Exclusive Interview with Afflicted’s Clif Prowse and Derek Lee

Today, CBS Films is releasing Afflicted, the stunning debut feature from the filmmaking team of Clif Prowse and Derek Lee, which follows two friends (played by both Prowse and Lee, long-time pals in real life) as they travel the world, only to have their trip cut short when one of them becomes infected with a vampire-like virus.

During a recent press day, Daily Dead had the opportunity to sit down and chat with both Lee and Prowse about their wholly original spin on modern vampires, their thoughts on creating complicating characters, the challenges of POV-style filmmaking and ideas for an Afflicted sequel.

First of all, congrats on Afflicted. You guys did a really fantastic job and definitely proved that found footage is still a viable storytelling device when done correctly. I read you guys have been making movies together since you were kids so I was curious: What made Afflicted the right story to do as your first feature?

Clif Prowse: Basically, we were trying to come up with an idea for a movie that we could make for a certain amount of money that we could raise ourselves. We had written a script that was this throwback, action movie that would have cost millions and millions of dollars to do and we quickly realized that no one was going to give a couple of guys they never heard of that kind of money. So one day we were just throwing ideas around and I threw out to Derek ‘vampire documentary’ and his reaction was that it was the dumbest thing he ever heard of in his life (laughs).

But then we talked about it because we realized that this could be really exciting. A- it was something we could execute on a budget and B- the thing that made it really exciting was that vampires are something you usually see in films that are super-stylized, slick, sexy and often not scary films. And reexamining that creature through a documentary-style lens to see what this kind of creature would really be like, both psychologically and emotionally, and to go to this really dark place of what would happen if you really needed human blood to survive and were biologically conditioned to murder? What would that do to you?

I really appreciated that you guys took more of the biological approach too- it absolutely rooted everything about Afflicted in reality for me and I think adding any of those glossier vampire elements would have taken away from what you guys were doing here--

Derek Lee: Yeah, we cut the cape idea really early on (laughs). I lost that battle- maybe for the sequel (laughs).

Let’s talk about your character in the movie, Derek, and his metamorphosis in Afflicted only because there are moments in the film where the audience really isn’t sure how to feel about you or your actions. Can you discuss your approach to creating a character that has to do some unsavory things even though he’s a good guy deep down?

Derek Lee: You know, when writing stories or reading them, we both tend to gravitate towards ones where the main character is put through a really challenging journey, especially ones that are psychologically difficult. And with Derek, there is a sense of denial of his own situation that leads to some less sympathetic moments in the movie for him so it was about balancing what felt natural to the character and doing our best to not alienate him from the audience either.

What we really wanted to make sure was whatever we were going to put him through was so harrowing and so difficult so that not all the choices would be easy. Being the hero wasn’t simply the way out and it’s not until some very terrible things happen that he has to go on this quest to find some kind of version of redemption for himself.

I thought it was interesting how you guys also played with the theme of mortality in the film because it starts off one way and then flips midway through, sort of giving your characters an entirely new headspace to play in and redirecting their paths as well.

Derek Lee: Yeah, having a character whose facing down their own mortality at the start of Afflicted and then that question gets reset completely for him so now, mortality is just something that’s around him. It doesn’t affect him anymore. And one of the things we were really quite nervous about was setting up the situation with the very real disease of AVM and doing it so we weren’t dismissing it or being flippant about it either. At a point, it becomes less about mortality and more about morality so we just shifted the debate and left it to the audience to discuss.

Clif Prowse: The cool thing was that the character of Derek would want nothing more than to have a normal lifespan and as the movie goes on, now all he wants is mortality and he can’t have that. That idea was really compelling and interesting to us. Something else we noticed is that in other stories, you see how vampires can feed off animals and skirt the biological issues but for us, it had to be human blood which then meant you were forced to kill to survive and exploring that morality was ultimately what drives the story. It’s not a question of will anymore, it’s all instinctual.

Let’s talk about some of the camera stuff you guys pulled off in Afflicted because you did some pretty awesome tricks here that I haven’t seen before, especially the shots going up the buildings or some of the special effects moments. It’s great to see filmmakers use these smaller cameras to their advantage for a change.

Derek Lee: Size definitely matters (laughs). I think the fact that we had access to these really amazing, high quality but smaller cameras like the Cannon 5D Mark II for the whole shoot so just having the ability to be able to build something like that chest rig where you could just have that pseudo POV-style system really gave us a lot of freedom. Rather than having to fake anything, we would usually just strap the camera to the stunt guy and just hoped the shot would end up being what we needed to finish the scene.

So the camera size was really important in terms of the physicality, the movements and people can tell what feels real with a camera because we’re all now running around with our smart phones so we know exactly what amateur filmmaking looks like. We had to really adhere to those rules because sometimes, we’d frame a shot up just a little too perfectly or the lighting was just a little too perfect for the film so either or DP or one of us would recognize that and we’d have to make adjustments.

Clif Prowse: I think the other thing we tried to do was with the moments that needed to feel like one continuous shot, we’d use the camera movements to hide those moments. In the SWAT team scene where it feels like we did a continuous take for it actually has something like 25 cuts in it. We would just learn how to make those cuts happen whenever the camera movement would allow it.

Derek Lee: We became very proficient (laughs).

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

In the film you guys talk about the need to feed on human blood and make reference to some pretty terrible things happening if you don’t feed at all. Is that something you’d like to explore more in a sequel if you get to make another Afflicted? I’m guessing the post-credits scene is sort of setting up that up a bit.

Clif Prowse: So our whole model was basically that the need to feed on human blood was a biological imperative. So the more your body is denied blood, the more your body would shut down and instinct would take over where you become this bloodthirsty animal that if you let it go long enough, it could not control itself. So the implication of that post-credits scene is that idea of pure instinct where someone would kill indiscriminately which is sort of a new moral fork that we laid out.

Derek Lee: It’s almost like you become a virus and you’re feeding on the system of humanity where all you can do is consume. And I think if we do get to do a sequel, I definitely think we want to explore that more and push the boundaries more so we can see how Derek deals with it all in bringing Clif back from that rabid state and finding a way to ‘save’ him.

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"This terrifying horror thriller follows two best friends who set out on the trip of a lifetime around the world. Their journey, documented every step of the way, soon takes a dark and unexpected turn after an encounter with a beautiful woman in Paris leaves one of them mysteriously afflicted. Winner: Best Picture (Horror), Best Screenplay (Horror), Best Director (Horror) at Fantastic Fest, and recipient of awards of recognition from the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival. AFFLICTED is one of the most suspenseful and original action horror debuts in a generation."

Afflicted was written by, directed by, and stars Clif Prowse & Derek Lee. The movie will be released to theaters and on-demand services on April 4th.