ISSUE #35
BEAM FROM THE BOOTH | GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY
[EDITED BY: GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]
Hello and welcome back to an all-new installment of BEAM FROM THE BOOTH brought to you by GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!
We are now less than two weeks away from our COSTUME PARTY SCREENING of Peter Jackson’s THE LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. Dress up as your favorite LOTR character and join us on FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1st, for a screening of the original theatrical cut of the first film in Jackson’s epic trilogy. As always, find your link to purchase tickets further down in our ‘Upcoming Events’ section.
And don’t forget: OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT returns once again NEXT WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29th!
We have a lengthy issue for you all this week featuring not one, but TWO interviews from members of the West MI film community. Plus, Thanksgiving-themed recommendations and a new release review you don’t want to miss. Check it out...
FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT:
Hannah Scout Dunaway
(Open Projector Night: Halloween Edition Winner, October‘23)
[BY: NICHOLAS HARTMAN]
Hello Hannah, I hope you’re doing well and congratulations once again on winning OPN: Halloween Edition! Well deserved. I like to kick things off with a basic introduction: who is Hannah Scout Dunaway? Give us a short bio.
My name is Hannah Scout Dunaway, and I’m currently a senior at Grand Valley studying Film and Video Production. When I first started at GV, I worked solely in the art department in various roles but often in special effects. In the past year, I’ve ventured into writing and directing while continuing to do production design and special effects. It’s been amazing to create stories with the art in mind and work within both departments simultaneously.
For those who didn’t attend Open Projector Night and haven’t seen your film Gorge, can you tell us what it’s about?
Gorge follows Maya, a teenage girl who has just left rehab for an eating disorder. Her mom takes it upon herself to throw Maya a ‘sweet sixteen’ party, except it’s just the two of them there. Maya refuses to eat while her Mom tries to hide her anger with midwestern niceness. They end up arguing, which escalates to Maya’s Mom force-feeding her. Fed up with her behavior, Mom leaves Maya to clean the dining room. Once left alone, Maya relapses and binges on the birthday pie her mom made her. Unable to stop the binge, and with nothing left to eat, she rips open her stomach and consumes herself.
From my experience, I feel most people look at horror films as nothing but blood and guts; that horror films can’t be considered “art” or “intellectual.” However, I feel they can say so much more and be great metaphors. I believe Gorge has something to say — can you tell us the underlying message or am I reading too deep into this?
Gorge is about more than the blood and guts featured, although that does play a significant role in the film. Horror gets written off constantly for being superficial and meaningless, and I couldn’t disagree more with that sentiment. I find that it’s often easier to express emotions or tackle uncomfortable topics within the genre. Gorge is all about the horrific, bloody, and disturbing experience of girlhood, mental illness, and eating disorders. Issues that affect teen girls have never been taken seriously, especially in media. I wanted to highlight just how visceral and all-consuming this experience of self-hatred can be.
There are so many horrifying things about being human. Let’s be honest: it isn’t easy, and we’re faced with daily horrors. Out of all the horrifying events that occur in our reality can you tell us why you wanted to tell this specific story?
Mental illness, and more specifically eating disorders, has been a topic I’ve wanted to tackle for a while. Most representations of them in media either give a step-by-step guide on how to have an ED, or the character will magically recover. I wanted to take the emotions and visceral nature of struggling with mental illness while portraying it in a way that I wouldn’t be re-traumatizing anyone who did experience something similar. As a teenager, I severely struggled with body image issues, and I remember feeling so alone in that pain. Gorge was a way for me to express those emotions and let go of some of the hurt I harbored for years.
I’m a sucker for practical effects, and your bloody intestines were remarkable. When it comes to special effects in film are you particularly drawn to practical effects, or — if you had the budget — would you use CGI to help tell your story?
I’ve always been fascinated by special effects, and if given a bigger budget it would still be done practically. CGI has its place in filmmaking and can be used for incredible effects, especially in the horror genre. However, when it comes to blood, guts, and anything gory, I always think practical is the way to go. There is something so much more intense about using practical effects, you can feel the difference when you watch them in a film. The energy of the SFX is there during the filming process, and there’s just something remarkable about watching it happen in real-time. Special effects will be featured in my next short; I can promise it will all be practical.
