Deep Dive: How To Make Horror Movies - With Jed Shepherd The Writer Of HOST

Scarred For Life

Filmmaker Jed Shepherd joins the podcast to discuss his experience writing and producing the lockdown horror phenomenon 'Host'. The conversa

Key takeaways

• The film 'Host' was produced for less than six figures using Zoom during the COVID-19 lockdown.
• Jed Shepherd's Filipino heritage influenced his early interest in horror through stories of real supernatural creatures like werewolves.

Main topics

• Production of the film Host
• Childhood horror influences

Notable quotes

The imagination has no budget so you can make people imagine anything they want.

Conclusion

An inspiring look at how constraints like low budgets and global lockd

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:16) on to another episode of the Scarred for Life podcast, your weekly deep dive into the things that terrified us all when we were growing up. I'm Andy Boyce. I'm Andy Boyce. I'm Andy Boyce. I just started throwing a little... Jed, our guest is in America, so I thought I'd chuck in a bit of New Jersey for him. I'm joined as ever by David Lawrence Esquire, co-author of the Scarred for Life books. And every Thursday across October, we're going to be taking a deep dive into the horror industry, peeking behind the curtain and seeing how it all works. We've got a fantastic first guest for you as well. This is a treat for a Thursday. We don't normally, you know, usually have guests on the Thursdays. This is something a little bit different. We're going to be welcoming filmmaker Jed Shepard, the writer and director behind the brilliantly claustrophobic horror host. which was filmed entirely on Zoom during lockdown and became a genuine modern horror phenomena. He's also directed the wonderfully unsettling Flashback and Dashcam as well. And he has more great stuff just around the corner as well. A rising star of the horror scene. Jed, welcome to Scarred for Life. Speaker 3 (1:12) Hello. I didn't actually direct Host and Dashcam. I just wrote it and produced Host and Dashcam. Speaker 1 (1:19) Okay, well, we're off to a fantastic start. A poor American accent and an inaccurate introduction for a guest. That's how I like to get things going on this podcast, Jed. Welcome. Speaker 3 (1:28) Thank you for having me. Really appreciate it. And I love your books, by the way. Amazing. I bought them with my hard-earned money. And yeah, the first, the 70s one saw me through a long period of lockdown. So yeah, I love the stuff that you guys are doing Speaker 1 (1:46) too. Well, thank you. It's great to have you on board as well, despite my introduction. And, you know, obviously this is like a little Halloween special that we're doing during the course of October on Thursdays on Scarred for Life. Let's just talk about Halloween very quickly. What's your relationship like with Halloween? I know you're in America right now and they kind of go crazy for Halloween in a different way. What was Speaker 3 (2:05) it Speaker 1 (2:05) like Speaker 3 (2:05) when Speaker 1 (2:05) you were growing up? Speaker 3 (2:07) You know, we were in the shadow of America and I would see Halloween represented on television and in film. like it was you know christmas basically spooky christmas and then i would look outside and you know i would see what we were doing in the uk and it would just be a paltry reflection um it was you know you go to kids parties like halloween parties and it just wouldn't be good because we didn't have access to all the costumes you know that they had in america we didn't really have as part of pop culture really so everything we were doing was a was a you know a pale comparison to to what they were doing in in america so but you know being the horror kids you know i would make my own halloween so i would you know try to convince my friends to watch horror movies i would you know try and do all the things i've seen in like you know in movies and hocus pocus and things like that um But yeah, you guys know how it is. It just isn't the same in the UK. So it still isn't. It really still isn't. We try, but it's just, it's embarrassing almost. Dave. Speaker 2 (3:15) Yeah. Speaker 2 (3:18) When I was little, all we ever did was ducking for apples. I'm not entirely sure why. There's a connection between apples in a bowl of water and horror. But there you go. That's all we ever did. We never went around people's houses. We never dressed up. It was just ducking for apples and that was it. Speaker 3 (3:33) Yeah, yeah. You can't do, you know, knocking on people's doors, doing trick or treat in the UK because you'll get stabbed, basically. Speaker 3 (3:43) I always find it Speaker 1 (3:44) amazing when they do it in America with all this crime. Yeah, well, I mean, for me, when I was growing up, it was a lot of making outfits out of bin bags in terms of arm holes and bin bags was a lot of that kind of thing. That's for sure. But I mean, you grew up in