MAKING THE PARANORMAL HORROR FILM LEGADO (WITH CHRISTINE JANSEN & ANA PERES)

🖤🌌NEW PODCAST EPISODE:
I had the pleasure of speaking with two very talented ladies of the new horror film Legado (which I had the pleasure of seeing and reviewing at the Horror Hotel International Film Festival), Director Christine Jansen and Screenwriter Ana Peres.
In this episode we discuss the process of making the new horror film LEGADO (which I had the pleasure of seeing, as well as meeting Christine, at the Horror Hotel International Film Festival).

This new episode is now available on YouTube, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Buzzsprout and Apple!

Follow them on the socials at
@beautifuldarknessproductions (Christine)
@ana_c_16 (Ana)

Thank you so much for coming on, ladies, and stay tuned for the new episode!
And check out Legado.com for more info on the film and where the film is playing🌌🖤

#horrorfilm
#supernaturalhorror
#paranormalhorror #indiehorror #horrorhotelfilmfestival

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Well, hey there, and welcome to another episode of the After Hours Chats. Welcome to another After Hours chat. Uh, Tiffany here, and today I am really, really excited about uh this next episode because we are talking to two very, very awesomely talented ladies here. And uh Christine Jensen and Ana Perez, who's come who's like with us from Brazil, so this is awesome. Uh we love to have you. And um, and I actually met Christine very recently uh when I was at the Horror Hotel International Film Festival. That was great fun, and I got the opportunity to uh see uh her and Anna's new film, Legato. And when Christine uh was first talking to me at my table about it, telling me about what it was about and family secrets and possession and all of that, it was up my alley, so I had to I had to see it, and I was super excited to see it. I made sure I came early at 10 o'clock so I could see it, and I really I was not disappointed. In fact, I did a mini review, a couple of mini reviews on some of the uh films that I got a chance to see at Horror Hotel, and so I did do, I gave it a very positive uh review because I was I genuinely enjoyed it. I was very impressed with it. Uh but yes, we're gonna talk to these two today. I'm super, super excited. So um, Anna, Christine, um tell a little bit how of how Anna, you got into screenwriting and Christine how you got into filmmaking. Oh, okay. Whoever wants to go first. Whoever wants to go first.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Yeah, like I totally want to do filmmaking like since middle school, and it was just things happen. So, like in middle school, you could either choose a foreign language or a film production course, but the other half of it was public speaking, and I hate public speaking, so I was like, okay, I'll take it in high school. I didn't know in high school you couldn't take the video course if you didn't take it in middle school. So now I couldn't take it, and then also I was, you know, I was in high school in the late 90s, early 2000s, so it was mini DVs, it didn't look at all like professional, it didn't look like film. So, you know, I I ended up going for an art video major, but it was more using art as a medium as opposed to really looking at it through a film analysis. And I fell into graphic design and did that for seven years, then uh moved it to being a librarian, and then I was like, hey, you know, uh the combination of COVID, selling my house, turning 40. I was like, this is something I've wanted to do my whole life. I finally have a little bit of money, so I would like to do the thing to see if I want to do the thing. Yes, yeah. Uh in 2022, I started my production company and I made uh five shorts. Nice, and then this was my very first debut feature film. But amongst the many hats I wear, I am not a writer. I went on to stage 32 to meet other writers and to read their scripts to see if we could collaborate. And that's where I met Anna.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Nice, nice. And Anna, how did you get into uh screenwriting?

SPEAKER_00 3:46

So I've always been a big reader. Reading has always been a part of who I am, so I love stories, and I always knew I wanted to do something with stories. But since reading was like my first love, I ended I did an associate degree in creative writing. But by high school, kind of similar to Christine, I also fell in love with television and film, and I've been watching films, a lot of films, my whole life as well.

SPEAKER_03 4:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

So while I when I got into my associate degree, I was like, I really love writing prose, but I really, really love screenwriting. So I just started like developing it and doing a bunch of courses on it and just really going after it. And yeah, um now, yeah, that's basically it.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

That's awesome. That's awesome. And uh, and Christine, you have your uh production company, uh Beautiful Darkness. So, and I I love that. I just love the name of it. When you when you gave me your card, I was like, oh, and your Instagram handle, I was like, ooh, beautiful darkness. I gotta, I gotta check this out. And um, so how did um how did your production company come to be? And how did you come up with the uh beautiful darkness name?

