A horror/thriller about two teenagers who make a shocking discovery that not only threatens their friendship but also their lives. In a forgotten room of an abandoned asylum, they find a beautiful woman tied to a bed, and soon come to realize she is anything but dead.

BD: You guys both directed DEADGIRL, how did you guys meet and what made you decide to direct a movie together?

MS & GH: We met when we were in Junior High. Just typical teenagers with a camcorder, trying to imitate EVIL DEAD the best we could. "Cool camera angles" and anything goes. Since then we've just been collaborating on whatever has interested us. After writing a bunch of things together, collaborating on a feature film seemed like an exciting and logical project.

BD: Was it difficult finding financing for DEADGIRL?

MS & GH: Investors from a few earlier projects stepped up to help put this one together.  It sounds strange but financing was probably the easiest part of the process. And our investors were very cool about letting us make the movie we wanted to make. If we never get that sort of opportunity again, at least we feel like we made it count.

BD: Where did the idea stem from?

MS & GH: Trent Haaga! If you don't know Trent, you should. He's a brilliant writer – very grounded ideas that still somehow manage to consistently surprise and go for broke. Great characters and dialogue too. A true original. He was telling us about some unproduced screenplays in case we were interested, and sort of mentioned DEADGIRL in passing as one of those that no one would want. We were obviously intrigued and gave it a read. And loved it. We knew this was the one even though we weren't sure how exactly to pull it off. But when we told Trent we wanted to give it a shot, we realized the issue wasn't that others didn't want it ... it was that Trent didn't want anyone to try.  He didn't want anyone to make a lame version of what was his favorite piece of writing. So it took a while to convince him that if the movie was every going to be made right, we were his best chance because we had no one else to answer to and no reason to compromise. Somehow we wore him down.

BD: What other films inspired DEADGIRL, what films would you compare it to?

MS & GH: Movies like RIVER'S EDGE and THE OUTSIDERS were obviously in the back of our minds. OVER THE EDGE was a real touchstone, too. It's from '79 but seems timeless, even today. They don't make teen movies with that tone anymore, and we were going for a similar vibe. EDGE'S story is about these kids who are bored in their California suburb because the adults who designed the local housing development failed to include anything fun for kids to do. So the kids start making some fun for themselves, which then leads to trouble. Of course DEADGIRL introduces a certain horrifying element, too. That's the stuff that Cronenburg and Lynch seem to do effortlessly. We were definitely aspiring for that sort of blend, going from the real into the surreal, in a way. Actually, if you were to say it's like David Cronenberg doing STAND BY ME, we'd be alright with it.

BD: The film is said to be more of a thriller than a bloody horror flick. Was this always your aim? 

MS & GH: Pretty much. The bloody horror flick stuff is in there for sure but the story lends itself more to a thriller. There's some awful stuff that happens but it never was a story about a killer with a hook for a hand and a deadly grudge or anything like that. What we loved about the script was that it never went too far into traditional horror movie territory and therefore never really let the audience find a comfort zone.

BD: Would you say the film is a slow burn, and if so, was it difficult to make it interesting through the character development?

MS & GH: If we wanted the audience to give a shit when things start to go badly for our main characters, we really needed to make these guys believable. That takes a certain amount of time but of course the risk is making the slow burn too slow. The good news is that from the few people who've seen it so far, it's not, and the wait is definitely worth it. We were also careful to put in a certain amount of payoff and surprises throughout, to raise the stakes and make sure that even though you know it's building to something, you're getting a pretty crazy ride along the way. And of course, we needed great actors who could also keep the audience engaged in their characters. 

BD: How did you cast the film?

MS & GH: Our Casting Directors pulled in a pretty great collection of some up-and-comers, too many to use in fact. But we got incredibly lucky when they found Shiloh Fernandez and Noah Segan. We needed actors who didn't condescend to these characters, but who gave them life and respected that the choices they make throughout the film are true to the story and true to the film. Shiloh and Noah had no fear when it came to these guys. For a tough film, they never pulled back and everything we threw their way they tackled 100%. Honestly, a lot of actors would've probably begged off some of this stuff. But they gave these kids color and layers and real emotions, and that made all the difference in making the film we wanted to make.

