October 10, 2024 • 51 mins
I'M A STARRR! In this episode, Ayden welcomes filmmaker Miguel Martinez to discuss his short horror film, Lechuza, which draws from Latin American folklore. They explore the emotional themes of grief and family, the creative process behind filmmaking, and the importance of sound design in horror!
Want to share your own creepy story, picture, or recording? Leave a 5 star review with your story attached, email Ayden at sustopodcast@gmail.com, DM on social media, or visit SustoPodcast.com to be shared on the show!
Sign up for Patreon here!
Lechuza Film Website
Miguel Martinez Instagram
Want to hear your story on Susto? Fill out the Letters From the Beyond form or visit SustoPodcast.com to be shared on the show!
Become a Patron here! Subscribe to Susto's YouTube channel!
Want to share your own creepy story, picture, or recording? Leave a 5 star review with your story attached, email Ayden at sustopodcast@gmail.com, DM on social media, or visit SustoPodcast.com to be shared on the show!
Sign up for Patreon here!
Lechuza Film Website
Miguel Martinez Instagram
Want to hear your story on Susto? Fill out the Letters From the Beyond form or visit SustoPodcast.com to be shared on the show!
Become a Patron here! Subscribe to Susto's YouTube channel!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Hey goolfriends, it's me Adrian or Aiden. Either way, I
am still your host, and you are still listening to Susto,
the podcast of ooky, spooky scary stories centered on Latin
American Hispanic cultures. Ghoul friends, thank you so much for
being here. Not only are you listening, but if you
are a Patreon subscriber, then you can also be watching this.
(00:45):
I'm doing this two ways. This time. I am making
this video, this episode accessible to anyone who is a
paid Patreon subscriber, regardless of which tier you are on.
But best gool friends are still only getting the bonus
content for this episode. It's just something I'm trying out.
I don't know if it'll stick. We'll see what happens.
I'll see what the feedback is. Let me know what
(01:06):
you think. But if you are not a Patreon subscriber,
then you are listening to this episode coming to you
from the other side, all the way onto your podcast platform.
Thank you for being here. Long story short, I really
appreciate it. Let me tell you all really quick. I
don't have that many updates. All I'm going to say
is that this month as expected, and I will always
(01:27):
say I appreciate it. I welcome it, I encourage it,
I want more of it. But I am that video
of Gaga going bus club, plane Club, another club, No Sleep.
That's literally me this month, and I am so excited
about it. I am very tired, but I'm very excited.
And so again, if you have not seen that post
(01:48):
on social media, I'm going to post another one, probably
after recording this, so the day before it comes out
you'll see it. When you see it, you'll know that
that was tonight. Anyway, with all of my events, and
I'm going to put all the flyers in there as well,
with all of the details. I'm so excited to be
doing all of these events. I'm so excited to see
all of you there. If you have any questions about them,
(02:10):
please do not hesitate to reach out to me. And
I hope that you've been having a wonderful spooky season
so far. I know we're still in the first beginnings
of this month, but I feel like once it gets kicking,
it's gonna go by fast. So anyway, I hope you
all are having a good time. Let me know what
you're dressing up as for Halloween. I'm just so happy
it's October and everyone's finally on the same page. If
(02:32):
you don't have plans and if it's between one of
my events. I also posted the Susto's thirty one Nights
of Frights on all social media, so let me know
what you think of that as well. Feel free to
toss in what movies you would have had on there
and let me know if you're going to watch any
of those this month. Okay, I know I said not
too many updates, so we will keep it short house
(02:53):
keeping kinds of things. The easiest way to support SUSTO
is by engaging with the show wherever youwhere listening, so
that means leaving five star ratings and reviews, by leaving comments,
by sending me your stories for a letter from the
Beyond episode you already know how to do that social
media DMS, email, the website, putting tears of a fairy
(03:15):
in a crystal glass it has to be crystal, and
then swirling it three times clockwise and four times counterclockwise
and throwing it over your shoulder while saying your story,
I will hear it in my sleep. With all of
that being said, we have another special guest this episode.
I'm very excited to speak to this person. I'm very
excited for you to hear from this person. They will
(03:36):
be introducing themselves once more in a minute here, but
without further ado, please welcome screenwriter and film director Miguel Martinez. Hello, girlfriend,
(04:00):
and today we have a very special guest all the
way from the world of film and creation, Miguel Martinez,
writer and director of Litusa. Thank you so much for
being here with us.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
So I want to get right into it for those
of you who have not heard or seen, and I will,
of course let Miguel let you explain a bit more
about it. Miguel, you wrote a short horror film called Litusa.
Before we dive into that, can you tell us a
little bit more about who you are and the work
that you do.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Sure. My name is Miguel Martinez. I'm a filmmaker who
loves horror movies, and so that's kind of what I
lean towards. I first was a screenwriter, and then I decided, hey,
I want to get some of these things actually made,
and right now, nobody's making anything really, so I want
(04:55):
to be the one to do it. So I started
leaning more into filmmaking, learning more about that. Most of
the schooling I did and most of the things that
I looked into was filming when it was screenwriting, and
so I kind of had to start on the ground
up a little bit with with filmmaking and stuff like that.
(05:16):
When I was in college, I worked a bit on
some of Robert Rodriguez's film company, like so that was
really fun. I worked on the From So Down TV show,
So that's kind of how I got my start in
the industry a little bit. But yeah, like I'm I'm
pretty easy to get along with, I think, and I
(05:38):
have a lot of different avenues that I don't put
all of my eggs in one basket. I write comics,
I have some books that I self distributed, and I'm
actually publishing a poetry book at the end of the year.
So that's something I'll look forward to you stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
That's so exciting. I love that you mentioned the idea
of like you kind of weren't seeing enough of the
work done or in a way that you would do it,
and so you just kind of said I'll do it myself.
In several interviews, I've had people ask me about my
start with Susto and how that happened, and I had
pretty much the same answer was I was looking for
this kind of content and I had a clear vision
(06:14):
of what I wanted it to be like, and I
couldn't find it, so I said, I'll do it myself.
So I very much understand that, and I love that
kind of like drive and passion for something to kind
of just build something from the ground up.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Right, definite.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
What initially drew you to filmmaking or I guess, like
you said, to screenwriting.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, I've always been. I've always been into film, and
but I think it was only specifically when I started
getting in the horror that I was like, Oh, this
is something that I want to do, and this is
something I feel I can do, and and like when
when I was younger, I obviously loved movies, and I
loved animated movies, and I love The Lion King and
(06:57):
all that stuff. But I saw this poster once when
I was young, and it was a poster to the
Nightmare on Elm Street, and it was the post you
see everywhere where where it's like like Freddy at the
painting of Freddy, like above the bed and yeah, like
that that whole thing. And I was like what is this?
(07:19):
And I wanted to watch it, but for some reason,
my parents weren't always like this. But for some reason,
my mom was like, no, you can't watch that movie.
And I was like, I was like, what do you mean?
Like I think she saw Freddy's like his face burned
face somewhere and she's like no, and so she's like,
you can't watch it, and I was I could watch.
I've watched. I watched like a bunch of horror, I
(07:39):
watched like the Thing. But for some reason, that was
the one movie that my mom was like, you can't
watch it. So I went. I was very I was
like eight, I think I went to school and my
friend was like, oh, I don't have the DVD, but
I have this, and it was the soundtrack to the
movie Oh wow. And he gave it to you, like
lent it to me, and I like took it home
(08:02):
and I put it in my little CD player and
I like hid in the corner at like at night,
like listening to the soundtrack to Nightmare on Elm Street,
which like when you're in imagining what the movie would
be like, which I think is infinitely worse than what
the movie is actually like. But I was so like
enamored with this this like other worldly thing, and I
(08:24):
finally saw the movie and I loved it, and I
think it's it's it's a perfect movie. The first time
my own Stree movie is a perfect horror movie. And
then after that I just sort of kept being enamored
and amored. But it was always the sort of like
thing in the distance. It was always this like thing
to admire from a distance, and like like movies like
Spielberg movies are like perfectly chiseled Greek statues, and like
(08:48):
horror movies are like this really really other like spiritual
thing that you experienced. For me, I think it was
only when I went to go watch Pans Labyrinth with
my dad after my grandmother had passed away, and it
was like the first thing we did like the day after,
(09:10):
and it was it was I watched it and when
it ended, I for some reason, maybe it was just
old enough to have this stop, but I had the
thought of, oh, somebody made this movie and they had
a great time doing it, and this is like somebody's job.
Somebody made this And it was the first time that
I registered that as like a like a child. Yeah,
(09:30):
And so I think since that moment on I was like, Oh,
I want to do that, whatever that is, I want
to do it.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Oh my god, that's so cool. I think that's such
a really cool, I guess moment to have that realization
like this is not only something that people do like
obviously for the love of it, but it's a it's
a career path for many people. Yeah, that's really cool.
It pans Labyrinth is also. That's actually it's it's on
my I just posted that today. It's on my thirty
one Nights of Fright Susto movie guide for or the
(10:00):
month of October, because that one. I mean, it's one
of those where I could I can rewatch it like
countless times, and it's just it's such a like, I mean,
of course, like how could you not write that's a great,
great film, great choice for inspiration for sure. So speaking
of great films, can you tell us about your new
horror short LOTUSA.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah, well, the Choosa is a proof of concept short,
meaning I have the future film, and I wrote the
future film, and then I had producers who were like, hey,
maybe you should turn this into a short and you
can kind of prove that you can make this and
prove that you can make it for cheap and prove
that you can like like have like the visual knowledge
(10:43):
of the visual language to tell this story. And so
it went through a lot of iterations. But first I'm
just gonna say that, So Lituosa is a folk tale
from Latin America. It takes on a whole lot of
different forms about different things. But my story is about
(11:04):
these this group of sisters on the night of their
mother's funeral, so it's after their mother it passed away,
and one of the sisters gathers the others to try
to resurrect their matriarch, and the Lachisa punishes them for
their abuse of magic essentially, and that that's sort of
(11:26):
the context that I wanted to say to take this.