SPEAKER_02 5:03

Um, all right, starting with the name first. Uh I was actually inspired. Um my nephew tends to model more um like dark and alternative things, and I was like, oh, we need to make you a website, and I feel like a fun combination of what you do is beautiful darkness, because like it's very fashionable, but it's very dark. And um ended up not making that website, but I loved the name, and I was like, Can I have the name? So I was like, Yes, I love that name and uh the um the logo, which uh is an orchid with fangs. I love it that when you first see it, you think this beautiful flower. Oh, this is a woman-owned company, she has a flower for a logo, but when you look closer, it has those fangs. So yeah, my work tends to be more haunting. Uh, it stays with you, it's dark, it's provocative. So when I tell a lot of people I'm in horror, they're like, Oh, I don't like cara. I'm like, no, it's not slashers. And right, I joke that the blood that you see in legato is not the blood you're gonna expect to see. Yeah, yeah. Yes, this is true. Um have a strong feminist perspective in in the film that we were creating.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Yeah, oh, nice. And um, so Anna, um speaking of legato, because that's a lot of what we're here to talk about. Um how did you get the idea uh for the film? Like, how did that come to be? What inspired you to uh to make that film? Whether did you have any other uh filmmaking uh inspiration? Or like yeah, like talk about that creative process.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Yeah, so like I don't, I it's also like the only project that I've ever knew the title before I wrote the screenplay. I when I had the idea, I was like, this is it. Because, as funny as it seems, this is I think the most biographical film I'll ever do. Because yeah, um, my family has a strong connection to spirituality as most Latinas have, especially the woman in my family. We have like a matriarchal family, just like in the movie. And I had that idea because I was talking to Christine about doing maybe a haunted house movie, and Christine was like, Oh, do you have an idea? I was like, Of course I have, I had zero clue of what we were doing, but I was thinking I wanted to do something Latina, I wanted to do something with psychics because that's a very big part of my family history, actually. My great-grandma who inspired Isabel in the movie. Nice, she was a big uh into Umbanda, which is kind of like a hoodoo uh culture religion here in Brazil. We have a very a lot of African-based religions here, yeah. So she was like the necklaces we put around her in the seance. This is something that is actually done here, so there were a lot of those influences, but I knew I wanted to do something with psychics, but also there's a lot of psychic material out there, so I didn't really know what to do. And I was at my beach house uh uh from my family that my the my grandpa's my grandma's father built, so there's a lot of history there already, and I had a nightmare, and in that nightmare, me, my mom, my aunt, and my grandma fought ghosts in a house. Oh, okay. And that's when the spark uh I woke up. I remember running to my computer and was like, I know it, I know she's going to fake, she's a psychic, and she's going to do like this whole whole thing. So that's kind of how uh legato came to be. But it's very like I try to do some homages to this very Brazilian religions and cultures without being disrespectful. I did we didn't do any real rituals or anything like that. Me and Christine, we talked a lot about that and not wanting to use it for for just unrespectfully or anything like that. So yeah, that's basically how how it came to be.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Oh, I love it. And so that that is so so cool because sometimes your greatest ideas, like you know, even as a creative myself, I know some of my uh greatest ideas come to me in a dream.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Yeah, like my one uh novel, Descent from the Birthright series, that came to me in a dream. I was like, I got like the premise for that in a dream. So, and then I just kind of started write it and just went with it. And so yeah, I I totally hear you. And even as a songwriter, sometimes it's like I'll just get this nagging tune in my head and I'll have to like just quickly take out my uh record, my the recorder on my phone and just kind and just hum it into just hum it into my record the recording app on my phone. And then I go, you know, as soon as I get home, it's like I have to go tinker with it on my keyboard until it starts to sound like something. So it's so I I'm I'm always fascinating, fascinated to hear how other creatives, you know, bring about, like how their ideas come about. And uh and uh Christine, I'd love to hear about uh your own creative process uh with making legato and just the scenery, the casting, all of that, how how your creative process was.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

Uh yes, I'm a very visual person, and it's interesting talking to people that like one of the biggest things I just heard recently is when someone says picture an apple in your head, what does it look like? And for some people it's like a black and white sketch. For some people, it's a 2D sketch. No, for me, it's like 3D turning around. I see it moving in a room. So I I visualize the scenes when I read them, I have them already in my head of like how they could work, how I'm envisioning them and how to see them. So the biggest challenge that I am still continuing to work with, but is to then extract from my head and be able to show it with everyone else because I am not one who draws well. Yeah. So um really doing uh planning, planning out more the the shooting schedules, uh talking out shoting list shot lists that is more helpful to uh talk. But also for this one, it was in a uh an actual person's house that I also just wanted to practice what felt natural to the characters too. So I had some ideas of how I wanted certain scenes to look, like how I wanted the animals to attack or how I wanted to do other things, but there were some scenes that I just wanted to see what is the natural chemistry of especially these these scenes where they're getting angry towards each other, and and I just wanted I didn't want them to feel like oh, I have to stand here at this moment, and I need to stand here at this moment. I wanted them to have the ability to be a little bit more fluid so they can um really go in because these scenes, uh a lot of them it has almost always all four characters, so it was a little harder to shoot just pieces of it for the coverage. You almost had to shoot through the entire thing to keep this rhythm, to keep keep the emotion up.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Yeah, yeah. So what was the uh casting process like? Uh, because I I thought everybody was very well cast in the film and the acting was really, really good. And like I said, I thought I I think everybody fit their roles perfectly. So uh what kind of a process did you go through to find the actors?

