SPEAKER_02 0:05

Hello, my fellow Dreadites. Welcome back to the Dread Alert Podcast. I'm Vince, and today I'm joined by the team behind the found footage hit Lookie Lou. We have director Jason Zink and writer Nolan Myhale. Nolan, I'm saying that correctly, right? You absolutely are. Yeah, no, that's very impressive. I'm so proud of myself. And I have to confess, I just watched the audio commentary and had a blast with it. But for those of you who have not seen Looky Lou, I'm gonna ask Nolan and Jason to give us a log line, give us the quick rundown of what the film is about and why you should check it out.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Lookie Lou is um a documentary film made by a serial killer, sort of his origin story. This is it's it's shot by him, it's edited by him, it is what he wants you to see and a story that he wants to tell. Um and uh I think that uh I think people should watch it. One, because it's just, you know, it's it's a it's a sort of, I think at least, a pretty novel, um, a novel approach to found footage. Um, you know, we did our best to really try to make it stand out. Um and I think it's also, you know, it's a it's challenging a little bit, you know. Um I don't think we a lot of times in horror movies, um, you know, I mean, I love chainsaw, you know, chainsaw movies as much as anybody, you know, but um it's nice to be challenged by horror movies, you know. Um, and uh so we did our best to create something that really would uh would maybe make people think or make people feel a certain way, um, and just sort of engage with it, whether you love it or hate it. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

It was absolutely unlike anything I've encountered, and I did find it challenging in the best possible way. Uh, I think unflinching would be the word I'd use to describe it. It was very um emotionally taxing and extremely unflinching. I wonder, uh, how did you both meet and how come together for this project? Had you been working together in the past?

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Uh we really hadn't until well, okay. So shortly before this, uh Nolan reached out to me because of the previous film I had made, Straight Edge Kegger, and he has a punk rock horror script as well. So he reached out and um I made it very clear I had no money. We probably weren't gonna do anything together. Um, but I read a script and I was so impressed, and I had this other project that I had been struggling with. I had like a 60-page version that just didn't feel right, and I was kind of losing steam. And so I I asked him, Hey, would you want to partner up with this? So we wrote this totally different thing. Really, Nolan rewrote the whole thing from the ground up, basically. Um, and but then when we went to try to find money for that, we realized it was probably not realistic anytime soon. And so then we decided to um make a different found footage movie that was not Lookie Lou related at all. Um, but we were testing low light situations with cameras, and I started walking around at like two or three o'clock in the morning, just filming down alleyways, and we started reviewing the footage and going like this is really creepy, and then Lookie Lou just kind of got born out of that, and the rest, as they say, is history. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

That's wild. Uh yeah, I had a professor once who was playing a sort of a stalker character and said he got caught up in the actual stock. He was like, I'm gonna just wander around and see if I can't follow someone. And then he's like, Oh god, uh no, that's that's too that's too real. I don't like it. Um and I remember there was some talk about that whenever you were in the audio commentary when you were testing some of this stuff, that it got a little too real uh at times. This this was an interesting production because it felt organic and it felt like it was shot on the material on the on the equipment the killer would have had. I I wonder how was production run? Was it fairly run and gun? How how did you uh how did you achieve this?

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Mostly run and gun, yeah, very gorilla style. Um I think it kind of it kind of grew and and became a little bit more structured as we went along toward the end of the production. Like at the beginning, we really kind of weren't sure how it was gonna go. So we kind of took each character's arc or their set of scenes as its own shoot. Like we were shooting a series of short films that then get put together. And as we kind of went through it, we learned and and kind of we played, we discovered um what it was gonna be, I guess. Uh Nolan had a really good outline, but uh it wasn't a traditional script, it kind of couldn't be. So sometimes, yeah, it really I think I think we did a good job, and sometimes it was kind of weird, like the blending of uh reality and and and fiction. Because there was this shoot one of the first shoots that we did where I'm wearing a ski mask, we had no production assistance, and the actress is inside and I'm viewing her through a window. And as I'm filming her, the neighbors who we didn't warn what we were doing are pounding on the kitchen window to stop me from filming her, which like good for them, putting themselves in harm's way. Uh, but I had to like turn around and like lift up my ski mask to be like, no, no, no, it's okay. Uh so yeah, it was it was very interesting, but I think that lends to making the movie feel gritty, grounded, that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

