You really steered clear of that. Do you mind sharing what kind of artists, whether it be filmmakers, films in general, or musicians, that did influence how you shot Candy Corn?

Of course. It’s funny that you mentioned what music might have influenced me because not a lot of people ask that, but music did influence me on many levels starting with the overall objective of Candy Corn. Something that I am obsessed with is The Beatles and the one thing that is so amazing about The Beatles is that their music seems so simple, but when you start to learn how to play the songs and you start to listen to them more and more whether you’re a musician or not, you start to realize that these aren’t as simple as you may have thought. There’s a lot going on, there’s little parts you don’t notice and you can pick up little easter eggs. The hundredth time you listen to “A Day In The Life” you hear things you didn’t hear the first time. That’s what I wanted to do with Candy Corn. It was based off of that obsession with The Beatles. I thought, let me make something that seems simple and seems basic and is easy to follow, but the more you watch it, the more you go, “Oh my God. I never thought about that. I never noticed that before!” That was a huge inspiration. 

I wanted to make sure that the camera work was what I really wanted and wasn’t just something you’d expect from someone who worked with Rob Zombie.

Now that led to incorporating inspiration from all the films that I’ve grown up watching, that I love, which are not just slashers. That’s just one piece. My favorite film of all time is Rosemary’s Baby. One example is all of the Rosemary’s Baby references that are in Candy Corn that no one would expect in a slasher and a lot of people don’t realize are in there the first time they watch it. 

As far as the films that inspire me, I never sat down and said “I want Candy Corn to be like this.” It really was a culmination of everything I love. My favorite cinematographer, Dean Cundey, who did all of John Carpenter’s amazing work was a really big inspiration, but not on the forefront of my mind. It was really more inherent because I studied John Carpenter’s work for so long and I love it so much. He’s one director. It sounds cliche now, but I’ve been obsessed with Kubrick forever and I love Alejandro Iñárritu too.

There are certain directors that I think whenever I get behind the camera I instinctively will compose a shot or have an action work in a way that would be inspired by them. However, I never really said “What would Carpenter do here?” It was really all about serving the tone of the film first, which I think was inherently inspired by those films that I love. 

I started with the objective of “How do I do something like what The Beatles did?” I’m not about to compare anything I’ve done or will ever do to the magnitude of what they created, but that basic framework. Then I moved on to what I do with that now that I have that objective. What are these little Easter eggs? What is the tone? That came from trying to nod to all my favorite films like Phantasm, The Fog, John Carpenter’s Halloween, The Thing, Rosemary’s Baby, everything David Lynch has ever done and will ever do, The X-Files, the list just goes on and on. There’s all these references in there, but as far as how it’s shot, it sounds like a cop-out to say, but I just shot it how I saw it in my head when I was writing it. 

To me it’s fulfilling … I get to say ‘thank you’ in my artistic way to all these films that inspire me, but it’s not so obvious.

With the music, I’ll just say that obviously John Carpenter’s scores played a role. You can’t make a horror film that’s moody or half as moody as Candy Corn is without leaning towards that sound. I would challenge you and would be so impressed if you didn’t start to fall into the John Carpenter world of synthesizers and piano and the ambient, ominous droning that’s there. I worked with my co-composer, Michael Brooker, and together we each wrote about half of the score and then I went to Austin, Texas where he has a studio and we just spent a week straight scoring the whole film together.

The objective was really to create a tone that felt the way we wanted this film to feel, which is not flashy and in your face and it’s not quick cuts. It really demands your attention like all of my favorite films do and that was the job of the score. Originally I wanted a main theme like all the classic horror films have. I referenced Phantasm, The Exorcist, and The Fog regularly, but as we started fleshing out the score we realized there’s not really a time to come back because the story’s always moving to the next chapter and there’s no recurring moment or motif that we can call back to. In the end we wound up having something that we’re both incredibly proud of. It’s a score that is just chock full of multiple beautiful Halloween-feeling themes. I’m super proud of it. 

Interview continues on the next page…