I NEVER THOUGHT I’D MAKE  HORROR FILM IN MY LIFE! How the comedy-horror anthology film, 9 Ways to Hell came together! 

Contributed to Bookpleasures.com by Shelly Skandrani

Shelly Skandrani: I started my career as an actress at 9 years old, in London, where I grew up. I performed in a dozen theater productions before my co-star role in the Holocaust film The Devil’s Arithmetic which Dustin Hoffman produced for Showtime. I’d seen and experienced my fair share of horrors in that film, but it was a drama, a genre I watched and knew well. 

Horror is another story. When I was 15 I watched The Candyman at a sleepover with friends. We all said his name in the mirror three times before watching it (silly fools), and then I almost broke my friend’s fingers from squeezing her hand so hard during it. 

Since then I’ve seen one horror film which my friend produced and had to “go to the bathroom” three times, every time a scary part came! So the idea of me writing and directing a horror film was out of the question! Hahaha! 

Meeting Nick Dragon and Lacey Rae was a happy circumstance in my life! I was going through a really dark time. I had just had a car accident which had left my body aching for months, I was in physical therapy three times a week, and in bed most of the rest of the time. I also had a concussion which left my brain very foggy, and dealing with the world was difficult for those six months, as I was very far from my family. 

Spending all that time away from the film community, though, was the worst part! I felt like life was passing me by, and I had no way to express myself. The idea of getting in a car, however, dealing with traffic and PTSD, as well as the bustling environment of a set, felt overwhelming and impossible. So I did something really crazy... 

I had this amazing attic in a house I was renting. It was creepy and big, with a wooden floor and beams and small windows. Definitely a great shooting space. So I went on Facebook, found film groups and offered to let people film there for free, so long as I was involved in the project somehow. If I couldn’t get to them, I would bring them to me! 

And then Nick Dragon walked into my life! He wanted to shoot a short with Lacey Rae there. He was kind and patient, and he understood that I was going through my own problems. He was so easy work with, and I ended up helping on the film, as well as several other shorts he shot in my attic. I even acted in one, and my lines were in Japanese! My brain was starting to work again. 

Flash forward a few years, Nick calls me up, “Shelly, you’re one of us now, it’s time you directed a horror film!” I cracked up in his face, I knew nothing about horror. I can’t even watch it. He insisted, he knew I had the darkness in me, it showed in my dramas, and I wouldn’t be on my own, it would be an anthology, I’d have the support of the rest of the team. 

He was right. Turns out that my segment Greed is the goriest segment in the film, it even helped us win the “Best Gore” award at the Independent Horror Movie Awards! 

There were nine writers/ directors involved in making the film, each had their own segment; Nick Dragon (Prologue and Betrayal), Tai-Lynia Jones (Limbo), Scott Alan Richards (Lust), Emily Louise Rua (Gluttony), I made Greed, Dillon Wilson (Wrath), Alejandra Diaz (Heresy), Deven Spencer (Violence) and Derek Silver (Fraud). 

We are a diverse group of filmmakers, so each segment has its own flavor. 

Nick Dragon: I always loved Dante. I read the Ciardi translation of the Divine Comedy as a teen, drawn in by the world-building. I've never been religious in the least, but this layer cake universe built around a core of ultimate eternal justice was very appealing. Plus, there were monsters! 

Over the years I kept returning to it. The Pinsky translation, the Longfelllow. 

I always wrote stuff and made movies (often starring my own monsters). At some point in the late ‘90s I had the idea to do my own present day adaptation of the Inferno. I made pages of notes, worked out scenes in my head, wrote “Fade In...” and threw it all out. It was crap. 

In 2015, I went to a Meetup group called the Hollywood Guerrilla Filmmakers. I felt like I'd found my tribe! Within a few months I'd worked on half a dozen micro-budget short films and web series. My own and those of other guerrillas! 

I met Lacey Rae who shared my love of horror (though she's far more depraved), and we committed to make an ultra-low budget feature film. On cue, Dante started kicking up a ruckus in my brain. 

We settled on doing a horror anthology. Myself and eight other guerrilla filmmakers creating our own visions based on the nine circles of the Inferno. Lacey and I made a list of filmmakers we had enjoyed working with. Individual artistic vision... I don't want 

to say that it wasn't a consideration, because we definitely talked about that, but our main concern in the beginning was picking directors who could deliver a finished product. Too many “filmmakers” are all talk, or they do the work, but take forever. We wanted to get this thing done! 

Diversity is getting a lot of attention in the film industry now (finally!) but for us, it was sort of automatic. All the people we'd been working with, everyone who came to the Guerrilla meetups, our friends, they already represented a broad spectrum. No inclusion rider, no quota required. 

The other 8 directors picked their sins out of a hat, but since it was originally my idea, and being an executive producer and a bit of a control freak, I claimed the wraparound segments and the final circle, Betrayal. 

I think Betrayal was important to me because abandoning my earlier adaptation was a kind of betrayal. Not to Dante (who, if he's ensconced in his paradiso, probably wouldn't give a damn), but to my own creative aspirations. I wanted a chance at redemption. 

I encouraged everyone to tell stories they cared about. They could be personal. They could be political (Dante certainly hit the political hot buttons of his time). They could critique society. Mostly I wanted them to be scary. Or funny. Just not boring! 

And they delivered! 

Is the film faithful to the source material? Ha! No. Inferno fans may recognize a few familiar story elements, some names, a few Easter Eggs. My old paperback of the Ciardi translation has a cameo! But mostly everybody did their own thing. 

