Five FrightFest Facts from Mel House director of Mystery Spot

2021 has been a strange year and although things may not have completely returned to normality one thing to be thankful for is the return of the Arrow Video FrightFest which takes place for real this year at Cineworld, Leicester Square in central London.

The annual five-day four-screen 50+ film extravaganza runs between 26th and 30th August and after a year online, it is wonderful to have FrightFest back with a hybrid event featuring in-cinema and online components bringing audiences a whole host of truly terrifying and terrific horror films.

Below we feature one of those monstrously amazing movies with our regular exclusive interview feature Five FrightFest Facts From and these five are from Mel House director of Mystery Spot:

1. Tell us about your film?
Sure – in the interest of not repeating the plot summary, I’ll give you some background on how it came to be. I actually tried to get ANOTHER movie off the ground a few years ago – a dark comedy based heavily on my struggles as a biracial independent filmmaker and when that never materialized, I wrote MYSTERY SPOT in something of a primal frustration response. It ended up dealing with a lot of the same themes, but in a darker, old school creepy, SOLARIS or CHANGELING sort of way (at least I hope so). I actually wrote the “Rachel” role for Lisa Wilcox, who we had worked with on several films prior.

In MYSTERY SPOT, Rachel and Nathan (played by Graham Skipper) are drawn to this weird little motel in the Texas countryside that was once attached to a tourist trap “Mystery Spot” place which has long since burned down. If you’re unfamiliar with those kinds of places, they are generally predicated on optical illusions or landscape/engineering trickery to fool your eye and make you think gravity works differently there…water rolls uphill, brooms stand on end, that sort of thing. But in the case of our Mystery Spot…let’s just say that weird stuff still happens…and it just might know more about you than you’d be comfortable with.

2. How did you get into making horror movies?
When I was 8, I saw the original NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET in the theater and it blew my mind. To this day it is my favorite film of all time. When Glen’s bed exploded in a blood geyser, I immediately was like “I want to do that!” (Make cool special effects happen, not gruesomely murder a dude in his sleep…just to be clear). During that time I was also discovering Stephen King, so that definitely played a role as well. Actually, a lot of us were lugging those gigantic hardcovers around elementary school back then. No one really cared – I think they were all just happy we were reading at that level! At any rate, King’s writing style and approach are probably the heaviest influence on me in that regard. As I got older, I started messing around with making movies more and more – I’m about to be 45, so it was harder back then to get hold of a camera, much less edit what you shot, but I had a few friends with VHS camcorders and multiple VCR’s so we figured it out. Started college as an aerospace engineer with a minor in film, but quickly figured out where my heart really was, switched my major, started working on film sets, and here we are!

3. What film would you love to see screened at FrightFest and why?
If we’re talking about stuff that “exists” somewhere out in the yet-to be-restored ether, then probably the Buechler cut of FRIDAY VII, because I love that guy and his work. I still hold out hope that we will see it someday. Now if we’re talking purely hypothetical “wish it into existence” territory…then obviously the Peter Jackson version of FREDDY’S DEAD. Also whatever Jan Svankmajer’s unleashing on the world next.

4. If you could create your own award to give at the FrightFest, what would it be and why?
Hmmm. Good question. Speaking to my history, I guess it would probably have to be some sort of “Bootstraps/Cinema PTSD” award to the filmmaker that’s turned their life the most inside out to get a movie made. I’m not sure what the grading rubric would be on that though…I think it would be a “I know it when I see it” kind of situation. I may have to get back to you on this, haha.

5. If your life was made into a horror film, what would it be called and who would play the starring role?
Long story, but on the set of my last directorial effort, I almost got into a physical altercation with a crazy neighbor. He kept asking me if I “wanted to get weird”. So I think it would have to be WANNA GET WEIRD? (starring Jesse Williams, with David Morse as “Fightin’ Neighbor”).

Mystery Spot plays MONDAY 30TH AUGUST 2021 – 6.15 PM Find our more and book your tickets HERE