Matt Eskandari, director of The Gauntlet, is about to embark with you on a journey. It's a journey chock full of gore, and led by a blood-soaked Bai Ling, who's ready to shove sharp objects through the chest cavities of those traveling with you--five strangers, who, like her, have discovered this journey is a sadistic experiment, and a sinister test of wit. Though director Eskandari is still deciding how this journey will end, and currently working on the final cut of The Gauntlet, he?s promising a unique tale of survivalist horror--and a creepy story of a life-claiming puzzle. A former contestant on On the Lot, Eskandari is best known for his short work within the genre--The Taking--which screened, and was met with overwhelming audience approval, at the Screamfest L.A. film festival.

A few weeks ago, Eskandari, ever the gentleman, personally sent over a bunch of stills of his carnage-crammed flick. So before reading on, be sure to check out our Exclusive Gauntlet Gallery', and expect much more from The Gauntlet in the days ahead--on FEARnet!

First, I just wanted to thank you for sending over the photos from your new film The Gauntlet last week!

Yeah, I?m a huge fan of your site and I?m a big horror fan myself, so I keep up to date with all of the horror websites.

I assumed you were a fan after your first film, The Taking, which screened at Screamfest LA?

The Taking was the first short film that I made. I had always been a big fan of horror films. That was the first movie I made right out of film school.

What was it like creating that film?

It was one of those experiences where I wanted to really test myself and see how I could make a horror movie be scary. I wanted to challenge myself to see what story I could tell the audience in 10 minutes and scare them. It was a tough experience. It was different because you have a lot of constraints, but it was a great experience.

And now you?re finishing up a feature-length film, The Gauntlet. Could you tell us a little bit about that?

The Gauntlet... It kind of came together because my partner, Adam Lawson, and I wanted to make a different kind of horror movie, since we?re both fans of the genre. We wanted to make the kind of movie that had a lot of different elements, like action, adventure, suspense, a little romance...and it basically came about when we were thinking, "What if we had this movie where it was a classic horror set up, where five or six characters wake up in a circumstance and have to find their way out? But through this journey they become really close because they bond and have circumstances they need to cross together. At the end they sort of become friends and have bonded and then they have to kill each other." It?s kind of a spin on that.

In that respect, The Gauntlet?s original story could be reminiscent of the underlying themes of the Saw films where we have a group of strangers who must choose life or death?

Definitely. A lot of people don?t know this but there?s this old book called And Then There Were None, written by Agatha Christie. It started that whole trend back in 1904 or something, and it was basically about 10 people who wake up on an island, and they are all part of some experiment. It goes really far back, and it?s sort of the original inspiration.

As a filmmaker, how do you feel about a comparison being drawn between your film and a successful genre film like Saw?

I?m a huge fan of the Saw franchise. They?re doing a different kind of movie though. They?re more of a torture kind of movie--I?m a huge fan of that. We?re definitely not that kind of a movie. We?re not like the torture kind of movie but more of like the action, suspense. And it?s really exciting. I think people will be really surprised, when they see this movie, how character driven it is. You find out with everybody in the movie that they?ve done something in the past. Actually, I would relate it to something similar to Lost. These characters have this dark and deep past that unravels through it. You find that these people have done something in the past and there?s a slow unraveling of the mystery or what not. And I think that kind of ties into The Gauntlet, and it's something that you learn as the story progresses.

I read that you shot the film in Beijing?

That?s correct. Yeah we shot the movie in China, probably the first horror movie to shoot in China--American horror movie at least. It was a great experience, it really surprised me. The great thing was the reason we did it was we were able to maximize our budget and build massive sets that we would have never have been able to do in America, unfortunately, because of costs. So basically our budget almost quadrupled, because we built these huge, massive sets--swamps, underground dungeons...all these different chambers and whatnot, and we were able to do it all because we were in China. Because over there it?s just insane how cheap everything is compared to the US dollar, and surprisingly they have everything we needed--the technology, the tools, everything is all up to date. It provided us with a great place. I would definitely shoot another movie in China.

Did you use any of the exteriors or the natural Beijing aesthetic?

No, we didn?t actually, because it all takes place within the gauntlet, so we ended up shooting everything on soundstages and the sets that we built.

You mentioned that you were able to build pretty massive sets though?