SPEAKER_02 12:48

So I was very fascinated. Half of our cast came from backstage, the other half was posting on Facebook groups. Wow. So I just want to celebrate that, like, yes, there is amazing talent on backstage, but there's also amazing because this is a non-union production, there's also amazing talent in those Facebook groups, and I know everyone's like Facebook, but like in the New Jersey indie film scene, our our Facebook groups are really big to find people.

SPEAKER_03 13:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

So it was when I looked at back, it looked, it was almost a 50-50 split, but it was great that it did uh backstage opened up the ability. Uh an example is the little ghost girl actually lives in Florida. And I almost like didn't want to. There's so many complications of getting someone from another state, but they were just like so dedicated, so passionate, and they're like, no, we will be there, it won't be a problem. And I was like, okay, so like the second because uh Anna was there with me for as many of the auditions that she could make, and she was the reader, so I could just watch. Yeah. So it was really great. And then we would talk afterwards, like I have an idea of the characters, she has an idea of the characters, you know, which one works. And then sometimes you might select one character, and you're like, oh, well, to balance, like it it might change who you thought this other character would be because you need to have a balance between those characters.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Yeah, oh, absolutely. And uh and I think all of the actors did an amazing job just with moving the story along and keeping up the pace, which is really important, I think, in a film like that, because it's not this fast-paced film where you have the slasher here, the person running away here, and there's constant action. It's kind of like the slow burn buildup to this huge climax of the of the film. And I really thought just that the act in a in a film like that, that relies very heavily on the actors to really uh pull that off so that it flows, it doesn't drag or anything like that. And I think that in conjunction with the very good writing, the good directing, and just with the acting, it all came together really, really nicely. Just the production is absolutely amazing. I I really enjoyed it very much. And um, were there any challenges on set? Um, because Anna, uh, were you there for any of the filming?

SPEAKER_00 15:31

No, unfortunately, I couldn't make it. I was in the United States at the time, but I was doing a USC summer program in horror film and analysis and production. So I was kind of learning how to shoot short films while talking to Christine and really wanted to be there, but like it did it the scheduling didn't work. I actually never met Christine in real life, which is as crazy as it sounds, yes. I've never been in the same room apart from uh virtual meetings, which is just insane to think about that we did so many collaborations and it worked so well, like we were always on the same page with casting. I did some acting lessons, so it was very fun to work with the actors and just see the other side of the process as well. So, so yeah, unfortunately I wasn't there, but I was hanging on my phone, like Christine, is everything okay? Do you need me there? Like, what's very anxious about it, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

All that, yeah, but yeah, because I mean it would have been nice, I think, for you to have been there, but of course, yeah, you know, I'm sure you know uh it was good, you know, just to have those updates from Christine and oh yeah, yeah, and stuff come together. And did you see any of the footage uh prior to it being edited or its release? And did you have like any say in what went where? Or did you just trust the podcast?

SPEAKER_00 17:04

I really I I did trust Christine 100%. I had no doubt she would be do like the best for the movie. We've always talked about it. Um but I don't think I think I think she sent me a couple pictures, but she was always like, let me get a first cut, like let me let me like really dress this up. Like it's it's gonna work out. Like, trust me, I was like, I do. It's it's really yeah. I but I don't think I've I've seen anything before it was actually kind of done. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

So with my process, it's that I noticed like my first cut, I'm like, uh, where's the movie I wanted? Yeah, I can cut, you're like, oh, I'm feeling it. And then once you get the sound design, I'm like, this is where my movie was. Like it's funny how sound design can just like change everything so much. And I just I think I wanted to do right by her script. It's such it was such an amazing script. And there were like things that uh either or uh timing, weather, like there's so many things that come up that as I was editing, I was like, oh yeah, we had to cut that one thing, or oh, this was like really awesome on paper, but just the day of it could it just the practical effect didn't work like it was supposed to work. Right. So um her her script is amazing. Her script is amazing. Oh yeah, yeah. I just wanted to like I wanted it to be as perfect as possible before I showed it to her.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

Yeah, oh of course, of course. And you know, when you talk about like sound design, it's sound can make all the difference in the world. I don't know if um you guys have seen those uh videos that are on like YouTube and TikTok where it shows like a a movie, but it changes the music up a little bit, and it really does it can turn a comedy into a horror film, depending on what type of uh music or sound design. Um so what was like the process for doing the music and the sound design?