Your actors have great chemistry and work well together on screen. Can you talk about your process for casting and directing them?
Due to the nature of the film and the intense use of special effects, it wasn’t easy to find actors for Gorge. Sheri Beth Dusek came as a recommendation and after watching Camborley Gleason’s audition tape, we all knew she was meant to be Maya. On the first day of filming, we spent over an hour hanging out and chatting. It was wonderful to learn about each other and share our personal experiences with body image and girlhood. I come from a theater background, and Gorge was my first time directing a film. A lot of my directing comes from how theater professionals would direct me. While filming the dinner scene, I wouldn’t call cut after they finished the lines. They embodied the characters in a way that it felt right to have them improvise and expand the film with their acting. The final cut features more than half of their improv, and I don’t think the film would be the same without it.
There are so many things that happen on set, whether good or bad. Can you share with us a problematic issue you may have had to overcome and a positive experience?
Gorge features two overhead shots, and the camera set-up was frankly terrifying. We didn’t have access to a jib due to our class level, so the cinematographer, Bri Fall, and 1st AC, Austin Tippett, created a rig to get the shot. Essentially, we stuck the camera inside a boom pole holder on a C-stand. It looked so sketchy, and we were all terrified the camera was going to fall directly into the pie. Miraculously, thanks to Bri and Austin’s ingenuity, it didn’t. Driving home after day one, I called Bri to say I wanted the final shot to also be an overhead. Those are two of my favorite shots in the film, and the overhead of the pie is used on the poster.
Random question: you’re on death row and you get to choose your last meal, what is it and why?
My death row meal would have to be honey-baked ham with mashed potatoes and gravy. I’ve been a vegetarian for almost five years now, and there is almost nothing I miss eating — except honey-baked ham. I haven’t found a replacement for it yet, so if the end was coming, I think I’d have to break and have it one last time.
Why horror and what does it mean to you?
Horror is the exploration of the uncomfortable — the weird, dark, and disturbing that is overlooked or avoided in conversation despite its presence in everyday life. The beauty of the genre is that we can take these unpleasant or distressing situations and represent them in artistic and horrifying ways. Gorge is an uncomfortable and disturbing film, and it’s fully intended to be. Everything Maya experiences and feels emotionally is grounded in reality while the physical manifestation of her pain is not. I don’t think there was a way to tell this story without elements of horror.
Favorite horror movie(s) and why?
Creature from the Black Lagoon is my all-time favorite horror film. It was the first horror movie I saw, and I vividly remember watching it in the garage with my dad on VHS. We had an old VHS player, and we would sit for hours watching old horror films together. As I mentioned at OPN, in high school I read the book The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O’Meara which recounts the life and legacy of Millicent Patrick, the special effects artist who designed the Gill-Man but received no credit. Discovering this information set me down a path to find more horror films that featured women in prominent roles and pushed me to pursue SFX. This is how I found Julia Ducournau’s work, and her features Raw and Titane remain two of my favorite films. Outside of those, Lake Mungo was a pivotal watch for me and restructured my conceptions of the genre.
What’s next for you? Any projects planned?
Currently, I am in pre-production for my senior thesis project at Grand Valley titled Milly. The short will tackle the often-romanticized view people have of the 1950s while also highlighting the unrecognized work of domestic labor. I recently filmed some teaser videos in early November for the project, and we’ll be moving into production in late February.
For anyone that’s reading this, what advice would you give to those who want to make their first film?
Go as big and as bold as you realistically can. Gorge is the first film I’ve directed, and I can honestly say creating this film is one of the best experiences I’ve had to date. You don’t need a big budget or fancy equipment to make a film. If you’re passionate about your story, that can be enough to see it through to the end. Whether you’re making something for a class project like I was, or making a film on your own, always remember you are a filmmaker. You don’t need permission from anyone but yourself to start creating.
Okay — this is a question I ask all OPN winners. If you got to make your dream film with an unlimited budget, what would you make?