In the latusa from Latin American folklore, she she does
a lot of things, but her sort of origin is
that she was unjustly punished for using for being a witch.
And and then so as she was burning, essentially, she
made a deal with the devil to come back for revenge,
(11:49):
and the devil returned her as this owl creature, this
like half a woman, half owl creature, and which is
something that I never saw again. With that thing of
like it's missing. And every time you talk about like
like Latino folklore, everyone talks about Loonona and I love Laonona,
but but this was always was always like a thing
that I was like, yeah, but there's this and there's
(12:11):
this thing that my my dad told me the story
about he lives, he lived on a ranch and that
they saw this thing, and nobody ever knew what I
was talking about. So I wanted to sort of try
to bring it into like the visual medium and specifically
have it in English too, which would would be nice.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
But yeah, yeah, I mean I can see that too,
how like in a moment like that and the sisters
in Litusa after losing their mother, I can see how
that would be a moment of desperation for someone and
the idea of doing anything, you know, to to have
her back, to have a lost love one return to you,
(12:48):
and so and and again I've I've told the story
of Litusas and they're like with so many of these stories, right,
there are so many different versions of it, and so
there's definitely the I think one of them more popular,
like the I guess quote accepted version is the story
of a witch who was unjustly or or wrongly executed
(13:09):
for practicing buhidiya, and then other people believe that any
or not any. But there are multiple latusas out there.
So there are witches who can transform into owls and
they are known they are latusa's. It's a type of witch, right,
So I guess with the idea of that of desperation
wanting to bring back a loved one and the use
(13:30):
of magic and the abuse of magic, as you said,
do you think that specifically drew you to use la
latusa in in in in this movie compared to like
you mentioned, or any other sort of like legendary spirit
or cryptid that that we hear about.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Yeah, I I was very I was very much drawn
to the the the visceral image of and just the
way that it is described in like accounts people have
seen it or or people who've like heard it or
(14:11):
since there's this very much like like a physical thing
that that that I'm drawn to more than other, more
than other folklore from Latin America, I think. But like
this this story of like abuse abusing magic and the
story of wanting to bring a loved one back, and
it's something that I was. I was very much drawn
to and like back in twenty thirteen, I lost my
(14:35):
mother and I was very much drawn to that. That
the idea of resurrection and people writing about it and
what they actually what they're actually trying to say. What
all these resurrection stories like like Frankenstein or stuff like that,
what they're trying to say? And and I want I
had something to say about a resurrection story and then
about stuff something like that. And so that's what the
(14:58):
feature that going back to, like writing, that's what the
feature is about. And then when I started writing the short,
it went through a bunch of a bunch of different
stages because like before, right before shooting, I realized that
the messages that didn't get through, what I had to
say wasn't being said in the short. And what I
always tell my collaborators is like, if if we don't
(15:21):
make anything else, or if you don't make like let's
say you make up the proof of concept. If you
don't make the feature, this has to stand on it
on the town because it's the only thing you ever made. Like,
if you don't make anything else, are you saying all
you need to say? And so for the short, like
the basically, like the night before we started filming, I
(15:42):
wrote the if you've seen the short, there's like a
book ends of it. So what the short is? It's
like this, it's you see the mother pass away. One
of the daughters sees the mother pass away, and she
starts to sort of cry, and she starts to short
agree and then she swallowed it up and then she's like,
I have an idea, and then you see her idea
(16:05):
and the sister's trying to stop her. And then what
happens when she tries to resurrect the matriarch and and
she keeps sort of coming back to this room that
her mother passed away in, and then at the end
she comes back to it and she's faced with the
realization of like, Okay, I need to I need to
accept this. I need to I need to like cry
or I need to grieve. I need to do this.
I can't start taking these these these other pathways to
(16:31):
make to do this, to make this happen. And that's
that's sort of like what drew me into, like this
idea of using the lachusa that way. Yeah, and it
wasn't it wasn't even always called the Lachisa sometimes it's
just about brupas. And then I realized that we needed
like this anchor of a metaphor, and lichisaid turned into
that anchor.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yeah, and you had mentioned also that it's like it's
such a good, like a visceral kind of image, and uh,
the the the image that you all have or like
the the makeup that y'all had for the La Chusa.
Shout out to your makeup and you're effects person, because
it looks so cool and on the cover or the poster,
(17:11):
I guess you could say four for the chusas well.
It looks so cool. I'll probably post on social media
for this episode and I'll throw that up here for
Best School Friends on Patreon. But it is it looks
so so good, so creepy.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
That have a crazy story about that. Do you want
to hear it?
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Please, it's nuts. Yeah. So I knew what I wanted
it to look like, and like it took me. It
took me so long into the production of this to
tell my dad I was doing it because I thought
he was gonna say, don't do that. I thought he
was going to be like, don't, don't, don't fuck around
with like you know, I don't know if I can
cuss it. Yeah, but okay, I don't know if he
(17:48):
was gonna say, hey, you don't fuck around with this,
because because he that's it's where I learned it from.
He told me stories of like the Latusa visiting his
home and trying to steal his baby brother. Oh my god,
and the dad been to fight it off with like
a shotgun, O my god, like and like his dad
had a well, my grandfather has a cross with like
a knife attached to it, and so like him like
(18:12):
blessing the cross and like doing that, and like the
Litusa like landing on his head and like being caught
on the cross on the cross, like trying to pick
him up, and then, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
It essentially are they is your family Catholic? Yeah, that
is some Catholic shit if I ever heard it, the
knife on the crucifix. And it's also just something about
the Catholic aesthetics. I just imagine it, and I know
it looked cool as hell, So okay, go on.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
So it's crazy, and and I think they use it
when when they I think I've seen it when they
raised the baby Jesus, like in Christmas. They like used
that for something, and I think I've seen what it
looks like. Okay, but yeah, so I had their stories
and I know I know it, but I've always known
about the LOTUSA And I told my dad and he
like went quiet for a little bit, and then he's like,
(18:59):
what is it about? And I told him and he
liked it, so he's like, okay, but what was I
gonna say? Oh So I did a lot of research. Obviously,
I talked to a lot of like vocal scholars. I
really wanted to get like the look down and I
knew what I wanted, and my dad explained it to
me too a little bit more. And then but when
(19:21):
you go out, if you starts it like on Google
or YouTube or something, there's this image that keeps popping
out on the YouTube thumbnails. It is the exact same photograph.
It's the exact same image. It's just like the person
who took took the image off of Google for our thumbnail,
they made it black and white, or they put some
kind of filter over it to use it as it
as their thumbnail, or so some kind of effect over it.
(19:44):
But it's the same image and you can tell. It's
very easy to see and I was so after like
the twentieth time searching up Latusa on YouTube, I was like,
what's this image? And I went on Google and I
used like the time machine thing, and I U like, well,
you can like see where where people talk about what
thing went on Google ivering up that's called And I
(20:08):
was like, Okay, I know I think it's this image,
but I'm not sure. And I tracked down the image
to a deviant Art account of somebody who was in
special effects school in like two thousand and eight, and
they or they held the mask up and they said, hey,
this is my senior project and it's that exact picture.
Someone cropped it and then used it in like a
(20:30):
YouTube thumbnail and now everyone uses it in their YouTube
thumbnails when they talk about Latusa. And I was like,
who is this person? And they're like, you know, it's
a debian art account. It wasn't It hasn't been active
for like twenty like ten years, yeah, or twenty years,
like almost twenty years, like fifteen years or something. And
I was like who is this And I couldn't find
it and I couldn't find it, and I was searching
(20:50):
like all their user names and I was searching everything
and I was searching the graduating class. Oh, and then
out of nowhere, I find this person who has like
half of the usual name and I'm like, what who
is this? And I looked them up. It's like an
abandoned Twitter and I was like, what is this? I
don't know what it is? And they started posting when
(21:11):
the episodes of Fear the Walking Dead came out and
I was like, okay, so I look up Fear the
Walking down. I'm like, does this person work on for
the Walking Dead?
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
And I found the person who posted on DVR in
like two thousand and eight. I found them working on
Fear of the Walking Dead, and then through the IMDb,
I emailed him and I was like, hey, man, no,
I found him on Instagram and I was like, hey,
is this you? And I send him the image and
he's like where did you get this? And I was like, so,
(21:44):
I'm making a movie. Here's the script, here's like this. No,
here's the pitch deck and here's the script or whatever.
Do you still have this? And he said no, I
don't have this. And I was like, can you make
another one? And he's like he read the script and
he's like I really like this. Yeah, I'll do it
for you.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
He's like, he's like, how when are you going to film?
And I think we were in a film, a little singer.
But he's like, it's gonna take me like two three
weeks because i'm you know, he's doing Fear of the
Walking Dead. And I was like, i'll push it. I'll
push the film date. I'll do it, and he's like yeah, okay,
and so he he did it pretty quickly. He charged
me the materials. Essentially, wow, he did. He almost did
(22:24):
it for free, like I don't. I was like, hey,
I can pay you more, and he's like, no, just
just make it so I don't lose money on this,
and I'll do it.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah. What's his name?
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Can give His name is Eric. He's he's amazing. He
made us the mask and like the thing that she
wears over over herself, and then he he shipped it
to me and I have have video of like unwrapping
it and everything. It looks so good. It's it's the
(22:54):
It really elevated this entire thing. And then on like
on the set, we were like, okay, she needs like
a shawl. So we used to give her a shawl
and uh, we shot this is this is crazy. We
shot when Spirit Halloween was closing and I went and
(23:15):
bought my costume for that next Halloween that day, the
day right before we shot. It was a ghost face
costume and I had it in the car. So when
we were filming, we were like, we see the actor
under the shaw what do we do? And and I
think my wife was like, you have the ghost face costume.
(23:36):
Put the ghost face costume under the latusa and then
put everything on top of it. So underneath all the
latusa is a black ghost face like like that goes
all the way down and you could just see like
the black would just so you don't see clothes. Yeah, yeah,
but yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
That's wow the magic of filmmaking. Honestly, Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
That's that's how we put together the little cost.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
That is so cool. And again, yeah, the payoff is huge.
