Nordic filmmakers never disappoint when it comes to chilling and thrilling tales of horror and psychological terror. Stories are creative and are the heart of the film. Fear and tension rapier. Production values high and polished. Visuals are so powerful and performances so nuanced that subtitles aren’t even necessary to fully comprehend the unfolding story. And all is certainly true when it comes to THE EVIL NEXT DOOR, an edge-of-your-seat nail-biter with plenty of jump out of your skin moments thanks to Swedish filmmakers tackling their first narrative feature, co-writers/co-directors TORD DANIELSSON and OSKAR MELLENDER.
Taking on a paranormal kind of spin punctuated with truly terrifying moments, THE EVIL NEXT DOOR is the story of Shirin, Fredrik, and Lucas. Fredrik’s wife recently passed away, leaving him a widower and sole parent to his young son Lucas. Now filling that hole in the family is Shirin. Not yet married, but embarking on becoming a family with Shirin tackling the job of being stepmother to Lucas, the trio moves into a new home. Despite the expected stumbles in this new dynamic, especially between Shirin and Lucas, everything appears to be working out for the family; that is until Fredrik leaves for work. Strange sounds are coming from the empty house next door. Occasional, and only heard by Shirin and possibly Lucas, they are dismissed by Fredrik as just “house noises”, but are ever increasing in frequency and intensity and appear to be coming from the adjoining wall with the house next door. Lucas, seemingly not too enamored with Shirin, talks animatedly about his “friend” who wants to play with him. While Shirin is concerned for Lucas and reaching out to him as any mother would, Fredrik thinks nothing of it as all kids have imaginary friends. Unfortunately, strange sounds turn into strange sights, and rumors within the community about the former family next door put Shirin even more on edge and more worried for Lucas’ safety, especially when something happens to him.
I spoke in detail with first time feature filmmakers TORD DANIELSSON and OSKAR MELLENDER who opened the door into the making of THE EVIL NEXT DOOR, discussing:
- the real life events which inspired THE EVIL NEXT DOOR
- developing the story and focusing on the family drama which is then affected by circumstances
- casting, and particularly then 5-year old Eddie Eriksson Dominguez as “Lucas”, and the considerations of working with a young child on an indie shooting schedule (especially when he’s in 90% of the scenes)
- developing the characters of Shirin and Lucas and finding the heart of the relationship
- building tension, fear and frightening moments with story and pacing
- cinematography and the challenges of lighting and lensing to develop a visual tonal bandwidth
- some behind the scenes construction magic to create certain sets and scenes
- sound design and mix
- the lengthy editing process
- the learning curve going from episodic television production to feature films
- filmmaking lessons learned
- and more. . .
TAKE A LISTEN. . .
by debbie elias, exclusive interview June 22, 2021
