Hey Grimmlins!
Well, that was a hell of a weekend wasn’t it?
The curtain has come down on Grimmfest 2024 and I hope everyone had a fantastic time and is rested up, ready for some new events to hopefully be announced soon!
During the fest your friend The Reaper and diamond volunteer Lee Threlkeld sat down with the many guests we had over the weekend and you’ll be able to read every single interview right here.
Starting with some of the guys behind Thursday’s witchy hit BEEZEL, we had producer Paul Kim (who goes by PK as he’s just too damn cool), Caroline Quigley (played Naomi) and Nicolas Robin (played Lucas) in attendance so I beckoned them to my crypt for a little chat…
How would you sum BEEZEL in one sentence?
PK: Besides the blind witch waits?
Caroline: I think that’s good! It’s a story about a house that spans 60 years, it’s kind of like an anthology and you will be scared shitless.
Nicolas: I would just say the witch inside me.
What attracted you all to this project?
Caroline: I’ll start because I was the first person cast, I’m pretty sure. When I was cast, the whole concept of BEEZEL hadn’t even been fully written yet. What attracted me was that Aaron (Fradkin) the director and me went to the same college 10 years apart. So immediately I knew we would have a common vocabulary and as soon as I read the breakdown for my character Naomi, I was like “I understand her, she’s so brave”. I really admired her, and they cast me off my tape and as soon as we Zoomed together I connected with them immediately. Then I flew over and now we’re forever friends.
Nicolas: For me, it’s always about the money.
I knew someone would say that!
Nicolas: More seriously, I knew Aaron’s work for like 5 years. I always loved his work. I went to the premiere of his second feature ELECTRIC LOVE, loved it and we talked and we wanted to work together. I had a horrible accident with a horse in January, it was pretty bad. Right after that, I got a call from Aaron saying “Hey we’re gonna shoot this movie. Would you be Lucas for us?” I thought this is probably the right time to get back on the horse right? (laughs) I just loved the script, I knew their work and it was really comfortable for me.
PK: This is actually the fourth production I’ve done with Aaron and Victoria. Actually, their first feature film VAL was at Grimmfest 2021. I unfortunately couldn’t make it then, so I’m very happy to be here for this. I’ve helped them with a couple of shorts, one of which is THE BALLERINA which has a pretty big audience on YouTube and still continues to grow. Victoria reached out to me and said “do you want to help with this little scary production?” I’m sure I’ll always work with them on anything they want me to.
What do you hope audiences get from BEEZEL?
PK: A good scare is always in the works, and a few weird nervous laughs at awkward moments.
Caroline: Learning what not to do. Do not follow everything you see.
Nicolas: I would just hope that people won’t sleep anymore.
A modest ambition! This question is for Caroline and Nicolas, this is a film with different time periods and different stories. You do a lot of scenes either on your own or with one other person, how does it feel to film your segments, knowing they’re fitting into a larger unseen whole and then how does it feel to see the film when it all comes together?
Caroline: Wow, that’s a really good question. For me, I felt very isolated in a good way just how Naomi felt as it was really just mostly me as the actor on set and then Mrs Weams for a few shots. It was really like me being the only actor surrounded by the most amazing crew ever. That put me exactly in the right mind space. I could be sitting in the dark with my airponds in, sobbing and I just felt so supported by everyone.
I also love how my segment fits into the others because it almost feels like a tangential thing that happens. I just went about in that way because I’m not related to the family in any way who own the house. I could use all of that for the truth of Naomi and just live it, like she would.
Nicolas: Kind of same for me, I was just really focused on my time with Nova but I did talk with Aaron and obviously Lucas knew about what happened before. He knew that was something went wrong here, but he wasn’t sure exactly what so I was really focused on my part and having that in mind. Something terrible happened in this house, and we didn’t know exactly what or how.
PK: One thing to add with Caroline’s part, we filmed that segment in January 2023. We did that first part not knowing exactly that there was going to be two other parts. I kind of fit it in there and Nico had to make it fit in, and he did a masterful job. Knowing there was a story with Caroline we maybe had this concept, but we didn’t seek out to make an anthology at that moment when we were filming it. Then we thought “let’s create a back and a front story and follow it through the time periods”.
Is there going to be a BEEZEL 2?
PK: Perhaps. We’ll see. Beezel never really ends though!
What’s the best horror film you’ve seen recently?
Caroline: I saw LONGLEGS, I really enjoyed that and it felt like our modern day SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. I loved the acting, I loved how they chose to tell the story. I also loved BARBARIAN.
Nicolas: I would probably say THE CONJURING.
PK: I’m gonna go back, this might not qualify as a horror film but the original POLTERGEIST. I think for me it’s a Spielberg movie and it scared the bejesus out of me.
Something about that clown under the bed, can never shake that image. What’s up next for you guys?
PK: I’m in post (prouction) right now for another weird scary movie called MORTE, which we actually shot all on film and that’s rare these days. It will hopefully be released next year at some point.
Caroline: I have three other films in the festival circuit right now, so those will be coming out next year I think. One’s on Apple, the other two I’m not sure. I’m also doing the play DOUBT by John Stanley, I’m playing Sister James. I’ll be doing that in Los Angeles and I also have a comedy coming out probably next year.
Nicolas: I have a movie called KILOMETER ZERO, that should out next year and probably going into festivals. I have a couple of projects on the line, there’s three projects but I can’t say anything so far.
Last question, are you guys enjoying Manchester?
Nicolas: Absolutely.
Caroline: Oh my god, I don’t want to leave! People are so kind and welcoming. They’ve just been so warm and lovely. Maybe they’re taking pity on me cos I’m saying “what is this on the menu?”
PK: We went around the entire town today and it was just so amazing. One of my friends actually lives here, so we’ll try and catch up later. I don’t know when football season is though?
That’s how my BEEZEL interview ended, checking whether PK meant football football or American football.
Thanks so so much to PK, Caroline and Nico for coming to Grimmfest, I hope you had a great time and the film went down a treat!