It looks great, it looks amazing and so wow, I'm
glad you were able to find Eric man. You really
put in some a detective work and tracked him down.
Oh my god, and thank goodness. Yeah, it was really cool. Okay,
So you were talking earlier also about kind of like
your thought process, like with your own experience and kind
(24:23):
of putting it a little bit into the story of
this movie. And so with not only the short but
also the feature, you balance a lot of psychological horror
with like the physical threat of this now like fully
manifested LITUSA. How do you approach building tension and fear
through both your script and then also translating that to
(24:44):
visual to on screen.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I think to answer that question, it's really important for
you to understand that the first time I saw it
cut together, I was like, Oh my god, I made
a terrible mistake. This is this is horrible. And the
second time I saw I cut together, I was like, yeah,
this is horrible. Maybe I should just stop. And because
(25:08):
it just it wasn't there, The tension wasn't there. If
you've seen it, you understand that it's less of like
it's less of like a mood and it's more of
like a ride. It's more of like this leads to this,
leads to this, and we just don't stop the maybe
he just keeps going, especially after the mother dies, which
is like the first scene, and that was on purpose
(25:29):
that that was like from the beginning, I was like, oh,
I want this to be a little riote. I pictured
what it would be like to see this with people,
and I was like, in like a theater, and I
was like, Okay, people don't want to see this. People
don't want to see this. I trim the fat out
of the script a lot, but it still wasn't working,
and I was like, I don't know what's wrong with it.
And then I talked to some filmmaker friends that I
know that I have put more things together, specifically have
(25:51):
adapted my stuff, and they were like, just wait. There
was like just keep going, just keep keep whittling it
down and keep adding elements. It'll click. And I was like,
it's not clicking, and they're like, just keep going. And
I realize And I only realized that after the fact
that it was sound editing sound adding what was missing
(26:12):
because we have a sound designer and she designed all
the sound for the house. Almost everything that you hear
in litisa what is foley or music or sound of
some other kind and and I dropped it in and
I hit play and I was like, oh, this is great,
(26:32):
Like oh now now that makes sense because before that
it wasn't raining. I don't know if you can tell
it's raining in the house. I think you almost know
it subconsciously because of the sound design. It's raining the
entire time. There's thunder and there's there's it's hitting the
wood and like when they step it creaks. It didn't
(26:52):
creak in the first few drafts because the audio didn't
pick that up. Or I guess that wasn't really creaks
in the house. But she added the creeks, She added breathing.
She added music, Well, the music I had I got separately.
But yeah, like, and her name is a Camille Craig.
She's a great sound designer. I'm using her for other
(27:12):
stuff because I was like, oh, this is fantastic. So
as much as I can write in oh this happens
like oh, like this is scary, or like this scary
thing happened, Oh she walks down the hall in fear,
I can write that down on a page and I
can try to make you feel it in a screenplay.
But execution is everything. Yeah, and even if you even
(27:37):
like visually, if I can execute that right, it's not
gonna it doesn't feel. You don't feel it. It's a sound,
especially in horror. It's a sound.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Yeah wow, But I mean but also how important to
like and good on you also as like kind of
I guess you could say like the person in charge,
like this is your project right to know like Okay,
something is missed, something is missing, what is it? What
is it? And then not only that, but to feel
this sense of almost dread and like okay, I just
(28:06):
need to like wash my hands of this because it's
not working, but then going back to it and continue
to work on it until you do find that piece.
And I will say yes, watching the movie the sound
is it is really good. And like you said, it's
some of it is almost subconscious, like when it's there,
you're kind of not really when it's done, well, you're
(28:28):
not really thinking of it. Like for example, the raining,
it's like you know that it's raining, but if it
wasn't there, if certain sounds weren't there, certain design wasn't done,
then it feels like it's like, well, what's off. But
then again when it's there, you're just like your brain
just kind of like subconsciously processes that. So yeah, no,
that's oh my god. Yeah. The I always try to
(28:50):
get across to people how much work it is to
do something creative, to do storytelling creatively with like with SUSO,
it's a podcast, you know, so I'm audio only but
and so like I it's cool that you bring it
up because with without my sound if I don't have music,
(29:12):
if I don't have certain sound effects, it doesn't really
play off. And so editing my episodes, I'll hear my story,
I'm telling it, I'm editing it and everything. I'm like, god,
it sounds so weird. I'm like, but I know it's
going to come together in a second. And when I
throw in little things it may even just music. The
music like kind of guides you, it pushes you through
(29:33):
it through a story. Yeah, it totally makes sense. It
wraps it up in a nice bow. I'll say.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Yeah. With this new project that I'm filming this weekend,
I've been really a huge proponent on something that is
going to make a lot of Like all tours, I
guess upset or like filmmakers really upset, but I've been
I've always been a proponent of your job as a
director or as a filmmaker. I guess to be dumbest
person in the room, which sounds weird, but it is
(30:04):
like you need to surround yourself with people who were
really good at their job, like so good at their
job that you don't need to do it, because if
you do it, you didn't study this, You're going it's
going to be bad. Like you don't know how to
sound is done. You don't know. I don't know some
of it. I don't know lenses, Like I know my
lenses is like a director knows lenses, but I don't
know cameras. So you need to find the best people
(30:27):
for the job, surround yourself with them, and you're the
dumbest person in the room. Yeah, you're just like, oh,
I want it to look scary. Can you make it
look scary? And they're like, yeah, okay, I'll make it
looks scary. Yeah, stuff like that. And like I wrote
this so like I know what I want, but I
don't know. I don't really know how to get there.
So you know better than me how to get there,
(30:47):
so we need to figure it out. I was like
a group a little bit. Yeah, and so this has
been a lot better to like to try that that
sort of style of making movies.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yeah, it's like the ultimate group project and just kind
of putting that trust in other people. And then again
and a vice versa having them put their trust in
you right that you're steering this thing that they're working on,
that they're putting time into in the right direction. And
so like speaking of the genre and like this kind
of work and all the things that go in together,
are all the things that go into making a horror
(31:18):
movie happen. What do you think makes the genre such
a powerful vehicle for exploring emotional and societal issues. I
think many people might take horror at face value and say, oh,
it's just a scary movie. But I think more now,
more than ever, people are discovering that horror is so
much more than just scary movies. There are stories about
(31:42):
so many different topics. Yeah, how would you kind of
or like you, what are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2 (31:49):
I think horror is a very easy element to attach
metaphor it too. Monsters are really easy to attend to
attach metaphor too. People always speak about this sort of
like elevated horror, which horror has always been elevated. There's
always been the thing, There's always been suspiria, there's always that,
there's always been uh more to these to horror. Just
(32:14):
if you want, if you were willing to look and
so like the there's I think it's it's I think
it's the best genre to explore the imperfections of people
and the emotions of people through through like a safe lens.
(32:35):
So I I I really like the idea of like
figuring out what you're actually afraid of and grafting that
onto onto a monster. And maybe someone's already done it,
and watch it and see what you like about it,
what works about it, what you would do better about it,
(32:56):
like from it, and then and then try to work
with that.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it definitely helps. Like you said,
it's great to attach metaphor to and then when you
toss in like something that already has kind of a
history of like Altusa for example, I can imagine it's
fun to kind of play around with what the meaning
is or how can you use that monster, so to speak,
(33:22):
as a vehicle to kind of deliver that message. What
do you hope that audiences take away from watching Litusa,
especially people that are going through something similar with their families,
(33:46):
like this idea of loss.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Yeah, I hope audiences take away the importance of family
and not just the family that you are assigned and
the importance of getting through your grief and actually processing
your grief. But other than that, I want them to
go searching for more Latino folklore. I want them to
(34:08):
understand that there's more landin folklore out there. It's weird,
it's fun, it's sad, and it's interesting, and I want
them to at least like have that understanding that, oh,
maybe there's more stuff that I haven't heard of from
Latino countries and then go looking for it.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Yeah, So like speaking about that, how do you see
the role of cultural identity shaping modern horror. I think
it's definitely. It is already happening, So yeah, how do
you kind of see that role playing out not only
currently but maybe for the future.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
I think there's something interesting about people taking.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
This.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
I've always loved folklore. The folklore has always been almost
like pigeonholed by this sort of like weird Anglos stories.
It's always been it's always been like Midsummer or that
other thing that people associated Midsummer with. I forgot what
it was, and it's always been sort of that or
(35:17):
like Lamb or or even like older than that that
I can't remember. But like, I think we should end
up taking more like from your actual from your hometown
or from your city, or from your country, or from
your people. And the idea of doing that and like
almost taking back the fear that you felt and that
(35:41):
your family felt and turning it into into something that
you can use as something you can expel your demons with.
I think is really powerful and I think people are
understanding the power of that now.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Yeah, absolutely, I think, and like you said, taking it
down to like the community level. Many of these stories
are told across different cultures, and they vary from culture
to culture, from continent to continent, from state to state,
to city to city, to neighborhood to neighborhood. These stories
can get really specific depending on who is telling them,
(36:16):
and so I think, like, yeah, it's important to recognize
the cultural identities in some of these stories because they
bring extremely unique perspectives to the storytelling that ends up happening.
So yeah, yeah, I like that idea. What stories do
you hope to tell in the future. I know that
(36:37):
you said you have projects coming up, but what kinds
of stories are are you hoping to tell?
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Well? I really want to keep delving into folklore, and
I really want to keep delving into I guess the
like my history and my country and my people, and
and I think that's that's where I needed anyway. I
think that's why I can get the most most of
(37:03):
most of my ideas out. So the thing, the thing
that I'm gonna shoot this weekend, it's called with Your Life.
It's another proof of content short where I have the
feature it is. It's a generational slasher that's a metaphor
for the generational trauma that comes from having a being
(37:25):
in an abusive marriage. And I took the first scene
of that, which is essentially this woman escaping U ranch
in Mexico, a family ranch in Mexico where she's trying
to escape her her abusive husband and her peaceive husband's
family who lives on the ranch. And she's sneaking out
in the middle of the night and she has to
take a child with her, and it's it's like it's
(37:49):
like the first scene of like the Visible Man remake,
but with a baby, and it's a slasher movie. And
and so we're doing that, and I want to at
some thing that as we're doing it, I was like,
I want to get this under five minutes. I want
to get this I want to get in and get out,
and I had to send it in my head for
a while. And one of the actresses from La Chusa,
(38:12):
Jude Salazar, she messes me earlier this year and was like, Hey,
I want to make something. I want to be the
star of something like a short. Can you pitch me ideas?