You know, as actors, we talk about the reality of doing you don't pretend that you're tying your shoe, you just tie your shoe, you just do the thing. And I can't imagine going to the places you had to go. Because you were also operating the camera, you were also essentially the the body double for for Lookie Lou. So that's very interesting stuff. Nolan, I wonder, we talked about the the outline here. What what was the script like and how much did it change from conception and rewrites to production?

SPEAKER_01 5:58

So um it, you know, it is it is I I was thinking about this actually yesterday because part two has a like closer to a traditional script. Um, but part one was I mean, it was kind of like I think we were, you know, we were like several weeks in, and it, and it was at that point that we realized, oh, we're already making this movie. We don't have, you know, like because you know, some of those like hit him walking around, and um, I want to say, like, there's a it didn't make it into the final cut, but when he goes, it's a it's a you know, a deleted scene with the um the elderly couple, it goes into their house. Um that we didn't even have a script when he did that. Like we just kind of were like, oh, that would be kind of creepy, and you know, you know, your buddy's grandparents, you know, you know, are willing to let you do that. Um, you know, so it was it was kind of chaotic, and I think like the script, it was first it was an outline, and then when we would go to shoot, like you know, a couple days before, I would write like a Google Doc that just went really into detail about um about the scene, like trying to, or we'd sometimes we'd have to do that the day of because we'd show up at the location and it didn't match like the blocking that we hoped we could do. So we'd rewrite a kill, or we'd rewrite, you know, um like very, very shortly before filming, like while they're on set, it would get rewritten. Um, so it was it was a it was not the ideal way to make a movie, but I think it was the only way you can make this movie, and the script reflects that it's in pieces, there's not actually a separate like it's uh it would be you know like seven or eight different folders of sort of disjointed stuff. It really was not like a the script looks disorganized, um, and kind of is, but yeah, no, it was just kind of having to break down every piece as we went. Um, it was it was I've never written anything in that way before. I was not in a hurry to do it again. But um but I'm glad we did. You know, I'm really, really glad we did it that way because I think that's a big part of why we were able to make it look. We we did all that extra work basically to make it look like we didn't do any work.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

So it was very effective in terms of feeling organic. And it may be a non-traditional narrative, but I do find that a keen eye can can decipher a narrative in there, which is the escalation of, in my my personal theory, maybe an accidental serial killer. I don't think he woke up one day and was like, you know what, I'm gonna be uh I think I'm gonna be a serial killer. I think this guy just liked invading privacy and started escalating and just happened to have a camera while he did it. Um is there anything aside from that, and maybe uh you talk about this in the audio commentary as well, the cautionary tale aspect of it. Um is there anything else you'd like the audience to leave with? And this is a question for both of you uh, you know, cautionary tale and super creeped out and uncomfortable aside, is there anything you'd like the audience to leave with?

