BEYOND THE GATES is a charming, fun horror film following the journey of a pair of brothers who encounter an evil VHS board game among the possessions of their father, who has recently disappeared with little trace. Their journey to finish the game and discover the truth about their father's disappearance leads them to places they never imagined they would go. I was able to chat with the great Barbara Crampton about the film, the new wave of horror projects in her career, and the importance of giving women a voice in cinema. Enjoy!
Horrorella: I really enjoyed BEYOND THE GATES and had such a fun time watching it. It was such a blast and I loved the sense of personality that the film has – can you talk about how you came to be involved in it?
Barbara: I have known Jackson Stewart for a number of years because he was an intern for Stuart Gordon, and of course I've worked with Stuart a lot. And I first met him at a presentation of Reanimator the Musical. Jackson was there on one of the nights that I was there and he wound up coming out to dinner with Stuart and myself and we just hit it off. We became friendly and through our friendship he was kind of working up to making his first feature film. He had done a couple of shorts and he worked on the show Supernatural and I had seen him grow over the years and I had even been in a couple of his shorts because we were friends.
So he sent me the script for beyond the gates and I fell in love with it immediately. I thought it was kind of an 80s throwback which interested me, but I also loved the relationship with the two brothers and that they had an obstacle to overcome and they had a journey to take together to find themselves and find their father and I thought it was a nice foundation for the horror in the movie that was to come.
And I really give him a lot of credit for just being a force of nature in putting together a low budget horror movie. You really have to have a lot of stamina and a lot of guts and a lot of can-do attitude and he really had that. He was ready to make his first feature. He had worked on his craft and had really learned a lot and I just really wanted to help him. I think he's a new young filmmaker that we're going to see a lot from and I really wanted to be a part of this movie.
Horrorella: And from the stamp that he's putting on this, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what's next from him.
Barbara: He's really quirky in the way that he thinks and that's great. He's got some very good ideas and he's got a couple of projects that he has written that he has told me about. One of them I've read and I think is fantastic. And of course, we're toying with doing BEYOND THE GATES II – it depends on how well this one does, so we'll see.
Horrorella: That's great!
Barbara: So yeah, we'll see. But definitely would like to work with him again.
Horrorella: Can you talk a little bit about your character in this film? This beautifully creepy woman who is appearing on this tape and is kind of embodying the whole vibe and feel of this game. How did you go about developing that energy?
Barbara: I generally ask directors “What other movie references can you give me that kind of have the flavor of what you're going for, with my character or the movie in general”? Because I think it's important for us all to be on the same page in tone. So he pointed me toward Barbara Steele's character in BLACK SUNDAY.
Horrorella: Oh really?
Barbara: Yeah, and I loved the feeling that you get with that part - kind of witchy, otherworldly, wide-eyed, and kind of sinister and maybe somebody you couldn't really put your figure on. And then he pointed me toward a movie called BLACK NARCISSUS. And there was this character in it called Sister Ruth and she was also kind of - it feels like she has a secret and she's hiding something and she's got very big eyes and it feels like she's not on the same wavelength as everyone else. So from those two references, we also talked about how Evelyn is very commanding. She needs to control these people and she also has a very wry sense of humor, and we only wanted to bring that out in a couple of moments. And on the set, we played with it a little bit. I decided that maybe I shouldn't blink, so we did everything we could so I could say enough dialogue and my eyes could stay open the whole time. Hopefully, we were giving the feeling that she was boring into your soul, that Evelyn was getting into your space and getting into your soul and there is no disconnect when she was onscreen to you.
Horrorella: Yeah, you definitely get this great sense that she's not only aware of everything, but that she is aware of everything to a degree that you yourself aren't. She's the puppet master in this scenario, you think that you might be able to get around here, or outthink her, but no way in hell.
Barbara: It was a fun character for me. I'm just starting to play interesting characters, I think, the older I get and the more mature I get. And this is definitely something that was very exciting for me to play. Somebody who wasn't the sort of neat girl that's trying to get away from whatever danger is lurking near her. Or the sweet woman who is sad. Somebody who is very commanding. So it was another side of myself to explore and I was just so happy that he was willing to give me the opportunity to play the character as well.
Horrorella: Piggybacking off of that – a lot of the roles that you've had recently like in WE ARE STILL HERE and YOU'RE NEXT are bridging this gap that we have with female characters and are making them much more complex and challenging roles and offering more than the standard cardboard female character that we see in cinema so often. And you've really gotten to play more interesting and deep characters over the past few years – can you talk a little bit about that experience and your relationship with these characters?
