The Pied Piper is recreated in a horror flick
As I mentioned in last week’s Gretel and Hansel review, folk tales are a common source of material for horror films. They endure because audiences seek the familiar. All stories have been told but we like to hear them again just the same. This week, I had a conversation with a filmmaker that touched on similar themes.
Jennifer Stang is an up-and-coming voice in the horror scene. Based in Vancouver, she has a new short film, available on Shudder, called The Whistler. Her film is directly influenced by yet another familiar folk story—“The Pied Piper of Hamelin”.
What sticks out about her film is how carefully crafted and elegant her story is, despite its fairly familiar tropes. The fly-over shots of the river are beautiful and unsettling, as is the voiceover that both opens and closes the film.
Stang calls The Whistler a proof of concept film. She hopes there is more in store for her characters.
The Pulse: Clearly, you’re drawing inspiration from fairy tales. Are fairy tales a good place to start when developing horror stories? Why do you think that is?
Jennifer Stang: Because fairy tales and folklore were passed on aurally and then in writing, there are some elements of the stories that were changed, lost, or adapted along the way, and in the case of fairy stories for children, were completely changed to be less frightening.
As for “The Pied Piper of Hamelin”, the modern tale has a pretty nice ending, but the original story by Robert Browning ends with The Pied Piper leading the children over the cliffs to their deaths.
There is something exciting about trying to find the original tale, or as close to the original tale as possible. It’s like discovering a secret that’s been lost.
I think fairy tales are a good place to start when writing horror stories because they touch on themes that are deeply relatable, that have been important and somehow essential to us throughout the centuries…as for me, I’ve been fascinated by folktales since I was young, so sometimes it seems a natural place to start.
TP: The Whistler seems to be your own creation but based on The Pied Piper. What drew you to telling this story?
JS: Actually, with The Whistler, it started off a stream of consciousness, and really, the images of the children in the woods came to me first.
I added the element of American colonialism because that short time period in history has always fascinated me, and I’ve always wanted to make a film that explores the puritans’ perspectives and culture.
So those elements of the story I developed first, and then I realized how similar my monster was to The Pied Piper. Then I really started to integrate The Pied Piper story with my own. I couldn’t help but add a pet rat in the story as an ode to the tale.
TP: What were your goals for the film? What in particular were you proud of?
JS: My goals were to make a high-quality short film that would showcase building a scare, more than anything…I’m also proud of the sound mix by my brother, Emmett Lee Stang.
He not only composed the music but mixed the sound in his apartment, and it wasn’t a proper studio, so the level at which he achieved the first round of sound mixing was very decent.
We eventually went to a studio to fine tune the mix but the rough mix was pretty spot on. We even used an iPhone to make the whistling sounds (that I personally provided) that we actually ended up using in the final mix. We had a lot of fun finding and creating the right sounds for the atmosphere we wished to create.
It was incredible to be on the same page as my creative heads of each department. It made the whole process very easy, considering the limited time and finances.
TP: What’s next? What current projects are you working on?
JS: I have several projects on the go. I wrote a feature film based on Irish folklore that I’d like to direct, and I have another horror script I’m writing that I’m really excited about as well as a fantasy/adventure pilot.
My goal is not only to write more scripts but to continue directing so that’s what my company is focusing on this year.
I’m thrilled that so many people have asked for a feature-length film of The Whistler! We might just have to go ahead and explore that.