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
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