By Shannon McGrew
In Matthew John Lawrence's latest film BLOODY AXE WOUND, Abbie Bladecut (Sari Arambulo) is a teenager torn between the macabre traditions of her family’s blood trade and the tender stirrings of her first crush. In the small town of Clover Falls, Abbie’s father, Roger Bladecut, has built an infamous legacy by capturing real-life killings on tape and selling them to eager customers. Still, as Abbie delves deeper into the grisly family business, she wonders if it’s time to take the family tradition in a new direction.
For the release of BLOODY AXE WOUND, Creepy Kingdom’s Shannon McGrew spoke with writer/director Matthew John Lawrence. During their chat, they discussed everything from the evolution of the film's concept to the challenges of practical effects and the unforgettable cast that brought this twisted tale to life.
Thank you so much for speaking with me today, Matthew. What inspired the premise of BLOODY AXE WOUND?
Matthew John Lawrence: I had been working on this script since 2015/2016, and it has taken many different turns. There have been many different iterations. I had always wanted to do a slasher movie. It's probably my favorite of the horror sub-genres, and I thought, what about a killer in a slasher movie who transitions or transforms into a final girl? That's where it started.
At first, Abbie's character was in more of a workplace thing, but then that felt too much like Cabin in the Woods. I'm always a fan of films, even horror movies, that are heartfelt. What was missing [from my film] was some drama and emotional turmoil. That's when I started to base it around a family structure of her being torn between family and traditions, living up to her father's expectations, and going on her own path to find her identity. Through many different iterations, I fell in love with having it be a family dynamic that will add much to the dramatic beats.
I love that not only was Jeffrey Dean Morgan ("Supernatural," "The Walking Dead") involved as a producer, but so wasn't his wife, Hilarie Burton Morgan ("One Tree Hill"). How did this collaboration come to be?
Matthew John Lawrence: Shannon, you won't believe it [Laughs]. I made Uncle Peckerhead, and we released it during the pandemic, and it found an audience of horror and punk rock fans. A few months after it was released on VOD, I got a DM from Hilarie on Twitter. She was like, we loved your movie! What else are you working on? For the first couple of days, I thought it was a catfish. I did not think it was real [Laughs]. It's so tough as an independent filmmaker to get anybody to believe in you, let alone watch your movie and support you. I still can't believe I got to make this movie cause I answered a DM three or four years ago. I sent them a couple of scripts, one of which was BLOODY AXE WOUND. They liked two of them, one of which was BLOODY AXE WOUND, and they signed me up for a first-look deal. Then, they basically shepherded the film through Shudder and RLJE Films.
What really stood out to me was how genuine these characters felt, from Sari Arambulo's performance of Abbie to Billy Burke's transformation. What was the casting process like?
Matthew John Lawrence: Billy was the only person Jeffrey had pulled in. Billy had time off between filming his television show and agreed to do it based on his friend encouraging him to do it, which, again, was just crazy [Laughs]. The rest of it was casting, which I love. It's one of my favorite parts, and I think the most important. If you don't have a good cast, there's no way it works, even if it's well-written and executed.
Sari is amazing, and it warms my heart that [her performance] resonates with people. We were spending a lot of time trying to find [someone to play] Abbie. I was a big fan of "A.P. Bio," and we contacted her and asked if she would come and read. We needed to make a decision literally within a day, and she did a Zoom reading, which was amazing. She's hysterically funny and great at the comedic bits, but she also can nail her dramatic moments. As far as a collaborator, you could not ask for a nicer, kinder person who takes the work seriously but likes to have fun. She's magic. The rest of the kids [in the cast] - and when I say kids, they're all in their 20s - everybody in it, especially the core group of teens, were so amazing.
Lastly, what was the most challenging part of incorporating all the practical effects, and is there a kill from the film that's your favorite?
Matthew John Lawrence: Shout out to Jared Balog, our makeup/effects guy. I've worked with Jared and his crew on a few projects starting with Uncle Peckerhead. As a director/writer, you cook up an idea in your head, and you're like, we have no money; how will we do this? Jared never says no he's always like, we're going to find a way to do it, and he does it, and it looks fucking incredible. He's really a magician with that stuff.
This film will not work without doing practical effects. It looks so much better just as far as the aesthetics. There's no way we can make an homage to [slashers] if we're doing it all VFX. Everybody wanted to do [practical] and that's what was great, there wasn't a lot of contentiousness with that. It's a highly ambitious script to knock out in 18 days, and effects take a long time. Billy was in the chair for at least 3-4 hours, and Jared worked at breakneck speed. He and his teams are working like dogs.
Many of the [effects], not so much Billy's makeup, but some of those sequences were one and done. Once we have somebody getting knifed in the neck and bleeding out over a car, we don't have enough time to clean up that car and get them into a new outfit and hair and makeup and spend the three hours doing that. Many of those things you saw were the first take which, for me, had my butthole clenched [Laughs]. When you see it on screen, and it comes out the way you envisioned, it releases this dopamine.
As far as my favorite kill, that's tough because there are so many that I really love. For spoiler reasons, I'll say how Billy dies at the fire pit. That's the one I want to be in an audience of people when it happens.
BLOODY AXE WOUND is now in select theaters.