Oh yeah. We had one set that...the soundstage was inside of a huge warehouse and we just transformed it into a huge swamp set, because one of the big scenes in the movie takes place in this swamp area. So we filled it with three feet of water--real swamp water, debris, and dirt. It was pretty cool. It was a pretty cool experience to see stuff like that come to life.

Some of the pictures you sent from The Gauntlet look pretty bloody. Can you speak to the level of gore and the special effects in the film?

Yeah, there?s a considerable amount. As the movie progresses obviously you want to make it gorier, more intense--and it kind of plays off in the end as a huge action set piece where they all have to fight each other. There?re a few different set pieces and each one has a different element of gore. Actually we?re doing some of the early CGI work right now with the effects people. There?re a few different CGI elements at play in it. It?s not CGI-driven, but there?re pieces where we have some considerable effects and gore. I think it has a lot of everything you want in a movie.

So you guys used a combination of practical effects and CGI?

Yeah, and we?re actually re-shooting some stuff specifically because we have these action scenes, where there?s a fight and somebody gets slashed in the leg or the face, and we?re shooting those particular clips in LA just because we need to put the scene together and see what we wanted to add. That?s just to simplify the process.

Are you still in the process of firming up the final cut of the film?

Yeah, we still actually have research to do as well. One thing about that is we did some kind of marketing through social network. I don?t know if you?ve ever heard of yippi.com, it?s this other kind of MySpace-type website. And to kind of build up buzz for the movie, what we did was we said we?d cast somebody, actually a few people, from the website to be like extras or supporting characters in minor scenes in the film. So we had thousands and thousands of actors send in headshots to our website to audition. And we selected five people who we thought we?d want to put in the movie, and basically we?re going to fly them down in a couple months and shoot their scenes. We just discovered them on the internet. It was kind of a cool way for the fans to be a part of the process as well. They got to kind of see us and interact with us. It was really big, and got people excited about the movie as well.

Speaking of the cast, how did the core of your cast actually come together?

Well as the director I had a few people in mind for specific roles. The funny thing is that Bai Ling, I had never thought about her to play the role--it?s like the lead role in the movie. But the casting director was really adamant on it, like ?You gotta meet her, you gotta meet her.? I was like, ?I don?t know, I don?t know. I can?t imagine her playing this role.? So then I met with her, we had coffee and she just had this great take on the character. I thought, ?Okay?she?s very confident, she gets the character. I think this is actually going to work out.? So then we fly out to Beijing, and a couple weeks before we started production, we kept changing the script--just because I?m crazy like that, and I had never given her the updated script. So she showed up two or three days before production and she hadn?t read the script. I was like, ?What? Oh my God?? So I had started freaking out a little bit. And the other actor, he had spent weeks rehearsing the updated script. I thought, ?This is crazy. I can?t believe this. I?m screwed.? But, the true professional that she is, the day that we started rolling film--day one of production, she really turned it on. It just kind of blew my mind. She had this really tough monologue she was doing, and she totally just blew us all out. But I was really happy with her, because what I loved about her was that she was always in the moment. Obviously there?s a lot of layers to her character, there?s a very strong arc for her character--each of the characters had a very strong arc, and hers specifically had kind of a twisting arc. And she played it well enough that you care about her but at the same time when she unleashes it, it?s like ?Whoa, what the hell just happened?? She?s crazy but she?s fun.

Do have a favorite on-set memory?

The funniest thing that happened was that the actors and I were messing around a lot, and one of the characters, Tyler, who is played by Nick Lane, who is like the youngest guy in the cast... We played a practical joke on him where in one of the scenes, I told the rest of the cast, ?Let?s do this funny thing,? because something is supposed to be happening to him in the scene, something pretty traumatic, and he?s supposed to survive. So I?m like, "Alright, we?re going to tell him that we changed the script and he?s gonna be dead." This is his last scene in the movie. I told the AD to call picture wrap on him and he had no idea, like the whole cast was in on it. It was pretty funny, we called him and we took him aside and we were like, ?This is going to be a great twist if you die here.? He?s just shocked and doesn?t know what to say because he?s supposed to be shooting for another couple of weeks. So he just played along and was like, ?Yeah?? And his dad was with him so he was freaking out a little bit. But it was pretty funny because walking away he almost had like a tear in his eye. I was thinking ?Should I tell him now?? I was just like, ?Fine?we got you man, we were just joking; you?re still in the movie.? Nick was like, ?Oh man, thank you. I almost had a heart attack. I was about to call my agent and manager. I was gonna be pissed. I was gonna call SAG.? It was pretty funny.