When I think of film ideas, I always start with the art department in mind. I would love to make either a Mad Max-style queer apocalypse film or a 1790s French Revolution slasher film.
How do we stay up to date with Hannah and your work?
My main form of social media is Instagram, you can follow me at scout.exe. If you want to directly check out some of the film projects I’m working on, check out futurecorpseproductions on Instagram.
Any words you can provide about Open Projector Night?
I’ve been to almost every OPN show since Wealthy Theatre became its home, and I cannot recommend attending and submitting enough. Each time I attend I’m not only inspired to create, but I’m reminded of just how much talent we have in Michigan. I’m so thankful to everyone at the Wealthy Theatre and to the GR Film Society for bringing OPN back, it’s been wonderful to experience a community of filmmakers and film lovers for the first time.
Final thoughts?
Thank you again to those involved with Open Projector Night, you are truly bettering the community with your work. I’d also like to thank everyone who came out to this past OPN and showed just how important horror is to people. It was amazing to have my first public screening filled with fellow horror lovers. Finally, thank you to the Future Corpse Crew: Sam McKenney, Macie Huntoon, Bri Fall, Austin Tippett, Jaden Stroud, and Jaden Brower. Your endless support and passion throughout filming and after is something I will always be grateful for.
NEW RELEASE REVIEW
[BY: SAM MCKENNEY]
The Killer (Fincher, 2023)
A precise and cold-hearted professional messes up a job, sending him on a journey of self-discovery and reminding him that he isn’t special — he is one of the many. Sound familiar? It should, as that is what auteur director David Fincher’s newest film The Killer is about, and it is the exact type of story that Fincher loves to tell: a very detail-oriented procedural set in a very cynical and pessimistic version of our world, where everyone is a murderer or a pervert (his words). But it’s not only that, it is a kind of summary of David Fincher’s career arc in the last few years.
For most film fans, when a new Fincher movie comes out it is a real event. But back in 2020, Fincher’s film Mank, a story about the screenwriter of Citizen Kane written by his father, Jack Fincher, found that usual support was few and far between. It was met with middling to slightly-above-average reviews, something that — ever since Alien 3 (a movie Fincher does not claim as his own) — the filmmaker never had really dealt with. I personally quite enjoyed Mank, specifically for how different it was from the rest of his filmography while also straight away feeling like a David Fincher movie. The bottom line is, though, the movie was kind of a dud. That brings us to The Killer. There is one line in particular, very close to the beginning of the film, right after the titular assassin (played by the always brilliant Michael Fassbender) messes up the job he was sent to do. He says to himself “Well this is new.” When I watched this film for the second time, that stuck out to me above anything else, and that’s when the self-referential nature of the film really became apparent. This feeling was new to Fincher as well as the killer himself. Following that fateful mistake, the killer goes on a quest for revenge while along the way telling himself that it isn’t personal. I can’t help but feel that that is Fincher, widely recognized as a cold-hearted filmmaker with no hope for the world, fighting against his instincts.
It is fitting that after his dud, Fincher went back to a style of film he knows is an instant hit for him, but he does it in a way that only he could. This isn’t a hitman film showing fast cars and fancy kills. The very first line in the movie is “If you are unable to endure boredom, this work is not for you.” It’s all about the details. It’s not sexy, it’s not fast — it is procedural, through and through. It makes you sit there while he sleeps, waiting for his target to show themselves through the window. It makes you count the seconds that it takes for a door to shut with him. It makes you watch him indulge in his incredibly strange eating habits (he eats a gas station hardboiled egg and follows it up with gas station coffee, horror movie stuff). That is not to say it doesn’t have its fun moments. About two thirds of the way through the film, there is a fight scene that is without a doubt one of the best in a few years; superbly staged, choreographed, and edited, but it takes some build up to get there. The film is not devoid of humor either; it has a very deadpan style to it, my favorite part being that the killer only listens to The Smiths. I guarantee if you asked Fincher what his favorite band is, he would say The Smiths. Admittedly, the lead character and the plot that surrounds him is well-trodden territory, very much in the style of a paperback hitman novel. But this time Fincher injects it with his hyper-stylized and cynical view of the world along with his ultra-precise direction to craft a story that elevates beyond that pretty paper-thin characterization within the context of the film itself.
