MAN BEHIND THE MONSTERS

“One of the things I have the most pride in as a director is that if you turn on one of my movies, you can tell its mine. An Evan Showalter film has its own look, pacing, and feel. I make things that I would want to watch. I love grossing you out, but not making you sick. I relish in scaring you, but not traumatizing you. I want you to get immersed in the characters, the sound, and the world, but I want you to be eager to get out of the nightmare I’ve created. But most of all, I want you to have fun. I like making the type of movies that I loved as a kid: the ones I wasn’t supposed to be watching. The best movies are the ones I would sneakily watch on my own, but they wouldn’t leave me scarred for life. Instead, they would give me a good old-fashioned scare and fill my mind with the wonders of monsters, creatures, demons, and ghouls.

My work is a love letter to 70s and 80s horror with a dash of modern flare. I grew up mesmerized with Christine, The Thing, Child’s Play, Silver Bullet, American Werewolf in London, and Hellraiser. As a filmmaker, I found myself inspired by modern films such as Mandy, Hereditary, The Empty Man, and Barbarian. My style meets somewhere in the middle of these two experiences.

My short films functioned as stepping stones to me figuring out my style. Ante Mortem, Jitter, and Just A Drop helped me learn the balance of pacing, the order of set, the nature of practical effects, and so on. I used the skills learned in these films to make more refined and polished pieces, such as Bad Music Terry and Blotch, and eventually, my first feature: The Leaching.

Thematically, there is always always always some sort of supernatural element in my films. Monsters and Evan Showalter is like peanut butter and jelly. So far, I have made films with cuck-goblins, immortal skeleton poker gods, board game demons, retired vampires, Lovecraftian sentient blood stains, Pagan deer demons, ghosts, ghouls, werewolves, and 7-foot-tall leech monsters. As soon as I put my fingers on the keyboard to type a script I already have some crazy monster or creature or curse in mind.

However, quite often the monster is not the primary antagonist, but a means to an end used by the real evil human antagonist, as seen in Bad Music Terry and The Leaching. For me, monsters are badass and spooky, but usually, people are the scariest.

Visually, my films all have a distinct look to them. They are vibrant with heavy contrast. The darks are very dark, hiding terrible secrets in their blackness. The colors pop, especially the reds. My films are warm, cozy, and spooky. I want you to almost be comforted by the look and feel of what you are watching, whether the film feels like an old cursed Chicago speakeasy or a secluded log cabin, the vibe an audience gets from the film is very important to me.

In essence, I make monster movies, and I love it. “

-Evan Showalter