Liz Adams, a pioneer in the world of “women in horror“, is finding much success with her new short film titled SIDE EFFECT, which is affecting horror fans around the world. Never shying away from deep psychological suspense or gory money shots, writer/director Adams admits that she is a true horror junkie who loves to shock her audiences.
Set in a world where the pressure to perform is at an all time high, and everyone seems to be on some kind of medication, Adams’ SIDE EFFECT poses the question, ‘What if EVIL were a side effect?
A recent participant in AFI’s prestigious Directing Workshop for Women, Liz Adams is forging her own path as a maverick female director working in the male dominated horror genre. Adams’ hit horror festival flick SIDE EFFECT most recently screened at the New York City Horror Film Festival and at the Denver International Film Festival to rave reviews after winning the Pretty/Scary Award for Excellence in Horror Filmmaking at the 8th Annual SHRIEKFEST Film Festival in Hollywood.
With a multitude of international film festival screenings on the calendar, SIDE EFFECT has already garnered the Best Screenplay Award at the Chicago Horror Film Festival, Best Short at Germany’s Oldendburg Film Festival and the coveted chainsaw statuette in the Cutting Edge Short Film Competition at the Dead by Dawn Film Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.
SIDE EFFECT is the first act of Adams’ upcoming full-length feature film BLOOD LEVEL, is which is ramping up pre-production.
LA’s The Place:Â Hi Liz, thanks for chatting with us today. Your short film SIDE EFFECT has been making noise at all kinds of film festivals especially in the horror genre. I must say, the film is pretty intense and horrific in a non-traditional and conventional way. How did SIDE EFFECT come about?
Liz Adams: The script for the short film SIDE EFFECT is the first ten pages of a feature length script called BLOOD LEVEL, which I have written. The project was further developed and then shot during the AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women. SIDE EFFECT was inspired by some research I did on the side effects of SSRI anti-depressants and other medications that are being given to kids. I came across a side effect called “homicidal ideation” – where certain drugs have been linked to both homicidal and suicidal impulses in a small amount of people who had taken the medications. As a storyteller that’s a tidbit that I really wanted to explore. To me a side effect called homicidal ideation is “true horror” – the idea that a pill could cause the kind of chemical imbalance that would make a sane person murder. That lead me to the question, what if evil didn’t come from some unseen world of devils, ghosts or demons, but instead there was a scientific formula for it. What if evil came in a pill?
LATP:Â Why horror?
LA: As a fan of the horror genre, I have always been fascinated by the way horror reflects back the collective nightmares of a society, and how the changing subject matter of what is considered horror mirrors the changing fears and worries of a culture. Horror subjects range in themes from nuclear accidents that create monsters, to the threat of a fifty-foot woman, to brain eating zombies that could describe a culture eating itself.   Despite all the positive things that science has done to benefit humanity, there is still a deep distrust of the pharmaceutical industry and I think this is represented in the sub-genre that SIDE EFFECT falls into – “science gone wrong”.
LATP: You went through AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women. It’s quite an accomplishment to be accepted to such a hugely competitive program. What do you believe sets your skills apart from other female directors out there?
LA: Participating in AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women was a huge honor and a privilege for me. I’m not sure why they chose me from such a large pool of applicants. I think that the ideas in the script interested them. I also think that they like to have a diverse group of women in the program. My guess is that my background as an entrepreneur brought some diversity as well as the subject matter of my film. There isn’t that many women horror directors out there, this may have played a part in my selection.
LATP: Who are your favorite directors that you count as your heroes?
LA: There are so many… I’m going to stick to my horror influences here. My favorite horror movies are George Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD & DAWN OF THE DEAD, Kubrick’s THE SHINING, Polanski’s ROSEMARY’S BABY, DePalma’s CARRIE, and Wes Craven’s NIGHMARE ON ELMSTREET. In my opinion the best horror movies are really scary and fun – if that is what the viewer wants – but also offer more if the audience wants to think more deeply either about human nature or about our culture as a whole. The directors I look up to reflect those values in their films.