And this is the idea that she gravitated towards the most,
and so she's like, I can fund this, let's go,
and so we just started working on it. So yeah,
we so hopefully, hopefully it's gonna turn out really good.
(38:34):
I think it's gonna be great. And like, as for
like folklore, I I'm doing like poems my the poem
the book poem book that I have. I haven't announced
anything yet, but it's it's called Mad Monsters and it's uh,
it's poems from the perspective with monsters and drawing metaphors
from that and everything. So I think it's gonna be fun.
(38:55):
But as far as folklore, I I really wanted for
a while to do like a Goosebump series and I
have the first book written, but it's not very good
because I'm not really a prose writer, so I need
to keep rewriting, you to keep getting notes on it
and stuff. But it's a it's I uh. For like
(39:18):
years and years and years, I was trying to crack
what the Trooper Coppa is about and why it's scary
and why it's endured as a folk tale for so long.
And I think I figured out that it's because it's Okay,
I'm gonna pitch you a chup of cover story real quick.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
So, so back in the day and even now, a
lot of pueblos exists on their own. They they they
are fully functioning societies in the in and of themselves,
which is hard for us as Americans to imagine, right,
It's hard for us to imagine not getting shipments over
about the places, or like eating an avocado that was
(39:58):
made in a country entire. But there's whole little pueblo's
little cities that exists in themselves. They have a farm,
they have a hospital, they have a school, and then
that's all they need mm hmm to to continue living.
And that that that even to this day they still
do that. But back in the day it was way
more and it was way more widespread. So you if
(40:18):
if if for some reason you had a bad crop day.
Your people in your city, in your in your bueblo,
in your city, they ate least that year, or a
bad crop year, they ate least that year. You couldn't
import food from another city they needed.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
So the tup of coppera goes around and attacks your
livestock as in, it attacks your food source. It attacks
the lifeblood of a city. And that's the fear. It's
a it's it's a it's an it's a it's a
story about isolation. You were isolated for everyone else, and
then there's a thing that's attacking your like your your heart,
(40:54):
and you either need to kill it or leave. Yeah,
that those are your options. And so the the the
Goosebumps book that I have, it's about this kid whose
parents passed away in a car accident and he has
to go live with his grandma and grandpa in Mexico.
And he's he's American, he's mexic An American. He doesn't
(41:15):
know Spanish. So he goes, he goes, and he has
to like sort of assimilate into this culture that he
doesn't understand. And he makes a friend and everything, and
together they realize that there's this mystery happening in the city,
in the pueblo, and it's that the chibokapas such, is
starting to eat the livestock and they have to figure
out what it is and how to get rid of
it before the whole the whole city starts collapsing. Yeah,
(41:40):
and it already kind of started, so like he's heard
tales of like oh, like like his mother comes from
this really great place and there's like music and there's
food and there's a festival. But when he gets there,
it's a dying town. It's it's it's rotty, and he
doesn't know why and he does don't understand, and it's
because they're losing their food.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Wow, that's that's such a good idea. I like that.
I like that a lot. This kind of like it.
It's giving me like agricultural thriller, which I'm not sure
is something I've really seen before. Right, Like that's and
and yeah, that's truly terrifying. Is a community being cut
off from their resources that they need to literally live. Yeah,
(42:24):
that I think that is such a you don't need it,
but susto stap of approval. I think that is such
a cool idea.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
It's good, but if you read the book, it's not
that good. It doesn't come off as good as my pitch.
So I'm just I just need to keep going. Maybe
I should just write a movie.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
I don't honestly, yeah I would. It would be the
reverse of like the the book to movie kind of pipeline.
You can do movie to book really. Yeah. So have
you had any of your own personal encounters with the paranormal.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
Yeah, I have. When I was, uh, when I was younger,
I went to I grew up in Texas. Well, I
grew I grew up in like going beating Texas in
like New York, but I went to a camp once
called Camp Blaming Era. This is like the only paranormal
experience I think I have that I can remember very
(43:19):
clearly when I was younger. But when I was like
a baby, my mom was like said that my room
was haunted when I was when I was when I
was like just getting back from the hospital and everything,
because I was a premie. And uh my grandma said
that like a lot of things were going after me
when when I was a PREMI because I was like
very very like susceptible the things. So like, yeah, like
(43:44):
the I don't remember all that stuff, but I do
remember when I wasn't going to kind filming Aero and
there was the which is like just a regular camp
that you go to withold do like canoe and archery
and you spend the night. It's like all that stuff.
My dad was one of the camp counselors a little bit,
(44:06):
and he not counsel there's that's that's the wrong one
for it. I guess chaperons chon. Yeah, yeah, here's a chaperone.
And when that one of the knights that we were
there was raining a lot. And so if you go
to if you go to if you ever go to
Camp Flaming Eero, there's like a there's like a main
(44:27):
camp and like a girl's dormity dormitory sort of. Then
there's like a river that doesn't have any water. It's
like an empty basin mhm. And then there's like the
boys camp, and I don't know why we're so separated.
There's like the boy's dormitory, but the boys dormitory has
like like a like a right like a toilet and
(44:50):
a sink, but it doesn't have like a kitchen or
like running water to drink and so nobody wanted to
drink from the toilet, so everyone was getting thirsty. And
there was that night and it was raining, and so
my dad had to like go and get water. And
he couldn't send one of us because we would have
to like go down the river bracing. It's a little
like dangerous. So he's like okay, and like the lights
(45:13):
went out or something and no one had any backup
flashlights or anything. So he had to go and get
water for us and like flashlights and stuff, and he's like,
don't open the door for anybody, and he left. And
then he left to go get water, flashlights and like
(45:33):
someone to like like, uh uh, work on the generator
because I think the generator was going out. And there
was a knock on the door and there was somebody
that that was going to work on the generator and
they said that they were going to work on the
generator and they kept knocking and knocking and we were
like yeah, but my dad is I was like, my
dad is in black. We shouldn't opened the door. And
(45:54):
they were like yeah, but it's a generator guy. He's
sitting in the in the in the storm. We should
open the door. And so the kids opened the door,
like I told him not to, but they opened the
door and then this guy just walked in and went
to the basement and then he was just like like
knocking on things. He it was it sounded like a hammer,
just knocking on like the walls. And we were like,
this is like, what the fuck, what the fuck's wrong
(46:14):
with this guy? And it was just he was therefore
like and maybe not even like ten minutes. And then
and then my dad came back with the guy to
fix the the generator hu and then he was like
and then we were like, oh, there's already someone down there.
My dad was like, you guys opened the door and
we were like, yeah, it's the He said that he
(46:35):
was going to fix the general. We were in the
middle of nowhere. Can fling. It was in the middle
of nowhere.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
God.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
And then he was like what the fuck And they
went down there and there was no one down there.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Stop oh my god.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
And then uh and then but there's no way out.
There's just one way in. There's no other way to
get out of the basement. It's just four walls.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
And you all, all of you saw him. The group
of yeah, oh my god, Okay, so Okay, So then
that's it. That's it, just like no trace of him.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
Like later, like I still tell my dad, I'm like, no,
there was a dude, Like we didn't we didn't make
it up to you, Like somebody came in and they
were they were like they were wet from the outside,
and then they just went downstairs and started banging on
the walls and they never left.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
My god, and you all stayed there that night, you
slept there.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
Like my dad thought we made it up. I don't
think I went to see.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
But oh my god, it's not the nastiest like chill
run up my spine. That is horrifying. I think it's
worse when other people see what you saw. So the
fact that a group of you saw this man, this
stranger walk in go down there, you all heard him
making noise, and then the adults were like, no, you're
(47:54):
making it up and go to bed. Oh my god,
that's that's. That's it.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
I never saw his face, Oh my god. So I
don't know like he would like turn he like turned away,
you know some people like turn away from the light
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
Yeah, it was like that.
Speaker 2 (48:11):
Yeah, my dad, My dad has a lot of a
lot of story. My dad has so many stories.
Speaker 1 (48:16):
Oh my god, that is that is thoroughly unsettling. Oh
my god, thank you for sharing that with us. Okay,
so we've reached the end of our time with the
public episode, but if you are a Best Girl friend,
you have access to the video version of this episode,
(48:38):
along with some bonus content that we are about to
jump into. So for those of you listening not on
a Patreon or if you're not a Best Girlfriend on Patreon,
thank you so much for being here. Miguel. Can you
please tell everyone where they can follow you and your
work and where they can watch the TUSA.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
Sure, you can follow me at macob Martinez on Twitter
and Instagram, and if you want to watch Literisa you
can watch CHUSA at lichusafilm dot com. You can also
follow USA at Let's use a film on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
Amazing. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you
so much for being here and for scaring the shit
out of me. I really appreciate that. Again, if you're
a Best Girlfriend, stick around for that bonus content. If not,
we will see you later.
Speaker 3 (49:22):
Bye.
Speaker 1 (49:37):
Welcome back, Gulfriends. Thank you so much for being here
with us today. Mayell and myself. We had such a
fun conversation. Again, follow him on social media. Check out
his short film that Yousa. I'm so excited to see
where the future takes him, where he goes, what he produces.
He has so many cool ideas. That agricultural thriller. It
just makes sense. Right when he said it, I thought, yeah, yes,
(50:00):
how was like, yeah, especially with the agricultural industry. I'm
not going to get into it. That's a whole other episode.
