Skip to main content

Five Horrific Questions with Jason Tostevin, co-founder of Nightmares Film Festival

Are you ready for the Nightmares Film Festival?
There’s nothing horrific about the Nightmares Film Festival, a new horror fest concocted by award-winning filmmaker Jason Tostevin and his business partner Chris Hamel.

Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Nightmares promises to deliver the scares while uniting and elevating horror around the world. The inaugural event takes place October 20 to 23, 2016. Screenings will be held at the Gateway Film Center, named one of the 20 best art houses on the continent by Sundance.

“We’re lifelong horror fans who’ve been part of hundreds of festivals,” said Tostevin. “We’re using that experience and those connections to bring the very best horror and genre films from across the globe to one easy-to- reach, welcoming festival that really celebrates horror and genre.”

Tostevin, born in New York, calls New Albany, Ohio, home these days. A graduate of The Ohio State University, Tostevin, a writer, fell in love with filmmaking after taking part in a 48 Hour Film Project competition in 2009.

“I thought, I’d love to write a short script. I got a team together, jumped in without having any idea what I was doing, and after our director left halfway through, I took the production over. By the end of the shoot, I was on cloud nine and knew this is what I was supposed to be doing,” he says.

His 2010 48 Hour Film Project entry, Stones, won the central Ohio competition and eventually played during the Cannes Film Festival. The film team has produced a number of horror shorts. Its current project is a comedy horror short titled Born Again.

With a track record like that, Tostevin was the perfect person to torture with our annual Five Horrific Questions:

Filmmaker and film fest founder Jason Tostevin
MMM: What makes a horror movie scary?

Tostevin: The short answer is, empathy. The audience can’t be scared, or feel anything, until they’re connected to the person on the screen.

The longer answer is, I think of it in two ways. There are the physiological scares — jump scares, surprise reveals with a pan or tilt, loud stings after silence — that you get by using the audience’s involuntary responses against them. Those are only peripherally dependent on the story. You’re going to jump or gasp regardless.
But the second kind of scare, the real horror, comes from your on-screen avatar being someone you identify with emotionally, and having him truly vulnerable. When you’re cheering for that person like you would cheer for yourself, and that character becomes you and is put in danger that connects in a primal way, then you’re in a scary movie.

MMM: What’s the scariest movie you’ve ever seen?

Tostevin: The Blair Witch Project scared the shit out of me. The closing scene unfolded so perfectly, I’d get chills thinking about it years later. And The Ring had me turning off the ringer on every phone.

MMM: Who is your horror inspiration?

Tostevin: From the past, it’s the Bloody Triangle: Carpenter, Romero and Craven. From the indie directors of today, Jason Eisener (Hobo With a Shotgun), Moorehead and Benson (Spring) and Ricky Bates Jr. (Excision) are three I’m inspired by.

Tostevin's latest, the horror comedy "Born Again"
MMM: Why do we like to be scared?

Tostevin: Wes Craven said horror is “like bootcamp for the psyche,” and I think that’s right. In a primal way, horror movies give us a chance to run our brains through scenarios and experiences that would be dangerous or deadly in real life. Coming back to your regular world from a horror movie also reminds you how safe you are and how good you have it.

MMM: What movie would you like to turn into a horror movie? And how would you do it?

Tostevin: I’ve always thought Westerns were fertile ground for horror. I think we saw that with Bone Tomahawk last year. I’d love to see something like The Magnificent Seven or The Seven Samurai done as a horror film — assemble the team of experts, make them have to work as a team, and drop them into a vampire’s nest. Think Alien with six-guns.  

Comments

Popular Posts

Everything we know about ‘Superman’ filming in Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio

The iconic Daily Planet globe on set in Cleveland, Ohio >>  Superman , under the guise of Genesis , was among the films awarded 2024 film tax incentives by the Ohio Department of Development. The Warner Bros. movie was one of 23 film, television, and theater projects awarded incentives through the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit Program. Superman, formally titled  Superman: Legacy , kicks off writer/director James Gunn’s DC Universe . Here’s everything we know about the production. Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, caricatured by Shuster Superman  will film on location in Cleveland and Cincinnati Superman  will film in Cleveland and Cincinnati, according to OhioData . On-location work in Cleveland is expected to start June 17 and last through July 16, according to an April 23 casting call from Angela Boehm Casting. Neither Warner Bros. , the Greater Cleveland Film Commission  (GCFC), nor Film Cincinnati have issued an official announcement regarding the movie. Howe

Is this actress Josie Wilka's origin story?

> Actress Josie Wilka on the set of 'Superman' Cleveland State student takes on her biggest challenge > If someone says, “Guess who just landed a role in Superman ?”, your first thought is some A-lister from a hit streaming show or indie heartthrob. An actor with an agent on both the West Coast and East Coast and a standing reservation at Gwen . For Josie Wilka, though, the journey was a little different — and a lot more inspiring. Growing up in Owensville, Mo. , Josie’s acting career began almost by accident when her high school musical desperately needed a lead. Just 10 days before opening night, she was pulled out of math class and thrust into the spotlight as the world’s most famous candy maker, Willy Wonka. From that moment, Josie discovered a deep passion for acting - one that would eventually lead her to Cleveland State University . While at CSU, Josie seized the opportunity to audition as a background performer in James Gunn’s Superman , shot in downtown Cleveland

Home, Sweetest Day, Home: On location in Warren, Ohio, with 'Sweetest Day'

Nate Boyer as the Sheriff, preparing for a scene in 'Sweetest Day' On a cold night in November 2023, I find myself in Warren, Ohio, about an hour east of Cleveland. It’s quiet in the small town, save for a handful of filmmakers carrying equipment and thumbing through scripts as they hurry from their Best Western basecamp to the rustic diner around the corner, The Saratoga . There, fellow crew members are crowding around a booth near the cash register, adjusting lights, checking sound, and peering at monitors to make sure the scene they’re about to film is framed just right. Seated on one side is actor Nate Boyer , dressed as a sheriff. Across from him sits actress Morgana Shaw , easing into her character. When the camera rolls, Shaw’s character lays into the Sheriff, warning him of dire things to come this Sweetest Day , if he doesn’t take things seriously. It’s a pivotal scene that plays out before a handful of curious diners, likely unaware they’d be treated to a show this e