Episode Nine: The Look Like People (2015) & The Invitation (2015). Urban paranoia, independent cinema and the horrors of friendship

Welcome to episode 9 of the Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we put two films together to create something far greater than the sum of its parts.

This week we are unwrapping the horrors of friendship, with two films from 2015 that ask the questions, what do you do when people you once thought you knew are no longer the people you remember, and how long should you stick around to find out exactly who they have become?

First up is They Look Like People, the debut from director Perry Blackshear, a film which explores the bonds of male friendship and the impacts of male insecurity as two friends reunite in New York for the first time since college.

Then we head over to the west coast for another reunion, this time in LA, with The Invitation from director by Karyn Kusama, a study of paranoia and the impact of grief, depicting a group of old friends meeting for a dinner party where everything rapidly falls apart.

Both of this week’s films are shining examples of American Independent Cinema, and draw, to a greater or lesser degree, from the notion of replacement horror – the idea that someone close to you has been substituted by someone or something else, creating a heightened sense of paranoia and raising questions as to whether perceptions are reality or indeed reliable.

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email: thehorrodoublebill@gmail.com

Sources used for this weeks episode:

Replacement Horror:

Invasion of the Body Snatchers: A Tribute edited by Kevin McCarthy and Ed Gorman

Don Siegel Director by Stuart M Kaminsky

They Look Like People:

interviews with the cast and crew on the 2022 Yellow Veil Pictures Blu Ray release as well as the director and cast commentaries

https://www.scifinow.co.uk/interviews/they-look-like-people-is-a-horror-that-spans-genres/

https://screenanarchy.com/2015/01/slamdance-2015-review-they-look-like-people-the-nightmare-of-self.html#:~:text=The%20other%20marvel%20to%20take,which%20also%20intelligently%20explore%20the

https://screenanarchy.com/2022/04/perry-blackshears-psychological-horror-debut-they-look-like-people-gets-a-blu-ray-release-from-yello.html#:~:text=,Audience%20Award%2C%20Nashville%20Film%20Festival

The Invitation:

interviews and commentaries with the writers, cast and crew on the blu ray release from Second Sight films

Karyn Kusama at the Directors Guild of America:

https://youtu.be/_n-a7f1UBNc?si=s8h8wweCBmiC-5Vl

Karyn Kusama at Frightday:

https://youtu.be/7TDAUxznVhM?si=ba5PpGqGBk-jce_9

An interview with Logan Marshall Green:

https://dailydead.com/exclusive-interview-with-the-invitations-logan-marshall-green/#:~:text=Logan%20Marshall,view%20the%20audience%20sits%20in

Filmmaker Magazine

https://filmmakermagazine.com/97782-framing-is-its-own-dark-art-karyn-kusama-on-the-invitation/#:~:text=Kusama%3A%20Phil%20Hay%20and%20Matt,horrifying%20element%20of%20the%20story

Go Into The Story:

https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/go-into-the-story-interview-matt-manfredi-and-phil-hay-f5925c5923a

https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/interview-written-karyn-kusama-and-phil-hay-the-invitation-c2690e24e97a

The Guardian:https://support.theguardian.com/uk/guardian-ad-lite?returnAddress=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffilm%2F2016%2Fapr%2F05%2Fthe-invitation-film-review-karyn-kusama-suspense