SPEAKER_00 9:00

I guess for me, it's just that a lot of people don't think about the hundreds of hours of footage that he's recorded that you don't see. You know, we we've had some people who just think that like this is all the footage that he has. And that's that's not how we filmed it, that's not how we pictured it to be. You know, this is his best version, an assemblage of his discovering that he's a serial killer, and he's trying to edit this film to be compelling. Um, and the thing that I think Nolan and I have discussed from the beginning, it's like it probably gets us in trouble sometimes, but we're committed to him sucking. Like, we don't like this guy, we don't want anybody to appreciate this killer, and we think that he thinks he's a great filmmaker, and we don't think he is. So, so it's kind of a hard line to walk, but I just think like some people seem to get that and think about it, but a lot of people don't.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Yeah, yeah. Um and I sort of speaking to the cautionary tale element. Um, I've I I read all the reviews um uh because I just I don't I'm fine with someone on the internet saying I suck. Um, and you know, I also think like there there's sometimes value in it. Uh there were some, you know, some things that people pointed out that I was like, you know what, that's good to know actually going forward. Um so I think it's you know that's important. Jason does not like to read the reviews, does not read the reviews. So I just sort of filter them for him. I let him know when someone liked it. Um it's a it's honestly it's a perfect, it's a perfect partnership in that way. Um but I think a lot of people, and I think especially like a lot of um it's a lot of men responding reacting to the movie have said um that it's unrealistic, that it's you know, oh it's stupid, this isn't the way it is. But I I do want to point out, uh, because I think it's important, you know, this is kind of the crux of it, is that all we're doing is kind of showing a reality. Um violence against women is a serious problem. Um, and it's rampant and it escalates. Um, and uh, you know, Jason and I are both feminists. Um, we've worked hard to sort of present this as sort of a warts and all, very real, um, very real kind of situation because this is the reality. Um, a lot of what he did in the movie is based on real serial killers, things that they've actually done. The Gainesville Ripper, the Golden State Killer, um, you know, uh BTK. Um, you know, it's not it's not like a fairy tale. Like I think people need to understand, you know, because it it lets them sort of reflect maybe on themselves and be a little more conscious of um that sort of banal horror that I think women live with every day. Um, you know, uh, and so we took that part very, very seriously and tried to walk up. I mean, you know, two two cis heterosexual men trying to trying to walk that line. We took it very, very seriously and we tried to really um really reflect that truth as much as we could.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Yeah. I'm so glad I asked that question because I think that both of those answers are incredible. Um it does feel real, and it does feel like he's running through the greatest hits of serial killers who've come before him to find his style. And while that's incredibly mundane, it's incredibly unsettling at the same time. Yeah. Yeah. I I know you mentioned something that was cut from the film, and there were some things that were cut, and uh, I I I personally have a bone to pick. I don't know why the cats were cut. You mentioned there are more cats in the film. I think we need even more cats in Lookie Lou too. Uh especially the cat who tried to um protect one of your performers. I love the idea. Uh it will will we see. I guess my question is, will we see more cats in Lookie Lou 2?

SPEAKER_00 13:14

Yeah, you'll definitely see more cats. Honestly, it's not intentional. It's kind of become a thing for us, you know, but um it really just happened naturally because my fiance loves cats, and we've got uh cats that are always surrounding our house and stuff, and it just happened that most of the places we filmed had cats, so it just kind of happened naturally, but now it's kind of become a little like in-joke to us, and we also kind of think it actually says something about the character's motivations and like the fact that he in his mind is he has like a moral line that he won't cross. Uh, I think that adds something to the character, even though it may be a little uncharacteristic of a serial killer.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

Hunter respect hunter. I love it. That's fantastic. No, I my wife uh my wife converted me from a dog person to a cat person. We I had had dogs throughout my twenties, and yeah. Now we have we had three cats. One sadly uh we had to we she passed away, but um, we still have two in the house named after Twin Peaks characters. Before we started recording, we were talking about Twin Peaks. We have Cooper and we have Harry S. Truman. Uh those are our two cats.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

That's amazing. Those are great cat names. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

So I know that there were a lot of interns on this project, and uh I there was a point in the movie where you are sniffing Nikki the mannequin. Uh I just Vicky. Oh, Vicky. Oh, I took my notes wrong. Vicky! Ah, Vicky Vicky. So I love that scene specifically, and I love that it's right on the heels of the key copying scene because I think that the mannequin, Vicky, and the underwear sorting are some of the most unsettling, nonviolent moments of this. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about filming some of these things as the body double for Lookie Lou, running the camera, trying to focus on your work with a team of 15 students behind you.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Uncomfortable, I guess. And honestly, there were there were times where like I wasn't really thinking about it because I'm getting caught up in like the minutiae of everything, and I'm just like, okay, I know they're coming over, but I'm just focused on we need to shoot the basement stuff. And then I go take a look at our sides, and I'm like, oh, I now have to walk up and smell this mannequin in front of them. Um, but everybody, you know, I try to, I try to, you know, lead with humor and and explain to people what's going on so that there's some context and whatever. Um, and those students, they were so helpful. Like, even this is so silly, but like trying to film with one hand and also put a dress on the mannequin was like impossible, at least for me. So uh, so one of my students, Jess, she was like so helpful, like instrumental in that scene. And it but it is funny, like if you think about like it kind of recontextualizing it, like everything that's happening in that basement. Now, picture that there's like 13 students smiling and like chuckling behind me. Yeah, I think it's an interesting dynamic.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

