We caught up with director, Brett Simmons, to talk about Husk.

Horror News Network: Can you talk a bit about the journey that Husk has been on, from Sundance to where it is now?

Brett Simmons:  Sure, well, HUSK began in 2003 when I began scheming the short. We shot it that year, and went to Sundance with it in January 2005. The time in-between was filled with other short film projects and an exhausting tour of other film festivals. Sundance really was the culmination of the short film journey, and the kick-start for the feature’s journey because I left the festival with interest in the movie and had to start writing it. I had been procrastinating on it, wondering if anyone would ever even care, so when they did, it couldn’t have been a more exciting reason to dive back into the cornfield. That was in 2005, and we didn’t start rolling cameras until August 2009. The time in-between that was characterized by a lot of patience and a lot of perseverance. It’s hard enough to get a movie made these days, so add to that the factors of my age and limited feature experience, getting HUSK going was a journey and a battle. I was in and out of meetings, options, and production deals, none of which ended up coming together. So finally, in 2009, I abandoned all of my prospects and decided to do a pretty dramatic page-one-rewrite. My goal was to put the project together myself and write something that answered to no one but me. After the all the years of stop-n-go, I felt HUSK was trying to please too many people and the objectivity was lost, but starting from scratch helped me focus it solely on what I wanted to do and the things I wanted to try. The divine element of it all is, I did that, wrote my unapologetic version, my manager happened to pass THAT version on to After Dark Films, and they loved it. At a point when I was giving up hope that HUSK would ever find “a” home, it ended up finding itself the “perfect” home at After Dark. They were on-board for everything I wanted to do, and were amazing collaborators.

Horror News Network: How did you hook up with the After Dark Originals team?

Brett Simmons:  It’s like I said before, we were introduced pretty much the way that most production companies meet writers and directors. What was different, and why we “hooked up” after we met, was that we all were out to do the same thing. The challenges I faced with other production companies, I didn’t face with them. I wanted to try things that would be a little different and at times “risky”, all for the sake of giving the horror audience a fun experience, and After Dark wanted to do the same. They as a company have such a regard and concern for the genre and the genre’s fanbase, most of their decisions are made with the fans in mind, and I really appreciate that. I’m a filmmaker constantly concerned with the audience experience, and finding a company that felt the same seemed like an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. And like I said, it made for a great collaboration because our ideals were in sync.

Horror News Network: How did you come up with the concept of this movie?

Brett Simmons:  Well, I love horror movies. Especially the classics. THE THING, HALLOWEEN, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, PSYCHO, those. Love those. So HUSK was first conceived as a response to the horror movies I had been seeing. While I appreciated them, many of them felt overly complicated, or cheap in the sense that they didn’t establish many rules, or characters, or stakes. I just wanted a horror movie that evoked the same spirit as the late 70’s and 80’s. Those were my definition of horror. Also, as I matured in my horror movie knowledge and became familiar with the standard beats, pacing, and structure of the genre, I began creating a list of things that I thought would be fun to try. So the older movies really influenced me creatively, and that list of things I wanted to try informed the building of the story. As for concept, I knew I wanted to make a single location horror movie, and my two favorites are NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and Carpenter’s THE THING. Both are amazing in how they portray the unraveling of once ordinary people in a extreme, horrifying circumstance. And scarecrows specifically have always been dynamic horror figures to me that hadn’t yet had their potential fully tapped. These were all the thoughts spinning in my head as HUSK came into fruition.

Horror News Network: How long was filming for Husk?

Brett Simmons:  Technically 18 days. But literally, more like 17 because we lost an entire day’s worth of footage due to drive failure. That was really fun to experience. But yes, three weeks, 18 days.

Horror News Network: What impressed you the most with the cast of actors in Husk?

