Eye On Horror
Eye On Horror
Going Double Blind with Director Ian Hunt-Duffy
This episode, the guys review several of their latest watches including Drive-Away Dolls, Madame Web, and Dune: Part 2 before being joined by director Ian Hunt-Duffy to discuss his new movie Double Blind. You're not going to want to sleep on this one!
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Welcome to Eye On Horror, the official podcast of iHorror.com. This is episode 121. Otherwise known as season seven, episode two. I am your host, James Jay Edwards and with me as always is your other host, Jacob Davison, how you doing, Jacob?
Jacob Davidson:Not that great. Going through a bit of a flu. Definitely better now than earlier, but still a little bit out of it. And I'm doing and I'm kind of doing this episode on Nyquil. So I may not even remember doing this. So I will, I will listen to this episode later to remember what it is that I said.
James Jay Edwards:Yeah, we will remember it for you. We're not COVID though, right? You took tests?
Jacob Davidson:No, no, I took multiple tests came back negative. Quick, is it just the flu? Because
James Jay Edwards:my COVID just felt like a bad cold. So I think that it's mutated and it's not, you know, it's it's not like you know, losing smell and taste anymore. It's just a really bad. Really bad time. Yeah,
Jacob Davidson:but no, I've tested multiple times it's come back negative. I'm pretty sure it's just just a flu or cold or something
James Jay Edwards:that's going around to so I
Jacob Davidson:think there's more than there's there's multiple diseases out there. Yep.
James Jay Edwards:Also with us, as always, is your other host Jon Correia How you doing Correia? I
Jonathan Correia:do. Pretty good. I mean, like, yeah, there's a lot of stuff flying around out there. So I'm really glad I hopped on that Lightning Deal the other day, picked up about like, 300 more K-95s. Yeah, I'm still masking. And yet that between that and the fact that I never leave my house. I mean, it's not out of fear. Just like, you know, busy stuff to do here.
James Jay Edwards:I never leave the house because there's no reason to I go to movies is pretty much it. And I have to admit, I had been complacent, which it doesn't really surprise me that I ended up with COVID because I haven't been masking everywhere I go and I didn't get the last booster. So you know, I I did get a little too comfortable with it. Not too comfortable with the new way things are I guess I slid back to the way things used to be. But yep. So what's been going on? You guys see anything good.
Jacob Davidson:I went to a pre screening of the new Ethan Coen movie Drive-Away Dolls.
James Jay Edwards:Yeah, I saw it too. What do you think?
Jacob Davidson:I loved it. I thought it was so much fun. It is
James Jay Edwards:the craziest movie. I tell you what, what we're seeing with the Coen's making individual movies is their movies have always had like this quirky thing going for them. And now we're seeing which of them is the intellectual cinephile. That's Joel, and which is the kind of kitsch schlock? You know. John Waters, filmmaker. Yeah. And that is Ethan. And because, you know, one makes the Tragedy of Macbeth and the other makes Drive-Away Dolls.
Jacob Davidson:Ya know, and like, it very much harkens back to some of their original stories that they were doing with Sam Raimi, because like, there's a scene in the opening that reminded me so much of crime wave, you know, that other early Sam Raimi - Coen Brothers collaboration? Yeah, there's a lot of slapstick and gore and just kind of over the top gags and it's a period kind of crime caper, because it's about these two lesbian women played by Geraldine Viswanathan and Margaret Qualley Margaret Qualley, from The Leftovers. Yep. And, yeah, they take a car down to Tallahassee, Florida. And turns out they took the wrong car, or they were accidentally given the wrong car, and shit goes wild.
James Jay Edwards:There's a MacGuffin in this movie that they eventually let you know what it is. It's not like Pulp Fiction. It actually is like Pulp Fiction because it's like suitcase. It's a briefcase, but they do actually show you what's in it. And the reveal is amazing. What it's in this case, yeah,
Jacob Davidson:no spoilers. No. It is it is pretty wild. And also it's fun because it's kind of it's a period movie too, because it takes place in 1999. That's
Jonathan Correia:awesome. Does Y2K make an appearance or have any influence over like the Y2K Scare?
Jacob Davidson:Oh yeah, they do reference it a couple times in the movie.
James Jay Edwards:I have one question about the movie. I want to know if basement parties are real because I've never hung out with women's soccer teams I've hung out with a lot of roller derby players. But I don't know Facebook parties right if you if you don't know what a basement party is, see the movie and then come back and let me know if those are real.
Jonathan Correia:intrigued minds are inquiring
James Jay Edwards:I saw something I don't know if you got to either go see Madam Web?
Jacob Davidson:Nope
Jonathan Correia:no, but I have been following the ever living shit out of it's ad campaign based her like promotional campaign and how much of an absolute shit show that is. It's great.
Jacob Davidson:Yeah, Dakota Johnson. Don't give a fuck.
James Jay Edwards:Oh, the movie is an absolutely shit show. Yeah, Dakota Johnson is just I saw this thing where someone some interview asked her to name the three Tom Holland Spider Man movies and she's all Spider Man. Here he is, Spider Man. He's back. The goblin of Spider Man or something? Like not even close to the real names. Oh, no a Madam Web is really bad. It is like I mean, I'm a pretty soft critic. And I can usually find something positive to say about any movie but I can't think of anything about Madame Web to say and neither could Mike Flanagan apparently
Jonathan Correia:Oh, Mike Flanagan's Letterboxd review was great. If you didn't if you don't know, Mike Flanagan's Letterboxd is very positive he's he's very much of the same mindset that you know he knows it takes miracles to get anything fucking made. Yes. So for Madam Web in his review, he just put the entire transcript for the Nicole Kidman AMC thing as the description but then if you look at the tags, that's where you see like some of his actual thoughts like he tags responsibility. Great power. These spider were man. exposition to cats, convenient explosions. Britney Spears, facial recognition, fireworks because, don't say Peter Parker. Oh, wait, why is she blind
James Jay Edwards:They dance around the Peter Parker, they.... I'm going to spoil this because it's going to avoid some people's frustration in this movie, and Dakota Johnson's character Cassandra Webb, she's a paramedic. Her partner is Ben Parker. Yeah, Uncle Ben (Adam Scott!) And then they meet Adam Scott's sister, Mary Parker, which is Emma Roberts. And she's pregnant. And they do...
