Interview with Director: Christian Jude Grillo: Intruder

“A good movie needs a good story.” Christian Jude Grillo

On a budget around 40K, Director Christian Jude Grillo, in addition to writing the script, shooting the film, editing the film and scoring it, has actually built a 50 foot spaceship set (for around 5K) for the shoot (see view of the set – https://www.instagram.com/p/DDb6ARYtfGw/).

INTRUDER stars newcomers Dana Godfrey as Bree and Iryna Scarola as her nemesis, Azalea. Veteran actors D.C. Douglas (Star Trek: Enterprise), Kenneth John McGregor (X-Men), Staci Dickerson (Terrifier II), Mae Claire (Catwoman Retribution), Christopher Inlow (Deer Crossing) and Andrew Hunsicker (Human Hibachi), round out the cast. SFX wizard Rich Hill (They Turned Us Into Killers) is very busy handling the blood work.

Hello Christian, my name is Janel with Horrornews.net.  Please tell us how you got into filmmaking? 

C- I grew up watching two things. Movies and Rock stars. I was a child of the 80s and I like many children of that era I idolized Movies and Musicians. I grew up lusting Horror and Sci-Fi. Films like Alien, The Toxic Avenger, Hellraiser, and The Romero Zombie collection. I was hooked. In the early 2000s I owned and operated my first business, Ground Control recording Studio. One of my clients who was in a band was going to school for film making. He and I talked about making a film together. So, I wrote and produced my first film, Belial with Frank Kane (My client) who directed.  Belial was a feature length horror about a boy who gets trapped in an abandoned school and is chased by a serial killer who targets children. It was not that good. It felt very amateur in the writing and in the execution.  But like many film makers, it was my film school. A few years later Frank Kane (The Director of BELIAL) passed from a brain tumor and my second daughter Charlotte also passed away. I didn’t see a whole lot of future working a day job and running a recording studio every night in the now mid 200s when the music scene was dying and kids were trading in guitars to play “ROCK BAND”. I felt like I hit a dead end. I decided to continue with film making where I could exploit all of my crafts in one place. Film making also became an arena to release my anger and pain. This is my true connection with horror. I went on to Writing and Directing four more feature films and a TV Series that were in RED BOX, NETFLIX, AMAZON and every other streaming service and an endless list of video stores.

What can you tell about INTRUDER. I adore Horror, psychological horror, and the aspects that involve scenarios where you can never be quite sure. Some films you are able to immediately figure out. I enjoyed the deep suspense. 

C- A good movie needs a good story.  INTRUDER is a bloody voyeuristic cat and mouse battle on a space ship. We all get the creeps when we feel like we are being watched let alone someone is after us. INTRUDER taps into the primal feelings that exist in all of us. The desire for our own survival.

We had a home invasion a few years ago. Sorry for oversharing but Horror is a comfort to me. Real life is worse than horror movie. Was there a certain film or moment that inspired you in horror or that inspired INTRUDER?

C- I myself have Phobias of feeling trapped or having no way out. INTRUDER takes that feeling and multiplies it. The main character Bree Hewit played by Dana Godfrey takes that feeling, accepts it and fights back. Her whole life is survival.

What was the process with special effects and working with the cast? 

C- There was a lot of planning involved. Some scenes required 4 different shooting days to put together one shot and the lighting, the actors and actions have to match. No different than most High Budget Hollywood films. You are working with your imagination and holding an eye line while someone reads to you. It’s not run and gun; it takes patience and a lot of concentration.  Dana Godfrey was on set while we shot some of the action scenes that she would play the reverse angle weeks later. We watched the footage and reviewed her choreography before each scene.

What advice or words of wisdom would you share with future directors, writers, actors etc. 

C- Everything comes down to marketability. Sales reps and distributors don’t care what your movie is about or how awesome you think it is. It’s numbers. The world has changed in some ways and in others it has not. Your idea is a product to be sold. Now who wants it? How are you going to sell it? Do you already have fans, followers, likes and people already willing to buy it and be marketed to? That’s the real world. Movie distributors and like any other business, they want to make money and not spend it. Will your movie do that?

What do you want to say to the people who will be watching INTRUDER? 

C- Sit down and enjoy the ride. That’s what a movie is, an experience. Something that should evoke a feeling inside of you. If INTRUDER does make you feel something, good or bad, share it. Tell someone about it. We need more people talking about independent films and not the over produced, over calculated formula fest that is on major streaming networks.

I thank you so much for taking the time. 

C- Thank you, Janel, for the opportunity. It was a pleasure.

IMDB