SPEAKER_02 19:08

Uh so this was uh an Indiegogo project, and uh that was my first time using it, and it actually um so many composers were coming to me because of both Indiegogo and having it as pre-production on IMDb. So I just want to tell filmmakers if you're looking for composers, they will find you if if you're on possibly uh like a Kickstarter or Indiegogo as well as the IMDb. So many reached out to me uh from around the United States and around the world. Uh and in the end, we did end up working with an Italian uh uh composer, uh Michelle Messon. I'm sorry if I mispronounced that. Uh he was absolutely wonderful to work with, again, international. I've never video called, I don't, yeah, I don't think I ever even video called. We just talked through email, but the biggest was putting together the feel. So I was uh the Anna and I um love Mike Flanagan. Uh as far as like the horror, like that was where we totally connected in the beginning, is like he he's one of our favorites. So a lot of his films have the more traditional strings, and that's that's where I was thinking. We would go with the traditional strings for this one. I wasn't entirely certain like how we would even integrate Latin American music into the horror because uh I tried to study other Spanish and Hispanic horror movies to like even get a feel for that, and they do more traditional, like like what we're used to. And then I saw long legs, and I was like, oh, this is like atmospheric. This isn't strange, it's more a vibe, and I loved that. So I had a full Spotify list and I scrapped it, and I then started to look for more things like long legs, and I made the Spotify list for him and said, This is more what I want. I want this uh and he did um I forget the exact credit, but he did work on Midsommar as well. Oh, it was like one of the remixers on Midsommar. Yes, so again, like there's some. I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

That's my favorite soundtrack. All my scripts I wrote listening to the Midsummer like soundtrack. That's it blew my mind right now. Like, I'm I'm losing this vibe.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Yes, so um I just sent it his way, he sent it back, and I said, This is awesome. It was more just like, oh, I think I also want music here and here. Like that that was pretty much the feedback, or like it was it was very minimal. And then um, my sound designer, Vinny Alfonso, he's been with me from my very first short film in uh raw data. So he has been my sound designer on Every single film. He's also amazing to work with. Another person I've never met in person, uh, he's in New York City. Uh, but he's just absolutely wonderful. He totally gets it. So he just does he does great with uh sometimes he brings other people on as well, but like the folly he creates, the atmosphere he adds. So that those two things combined, it just brought it to life.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Yeah, I love it. Love it, love it, love it. And the finished product, I think was was amazing. So, and both of you guys should be very, very proud, as well as the rest of the cast, should be very, very proud of the film that you made. And it and Horror Hotel, that was its world premiere screening, correct? Correct. Yes. So I got to see its world premiere, so yeah, and it was worth it.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

Absolutely. I just wanted to mention one more thing about the music working with Brennan. So I had never worked with uh a musician. I did I, you know, we talked about it, but like a lot of this is learning on the job. Yeah. So um my my EP connected me to Denise, and Denise works with a lot of artists, and she put a call out and said, Hey, uh, you know, this indie film is looking for a song. If you have anything that's, you know, this kind of because we knew like this is this movie that you've there's really no place to put normal soundtrack music. Like the intro, but really we knew it was gonna be the end song. That would probably be the place where it would make the most sense to put something. We put out kind of like the the feel that we want of the song, and uh she gave several. There were two I loved, but like the one we chose when I just saw how the lyrics practically match up to the actions that are happening in the movie. I'm like, because the the biggest thing that Anna and I kept saying is we want a bittersweet ending, right? Want that bittersweet feeling, and there was like a voice, uh a voiceover at one point where we heard in her head that oh, this is a blessing, not a curse. And I'm like, well, we don't really have her saying things out loud anywhere else, or you know, in our head anywhere else. I don't know if that makes sense, but this combination of Brennan's song SOS with the visuals, I think does give that that, oh, this isn't a blessing, it's a curse.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Yeah, yeah. Oh wow, yes. So yeah, so obviously Legato, it covers it, has a very paranormal um theme to it. So have you two ever had any paranormal experiences? Or and did you or did you have any paranormal experiences on the set? So whoever wants to go first with that one.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

I didn't have any on set, and the the mildest one that I will ever say is that when I was in college, uh there was a study room on the floor. So, you know, I'm working really late, I was an art major, and so instead of being in my dorm keeping my roommate up, there's just this like one study room, and I'm the only person in it, and I'm down working on my artwork. Yeah. You know how when someone walks into a room, you you just like you feel the air move, you hear the air change. Yes, I felt that, acknowledged the person, looked up and saw no one was in the room. Oh wow, but like I felt and heard someone come into the room, so yeah, that's my one experience.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Anna, what about you?

