Filmmaker Ted Geoghegan has made a name for himself in the horror genre over the last decade, writing alongside Grady Hendrix in Satanic Panic, producing films like The ABCs of Death 2 and Shudder’s new docuseries, Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror, and directing We Are Still Here, Mohawk, and the recently released Brooklyn 45, which is available to stream on Shudder.
We got a chance to sit down with Geoghegan, and discuss his inspirations in filmmaking, the processes of making his newest movie, and some of the more challenging aspects of his work.
Horror Geek Life: All three of your feature films are period pieces of sorts. Is there something that draws you more towards creating stories in our past rather than the present?
Ted Geoghegan: Yeah, I just don’t like the present. I think I echo a sentiment that a lot of people feel these days. The present just isn’t a lot of fun. Of course, I look at the past through rose-colored glasses. We Are Still Here is set in the late ‘70s, which was when I was born and which I look back on as a very happy and fun time, but it was very unpleasant for lots of people.
Mohawk was set in the early 1800s; a wildly difficult time, and here we are with Brooklyn 45, which is set in 1945 post-war America. I think it’s more interesting to see what stories the past has to tell. The present does very little for me, and I think the past is something we need to focus on, because as they say, if we don’t study it, we’re doomed to repeat it, and God knows, we’re repeating it, again and again.
Horror Geek Life: Speaking of We Are Still Here, it’s kind of unique in that it’s one of the goriest ghost movies out there, what made you go that route instead of the traditional haunting story?
Ted Geoghegan: The movie is a love letter to the movies of Lucio Fulci; an Italian filmmaker that I grew up really loving. In particular, it’s very inspired by his film House by the Cemetery, which is another slow-burnish movie that occasionally explodes into extreme gore.
With We Are Still Here, I wanted to make something that felt like a Fulci movie; I wanted something that felt gory, but also something that felt emotional and had characters at its core. Which, I think a lot of Fulci’s movies do. The other part of it is that it was my directorial debut, and I knew that if I was going to start with a slow-burn film, I wanted to make sure that the burn went somewhere.
My day job is that I’m a film publicist, and some of the earliest films that I did publicity on were some of Ti West’s early films, namely House of the Devil and The Innkeepers; two films that I absolutely adore, but as the publicist, I heard from critics all the time, who watched those films and said, “It was really good, but I was waiting and waiting for something to happen, and at the end of the movie, nothing really happened.” While I disagree with that sentiment, I understood where they were coming from, and when I made We Are Still Here, I said, “I’m not going to let them say that.” At the end of my movie, something is going to happen. We’re going to get real bloody.
Horror Geek Life: You’ve written a couple of stories for the screen with Grady Hendrix, who has become a household name in the horror fiction world. Do you have any interest in publishing horror stories or novels?
Ted Geoghegan: A wrote a novel when I was younger; a fantasy novel, and it was a very fun exercise, but I don’t necessarily know if it’s something I’m ready to do again. I have so much respect for people like Grady who have that ability, but I don’t necessarily know if that’s my forte. It was a blast working with Grady on Mohawk and Satanic Panic, and I certainly hope that Grady writes more screenplays because God only knows, if he’s capable of writing those amazing books, I can only imagine what sorts of incredible screenplays he’s got inside of him ready to go.
Horror Geek Life: Which project of yours has been the most fun for you to work on? Which was the most challenging?
Ted Geoghegan: Man, that’s a good question! I don’t know which one was the most fun! They were all fun, and they were all so much effing work. When I’m making a movie, I’m rarely having fun; I’m enjoying my job. It’s a very intense, very stressful job that I’m so grateful for, but I don’t necessarily feel like I’m having fun, at the same time.
But I will say, out of the three films that I’ve directed, the smoothest production was Brooklyn 45, just being surrounded by a once-in-a-lifetime crew and cast, who all really understood what I wanted out of the project, made it so smooth to do, and that was such a joy.
The most challenging was definitely Mohawk; a film that I really love, but it is a challenging film that was challenging to make. Not the least of which was because we had a fairly large crew and cast, and we were in the middle of nowhere. We went deep into the woods to film Mohawk, and it was the height of summer. It was the hottest days of the year, and we were all out there sweating our asses off. It was a slog to get that film in the can, and again, I’m so proud of the film we created and so grateful that it’s still resonating with people, but it was a challenge to get done.
Horror Geek Life: Is there a particular subgenre of horror that you’re excited to explore in one of your next projects?
Ted Geoghegan: I don’t know! As a director, I definitely direct different films that I write. I love writing slashers and horror comedies, but as you can see, between the three films I’ve directed, they tend to be a bit heavier, and they deal with weightier topics. I think it would be fun to break out of that and into something that’s a little sillier.
I’m a big fan of crossing genres, and I’ve most certainly got some ideas for a horror… something. Pick another genre, and exploring that. But off-hand, no, but I’m eager to try all sorts of things.
Horror Geek Life: What were some of the most important horror films that paved the way for your creativity?
Ted Geoghegan: It’s weird, because the most important horror films to me aren’t necessarily the ones that inspire what I do for a living. For me personally, the most important horror cinema are the slasher movies from the late 1970s and 1980s. I grew up on those films; they are my comfort blanket, and they are the films I watch when I’m having a bad day. But they don’t necessarily inform the art that I’m making these days.
In terms of that, I think a lot of it is inspired by non-horror cinema. Brooklyn 45 takes a lot from non-horror films, like My Dinner with Andre, or the 1985 film version of Clue. These are films that have their fingerprints all over Brooklyn 45, but are not horror in the slightest.