All the stories do have a sense of ruthless justice, so in that way, maybe it's a bit faithful to the spirit of Dante. Mostly, though, we hope people enjoy it as a fun, creepy, bloody ride. 

Shelly Skandrani: I loved working with Nick and Lacey, and the other filmmakers, we really supported one another. The irony is that this project was one of the most fun things I’d been involved in during my extensive career. As a writer / director I felt extreme support and appreciation from the Executive Producers; Nick in his (overly) humble, big brother way; and Lacey (Sideways) in her go-getter, this-is-happening, kind of way. I was able to focus on the film, instead of the politics, because there weren’t  any, we all wanted what’s best for the project, not for ourselves, and that’s not as common as you’d hope in Hollywood. 

Lacey is one of the most competent people I’ve met in L.A. Competency is one of the things I value the most in business and film. A lot of people talk, make promises, have smooth charisma and even money... but they don’t do. Lacey gets it done. 

Lacey Rae: As Nick mentioned, we met in a film making Meetup group and bonded over our love of horror. We worked on several other short films together before coming up with the brilliant idea of putting several short films together under one anthology umbrella. Thankfully, we had an amazing pool of talent to choose from, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the result! 

Nick also mentioned diversity, and I just wanted to add that we were truly blessed to have such a variety of voices being heard in this, both in front of and behind the camera. And, we are also pleased that 4 of the 9 segments were written/directed by women, plus myself as Executive Producer. So, that totally rocks, especially to have in the horror genre, even if they don’t like watching it (sorry, Shelly!). 

As an Executive Producer, I mostly kept the group organized and updated on progress (it’s like herding cats, I tell you!). Also, along with Nick, I really wanted to make sure that the individual segments connected in some way, other than the general umbrella theme. Nick mentioned Easter Eggs; not only from Dante’s Inferno, but also throughout the film. Props, themes, characters... We worked very hard to thread the segments together in the same world. 

During one shoot, I found myself pasting X-rated photos on beer bottles and an iPad. Guess which segment that was for? 

As an actor, I got to work with Nick on Betrayal and the interstitial segments. Working with Nick is always a blessing – even if it entails running around the woods with a sword, getting sprayed in the face with blood, or actually falling when my shoe broke during filming (nice scrapes and bruises that time!). I couldn’t have asked for a better rock while working on this crazy project. Nick always has my back as a director, and during shooting he allowed me to be vulnerable and scared and ultimately broken. And the narrative he wrote for Betrayal (especially in a scene during the climax of the segment) really hits close to home as an actor. The feeling of not reaching your dreams, betraying your true self, is one I know well, so it was both easy and difficult to tap into those emotions during filming, since it felt very raw. I hope it comes across in the film! 

Shelly Skandrani: I remember sitting at my dinner table with Nick while he was cutting my segment and I was giving notes. We were looking at different effects we could use and there was this video of a little monster walking toward the camera and then it disappeared down the screen. Moments later it popped up suddenly and I squealed! I completely squealed. There was no context, no sound effects, and yet it scared me. Nick cracked up, only then did he realize HOW scared I was of horror films LOL! 

The segment I wrote and directed is Greed. The obvious idea is to talk about money, but I wanted to go deeper, I asked my why do people want money? They want power. What else has power? Beauty. Bingo. 

My piece is about this stunning woman, Melissa, played by the gorgeous and incredibly talented Ashiko Westguard (A Dark Matter), who is a trophy wife. What she values the most is her own beauty, as this is what society values in her, so much so that it creates a distance between herself and her tomboyish daughter Olivia, played by the powerful Mia Komsky (Cold Case Files). What ensues from Olivia’s need for affection, is that she covets her mother’s beauty in a horrifyingly violent way.

Joe Castro (Terror Toons, Clown Motel 2 ) and his assistant Steven J Escobar really brought the horror to life with their Special Effects Make-up! I literally had to ask Joe to tone the gore down, because, I mean, this guy is limitless with talent. If you see the “toned down” version, you’ll still quake in your boots! LOL 

Nick Dragon: I wrote and directed Betrayal and the wraparound segments. It's nothing like the story I tried to write in the ‘90s. Instead it's a story of failure to live up to your dreams, and how life will find a way to punish you for that failure. It's both more personal and, I hope, more broadly relatable. As a guerrilla filmmaker, I'm a believer in telling stories using whatever assets are available. When it comes to horror, my biggest asset is Lacey. Scream Queen Extraordinaire! I wrote the story around her, knowing I could drive her into dark places where most actors fear to tread. 

Any reader care to guess why I named her character Alice Durante? 

I still have to have my monsters. Modern updates on the Inferno's beasts and furies. Some I made myself, some made by award-winning FX makeup artist Joe Castro. I can only hope Dante would approve. 

Joe Castro: Working as the key special effects artist on 9 Ways to Hell was a fantastic experience because the directors used me as a venue to create things that delivered the punchline and horror of the stories they were producing. 

After working 39 years in the entertainment industry as a special effects artist, the one  thing I most appreciate is when a director challenges me to create something new and gives me creative freedom to do this using the accumulation of the 39 years of techniques and ideas. 

Working with director Shelly Skandrani was gratifying because my work grossed her out on set, and this made me smile because I knew I had achieved my goal and done my  job well! 

Lacey Rae: 9 Ways to Hell was truly a labor of love. The cast and crew worked tirelessly and whenever they could – between other jobs and commitments – and often put their own money into production, to put together something really special and niche.

I couldn’t be prouder of everyone who put their blood, sweat and tears into this project – some literally. I hope the audience finds it as delightfully macabre as we do! 

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