SPEAKER_00 25:42

That's a good one. Um just to to to make sure, like to be said that me and Christina, we were very aware of what we were doing spiritually on set. So we I was like, Christine, maybe let's bless the set, maybe let's, you know, we don't want yeah, we don't want anything to happen to anyone. So we did have that uh that talk, but yeah, I've had a lot of supernatural experiences in my life. Like I said, my family comes from a very spiritual background. Funny enough, I did start seeing I've seen ghosts, I've heard weird things, like all of the above, basically. And the funny thing is that when that started happening to me, I had no idea that my family had a spiritual side, so that was kept for me from a very long time until we I was not sleepy anymore. I couldn't like I was kind of spiraling, and then my mom just sat down with me and said, Okay, so I also I can also see things, your aunt can also see things, and your great-grandmother, like she actually in what we call in Portugal in Portuguese, um, incorporar, which is basically uh an allowed possession, in like you allow an entity to use your body, she would do that constantly because it's a part of her religion. Um and yeah, I've had a lot of weird things happening. I think the the one that really inspired Legato uh was the one on the when Luna walks out of the hallway and she sees something for the first time, which is a really big moment for her. Yeah, I saw something really weird once. I woke up, I looked at my door, my door was open, and there was just something there. I I don't know how to explain that. It was just like this very shadowy figure, it didn't have a face, it was kind of like a blur, and I just started screaming, and then I blinked and it was still there. Wow, and I was and I blinked again and it did not move, and it was just standing there, so I started screaming for my dad. My dad comes and went like he walked past it and it just kind of hid uh behind my door, and like I didn't see anything, and I was just like shaking. I like I had like a whole reaction to it. But yeah, that there's there's a lot of like family history with it, and a lot of it happened did happen in my beach house where I had the nightmare for Legato, so like ponderful, it's like all came together, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Yeah, well, I can definitely see then how Legato was autobiographical for you, like after you telling me all that, and I do think it was smart to bless the set before before doing anything, just simply because you do hear about just weird stuff happening on films that are of a spiritual nature like that, like I think poltergey stuff happened on that, The Exorcist, you hear about all of that. So I do think, yes, if you're going to do a film like that, it is very smart to to bless the bless the set. So just to ensure for a smooth, a smooth ride with filmmaking. In every note. Yes, exactly, exactly. And um what are like like both of you, what are some of your thoughts on uh the afterlife? And do you have any theories on what uh what spirits and things actually are? Like are you know, like are they residual energy? Are they actual human spirits or something a little more demonic? I've said in past episodes, I think it's a little bit of all of the above, depending on the situation, but uh since this is a spiritual film, I would love to hear uh you guys' take on that. Whoever wants to go first. Rock, paper, scissors.

SPEAKER_03 29:52

All right, you okay, you go.

SPEAKER_02 29:57

Um I I I think my biggest thing is I want it to be true. So uh I I I do work with uh ghost hunting groups like uh Nine Lives Paranormal. And I love um filming uh while there, uh their investigations, hearing and feeling for myself. Um uh I definitely I I think like you said, it's a gamut. I do think there could be residual energies from things that happened, but as well as spirits that are caught behind as well. I like to think that it it does exist. Um and I of all the horror, haunted houses has been my number one. Like I can't get enough of haunted house stories. That is yeah, and then one step back is supernatural. So, like that is where I tend to live is in Haunted House and Supernatural, right? As far as fiction goes. But I like I said, right now, ever since I got connected with a ghost hunting group, and and they they have lots of friends that also do ghost hunting, it's really fascinating to see uh what they're doing and how they investigate and actually be in the space when those things happen.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

Right, yeah. What about you, Anna?

SPEAKER_00 31:11

Yeah, like I said, like I grew up uh not knowing, but like in Brazil, we are very superstitious. I feel like most Latina cultures are as well. But yeah, I do believe it's kind of all of the above. I believe I I always say, like, who am I to say something is not like doesn't exist? Who am I to say like a religion thinks it's it's wrong? So I I do think there are ghosts, there are people that are stuck, there are people that come visit us to say maybe something to help us. Um I do uh believe there are bad stuff, and I believe in energy overall, and I think when you're really down, you attract bad stuff, uh basically, and I think we kind of deal with that in Legato, like her ultimately like Luna's desperation to belong to her family is what makes her weak for the demon. So I I I I think I do really believe that um those bad like feelings, those negative feelings kind of can help uh help like attract bad things.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Yeah, yeah, like when you're a little bit more down, you might be on that same vibrational level as and they may and it might be a lot easier for them uh to reach you. And no, I I totally get that because I remember when I was going through kind of a low period, I I was definitely I was seeing shadow people and seeing all, and it wasn't until I got out of that and started to really work on myself that that that went away. So yeah, I mean no, I I totally get what you're saying there. And um, is there an area in Brazil that, you know, respectfully, of course, is most haunted? Is there any place in Brazil that is, you know, has very high spiritual energy, or is it just kind of throughout the throughout the country?

