Undoubtedly one of the more unusual Midnight selections at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival was Jim Hosking’s The Greasy Strangler, the unpredictably perverse story of a father and son (Michael St. Michaels, Sky Elobar), a grease-laden murderer and the woman who gets between them (Elizabeth De Razzo).

Daily Dead had the opportunity to catch up with Hosking at the festival and heard from the up-and-coming filmmaker about his journey to getting The Greasy Strangler made, collaborating with his cast, and pushing the boundaries of modern cinema.

I'm curious, where did the story of The Greasy Strangler originate, and how did you get from the script point to the part where you got people to say “yes” to this? Because it is so unusual, I can’t imagine it was an easy sell to say the least.

Jim Hosking: I don't think anyone understood what this film was. I think they were all quite surprised last night. I'm talking about the producers really, quite a lot of them were probably quite surprised about where it was going, but just to backtrack, this was one of a number of scripts that I was working on and one that we just got down to very quickly after having written a couple of others that were more serious.

But with this one, it started out like a private joke between me and my friend Toby [Harvard], who I was writing with, and trying to make each other laugh without really thinking of it going out into the world. The first person that we showed it to was my agent in London, who was pretty freaked out by it, and then I showed it to Andy Starke, who's one of the producers from Rook Films—he works with Ben Wheatley—and Andy just loved it. Then it just seemed to take on this life.

I did a short in The ABCs of Death, and maybe that helped to visualize it in the producers’ minds. Ant Timpson, who's one of the producers of The ABCs of Death 2, he got onboard and said, "Do you mind if I show it to Elijah Wood?" And I was like, "No, of course.” So he showed it to Elijah and I think Elijah read it in like half an hour or something and then got back to me immediately and said, "I really want to do this." Then suddenly it was just on. It was brilliant and very unexpected.

I can remember thinking, “God, that's really weird. They're going to let me make this.” Also, when we had our first call together there were no caveats, it was just like, “Let's make this. We really want you to do your thing and we want to support you.” It was basically a logistical conversation of, "When do we do this, and where do we shoot it?" And I was really allowed to indulge myself as much as possible. That's why the film has ended up where it has, really.

How did you bring this cast together? These rolls really required Sky, Michael and Elizabeth to really just go for it, and they’re all great together.

Jim Hosking: I've been in situations before with well-established actors who are uncomfortable with what's required, or it becomes a difficult kind of negotiation, and I just wanted in this film to cast some unknown actors, generally, who would be prepared to do what was required. Obviously there are other criteria. I like people to be really interesting and memorable and idiosyncratic, but we were casting and casting and I was having trouble finding a father and son who I really thought had the combination of oddness and innocence.

I worked with Sky, and I had found Michael about a year earlier when I was doing some casting for another film I was thinking of making, and then I just remembered him in and he just seemed to be right. Then Liz I had seen in Eastbound and Down. Danielle [Aufiero] and Amber [Horn], who were the casting directors, they sent me Liz's headshot and said, "Would you consider her? She's great." Because I'd said I didn't want anyone who was known at all. I was having trouble finding an actor who could play Janet, because I suppose I'm quite specific about what I like, but it's also a very demanding role and it's quite tough to find an actress who's prepared to go there, but I saw Liz and thought, “Yeah, no, for sure.” I thought she was so funny and interesting and just fit right into this world.

I wanted the film to be sort of funny and kind of sweet and tender and innocent in a way, even though obviously it's quite perverted and depraved and disgusting, but I'm not trying to shock people.

I'd love to hear about the music choices in The Greasy Strangler, because it almost feels like it's plucked out of a kids' show, and I mean that in the best possible way. It's very lively, it's very energetic, and it really adds a lot to the film, especially as a juxtaposition to the more salacious moments.

Jim Hosking: Yeah, Andy Hung, who did the music, he's from this band Fuck Buttons, and he had watched the film and wanted to have a chat. Obviously, I wanted to chat to him too, but we sat down and we talked about the film and he was just wondering where my head was at regarding the music, and he had released a couple of EPs that were using sounds from Gameboy video games and stuff, and I kind of liked that video game-y sound, because that ties into the cartoony kind of thing. But I was specifically referencing a couple of 1970s kids' shows to him.

There was one where there were these little characters, these little mice who had these very high voices who would comment on everything that was happening in the program, and I said to him, "I like the idea that there could be these little characters who start singing in the music, like they're watching the film as well, and when something happens that's exciting in the film they start singing." So there are these sort of chipmunk-y voices in the music. He was inspired, I suppose, by some old Super Nintendo stuff, too. He sent me a link to some old Nintendo music. We wanted to create something that felt quite innocent, if that makes sense.

One thing I wanted to commend you on is just how unsafe The Greasy Strangler feels. It seems like movies like this are what we need right now, because it's just all gotten a little too safe lately.

Jim Hosking: Yeah, totally. Yeah, that's exactly how I feel. I want to go and see something where I don't know why they've made it, or I don't understand it. I don't know why people need to understand anything, why people need to ask me what the ending of the film means. Why does it even matter what I think? You're the one who watched it, reach your own conclusions. But no, I totally agree with you, this is not a horror film in any way, I don't see it like that, but likewise everybody's seen almost any kind of horrific effects, I just wanted it to feel different.

And what's really nice is that people do seem to be responding to that. It's a relief to see something that's taking a few chances. I woke up the morning after the first screening here and it's the first public screening I've had of a film, the premiere, and I had four hours sleep or something and woke up and I was quite unsettled by it, and a bit alarmed and just finding it really weird that it was out there and people had seen it and I couldn't take it back. That's it, it's out there now. There's some stuff in the film that I feel, having said it all feels normal to me, but I'm still quite unsettled and alarmed by some of the dialogue in the film myself, because I wanted it to be a challenge to me as well. I wanted to try to make myself uncomfortable because that’s what keeps me alive.

  • Heather Wixson
    About the Author - Heather Wixson

    Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.