Interview: Mark Young, Director of 'The Killing Jar'
03.17.10 By: Peter Hall
If you're a fan of Tooth & Nail, one of the better selections After Dark Films has picked up for their past Horrorfest slates, take notice: director Mark Young has a new film on the horizon that you should keep an eye out for. The Killing Jar, starring Michael Madsen, Harold Perrineau, Amber Benson, Kevin Cage, Jake Busey, and Danny Trejo will be making its way to theaters in New York and LA this Friday, March 19th, with 7 other markets to follow later.Horror Squad recently got a chance to volley some questions off of Young regarding The Killing Jar, which is about a handful of diner patrons held hostage by a psycho, only the psycho might not be as dangerous as the secret one of the patrons may or may not be hiding. Don't worry, this is all spoiler free.
Horror Squad: I'm curious where your starting point for The Killing Jar was in regards to the setting. Did you know you wanted to make a film set in one location and then wrote around that? Did you know that you wanted to tell this story and then decided it would work best set in one location?
Mark Young: I had this story in the back of my head; a handful of ordinary people trapped in a roadside diner by a mysterious man with a shotgun - sort of an Edward Hopper painting gone berserk. I had limited access to funds and a paltry budget, and knew intuitively that shooting in a single location would translate into an economical production. So I wrote to that. Midway through the writing process, I really started to embrace the novelty that the audience's point-of-view never leaves the diner. It adds to the claustrophobia.
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