Although it’s now the month of November and Halloween was days ago, that doesn’t mean spooky season is totally over. Some people still have their Halloween decorations on their lawns. And if you can put your Christmas decorations up on November 1st (no judgments here), we can keep Halloween going for at least another two weeks. Besides, if I couldn’t talk about spooky season, then I wouldn’t be able to speak of the fun interview that I had with the cast and director of In Our Blood.
In Our Blood, directed by Pedro Kos, stars Brittany O’Grady as Emily Wyland, a filmmaker who teams up with a cinematographer named Danny (E.J. Bonilla) to shoot a documentary about her reunion with her estranged mother, Sam (Alanna Ubach), after a decade apart. When her mother suddenly goes missing, possibly succumbing to the addictions that first tore her family apart, Emily and Danny must piece together increasingly sinister clues to find her before it’s too late.
In Our Blood Review: A Good Film For Fans Of The Found-Footage Horror Genre
One of the things we wanted to know from Kos, who is known for his documentaries, is the process of shifting from a documentary to a narrative film. Kos replied, “I kind of actually approached it a little bit, doing both. I didn’t completely let go of the documentary side of things….one of the things that I think we all saw… the film is very much reflecting our world that we live in today. And it’s not some fantastical world. It is the challenges that we’re seeing. And it is the humanity that we’re not seeing every day, and it’s really about that.”
He went on to say, “I wanted to create a space where we could inhabit and live in these spaces and take in the space… absorb Las Cruces, be with people, and film in real places.”
Just from the passion in Kos’s voice as he answered my question, it was clear that this project means a lot to him. And he couldn’t say enough nice things about the crew and the cast. Especially Brittany and E.J.’s performances. Brittany had the difficult task of making sure she didn’t give anything away as it pertained to her character, Emily. As I mentioned, I watched In Our Blood twice and picked up on so many things I previously missed. One moment in particular involving something as simple as Emily consuming a cracker gave me an OMG moment. And based on Brittany’s reaction to my question, she was very proud of that, as she should be.
The art of showing and not telling.
“I just want to say, I now feel the satisfaction that I’ve been waiting for, for years… I really wanted people to understand… Pedro and E.J. know how much I care about that scene. It was one of my favorite scenes because there was this challenge that Krisha and I had in there. We were really in on that scene. But it was fun… The tone and the storyline, and the people behind it. There were already things set in place. We discussed the lore, the backstories of each character, and the world of the characters and the world we live in, just all mixed in… we were all so enmeshed in it. It was almost like a puzzle piece… but it was so satisfying that people are getting it…as Pedro said, the intention behind this is deeper than just horror.”
We couldn’t agree more with Brittany and Pedro. There are several moments throughout In Our Blood that remind us of the darkness that exists in humans. That darkness is something Danny experiences when he’s racially profiled by the police. Later in the film, it leads to a confrontational moment between him and Emily, where he reminds her that he’s risking a lot. We wanted to know what his thought process was in that moment.
The importance of feeling seen.
“I think for any partnership, whether it’s a solid friendship, or it’s professional, or it’s romantic, each part deserves to feel seen. What Danny needed to make sure in that moment was that she… got it. Like, before I take another step in this direction with you, as your partner, as your backup, as your teammate, you need to really understand what this is for me… I think that Danny’s been fighting his entire life to just be himself without apology, but that is not an easy thing to do when people tend to see you a certain way. And I’ve experienced those things in my life many times…”
This interview with the cast and director of In Our Blood was so enlightening, and each of them gave such thoughtful answers. To hear more of the things they had to say and the stories they shared, as well as what their reactions were to the film’s twist, watch the interview below:
