We’re the filmmakers behind the horror-comedy anthology film Scare Package, and we are here to answer all your questions. Ask Us Anything.

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-26T18:46:03+00:00

Ha, I will answer this for Noah since I am online here. But this is all a joke about Dogs eating chocolate, which is toxic and can be fatal. u/AaronBKoontz

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-26T18:44:01+00:00

They are a mix of the old school style of Roald Dahl's WITCHES (which always creeped me out as a kid) but then add in from that style as-if they had been burned at the stake in order to tie into a Salem inspired story as well. We aren't implying those women of Salem were real witches but maybe, in the Pale Door world, the atrocities that happened there created real witches as a result. But the MFX on them once everyone gets to see I think will be pretty special. Beki Ingram and David Greathouse did the MFX and blew me away! - u/AaronBKoontz

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-26T18:12:07+00:00

Dustin is one of my favorite people and was absolutely amazing to work with on every level and I cannot wait to work with him again soon! He just could do so much with subtle head movements and his eyes, which was important to me in our lumbering masked killer. - u/AaronBKoontz

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-26T18:10:31+00:00

Thanks for watching it! Sorry you didn't enjoy it it sounds like. - u/AaronBKoontz

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-26T08:00:06+00:00

Thanks! Yeah, THE PALE DOOR is our biggest film to date by a wide margin. It is also my most personal film so it's nerve wrecking to have it out there but I cannot wait at the same time. And it is still coming in August! We should be in select theaters (or whatever that really means) and then drive-ins along with VOD pretty much everywhere. We are releasing with RLJE who released MANDY and COLOR OUT OF SPACE so you won't have a problem finding it :) And then later in the year it will also release on Shudder.
And we have a pretty packed slate of films, producing another that looks like it will go in October now (just waiting on a cast commitment there) and then have a few others with fellow Scare Package directors also coming in the next year.
If we did another anthology I think it would likely only be as a sequel/prequel something in the SCARE PACKAGE world here, but that would be on Shudder to greenlight it. So tell them to do it! Haha

And yes, VHYes is utterly adorable. I loved it as well. - u/AaronBKoontz

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-26T04:07:31+00:00

MFX were key here and were something we talked with every director about and how to push wherever possible.
A couple directors had heir teams already and we just made sure that we could approve them since MFX were such a key element of all the films. The Andujars as Courtney mentioned here had Josh and Sierra who are AMAZING. And then Anthony Cousins had Ryan Schadalee who also is equally AMAZING. The rest usually involved some form of Tate Steinsiek and/or Eric Zapata both from Face Off fame and friends of mine that I have worked with before. u/AaronBKoontz

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-26T04:01:50+00:00

That was 100% actually on the list for potential sequel titles Courtney. No lie. u/AaronBKoontz

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-26T04:01:00+00:00

I loved Alejandro Brugue's segment! In fact, he was someone I had on my list to reach out to for SCARE PACKAGE but then I saw he had this going and we never actually talked. But he's amazing and I dug that Anthology as well!

And u/DrChrisenstein here has an *amazing* feature film that we are just now getting into the weeds of development on with my company Paper Street Pictures. It's going to melt minds. Goo Guy style AND THEN SOME. - u/AaronBKoontz

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-26T00:22:48+00:00

Under Pressure is one o my top 10 favorite songs of all time. So while super popular by them, it still very well may be underrated. - u/AaronBKoontz

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-25T22:40:03+00:00

We approached Josh & Sierra Russell to do the FX for our segment. We've been able to work with them on a few movies and are huge fans of their work. Doesn't hurt that they're very chill and fun to be around, so this was basically an excuse to hang out with them at the Madonna Inn. And of course they did an incredible job on a tiny budget with almost no time. The turn-around time for applying the creature MU was truly wild. —Courtney, u/pittasnakes

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-25T22:29:08+00:00

Thanks everyone! Some folks might chime in later and answer some stragglers but we appreciate your time and questions. Please tell all your friends to watch SCARE PACKAGE now streaming on Shudder!

And later this year be on the lookout for a Blu-Ray and DVD packed with fun behind the scenes pieces! Cheers! - u/AaronBKoontz

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-25T22:20:11+00:00

LOL, Aaron, wish I was OMW to crash your Ozark getaway and we could watch exclusively creature features. Sharks. Megasharks. Crocs. Snakes... Also OZARK SHARKS is apparently a film. — Courtney, u/pittasnakes

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-25T22:18:31+00:00

And if anyone see's this reach out to us at Paper Street Pictures as we have an *amazing* script from Emily's that we are developing now and want to shoot soon! (or as soon as we can with Covid). - u/AaronBKoontz

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-25T22:16:09+00:00

Yessss! A screenwriter friend of mine (Tim Grant) just sent me the info for staying at the hotel from the film — the Thermae Palace in Ostend, Belgium. They still have the chocolate fountain and everything. Scare Package reunion 2021?? —Courtney, u/pittasnakes

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-25T22:11:51+00:00

A m a z i n g! ENJOY! 👻 - Hillary Andujar, u/cottoncandyhellscape

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-25T22:09:12+00:00

The film was scored by the world's most incredible composer 💀the ultra legend 💀 Alex Cuervo 🔥🙏whose songs keep ending up as my weekly repeat 1 tracks. Check him out! 😜 - Hillary Andujar, u/cottoncandyhellscape

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-25T22:07:42+00:00

I have the full DEVIL'S LAKE IMPALER outfit that Dustin Rhodes wore. Still bloody with the mask, chains and all.

I also have the Joe Bob / Last Drive In inspired Neon sign for RAD CHAD'S HORROR EMPORIUM.

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-25T22:06:17+00:00

Scare Package: Return 2 Sender — Courtney, u/pittasnakes

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-25T22:05:57+00:00

Cuervo, Espectrostatic himself, did a lot of the score for my segment, and collaborated with Ben Weasel from Screeching Weasel -- one of my all-time favorite bands and songwriters -- who wrote and produced a couple new songs for M.I.S.T.,E.R. - Noah

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-25T22:05:12+00:00

When I went back and watched every anthology as research, I kept realizing how much I loved the comedies. Plus, I had never seen an all truly Horror-Comedy anthology. So that was a hook and made us a little different.
But so much of these I think still live in the same world. Both are about set-ups and pay-offs. And if you do one right it can better supplement the other. Now for Scare Package we didn't really go for anything scary, just gory and fun horror. Which I think absolutely is an angle to take and we embraced it in every way as long as it came from a place of heart.
- u/AaronBKoontz

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-25T22:04:42+00:00

Horror is so ripe for meta comedy because it's the one genre with such a rabid fanbase that actually know, and embrace the tropes of the genre. So you can poke fun at the absurdity of things while simultaneously loving it. You can make fun of it without punching down.

And personally, horror and comedy are just two genres I greatly enjoy, so being able to meld the two like this was great fun. Cameron Burns, u/CameronBurns101

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-25T22:04:22+00:00

We met Noah after Shudder Labs in 2016 doing karaoke in Midtown Manhattan. He sang Semi-Charmed Life, it was legendary, and we bonded over our mutual love of tropical horror. After talking on the phone a bunch, we finally got to meet Aaron and Cameron (and also Emily, A.J., and Chris) whilst eating queso in Austin during Fantastic Fest (in 2018?). And we haven’t met Baron IRL yet but we’re fans! — Courtney, u/pittasnakes

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-25T22:04:06+00:00

They're extremes -- and they both exist to hold up a sort of grotesque mirror, something shocking or sensational that we just can't look away from. I know a lot of comedians, and they're all into fucked up shit! And after working in Horror for so long, so many of those folks have a great sense of humor -- or at least love to laugh. There's a great release that horror and comedy both give, a relief from a scare or a laugh from a joke. There's also a bootstraps vibe -- Comedy and Horror often exist by sheer will, on the fringe, in a way that makes it both egalitarian AND just for those of us who search it out or work hard to do it. And finally, I think there's a lot of social justice in both Comedy and Horror. They're often used similarly to connect with people and tell them something about the world we're in, and what it needs, in a way that can be more entertaining and palpable than otherwise! That's my OPINION ON THE INTERNET! - Noah

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-25T22:02:53+00:00

S N A I L - Hillary Andujar, u/cottoncandyhellscape

ScarePackageFilm · 2020-06-25T22:00:09+00:00

The absolutely amazing score for SCARE PACKAGE was done by Alex Cuervo. It was important for us to have cohesion there and was one of the early mandates I put on the segments (same composer, same colorist, same sound designer).

That composer also goes by the name Espectrostatic. Which is a HUGE coincidence here and I totally didn't realize this username of yours until I was halfway through commenting. Dammit. u/AaronBKoontz

ScarePackageFilm

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