Jonathan Correia:Emma Robberts?
James Jay Edwards:Emma. She's pregnant in the.... Scream Queens but like, Yeah,
Jonathan Correia:I'll let you finish your thing.
James Jay Edwards:And they, they they keep dancing around you know, what are you going to name the baby? What do you name it and they even get to the party....and the name we have chosen is and then (beep bop noises) you know, like, like a siren kind of, you know, they keep dance around. They never reveal it. But yeah, you're led to believe that she's given birth a little Peter Parker. But anyway, go Emma Roberts. I love her, by the way, so don't speak ill of her. Oh,
Jonathan Correia:I wouldn't speak of Emma Roberts. She was the lead and Scream Queens. I can't be mad at almost anyone in that cast. And that includes Lea Michele. Because I've heard mean things about her. But But yeah, but Emma Roberts in a superhero movie and she's not a villain. It doesn't feel right. Like why would you sideline her like she could be like, like, like a like an over the top billionaire. Like type, you know, like, she would make a great fill in...ah man. But also apparently, apparently to not only flag it a lot of people, the dubbing because his last tags are ADR dubbing. No, really? The ADR
Jacob Davidson:Yeah, it's funny. I've heard somebody compare the ADR dubbing in Madame Web to the over the top ADR dubbing of a an Italian Gianpaolo movie.
Jonathan Correia:I heard it compared to Kung Pow! Enter the Fist which was purposefully done.
James Jay Edwards:It's yeah, it's it's the other hashtag the facial recognition. That part is, which is another one of my favorite, Zosia Mamet is in it, and she plays the villains like technology expert, and it's similar to what they're doing in The Dark Knight where they they can tap into every single security camera in New York City to find you know what they're looking for. And it's it's like a total of 12 screens in front of her I'm like, Oh, come on, you guys.... Every security camera in New York City millions of cameras, and you've got them on this little Oh my god. Yeah. Anyway, I hope that because because I also like Dakota Johnson, I'm hoping some... and Sydney Sweeney, I'm hoping these girls can bounce back from this bad movie. Because the cast is good. They're not good in it, but they're good.
Jonathan Correia:If you're gonna rip off don't rip off the stupid as part of the Dark Knight that whole sequence was just like, you're asking us to take a major leap of faith that this is a thing that is a thing like cell phones, right? I don't even want to get into that. Yeah, but no, apparently, it's like a huge problem. Because we know Dakota Johnson has been, you know, not really promoting the thing. And instead using the platform to like address issues in the industry and stuff, which is really great. But there's also been like some stuff coming out. Like apparently a lot of the girls, the actresses, and I thought they were signing on to an MCU movie.
James Jay Edwards:Sidney Sweeney did yeah, she so I'm so happy to be part of the MCU. It's like, well, but are you? I mean, I guess these Sony movies can kind of crossover if they're good enough that Madam Webb is not good enough.
Jonathan Correia:But even so a lot of them have left the representation, or some of them are...that's rumors and stuff. So don't I don't want to perpetuate anything that's not true. But like, if so like understandable with all their views, didn't also they avoid saying with great power comes great responsibility with and I have this memorized because I can not remember it.
James Jay Edwards:They morph it
Jonathan Correia:where it's, what is it that it's: "when you take responsibility, you gain great abilities.
James Jay Edwards:No, it's even more obvious. I think it says something like, and with this responsibility comes great power. It's something like that. But yeah, they flip it. And it's just one of those groan moments when they say that. yikes.
Jonathan Correia:How do you also have a movie with like, three or four spider women and they don't even become spider women. That seems like a disservice.
Jacob Davidson:It kind of misses the point.
James Jay Edwards:It's yeah, it's and the thing is, they marketed it as Oh, you're these three are spider women. And in the course of the film, another minor spoiler, they don't actually become the spider women. You know it what it is, is the main villain is Ezekiel Sims, and he has a dream that these three spider women are going to kill him. So you see them as spider women in his dreams. So he's going to kill them first. And so he's hunting these girls down before they get their powers. And and so much of it is like, okay, what are the chances of these five people being in the same place in New York City at the same time for this to happen? Okay, well, we've talked enough about Madame Web.
Jonathan Correia:I mean, I'm, I'm in the middle of rewatching, season three of Star Trek Discovery, which is dealing with a lot of space time baloney. So like, I my tolerance is pretty shot. For any like, yeah, future time stuffs. But hey, at least at least, there's a lot of great scenes with Michelle Yeoh. And David, you know, David Cronenberg's in Star Trek
Jacob Davidson:Yeah, I haven't watched Discovery but I've seen Discovery I've the clips of him like interrogating somebody or
Jonathan Correia:He's interrogating Michelle Yeoh and that scene is great! It's just...
Jacob Davidson:right, man.
Jonathan Correia:They're fantastic. This isn't a Trek podcast.
James Jay Edwards:I love David Cronenberg the actor, way more than I love Quentin Tarantino, the actor.
Jonathan Correia:Oh, that's not even a competition. That's not even a competition. Especially after Django Unchained, just no.He was good in From Dusk Till Dawn though but then again
James Jay Edwards:it actually he has the best part in Pulp Fiction I think
Jonathan Correia:I haven't watched a lot of movies since we last spoke but I did finish watching True Detective Night Country have you guys watched that season yet?
Jacob Davidson:Yeah, I loved that.
James Jay Edwards:Now I've only seen the first season of True Detective is this related to that? I mean, is this basically a continuation of that?
Jonathan Correia:So this one is more tied to season one than the previous two seasons I'm in a similar boat so I had to look into this because it is an anthology series but the team behind Night Country did make a bunch of references and connections to it and it but it's little things and it's like more thematic connections. There are like little there's like little things that I don't want to spoil that like connected more to it. But there's a lot of thematic there's a couple of lines but this is like the most like spiritual successor like sequel-esque to it, but it is, you know, ones in Texas, the other ones in Alaska different times, you know, but it's absolutely phenomenal. And Issa López and team completely knocked out of the park and that finale was just oh, so Good.
James Jay Edwards:Let's see. I've heard other people who are really pissed off with the finale. So it kind of makes me want to watch the whole season just to see what side I fall on.
