Edward Anderson's Shuttle debuts at the 2008 SXSW Film Festival this week, and it's been snagging some rather positive buzz from some of the fest-goers. I thought it might be fun to track down first-time director Ed Anderson to see what he thought about the festival, his baby's big debut, and (of course) horror flicks in general.

By Scott Weinberg

The majority of Shuttle takes place (not surprisingly) in and around a versatile airport shuttle. How tough was it to keep the action moving while focusing so much on one vehicle?

Extremely tough. That challenge was apparent right from the idea stage. But it was actually part of the intrigue to me in making the film -- i.e., could this story be told in an exciting, visceral way?

The limitations became as much a construct as a constraint, designing a film that was contained, compressed and ultimately claustrophobic. The confines of the moving shuttle van location actually forced creativity at the script stage and then again in production. Also, the film is more dark thriller than hardcore horror, which I think helped a great deal. The thriller aspect creates a thinking person's dynamic and turned the shuttle and everything in it into challenges and opportunities for the characters. As the story builds, events become increasingly physical and action oriented, which also helped. Although there were a lot films we could look to for guidance, on our budget, we couldn't do with the camera most of the things those larger films could. So a lot of time and brainpower were spent constructing a film that would work organically within this tight framework.

Before we go too far, please give the FEARnet readers a small taste of what Shuttle is about.

It's about an everyday event we all take for granted that turns into the worst nightmare imaginable. Two young women arrive back from a weekend vacation at the airport needing a ride home, it's late at night, so they wave down a safe, dry shuttle van. One relatively ordinary thing leads to another and the next thing you know, everything begins to unwind. The horror comes from the plausibility of the situation. That true terror doesn't always come from fantastical places, but sometimes from the most unlikely ones.

Required question for anyone who makes at least one horror / thriller
movie: Who are your biggest influences in general, and what films helped you bring Shuttle to life?

I very much took the Hitchcock philosophy to heart: What you don't see is scarier than what you do. So gore and violence works primarily as a function of the story, but not a feature of it. We mostly see what our characters see and just enough for it to get in our heads to let it expand there. He was the master at that. David Fincher's SE7EN had an influence in some ways. Although vastly different from this film, the way Fincher created a grim overhang and presented darkness in the most ordinary places, people and things -- an empty field, a meek Kevin Spacey, and a sealed cardboard box. Profoundly simple yet more terrifying to me than anything involving buckets of blood and extreme violence. Of course SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Though these are both ostensibly serial-killer films, they set the bar pretty high by weaving twisting story elements with pure terror. So I suppose I've been influenced by smart films that make you think. Keep you guessing. The list of influences is long, but really, I'm fast fan of anything great with an edge, that feels new and different.

Your film just had its world premiere at the world-famous SXSW Film Festival. How were the crowds? And how was it watching your baby up on the screen in front of a packed (Alamo Drafthouse!) auditorium?

Awesome crowds, awesome festival. We had the midnight screening on Saturday, so it was amazing to see people lining up at that hour. The show sold out, and most of the audience actually hung out for Q&A until 3 a.m. after. That was kind of an honor. Plus our film is basically set at that time of night, so the vibe was right on. Hats off to SXSW. And nothing beats the Drafthouse. It was doubly exciting because several of the cast members who hadn't seen the polished film were there, and that just added to a great night.

When you write a movie with a few unexpected "twists," which comes first: the basic premise, or a few cool "hooks" to craft a story around?

For me, it's usually premise first. Then if I can find an interesting way to turn the story or reverse it, that's when it might become a script. Otherwise it probably won't move forward. In this case, I think I had a basic concept and storyline that was somewhat intriguing, but once I found the twists and turns, that's when I got excited and serious about it. That's usually the way. Although, every now and then I'll have an interesting twist waiting around for the right script to land on. But the premise has to present itself before anything happens. I'm a tough critic, so it all has feel like there is a solid foundation from which everything flows from, hence the importance of story above all.
Then great twists.

Where and when was Shuttle shot? Was it a particularly smooth shoot?

We shot the film at the end of 2006 in and around the worst parts of Boston. So it looks like it could be any city, which was the plan. Because the film is set on a moving vehicle over the course of a single night, we shot mostly exteriors and entirely at night, which is another kind of challenge. Late-fall brings lots of hours of darkness, but in Boston, they are frigid cold hours, so that was tough on cast and crew. But we had some finance reasons to be there, so we made it work.

The actors clearly went through a whole lot of physical stress, but was your first shot as director an enjoyable one?

The production was ambitions, and I asked a lot from our cast. And as you can tell, they really delivered. The character arcs are intense, both emotionally and physically. The great thing was that we shot basically in continuity, which isn't common, but allowed the actors to follow their characters' evolution through the course of the night. By the time we wrapped, everyone was beaten and spent. As for the directing experience, it was a fantastic blur.

Anything you can tell us regarding a theatrical (DVD) release for Shuttle? Any sequel plans? Maybe another scary movie on the horizon for you?

SXSW was the first time we showed the film to anyone anywhere, so the distribution process has just begun. As far as the future, I love a good creepy scare, at least as I define it, but my interest level is also broader. Ridley Scott made one of the scariest films ever in ALIEN and has never gone back to the genre because he hasn't yet found a way to do it different or better, which is a good filter. That said, I have an idea or two in this category, so hopefully there will be more twisty darkness in my future.

Shuttle aims to tap into that "urban isolation" that doesn't happen all that often -- but when you get off a plane at 1am and the airport is dead-empty, things can start feeling creepy real fast. Was any part of Shuttle based on any of your own experiences?

Urban isolation is a great way to describe what we were going for.
There is just an indescribable quiet weirdness that exists late at night in the same places that are populated, bustling and safe during the day. I've had this experience many times. Especially when I travel. Even the biggest cities are dead still and oddly different in the middle of the night. That was really a core tenant for us, to capture that feeling. I live in a busy part of town, across the street from a huge park, and since I'm a night person, sometimes when I'm working late I'll take a walk around the block for air, but I can't go far without feeling that creep factor closing in.

Although you've written another one of the SXSW films (the jewel-heist flick Flawless, starring Michael Caine and Demi Moore), Shuttle is both a horror flick and a directorial debut. Do you think you'd prefer to follow a "horror" path, or keep mixing things up?

Hopefully I'll keep mixing things up. Especially around the thriller genre. But like I said, I love a good scare, so the thriller/horror blend appeals to me. I also really like the supernatural angle, done credibly and right. I think THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE was a good recent example. That film woke me up the night after I saw it.

Would you call yourself a hardcore horror fan?

I'm a rabid fan of anything done well. I absolutely love the horror classics, THE EXORCIST, THE OMEN, THE SHINNING, PSYCHO. More recently, I think films like THE RING, WOLF CREEK and THE DESCENT were great contemporary horror films. So I'd say I'm a discriminating fan.