By RICK HIPSON
LACHRYMOSE PRIMROSE is a dark psychological film you’re unlikely to experience in this modern age of CGI and fast-paced editing designed for today’s fleeting attention spans. With his unique sense of style and approach to cinematic storytelling, filmmaker J.D. Ellenberger harkens back to a day of sophisticated simplicity. Ellenberger’s minimalistic set design of his own making (hell, in his own home), transports the audience back to the days of forbidden speakeasies, handshake contracts and affordable living for the self-initiated. A fully immersive experience, Ellenberger can spin an entire narrative with nothing but the harmonious combination of light, shadow and sound. The subtle nuances of atmosphere allow the actors to shout volumes without uttering a word. Perfectly timed musical beats and orchestrated sound effects add to the overall effect of hammering home the absolute intensity of witnessing an unraveling mind pushed to delusional, murderous consequences by a man who once had life exactly where he wanted it.
Like many films we’ve seen of late, LACHRYMOSE PRIMROSE, set for a January 2024 release, was a product of the COVID-19 global pandemic. While Ellenberger was hard at work in the middle of pre-production on a film of a much larger scale, the world shut down and, like many other filmmakers who could not be swayed from creating their art, he was forced to take his efforts in a different direction. With an obsessive need to peer behind the red curtain, I sat down with the filmmaker to pick his brain and learn about the trail he intends to set ablaze.
Always the sucker for an origin story, I kicked things off by imploring the man what it was, of all the stories he had in his notebook, that made him choose the six-page story that cried out to be adapted to film.
J.D. Ellenberger, filmmaker.
“I suppose what I liked best about that story and why I chose to move forward with it is I liked the aspect of something so mundane happening, something that could happen to you or I or any other person on a daily basis,” Ellenberger explains. “We wouldn’t have a complete breakdown like Caleb (Tedd Bodnar) did, but this one little, small mundane item drove him to the brink of madness. I really liked that because I’ve always been interested in psychology and wondering what makes people cross the line. We all have days where you feel like you could go off the deep end, whether you’re late for work because you’re stuck in a traffic jam, or somebody is in your face about something. But the rational mind has composure, and we know there’s a line you don’t cross. I’ve always been intrigued by what causes somebody to actually snap and cross that line, and the fact that Caleb did with something so mundane as the death of a flower, I really liked that.”
A major stand out is the appearance of an ultra-creepy little ghost girl (brought to life using full practical effects, I must add). Yet, this isn’t a ghost story. Well, not exactly. Sure, a ghost does make a prominent appearance in the film, but Ellenberger deliberately keeps the focus on Caleb, a one-time best-selling author turned psychotic drunk who has his own share of haunting demons wreaking havoc on the vulnerability of his collapsing humanity. As Ellenberger puts it, “I didn’t want the ghost to become the primary focus of the film. The focus of the film needed to be on Caleb and his mental health and why he crossed that line from sanity to insanity and madness. It was difficult, but I felt it was important to the story. I didn’t want this to be another Poltergeist or whatever other possible ghost story it could be. I wanted the focus to be on Caleb, but I wanted the back story of what drove him mad.”
In a sense, Ellenberger completed this film in the shadow of his own ghost. Sadly, his father, with whom he shared a kindred passion for watching noir films, died shortly before the film was completed. While this is the one film Ellenberger most wanted his father to see, so many of the elements he grew up loving with his father shine through in every scene throughout the film (and if you know what to look for, you can find a photograph of Ellenberger’s father in the film). Those cherished movie sessions with his father shaped the way Ellenberger looked at and explored the magic of inciting drama through the use of exact lighting, sound and music to create tension over something as mundane as a man sitting in a chair, lost in his demented thoughts.
“I really wanted it to be a fully immersive experience,” says Ellenberger. I wanted it to be as though the camera was the third person … in the room with Caleb and Elizabeth (Michelle Mullins). Obviously, I can’t objectively say whether or not that worked and conveyed [what] I intended on the screen, but my hope is that you as the viewer felt like you were stuck in this very claustrophobic home. We shot in very tight quarters, and so, I wanted the movie to have a very claustrophobic feel, and you were just a voyeur watching this story unfold.”
Filmed during the pandemic, Ellenberger didn’t let a little thing like lockdown and isolation keep him from completing this film. With a little help from a friend, he put his boots firmly on the ground and went to work converting his cozy home into a movie set. Having to remodel the entire interior of his home to accommodate filming, he. lived on set for a little over two years to get the job done in a house where the largest rooms were no larger than 8 by 10 feet. By the time the actors gathered for their scenes together with all the equipment and lights, “As WC Fields once said, ‘It was so crowded we couldn’t laugh hee-hee; We had to laugh ha-ha,” Ellenberger. confesses.
Adding to the challenges of converting his private home into a film set was the unavoidable loudness of the neighbourhood where Ellenberger lived. In the constant stream of barking dogs, traffic, planes and sirens, it became abundantly clear the film’s living conditions exuded a unique brand of unwelcome cacophony for the soundtrack. That was a big problem, but as anyone creating independent films is apt to tell you, when it comes to overcoming obstacles no matter how big or small, you can either adapt and overcome or take your filmmaking dreams out back to the shed and shoot ‘em dead. Quitting was never an option for Ellenberger, and it was after the second day on set that he turned to his cast and told them, “There is no way we can get any clean audio on this. If this film is going to sound professional, we’re gonna have to ADR (the process of re-recording the film’s audio in a quieter, more controlled setting) everything. I am going to have to put all the foley effects in, from the footsteps and the squeaky doors to the silverware clanging on the plates.” That also meant having to insert every word of dialogue back into the film as voiceovers in post-production. Not exactly an easy feat, but that’s life in indie show business, folks.
