A Horror That Tried to Break the Mold.
Infernal was released in 2015 with the promise of being a different type of found-footage horror. Directed by Bryan Coyne, the story follows a young couple, Nathan and Sophia, who moved to a new house and started recording their life only to find their daughter, Imogene, doing some strange and disturbing things. Initially, it seemed like a run-of-the-mill approach to possession, but the film seemed to interrogate themes of marital strain, parental powerlessness, and how evil can slowly seep into an otherwise normal home.
The film itself had a rather lukewarm reception. Some horror enthusiasts praised it for its atmosphere, while others lambasted it for its reliance on overused tropes. Regardless, what came later was of much greater significance. Infernal served as a career marker for the actors, a project that, in addition to scars and lessons, provided some of them with unexpected breakthroughs.
Andy Ostroff: From Struggling Actor to Steadier Ground
Ostroff played Nathan, the desperate father trying to keep his family together while supernatural forces tear them apart. Definitively not the most glamorous role, but the reality is that Ostroff had to work some magic to bring a character to life that was deeply flawed, often powerless, and, at times, downright irritating in what were, all things considered, rather easy decisions.
For Andy, Infernal came at a time when he was trying to find his place in Hollywood. His previous roles and credit worked for and in small indie features and TV spots. But post Infernal, he found himself specialized in horror and thriller auditions. Casting agents began portraying him as ‘the anxious father’ or ‘the man on the brink’. He had steady work which during this time was very important as well despite the fact that typecasting was restricting. A lot later in his interviews he confessed that personally Infernal was not a major hit, but in contrary became the cornerstone for his work in the genre.
Beyond the screen, the role helped him shaped his perspective on family gets just as easily. A father in trouble made him think about his own relations, and the house creaks long after the shooting ended. He recalls how friends began to shout and joke and say how he became paranoid.
Heather Adair: Breaking Away from Stereotyping
Another character Adair dressed was Sophia, ‘the mom in a horror movie’. Not just Sophia’s self-doubts Sophia’s own frustrations, and emotional breakdowns almost centered in the movie. Adair had been previously attempting to get out the box of being a ‘pretty-girl’ to role Sophia was a way for which she claimed she was capable of.
With all of this taken into consideration, the sequels prompted intricate legalities as the horror genre has a talent of relegating women to the “scream queen” category after just a couple of intense an over the top roles. Heather, over the years, seems to be offered roles that required characters to whine, scream, and settle to die. At this point, the other more prominent other leading roles, and other multilayered characters seems to be absent from the offerings.
Infernal, however, gave her a lot of affection and caring bond that has survived a long time. Along with the affection, the bonds proves to be emotionally and physically draining. Heather ends up with a motherly protective bond with Alyssa Koerner, the child actress, as they all go through the fantastic and elaborate long nights of shooting and endless emotionally draining sequences. For this reason, crew members remember that Heather, along with everyone else, was there with Alyssa and other children as they sang nursery rhymes during the overwhelming darker themes that surfaced during the sequences.
Alyssa Koerner: Growing up with Shadows
In apprehensive yet intriguing depths of the world beyond the big screen sits a world and a character that once seemed otherworldly and unreachable, slowly unfolding and revealing with each soft whisper and unspoken word, especially designed for the little girl behind the screen. Among the child actors, horror floats and represents a very sensitive element of the universe with the aligned balance of innocence and disturbing aspects designed for Alyssa’s character ‘Imogene,’ the possessed daughter to delicately and beautifully bring forth, to which, through the unhinged and unrelenting sequences of whimpering and cold, bated breath, she captured with overwhelming accuracy through her blank stares, sudden splurts of soft, yet wild outbursts, and the eerily deep breaths of the absence that wrapped around her.
Alyssa’s family was very protective and watched how being remembered primarily for a horror genre could be problematic for young actors. Being identified with a genre tends to limit the type of auditions an actor gets. Although industry was transitioning to more mature roles centered around drama, it was apparent that they could still notice the ‘horror’ material in her arms.
During later interviews, she claimed that the cast was more fun and welcoming than scary. Crew members often came in with jokes to lighten the mood and Heather and Andy welcomed her with open arms. They, along with the rest of the crew, helped foster a very supportive environment, which in turn, protected her from the intensity of the story she was performing.
Director of the film Infernal, Bryan Coyne, seemed to heavily incorporate his personality into it. Being an indie filmmaker, he didn’t have the luxury of big funds or backing from studios. It was a very designated for the film’s budget with practical arrangements, handheld sequences, and natural acting to capture fear. It was a very cut and dry attitude, which helped foster the atmosphere on the set of the film. Everyone was doing two jobs at a time, from adjusting the lighting to shifting other props.
In Coyne’s case, the film had his name plastered on the horror map, but it also meant that he would be hit biassed as a “genre-only” director. Still, he embraced that validation, stating on panels afterwards that the shooting stress during Infernal… “tight schedules, the late-night re-writes, the editing on the fly… well, that was one of my most exhausting experiences of my lifetime”.
The familiy that formed behind the camera
On camera, one of the most amazed scenes was one that depicted a family going through a breakdown. Sounds boring, right? Well you would be surprised at the moments that were created through the improvisation of cast and crew.
Crew members recall this story: One night,while shooting a possession scene, the crew lost power to the house where filming was taking place. ‘Possession scene’ is an apt name, for for a few minutes, everyone was frozen still in complete black, unsure whether the effect was planned or not. After the lights came on, Bryan said, “Now that’s method filmmaking.”
And So They Became: Careers Tangled in Shadows.
Infernal enjoyed cult status, though not a classic. For those people, it was a pole star in their repertoire. Heather Adair fought to step outside the boundaries of her typecast roles, and Alyssa Koerner faced her eerie breakout role head on. As for Bryan Coyne, it was during this period that he established himself as a filmmaker ready to take chances with a low budget. He, more than the others, lost his credibility as he had to twist himself heavily in the genre.
Actors and crew members found shelterogenously to the metaphor of the little ‘Indie’ film. They found shelter together during long sleepless nights, wore ripped pants, and budgetless. On the other hand, the story of Infernal was about a family torn apart, which is a complete opposite to the makeshift belief.
Albeit the critics were still split, the film did, however, have an impressionable impact, particularly on those who lived through the ordeal. To these individuals, Infernal was more than a piece of work of a horror story. It was the spine of the story of their lives, influencing the crossroads of their careers, friendships, and how they viewed their work long after the last scene was shot, and the cameras were put down.
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