Jonathan Correia:Yeah, I mean people who don't like that finale honestly, like, you know, can go fuck themselves. Because I and you know why a lot of people are getting pissed about it because they're going all you didn't give a definite answer about it's like dude there was like 20 different questions put up not everything has to be answered leave some things, some can stay a mystery, and especially the one of the great things about this season is they incorporate a lot of like, stuff that could be perceived as supernatural or things that have kind of like a supernatural folktale version of it. And there's a lot of aspects not even just the finale, but throughout where it's like, well, there's a logical explanation for this, and there's a spiritual explanation for this and both can be valid. And I really appreciate that balancing act that they had to pull off with it.
Jacob Davidson:Ya know, I really liked it. Um, you know, I thought the plot, the plotline really came together in the end, and, ya know, just it the whole night country setting and, ya know, just I really enjoyed it.
Jonathan Correia:It's really good. And the performances are phenomenal. Like Jodie Foster plays its place a real bastard, like, but like, they give really good. Like, she has a really good art with it, and really great motivation. And it's really surprising because some of the things that comes out of her character's mouth is just like, What, whoa, but it makes sense once you know the whole story. And, and yeah, I mean, I know I've said it multiple times. But if I ever win the lottery, I won't tell anyone but Issa López will be funded for life.
Jacob Davidson:Yeah. And also really like Kali Reis' as their partner. Which, you know, it's like each season of True Detective, you know, it really depends on what kind of the the detective partners strength and I thought that Jodie Foster / Kali Reis made for a good pairing.
Jonathan Correia:They were so good together seems like such kind of opposites because Kali Reis is really like, her character is really kind of embracing the kind of more spiritual side of things and it's kind of, they're both dealing with grief in their own ways. And Jodie Foster is just like, her character is just like, not handling it at all her her grief and everything. And yeah, they just, they they're so good. And Kali Reis is a fellow New England. She's from Rhode Island. So there's that. So yeah, great on her. That's only her second roll. She was only in one other movie. She's a she's a professional boxer. But nice. Yeah. I what I'm trying to say she's like already jumping in my list of coolest people ever. So.
Jacob Davidson:No, yeah. I'm at my end. I saw She Is Conann. A little bit ago. I have either of you heard of this?
Jonathan Correia:I've heard of it. How is it? I'm so intrigued by it.
Jacob Davidson:I thought it was very fascinating. So basically, it's this kind of reinterpretation of the Conan mythos by French director Bertrand Mandico, who did a lot of these other very LGBTQ and surreal and fantastical movies like The Wild Boys, and After Blue, you know, the these, these moves, become an app for like altered innocence past several years. So it's basically about the life of a female, Conan the Barbarian. And it's like these different parts of her life as she dies and is reborn again and again for time. And she is constantly followed by this dog faced incarnation of death who kind of haunts her, and it just kind of deals with her encountering the barbarism from the Hyborian age and like the original Conan in 1998, SoHo and warzones and it's, it's very, really out there. It's trippy, but it was very, it was also compelling. And it's definitely the most creative reinterpretation of Conan I can imagine. There's even even a Red Sonja character who pops up for the movie too. It's also just funny because it's the same time that that New Conan, 4k set came out. So
Jonathan Correia:yeah, I just got my my box set for the Conan and it is beefy, it is a beefy set,
Jacob Davidson:just like Arnold's arms.
Jonathan Correia:I can't wait to deep dive into that I also got I also just recently got the history and making of Conan the Barbarian book that was written by John Walsh. He's actually been putting out some like really great books about movies, he did one on Escape from New York. And last year also just came out with a Wicker Man, the official story of the film, which is also phenomenal. these are like, tall books too. Like they're not like thick as in pages, but they're like big as in like size. They're really cool. And so highly recommend picking those up. The Wicker Man especially, I was able to go through that one a lot more than the Conan but yeah, I'm really excited about this new Conan movie and ready to do a massive marathon. I just need to track down that 4k That StudioCanal did of Red Sonja. I missed out on that when that first
Jacob Davidson:Yeah, you should check out She Is Conann, just to kind of offset that and just kind of compare. Because yeah, it's like just a very weird kind of dream like and all like all woman, Conan version. And I Yeah, it's hard to describe, but it is fascinating.
Jonathan Correia:I didn't realize it was from the director of Wild Boys and After Blue. Yep. And so your description of She Is Conann is it's like, yeah, that sounds exactly. Which is awesome.
Jacob Davidson:No, that's on brand for Bertrand.
James Jay Edwards:Also, I saw this week, which is not out yet. But I'm not breaking embargo. I saw Dune: Part Two.
Jacob Davidson:Ooh,
James Jay Edwards:guys. You guys excited for Dune: Part Two?
Jacob Davidson:Oh, you bet I am.
James Jay Edwards:It is if you like part one, you'll like part two. It's more it's it's almost like a war movie. Because Paul has moved out in Paul and and, and his mom have moved out into the desert after surviving, you know, the hit on their family. And they're hanging with a friend and now and the Fremen are basically terrorists. You know, they they want to disrupt the spice harvesting on on their planet. So it's a lot like a like a war movie is what it's feels like. But it's, it's it's a whole lot of Dune. I mean, it's got another one of those seat rattling scores by Hans Zimmer and a lot of good action. It actually would be cool to see in 4DX, I was think I saw an IMAX with like a big, you know, Dolbe system, but it'd be cool in 4DX, I think because there's a lot of a lot of riding those Dragon Fly ships that they have, and they ride the worms. And I feel like they could do a lot with the HDX or with the 4DX for that. But yeah, it's it's, you know, it's a Dune movie. It's if you'd like to do in movies, it's it's kind of long in that it's like two hours and 45 minutes. But here's the kicker. And I always think this should be spoiled too. There's a part three, there's no yeah. It's because I didn't know there was a part two to dune until I sat down and the first screen said dune part one I'm like, okay, and at the end of part one, if you guys remember Zandaya's character says, she says, this is just the beginning. And then at the towards the end of this when she says it's not over yet. Like, you're like, Okay, we're going for a part three. But it definitely ends in a good cliffhanger. We play this is kind of like, I don't know if it's going to end up being a trilogy or if they're gonna go past a part three, but it kind of is a good Empire Strikes Back for it. Because in the place that it ends is almost like there's resolution to it, but it's also kind of a cliffhanger. It leaves you going at someplace where you know, you know, they have to move forward. But yeah, it's it's not going to disappoint Dune fans.
