We recently got to interview filmmaker Andrew de Burgh for his upcoming film ‘The Seductress From Hell’.
1) How did this movie all come about?
I’m a huge fan of horror franchises like “Halloween”, “The Omen”, “Hellraiser”, “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Child’s Play”. “The Seductress from Hell” is my attempt at starting a franchise. Being the first film in the series, it is also somewhat of an origin story of Zara Pereira, who is a new villain heavily inspired by the likes of Freddy Krueger and Pinhead.
In terms of how it officially began, Actor / Producer Raj Jawa (of Garaj Pictures) and I met each other in 2022. In early 2023, we worked on a commercial for the Los Angeles based grocery chain and eatery India Sweets & Spices. After discussing a movie we could work on, I set out to write a horror screenplay which I titled “The Seductress from Hell”. After the script was written and several revisions were done, thankfully the film was soon greenlit as a co-production between Raj’s production company Garaj Pictures and my own production company Sacred Ember Films. The screenplay was inspired in many ways by the aforementioned horror films but also the Hollywood entertainment industry. The movie tells the story of Hollywood actress Zara Pereira (Rocio Scotto, Blumhouse’s “They Listen”) who undergoes a horrific transformation after being pushed to the edge by her psychopathic husband Robert (Jason Faunt, “Power Rangers”). It also contains commentary on Hollywood, modern-day capitalism and social media addiction. After the film was greenlit, it was in pre-production for about four months and was filmed throughout October of 2023 in Los Angeles at a few different locations. It was in post-production for five months starting in November and was recently finished. I was very lucky to collaborate with an amazing team of professionals, both people I had worked with before and others I hadn’t.
2) While coming up with the idea what did you want to accomplish with this film?
For me personally there’s many reasons I made the film. Firstly, I hope for it to find an audience. With the amount of content out there, finding an audience is not always easy. I also hope for audiences to be entertained when they watch it. I realize film can be an escape for many people so they can visit another world and forget about their problems for a short amount of time. For that reason I always want my films to be entertaining above all else. That being said, there are other things I’d like to accomplish with this film. I hope there is an appetite for a sequel as my dream is to make “The Seductress from Hell” a successful franchise. Another thing I hope to do with this film is for it to do it’s part in trying to create a more empathetic society. In the film we show how a seemingly normal person like Zara can become this vicious monster simply because of how cruel society and the people around her are to her. I’m a big believer that kindness breeds kindness and cruelty breeds cruelty so in a way it’s a rallying call to make society more empathetic. This may be incredibly idealistic of me to say but one can only dream.
3) How did the casting process go for “The Seductress From Hell”?
Initially we wanted to cast a well known actress as the lead Zara Pereira as they’re potentially going to be leading a franchise but for one reason or another it didn’t work out. We decided to do a search for up and coming actresses in Los Angeles for the role. After all the character breakdowns were posted, our casting team, producers and I went through 2,000 submissions for the lead role. From that we narrowed it down to around forty actresses who we asked to send in self-tape auditions. From that forty, we invited ten actresses for in-person callbacks. We then cast an up and coming actress who left the project due to creative differences. We then did another set of callbacks and Rocio Scotto who was very close to booking the role the first time around, ended up being cast in the film.
In terms of other casting choices, Jason Faunt, famous for his role as legendary Red Power Ranger Wesley Collins in “Power Rangers Time Force” and other iterations, was offered the part of Zara’s psychotic husband Robert because I thought he has a charm to him on screen that could lend itself well to being likable but also sinister at the same time. James Hyde, who plays predatory film producer Jeffrey Delap in the film, was offered the role as he has a subtle menace to him on camera that I thought would work well for the character. Raj Jawa plays local businessman Derek Patel and is probably the most “normal” character in the film. In her callback, Kylie Rohrer, who plays Derek’s stuck up girlfriend Maya Valentina, did a great job of embodying the social media addition of her character and was cast. Andy Lauer, a famous 90’s sitcom star who has also been in films like “Iron Man 3”, was offered the role of a police officer due to his impressive comedic timing. In such a dark film, we wanted someone who could bring some levity and comedy to the film which he does. Isaac Anthony, who plays a smug tech professional, was offered the role due to his subtle acting choices in the callback which I thought lent itself really well to the character.