Barbara: Sure and that's something that's obviously in the media a lot - we need stronger roles for women and multi-dimensional facets of a woman's journey. And I was so happy and grateful to come back for a second round of my career with YOU'RE NEXT. I feel like Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett really gave Sharni Vinson a lot to do in that movie and I think that was a really strong female character with a lot going on. And I feel like she was a good role model for all writers out there to write really strong, empowered female characters.
Horrorella: Absolutely.
Barbara: My role in that movie was obviously smaller, but it definitely spring-boarded me into another development in my career and another chance to perhaps delve into more provocative and interesting roles, like WE ARE STILL HERE. I really feel like that was a role that was very close to who I am as a person. Ted Geoghegan and I had started a friendship on YOU'RE NEXT because he was one of the publicists and he actually wrote that movie and wrote the part of Anne with me in mind. So I couldn't have been given a better gift than that. And that was definitely a role that I could really sink my teeth into.
And again, that was another movie that had its roots steeped in 80s horror and had a journey of a woman and a husband and them coming to grips with their relationship and coming to terms with the death of their son and how to they move forward. There is definitely a journey they take and I was able to explore some themes of motherhood that I would not have been able to hand I not been at the age that I am at. And also, I have two children of my own, and that was helpful to me and I was able to do some character work on something that seemed very deep and important to me. I interviewed a couple of women who had lost children in auto accidents andnd I wanted to do right by their stories as well and bring to life the pain that they felt and also trying to still be in the world and be in relationships with other people and find where are the moments of sadness, and where are the moments of levity and where are the moments of hope. So that was my dream to hopefully bring that character to life and again I'm thankful that Ted was able to give me a character that had so many layers.
And hoping with the current examination of women in film today that we see more roles. And I think we are – I think we're seeing more characters for women and I think there's a fight for that. And I'd like to see more women in the directing chair – there's a big push for that. And I'm working on something now that I'm hoping to produce in the near future and want to have a female director attached to it.
Horrorella: Oh would be awesome! So exciting!
Barbara: Yeah, so hopefully I'll carry this mantle forward, and we'll be able to give a voice to more female filmmakers.
Horrorella: Please do. Because we need more and there are so many different perspectives and stories to be told and so much content that we just haven't accessed yet because we are not seeing those stories being given a chance.
Barbara: Yeah – I think it's just harder for a woman to get a greenlight on something. And we'll get there. I believe that we'll get there.
Horrorella: Going back to the kind of retro nature of this film – it was so fun and had a great sense of nostalgia that centered on the classic mom and pop video store and the heyday of video. I was wondering if you think that that particular era impacted your career in any way, given the fact that you were doing so much horror in the 80s.
Barbara: I think it did because at that time they were really looking for content. Videos were flying off the shelf – everyone was buying them or renting them. And back in the old days, my friend Charlie Band would mock up a poster and he would get money based on a poster. And then he would write the script. And people were really looking for video content at the time and it was a lot easier to get a film financed back in the 80s. It just seemed like a low budget movie back then was like $700,000 and you could really do a lot with that. And now, I do think that filmmakers really need to be more creative. Especially at the beginning of their career, they need to make a movie for $50 grand or $100 grand and do it with their friends and really try to spend as little as possible and perhaps they won't get a return on investment initially and they really have to build up a body of work before they actually have a career. So I think it's harder for filmmakers now.
But I definitely feel like a lot of the filmmakers that watched my movies back in the 80s are the ones making these movies today. So I feel like maybe they've kind of grown up with me. You know, thank god I'm in a good spot as a mature woman and they're giving me some great roles to play. But I definitely feel like the 80s and the video boom definitely helped my career. I don't know if I would have had a career without the movies that I did with Charlie Band and Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna so I owe my whole career to them, really.
Horrorella: Is there anything else you wanted people to know about BEYOND THE GATES?
Barbara: We made a faux commercial and we got a lot of good responses from that and when I went to sleep last night I was really warmed by the fact that people are responding to this movie with a real warm feeling. Even though it's a horror movie, it has a warmth and a charm to it and at the end of the movie you really feel satisfied. And I just want to say that the movie was made with a lot of love and I hope people after they see it are left with the feeling that I think they'll be left with – a lot of warmth and nostalgia and a lot of good feels.
Horrorella: Yeah. And that's definitely something that came across to me – between the nostalgia and the connection between the characters and the journey that they take together, it leaves you feeling good and you can definitely tell that it was a labor of love for everyone involved. And when that comes across in a movie, I think it adds to the feeling that you take away from it.
Barbara: Yeah. We definitely felt like a family working on this. We all knew each other and it was just a good group of people to be working with.
BEYOND THE GATES is now available on VOD and it is imperative that you check it out as soon as is humanly possible. You will have a ton of fun. And the faux commercial can be found below if you haven't seen it yet - just a taste of what's in store when you press Play on BEYOND THE GATES.
