With so many horror films going above and beyond these days to try to be different to everything else they often become so artistic that they seem to forget that often the most horrific things are based on realism.
That is certainly the case for new Australian horror film Diabolic which recently premiered to rave reviews at Monster Fest before opening in Australian cinemas.
When I sat down to speak to the film’s director Daniel J. Phillips I soon discovered that while the film can be classed as a ‘witch horror’ its original story came from a true case of religious abuse.
“I’ve always been very aware of what possession can look like as subtext in a horror film,” explains Daniel as we start to talk about the genesis of the film. “Horror is such a big canvas that allows you to tell these big psychological introspective stories and it doesn’t have to be all superficial like it has been in the past. So I was always interested in exploring possession in a different way and see if I could bring something different to that sub-genre of horror.”
“Then I met Mike Harding who a US based writer who lives in Utah,” he continues. “He told me about the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) who are a this kind of cultish offshoot of the Mormon Church. It is a real thing that exists in the United States and they are kind of crazy and they believe in underage marriage and dispelling male youths and they have male alphas for all the women and polygamy where they have 10 or 20 wives each and things like that. And there was this kind of fascinating element that gave it this unique thing that it needed to be. So it became a possession piece mixed with the FLDS story.”
When Mike and Daniel dug more into what was happening within the FLDS they found out a lot of disturbing details that soon became added to Elise’s (the film’s protagonist) story.
“The main thing that the FLDS does is massive oppression of women,” he says. “And I think that really changed the lean of how Elise’s freedom or lack thereof is expressed in the film. We were able to look at the types of PTSD that people who escape cults, situations or churches like that go through. I think it all definitely had an impact because there were so many stories coming out about the FLDS and I feel that every religion has its day in the sun to be scrutnised in media or the public eye and the FLDS has had a few pieces in the last few years but certainly nothing like a major film. So I think when I heard stories about what they had done when women had tried to leave the Church and the types of things that they do to the young girls – the hazing rituals that they have – especially the baptism of the dead ritual that you see in the film a lot of those things did find their way into the movie and affecting the character.”
One of the things that you feel while watching Diabolic is that Elise’s story is realistic and deeply personal and it turns out that is no accident.
“We actually had first hand experience within the film-making team of what happens with the FLDS,” explains Daniel. “Ticia Madsen who is Mike’s wife was actually in the FLDS and she is a contributor to the film as she shared her experiences within the Church and a lot of the real life things that happen to Elise in the film, including the affair she has and some of the reveals and secrets that happen to her, really did happen to Ticia before she was able to escape the Church. And her sister is still in the Church and they are trying to get her out at the moment and it is like trying to break somebody out of prison – it is really, really difficult.”
To finish up Daniel says “I’m really excited about the film being released. I’m looking forward to seeing what an audience thinks of Diabolic. It has been shown in front of some audiences before and the response was really positive, but yeah I am excited about the film being shown in front of new audiences and I want to see if I can scare the shit out of them… and I think I can.”
Diabolic is currently screening in Australian cinemas.