Some could say that this movie kind of feels like Fincher playing the greatest hits and going back to a safe space for him as a creative, but I see it much differently. It feels to me like him reinterpreting those themes and styles that he so often pulls from and putting them into today's world, reflecting both society at large and where Fincher himself is at as a filmmaker. Here’s hoping he stays away from any more duds.
STATIC TAPE VIDEO: A WEST MI PHYSICAL MEDIA SAFE HAVEN
[BY: GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]
I grew up as a huge collector of physical media, but in recent years my collection has somewhat fallen victim to the digitization we’ve seen taking place the world over. I imagine this is a sentiment many of us share. So when GRFS partnered with STATIC TAPE VIDEO for our ‘Evil Dead II on VHS’ event last month, I was thrilled to see the lobby of Wealthy Theatre filled with tables of physical media, let alone people enthusiastic about picking some up.
Since then, I’ve been itching to pay Static Tape a visit. I finally had the pleasure of stopping into the Muskegon-based safe haven for all things physical media and even had time to briefly pick the brain of the store’s owner, HARRISON LANGE.
First, why don’t you introduce yourself for the folks who may be unfamiliar with you or the shop.
Sure, yeah, so my name is Harrison Lange. I own Static Tape video in Muskegon, Michigan, right inside The Lakes Mall there. And I've been around for coming up on five years, something like that, between four and five years. I sell anything like movies and video games. I kind of specialize in VHS and boutique Blu-ray labels — Criterion, Vinegar Syndrome, Shout Factory. I sell all sorts of records and video games as well; CDs, cassettes, any format really.
Excellent. So you are a connoisseur of physical media?
Yeah, I definitely try to be. I’ve got anything...LaserDiscs, Select-A-Vision, and all that stuff too. I just love it all.
Has Static Tape been a longtime passion project for you? Or was it sort of a spur-of-the-moment idea? How did the shop come about?
[Growing up] my dad had a big LaserDisc collection and VHS, and we just always went to the movies too. So I've always been around having a collection and whatnot, whether it's comics or toys or anything like that. I've always liked the idea of having a collection of something. I've always had more of a passion for movies and whatnot. In college, I did some acting, and went out to Minnesota, Minneapolis, specifically to continue that career right after college for a short time. Between acting and whatnot, I worked at a bunch of jobs...I did Target, Five Guys, and Family Video. I kind of saw the trainwreck that Family Video was. It was very interesting to see behind-the-scenes of things, and it was very eye-opening of just being like ‘wow, this place is not gonna last very long.’ And many stores weren’t. There was another video store there, Video Universe, that I liked to go to here and there for stuff. He was a really nice owner there, which that one is also now closed. I think maybe five months ago, over the summer, it closed sadly, finally.
So I just kind of saw where renting was going. And I've always kind of felt like streaming is great because, not only just physical media, but I'm a big fan of access to any art form and movies and whatnot. Streaming, for a while, was great for that. As the way things were going, especially around 2018, Disney+ was either brand new or coming soon, but right after Disney+ was announced, you got Paramount+ and Peacock being announced. So all those other studios are working on those. Like I said, I had seen where Family Video was and thought there's no way they last another two years. I didn't think COVID was going to happen, which really nailed that coffin...for a lot of things. I just kind of had it in my head, there's gonna have to be stores like this around with Family Video going away and other ones possibly not making it.
Streaming services are not going to stay as cheap, I knew that was going to happen, especially with all [the studios] coming over. I knew they were all going to add commercials. It was basically going to be cable again, in a way, but a little more restrictive in a way too. I kind of had a feeling that Netflix was going to have to rely on original content as well and basically become a studio of their own, which they were already kind of doing at the time and really are now. That's just what you kind of have to do these days, and even that isn't really enough. They're kind of clamoring for more ads and all that too to keep money coming in. I just kind of saw where things were going as far as accessibility to movies. I just kind of came home, I was like, ‘I'm gonna get out of Minnesota and come back to Michigan, and I think I'm going to just do my own thing.’ It’d keep movies in my life, it's a little more of a passion for me. I'm kind of sick of working Five Guys, and then doing some acting, and then I’d go back to Five Guys or Target or whatever. I don't know, I wanted it to be a little more active, and this definitely did it. I can be a little more involved in a community of people that had the same interests and stuff like that. It was definitely the right decision.