You already know that, But again, thank you so much
for being here. Once more. The easiest way to support
the show is by engaging with her wherever you are listening, rating, reviewing, subscribing, following,
sharing it, telling your girl friends all about Sustal. Spread,
(50:20):
spread the unholy word about Sustal. How about that. With
that being said, huge shout out to this episode's patrons,
Thank you so much for your support. It means as
always the Underworld to me and you are Liza, Sadie Rachel,
Alejandra Luther, April, Mario, Eva, d Josette, Sam Mandy Jules, Lori, Jeanie,
(50:41):
desiree Anna Ashes, Neda, Rachel, Asusena Rios, Marlene Chata Laney Desiree,
Sera Nai Flamenca, Belinda Ricardo, Archer, Sarah, Anastasia, Vanessa, Maritza
and Yeves. Thank you all so so much from the
bottom of the deep dark well where my heart and
(51:04):
soul are supposed to be but aren't. It really means
so much to me. I will talk to you in
the next episode, and until then not sustas. Bye.
Hey goolfriends, it's me Adrian or Aiden. Either way, I
am still your host, and you are still listening to Susto,
the podcast of ooky, spooky scary stories centered on Latin
American Hispanic cultures. Ghoul friends, thank you so much for
being here. Not only are you listening, but if you
are a Patreon subscriber, then you can also be watching this.
(00:45):
I'm doing this two ways. This time. I am making
this video, this episode accessible to anyone who is a
paid Patreon subscriber, regardless of which tier you are on.
But best gool friends are still only getting the bonus
content for this episode. It's just something I'm trying out.
I don't know if it'll stick. We'll see what happens.
I'll see what the feedback is. Let me know what
(01:06):
you think. But if you are not a Patreon subscriber,
then you are listening to this episode coming to you
from the other side, all the way onto your podcast platform.
Thank you for being here. Long story short, I really
appreciate it. Let me tell you all really quick. I
don't have that many updates. All I'm going to say
is that this month as expected, and I will always
(01:27):
say I appreciate it. I welcome it, I encourage it,
I want more of it. But I am that video
of Gaga going bus club, plane Club, another club, No Sleep.
That's literally me this month, and I am so excited
about it. I am very tired, but I'm very excited.
And so again, if you have not seen that post
(01:48):
on social media, I'm going to post another one, probably
after recording this, so the day before it comes out
you'll see it. When you see it, you'll know that
that was tonight. Anyway, with all of my events, and
I'm going to put all the flyers in there as well,
with all of the details. I'm so excited to be
doing all of these events. I'm so excited to see
all of you there. If you have any questions about them,
(02:10):
please do not hesitate to reach out to me. And
I hope that you've been having a wonderful spooky season
so far. I know we're still in the first beginnings
of this month, but I feel like once it gets kicking,
it's gonna go by fast. So anyway, I hope you
all are having a good time. Let me know what
you're dressing up as for Halloween. I'm just so happy
it's October and everyone's finally on the same page. If
(02:32):
you don't have plans and if it's between one of
my events. I also posted the Susto's thirty one Nights
of Frights on all social media, so let me know
what you think of that as well. Feel free to
toss in what movies you would have had on there
and let me know if you're going to watch any
of those this month. Okay, I know I said not
too many updates, so we will keep it short house
(02:53):
keeping kinds of things. The easiest way to support SUSTO
is by engaging with the show wherever youwhere listening, so
that means leaving five star ratings and reviews, by leaving comments,
by sending me your stories for a letter from the
Beyond episode you already know how to do that social
media DMS, email, the website, putting tears of a fairy
(03:15):
in a crystal glass it has to be crystal, and
then swirling it three times clockwise and four times counterclockwise
and throwing it over your shoulder while saying your story,
I will hear it in my sleep. With all of
that being said, we have another special guest this episode.
I'm very excited to speak to this person. I'm very
excited for you to hear from this person. They will
(03:36):
be introducing themselves once more in a minute here, but
without further ado, please welcome screenwriter and film director Miguel Martinez. Hello, girlfriend,
(04:00):
and today we have a very special guest all the
way from the world of film and creation, Miguel Martinez,
writer and director of Litusa. Thank you so much for
being here with us.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
So I want to get right into it for those
of you who have not heard or seen, and I will,
of course let Miguel let you explain a bit more
about it. Miguel, you wrote a short horror film called Litusa.
Before we dive into that, can you tell us a
little bit more about who you are and the work
that you do.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Sure. My name is Miguel Martinez. I'm a filmmaker who
loves horror movies, and so that's kind of what I
lean towards. I first was a screenwriter, and then I decided, hey,
I want to get some of these things actually made,
and right now, nobody's making anything really, so I want
(04:55):
to be the one to do it. So I started
leaning more into filmmaking, learning more about that. Most of
the schooling I did and most of the things that
I looked into was filming when it was screenwriting, and
so I kind of had to start on the ground
up a little bit with with filmmaking and stuff like that.
(05:16):
When I was in college, I worked a bit on
some of Robert Rodriguez's film company, like so that was
really fun. I worked on the From So Down TV show,
So that's kind of how I got my start in
the industry a little bit. But yeah, like I'm I'm
pretty easy to get along with, I think, and I
(05:38):
have a lot of different avenues that I don't put
all of my eggs in one basket. I write comics,
I have some books that I self distributed, and I'm
actually publishing a poetry book at the end of the year.
So that's something I'll look forward to you stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
That's so exciting. I love that you mentioned the idea
of like you kind of weren't seeing enough of the
work done or in a way that you would do it,
and so you just kind of said I'll do it myself.
In several interviews, I've had people ask me about my
start with Susto and how that happened, and I had
pretty much the same answer was I was looking for
this kind of content and I had a clear vision
(06:14):
of what I wanted it to be like, and I
couldn't find it, so I said, I'll do it myself.
So I very much understand that, and I love that
kind of like drive and passion for something to kind
of just build something from the ground up.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Right, definite.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
What initially drew you to filmmaking or I guess, like
you said, to screenwriting.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, I've always been. I've always been into film, and
but I think it was only specifically when I started
getting in the horror that I was like, Oh, this
is something that I want to do, and this is
something I feel I can do, and and like when
when I was younger, I obviously loved movies, and I
loved animated movies, and I love The Lion King and
(06:57):
all that stuff. But I saw this poster once when
I was young, and it was a poster to the
Nightmare on Elm Street, and it was the post you
see everywhere where where it's like like Freddy at the
painting of Freddy, like above the bed and yeah, like
that that whole thing. And I was like what is this?
(07:19):
And I wanted to watch it, but for some reason,
my parents weren't always like this. But for some reason,
my mom was like, no, you can't watch that movie.
And I was like, I was like, what do you mean?
Like I think she saw Freddy's like his face burned
face somewhere and she's like no, and so she's like,
you can't watch it, and I was I could watch.
I've watched. I watched like a bunch of horror, I
(07:39):
watched like the Thing. But for some reason, that was
the one movie that my mom was like, you can't
watch it. So I went. I was very I was
like eight, I think I went to school and my
friend was like, oh, I don't have the DVD, but
I have this, and it was the soundtrack to the
movie Oh wow. And he gave it to you, like
lent it to me, and I like took it home
(08:02):
and I put it in my little CD player and
I like hid in the corner at like at night,
like listening to the soundtrack to Nightmare on Elm Street,
which like when you're in imagining what the movie would
be like, which I think is infinitely worse than what
the movie is actually like. But I was so like
enamored with this this like other worldly thing, and I
(08:24):
finally saw the movie and I loved it, and I
think it's it's it's a perfect movie. The first time
my own Stree movie is a perfect horror movie. And
then after that I just sort of kept being enamored
and amored. But it was always the sort of like
thing in the distance. It was always this like thing
to admire from a distance, and like like movies like
Spielberg movies are like perfectly chiseled Greek statues, and like
(08:48):
horror movies are like this really really other like spiritual
thing that you experienced. For me, I think it was
only when I went to go watch Pans Labyrinth with
my dad after my grandmother had passed away, and it
was like the first thing we did like the day after,
(09:10):
and it was it was I watched it and when
it ended, I for some reason, maybe it was just
old enough to have this stop, but I had the
thought of, oh, somebody made this movie and they had
a great time doing it, and this is like somebody's job.
Somebody made this And it was the first time that
I registered that as like a like a child. Yeah,
(09:30):
And so I think since that moment on I was like, Oh,
I want to do that, whatever that is, I want
to do it.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Oh my god, that's so cool. I think that's such
a really cool, I guess moment to have that realization
like this is not only something that people do like
obviously for the love of it, but it's a it's
a career path for many people. Yeah, that's really cool.
It pans Labyrinth is also. That's actually it's it's on
my I just posted that today. It's on my thirty
one Nights of Fright Susto movie guide for or the
(10:00):
month of October, because that one. I mean, it's one
of those where I could I can rewatch it like
countless times, and it's just it's such a like, I mean,
of course, like how could you not write that's a great,
great film, great choice for inspiration for sure. So speaking
of great films, can you tell us about your new
horror short LOTUSA.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah, well, the Choosa is a proof of concept short,
meaning I have the future film, and I wrote the
future film, and then I had producers who were like, hey,
maybe you should turn this into a short and you
can kind of prove that you can make this and
prove that you can make it for cheap and prove
that you can like like have like the visual knowledge
(10:43):
of the visual language to tell this story. And so
it went through a lot of iterations. But first I'm
just gonna say that, So Lituosa is a folk tale
from Latin America. It takes on a whole lot of
different forms about different things. But my story is about
(11:04):
these this group of sisters on the night of their
mother's funeral, so it's after their mother it passed away,
and one of the sisters gathers the others to try
to resurrect their matriarch, and the Lachisa punishes them for
their abuse of magic essentially, and that that's sort of
(11:26):
the context that I wanted to say to take this.
In the latusa from Latin American folklore, she she does
a lot of things, but her sort of origin is
that she was unjustly punished for using for being a witch.