A lot of times folks don't consider what actual production looks like on a set, and you see this beautifully curated image, and 90 people behind you on a on a larger set running around in a whole craft services table. And on an indie shoot, like you're chilling. I've done a ton of student films. You're chilling in an apartment, half the room is eating pizza, and you're trying to focus on getting this paragraph that you just memorized out of your mouth. It's like it's chaos, it's a circus. Uh, so thank you for sharing some insight there. Um I love, I love how grounded this film is. And I wonder if you had any other issues with being out and about run and gun shooting with anyone else outside of the neighbors who were sort of like, hey, stop filming that girl. Did anyone else ever stop you from doing what you're doing?

SPEAKER_00 17:07

Um, we did have a couple times. Like I had police stop me once and ask me what I was doing. Um, I had a couple people just ask what I was filming, but actually we were kind of struck by how little we were interrupted. Uh it kind of made it, it's like if you know, sometimes people will say on YouTube, like, well, nobody has a dog or something like that. And it's like, well, no, he just doesn't show you. And first off, there is a dog in the movie, but still, a lot of times he's just not showing you his failed attempts and the times that people shut him down. Um, but yeah, we were also like, man, it's shocking how much you can get away with, oftentimes in broad daylight, uh, filming through people's windows, and nobody would either see us or say a word. So everybody really does need to hide those uh those keys, those hide keys.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

Lock your car doors as well. I mean, even with the car alarm going off, nobody bothered to investigate. Uh I mean, I can say for sure you at least have 75 minutes where nobody stopped you. Uh but very unsettling. Um, the bystander effect at play, I suppose. Um one of the big questions I was left with, and this is because I have a background in theater and have done special effects as well, and I know how complicated those gags can be. How did you get all of this done in one shot, or what at least looks like one shot to me, while hiding the gags? Because there are some very bloody scenes and some very complicated um safety procedures that need to happen. I'm thinking of the cellophane with I believe that's your sister. Uh that's my sister, yeah. Yeah. Um, how did you make this work in a one-take situation?

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Well, we needed people, we needed support. You know, there's there's uh if you the very first scene where we did a kill was with Kelly Lou, and you'll notice there's no blood in that scene. That's where I suffocate her. So that was like the only thing that I could do without support. Um, but the rest of it, it was just a lot of choreography. And sometimes we, even though we'd rehearse stuff days beforehand, when we would actually go to do it, we almost always discovered that there was something we didn't think about, didn't consider that added some difficulty to it. So you're right, those hidden cut points were really um important to us. But the I missed them all.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

I didn't see a single one.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Yeah, that that it was just so important to us. Like it's weird because on on one hand, there's like cuts all over the movie, right? He's he's filming so much that you've got to cut all the all the fat out, or most of the fat out, and uh uh and put it together. But you you can't do it during the kill scenes because an audience, a horror fan is smart enough. Most movie fans now are smart enough because of behind the scenes stuff, they're like, oh, well, that's how they did it. So it my special effects artist Arissa Beck, she's she's been amazing and super supportive and flexible. Um, but she has hated almost all of our shoots because all of them are so difficult for like there's one. I I won't spoil anything, but there's one in part two where she had to run into the room and run back out of the room at like the perfect time when I'm turned away. Like it just became really difficult. Uh, and there are times the most reshoots we had were doing during those scenes, um, which we didn't have a lot, but usually we would, to your point about the blood, uh, there's a kitchen scene in the first film. We went back there and shot that three times. Um, not that it worked every time. We figured out our cut points, we made it look fairly real, but each time we'd take a look at it and be like, nah, I don't think that's enough. I don't think this seems genuine. So more blood.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

