us as writers and filmmakers is, we've been collaborating making short films for nearly thirty years. We work exceptionally well together. In fact we've dubbed ourselves the "three-headed monster. We knew exactly what we wanted in the end and we were always on the same page. The fifth writer, Dino Moore, who played the masked killer and a sheriff's deputy, collaborated with us early in writing the story which helped him in developing his character onscreen. The reason people usually cringe when they see so many writers is because in the Studio world, the studios just keep hiring new writers until they get the script right and you end up with a potpourri of different voices.
MR. H:Tell us how "Frayed" first came together.
Kurt:I have to go back a few years. It was about 1983. I got involved in the home movie making world through Rob and his brother who were doing it at the time in the neighborhood with their friend Norb. I fell in with love with it as they did and we continued on all throughout our school days making shorts, sketch type shows and some features. Our favorite was horror. This was the time of the video store boom. We would go down and rent the bloodiest, raunchiest thing on the shelf and then after watching it, we would go out and imitate it on camera. It had always been a dream of ours to make a real feature film. So I guess you could say "Frayed" first started to come together then.
During our twenties and early thirties, our filmmaking took a back seat to family life. Our responsibilities and priorities of marriage and raising kids took over. After awhile I started to really miss it. I was getting bored at work and I was feeling that loss of having a creative outlet. I felt like if we didn't make a movie now, it would never happen and we would regret it. I called Rob and told him I had a story idea and asked what he thought about the idea of writing and making a horror film. He in turn called Norb and we set up a meeting to talk about it. This was in 2002. In 2003 we had a rough draft. We initially planned to shoot in September, 2004 but Norb's wife got pregnant that year, so we postponed the shoot for another year. As it turned out it became a blessing in disguise, because we were no were ready.
MR. H:Who came up with the title for the movie initially? Was "Frayed" the first title for the film? How many other titles were there before "Frayed" was settled on?
Kurt:The original title was "Alone". Rob came up with the title, "Frayed," early on and it hung around as an alternate. Shortly after production, we noticed a lot of other movies with the title, "Alone", including one in development from New Line, so we decided to change it to "Frayed". Ultimately, I'm happy that we chose "Frayed" and that our distributors didn't change it.
MR. H:Is "Frayed" just another forgettable psychobilly slasher, or does it have a lot more depth than the run-of-the-mill crazy hick slasher flick?
Kurt:I think "Frayed" has a lot more depth than your typical indie slasher. I personally spent countless hours reading and researching about the human psyche. One book I remember had testimonies from various patients with psychotic illnesses, describing what was going on in their heads. The violent ones were absolutely disturbing. It was important to me that our lead character's condition be accurate. We also wanted to give a sort of thriller aspect to it. One of our goals with "Frayed" was to try and create a "parking lot movie", meaning people would hang out and talk about it afterwards. We also wanted the story to affect people emotionally and hope that it sticks in their minds for days.
MR. H:I'm assuming you've seen the film by now in it's finished format. Which of the actors did you think gave the best performance in the movie?
Kurt:You're putting me on the spot here. This is going to sound cliche, but I think every one of the actors performed great. I was probably most surprised by Alena Dashiell's (Menefee) performance of the character, Sara. She did a great job of getting into the head of that character and she has an excellent work ethic. I might be a little partial to Alena for the simple fact that I had to fight for her during the casting process. Overall, everyone did a fantastic job. I also have to give props to my partners, Norb and Rob, for bringing out the best in them.
MR. H:As not only a co-writer on the film, but also executive producer, tell us what you did on your end to earn the exec producer credit?
Kurt:I put together the financing for "Frayed", along with the main producer's duties.
MR. H:What are some of your favorite scenes from "Frayed"?
Kurt:The opening scene. When audiences see it, they'll know why. The attack scene and escape at the campsite is pretty intense. The gas station scene...The scene near the end when everyone is trapped inside the house is jam packed full of suspense and scares.
MR. H:What style and framework did you try and implement with the script for "Frayed"? Did you try and model it after any of your personal favorites of the horror genre?
Kurt:Slow building suspense. I feel as though a lot of horror films of lately don't have that feeling of suspense. We grew up in the time of the classic 70's & 80's slashers when it was all about the suspense, so I guess I would say those movies. However, we did try to add some modern flair to it, as well as try to stay original.
MR. H:How many drafts of the script were penned prior to the final draft?
Kurt:Probably around five or six. It was never really finished. We just ran out of time.
MR. H:Were any scenes from previous drafts, eventually written out of the final draft?
Kurt:A lot. We had a lot of really cool scenes that we had to lose simply because of the final twist at the end. It's very difficult to write the meat of a script when you have twists involved. Everything has to make sense when the twist is revealed. There can't be any plot holes. There is one scene that takes place up in a tree. Originally we wrote this elaborate fight sequence, but ultimately had to lose it because of money, which brings up another reason we had to lose some scenes. When writing an indie script, you have to constantly remind yourself of the budget. We couldn't rely on big effects or sets - we had to be creative to make it work.
MR. H:What do you think will shock genre fans the most in "Frayed"?
Kurt:I think they will be shocked, not only by the story, but how professional the production is. We have been told countless times that "Frayed" looks like something that came out of Hollywood with a much larger budget.
MR. H:The tagline for the film is..."A Slasher movie with a twist." On a scale of one through 10, how big would you rate the films "twist" to be?
Kurt:I leave that one up to the fans, but I can say this - they won't see it coming.
MR. H:What's next on your plate as far as horror films are concerned?
Kurt:We are currently writing a horror script now. Original in style and extremely brutal. We've also been playing around with the idea of a "Frayed" sequel.
End.
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