And how has it been since opening the shop? Has there ever been a moment where you're like, ‘What the hell was I thinking?’ Or has it just been a dream realized?
It definitely took a little bit. It was pretty quickly a thing I knew I would enjoy doing if I could do it forever. I definitely am glad I moved back and made the store. Again, COVID changed a lot of things. Especially around then when I had to be closed for two weeks or however long that shutdown was...that was kind of like the really frustrating time of wondering, ‘What can I do?’ I did some movie delivery, I delivered movies to people that asked for stuff. So whatever I could do at the time, I tried to keep things going and still bought more inventory, bought collections, and delivered movies to people or made room and organized stuff. So even when it was empty in here, I was still doing stuff to just kind of keep things going. And that was probably the most tough time.
But right after that, when we opened back up officially, that's when things really started to pick up and people wanted their own collection again. People wanted to collect again — especially VHS. That's really when VHS took off is right after COVID. I was just kind of not even really thinking about it, and then it's like, ‘wow, you know, my VHS shelf is pretty empty, I guess I gotta fill it back up.’ And then I was buying a little more stuff a little more often. I'm starting to spend a little more money I notice on some of the better stuff, and I’d check online and see, yeah, I guess stuff is selling for a little more lately, so okay, that's fine. At least people aren't throwing them away now and caring about this VHS like, you know? Sure, I guess I'll pay 50 bucks for a copy of Mutilator. Sure, why not? Or whatever. I guess it does sell for that now. It's at least not getting thrown away or ignored. So there wasn't really a lot of moments of me questioning it. There's always, as a business owner, slow days are just always going to happen. You can't let that stuff drive you insane. There's plenty of times, plenty of days where I spend more money than I make money on collections versus customers coming in, and that can sound scary, but you can't let that get to you.
No, absolutely not. You're talking about people getting back into it all, and wanting to have a collection, and you, your service, and your store just make it so easy to get into it. I was in the shop getting started on a VHS collection myself yesterday, and I think you can tell your passion just from the way that you sort of directed me around that. It's not like you're trying to take anybody for a ride. I think you just want to share this thing that you're very passionate about. I appreciate that quite a bit.
Well, thank you. That's definitely what I like about something like this. It's fun to pick stuff up. It's fun to look at the cover art. Everyone has the same memories of going into the video stores in the early 2000s and seeing the same covers and all that. It's cool to be able to, basically, like you said, share this type of stuff with people and bond over the same memories or similar memories, similar movies. I think there's just a lot of that stuff in this kind of community.
If you could say anything to the Beam from the Booth readers who are maybe considering either starting to get into physical media or getting back into physical media, or are wondering what the importance of something like VHS is, what would you say?
You know that movie you really enjoy? There could be a director's cut! There could be deleted scenes. If you really want to have access to those special features, or director's commentary, or anything like that, if that's stuff you like, then your only route for that stuff is physical media. You don't have to worry about [your favorite movie] bouncing around streaming services. It might be on Peacock one month, but then in another month it's going to be gone for a little bit, and then it's on Netflix. That's always common, rights bounce around all the time. It's definitely easier to just get that movie you really like that way. And you can always have it, you can share it. If you're a family person, you can share that with your kids a lot easier. There's definitely just advantages that outweigh the inconveniences or possible inconveniences that can happen with it.
Any final remarks before we wrap it up?
I’m going to be trying to do more events, especially as a store. I had a tape swap here in July. That went pretty well, and I want to have a lot more stuff like that, go to more conventions. I'd love to do more screenings. I've been throwing out the idea of doing more stuff with the Wealthy Theater. Once I hopefully expand at the end of the year like I want to more, there will be more events and more things to keep that community around here. I've always felt West Michigan does not have a massive outlet for just like film in general, but also horror especially, like I kind of draw that crowd a lot. There's more that type of stuff in Detroit for sure. But Lansing all the way down to the west side, it's just a bubble where there is not a lot. There's definitely a lot of people that clamor for it and will travel for it. But there's not huge outlets that those people can go to, unfortunately. So that's my next goal is hopefully getting more of those types of events and really curating to the people looking for that.