4) What would you say are some of the inspirations for the film?
There are many inspirations for the film, ranging from films, soundtracks, and literature. In terms of films, I’d mention movies like “Candyman”, “Halloween”, “The Omen”, “Hellraiser”, “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Child’s Play”, “Get Out”, “The Exorcist”, “Fatal Attraction”, “Audition”, “The Wailing” and “I Saw the Devil”. Other cinematic inspirations include movies that tap into the sadness of Hollywood like “Mulholland Drive” and “Sunset Boulevard”. In terms of soundtracks, when I was writing the script, I listened to soundtracks for many of the aforementioned films to get into a dark mindset where I could write such twisted material. In terms of literature, I grew up on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and Ernest Hemingway and one of my favorite aspects of their novels is the world building and character development that the authors expertly engage in. “The Seductress from Hell” is an origin story of a new villain so there are elements of character development you may not necessarily see in a lot of horror films. It’s also a horror film that taps into the evil that human beings are capable of.
5) How did you get into filmmaking?
Although I studied Film at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, I initially started in the Hollywood entertainment industry as an actor. I was obsessed with films from a young age that I really wanted to enter the industry and thought that acting would be a viable way to break in. I knew that with an agent, headshots etc, I could try and audition, book roles etc. In 2015, I decided to write, produce and act in the short psychological thriller film “Just One Drink” (starring Barbara Nedeljakova from “Hostel”). I interviewed some directors that I was thinking of hiring to direct but none of the ones I spoke with shared the overall vision I did for the film so I took a leap of faith and decided to direct it myself in addition to acting in it. The film turned out to be a huge success, scoring a 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and being distributed as an Editor’s Pick by ShortsTV, the world’s leading short film distributor. I enjoyed my experience behind the camera so much that I decided I wanted to focus full time on filmmaking from then on. Since then, I have been fortunate enough to have been able to write and direct several short films, commercials, ten episodes of an upcoming psychological thriller TV show and two feature films (one of them being “The Seductress from Hell”).
6) What are you looking forward to audiences getting from The Seductress from Hell?
At the end of the day more than anything I hope they enjoy the film. I also sincerely hope the film does well enough that we are able to make a sequel, the screenplay of which is already written. I hope the film makes people think as well. One of my favorite writer-directors is Christopher Nolan and one of my favorite things about his films is that they are thought provoking and there’s some things that are left open ended for the audience. That’s also something I try and incorporate into my work, and “The Seductress from Hell” is no exception to this. In my opinion, there’s a few ways to interpret the film and I hope audiences pick up on that.
7) Music often plays a very large role in horror films. How would you describe the music in the film and who composed the soundtrack?
The soundtrack is scored by renowned artist Elezeid who is primarily known for his work in the videogame industry but is a phenomenal film and TV composer as well. He scored my upcoming psychological thriller TV show, the Cpics Original “The Twisted Doll”, as well as my first short film “Just One Drink” all the way back in 2015. His soundtrack for “The Seductress from Hell” encompasses Indian sitar music, synth, 90’s trance, jazz, classical piano, silent film music, opera and a lot of 80’s inspired horror music. We spent a lot of time discussing what would be the best music for each scene. For example, in a restaurant scene, we decided on going with background Spanish piano music. For the more traditional horror scenes, there’s more traditional horror music etc. The sound design was done by Steve Campagna (Netflix’s “Stranger Things”).
8) Is there anyway readers can stay updated on the film’s journey?
Please check out our official website and our social media pages:
Official Website: seductressfromhellmovie.com/
X: twitter.com/seductressfhell
Facebook: facebook.com/theseductressfromhellmovie
Instagram: instagram.com/theseductressfromhellmovie/
TikTok: tiktok.com/@seductressfromhellmovie
Official Theme Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TarpCXaKxGI
9) Is there anything else you’d like to stay?
Thank you so much for the interview, I really appreciate your time!
