Under the scares

It is on the way back from the “Weekend of Horrors” in September 2005 (organized by “Fangoria” Magazine that the idea for “Under the Scares” came to life.

A month before that we were at the “Festival of Fear” (organized by “Rue-Morgue” Magazine in Toronto) where more than 40 000 people go annually. During this week-end, “Diggerfilms” had sold more than 75 copies of our first feature-length film, “Stories of a Gravedigger,” and so we had high expectations for the “Weekend of Horrors,” considering that more 21 000 people had visited our website (80% of them from the United States). However, thins don't always work out the way you expect and we came back from the “Weekend of Horrors” with a mere 16 copies sold. The trip back was six hours. Six hours to ask ourselves: Was it really worth it? Is it because the movie was not what people wanted to see? What did people want to see, then? Was the marketing not as good as we thought it was? It's precisely at that moment that I told myself : I bet we're not alone in this situation.

The actual documentary project was a turning point in our career. “Under the Scares” has allowed us to meet lots of people and to better understand the inner workings of the independent horror film industry. The primary goal was to help young filmmakers make good movies without throwing their money away. The shooting has begun on July 2006 at the “Twisted Nightmare” convention in Ohio and ended in October 2009 with Gary Jones and Robert Kurtzman's interview. During this period, we interviewed around 50 people from the “indie” horror industry.

Needless to say that without each and every one of them, without their generosity in giving advice and revealing experiences, “Under the Scares” would not have seen the light of day. It is from the bottom of our bloody gory heart that we thank them.