London, Jed. How has that kind of informed or, you know, created the kind of person that you are in terms of the movies that you enjoy and the horror that you like? Yeah, I think, you know, I'm Speaker 3 (4:12) very lucky to have grown up in London because it's probably the closest to America that we can get because everything's in London. Everything, every event, every, you know, film premiere, everything's in London. So I had access to pretty much everything you can think of in terms of, you know, pop culture. Speaker 3 (4:33) You know, when my friends and I tried to do, you know, the Halloween thing, it didn't always kind of work out. We had, I lived in, I still live in South London, actually, but different part. And there was a place, I grew up like Clapham, Vauxhall, Battersea type area. And there was a place called Nine Elms Cold Store, which was right next to the big Sainsbury's. I think it's where they had meat in all the big freezers. It's been locked down now. Speaker 3 (5:02) But when I was in primary school, and my primary school was right next to the Nine Arms Coal Store, it was the place where people said there were satanic rituals and devil worshippers that would kill kids if you're coming home late from school, etc. But in later years, they found out it was basically like a gay haunt. That's exactly what it was. But we would, as kids, we would dare each other to go up to the door of Nine Arms Coal Store. and knock on the door and knock down Ginger basically. And around Halloween that happened a lot. And they genuinely had satanic stars like on the door as well. So it added to the atmosphere. Yeah, so that was the kind of nearest they ever got to. to doing everything American and trick-or-treating. Speaker 1 (5:50) I love that, though, because our guest who was going to be on the live show with us, we're doing a live show at the Cheerful Earful podcast at the Bedford pub, sorry, in Ballam on October the 18th at 4pm. We'd love to see everyone there if you're going Speaker 3 (6:06) to Speaker 1 (6:06) come there. But Rhys Thomas, who is a previous guest on this podcast, he's been on a couple of times. A lot of the scars he brought with him were like physical locations that had mythological status when growing up. barns you couldn't go in or fields you couldn't walk across or you know doors you'd walk up to to touch and run away and there's there's uh there's real power in that in terms of even if it's just complete like basic folklore in a certain area something about those places that i guess blair blair witch project is a really good example of that kind of stuff right Speaker 3 (6:37) Yeah, it's the film that everyone thought was real. It's the closest we ever got to a commercial snuff movie, really. And I'm sure you guys are the same. I think over in the UK, we weren't as fooled as the Americans were. So we don't have Halloween, but I think we're slightly more attuned to when people are trying to trick us. So yeah, the Blair Witch Project is obviously extremely influential to me in everything that I've ever done. And weirdly today I'm hanging out with Ed Sanchez, who made the Blair Witch Project. Wow. Yeah. He has a new film called The Influencer Project, which is playing in LA today. And so I'm going on Army's plus one to the screen. And so full circle, really. Yeah. Speaker 1 (7:24) And then you have to chat to us losers for a little bit. We appreciate that, Jed. We appreciate it. Dave, what do you want to say? Speaker 2 (7:32) I was going to ask, where do you think is more conducive to horror? Cities or the countryside? Speaker 2 (7:38) That is such a good question. That is a really good question. Speaker 3 (7:43) You know, I think it's probably the countryside. Being a city boy all my life, I've always been fascinated by the countryside because in the city, it's just, even though, you know, there's corona everywhere, it just feels safe because there's people all over, you know. I'm never in fear of, you know, something being in my house, you know, and I can just shout and someone will probably, you know. come a neighbor will come or something or i can just go find someone but yeah in the countryside it's you're more alone there's more distance between you and civilization so um yeah and what opportunity for people to do weird stuff as well like in the countryside i feel and you know and i'm sure people have thought about things like pendous fan and things like that before but like you know that you don't you couldn't have that in london you couldn't have those Speaker 3 (8:33) stories about like the rolling landscapes of ancient pines, et cetera, like you can have in the countryside. So yeah, the countryside fascinates me. I think at some point, I think I will move to the countryside and, you know, and just be one of those people. But yeah, you know, living in the city is, you know, I was really blessed to be brought up in London because I feel like I was exposed to... all the pop