Brett Simmons:  What impressed me most was that they wanted to do the movie. Selling actors on three weeks in Iowa running through muddy corn and getting doused in blood seemed like it would be more difficult than it actually was. But really, I was impressed by what they brought to their work. The casting directors and I worked really hard to find actors who had instincts to make the roles more than just typical. Where more often in these types of movies, you’re casting “victims”, I wanted to cast “characters”. There’s so few deaths in the movie, I knew the only way to combat that was to make the fewer deaths mean a lot more, and that couldn’t be accomplished without the right cast. And they really delivered, especially considering the elements they had to act through. Nasty bugs in the cornfield, sweltering heat, freezing cold nights, blood and prosthetics, it was a lot, but they never let that effect what they were doing and that blew my mind. The scarecrows too, after all, they’re also my cast. They ran, jumped, and attacked at full energy for multiple takes, all while wearing scarecrow masks they could hardly breathe through. They were up for everything we wanted to try and that was pretty impressive too.

Horror News Network: Why do you think that so few Scarecrow movies have succeeded?

Brett Simmons:  Well, I’ll start by saying this. I’m the guy that sees scarecrow movies on the shelf and desperately hopes their good. I’ve always been the fan looking for a cool horror movie centered around scarecrows, and only now have I become the guy trying to deliver one. I’ve wanted them to succeed for a while. Scarecrows are just so iconic and spooky. Creatively, they’re great because you don’t need to justify a mask or hiding their face, they’re pre-established as beings, and they already exist in a freaky setting. So to me it’s obvious why the genre constantly gravitates toward them. In my opinion, part of why they’ve failed is because their movies have been trying too hard. All these elements do the job of being justified and scary automatically, they just need a focused and memorable story. I always see movies of scarecrows with gnarled horrific faces and snarling teeth or glowing eyes, but not really doing anything interesting. To me, it’s putting the energy into telling the audience to be scared, rather than create the events and story that actually scare them. That’s it for me, just a lot of focus in the wrong areas.

Horror News Network: What makes Husk different than the traditional Scarecrow fare?

Brett Simmons:  Well first, it’s a musical. I’m kidding. HUSK focuses a lot on story and character stuff. There’s an inner mystery behind everything and the scarecrows become more than just “killer scarecrows”. I’m a big fan of ghost stories and supernatural stuff, and that’s what I love about HUSK. The poster and summary are a “killer scarecrow” movie, but as events unfold, you realize it’s actually much more of a supernatural slasher/mystery/ghost story/…musical. Also, I wanted to approach the scarecrows themselves a little less traditionally. I wanted them to be more like predators in their natural habitat. Like Jaws in the water, or raptors in the raptor pin. You’re only mistake will be leaving your natural habitat and entering into theirs. Simple. Sort of.

Horror News Network: The trailer looks appetizing, what can we expect in terms of blood and gore?

Brett Simmons:  Definitely expect it, but not as much as you think. It’s like I said before, there’s a small cast here, which means a small death toll. But where HUSK has a lot of fun is keeping you guessing who and when characters are going to die, and maybe even surprising you with what happens afterward. There’s a bit of a bloody ritual that take place too. You saw the “nails through the fingers” in the trailer. That’s a big part of it, along with more. We had a great gore fx team and that did some awesome stuff like exploding heads and gnarly scarecrow wounds. The scarecrows do damage for sure. I don’t want to spoil too much, but I will say that the gore may not be astronomical, but I promise it’s effective.

Horror News Network: Where can our readers find out more about what you are up to?

Brett Simmons:  Well, I’m on twitter (@brett_simmons) even though I don’t twitter as regularly as I should. Also I have a page I like to upload misc. shorts and videos and things onto: vimeo.com/brettsimmons. I update that pretty often. Otherwise, I’m always down to come back and chat more with you guys. You guys are awesome.

Horror News Network: In closing, what would you like to say to our readers about Husk?

Brett Simmons:  I really hope you guys enjoy it. It’s a fun ride. It’s been a long road taking it from the short to the feature screen, and I’m stoked to finally be able to share it with you guys as fellow fans. Long live scarecrows!

Horror News Network: Thank you for your time, Brett. Comment on this interview on our forum.