Jacob Davidson:Yeah, I remember Villeneuve was saying that he intended to make it a trilogy.
Jonathan Correia:Okay? Which makes sense, especially as someone who's never read a Dune book in their life. A lot of my friends who do read Dune our base was say, like, I think it's it's either the second or third one, it gets real weird. And they're like, I don't know how anyone can interpret that. So like, kind of splitting it up and kind of like, at least telling the first book completely and like kind of like having it, you know, be a complete story over three that that sounds. Again, from what I've been told by Dune nerds. It sounds logical. Yeah, awesome.
James Jay Edwards:I haven't read any books either, but I saw Jodorowsky's Dune, that documentary
Jonathan Correia:Yeah.
James Jay Edwards:And when he was planning to do Dune, it was going to end up being like 18 hours because it's just such a dense story. So yeah, it shouldn't surprise anyone that this is going at least into probably nine hours. If if it's the same length as the first two,
Jonathan Correia:it's also Jodorowsky I mean, that man is ambitious like that is if there's any, any word to describe him,
James Jay Edwards:if any of you have not seen Jodorowsky's Dune, his plan for Dune I mean it David Garrity and Mick Jagger was in it. He had two different soundtracks one by Magnum one by Pink Floyd that he was I mean, this was
Jonathan Correia:Salvador Dalí was gonna be it.
James Jay Edwards:Oh, my god he had guys gonna have Geiger
Jacob Davidson:Orson Welles was going to be in it.
James Jay Edwards:Yeah, he...Oh my god. Orson Welles would have played that character amazingly. Oh, yeah.
Jonathan Correia:Like, like basically do Earhart
Jacob Davidson:Dornan Orson Welles, he
James Jay Edwards:would have been such an amazing bear. And it's
Jonathan Correia:also interesting to see how much of like the unmade Jodorowsky Dune was then like pulled into other things because basically like the writing team went on to do Alien with Geiger and it was like how much cinema we have because this Yeah, it's crazy.
Jacob Davidson:Yeah, speaking of I saw the anniversary screening of David Lynch's Dune last week.
Jonathan Correia:Oh, nice thing in a Speedo. Yes.
Jacob Davidson:To the to the styling music of Toto.
James Jay Edwards:The sting in a Speedo character is Austin Butler in in Part Two,
Jonathan Correia:Does he still have his Elvis accent in it?
James Jay Edwards:No, and he is shaved bald like not even eyebrows. He is I mean I mean a lot of a Harkonen clan is is bald and hairless like that Batista is one of them as well and it but um but he it's real noticeable that he is he looks like one of the engineers from Prometheus Yeah, for the from Prometheus one of the engineers that's what he looks like.
Jacob Davidson:Ya know, it's funny too, because like in Lynch's Dune, the Harcones are all redheads. And in Villeneuve's dune they're all Yeah, just like weird, pale, hairless bald guys.
Jonathan Correia:I still can't get over the fact that the main character in Dune, it's just named Paul.
Jacob Davidson:Yeah. Good ol' Paul.
Jonathan Correia:That's just there's there's so much about it, especially with like, the Middle Eastern influences throughout, you know, all this stuff. And it's like this big epic thing. And it's who's who's our lead? Who's our hero? Paul?
Ian Hunt Duffy:Well, they give him another name when he starts riding with the Fremen.
Jonathan Correia:So yeah, they have to and I mean, no one's gonna take Paul seriously (Sorry to Pauls out there)
Jacob Davidson:then again, we'll see and seeing which is Dune, which itself is a condensed version of the entire book into one film, I am interested in comparing it to Villenueve's Part Two and seeing what stuff you know, like gets expanded upon or what was kept in because, ya know, like, because I feel like seeing Lynch is doing gives me kind of a preview of what's to come, but, you know, seeing Villenueve's fully, you know, immersed, spread out version should give me new insight into it, because I also have yet to read dune as book.
Jonathan Correia:Ooh, real quick. I have a I have a big recommendation on Netflix. Mister Organ is was recently added to Netflix. And if you guys haven't seen Mister Organ, you need to watch it. It's a weird documentary. It's from the journalist David Farrier, who did Tickled years ago. And if you know me, I became very obsessed with Tickled and like the most like, how could you not with that weird ass story? He did it again. He got himself involved with a really weird story that starts off with a guy who is booting people who park in an antique stores parking lot, and it goes down this really weird rabbit hole that I don't even know if I can spoil it because it's just so weird and goes in so many directions.
James Jay Edwards:Is it a documentary or is it fiction?
Jonathan Correia:It's a documentary and it's it's one of those ones where the journalist gets heavily involved and the subject piece just he just does not leave him alone. It isn't It's kind of insane and weird and just very New Zealand because these are the New Zealand journalists and it's about this man but yeah Mister Organ, I'm telling you if it's not going to be as weird as Tickled was because you know, tickled was the documentary about competitive tickle competitions and how weird that was, but it is similar in it's just like a and it's it's similar in its weirdness, but like it's not Iuncomfortable like that in that way. I don't it's those movies are weird to describe. But yeah, Mister Organ, it's an experience that's highly recommend.
James Jay Edwards:Cool. Now let's bring in our special guest. Today we are joined with Ian Hunt Duffy, who is the director of the new movie Double Blind. How're you doing, Ian?
Ian Hunt Duffy:I'm good. Thanks for having me, guys.
James Jay Edwards:Oh, thanks for being here. Let's start off at the beginning. How did you get started with filmmaking?
