Apartment 143 impressed many with its take on the documentary horror subgenre and we recently took some time to sit down with the film’s director to talk about his influences, the current state of Spanish horror cinema and how he subverted audience expectation to create something fresh.
You can read our review of the film here, and you can buy the DVD from the 15th of October. It’s a refreshing take on a well-worn story and the low-key performances and strident reach for realism may not always sidestep the cliché minefield inherent in the set up but Torrens and his cast do a lot of things right.
Here’s my interview with the director of Apartment 143, Carles Torrens,
It seems to be a great time for Spanish Horror – are there cultural aspects which offer something different to the usual Hollywood horror films?
I feel the past two or three generations of Spanish genre filmmakers have grown up almost exclusively on Hollywood films, and yet, we’ve managed to interpret them through our own personal filter.
Take, for example, two kids, one in Spain and one in the US, who are both watching Poltergeist on TV. The movie may be the same, and it may be transmitting the same stimuli and sensations, but the environment in which each kid is watching it is completely different. The living room is different, the snacks are different, the commercials aired during breaks are different… and eventually, when the movie is over and each kid sets foot outside to play with their friends, the landscape, buddies, and games are different.
So while the same film is settling into each kid’s mind, the thoughts, ideas, impressions, and feelings it’s generating are quite different, for the context (outside environment) in which the film has been experienced (the filter) is unique to each case.
I believe US and Spanish pop culture are similar enough that a Spaniard’s take on horror translates perfectly from country to the other, but they’re different enough to provide a fresh, somewhat exotic approach to familiar territory (the Hollywood films we’ve all grown up with).
The horror genre has experienced a resurgence in recent years – who were your early influences and whose work do you admire now?
I’ve always liked John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, Tobe Hooper, and George Romero, though some of the best horror films out there were made by filmmakers who aren’t necessarily considered “horror” directors. The Shining, Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, 28 Days Later, The Omen, or The Haunting were all made by people who have tackled a wide variety of genres.
Right now, I’m a big fan of Takeshi Mikee, James Wan (I thought Insidious was phenomenal), or Eli Roth, and I also consider Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects to be one of the best horror films in the past fifteen years.
When you’re dealing with fixed cameras and hand held equipment do you have to adapt your directing style to accommodate this?
Absolutely. What I liked about the Apartment 143 screenplay was that it could be shot like a regular movie and still work, as opposed to films like The Blair Witch Project, which if you filmed it traditionally, you wouldn’t get anything.
Indeed, the challenge lay in hitting all the story beats as effectively as if I had employed dollies, steadycams, and cranes, but using an entirely analogue cinematic language instead. The script never specified how each scene had to be shot (aside from acknowledging the existence of security cameras), so I was constantly struggling to come up with solutions with which to tackle each situation. Hence, if I needed a close-up, maybe I would have a character pull out a cell phone and “get there” for me, or if I needed to evoke a certain mood, I would come up with a texture that did the trick.
For instance, there’s a scene involving several characters running around in a small space carrying out several activities simultaneously, which I wanted a very chaotic feel for, so I decided to give them head cameras. Similarly, I chose an old, VHS texture for the kid’s introduction, for I wanted to convey the innocence and nostalgia of a home movie.
What sets the film apart is the scientific study rather religious and supernatural explanations – was this key to the film’s success?
Indeed, Apartment 143 is, first and foremost, a film about research, about being out in the field recording data and putting it through the scientific process to reach a conclusion.
The point is to provide a cold, rigorous, emotionally detached view of a series of events that unfold in a controlled environment set up by a group of scientists, which in this case are parapsychologists, but who could just as easily be geologists or chemical engineers.
Though it’s definitely a horror movie, I want the audience to experience the frustration, anxiety, and ultimately, satisfaction, of being on the verge of conducting an unprecedented scientific experiment, of discovering something ground-breaking and potentially dangerous. In a way, I see Apartment 143 like a distant cousin of Primer.
Can you talk about developing the story with Rodrigo Cortés and how you worked together?
The film originated from the yearlong research that Rodrigo underwent to write his latest film, Red Lights. Indeed, he put together such a vast amount of information that it enabled him to write Apartment 143 as well. Originally, he was even going to direct it himself, but the success of Buried propelled him onto bigger things.
He then came to me with the offer to direct it, which was a huge honor (I was 26 at the time), and a great learning experience. Rodrigo taught me some really valuable lessons about building anticipation and using pacing to create suspense by compressing and expanding time when needed.
Do you think the handheld camera elements can still bring something new to the genre?
The same way a dolly shot or a crane shot can bring something new to the genre. A handheld shot is a narrative device, it’s like a comma or a period when you’re writing a novel; it’s something you use to tell a story, which, ultimately, is what needs to be fresh and original.
**SPOILERS BELOW**
The very final shot leaves the viewer in no doubt as to the nature of the disturbance – did you consider holding back and leaving it open-ended?
That’s the way it was written in the script, and I feel it brings closure to the film. Whether you like it or not, I think nowadays it’s bolder to actually tie (most) loose ends at the end rather than leaving a story open-ended. Though, as you say, the shot leaves the viewer in no doubt as to the nature of the disturbance, it forces you to revaluate everything you’ve seen (provided you’re up for it), discovering new things along the way.