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Um, I think there are areas where it's like it's more spiritually or at least energy-wise heavier. Uh, I'm from the south, so I'm very close to Argentina, but the north of Brazil, there were a lot of uh enslaved people there, and they were the ones that brought these religions that I've been talking about. And that and you can like I've never been to like Bahia, but they say, or uh Salvador, they say there is where you can really feel it's different when you perform there are a lot of rituals in these religions, uh, it's just different. And I think anywhere that is has so many negative historical, like historical events, I think it it helps to to just create that that environment. But I think we're just very superstitious. Everyone like it's just we're always dealing with stuff like that. It's very natural to be like talking about it, talking about going to rituals, doing all this stuff. So yeah, we're just it's very part of our everyday culture, really.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

Yeah, yeah, wow. And Christine, uh, I know you said you've been on a bunch of ghost hunts. So uh what was the most haunted place that you visited on a ghost hunt?

SPEAKER_02 34:46

Uh um, where I saw the most activity, it was I don't want to misquote it. I think it's called the Stanley Hotel. It's in New York State, it's not the Shanley, or maybe it's the Shanley, not the Stanley, it's not the one from The Shining. The Shining, yeah. I was gonna say, ooh, Stanley Hotel. That's the Shining. Okay, so it's the Shining Hotel, which it was um a boarding house for many years. Uh, it had a brothel. So the the brothel had some really interesting interactions that were going on in there. Wow. Uh uh, there's two areas where I just got the heebie jeebies too much, which was so I just I started to walk towards them and I was like, nope, I uh chickened out, which was uh the basement, because there was a little snow to shove down there. And uh the third floor, uh there is no electricity, so it is flashlights only on that third floor. Also, like no heat, no electric uh no no electricity on that third floor. Um and there was just like a lot more darker stuff that happened on that floor, so there's so much darker energy. Um I could definitely say I didn't sleep the whole night. Um like each of them was known for something, and the room we were staying in was um a gentleman who would like hang out. There were a lot, like I think I think uh I don't want to misquote the story, but I think he was like a drinker, so he would like sleep it off there before he went home kind of thing. So he wasn't like malevolent or anything, but it was very, very hard to sleep. Oh my gosh. But yeah, every there was like activity in almost every single room.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

Wow, yeah, yeah, because uh it's always interesting to hear stuff like that because I've been on a couple of ghost hunts uh myself, one in particular recently, um Castle Blood, which is uh one of my favorite haunted attractions. And it's you know, I'm also a media ambassador for them too. So they their haunted attraction is inside a century-old funeral home. So you can imagine there's a lot of uh a lot of stuff that's like been through there, and it's and it's seen so many different uh different times in history, so many, you know, at least two like yeah, well, definitely two different world wars and the Korean War, and it was in operation until like in operation until the early 2000s and before it uh fell out of use, and then Castle Blood came in and revived it as a haunted attraction, which I think is perfect. Um, but yeah, but there's a lot of activity there because I went uh on a ghost hunt uh with or a uh paranormal uh research uh hunt with uh Whispering Souls Paranormal. And they're awesome, they're very professional, because that's another thing too. You want to make sure that the team that you're you're with is professional, knows what they're doing, isn't just going to willy-nilly go in and take the smallest bang on the floor and not at least try to find a logical explanation for that, which is what I appreciate about whispering souls paranormal. Um, but but yeah, but there's definitely a lot of activity in there. And I I learned a little bit more about the history because I've you know been to Castle Blood a million times, but I've learned more about the history too behind the building, which was pretty fascinating. So, but yeah, I'm always always interested in hearing about what other people experienced, and especially if you're also doing some uh paranormal uh research teams and and all of that. So, Ana, have you ever been on a paranormal research or ghost hunt?

SPEAKER_00 38:54

No, I haven't. Uh I would love to go in one while I'm also kind of afraid of doing it and feeling too much and being kind of like my aunt always said to me, like, oh, because um I'm more sensitive to this stuff, I'm kind of a beacon. So it becomes a little bit of a tougher, more maybe scarier thing for me to do. So I I don't know, but I will love I always watch ghost hunting YouTube videos, like that's like it's just I think it's just fun. But yeah, I've never been to what yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

Do you guys have a favorite urban legend or anything like that?

SPEAKER_00 39:34

That's a good question. Uh we have very different urban, yeah, we have a few different ones here in Brazil. Uh they're all very tragic. Yeah, I think one that I like, it's it happens in um a lake near here, um, where they say like this woman drowned there, there's like a bunch of things that happen, and she kind of appears. And you can see when there's a lot of fog, you can see some boats, and every boat that that's in that river sinks, and you can kind of see stuff during the night is in the a highway. So I think that's one of my favorites because it's very like local, like one hour from here. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

Oh wow, cool. And what about you, Christine? Do you have a favorite um urban legend, whether it's local to where you are or from another state or country?

SPEAKER_02 40:31

Yeah, I would definitely say a hyperlocal one is that um my aunts and uncles had this house that was in the family for generations and it was hundreds of years old, a farmhouse in the Poconos in Pennsylvania. Oh, I know where that is! I love the Poconos, yeah. And um it it's like this this 200-year-old farmhouse, and it was an inn. So it's fascinating because like some rooms will have a sink, but like uh the bathrooms are shared. It it but it's it's it's a very fascinating um setup, the house.

