Coming soon, Writer/Director/Producer James Di Martino will release his next feature film, The Faceless Man. Below is a special article about the upcoming film prepared by Di Martino and graciously produced on the site.
DIRECTOR'S VISION
Evil Dead (1981) meets Wolf Creek (2005) with a splash of Get Out (2017).
The Faceless Man is a story that represents the fear we all share about getting cancer. The manifestation of this fear is shown as the titular parasitic monster “The Faceless Man”, a hideous beast that is our fear incarnate.
Drawing from my personal experiences of having cancer at a young age, The Faceless Man uses cancer as a concept to create a horror feature around the brutal truth of getting sick with cancer and the fear of getting it again. The six main friends all just want to have fun and go on a drug-fuelled weekend away to avoid their problems. The protagonist Emily comes from nothing but trauma, having had cancer and being in remission for three years, only to start suffering a relapse. Or is it something more?
The friends' group were molded from slasher film stereotypes. You have “The Hot Chick,” “The Party Animal,” “The Love Interest,” “The Leader,” and “The Jock.” This film throws those stereotypes into situations where they are deconstructed. What if the hot chick loses her mind and goes insane?
The fictional town of “Orange Lodge” was formed as a country town that is full of strange characters. These strange people border on psychotic behavior to represent the descent into madness.
There are also many analogies and metaphors throughout the film that correspond to the disease of cancer and how people can be a form of cancerous parasites. The redneck Aussie bogans are shown as people that are ruthless and intimidating, yet they keep reassuring the audience that “This is a good town with good people,” implying that the heroes of the story may, in fact, be the villains. The town folk have a strong hatred for drugs and terrorize people for doing them, ironically becoming the cause of what they hate.
A big contrast is also made on who the real monster is. The Faceless Man is the title character and the monster the audience see, however, the residents of this fictional town act more like regressed savages than people. The Antagonist Viktor Nov, who is known as the “Breaker of Heads,” is feared far and wide as a human monster. Yet there will always be someone worse, and that’s the heart of “The Faceless Man,” contrasting between humans and monsters.
SYNOPSIS
Three years after Emily has recovered from cancer, she struggles to adjust back to everyday life. Living in fear of redeveloping the fatal disease, a manifestation haunts her from the depths of her subconscious in the form of a faceless creature; her fear incarnate… Or is it?
Emily’s best friend Nina organizes a weekend endeavor with some friends to a holiday house secluded in an outback town as a way for Emily to loosen up and have some fun. What started as a casual party weekend soon turns into a series of unusual events.
The Holiday house rests in the town of “Orange Lodge” known far and wide as a good town with good people… However, they have a strong no drug policy and will go to extreme lengths to prevent any drugs from entering this town.
The group experience first hand the unsettling and hostile nature the people of this rural town like to treat city folk. Emily and her friends find themselves terrorized by the faceless creature stuck somewhere between reality and subconsciousness, while simultaneously being harassed by both the locals' so-called law and deadly Russian mobsters trailing a specific package of stolen goods.
COMPLETE CAST
Sophie Thurling-Emily Beckman
Lucas Pittaway-Kyle Jefferies
Andy Mcphee-Eddie Silver Beard
Roger Ward-King Dougie
Daniel Facciolo-Brad Barns
Lorin Kauffeld-Nina Handcock
Martin Astifo-Dave Eddison
Sunny S Walia-Chad Blavinski
Albert Goikman-Viktor Nov
Brendan Bacon-Harrison Beckman/The Faceless Man
Daniel Reader-Barry The C***
Damien Oehme-‘Strong Hands’ Biff
David Beamish-Jimmy Maxwell
Leanne Campbell-The Waitress ‘Bunny’
Peter Flaherty-Zaitman Brandy
Maria Tevelis-Mara Nov
Tom Vogel-‘Toothpick’ Boris
Dirk Faller-‘Smoker’ Morel
David Hart-Civilian Man
Ally Tevelis-Ellis Nov
Peter Spowart-Old Bob
Olivia Sprague-Biffs Granddaughter
FULL CREW
Writer/Director/Producer-James Di Martino
Cinematographer/Producer-Rhys Sherring
Producer-Lucinda Bruce
Associate Producer-Daniel Facciolo
Associate Producer-Julian Barbor
Production & Costume Designer-Inneke Smit
First Assistant Director-Victoria Blinks
First Assistant Camera-Chris Thomas
Gaffer-Sy Robinson
Second Assistant Camera-Matthew Andersen
Sound-Ben Connley-Walker
Makeup and SFX-Shonal Kumar
Creature Effects & Makeup-Emma Rose
Armorer-John Fox
Art Director-Lachlan Murphy
Costume Supervisor-Amy Quinn-Tatt
Assistant Costume-Kathryn McDonald
Concept Artist and Illustrator-Austen Mengler
Prop Maker-Jodi Blokkeerus
PRODUCTION NOTES
Scope of the film: Making a Horror/Thriller feature film in Australia
The Faceless Man is a low budget horror/Thriller film made in Melbourne Australia. The film explores elements of cancer and mental health disorders in the form of a faceless monster and fictional town.
Filming took place over three months in 2018, a total of 30 shoot days across 11 locations.
The Faceless Man monster design was created by the vision of James Di Martino (director) with Austen Mengler’s illustrations and brought to life by SFX artists Emma Rose and Dale Blamford.
The Faceless Man production had a cast of 22 speaking roles with a total of over 200 people working on the film.
Visuals: Edit, Effects, Grade and Sound
The film made use of practical effects in terms of blood on set, and all gunshots were fired with blanks.
The edit consisted of trimming down a near 3 hour cut to 120 minutes, with intentions for an even tighter theatrical cut.
The effects that were placed in post include the induced “Trippy” feel that the heroes feel under drug effects and making the Faceless Man scenes more unsettling.
The color grade used was to make the film look gritty and darker as the film progresses.
Sound was a huge component of the finished film and used to provide an eerie tone. Sound was used in creative ways to establish the Faceless Man whenever he entered the scene.
The Faceless Man Creation
The design of the Faceless Man started off as a series of concept illustrations made by the very talented Austen Mengler.
Austen designed the monster to the vision by director James Di Martino. There are a total of 30 designs that show various stages of development and ideas that were eventually dropped.
Initial designs were more monster than man. This was then changed to reflect a more man than a monster approach that the film direction went into. The focus was also put on the faceless head with stitching and the claw-like hands.
Concept to Screen: Bringing The Faceless Man alive
The special effects make up was created by Emma Rose and Dale Blamford on the concept created by Austen Mengler.
Six months of preparation was involved in sculpting the design of the faceless man from prosthetics.
The process took a total of 8 hours to apply the faceless man head, scars, and hands-on the actor Brendan Bacon.
Brendan has only 6 hours of time while in the creature suit as it hindered his breathing and made him unable to eat or use the bathroom.
Look for the film to be released soon. In the meantime, you can follow the film on the following channels:
Official Site
Chapter 5 Studios Official Site
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