Yeah. That's a my favorite Wes Craven quote is more blood.

unknown 20:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

Yes. I'm reading, sorry, I'm reading the screen book right now. The your favorite screen movie. Oh, it's so good.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

It's so good. We just did a review of it. Honestly, I and we're not here to talk about screen, but like let's gush for a minute. If you love Wes Craven, it is a love letter to Wes Craven, and it's also such a good oral history. Yeah. I think you'll enjoy it, especially towards the end. It's really, it's really interesting. Okay. Awesome. I uh I can't thank you all enough for being here. I have a few questions that I ask all of our guests. Um, and they are difficult questions, they are horror film-related questions. So I want to know, Nolan, I'll start with you. For better or worse, I'm sorry to put you on the spot. Do you have a favorite found footage horror film?

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Well, I mean, I hate to give like I think a pretty vanilla answer, but I I have to say the Blair Witch Project. I think a lot of it was, I think I was at the perfect age to be scared shitless by that movie. Um, I think I was in like seventh grade or something when it came out. So I knew how to use the internet. I'd seen sort of the the, you know, their their their PR for that movie was groundbreaking. Um, you you wouldn't be able to do that today. It was just sort of perfect timing. Um, and people were the internet was new enough that people were naive. So we all thought this really happened, you know, and they had receipts, you know. So I I watched it. I was sleeping over at this kid's house, and uh his like older brother had rented it or something, and we sat, and he lived in the middle of the forest, of course. We sat and we watched it on a rented VHS in his living room, and I was the most I like I stayed up all night just absolutely terrified. Um, so for me, it's not necessarily that it's the best made found footage film, or um, you know, it I I I think it's because I learned a lot from that found footage, you know, of like what what it can do. Um and sort of it made me appreciate outside the box um storytelling, I think. Really. Uh there wouldn't, I mean, how many movies would there not be if it weren't for the Blair Witch project and what it accomplished? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Not vanilla at all. That is my favorite found footage movie as well. I have a signed poster from the cast. I don't know if it's on camera or not. It's somewhere over there. Yeah. They uh I that I would not be who I am today without that film. I believed all of it.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Yeah, well, real quick, I'm sorry, but have you ever done the Blair Witch experience?

SPEAKER_02 23:41

No. Matt Blasi was in my comments when I was doing a uh justification of Blair Witch 2 yelling at me and then saying, hey, you should come on the Blair Witch Experience. Uh I really want to go.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

He's uh he's got to delay it this year because he had some stuff personally happen, but I highly recommend you go. We had so much fun, and we just keep saying, like, we need to go back and do that thing again. But we were just in the hotel where they hung out and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

We were just in the woods in August at the first weekend of August uh in at Seneca Creek. Um, but it's about getting my wife to commit to it. She is like, uh she's gonna kill me for saying this, but the first time she peed in the woods was uh when we were going to Coffin Rock, and she won't let me forget it. She'll never forgive me for it, and uh, you know. It's about getting the wife to come with. But yeah, no, I really do want to do it one day. We've been to the market, we've been to um the the hidden stick man woods that you have to travel up the mood for. Yeah. Matt has been instrumental in us finding all of those locations. And shout out Matt, if you're watching, you're the best. I I I'm the best. Even though you don't like Blair Witch 2, I uh you're the best. Jason, do you have a favorite found footage found footage movie?