SPEAKER_03 41:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:03

But the the story that I was told is that when it was more of a farm, a young boy had um uh accidentally drowned in the front pond. And in the game room, uh I I I mean I don't mean air quotes, there was a game room where the kids moved out. Um it had wood paneling.

SPEAKER_01 41:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

And I did take pictures of it, I just don't know where the pictures exist. It looks like in because you know how like wood paneling has these kind of marks. It looks like a little boy in a top hat and where the lungs are, the lungs are folded. So it was, you know, our older cousins would love to tell us this story, and then the youngest kids were put up on the third floor, which is of course the scariest floor. But um, no, it was just like a local legend that, like, I I don't know, in that room, I always felt like he was in there with me. So I never liked being in that room by myself.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

Right. Oh my gosh, wow, yeah, oh my gosh, yeah. I love urban legends and hearing about just different local lore and or even you know, some lore from your family, you know, from somebody else's family, because that can also be very, very fascinating to hear about. Um, so as far as projects go, uh, what do you guys have coming up after uh Legot to follow up Legato?

SPEAKER_02 42:35

Uh so I am working uh right now with the screenwriter of my second film, Instinct. Trying to share my love. Nothing against Sana whatsoever, just sharing all the love with all the screenwriters I've ever worked with. And it was one of those things I'm like, hey, I have this idea. I feel like you would be a great fit for this story. So uh right now, uh uh we're still working out the details, but essentially it's about uh a mockumentary that they're doing a mockumentary about a 1980s TV show that everyone absolutely loved. Uh-huh. But as they're starting to do the interviews, there's like some weird things, or do people remember the show a little bit differently or thought it was weird or dark? And then she kind of starts to go down this like conspiracy path to kind of figure out and investigate this. Yeah. Last episode was never aired, so there's mystery behind that, and sort of so it kind of goes from like a um a documentary into investigative journalism.

SPEAKER_01 43:36

Oh wow. So it's kind of like is it like found footage or is it just done in sort of like like like you said, like a like documentary form, but kind of like kind of like what like Shelby Oaks was?

SPEAKER_02 43:51

Um Yeah, I think it's like I think the first act is gonna feel like a polished documentary, the second act is gonna feel a little bit more of guerrilla. Journalism slash found footage.

SPEAKER_01 44:02

Uh-huh. Nine.

SPEAKER_02 44:03

So it's kind of a use of all of them.

SPEAKER_01 44:05

Yeah, I love me some found footage. I that's like I love it. I know some people sometimes can have like you know mixed views on found footage. I love found footage. I like that whole idea of oh my gosh, we found this mysterious camera or phone or whatever. And oh my gosh, what's on it? Oh no, these people are running for their lives. What's going on? You know, after going try looking like what's a fun road trip, now they're running for their life. I love that. I just because to me, you know, that that just brings more realism to it and that rawness to it. And like it it can happen to you, you know, whether you're running from something physical or spiritual, and and that's what I like about uh found footage. Um, like what are your thoughts on found footage?

SPEAKER_02 45:01

Yeah, I love it. I I think so of course Blair Witch was like the one. And then I didn't think it could be done again until I saw Hellhouse LLC. Oh, okay. That's when I was like, oh, I like and that's what inspired Whimsywood was that this isn't a hundred percent found footage, it's it's a mix of things, and I I think that's what made it because you can't replicate what they did for Blair Witch, you know. Right. It's like the OG, you know, years and the internet was just different, it was in its infancy, and you couldn't necessarily look things up, and they had a very convincing website and all these things. But I liked how Hell House LLC took those challenges and made it work.

SPEAKER_01 45:43

Nice, nice. What about you, Anna? What do you have coming up?

SPEAKER_00 45:48

So I've been working on a couple of scripts. I'm also finishing an MFA in creative writing, so I I've kind of had to like take some time to to write a novel, which is my yeah, psychological thriller, which I'm very excited about. I haven't finished it yet, but it it's it's happening. Yeah, uh, but my but like my latest, also amazing Christina. I want to see like amazing project. Love it. I haven't heard I didn't hear about that before. Um, and but lately I've been working on a new feature that's uh called Provenance. Okay. And it's if the claustrophobic setting of psycho meets the family traditions of Texas Change, a massacre with a Latina twist. So we have yeah, we have the kind of like a dusk until dawn kind of situation in like it changes by the middle like point two of like act two, it changes what type of movie it is. It starts with more of like an actual thriller, and then she gets into uh like a BNB um 1910s house, and the care and it's it turns dark and very, very gore. I did I love Supernatural, but I've done legato, I've wrote uh a pilot that's very supernatural. Uh I wrote like a bunch of things that are supernatural, so I kind of wanted to do a very hard turn and try to challenge myself to write a more grounded, like gore action-based because I love action movies as well. So I there's like shootouts, there's dead bodies, they're being eaten, there's like a lot going on.