culture I possibly could. And, you know, I could go watch films instead of like having to go to another city to watch. I'm Speaker 2 (9:05) in London. It's where everything happens. Bearing in mind what you just said about the city being full of people, is the isolation that you feature in your film Host, is that one of the scary concepts, the isolation itself? Speaker 3 (9:16) Yeah, that's a really good point. I mean, COVID and lockdown was a strange find for everyone. And I just... I think we now in reflection, looking back, like we don't realize how psychologically scarring it was to be, you know, forced to stay inside. First time in like, you know, in our lifetimes we've ever had to do anything like that. So, yeah, it's weird because, you know, it doesn't matter where you are in England or the world really, like you were alone essentially and having to, you know, not interact with people physically. So, you know, the rise of people. talking to each other and interacting virtually became, you know, an everyday thing. If you didn't Zoom or Skype or FaceTime people before, during COVID, you probably did, you know. So it's just, and this has carried on, you know. Most podcasts have been over Zoom now, you know, or some kind of a virtual thing, which is Speaker 1 (10:14) really interesting to me. I mean, you're absolutely right. I feel like we haven't really begun to process. what happened during lockdown and maybe a few more years before we, you know, and there's not actually that many things. That's what makes hosts so interesting because there's not that many TV shows or films that really kind of tackled it or deal with it properly because maybe we're not kind of ready yet. Speaker 3 (10:35) Yeah. You know, it's only a few years ago, you know, and it was such a strange time and our brains, you know, have never dealt with it before. So we've never had to think about it before. I just can't believe it even happened. It feels like a dream to me. And it took a long time to, you know, re-establish ourselves as a community that can, you know, hang out with each other and touch each other. It was very strange for a little while. But, you know, I think as humans, it's good to have these experiences, these shared experiences with each other, because, you know, it reminds us that we're all the same, you know, and like, you know, it doesn't matter who you are, where you are, we all have to do the same thing. It was a great equaler, as well as a horrendous time for most people. It was a Speaker 1 (11:24) great equaler. Just if someone's not aware of it, it's a fantastic film. Just tell everyone what Host is about. What's the main plot line around Host? So Speaker 3 (11:34) Host is about a group of friends who regularly meet on Zoom. It's COVID time, so that's Speaker 2 (11:41) the Speaker 3 (11:41) only way they can really interact with each other. And they decide to do a online seance, a Zoom seance, specifically Zoom. And, you know, they have a psychic come on and the psychic tells them the rules and they unfortunately break the rules and all hell breaks loose. And yeah, some crazy, crazy stuff happens. And I'm sure most people have seen it by now because it's relatively short and it's British. So if you're British and you're listening to this, then you've probably seen it. It's on BBC every year. But yeah, it's just a movie that I made with my friends that just ended up being probably the biggest film of 2020 and Speaker 1 (12:25) it kind of kick-started everything for me. Now this will be interesting because what scares Dave is we're always every week trying to work it out and try and... boil it down into a formula as to what actually scares Dave Lawrence. And it's been voted one of the scariest movies of all time. I know Dave was watching it earlier on. Dave, were you scared? What happened to you when you watched it? I was not. And I'll tell you for why. I took Speaker 2 (12:47) an instant dislike to every single one of those people. And I was team demon from the first frame. I wanted bad things to happen to all those people. And luckily, the film delivered. Speaker 3 (12:59) Jed, Speaker 2 (13:00) I'm Speaker 3 (13:00) sorry. Yeah, Speaker 2 (13:00) yeah, yeah. Speaker 3 (13:01) That's okay. Well, no, because they're my real friends. This is the thing, like that friendship group is my real friendship group. How do you feel now, Dave? Speaker 2 (13:10) I stand by my comments. Speaker 3 (13:13) Yeah. You know, like we, the whole thing was, you know, we pushed their personalities to the maximum and, you know, the group dynamic we mess with. But, you know, those were the Zooms we were having, like, together for the first month of the lockdown until we decided to make hosts. For me, watching a host is just like watching a playback of a normal Zoom call and me and Rob messing around with him. But yeah, again, it's a movie made on Zoom that is considered one of the scariest movies of all time. And I remember the