LATP: What is coming up for SIDE EFFECT? Will you be screening in Los Angeles anytime soon?
LA: Unfortunately, I’m not screening in LA right now. I’m getting pretty close to the end of my festival run. SIDE EFFECT is still out to some festivals around the country. I’ve been getting some offers for distribution for both television, DVD and even Internet. I’m in the process of evaluating the offers right now. Hopefully, SIDE EFFECT will be available on DVD or the web soon for anyone who wants to see it.
LATP: As you stated earlier, SIDE EFFECT is the first ten pages of your feature script titled BLOOD LEVEL. Can you tell us a little about BLOOD LEVEL?
LA: BLOOD LEVEL picks up the next day at a nearby high school where the kids are clamoring for the new achievement-enhancing drugs to help with test scores. A slacker named Lucas discovers that the drugs are turning the kids into killers. But it is too late – before anyone can stop the murderous teens, Lucas and the killer kids get locked into the school on test day, leaving Lucas to battle for survival against his former friends in a school turned death trap. BLOOD LEVEL is a tale of science gone wrong set in the twisted world of Generation Rx.
LATP: Have you begun any production on the full-length feature BLOOD LEVEL?
LA: Yes, there is a staged reading scheduled for this Friday, December 5th. I will be using this reading to go over the script for any tweaks. Then we will start looking for financing and talent to attach to the project.
LATP: Is there anyone on your wish list to play the leading roles?
LA: Linda Phillips Palo is the very talented casting director who has joined the team and she will be on the lookout for the young talent needed to play the teens. That’s all I can really say right now.
LATP: As a female director in Hollywood and the film festival circuit, has their been any challenges crossing your path to success?
LA: I don’t think I’ve experienced any special problems due to my gender. Although I am in the minority as female director and even more so as a female horror director – it really doesn’t faze me at all. If I’m the only woman at a festival I use the opportunity to stand out from the crowd. If there are other women filmmakers there I love to meet up and make new friends.
I’ve been really thrilled with the support I’ve gotten from the other women I come across in the horror community, their support has been instrumental for me to get some of the early exposure that I’ve gotten. I’ve also gotten a great response from male fans and male festival programmers, and it makes me happy to know that both men and women enjoy the short.
LATP: At the Chicago Horror Film Festival, you were the only woman to have submitted a film. How does this experience compare to other horror film festivals?
LA: One of the strangest things that happens to me at festivals is when people approach me and comment that I must be “a sick/twisted individual”. I have to laugh at that. I’m really a very sunny, positive person. SIDE EFFECT did not come from a “dark place” in me, I really just want to entertain people and horror is such a fun way to get a response from an audience.
I love horror fans. It’s funny but, there are no “romantic comedy” film festivals, but there are horror festivals all over the world. The horror fans really support the genre and the filmmakers who set out to entertain them. Horror fans are very supportive of independent filmmakers and will embrace films without known actors and with lower production values.
LATP: What other projects do you have your sights set on?
LA: I’m currently working on a new script for a horror/psychological thriller that takes place in the corporate world.
LATP: How have horror films evolved and in what way?
LA: I think to look at how horror films have evolved is to look at a history of everything that our civilization fears and seeks to repress and suppress.There are so many sub-genres of horror, this is a huge subject to tackle, but I guess at its core horror is a very personal genre, what horrifies oneperson may not have an effect on another, but as long there are human beings
with fears there will always be someone out there exploiting those fears for entertainment purposes.
LATP: Is there a tried and true formula that makes for a successful horror flick?
LA: One of the longest-lasting conventions of the horror genre is the unknown as a source of horror. No matter how far our society advances, I think that there is just something about the unknown or the unexplainable that makes the hair stand up on the backs of the audience’s necks.
I think a careful balance of suspense, gore, and character motivation is the true formula for a successful horror flick – of course a baby in the oven never hurts, either.
LATP: On that note, thanks for spending time with us today Liz! Best of luck with everything.
For more information on SIDE EFFECT and Liz Adams please visit: www.sideeffectthemovie.net and www.imdb.com.