SPEAKER_00 24:48

Well, you guys stole the easy answer for me. Uh but but while wait as soon as you asked Nolan, I started thinking, okay, what are some maybe deeper cuts that people don't watch enough or give enough credit to? Um, and Halloween's coming up, and I really love the houses that October built. Um I think that is a very fun movie, and I love the story behind the making of, so I think that's a great one. Um not exactly found footage, but like faux like mockumentary, uh Behind the Mask, The Rise of Leslie Vernon is one of my all-time favorite meta movies, you know. Um so yeah, those would probably be a couple. Uh Mocking Bird. If nobody's seen Mockingbird, they should check that out. It's called my list. It was on it was on Netflix for a couple years, and then I haven't seen I I have the DVD, but it's made by the same people behind the first Strangers film. But it is really fun, really dark. So I'll stop my list there, but I could keep going.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

I love both of those things, fun and dark. Now, have you seen the original uh like proof of concept houses October built that was just hit shutter? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

That's what that's what I was saying is like so interesting about it is like they shot the entire movie, took it to festivals, and then pulled it out of festivals because somebody was like, hey, this is really great. We should do it right. That's fascinating. So they reshot the almost the entire thing on on different equipment. I think it's wild.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

I'm not sure which one I prefer, honestly. I really love them both in different ways. Yeah, good films. Uh Nolan, I'm gonna put you on the spot here and challenge you with what is your favorite all-time horror film? You can pick more than one. And uh I ask this question selfishly because it always fills out my watch list.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

Well, you've seen it. Uh it's uh um The Shining. The Shining, I think. Um I that's one that I watched when I was way too young. I I was probably like four or five years old. I watched it the first time and I didn't get it at all. But it just it's something that I just kept watching and kept watching, and I didn't even realize I guess I didn't even realize that it was a horror movie. Um, you know, for the for that movie, that's really like I I feel like everything hit right, the acting, the production design, the score, uh the obviously the cinematography, um, those all of the all the sets and things, um, and the amount of I I'm sure that I'm very obnoxious sometimes to work with because I get into the minutiae of like details. There are details in in in Lookie Lou and in part two that in a million years nobody's gonna notice, but I just want one person to notice it one day. And I'd be like, Yeah, yeah, it is. Um, uh so like there are so many details like that, but like the shining is so full of it that they've got, you know, um I I put that room two three seven uh documentary, I put that on as background noise all the time. Um I don't I don't necessarily buy everything that everyone says, but it's all there, you know. It's still it's still an exciting, um, it's an exciting take. So I just think based on based on all of that, uh I just the shining just has a has a permanent place in my heart, I think. Um just a masterpiece in my opinion.

SPEAKER_02 28:22

I want to chart these answers because as in recording order and probably not release order, we've had three people in a row say the shining. And I have to, it's there's something about that film that really inspires good art. And I think you might be onto something with the specificity, because specificity really is the key to making quality art. I I I love that answer. I it's the third time, third recording session in a row, I did not wear my overlook hotel shirt. And the third time in a row, I'm super bummed out that I didn't.

unknown 28:52

That's good.

SPEAKER_02 28:53

Jason, how about you? What's your favorite all-time horror movie? And yes, you can pick more than one.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

Um, yeah, it's hard. I'm literally looking behind you and being like, okay, demons check, Thanksgiving check, trick-or-treat check. Um, yeah, I love kind of all of it, but uh it may be a lame answer, but Scream. The original Scream will always just hold such a special place in my heart, and it's it's what made it's not the first horror film I watched, but it's the one that um made me obsess over horror films. Like after I watched that, I just kept diving deeper and and deeper into the well. But I actually I always used to tell people it was killer clowns from outer space. That was like that was my go-to answer. I really like silly horror movies and like kind of crappy sequels, you know. Like that's that's normally my bread and butter, but Scream's my favorite.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

I had the same experience with Scream. I was probably 13 when it hit theaters, and I would like crash like late night showings and just make my mom drive me and my friend and buy us tickets. And uh it wasn't the first horror movie, but uh, it's what I love about that film for a young horror fan, and I'd say that it's a great entry horror film. People go, No, it's so violent. I'm like, hear me out. It's an encyclopedia, it's a roadmap to the genre. And if you follow those breadcrumbs, uh maybe for better or worse, you're gonna end up like me. So who knows? Yeah, who knows if that's good. Um awesome. I wonder, is there anything you can share with us about Lookie Lou 2 that's not too big of a spoiler? Let's get let's build some hype for this whenever it's uh ready for the public consumption.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