I think that might be part of why people always call out my movies for always feeling so different and so weird as far as horror goes, because it’s not usually horror films that are informing them.
Horror Geek Life: Brooklyn 45 very much feels like a character study in a play, that’s more focused on the individuals and their actions, more than the underlying story. It felt very Hitchcockian! Was Alfred Hitchcock an inspiration behind the writing for Brooklyn 45?
Ted Geoghegan: I’m a big Hitchcock fan, but I can’t necessarily say that he was an inspiration when writing it, but similar films of that era most certainly were. Early 1940s Hitchcock stuff, not necessarily 1950s; there’s the fingerprint of cinema from that era. I just think it’s more the noir, and the dramas from that time. I think there’s even a fair amount of Frank Capra in Brooklyn 45. You know, that sort of All-American and pulling the sheet out from underneath “perfect America”.
Related: ‘Brooklyn 45’ Review: A Frightful, Hitchcockian Tale
Horror Geek Life: There’s this idea in Brooklyn 45 that world prejudices and xenophobia kind of stick with your soul after you die, which is extremely unique in the genre. How did you come up with that for the story?
Ted Geoghegan: The fact that the ghost in the film still has so much hatred in her heart even after death, I think it just comes from so many people that I know these days that are filled with hate. I think of the frustrations that I feel on a day-to-day basis. I think of the resentment I have towards certain people, and I tried to turn that into something fictional.
If I died today, and my ghost came back, would my ghost still hate Donald Trump? Of course, I’d hate Donald Trump, are you kidding me? I would be filled with rage and resentment toward Donald Trump, even in death. Like, would my ghost just suddenly not be me?
I felt like that’s just something that’s been underexplored in film. What are our ghosts, if not our souls? And what are our souls? It’s our very being. Our ghosts are just us, so yeah, these people absolutely hang on to resentment, and rage, and anger after they’re dead. They hang on to the same beliefs they had in life.
To me, I’m not a believer in the afterlife or the supernatural, but if I were to be, that’s absolutely how I would see a ghost.
Horror Geek Life: Everyone in Brooklyn 45 gives an outstanding performance. You kind of talked about it being a once-in-a-lifetime cast. Was it difficult to develop the chemistry between them, or did their performances naturally fall into place?
Ted Geoghegan: We were very fortunate that the entire film was shot chronologically on a film set. We built the parlor room in an old warehouse outside of Chicago, Illinois, and when our actors arrived on set and all walked into that parlor, it transformed them. It says so much about how great that set is and how great our production design team was. When my actors arrived and saw that, they immediately became their characters.
Coming to that set every single day, day in and day out, it felt like summer camp. You woke up in the morning, went to 1945 for the day, and then you went home. It created a camaraderie amongst the group, arriving every day, entering that room every day, again and again, in a way that is different from other films where the set is constantly changing, and you never know where you’re going to be, every single day.
We did. Every single day, we were in that parlor. It definitely created a family, and by the end, we were all extremely close.
Horror Geek Life: You can absolutely see the growth in the camera work and style from your previous films in Brooklyn 45. Was focusing more on the visual and technical aspects of the film a massive priority for you?
Ted Geoghegan: Yeah, I really wanted this film to feel like a step up from my previous films. Again, I’m not in any way disparaging We Are Still Here and Mohawk; I love both of those films and am so proud of them. But one of the reasons why I wrote Brooklyn 45 to all take place in one room was because I knew that if I was working with a low budget, which I was, I could make that entire film feel much bigger, by setting the whole thing in one location.
It was a very tactical movie to make this a one-room film. I wanted it to feel bigger. I wanted it to feel like a step-up in terms of production. I worked with a new Director of Photography on this film, Robert Patrick Stern, who I had never worked with before, but came highly recommended. He had previously shot The Stylist, Jill Gevargizian’s wonderful slasher film from a few years ago.
I was working with someone new, and that was definitely different, and I most certainly missed my cinematography from my two previous films, Karim Hussain, who is a very dear friend of mine, and I had originally really wanted him to shoot Brooklyn 45, but unfortunately, scheduling didn’t allow him to. But fortunately, I met Rob through that and ended up making a new friend, and ended up meeting a very talented cinematographer.
Related: ‘Friday the 13th: The Game’ Servers to Close in 2024
Horror Geek Life: Is there a particular established horror franchise that you’d like to be a part of, or are you solely focused on original ideas?
Ted Geoghegan: I am only focused on original work, but I would move mountains to make a Friday the 13th movie. I’m a huge Friday the 13th fan; it’s my one big, huge horror passion in life. I would cut off a limb to make a Friday the 13th film.
Horror Geek Life: Do you have anything in the works that you can, or want to talk about?
Ted Geoghegan: I’m currently still traveling with Brooklyn 45 through a few international film festivals. I’ve also got a film I’ve produced called Molli and Max in the Future that I’m extremely proud of. It’s a romantic comedy set in outer space. It’s lots of fun!
Honestly, right now, my job is taking care of my son. I’ve got a nine-month-old little boy sitting here on my lap, and he is a full-time job. But once he starts going to daycare, I think we’re going to dive into a new script and hopefully get a new project cooking.
Horror Geek Life would like to thank Ted Geoghegan for his time and the wonderful interview. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram @tedgeoghegan, and stream his newest film, Brooklyn 45, on Shudder.
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