In 2013, filmmaker Eric England broke out with indie horror, Contracted, a film which intrigued and repulsed many audiences on subject matter alone. The Najarra Townsend-starring STD terror was Englands third film as director, but only second to be released. Between his 2011 Arkansas slasher debut Madison County and the Los Angeles-based Contracted lie a little thriller called Roadside.
Roadside was filmed on a stretch of asphalt in Virginia, where England and actors Ace Marrero and Katie Stegeman attempted to craft something old-fashioned: a straightforward thriller. Marrero and Stegeman play a couple, Dan and Mindy, on a holiday road trip. The two come along a tree blocking the road and are soon held hostage by an unseen antagonist in the trees. Its a brief, maybe slight, film for England, but interesting in the development of a director who seems particularly interested in slick filmmaking and populist genre entertainment.
Now hitting Shelves from Image/RLJ, England spoke to Shock about Roadside and its place in his growing filmography
Shock Till You Drop: Is there any particular reason this took time to get out?
Eric England: No special reason, other than we were looking for the right home and we didnt find anything that we liked right away. We were in no hurry to shove it out there in the world. In the meantime, I got the opportunity to make Contracted and Contracted just kind of lit on fire. [From] the time I wrote the script to shooting it really quickly, and then getting picked up by IFC, was about nine months or something like that. I think it just kind of came and went a little faster than Roadside did.
Ace Marrero, the co-producer, kind of took the reins on the movie, while I was doing Contracted. He spearheaded the hunt for distribution. When Contracted did really well, Image hit us up and said, Hey, would you guys be interested in letting us release Roadside?
Shock: In Roadside, youre actually out on a road, stationary, for much of the entire film. What are the logistics of setting something like that up and taking that chunk of space on location?
England: We actually had to talk to the Highway Department, or the County, I forgot what it was. My other producer Daniel [Dunn] was the boots-on-the-ground producer. We shot in Virginia where hes from. Thats what inspired the movie, finding a location we could obtain.
I shot this after Madison County and before Contracted. So, Madison County and Roadside were very much experiments, in a weird way. I was 22 when I made Madison County, I was 23 when I shot Roadside. I was still getting my bearings and trying to figure out throwing rocks at the water and seeing what rippled. I was testing my own abilities, testing my own characters, responding to reviews and trying to grow.
One of the things I wanted to do with Madison County, we had characters all over the place in the woods. We had this killer and everything. I wanted to focus this story entirely on the characters and the whole movie rests on Ace and Katies shoulders. That was kind of what inspired the movie.
Shock: Your films are fairly slick. Talk about developing as a young director.
England: I think I was just more assured of my directing, rather than my writing. Ive always considered myself a director first and I write just so I have material to direct. On Madison County and Roadside, I was making movies because I needed something to make. With Madison County, we shot it on my grandfathers farm. With Roadside, we shot it on a road we knew we had access to, where my co-producer lived. We really were just coming up with stories and I think thats where the confidence to make those movies came from. They were things that we had access to. It was no different than a group of guys sitting around in their apartment, and theyre like, We have a refrigerator, a kitchen knife and a Halloween costume. What movie can we make? What kind of stories can we make with these resources and these people that we know?
Contracted was the first movie that I ever made where I just wanted to tell that story. It was a new story to me. Thats why Contracted has kind of been a turning point as a filmmaker, and thats whats weird about Roadside coming out after.
Shock: Though you were initially inspired by locations and region with your first two films, does looking back at them reveal anything personal in their writing?
England: Yeah, absolutely. I based a couple of the character arcs on people that I know. Theres relationship dynamics and things that I was going through. I have a fascination with characters that are plagued with problems. The bickering couple; Im a child of divorce, so Im sure the characters of Dan and Mindy are absolutely grounded in parents fighting or some of my own relationships that werent as healthy as they couldve been.
Shock: Madison County is rooted in slashers and Roadside is something more old-fashioned, especially its opening with the bright moon and orchestral score. Still, you dont seem concerned with outright stylistic homage.
England: Roadside is very much an homage to Alfred Hitchcock films I really enjoy, or straightforward thrillers. I think the homage just comes from wanting to experiment with that kind of story, but I definitely never want to rip things that I love and blatantly put them into films. I think its important to establish your own identity. I look at filmmakers like David Fincher, whos a huge Hitchcock fanand recently announced that hes remaking Strangers on a Trainand if you look at the details in his films, you can tell. I think thats what appeals to me, keeping your references and inspirations close to you, but always making sure theyre being translated through your own communication.
