From Horror Fan to Filmmaker: An Interview with Michael Atkinson

From horror enthusiast to filmmaker, Michael Atkinson has turned his passion into spine-chilling cinema. With just an original concept and available resources, he has produced two frightening films that resonate with viewers. We sat down with the indie director to discuss the creative process behind his latest project, Imaginary Terry, to uncover how he brought his sinister vision to life using only what he had on hand.

1. In your own words, can you tell us what Imaginary Terry is about? 

So Imaginary Terry is the story of a guy who is doing some cleaning up around the house with his wife. And then he stumbles upon something from his past in a time capsule. And then once he sees that all of a sudden other things from his past like his imaginary friend start coming back to see him?

2. How did you come up with the idea behind Imaginary Terry?

I was actually watching a lot of stuff like documentaries and stuff about Nirvana. Oddly enough, I was watching this one about Kurt Cobain and I found out that in his suicide note he mentioned his imaginary friend.

That kind of got my brain thinking how weird it was that during this tragic time he had mentioned an imaginary friend from back in the day and then I had the idea “what if an imaginary friend is attached to some kind of childhood trauma” and then the story just grew from there. Where an imaginary friend is a metaphor for childhood trauma.

3. Horror short films can be extremely effective. How did you go about building tension? Do you have any specific tricks or methods you used?

I’m actually a big fan of standup comedy and comedy films. Oddly enough. With horror, I like to kind of think of it from that same comedic approach, because I think comedy and horror are cut from the same cloth in a way. In comedy, you have a set up and punchline.

Well, you do that same thing with horror, you set up something that’s scary, and then you show why it’s scary. So to speak, that works pretty well. I almost think of my horror set pieces as comedy sequences in the way of a set up and punchline. I mean, hopefully they don’t end up too funny because that kind of goes against what I’m going for.

4. As a fan of horror, what was the first horror movie that truly horrified you?

The first horror movie that traumatized me was Pet Cemetery. I saw that when I was like ten years old, probably too young to be watching that stuff. I’m talking about the original one from 1989. That movie has always gotten under my skin every time I watched it. It’s got a lot to say about death and what it means, not only for the person dying, but the people around them. And so I really like horror that isn’t just scary. It’s also got some stuff beneath the surface.

5. What were your biggest takeaways from creating “Imaginary Terry,” your second no-budget film?

It really hit me that you know we have cell phones in our pockets that are capable of shooting in 4K. They have decent audio. There’s really nothing holding you back from the stories that you want to tell but yourself. If you’re a passionate filmmaker and you have a decent phone, there’s no reason why you can’t film the movies that you want to shoot.

6. Low budgets and independent films are common in horror. How do limitations on resources impact the creative process for you?

For me, it actually makes the movie stronger. If there’s a limit on budget, you’re forced to think outside the box. Think about Jaws from 1975. Most of the movie, you don’t see the shark because Steven Spielberg couldn’t get the shark to work, so that forced him to be creative to show the POV shots of the shark and things like that. And I find that to be the same with creating no budget films. You know you can’t show the monster. And when you do show the monster, it has to be quick because you have to hide the fact that maybe it’s a Halloween mask or something like that.

So, it forces you to be creative to show things in the shadows or very quickly. And at the end of the day, our minds come up with scarier things than we can actually see. So you’re putting the power in the viewer to scare themselves.

7. How has the horror genre changed over the course of your career? Where do you see the genre heading next?

Horror changes based on what is currently scary in the world. In the 1950s, all the horror movies were atomic monsters and all that kind of stuff because we had the nuclear bomb and radiation and all that kind of stuff. In the 60s and 70s, you had satanic panics, so all the horror movies were based off the devil. In the 80s you have the war on drugs so there’s movies like Brain Damage that are commentaries on drug culture. So really, whatever’s scary on the news right now is probably going to be really scary in a couple years when you know your filmmaker takes that inspiration to the big screen.

8. If you had to live in the world of a horror film, which movie would you choose and why?

I know a lot of people probably wouldn’t call Mullholand Drive by David Lynch a horror film. I would just because there’s a lot of really scary and surreal sequences in that film to me personally. So that’s probably my pick. The two things that I love in reality and in my films are quirky characters and good soundtracks and the movie has both. So I would love to live there. That’s it.

A man finds a disturbing relic from his past, and begins to see his old imaginary friend… But is he really imaginary after all? Watch Imaginary Terry on Reveel