Um I'd say the the thing I keep telling people to plug it is just what we withhold in part one, I think we deliver on in part two. So I I don't want to say much more, but I mean it's just it's it's bigger. It is more I don't know if enjoyable is the word. It's more entertaining. Like I think it's just uh it's it's less quiet of a film, less like meditative, but we it was important to us we don't break any of our rules, which became a big pain in the butt when we had had a bigger movie to make. But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

I if I were a betting man, and don't confirm or deny any of this, but uh as part one was a story of escalation, I just have to assume that this is the middle act of something that is still escalating in terms of driving the narrative forward, in terms of driving the character development forward. And that is what I'm super excited about because you give us enough to chew on in part one, but not enough to like connect all of the dots. It's uh I love this film. I could just I could gush about it. I don't mean to embarrass you all, but like I think it is just such a good example of creativity within an already established genre. It challenged my expectations, it challenged my uh my stomach in some situations. Uh, and and and it it made me look at my own moral compass and you know what what would I do if I saw this happening as a bystander? What would I do uh if I were in those women's shoes, which is something horror really does well, is make us have empathy across gender, empathy across class, empathy across you name the barrier. But I just want to gush about this for a minute and I want to plug it heavily to all of you who are listening. If you haven't seen Lookie Lou, it's available on some streaming platforms now. You can get the Blu-ray from Stream Team Releasing. I highly recommend you do that. There's some behind-the-scenes footage, there are deleted scenes, and there's one of the best audio commentaries that I've listened to in a while, and I'm an audio commentary connoisseur. Before we wrap up today, gentlemen, I now that I've thoroughly embarrassed you with all of my praise. Um we'll take it. We could use it. Yeah, put it in the bank for those days when part two is getting tough. Remember that that guy from Pittsburgh told you it was the part one was good. Um where can people stay up to date with you and with what you're working on on social media?

SPEAKER_00 32:49

Uh yep, uh, me, I think no one's gonna say the same, but like Jason's Inc. on Facebook, Weird on Top Pictures on Instagram. Um, you can go to our website. We do have a TikTok, but we're we're trying to get better, but we're pretty bad about social media. Uh as we gear up for part two, we've got so much stuff we've been filming and taking photographs of. So hopefully if you go look now uh and go to our YouTube page, Weird on Top Pictures as well, you'll start to see stuff coming out a little bit more frequently.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

Yep. Awesome. Um yeah, and I'm Nolan Myhale on on Facebook um and uh on Instagram. I'm The Order of the Jackalope. Um and I all all I do is post, you know, for the most part, all I do is post about uh Lookie Lou and more than that uh reviewers like yourself, um, different, you know, different things that are going on in independent film, um, just because uh yeah, I I love this community. So if you like people like that, I I'd probably be a good follow.

SPEAKER_02 33:47

That's awesome. And we appreciate the support. Uh we certainly did when our review of Lookie Lou came out as well. Other than Lookie Lou part two, is there anything working on that you're working on next, or are we just gonna can we we can just give another plug to Lookie Lou too if you want?

SPEAKER_00 34:01

I we've got some things that we're gearing up to do, but we right now like the focus is Lookie Lou part two. Yeah, we actually Nolan and I have talked about it a lot. Uh he was actually the smarter one who said it first, who was like, I think we need a break. I think we I think we need to slow it down a little bit, or at least um not be in such a dark world for a little bit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:26

I think one of the hardest things, and I'm just gonna wax philosophical from my artist background, is you have so much to say, you have so much you want to put out into the world, and then you burn yourself out. And so a break can reset your artistic barometer so hard. Uh yeah, yeah. Well, it's like time to consume.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