Well, on behalf of the community, thank you very much for everything that you do.
I love it. I don't even consider it work. If I only had the 12 customers that I started out with or whatnot, I’d still love doing this. I'm just glad it's turned into what it's turned into now. I never would have guessed COVID and the writers and acting strikes and all that stuff that's really gotten more people into this type of stuff would happen, but...I'm glad that there's an appreciation for it happening at all, for sure.
Static Tape is planning a huge Black Friday sale this coming weekend, November 24th—26th, making it the perfect time to stop in and grab something for yourself or maybe a nostalgic holiday gift for the film fan(s) in your life. Those interested in checking out Harrison’s many offerings can visit Static Tape’s website, or follow the shop on Instagram.
GRFS’ FILMS TO WATCH ON THANKSGIVING
MATT EVERITT:
Creed (Coogler, 2015)
Over Thanksgiving 2015, my mom and I saw Creed together in a theater and, to this day, it’s the only movie we both love. She was visiting me in Chicago, and we had time to kill so we went on a whim.
I wasn’t ready for how amazing that experience was going to be. We were both laughing and cheering at the same parts. The family dynamics in the film resonated with our own experience in some pretty moving ways. We talked about it well after the movie was over. I got her a necklace with a photo on it that we took at the screening.
It grounded my love of movies in something much deeper because it gave us something to love together without having to compromise in order to accommodate the other. To this day it’s one of the few things we agree deeply on, and that takes it beyond the realm of movies for me and into things that I hold really close to my heart. That ability to love the world and other people through a shared connection is one of the best feelings in the world.
JACKSON EZINGA:
Krisha (Shults, 2015)
I may be taking liberty with the ‘family holiday movie’ prompt, but Trey Edward Shults made Krisha with his family, and it’s centered around Thanksgiving. But before you gather your family around this one, know that it might get uncomfortable. And it’s uncomfortable by design. Shults crafts a slow-burn family drama that at certain points is as anxiety-inducing as any thriller, maybe even any horror movie you can think of. Brian McOmber’s sporadic score will make the hair on your neck stand up in this chamber piece based on a true story about a recovering addict who tries to make up with her family on Thanksgiving Day. It’s a hell of a feature film debut and might make you feel a little bit better about how your family gatherings go.
Krisha is currently streaming on MAX and Kanopy.
GRIFFIN SHERIDAN:
Spider-Man (Raimi, 2002)
As a huge nerd, and an equally huge fan of director Sam Raimi, I’ll find quite literally any excuse to watch this movie — much to the chagrin of my friends and family, I’m sure. Imagine their delight when I remind them every year that the film features both a set piece set amidst the Thanksgiving Day Parade and a tension-filled scene taking place during a Thanksgiving dinner. To me, the wafting aroma of turkey and potatoes is accompanied perfectly by the reserved narration of Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker and the warm hues of Don Burgess’ cinematography. With Spider-Man, Raimi offers a feast of action, romance, and sentimental character work that is perfect for a Thanksgiving Day movie marathon!
UPCOMING EVENTS
WHAT: A program of curated short films from independent filmmakers with a MI connection!
WHEN: Wednesday, November 29th, 7:00 pm.
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (Jackson, 2001) + COSTUME PARTY
WHAT: Come dressed up as your favorite Lord of the Rings character and join us for a screening of the first installment in Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy!
WHEN: Saturday, December 1st, 7:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
And so we’ve arrived at the end of another BEAM FROM THE BOOTH! We appreciate you taking the time to read it and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to get each issue in your inbox every SUNDAY, and stay up-to-date on all things GRFS.
Plus, join us on social media! We’d love to chat with everyone and hear YOUR OWN thoughts on everything above (you can also hop in the comments section below).
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Look for ISSUE #36 in your inbox NEXT SUNDAY, 11/26!
Until then, friends...