Ian Hunt Duffy:Oh, I think that's probably like the cliche thing, you have a little kid with a camcorder using his dad's camcorder for recreating action movies and horror movies. Like with action figures up in my bedroom, like making stop motion videos or are using like, Cap guns to like, shoot each other and like try and figure out a way to do blood hits like squibs all these kinds of things like and and then you know, I didn't realize that there was a career necessarily it was only I remember seeing a behind the scenes video when I was really young for Terminator Two. And it showed the you know, the the chase sequence true the the LA riverbed, and it was showing that stunt and I was just showing the behind the scenes and I was blown away. I never put two and two together that people actually made these films, they didn't arrive fully formed as a wider people I like got paid to do this. This is a career way. And so from a really young age, it's like, I want to do that. And I want to like make films and but you know where I'm from. I'm from Ireland, a small town in Ireland and like to say, I want to be a film director, it was not like being in LA or something. You know, it's kind of like saying you wanted to be a rock star or something, you know, was this crazy dream, you know? And so it was something that I held on to it from a young age. Oh, yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna make films, but like, we went to school and studied different things. And, you know, we had a career guidance counselor tried to, like, steer me away from that, like, you know, think would you like, get a real job, you know, but there was a, there was a, there's a film school in Ireland and Dublin. And yeah, so that was just aimed towards getting to that film school I when I got out of it's called secondary school here, but I suppose like the equivalent of high school I, I worked for a year just like saving up some money. And then also, in my spare time putting a portfolio together, like, you know, taking photographs and different things and making a little short film. And then I submitted that to film school. And that's, I got in then. And that's that's kind of where I studied film, I suppose for four years.
Jonathan Correia:That's awesome. Did what was the alternative vocation that they were trying to push you towards? When I took the high school vocation? They were like, Yeah, sure. It sounds like you'd be really interested in being an electrician, or I think one of the options was like, a scuba diver. But for the sanitation department, I used scuba diving and pool or something. And that's like, not my I don't feel like that's not my trajectory. Yeah,
Ian Hunt Duffy:I think it was engineering and I have no like, interest or, like, I don't have the brain for engineering. So I don't know where that came from. It was like, yeah, like, get a solid job in engineering. But, um, but I did have some teachers, I, like an English teacher, who was he was big into film, and he would show us as part of our kind of curriculum, he would show like, different films and that yeah, he was he was inspirational, that sounds like you know, he was always encouraged us to watch films and to study film, like not just passively watch films, but to like, you know, study that the meaning behind it and, and the making of it as well. So there were other people who were encouraging more artistic side of things. But then after film, school, and so like it was for years, and you make various different kinds of short films and stuff in film, school, and when I came out, I set up a production company in Dublin with a producer called Simon Doyle, who I met in film school. And then over the next like, decade, really, we were just making short films and commercials and music videos, I anything really like just building up a body of work on what all was working towards that first feature film. And I directed a short film called Gridlock, which was, it was a thriller, a whodunit thriller, and set during a traffic jam on a country road where a little girl goes missing from one of the cars, and all the other drivers then become suspects. So it's been like a Twilight Zone episode and like it's 20 minute short. And that did really well that won a lot of awards. And we got to travel around to a bunch of festivals around the world. And that then was kind of a calling cards like, okay, these are kind of, I want to make genre films I want to this is the kind of sandbox I want to play. And so on the back of that I got funding to make another short film, which is called Low Tide that was more of a horror film. And I was trying to be kind of strategic. I knew what I I mean, that sums it up nicely. And I wanted to ask, so how so wanted to do for my first feature like the kind of genre horror thriller so it was trying to make short films that were indicative of that or that when it came time hopefully to pitch my first feature I could say well look what I've been doing, you know, and so on. Yeah, like that was screen Ireland or the main funding body and are in Ireland like for making films. Stay funded that short film. And then on the back of that then when we submitted the screenplay for development for Double Blind, they gave us money to, to develop that like so that was a that's a very truncated version. But I hope that that answers anyway. I got here. No, where did the idea for Double Blind come from? Or how did that get started? So the writer, Darach McGarrigle, the screenwriter, he went to film school as well, that's probably the best thing I would say about film school. Like a lot of my collaborators on this film on my short films are guys that I met guys and girls, and we met in film school and we came up together.
James Jay Edwards:That's a recurring theme in all of our guests. They said the best thing about film school is the people you meet, ya know, and all three of us are Film School graduates. And it's right. You know, it's, you know, there's people that you meet that you still work with, but yeah,
Ian Hunt Duffy:yeah, yeah, no, that's it. So that's like, somebody will ask me to go to film school again, it's like, it depends on what you want to get out of it. But that's the main thing is the kind of the relationships with these collaborators that you still work with? Yeah. And so Darach was someone that we knew from film school, he wrote Gridlock he wrote my short films. And and for our first feature, we tried to be pragmatic, I guess, because I knew for a first feature film, I wasn't going to get a massive budget. So we tried to be like, Okay, what limitations if we could come up with something that was self contained. And that will be a good thing. And like, I love self contained the horrors and trailers like to thing John Carpenter, one of my favorites. And there's so many owners, it's just a great genre, like people, you know, mismatch characters trapped in one location, slowly turning on each other. It's a great storytelling device. So I knew from a storytelling point of view, it would be great. But also logistically and and budget wise, it would be advantageous if we could keep it to one location, we wouldn't be jumping around. And so that we kind of set ourselves those restrictions and say, Okay, what kind of story could we do in one location? And then Darach just had this hook this like, concept of, if you fall asleep, you die. That was just an idea that was like, it happened in his mind. So I thought that was really evocative and memorable is like, Okay, if we can expand on that. So then from there can the idea of a drug trial gone wrong? And you know, it's like these people trapped in a pharmaceutical company and it's the drug that's bad, you know, if they fall asleep did I said I would think those are kind of the that was a kind of this little kernel of an idea from the hook and we built it out from there.
James Jay Edwards:Speaking of contained thrillers, have you seen I.SS.?
Ian Hunt Duffy:No, I haven't
James Jay Edwards:No. Oh, it's basically takes place on the International Space Station with six. Well, three astronauts, three cosmonauts. Okay. I loved it. I don't know if either you guys have gotten around to seeing it yet Jon or Jacob. I loved it.
Ian Hunt Duffy:Is it a recent recent film or? Yeah, yeah. Just came out last month. Okay. No, I haven't seen Okay, so I'm gonna write that down right now.
Jonathan Correia:Oh, yeah. That's two obsessions right now is that and The Beekeeper?
Ian Hunt Duffy:Beekeeper yet eater, but it's
James Jay Edwards:so much fun. You got to go into it with the right frame of mind.
