Five FrightFest Facts with Marc Price from ‘The Arbiter’

From the streets of late-night cult cinema to the back alleys of a bruised and battered city, The Arbiter comes locked and loaded with bone-crunching violence and a dark streak of humour. The latest film from writer-director Marc Price, it imagines a fragile truce between rival gangs as they attempt to unite against a far more brutal enemy. But with betrayal lurking in the shadows, peace is never more than a smashed jaw away.

Price is no stranger to bold, low-budget filmmaking. His 2008 debut Colin became a festival sensation, praised by the likes of Martin Scorsese and ultimately enshrined in the BFI archives. Since then, he has continued to forge a career built on high-energy, genre-bending films, from NightShooters to Dune Drifter. With The Arbiter, he returns to the kind of pulpy, late-night storytelling that first inspired him, bringing together elements of action, crime and horror into a furious powder keg of betrayal and brawls.

In this Five FrightFest Facts interview, Price talks about his path into filmmaking, the cult classics he’d love to see on the big screen, and why the art of makeup effects deserves its own spotlight. He also imagines the strange, slow-burn horror his own life might resemble if it were a film.

Marc Price, writer-director

1. Tell us about your film

The Arbiter is about warring gangs trying to find common ground in order to survive in a city being overtaken by a much more brutal and lethal gang. At a big summit meeting, one of the Gang Leaders has ratted out their location to the Big Bad guys. It’s up to The Arbiter to sort it all out. Lots of violence follows.

2. How did you get into making movies?

I think it was the same as many other film-makers these days. I got some friends together. Shot some things. Took the leap and made a feature and that led to more features. I think that once you make your first, it shows a discipline that you can be trusted to see a production over the finish line. Even if you aren’t happy with your finished feature, it’s worth doing to put yourself in that space where you are experienced enough for other producers or investors to trust you can get the job done. Don’t blow your savings on it. Make a film with whatever resources you have and tailor the story to fit those resources.

3. What films would you love to see screened at FrightFest and why?

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Cronenberg’s The Fly on a cinema screen. So for purely selfish reasons I’d probably go for that. Actually a double bill! Both that and The Fly II.

4. If you could create your own award to give at FrightFest, what would it be and why?

It has to be makeup effects. The “Rick Baker Makeup Effects Award”. He was the first to win for that at the Academy Awards with American Werewolf if I’m remembering that right? So maybe the first FrightFest award could be named in honour of Baker.

5. If your life was made into a horror film, what would it be called and who would play the starring role?

“This Film Has Been On for Decades… When the Fuck Will Something Happen?!”

I’m not sure what poor cursed actor would play me. Maybe I could lock a friend in and give them 30 years of work.

The Arbiter trailer