Yeah. So I, you know, and I think also like just even just a break from working on, you know, because we we started part two the second we finished, basically the second we finished part one, we started shooting because we were like, you know, we want to be ready. We'd rather be ready. Um, so we started right away, and that means now for like about three years, we've been living in that headspace. Um, you know, hundreds of hours of research, and it's just all I'm listening to are the worst stories of the worst things that ever happened to someone, um, and the monsters that did those things. And my background is like absurdist comedy. I I'm also a my background is playwriting. I was in a you know, I I was in theater, um, and I like I like silly things for the most part. Um so it's it's a dark headspace to be in. So I would say that um, you know, some of the stuff that we're working on, some of the stuff that we want to do next would be totally very different. Um, but it's just it's just giving ourselves a breather before we come back potentially for part three to finish the uh finish the arc. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:01

I love hearing it. I have to ask before I let you go, and this is totally unscripted. I'm going off off script here. Did you have a sense that this was going to be a special film? I I know that you said you had a trilogy in mind. Did you have a sense that this was going to hit the way it did?

SPEAKER_01 36:15

I recently got to tell Jason I told you so. He gave me permission. He gave me permission. Yeah. Would it be would it be gauche of me at this point to say I told you so?

SPEAKER_00 36:26

Um, yeah. Yeah, I actually told him I bow to your wisdom. Because uh Yeah, I mean we're still we're still struggling indies, you know. Like, but we I mean, just hearing from people like you, and first off, I gotta before we let you go, like, thank you so much for your kind words. Thank you for this awesome interview. This has been great. Like, I love shooting the shit with you. If you ever just want us to come back just to talk about movies, we're down.

SPEAKER_02 36:50

I would love that. You you all are fantastic. Um thank you for your time.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

Yeah. Um, but yeah, recently we got a really good review in the New York Times, and like for a person who's been, in my opinion, like kind of struggling for years to I like, you know, I I don't even think my name's ever been mentioned in Fangoria. And I've been making genre movies for over a decade. So to have that happen from this tiny little thing that we kind of stumbled upon, like we've fallen in love with it, obviously, but um, but yeah, it really kind of makes me stop and appreciate smell the roses a little bit. Um and we're very proud of what we've done with Solo.

SPEAKER_01 37:31

Yeah, yeah. And I to piggyback off that, um, I think you know, uh I there's probably a lot of really creative people that just don't think they could make a movie um uh because of uh like the money basically, or you know, I think that Lookie Lou, at least for me and for Jason, it sort of proved it proved that, you know, whether you like the movie or not, uh I think you can be really effective with very little. You know, we we have I don't even want to tell you how little we spent. I mean it's a lot for us, but it's when people talk about a micro budget movie, it's it's way south of that. Um yeah. Um, but like um, you know, we got the New York Times to look at us because we worked really, really hard and we focused on the things that we we knew we could do well. Um and that's not I don't think that we're I don't think we're special, you know what I mean? I I there are better writers, screenwriters than me in the indie scene. Hundreds of them, you know. There are better directors, there's all this, but it was it was just a lot of hard work and really believing, um, really believing that like like not taking no for an answer as far as like letting yourself be discouraged by not having a hundred thousand dollars to make you know some huge amazing horror movie. It's like you can make an amazing horror movie for 36 bucks if you really want to, you know. So yeah, I mean it's easier said than done, certainly, but it can be done. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

I think you're entirely right. In the theater side of my life, I always tell people no one's gonna hand you an opportunity. And if they do, you're extremely lucky. You have to make your own opportunities and leverage what you have, let your restrictions be your creative solutions. Yeah. And uh that is on display here. And I'm so glad that you all powered through all of those restrictions and all of those uh budgetary issues because nonprofit theater, we we get budgetary issues. Um you've made something really special. It occupies a proud space on my limited physical media collection. Uh I only try and own the things I love. And uh I love this film. If you haven't checked out Lookie Lou yet, I I strongly suggest you check it out. You're in for an unnerving, unsettling, and incredibly realistic ride. It will leave you wanting a shower and also wanting part two at the same time. Uh, gentlemen, anything you want to leave us on?

SPEAKER_00 40:08

Go check out Lookie Lou on 2B TV, Fawsom, or Found TV. And as soon as we are done with part two, we'll send it your way.

SPEAKER_01 40:17

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

That makes my heart so happy. Well, as always, stay spooky, my friends.