And and then so as she was burning, essentially, she
made a deal with the devil to come back for revenge,
(11:49):
and the devil returned her as this owl creature, this
like half a woman, half owl creature, and which is
something that I never saw again. With that thing of
like it's missing. And every time you talk about like
like Latino folklore, everyone talks about Loonona and I love Laonona,
but but this was always was always like a thing
that I was like, yeah, but there's this and there's
(12:11):
this thing that my my dad told me the story
about he lives, he lived on a ranch and that
they saw this thing, and nobody ever knew what I
was talking about. So I wanted to sort of try
to bring it into like the visual medium and specifically
have it in English too, which would would be nice.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
But yeah, yeah, I mean I can see that too,
how like in a moment like that and the sisters
in Litusa after losing their mother, I can see how
that would be a moment of desperation for someone and
the idea of doing anything, you know, to to have
her back, to have a lost love one return to you,
(12:48):
and so and and again I've I've told the story
of Litusas and they're like with so many of these stories, right,
there are so many different versions of it, and so
there's definitely the I think one of them more popular,
like the I guess quote accepted version is the story
of a witch who was unjustly or or wrongly executed
(13:09):
for practicing buhidiya, and then other people believe that any
or not any. But there are multiple latusas out there.
So there are witches who can transform into owls and
they are known they are latusa's. It's a type of witch, right,
So I guess with the idea of that of desperation
wanting to bring back a loved one and the use
(13:30):
of magic and the abuse of magic, as you said,
do you think that specifically drew you to use la
latusa in in in in this movie compared to like
you mentioned, or any other sort of like legendary spirit
or cryptid that that we hear about.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Yeah, I I was very I was very much drawn
to the the the visceral image of and just the
way that it is described in like accounts people have
seen it or or people who've like heard it or
(14:11):
since there's this very much like like a physical thing
that that that I'm drawn to more than other, more
than other folklore from Latin America, I think. But like
this this story of like abuse abusing magic and the
story of wanting to bring a loved one back, and
it's something that I was. I was very much drawn
to and like back in twenty thirteen, I lost my
(14:35):
mother and I was very much drawn to that. That
the idea of resurrection and people writing about it and
what they actually what they're actually trying to say. What
all these resurrection stories like like Frankenstein or stuff like that,
what they're trying to say? And and I want I
had something to say about a resurrection story and then
about stuff something like that. And so that's what the
(14:58):
feature that going back to, like writing, that's what the
feature is about. And then when I started writing the short,
it went through a bunch of a bunch of different
stages because like before, right before shooting, I realized that
the messages that didn't get through, what I had to
say wasn't being said in the short. And what I
always tell my collaborators is like, if if we don't
(15:21):
make anything else, or if you don't make like let's
say you make up the proof of concept. If you
don't make the feature, this has to stand on it
on the town because it's the only thing you ever made. Like,
if you don't make anything else, are you saying all
you need to say? And so for the short, like
the basically, like the night before we started filming, I
(15:42):
wrote the if you've seen the short, there's like a
book ends of it. So what the short is? It's
like this, it's you see the mother pass away. One
of the daughters sees the mother pass away, and she
starts to sort of cry, and she starts to short
agree and then she swallowed it up and then she's like,
I have an idea, and then you see her idea
(16:05):
and the sister's trying to stop her. And then what
happens when she tries to resurrect the matriarch and and
she keeps sort of coming back to this room that
her mother passed away in, and then at the end
she comes back to it and she's faced with the
realization of like, Okay, I need to I need to
accept this. I need to I need to like cry
or I need to grieve. I need to do this.
I can't start taking these these these other pathways to
(16:31):
make to do this, to make this happen. And that's
that's sort of like what drew me into, like this
idea of using the lachusa that way. Yeah, and it
wasn't it wasn't even always called the Lachisa sometimes it's
just about brupas. And then I realized that we needed
like this anchor of a metaphor, and lichisaid turned into
that anchor.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yeah, and you had mentioned also that it's like it's
such a good, like a visceral kind of image, and uh,
the the the image that you all have or like
the the makeup that y'all had for the La Chusa.
Shout out to your makeup and you're effects person, because
it looks so cool and on the cover or the poster,
(17:11):
I guess you could say four for the chusas well.
It looks so cool. I'll probably post on social media
for this episode and I'll throw that up here for
Best School Friends on Patreon. But it is it looks
so so good, so creepy.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
That have a crazy story about that. Do you want
to hear it?
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Please, it's nuts. Yeah. So I knew what I wanted
it to look like, and like it took me. It
took me so long into the production of this to
tell my dad I was doing it because I thought
he was gonna say, don't do that. I thought he
was going to be like, don't, don't, don't fuck around
with like you know, I don't know if I can
cuss it. Yeah, but okay, I don't know if he
(17:48):
was gonna say, hey, you don't fuck around with this,
because because he that's it's where I learned it from.
He told me stories of like the Latusa visiting his
home and trying to steal his baby brother. Oh my god,
and the dad been to fight it off with like
a shotgun, O my god, like and like his dad
had a well, my grandfather has a cross with like
a knife attached to it, and so like him like
(18:12):
blessing the cross and like doing that, and like the
Litusa like landing on his head and like being caught
on the cross on the cross, like trying to pick
him up, and then, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
It essentially are they is your family Catholic? Yeah, that
is some Catholic shit if I ever heard it, the
knife on the crucifix. And it's also just something about
the Catholic aesthetics. I just imagine it, and I know
it looked cool as hell, So okay, go on.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
So it's crazy, and and I think they use it
when when they I think I've seen it when they
raised the baby Jesus, like in Christmas. They like used
that for something, and I think I've seen what it
looks like. Okay, but yeah, so I had their stories
and I know I know it, but I've always known
about the LOTUSA And I told my dad and he
like went quiet for a little bit, and then he's like,
(18:59):
what is it about? And I told him and he
liked it, so he's like, okay, but what was I
gonna say? Oh So I did a lot of research. Obviously,
I talked to a lot of like vocal scholars. I
really wanted to get like the look down and I
knew what I wanted, and my dad explained it to
me too a little bit more. And then but when
(19:21):
you go out, if you starts it like on Google
or YouTube or something, there's this image that keeps popping
out on the YouTube thumbnails. It is the exact same photograph.
It's the exact same image. It's just like the person
who took took the image off of Google for our thumbnail,
they made it black and white, or they put some
kind of filter over it to use it as it
as their thumbnail, or so some kind of effect over it.
(19:44):
But it's the same image and you can tell. It's
very easy to see and I was so after like
the twentieth time searching up Latusa on YouTube, I was like,
what's this image? And I went on Google and I
used like the time machine thing, and I U like, well,
you can like see where where people talk about what
thing went on Google ivering up that's called And I
(20:08):
was like, Okay, I know I think it's this image,
but I'm not sure. And I tracked down the image
to a deviant Art account of somebody who was in
special effects school in like two thousand and eight, and
they or they held the mask up and they said, hey,
this is my senior project and it's that exact picture.
Someone cropped it and then used it in like a
(20:30):
YouTube thumbnail and now everyone uses it in their YouTube
thumbnails when they talk about Latusa. And I was like,
who is this person? And they're like, you know, it's
a debian art account. It wasn't It hasn't been active
for like twenty like ten years, yeah, or twenty years,
like almost twenty years, like fifteen years or something. And
I was like who is this And I couldn't find
it and I couldn't find it, and I was searching
(20:50):
like all their user names and I was searching everything
and I was searching the graduating class. Oh, and then
out of nowhere, I find this person who has like
half of the usual name and I'm like, what who
is this? And I looked them up. It's like an
abandoned Twitter and I was like, what is this? I
don't know what it is? And they started posting when
(21:11):
the episodes of Fear the Walking Dead came out and
I was like, okay, so I look up Fear the
Walking down. I'm like, does this person work on for
the Walking Dead?
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
And I found the person who posted on DVR in
like two thousand and eight. I found them working on
Fear of the Walking Dead, and then through the IMDb,
I emailed him and I was like, hey, man, no,
I found him on Instagram and I was like, hey,
is this you? And I send him the image and
he's like where did you get this? And I was like, so,
(21:44):
I'm making a movie. Here's the script, here's like this. No,
here's the pitch deck and here's the script or whatever.
Do you still have this? And he said no, I
don't have this. And I was like, can you make
another one? And he's like he read the script and
he's like I really like this. Yeah, I'll do it
for you.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
He's like, he's like, how when are you going to film?
And I think we were in a film, a little singer.
But he's like, it's gonna take me like two three
weeks because i'm you know, he's doing Fear of the
Walking Dead. And I was like, i'll push it. I'll
push the film date. I'll do it, and he's like yeah, okay,
and so he he did it pretty quickly. He charged
me the materials. Essentially, wow, he did. He almost did
(22:24):
it for free, like I don't. I was like, hey,
I can pay you more, and he's like, no, just
just make it so I don't lose money on this,
and I'll do it.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah. What's his name?
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Can give His name is Eric. He's he's amazing. He
made us the mask and like the thing that she
wears over over herself, and then he he shipped it
to me and I have have video of like unwrapping
it and everything. It looks so good. It's it's the
(22:54):
It really elevated this entire thing. And then on like
on the set, we were like, okay, she needs like
a shawl. So we used to give her a shawl
and uh, we shot this is this is crazy. We
shot when Spirit Halloween was closing and I went and
(23:15):
bought my costume for that next Halloween that day, the
day right before we shot. It was a ghost face
costume and I had it in the car. So when
we were filming, we were like, we see the actor
under the shaw what do we do? And and I
think my wife was like, you have the ghost face costume.
(23:36):
Put the ghost face costume under the latusa and then
put everything on top of it. So underneath all the
latusa is a black ghost face like like that goes
all the way down and you could just see like
the black would just so you don't see clothes. Yeah, yeah,
but yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
That's wow the magic of filmmaking. Honestly, Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
That's that's how we put together the little cost.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
That is so cool. And again, yeah, the payoff is huge.
It looks great, it looks amazing and so wow, I'm
glad you were able to find Eric man. You really
put in some a detective work and tracked him down.