I know you don?t have a final cut yet, but as of now is there anything you had to cut that you think fans will be interested in?

Yeah. I mean every time you make a movie there?s just so much to put together and in this movie particular. I keep bringing this up but I think that people will be surprised by what strong character work there is in this movie. So what we ended up doing was, we?re ending up pulling some scenes where we really get to know these characters well. Basically I want this movie to be like...imagine you?re watching Saving Private Ryan. You?re watching a movie where these people are all kind of bonding through this experience, and then at the end they all have to kill each other. In Saving Private Ryan there?s all these moments where you get to know the character. We tried to do the same thing in this movie, with The Gauntlet. We get to know their past, their hopes, their dreams, their desires and just the fact that you?ve got to keep it under ninety minutes. There are a few character scenes that we?re having to pull out that don?t really have to do with the plot. There?s a scene between Bai Ling and Dustin Nguyen. It?s a really cool scene because there?s also a love story that develops between them, and to keep it as strong as possible sometimes you need to just pull extra stuff out just to keep the plot moving forward, because you want it to still have that drive. Hopefully we still have the character work but sometimes you just got to pull that extra stuff.

When can fans expect The Gauntlet to be released?

Hopefully by the end of this year. That?s the goal. Hopefully to have it finished over the summer, obviously we still have to re-shoot some stuff--so we?re going to reshoot over the summer. We?re going to finish up the CGI and all of the post work. Our goal is to get it cut and...obviously Halloween would be ideal for us. So we?re trying to get everything in place for that.

Will we be able to see the film theatrically?

Yeah, we?re definitely shooting for theatrical release at this point. It?s really good. The fact that distributors already are seeing some cuts of it. Things have been really positive thus far.

I also read that you?re working on a psychological thriller called Victim?

Victim was another movie that we just filmed, that I directed before I left for China to shoot the Gauntlet. Victim was a different kind of horror movie. A very disturbing, dark, twisted kind of a horror movie. That one is actually premiering at Cannes. So that one?s coming out soon. I think that movie?s going to disturb a lot of people. It was funny because after I did that I was so disturbed by the movie myself, I was like, ?I need to do something a little bit more broad and commercial.? Something like the Gauntlet--which is still a horror movie. I just love horror movies, because what they are to me is like a rollercoaster ride. The whole movie is just instilling that sense of fear and suspense. To me that?s a challenge. It?s like how do you instill mystery and fear into an audience for ninety minutes? For me that?s tough, that?s a challenge. It?s fun. People like different genres for different reasons. For me, the horror genre provides as a director the opportunity to really use all the tools that I?m given--sound, music, editing to put the audience in a state of fear. That?s what?s exciting for me.

Is there anything else that you?re working on besides The Gauntlet that fans could look out for?

Good question. I?m actually developing a couple other horror projects at the moment and kind of a comedy. I want to try my hand at something else. But at this point I?m just so deeply involved with The Gauntlet, I?m still kind of in the process of trying to figure out the next project. I?m developing this Usual Suspects-esque thriller, and a suspense thriller and a couple other projects at this point. I?d actually like to do a sequel to the Gauntlet. That or a prequel.

Would the sequel come immediately after the release of The Gauntlet or would you wait?

I?d wait a little while. I?d love to do it because there?s this whole mythology surrounding the film that we actually created about the Gauntlet. When people see the film they?ll know what I?m talking about. There?s just this huge mythology we?ve created about The Gauntlet itself. There?s a huge backstory about what it is, why it's there. We were talking about doing a graphic novel kind of prequel and then hopefully another movie. There?s still a lot of unanswered questions. There?s just so much that we picked out of this one movie, but I feel that we?ve left enough. That there?s a possibility for a sequel.

What is your biggest fear?

Honestly my biggest fear is probably being afraid to not challenge myself or not try my best at something. I always like to think that I did the best that I could and wasn?t afraid to challenge myself. That?s kind of my life creed. It?s a little hokey but? [Laughs]