The ‘Nervous’ team talks psychological horror and returning to FrightFest

A vinyl record that plays nothing but silence might not sound like the most threatening object in horror, but in Abner Pastoll’s Nervous, that absence of sound becomes the doorway to something considerably more unsettling.

Shot entirely in South Korea, the psychological horror stars Sarah Bolger as a woman whose move with her Korean husband takes a disturbing turn after discovering the mysterious record in their new home. Once she listens, she gradually loses the ability to hear her husband and other men, sending her into an increasingly unstable world of paranoia, desire and uncertainty.

For director Pastoll, bringing the film to Tubi FrightFest marked another chapter in a relationship with the festival stretching back more than a decade. Road Games played there in 2015 before returning for a live commentary the following year, while A Good Woman Is Hard to Find closed the festival in 2019. This time, Nervous had the distinction of opening proceedings.

“The audience is incredible here,” Pastoll told Love Horror. “They love horror movies. They love the films. They’re just like the best place to launch the film. And it’s an honour to return.”

FrightFest now feels rather more personal than simply another stop on the festival circuit.

“It’s definitely like I’m returning home,” he added. “I feel like it’s my family.”

Nervous also reunites Pastoll with Bolger following A Good Woman Is Hard to Find, something that had been in the works for years. In fact, the filmmaker revealed that the new project was created specifically with the actress in mind.

“We have been talking through the years trying to find something to do,” Pastoll explained. “And I wrote this project specifically for her because we felt like it’s time we got to do something else.”

His favourite memory was not an elaborate scene or difficult day on set, but Bolger simply arriving in Korea.

“The most memorable moment for me wasn’t from shooting it, but it was from the moment she arrived in Korea and it felt like no time had passed since we made our last movie.”

That established relationship became particularly valuable on a production bringing together different filmmaking cultures. With Nervous predominantly using a Korean crew, Pastoll admits there was initially something of a language barrier, although that rapidly disappeared as everyone found their rhythm.

“By the end of this year, we were like in sync with each other and everything was great,” he said.

The international nature of the production also presented challenges for the film’s Korean performers.

Sungsoo Yune described Nervous as their his English-language production in around a decade, making the experience particularly demanding, while returning to London carried its own significance after previously studying acting in the capital.

“I feel really great to be back in London with this amazing film,” he said. “And we’re at the amazing film festival. So I’m really excited.”

His character, a mysterious neighbour whose intentions are deliberately difficult to read, required careful balancing to avoid revealing too much about where the story is heading.

“It’s mysterious, basically neighbour of Zara, but dangerous at the same time,” he explained. “I try to find the the balance of the character.”

Ko Asung offered perhaps the most economical description of Nervous imaginable.

“Silence. Never empty.”

It is a line that neatly captures the unease at the centre of Pastoll’s film. Working alongside Bolger proved especially memorable, with the pair discovering an unexpected connection through their experiences of beginning their acting careers at an unusually young age.

“Meeting Sara was really the most special experience for me. She has been acting since she was young, like five, and has the same experience as me. And we had a lot of things in common.”

For Pastoll, meanwhile, Nervous represents both something new and a continuation of relationships already forged through his earlier work. The filmmaker is already confident that his creative partnership with Bolger is unlikely to end here.

“I think we’ll definitely continue working together,” he said, before joking about the possibility of abandoning psychological horror entirely next time around: “Maybe we’ll do a sci-fi in space in the future.”

After reunions, international collaboration and one extremely ominous silent record, perhaps 2,000 years in the future really is the logical next step.

Watch our full interview with the Nervous team below, as they discuss bringing the film to Tubi FrightFest, the challenges of its Korean production, reuniting Abner Pastoll and Sarah Bolger, and what audiences can expect from its strange descent into psychological horror.

The ‘Nervous’ team talks psychological horror and returning to FrightFest interview