BD: The film has a few interesting twists and turns, is it difficult to keep it under wraps? Do you anticipate it offending some people?

MS & GH: We didn't realize how hard it is to keep a movie under wraps. But the real challenge isn't keeping other people from spoiling it. It's keeping ourselves from spoiling it.  Seriously. We're dying to share stuff from our movie. We've got a trailer, great stills, clips... but before the premiere, we just don't want to give too much away. If most people go into that theater knowing little, we have the chance to really throw them for a loop. In many ways, it's not the movie people think it is. And we're going to love watching that first audience.

As for whether or not it's going to offend? We're sure it will offend some people, but everything offends someone. All we can hope is that people watch DEADGIRL from the characters' points of view and see how they have to answer for their choices. And there's often a serious price to pay. But nothing is glorified or taken lightly.  DEADGIRL certainly gets under your skin. Maybe it raises a few questions. Hopefully, it makes you think. But these days, offending someone is almost too easy, so what's the point of making that your goal? 

BD: You pitch the film as a coming-of-age story, is this a genre that you feel comfortable in? Was it difficult blending horror elements into it?

MS & GH: "Coming-of-Age" is a great genre because it lends itself so well to horror. And not in some silly way. Teen years are so extreme. Everything is heightened: Emotions, actions, hopes. A girl doesn't like you and you think about killing yourself. Or you're bored and go vandalize a building and barely escape getting caught. The fact that anyone makes it out of youth alive or not in prison is pretty startling. Any sense of consequence is completely out of whack. At the same time, your heart is full and vulnerable and your mind is more open than ever. All things considered, a normal teenage life seems primed for horror at any given moment. 

Once you really tap into a recognizable part of those fragile years, you can pretty much do anything. Take DONNIE DARKO. On one hand, that's gotta be one of the most accurate movies about the crushing loneliness some kids feel. Donnie's disconnection from anything around him is painful to re-experience if you've been there. On the other hand, there are wormholes and time loops. The reality that the movie expresses is pure and identifiable, even if you've never encountered a guy in a bunny suit taking about the end of the world. If you were young and felt out of place, you felt a connection no matter how surreal things got. In a similar way, we knew DEADGIRL had to bleed into some fantastical territory to really explore some of these ideas. But we hoped the audience would never lose that connection to Rickie and JT. Fear of losing friends, being intimate for the first time, falling in love. No matter how off the rails DEADGIRL goes, we want people to feel a familiarity with it.

BD: If it were you… would you do it?

MS & GH: Well that's a question that can be asked in the first ten minutes, or the middle, or the end. There are a lot of choices these kids make that will ultimately define themselves and their lives. That's the funny thing. When you're young, you think you can see the rest of your life clearly, and what you imagine is really just based on the lives you see around you or on the fantasy you see on TV. When you get older and you see the million different ways things can turn out - good, bad, tragic, depressing, hopeful, mundane, and so on. DEADGIRL takes place at that moment when kids who always imagined a life one way get a glimpse of their possible future. So what do they do?

As to what would we do? You want to say you'd always do the right thing but we were that age once, and based on some of the choices we made, it's safe to say we would've made some lousy ones. Truth is, when you get away with them, life goes on and you say "Ah, I was a kid once, too." We try not to think about how many times as kids we almost got killed or almost got caught. Thankfully, you manage to slip away from your past and those choices. So it's easy to say what we'd do in similar situations. Whether it's true or not... 

BD: What's next for you guys? More horror I hope!

MS & GH: We have a few projects we're developing. One that we're really excited about is another horror-thriller, but on a slightly larger scope. For the first time, we're also getting handed material to possible develop and some of it has a lot of promise. 

BD: Will you guys continue to work together and be the next "team" of directors?

MS & GH: We're going to keep doing what we've done since we met--work on things together, and help each other develop things when we're apart. But after DEADGIRL, we're definitely fired up to tackle another film. There are some great teams these days. If we don't screw the next one up, we'll be happy to join their ranks. 

DEADGIRL will have its World Premiere at this month's Toronto International Film Festival.