SPEAKER_01 47:30

Wow, yeah. Well, I definitely can't wait to, you know, till some, you know, that something comes into fruition there. And yeah, I can't wait to, you know, when when your novel is is published, you know, that thank you. Yeah, definitely keep me posted on that because I'm getting getting back to my book reviews because I go through spurts where I do a bunch of book reviews and then I get super busy and don't have a ton of time to like read and then do a review on it. But I have a spurt of time now where like I can do like book reviews now, so yeah, definitely keep me posted on that. So absolutely, and um and where can people see Logato? Because I know it's currently making the rounds at film festivals.

SPEAKER_02 48:18

Yeah, so legatofilm.com, legatofilm.com. Uh that is where you can watch the trailer. There's even a featurette showing some behind the scenes of what happened at the uh there. If you want to hear the music, it leads you both to Brennan as well as uh you can listen to the soundtrack online, and then there's a watch page right now. That's where we're gonna list any of the film festivals. The next one is coming up. It is, I want to say July 17th. I don't want to just want to make sure that's right. Friday, yes, Friday, July 17th is its New Jersey premiere. It's East Coast, East Coast premiere, because uh I am in New Jersey, so I'm excited to now have a premiere in our own state. It's uh block three at 6.30 at the Northern Horror Fil uh Fest. The Northern Horror Fest. So you can either look up Northern Horror Fest or go to legatofilm.com and there's a link to get tickets. And then also to stay tuned when it is available to watch on streaming or on demand, that information will be on that same page. So legatofilm.com. But if you want to see what other cool stuff we're doing, beautifuldarknessproductions.com is our main website, and you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Beautiful Darkness Productions.

SPEAKER_01 49:35

Yes, absolutely. And um, Anna, where can people find you and your work?

SPEAKER_00 49:41

Um, so I have a YouTube channel. Uh, it is in Portuguese, but I do a lot of movie reviews and just possible reviews and things like that, which is uh Anna Perez writer.

unknown 49:54

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:55

But as a writer, I think it's a little bit more difficult to find myself. I do have a bunch of short films, but the only one that's that is available to watch is in my YouTube channel, so there's a lot in there. Yeah, okay, I'll have to check that out.

SPEAKER_01 50:09

So definitely. Hopefully the translating like captions work. I know sometimes they do, sometimes, because I'll sometimes I'll watch something that's not in English on YouTube, and sometimes the translation works perfectly, and other times it's just kind of like I don't think that's I mean, I don't know that language, but I don't think that's what they're saying, you know. But um, but yeah, but well, it was so awesome having you guys on, and Christine, it was really great, you know, speaking with you again after um after Horror Hotel. And Anna, it was great chatting with you. Um, I was gonna say in person, but you know, just chatting face to face um instead of just on social media. So, but yeah, but thank you guys so much. And I definitely encourage everybody if Legato is playing near you to definitely absolutely go see it. It's worth it, especially if you're into uh like a paranormal, supernatural, spiritual type of film uh that contains family secrets and some possession. And it's just such a great movie, very well done. And like I said, it was worth me getting up a little extra early on Saturday morning at Horror Hotel and go and making sure I was there to see the film. So yeah, absolutely. And you know, any anything else you guys want to add before we sign off?

SPEAKER_02 51:48

Just thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today. It was really great to bring the gang back together.

SPEAKER_01 51:54

Yes, absolutely. And uh, what about you, Anna?

SPEAKER_00 51:59

Yeah, I just want to thank you. You were our first review, our first like official interview. So that means it means a lot to me. And I know it means to Christine as well. And we've been into journey for three years. So just to have someone that likes that we'll read it, that actually like it's not just ours anymore. It's it's really uh it's a day that I will always remember. So thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 52:24

Oh yeah, you're well, and I'm I'm very honored then to give you your first interview. And yeah, and I'm sure there will definitely be uh plenty more, and and definitely uh keep me posted on what else you guys are doing, and of course, I'll keep updated on social media, but definitely keep me posted. So, but yeah, but thank you guys again. And this was another after hours chat. Thank you so much for tuning in. I've been getting a surge in listenership, so thank you so much. I'm so happy that you're all enjoying this podcast. And if you're also into history and uh ancient wisdom and magic, uh check out my Bonfires and Castles podcast. So, but thank you all so much, Christine, Ana, thank you again and made a very awesome movie. And please definitely go see Legato, whether it's uh playing somewhere near you, or if it's not and you you want you want to wait for the streaming, either way, it's worth seeing. So, but thank you all so much, and as always, stay safe, stay fierce, but of course, always stay spooky.