Embracing the challenge, Ellenberger turned this major obstacle into a cheat code for creating the type of experience he was compelled to share with the world. Inserting all sounds and dialogue during post-production enabled him to fine-tune every word and note to best support the audience’s experience. And in case you’re wondering, go ahead and see if you can find so much as a single word or syllable out of sync. Spoiler alert: You won’t. Trust me when I say I tried to find one during my multiple viewings and it simply isn’t there to find. It’s no coincidence or happy accident that the sights and sounds of the film worked in perfect synchrony.
“Every cut shot falls on a certain beat,” Ellenberger explains. “I’ve spent my entire life before film being in bands and being a musician, so there’s a wonderful marriage between the two and things I’m able to bring to the table as a musician. The cadence is everything. When Caleb looks a certain way as a certain beat hits with the music, that’s not a coincidence. Everything’s timed out and mapped out accordingly.”
Despite the pleasure Ellenberger derived from making his film come to life, he tells me it wasn’t all fun and games traversing the downward spiral of his star character’s self-obsessed hell. There was one scene he admits almost killed him – when Caleb exercises some of his rage-fueled turmoil by taking an ax to a tree that has fallen in his yard. The idea for this scene was that with every swing of the madman’s ax, blood was to spray onto his shirt and face. Nevertheless, there were multiple challenges with this shoot. Either the blood was too thin or the splatter didn’t look realistic enough. Since Ellenberger stuck to his guns on keeping the effects all practical, using CGI was not an option. However, after starting the shoot at 11 in the morning and still trying to work it out at 10 that night, something had to be done to solve the problem and save the scene. As it turned out, it wasn’t just anyone in the cast or crew who had the answer.
“[Jacob], the father of the little girl who played the ghost of Annie steps forward and says, you know what? Let me lay under the log. Every time Caleb swings the axe, I’ll throw blood in his face,” Ellenberger explains. “I said there’s no way in hell I am going to let you do that. I’m picturing, you know, my entire film career going, I’m gonna lose my house and everything I’ve worked for. I implored him numerous times, please, Jacob, please do not do this. I do not feel comfortable with this at all. He said, ‘If I need to, I’ll sign a waiver putting all the blame on me.’ I believe it either rained that day, or we were just starting to get a dew on the grass. And once you start getting a little bit of blood thrown at you, the axe handle becomes slippery with the moisture in the air. I warned Ted, please make it look believable, but don’t put all your might into it. Well, Ted being the method actor he is, he gets inside the character’s head and loses all control of himself. He’s swinging this axe as hard as he can and Jacob’s throwing the blood up and I kid you not when I say there may have been six to eight inches of space where if he had swung while Jacob’s hand was out…I’m picturing fingers lopped off. This was the most stressful part of the entire film, but thank God, nobody was injured. The scene worked very well because of Jacob’s commitment to the film and his willingness to either hurt or kill himself.”Thankfully, no actors, crew or living vegetation were harmed in the making of this film.
Ellenberger. would go on to complete this riveting tale of madness and shed a little bit of madness himself by taking on the massive task of self-distributing the film. I was equal parts impressed and worried to hear Ellenberger. was taking on the job of distributor on top of all the other hats he wears. I asked J.D. why he would add to his already taxing workload rather than farm out the distribution and marketing in a more traditional fashion. Much of it boiled down to a lack of trust in the standard process. “Once [a distributor] signs you,” Ellenberger explains, “they don’t want to promote you or do anything with you. They expect that the artist does that. So, here’s my issue: If you trust in my work enough to give me a distribution deal or publishing deal, then obviously, you’re trusting this is something that’s going to sell to viewers out there, and you would want to promote that. Instead, they put it back on the artists. I feel that it’s very unfair for most artists.”
Not only is Ellenberger choosing to take full control over the distribution and marketing of LAYCHRIMOSE PRIMROSE, but he plans to eventually turn his experience with self-releasing into another pathway to help fellow filmmakers distribute and market their films, particularly short films.
LAYCHRIMOSE PRIMROSE will be getting a DVD and Blu-ray release in mid-January 2024, and Ellenberger teases a few surprises he has up his sleeve to add appeal for collectors and old-school film junkies. “Throughout our postproduction meetings and gearing up to self-release, there were several options we considered as far as wanting to give the audience something special, or just something fun, some type of novelty to look forward to. Long story short, we have a 3D version of the movie which will be available. There will be a limited run VHS, which will be a 3D version of the film, complete with 3D glasses so if you really want that old school ’80s vibe, you can watch it on VHS with your 3D lenses.”
After making a quick run of the festival circuit over the summer, the film has garnered such accolades as Best Horror Feature (Horror Fest), Festival Finalist (Fright Night Film Fest), Official Selection (Midnight West Horror Fest) and Honorable Mention (L.A. Indie Fest). Lauded as a thinking film lover’s movie, LACHRYMOSE PRIMROSE is expected to make a major splash with viewers who enjoy fully immersive psychological thrillers. There’s no room to merely be a passenger here as the audience is made to feel a part of the high-stakes madness on the screen. The film offers a unique examination into the human condition that’s designed to leave us pondering what it takes to lose one’s mind when all seems lost, and reality loses its influence over an existence that’s as dead as the ghosts that haunt it.
Look out for LACHRYMOSE PRIMROSE from Seafaring Pictures online and in stores on January 15, 2024.