Jonathan Correia:Now, do you guys did you guys draw from personal experience with the not falling asleep? And like, because the characters go through and not trying to fall asleep? It's not just like, Oh, for 24 hours, it's days. And so things get loopy, to say to put it lightly with them? Did you draw any of that from personal experiences, you have any experiences of like, staying up for days on end?
Ian Hunt Duffy:Well, I, early in development, I actually, we had our first kid. So as for the first few months of my son Adams life, he didn't really sleep. So I had unintentional research, like firsthand sleep deprivation research. So I was keeping like a diary of that, like some of the, I wouldn't have a full on hallucinations. But there were times where I catch myself, Oh, well, you know, you'd snap out of stuff in there were some auditory delays and different senses, like, you know, trying to keep a record of that. But also, yeah, I mean, Darach and I would have done a lot of research into sleep apperations and a lot of like medical studies about the effects on the body and the mind after certain hours awake. And so we would kind of collate a lot of different studies and come up with ideas and, and then the cast as well, I mean, everyone has had a, maybe a party that's gone on, you know, a couple of couple of days or different things, you know, drug or alcohol fueled, as well. So we got we all sat around and talked about different things and you know, and made note of how you feel and like, the physical changes and attributes and like, how you're like less coordinated, all that kind of stuff. So there's a lot of fun trying to figure out the different Sleep, sleep deprivation tricks and techniques.
Jonathan Correia:It's very interesting, because oftentimes, you know, we associate like, Oh, don't fall asleep because Freddy Krueger is gonna get you and there's no Freddy Krueger in this so it's it's it's more you do some really cool stuff with I'm trying not to spoil anything but there's some like really cool stuff that you do with it and definitely have had like those working weeks you know being freelance where it's like I booked a day gig and a night gig and you know, because I need the money and then like by like the 36 hour you're just sitting there like, what am I doing? Where's the state? God, I don't have to carry heavy equipment right now.
Ian Hunt Duffy:I know. I mean, sleep deprivation, that's a form of torture, I would crack I think I like straight away. I just feel like just let me sleep. I'll tell you whatever you want to know I will be a terrible. I give up any information if it was like sleep deprivation, I think so. You've
Jonathan Correia:only been here for four hours. I know I really needed
James Jay Edwards:every semester in film school, all your projects are coming due at the same time. So I think every semester I had one night, that was an all nighter that basically that you know, maybe 20 or 20 minute nap before I have to get up, you know and go to class the next day. So yeah, you don't function well, the next day. I'm with you. I don't think I would last.
Jonathan Correia:The way I the way I chug energy drinks all day, like, I don't think I would. I don't even think I could because it would just be involuntary. Just like oh, we have no caffeine in our system
Ian Hunt Duffy:out. Well, that wasn't that wasn't things it feels like in sports. But we had to cleverly say, oh, you can't take stimulants or uppers because that will make it worse because otherwise you'd be like, let's just keep taking caffeine, coffee and energy drinks to work with. So we had to work that into the block that actually now that's like adding fuel to the flames. You know,
James Jay Edwards:so was that actually something you research? Would that really happen? Or is it just something with this imaginary drug?
Ian Hunt Duffy:Oh, it's imaginary, much I mean, no. Okay.
James Jay Edwards:Sounds nice said it. But,
Ian Hunt Duffy:ya know, it sounds good. I mean, does it we've done it. We've made it sound as realistic as possible, but I'm sure it's, I'm sure. Scientists are like people that medicine will be looking at this. This is Neil deGrasse Tyson will be totally debunking this film if he gets this.
Jonathan Correia:But that would be an honor. Right. Getting debunked by renowned scientists and whatnot. I'm sure I'm sure. Yeah. At least you guys didn't go to Star Trek Voyager, where they were. It's just like, oh, yeah, no, because the antimatter quantum array is gonna be out of you know, I'm trying to throw too many scientific words in front of it. It's like, no, yeah. You convinced us, at least?
Jacob Davidson:Yeah, no. And I mean, like I, I mean, like, it just kind of made sense to be to just like, knowing people who would, you know, try and like, stay active by just drinking nothing but coffee, and then the crash that would follow would be, it would just hit them even harder. Yeah,
Jonathan Correia:absolutely. And what about drug trials? Did you guys have any personal experiences with that? Or did you have to I didn't,
Ian Hunt Duffy:I didn't but Darach actually reached out to a couple of people who he did his due diligence and spoke to some people who've done some drug trials. And he got some Yeah, like insight into like, he knew someone that was because one of the characters that kind of the drug trial regular so he was he knew someone had done a few trials and was kind of based in some attributes and and some stories on that. And, and actually, we were lucky enough to go to a number of film festivals, like, before it was released, like we had a bit of a run. And I would say, yeah, like nine times out of 10. There'll be someone in the audience who would either say it in the q&a or come up to us and say, you know, I actually was in a drug trial and then deliver that like no, nothing as serious as this. I guess what? There were some quick there were some weird ones like blood thinners and stuff like that. Yeah. So yeah. Have you guys ever done a trial? Or have you ever done it?
Jonathan Correia:I tried. I was very broke when I first moved to LA so I tried to get into those but they didn't want me. Instead, I got to test chips.
Ian Hunt Duffy:I always admired Robert Rodriguez do like that was his whole thing was like you're selling his blood and stuff, like El Mariachi. So I didn't do that. Now.
James Jay Edwards:I know lots of people who sold plasma just like as like a side boom. Yeah.
Jonathan Correia:That's how I funded my first short, my half of the budget was selling plasma for saved up that $35.
Jacob Davidson:Yeah, that I'll always remember. You know, Robert Rodriguez, talking about in his book about how he sold his body to medical science in order to get the funding in order to create El Mariachi.
Jonathan Correia:Yeah. Which is admirable, and we don't recommend it.
Jacob Davidson:Yeah, he did not seem to have a fun time doing it.
James Jay Edwards:So um, once the movies made, what was the path to distribution, because it's out now you can you can see Double Blind on VOD and I believe blu ray is sometime next month in March, I guess. Yeah. What was the path from having this finished film to getting a district getting eyes on it?
Ian Hunt Duffy:So we had our sales agent at Epic pictures, they came on board early in the project. So during the development project, the process sorry, with screen Ireland, we were writing a number of drafts, we went over to Montreal to the Fantasia Film Festival to pitch at this thing called the Frontières Co-production Market. So it's this thing every year to be doing as part of Fantasia, where 10 genre projects are selected to, in development projects that are late stage development, get to pitch in front of, you know, a lot of industry, lead sales agents, distributors, that kind of thing. And then on the back of that pitch, you get, like some one to one meetings over a few days. So we did a page went every well. And then we met a number of sales agents, reviewers, and one of the Epic, they really responded to and then they came on board the film early on, like gave money towards the production. So then they were kind of secured for the US distribution side of it, then at the end. And then in Ireland, we have wildcards pictures there the Irish distributors, so it's actually in the cinemas here at the minute it's it's on the theatrical run in Ireland. And then it's, yeah, it's out on VOD in the States at the minute. So yeah, it's great. It was it was good that we knew I suppose going into the film being made that we had, like, a release plan in place.
Jonathan Correia:That's awesome. Have you snuck into any general screenings of it just to see people's reactions?
Ian Hunt Duffy:I hadn't, No but I'm going tonight. That's the plan. I should let you know. I was gonna. It's on its second week of run there. So it's like, I'll go in there and see, I'll try and pick a cinema or I'll look and see if there's Yeah, a decent grade and just said I to be honest, I not that. I don't know. I'm here promoting the film. But I've seen the film so many times that I can't watch it anymore. No, I'm not. I'm not like running to the cinema to see it again. But I would, I would like to see it. What Yeah, a general audience buy a ticket bag of popcorn. Yeah. Well,
James Jay Edwards:that's when you watch the people watching it. You know, to see their reaction. Yeah.
Ian Hunt Duffy:Yeah, that's the one I want to hear. You want to hear if they laugh at the heat the funny bits or if they jump or gasp, but you know, the horror stuff. So yeah, that's that's all. That's all I want to see.
Jonathan Correia:You can imagine, especially some of the scenes in this movie, and just sitting there being like, come on. You guys are ready for this. Yeah, right.
James Jay Edwards:I've told the story a few times. But when Hereditary came out, I had seen a press screening of it. And I went back opening night just have you seen Hereditary?
Ian Hunt Duffy:Oh, yeah.
James Jay Edwards:Yeah, I went back opening night to watch the audience during that scene. And, and it was exactly what I expected. Just the air comes out of the room. And anybody who's seen it knows the scene I'm talking about but yeah, sometimes audience watching is more fun. Yeah, no,
Ian Hunt Duffy:I although it's funny was mentioned right, Andrea? Her entry was one where I actually was annoyed that I sold in the cinema because of the crowd was what they were laughing at a lot of the hard bits. Like I again, don't want to spoil her entry for people. But towards the end, I can do this motion because I'm not a video but you know that doing that? Yeah, I was I was like, oh my god is a shocking, but then there were some teenagers like cracking up laughing and not just dissipated the, the tension in the room, you know, so sometimes it's hard sometimes. I think it was a nervous laugh, maybe or I don't know. And it happened with his other film as well. Midsommar and some of the kind of culty bits the nudity and stuff they told was hilarious, but I was a I was like, Ah, you're taking me out of the film that you know, so.
Jonathan Correia:Oh, that was the same for me with Get Out. And it was just like, we had this one group that was just like laughing at all the satiric like the like, really charged like moments and it's like, but you're not supposed to laugh at that. That's not what's no and then like, there's another group of like, older elderly folks that were there. They were there for the whole movie until the school seat and then they were out. They were gone. They were just like nope, hey, this second there was any blood they were like out and they just like walked out on my How do you walk out during this part? Like everything's being revealed? What do you do?
James Jay Edwards:Then you have movies like A Quiet Place where you've got a sold out packed theater and everybody is dead silent.
Jacob Davidson:Funny enough. One of the most respectful audiences I've ever seen of teenagers was when I went to see Five Nights at Freddy's because like they were recording themselves and laughing said before the movie but one that started they were dead focused on Five Nights at Freddy's.
James Jay Edwards:Well they were invested they there are so many Five Nights at Freddy's fanboys like, I don't want to miss this.
Jacob Davidson:Yeah, no teens love their Five Nights at Freddy's. They're very respectful, respectful for the beer. Oh, and Ian. And something else I wanted to ask about was the production design for the Blackwoods pharmaceutical facility. I really like how it looked. And it just kind of had that combination of artificial hospitality. And like, while also being off putting being a medicinal facility, so I just want to ask a bit about that. Oh,
Ian Hunt Duffy:yeah, well, thank you. That's that was the intention it was. We tried to have like Blackwood be This, you know, to the face that they have to the world is all like friendly, you know, family medicine and then yet the trials that are making these drugs are in these sort of sterile cold, like a subterranean, windowless basement. And, and you know, there's no day life, they have a tree in the common room, but it's not the only link to nature, but it's, it's really artificial, then as a result, you just have this tree and this sort of sterile facility. So yeah, I really wanted to, to have, again, it sounds like T shaped, but have the location be another character in the film, like the Nostromo and alien or Outpost 31. And the thing like, just this house, just wanted to have a bit of character and and be as distinctive as possible. So, um, because it's one location as well, you didn't, you did try and make it as interesting as possible. And it was a really specific location requirements, like the brief that we had. And if we had a bigger budget, it probably would have been a sack build in a studio lot. But because we didn't have a massive budget, it was something we had to find an actual building that we could then augment and design and build smaller set builds within. And so we were Yeah, it was a it took a long time to find the place. But when we did, it was great. It was a blank canvas for our art department and our production designer, Steve Kingston, they just did a great job. And, and it was across all departments, we tried to have that black wood brand, like I picked your black wood is having deep pockets. So they'd have an interior designer and all that went for like a minimalist design, and just like some Japanese influences, all this kind of stuff. So we tried to carry that over into like costume and wardrobe and, you know, just sort of it was sort of a brand image like continuity, dread.
Jacob Davidson:Oh, yeah. No, it felt like they were inside of a tech startup. Yeah,
Ian Hunt Duffy:exactly. Yeah.