Oh my god, and thank goodness. Yeah, it was really cool. Okay,
So you were talking earlier also about kind of like
your thought process, like with your own experience and kind
(24:23):
of putting it a little bit into the story of
this movie. And so with not only the short but
also the feature, you balance a lot of psychological horror
with like the physical threat of this now like fully
manifested LITUSA. How do you approach building tension and fear
through both your script and then also translating that to
(24:44):
visual to on screen.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I think to answer that question, it's really important for
you to understand that the first time I saw it
cut together, I was like, Oh my god, I made
a terrible mistake. This is this is horrible. And the
second time I saw I cut together, I was like, yeah,
this is horrible. Maybe I should just stop. And because
(25:08):
it just it wasn't there, The tension wasn't there. If
you've seen it, you understand that it's less of like
it's less of like a mood and it's more of
like a ride. It's more of like this leads to this,
leads to this, and we just don't stop the maybe
he just keeps going, especially after the mother dies, which
is like the first scene, and that was on purpose
(25:29):
that that was like from the beginning, I was like, oh,
I want this to be a little riote. I pictured
what it would be like to see this with people,
and I was like, in like a theater, and I
was like, Okay, people don't want to see this. People
don't want to see this. I trim the fat out
of the script a lot, but it still wasn't working,
and I was like, I don't know what's wrong with it.
And then I talked to some filmmaker friends that I
know that I have put more things together, specifically have
(25:51):
adapted my stuff, and they were like, just wait. There
was like just keep going, just keep keep whittling it
down and keep adding elements. It'll click. And I was like,
it's not clicking, and they're like, just keep going. And
I realize And I only realized that after the fact
that it was sound editing sound adding what was missing
(26:12):
because we have a sound designer and she designed all
the sound for the house. Almost everything that you hear
in litisa what is foley or music or sound of
some other kind and and I dropped it in and
I hit play and I was like, oh, this is great,
(26:32):
Like oh now now that makes sense because before that
it wasn't raining. I don't know if you can tell
it's raining in the house. I think you almost know
it subconsciously because of the sound design. It's raining the
entire time. There's thunder and there's there's it's hitting the
wood and like when they step it creaks. It didn't
(26:52):
creak in the first few drafts because the audio didn't
pick that up. Or I guess that wasn't really creaks
in the house. But she added the creeks, She added breathing.
She added music, Well, the music I had I got separately.
But yeah, like, and her name is a Camille Craig.
She's a great sound designer. I'm using her for other
(27:12):
stuff because I was like, oh, this is fantastic. So
as much as I can write in oh this happens
like oh, like this is scary, or like this scary
thing happened, Oh she walks down the hall in fear,
I can write that down on a page and I
can try to make you feel it in a screenplay.
But execution is everything. Yeah, and even if you even
(27:37):
like visually, if I can execute that right, it's not
gonna it doesn't feel. You don't feel it. It's a sound,
especially in horror. It's a sound.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Yeah wow, But I mean but also how important to
like and good on you also as like kind of
I guess you could say like the person in charge,
like this is your project right to know like Okay,
something is missed, something is missing, what is it? What
is it? And then not only that, but to feel
this sense of almost dread and like okay, I just
(28:06):
need to like wash my hands of this because it's
not working, but then going back to it and continue
to work on it until you do find that piece.
And I will say yes, watching the movie the sound
is it is really good. And like you said, it's
some of it is almost subconscious, like when it's there,
you're kind of not really when it's done, well, you're
(28:28):
not really thinking of it. Like for example, the raining,
it's like you know that it's raining, but if it
wasn't there, if certain sounds weren't there, certain design wasn't done,
then it feels like it's like, well, what's off. But
then again when it's there, you're just like your brain
just kind of like subconsciously processes that. So yeah, no,
that's oh my god. Yeah. The I always try to
(28:50):
get across to people how much work it is to
do something creative, to do storytelling creatively with like with SUSO,
it's a podcast, you know, so I'm audio only but
and so like I it's cool that you bring it
up because with without my sound if I don't have music,
(29:12):
if I don't have certain sound effects, it doesn't really
play off. And so editing my episodes, I'll hear my story,
I'm telling it, I'm editing it and everything. I'm like, god,
it sounds so weird. I'm like, but I know it's
going to come together in a second. And when I
throw in little things it may even just music. The
music like kind of guides you, it pushes you through
(29:33):
it through a story. Yeah, it totally makes sense. It
wraps it up in a nice bow. I'll say.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Yeah. With this new project that I'm filming this weekend,
I've been really a huge proponent on something that is
going to make a lot of Like all tours, I
guess upset or like filmmakers really upset, but I've been
I've always been a proponent of your job as a
director or as a filmmaker. I guess to be dumbest
person in the room, which sounds weird, but it is
(30:04):
like you need to surround yourself with people who were
really good at their job, like so good at their
job that you don't need to do it, because if
you do it, you didn't study this, You're going it's
going to be bad. Like you don't know how to
sound is done. You don't know. I don't know some
of it. I don't know lenses, Like I know my
lenses is like a director knows lenses, but I don't
know cameras. So you need to find the best people
(30:27):
for the job, surround yourself with them, and you're the
dumbest person in the room. Yeah, you're just like, oh,
I want it to look scary. Can you make it
look scary? And they're like, yeah, okay, I'll make it
looks scary. Yeah, stuff like that. And like I wrote
this so like I know what I want, but I
don't know. I don't really know how to get there.
So you know better than me how to get there,
(30:47):
so we need to figure it out. I was like
a group a little bit. Yeah, and so this has
been a lot better to like to try that that
sort of style of making movies.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yeah, it's like the ultimate group project and just kind
of putting that trust in other people. And then again
and a vice versa having them put their trust in
you right that you're steering this thing that they're working on,
that they're putting time into in the right direction. And
so like speaking of the genre and like this kind
of work and all the things that go in together,
are all the things that go into making a horror
(31:18):
movie happen. What do you think makes the genre such
a powerful vehicle for exploring emotional and societal issues. I
think many people might take horror at face value and say, oh,
it's just a scary movie. But I think more now,
more than ever, people are discovering that horror is so
much more than just scary movies. There are stories about
(31:42):
so many different topics. Yeah, how would you kind of
or like you, what are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2 (31:49):
I think horror is a very easy element to attach
metaphor it too. Monsters are really easy to attend to
attach metaphor too. People always speak about this sort of
like elevated horror, which horror has always been elevated. There's
always been the thing, There's always been suspiria, there's always that,
there's always been uh more to these to horror. Just
(32:14):
if you want, if you were willing to look and
so like the there's I think it's it's I think
it's the best genre to explore the imperfections of people
and the emotions of people through through like a safe lens.
(32:35):
So I I I really like the idea of like
figuring out what you're actually afraid of and grafting that
onto onto a monster. And maybe someone's already done it,
and watch it and see what you like about it,
what works about it, what you would do better about it,
(32:56):
like from it, and then and then try to work
with that.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it definitely helps. Like you said,
it's great to attach metaphor to and then when you
toss in like something that already has kind of a
history of like Altusa for example, I can imagine it's
fun to kind of play around with what the meaning
is or how can you use that monster, so to speak,
(33:22):
as a vehicle to kind of deliver that message. What
do you hope that audiences take away from watching Litusa,
especially people that are going through something similar with their families,
(33:46):
like this idea of loss.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Yeah, I hope audiences take away the importance of family
and not just the family that you are assigned and
the importance of getting through your grief and actually processing
your grief. But other than that, I want them to
go searching for more Latino folklore. I want them to
(34:08):
understand that there's more landin folklore out there. It's weird,
it's fun, it's sad, and it's interesting, and I want
them to at least like have that understanding that, oh,
maybe there's more stuff that I haven't heard of from
Latino countries and then go looking for it.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Yeah, So like speaking about that, how do you see
the role of cultural identity shaping modern horror. I think
it's definitely. It is already happening, So yeah, how do
you kind of see that role playing out not only
currently but maybe for the future.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
I think there's something interesting about people taking.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
This.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
I've always loved folklore. The folklore has always been almost
like pigeonholed by this sort of like weird Anglos stories.
It's always been it's always been like Midsummer or that
other thing that people associated Midsummer with. I forgot what
it was, and it's always been sort of that or
(35:17):
like Lamb or or even like older than that that
I can't remember. But like, I think we should end
up taking more like from your actual from your hometown
or from your city, or from your country, or from
your people. And the idea of doing that and like
almost taking back the fear that you felt and that
(35:41):
your family felt and turning it into into something that
you can use as something you can expel your demons with.
I think is really powerful and I think people are
understanding the power of that now.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Yeah, absolutely, I think, and like you said, taking it
down to like the community level. Many of these stories
are told across different cultures, and they vary from culture
to culture, from continent to continent, from state to state,
to city to city, to neighborhood to neighborhood. These stories
can get really specific depending on who is telling them,
(36:16):
and so I think, like, yeah, it's important to recognize
the cultural identities in some of these stories because they
bring extremely unique perspectives to the storytelling that ends up happening.
So yeah, yeah, I like that idea. What stories do
you hope to tell in the future. I know that
(36:37):
you said you have projects coming up, but what kinds
of stories are are you hoping to tell?
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Well? I really want to keep delving into folklore, and
I really want to keep delving into I guess the
like my history and my country and my people, and
and I think that's that's where I needed anyway. I
think that's why I can get the most most of
(37:03):
most of my ideas out. So the thing, the thing
that I'm gonna shoot this weekend, it's called with Your Life.
It's another proof of content short where I have the
feature it is. It's a generational slasher that's a metaphor
for the generational trauma that comes from having a being
(37:25):
in an abusive marriage. And I took the first scene
of that, which is essentially this woman escaping U ranch
in Mexico, a family ranch in Mexico where she's trying
to escape her her abusive husband and her peaceive husband's
family who lives on the ranch. And she's sneaking out
in the middle of the night and she has to
take a child with her, and it's it's like it's
(37:49):
like the first scene of like the Visible Man remake,
but with a baby, and it's a slasher movie. And
and so we're doing that, and I want to at
some thing that as we're doing it, I was like,
I want to get this under five minutes. I want
to get this I want to get in and get out,
and I had to send it in my head for
a while. And one of the actresses from La Chusa,
(38:12):
Jude Salazar, she messes me earlier this year and was like, Hey,
I want to make something. I want to be the
star of something like a short. Can you pitch me ideas?
And this is the idea that she gravitated towards the most,
and so she's like, I can fund this, let's go,
and so we just started working on it. So yeah,
we so hopefully, hopefully it's gonna turn out really good.
