By MICHAEL GINGOLD
The independent production explores trauma, identity and buried sins.
Writer Stephen Romano, whose credits include the books RESURRECTION EXPRESS and SHOCK FESTIVAL, Don Coscarelli’s INCIDENT ON AND OFF A MOUNTAIN ROAD episode of MASTERS OF HORROR and several Lifetime thrillers, has taken the director’s chair on a feature for the first time with WHAT DID YOU DO? Shot on locations across Texas, it wrapped earlier this month and is now in postproduction, with plans to send it on the festival circuit next year. Scripted by Romano and Teighlor Darr, it stars Jonathan Stoddard, Brian Villalobos, Ashton Leigh, D.C. Douglas and Caroline Williams (TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2). The synopsis: “In a remote Texas safe house, a traumatized ex-soldier named Alice [Stoddard] is hired to facilitate the slow torture of a mystery man duct-taped to a chair [Villalobos]. But nothing is what it seems. As the two men begin their dark and intense association, their identities fracture, and repressed truths bubble to the surface. Meanwhile, Reggie [Douglas]–a brutal and enigmatic underboss–pulls the strings, orchestrating violence too horrifying to name. What begins as a bleak and somewhat cryptic assignment descends into moral collapse and existential horror, building toward a brutal crescendo.”
“I’ve been biding my time for years on being a director,” Romano says, “so I didn’t want to do something super-crass in a really obvious way. Most first features scream, ‘Hey, look at me!’…but I wanted our film to be more of a challenge—and a challenge to the audience.
“We basically just pooled our life savings to make the movie,” he continues, “which was scary as hell, but we needed the right resources. Also, I wanted complete creative control because we break a lot of rules here. When it’s your own money, you answer to no one.”
For similar reasons, Romano is also serving as editor on WHAT DID YOU DO? “George Romero edited DAWN OF THE DEAD by himself, with no assistants,” he notes, “and it’s an incredible achievement. It was what originally inspired me to be a filmmaker.
“There’s some truly evil stuff going on in this film,” Romano adds. “But we don’t throw gore at the screen, at least not right away. We let it simmer. It’s a vibe piece. It’s about loneliness, guilt, and what you’ll do when your soul’s already gone.”