Jonathan Correia:And even outside that just because of the nature of it being subterranean and like everything was just so in place with the look and everything. I found myself being distressful, especially because you know, there was no set up saw no sun. And so all the light was artificial and coming in and I found myself at one point, just being like, do we actually know this is an actual day has gone by? Or could they have just, you know, simulated it or something? Like I found myself just being very distrustful of like, any information that was presented by the company. Especially towards the end, I was like, I did, I wrote that was just my own paranoia coming out. But like, I was like, I don't trust this time. This counter like,
Ian Hunt Duffy:right, yeah, I mean, that's brilliant that you totally, I just wanted that whole paranoia, and you can't like, especially with sleep deprivation, just can't trust yourself or trust anyone else. So anything that fed into that atmosphere, that tone that that claustrophobic vibe of it, and that's what we're going from?
Jonathan Correia:Absolutely.
James Jay Edwards:I have a question. I'm not sure how much of this you know about but um, as the music junkie, the three of us where did you find the composer? I love the score. And was that did you have its Is it a person? Die Hexen?
Ian Hunt Duffy:Die Hexen. Yeah. Okay, which means "the witch" in German as a single person, not a group? no single person.Diane is her name. And she's an Irish composer. Yeah, so she did. I don't know if you saw Kate Dolan's film, You Are Not My Mother, another Irish horror film?
Jonathan Correia:Yeah.
Ian Hunt Duffy:She did the score for that. And it was the same cinematographer Narayan Van Maele who's shot Double Blind, shot Kate's film. And so during, you know, production, he was saying, Oh, I think the accent would be great for this like, you know, so and I you know, I interviewed a number of composers in post production like to see on them I just see I really clicked with Dianne and we both love Jagang go back to John Carpenter he was sort of our our North Star like I just wanted Yeah, like that since the 80s You know, I think that like we're not going pure carpenter I want like D put your own flavor and spin on it but that was sort of okay. We can look at some of John Carpenter stuff and that electronic II kind of stuff and see because I think that our official dad artificiality at all would work well with with black woman and what was going on the trial so yeah, I think she I think the score is phenomenal. I think he did a great job and it's great to hear like that you liked it because a lot of people haven't really responded to the sound design and the score I think they they meld really well together. Yeah,
James Jay Edwards:they really do. Is there any you know and I don't know if you know this is there going to be any kind of a release of the score like a vinyl release or any
Ian Hunt Duffy:I think the she thought she I know she did it with their score for You Are Not My Mother. So I think she plans to do this for Double Blind as well. Yeah.
James Jay Edwards:Okay, great. keep my eye out for that.
Jonathan Correia:We're big soundtrack vinyl. No, yeah. Awesome. Well, I also just want to say congratulations because as you said, this is your feature debut and it's getting rave reviews at this time. I know we loved it, but all around, I think on Rotten Tomatoes right now it's sitting at 100%. So that's That's fucking awesome, dude. Yeah, no.
Ian Hunt Duffy:aspirations. I just want to make it fresh baby. Yeah. So, ya know, it's great. Like their response so far has been really positive and really encouraging. Yeah, you never know. I thought like it's first film you just, yeah, I suppose you're the audience member first you have to make something that you enjoy. But like he obviously wanted to see why they wanted people to respond to it on everyone so far has been really enjoying it. So it's really rewarding. A lot of people worked really hard on it. And it's great to see the response.
Jacob Davidson:And would you be interested in making more movies in horror? Yeah,
Ian Hunt Duffy:absolutely. Yeah, this is I'm hoping this is my calling card. This is what I want to do. I'm not just gonna veer off now and make, you know, a costume drama or
James Jay Edwards:that was actually my next question. What's next for you? Do you have anything lined up that you're working on that you can talk about? We, we hear the word NDA all the time when we ask this question.
Ian Hunt Duffy:I will be looking at too much. But I can tell you that. The writer and producer of this we, myself, we have another feature film and development was screened Ireland's we're at a kind of first draft stage. It's another horror thriller. And it's called Sway. I can tell you how much what I probably can't tell you much more than that. But yeah, we're like, he's dark. He's a great writer. And He's working. He's got a really cool concept. And it's another high concept hook. I had her. It's not just in one location. It's on a bigger scale. So hopefully, it'll be bigger budgets. And, and yeah, we're just we're working away in the scripted that at the minute, so maybe we'll you know, going well, maybe next year going to production. So
Jonathan Correia:awesome. Looking forward to it. Keep us posted.
James Jay Edwards:Yeah, we'll have you back to talk about that one
Ian Hunt Duffy:now. Yeah, absolutely. I'd love to come back. Yeah. Awesome.
James Jay Edwards:Well, Ian, thanks for joining us. This will afternoon for you morning for us. In case you couldn't tell Ian's in Ireland, and we're in California. So
Ian Hunt Duffy:sorry, guys. I have to drag you out of bed early on a Sunday.
James Jay Edwards:We record this early all the time. Where?
Ian Hunt Duffy:Oh, no, thanks so much for having me. It's It was a pleasure to talk to you guys. And thanks. Thanks for your response and film. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. That's That's great. Oh,
James Jay Edwards:yeah, that's really did and when Sway comes out. We'd love to have you back.
Ian Hunt Duffy:Really, Yeah, no. I'm there.
James Jay Edwards:Let's wrap this one up then. Our music is by Restless Spirits so go give them a listen. And our artwork is by Chris Fisher. So go give him a like Where can people find you on the socials? Ian to keep up with what you're doing?
Ian Hunt Duffy:Instagram, it's@ianhighdefinition. And I've got a website ianhuntduffy.com and Twitter and all if you go to you know ianhuntduffy.com you'll find my social handles.
James Jay Edwards:Pretty much everywhere. Yeah, yeah, you you can find us pretty much everywhere as @EyeOnHorror or at ihorror.com, which is the site that we all call home and everybody see Double Blind on VOD now on Blu ray next month sometime in March, I believe late March the 26th, I believe is the date. Yes. Yeah. Cool. So everybody see Double Blind and we will see you in a couple of weeks. So for me, James Jay Edwards.
Jacob Davidson:I'm Jacob Davison,
Jonathan Correia:Jonathan Correia,
Ian Hunt Duffy:and I'm Ian Hunt Duffy
James Jay Edwards:Keep your Eye On Horror.