(38:34):
I think it's gonna be great. And like, as for
like folklore, I I'm doing like poems my the poem
the book poem book that I have. I haven't announced
anything yet, but it's it's called Mad Monsters and it's uh,
it's poems from the perspective with monsters and drawing metaphors
from that and everything. So I think it's gonna be fun.
(38:55):
But as far as folklore, I I really wanted for
a while to do like a Goosebump series and I
have the first book written, but it's not very good
because I'm not really a prose writer, so I need
to keep rewriting, you to keep getting notes on it
and stuff. But it's a it's I uh. For like
(39:18):
years and years and years, I was trying to crack
what the Trooper Coppa is about and why it's scary
and why it's endured as a folk tale for so long.
And I think I figured out that it's because it's Okay,
I'm gonna pitch you a chup of cover story real quick.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
So, so back in the day and even now, a
lot of pueblos exists on their own. They they they
are fully functioning societies in the in and of themselves,
which is hard for us as Americans to imagine, right,
It's hard for us to imagine not getting shipments over
about the places, or like eating an avocado that was
(39:58):
made in a country entire. But there's whole little pueblo's
little cities that exists in themselves. They have a farm,
they have a hospital, they have a school, and then
that's all they need mm hmm to to continue living.
And that that that even to this day they still
do that. But back in the day it was way
more and it was way more widespread. So you if
(40:18):
if if for some reason you had a bad crop day.
Your people in your city, in your in your bueblo,
in your city, they ate least that year, or a
bad crop year, they ate least that year. You couldn't
import food from another city they needed.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
So the tup of coppera goes around and attacks your
livestock as in, it attacks your food source. It attacks
the lifeblood of a city. And that's the fear. It's
a it's it's a it's an it's a it's a
story about isolation. You were isolated for everyone else, and
then there's a thing that's attacking your like your your heart,
(40:54):
and you either need to kill it or leave. Yeah,
that those are your options. And so the the the
Goosebumps book that I have, it's about this kid whose
parents passed away in a car accident and he has
to go live with his grandma and grandpa in Mexico.
And he's he's American, he's mexic An American. He doesn't
(41:15):
know Spanish. So he goes, he goes, and he has
to like sort of assimilate into this culture that he
doesn't understand. And he makes a friend and everything, and
together they realize that there's this mystery happening in the city,
in the pueblo, and it's that the chibokapas such, is
starting to eat the livestock and they have to figure
out what it is and how to get rid of
it before the whole the whole city starts collapsing. Yeah,
(41:40):
and it already kind of started, so like he's heard
tales of like oh, like like his mother comes from
this really great place and there's like music and there's
food and there's a festival. But when he gets there,
it's a dying town. It's it's it's rotty, and he
doesn't know why and he does don't understand, and it's
because they're losing their food.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Wow, that's that's such a good idea. I like that.
I like that a lot. This kind of like it.
It's giving me like agricultural thriller, which I'm not sure
is something I've really seen before. Right, Like that's and
and yeah, that's truly terrifying. Is a community being cut
off from their resources that they need to literally live. Yeah,
(42:24):
that I think that is such a you don't need it,
but susto stap of approval. I think that is such
a cool idea.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
It's good, but if you read the book, it's not
that good. It doesn't come off as good as my pitch.
So I'm just I just need to keep going. Maybe
I should just write a movie.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
I don't honestly, yeah I would. It would be the
reverse of like the the book to movie kind of pipeline.
You can do movie to book really. Yeah. So have
you had any of your own personal encounters with the paranormal.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
Yeah, I have. When I was, uh, when I was younger,
I went to I grew up in Texas. Well, I
grew I grew up in like going beating Texas in
like New York, but I went to a camp once
called Camp Blaming Era. This is like the only paranormal
experience I think I have that I can remember very
(43:19):
clearly when I was younger. But when I was like
a baby, my mom was like said that my room
was haunted when I was when I was when I
was like just getting back from the hospital and everything,
because I was a premie. And uh my grandma said
that like a lot of things were going after me
when when I was a PREMI because I was like
very very like susceptible the things. So like, yeah, like
(43:44):
the I don't remember all that stuff, but I do
remember when I wasn't going to kind filming Aero and
there was the which is like just a regular camp
that you go to withold do like canoe and archery
and you spend the night. It's like all that stuff.
My dad was one of the camp counselors a little bit,
(44:06):
and he not counsel there's that's that's the wrong one
for it. I guess chaperons chon. Yeah, yeah, here's a chaperone.
And when that one of the knights that we were
there was raining a lot. And so if you go
to if you go to if you ever go to
Camp Flaming Eero, there's like a there's like a main
(44:27):
camp and like a girl's dormity dormitory sort of. Then
there's like a river that doesn't have any water. It's
like an empty basin mhm. And then there's like the
boys camp, and I don't know why we're so separated.
There's like the boy's dormitory, but the boys dormitory has
like like a like a right like a toilet and
(44:50):
a sink, but it doesn't have like a kitchen or
like running water to drink and so nobody wanted to
drink from the toilet, so everyone was getting thirsty. And
there was that night and it was raining, and so
my dad had to like go and get water. And
he couldn't send one of us because we would have
to like go down the river bracing. It's a little
like dangerous. So he's like okay, and like the lights
(45:13):
went out or something and no one had any backup
flashlights or anything. So he had to go and get
water for us and like flashlights and stuff, and he's like,
don't open the door for anybody, and he left. And
then he left to go get water, flashlights and like
(45:33):
someone to like like, uh uh, work on the generator
because I think the generator was going out. And there
was a knock on the door and there was somebody
that that was going to work on the generator and
they said that they were going to work on the
generator and they kept knocking and knocking and we were
like yeah, but my dad is I was like, my
dad is in black. We shouldn't opened the door. And
(45:54):
they were like yeah, but it's a generator guy. He's
sitting in the in the in the storm. We should
open the door. And so the kids opened the door,
like I told him not to, but they opened the
door and then this guy just walked in and went
to the basement and then he was just like like
knocking on things. He it was it sounded like a hammer,
just knocking on like the walls. And we were like,
this is like, what the fuck, what the fuck's wrong
(46:14):
with this guy? And it was just he was therefore
like and maybe not even like ten minutes. And then
and then my dad came back with the guy to
fix the the generator hu and then he was like
and then we were like, oh, there's already someone down there.
My dad was like, you guys opened the door and
we were like, yeah, it's the He said that he
(46:35):
was going to fix the general. We were in the
middle of nowhere. Can fling. It was in the middle
of nowhere.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
God.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
And then he was like what the fuck And they
went down there and there was no one down there.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Stop oh my god.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
And then uh and then but there's no way out.
There's just one way in. There's no other way to
get out of the basement. It's just four walls.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
And you all, all of you saw him. The group
of yeah, oh my god, Okay, so Okay, So then
that's it. That's it, just like no trace of him.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
Like later, like I still tell my dad, I'm like, no,
there was a dude, Like we didn't we didn't make
it up to you, Like somebody came in and they
were they were like they were wet from the outside,
and then they just went downstairs and started banging on
the walls and they never left.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
My god, and you all stayed there that night, you
slept there.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
Like my dad thought we made it up. I don't
think I went to see.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
But oh my god, it's not the nastiest like chill
run up my spine. That is horrifying. I think it's
worse when other people see what you saw. So the
fact that a group of you saw this man, this
stranger walk in go down there, you all heard him
making noise, and then the adults were like, no, you're
(47:54):
making it up and go to bed. Oh my god,
that's that's. That's it.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
I never saw his face, Oh my god. So I
don't know like he would like turn he like turned away,
you know some people like turn away from the light
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
Yeah, it was like that.
Speaker 2 (48:11):
Yeah, my dad, My dad has a lot of a
lot of story. My dad has so many stories.
Speaker 1 (48:16):
Oh my god, that is that is thoroughly unsettling. Oh
my god, thank you for sharing that with us. Okay,
so we've reached the end of our time with the
public episode, but if you are a Best Girl friend,
you have access to the video version of this episode,
(48:38):
along with some bonus content that we are about to
jump into. So for those of you listening not on
a Patreon or if you're not a Best Girlfriend on Patreon,
thank you so much for being here. Miguel. Can you
please tell everyone where they can follow you and your
work and where they can watch the TUSA.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
Sure, you can follow me at macob Martinez on Twitter
and Instagram, and if you want to watch Literisa you
can watch CHUSA at lichusafilm dot com. You can also
follow USA at Let's use a film on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
Amazing. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you
so much for being here and for scaring the shit
out of me. I really appreciate that. Again, if you're
a Best Girlfriend, stick around for that bonus content. If not,
we will see you later.
Speaker 3 (49:22):
Bye.
Speaker 1 (49:37):
Welcome back, Gulfriends. Thank you so much for being here
with us today. Mayell and myself. We had such a
fun conversation. Again, follow him on social media. Check out
his short film that Yousa. I'm so excited to see
where the future takes him, where he goes, what he produces.
He has so many cool ideas. That agricultural thriller. It
just makes sense. Right when he said it, I thought, yeah, yes,
(50:00):
how was like, yeah, especially with the agricultural industry. I'm
not going to get into it. That's a whole other episode.
You already know that, But again, thank you so much
for being here. Once more. The easiest way to support
the show is by engaging with her wherever you are listening, rating, reviewing, subscribing, following,
sharing it, telling your girl friends all about Sustal. Spread,
(50:20):
spread the unholy word about Sustal. How about that. With
that being said, huge shout out to this episode's patrons,
Thank you so much for your support. It means as
always the Underworld to me and you are Liza, Sadie Rachel,
Alejandra Luther, April, Mario, Eva, d Josette, Sam Mandy Jules, Lori, Jeanie,
(50:41):
desiree Anna Ashes, Neda, Rachel, Asusena Rios, Marlene Chata Laney Desiree,
Sera Nai Flamenca, Belinda Ricardo, Archer, Sarah, Anastasia, Vanessa, Maritza
and Yeves. Thank you all so so much from the
bottom of the deep dark well where my heart and
(51:04):
soul are supposed to be but aren't. It really means
so much to me. I will talk to you in
the next episode, and until then not sustas. Bye.
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