Hellions: Bruce McDonald and Chloe Rose Interview
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Chloe Rose in, Hellions
Canadian director Bruce McDonald is back and this time around he has chosen to give us all a bit of a scare! McDonald's Hellions is a Halloween horror as only Bruce McDonald could make it. It begins like a classic Halloween horror, with a young girl alone at home on Halloween night bur things going quickly awry. The film becomes a fever dream tribute to 70’s horror classics like Rosemary’s Baby and Dario Argento’s Suspiria, with a dash of the Wizard of Oz.
McDonald and cinematographer Norayr Kasper elected to shoot most of the film in super high definition digital infrared. Inspired by references in the script to the full ‘blood moon’ bathing an eerie glow over a fateful Halloween night, Kasper presented the risky and untried concept to McDonald who immediately responded to the idea. The move to digital infrared visually rendered the psychological, surrealist approach McDonald took with the film.
Newcomer Chloe Rose (The Lesser Blessed, “Degrassi: The Next Generation”), plays Dora Vogel, a teen faced with a Halloween night from hell when malevolent trick-or-treaters come knocking at her door. She will undoubtedly receive plenty of attention for her role in the film.
The cast features Saturn Award-winning actor Robert Patrick (Terminator 2, “True Blood”), Rossif Sutherland (Hyena Road, “Reign”), Luke Bilyk (“Degrassi: The Next Generation”), and Rachel Wilson (“The Kennedys”). Rounding out the team are director of photography Norayr Kasper (Walk All Over Me), production designer Andrew Berry (The Husband), costume designer Sarah Millman (Trigger), editor Duff Smith(You Are Here) and composers Todor Kobakov (The Samaritan) & Ian LeFeuvre(The Husband).
HELLIONS had its World Premiere earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival in the Park City at Midnight Programme and now comes home to the Toronto International Film Festival, where McDonald was first introduced to audiences in 1989 with the feature Roadkill, winner of the Best First Feature award that year.
Below is our interview (Conducted by Emma Badame) with Bruce McDonald and Chloe Rose conducted during the Toronto International Film Festival 2015.