On the run from the law and seeking shelter, a group of desperate criminals instead stumble into the battleground between two factions of deadly creatures in A Hard Place. With the crime-thriller-turned-creature-feature now streaming on VOD, we caught up with director/co-writer J. Horton to discuss the making of his ambitious new movie, from filming in freezing temperatures and showcasing impressive practical effects to creating compelling characters and working with a dedicated cast, including the legendary Felissa Rose and Lynn Lowry!
Below, you can read our full Q&A with J. Horton, and to learn more about A Hard Place, visit:
Thank you for taking the time to answer questions for us, J. Horton, and congratulations on your new movie A Hard Place! How and when did you and co-writer Michael J. Epstein initially come up with the idea for this film, and how long did you work on the script before you were ready to begin filming?
J. Horton: I actually wrote the original script over 20 years ago. It was vampires and werewolves. Real original, I know. Then Underworld came out and did basically the same thing, but with a much bigger budget and Kate Beckinsale in leather. So I shelved it. Thought that was the end of it.
But the core idea kept hanging around. I liked the setup. I liked the tone. Years later, after Craving, I was looking for a good follow-up and this one came back to me. I dusted it off, ripped out the vampires and werewolves, and built a new monster mythology around the bones of it. Then I passed it to Michael to get his take. He did a rewrite, added some stuff, reshaped a few characters, and then I came back in for the final polish.
So it's got a weird lineage. Started as one thing, took a long nap, then came back as something way more interesting.
A Hard Place follows a group of increasingly paranoid criminals on the run from the law who are facing a lot of tension from each other even before they realize they have stumbled into the middle of a battleground between two groups of deadly creatures. How important was it for you to create these realistic characters with high stakes before throwing them into the wringer?
J. Horton: Super important. If you don’t care about the people, all the cool monster stuff doesn’t matter. I didn’t want it to feel like just another “bad guys get picked off in the woods” movie. So I spent a lot of time making sure the group dynamic felt real—messy, volatile, layered. These are people on edge before anything supernatural even shows up. They’re already falling apart when the movie starts. The creatures just speed up the process.
And honestly, that tension is what makes the horror hit harder. You’re not watching cardboard cutouts get eaten. You’re watching a crew of desperate people implode while something even worse circles in. That contrast—between human conflict and full-blown monster chaos—is what makes it fun. And ugly. And hopefully a little memorable.
A Hard Place features an amazing cast, including the iconic Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp) and Lynn Lowry (George A. Romero’s The Crazies). What was it like working with Felissa, Lynn, and the rest of this talented cast to help tell this story?
J. Horton: It was kind of surreal, honestly. I grew up watching these actors, so getting to work with Felissa and Lynn was wild in the best way. They both showed up ready to go, no ego, no fuss—just pros who know how to bring the weird to life.
Felissa’s got this energy that just lights up a scene. She’s warm, funny, but she can flip the switch and go full intensity when you need it. Lynn’s the opposite in the best way—super grounded, quiet power. Watching the two of them work, especially in the same scenes, was just cool as hell.
And the rest of the cast? Total killers. No weak links. Everyone brought something different to the table and that tension you see on screen? A lot of that came from the cast really locking into the characters. We didn’t have time or money to waste, so everyone just showed up ready to go to war. And they did.
I would be remiss not to mention the excellent special effects by producer Robert Bravo, who really brings these nightmarish creatures to life through his artistry. What was it like collaborating with Robert to come up with the haunting visuals of the monsters in A Hard Place?
J. Horton: Robert’s kind of my go-to effects guy. Honestly, he’s done most of the creature work I’ve ever had in my stuff. So at this point, we’ve got a bit of a shorthand. I can say something dumb like, “It’s like a rotting tree that wants to kill you,” and he’ll just nod and start building.
What he pulled off on this one was insane. We didn’t have a huge budget, we were dealing with freezing temps, snow, mud, all of it—but he still managed to make these monsters feel alive. Tangible. Like they crawled out of some ancient nightmare.
He’s not just building suits either—he’s thinking about the world, the lore, the texture of it all. And then he’s on set, in the mud, gluing things back on at 3:00 a.m. while we’re all losing feeling in our hands. Total machine. The movie wouldn’t be what it is without him.
The clash between two groups of warring creatures is reminiscent of the feud between the Hatfields and McCoys and other Western-style showdowns that have been depicted on film. Were you influenced or inspired by any other films, TV series, or books while working on A Hard Place?
J. Horton: Yeah, definitely. That Hatfields and McCoys vibe was a big influence. My family’s originally from West Virginia, so that kind of generational grudge, backwoods tension—it's always been interesting to me. Felt like the perfect backdrop for monsters to tear through.
Southern Comfort was another big one. That whole “wrong place, wrong time, and now the swamp wants you dead” energy really stuck with me. Just a bunch of guys getting picked off in unfamiliar territory, slowly losing it. That sense of paranoia was something I wanted to bring in.
And of course, From Dusk Till Dawn. That shift from crime story to full-on monster chaos? Love that. I didn’t want to copy it, but I liked the idea of starting grounded and then slowly dropping the audience into madness. Let them get comfortable, then flip the table.
The isolated setting of A Hard Place is like its own character in the film. Where did shooting take place, and how many days were in your shooting schedule?
J. Horton: We shot in Dayton, Ohio. In February. So yeah—cold. Really cold. Mud, snow, ice... sometimes all three in the same shot. The location gave us a lot of atmosphere, but it also tried to kill us daily.
We had 12 days to shoot the whole thing, which is nuts for something with creatures, night shoots, and a bunch of moving parts. But we made it work. You don’t have time to second-guess anything on that kind of schedule—you just keep moving and hope your actors don’t freeze solid between takes.
Looking back at your time on set, do you have a favorite or memorable moment that stands out?
J. Horton: Yeah—the first night of shooting. It was freezing. Like, stupid cold. We’re out there setting up this big effects moment, and there’s a squib rigged to go off on Robert Bravo’s chest—he’s not just doing effects, he’s acting too, because that’s indie film life.
The blood mixture we used was supposed to be the kind that doesn’t freeze. Spoiler: it froze. Squib goes off, blood sprays everywhere, and by the end of the take it had basically iced itself to his skin. It was kind of terrifying in the moment. We were all just like, “Is he okay? Is he stuck like that now?”
Luckily, it turned out fine. But yeah, that was the moment where we all realized exactly what kind of shoot we were on. Cold. Fast. No margin for error. But also weirdly fun.
Do you have plans to continue the story of A Hard Place in a potential sequel or prequel if given the opportunity?
J. Horton: I’ve definitely got ideas—stuff that happens before and after this story. There’s a whole history to the creatures and the land that we only hint at in the film. I’d love to explore that more.
But like with anything in indie film, it really comes down to how the release goes. If people dig it and it does well enough to justify a sequel, I’m ready. If not, hey—we told a complete story. But yeah, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t already kicking around what happens next.
What has it been like for you to see the positive reception to A Hard Place as you’ve taken the film’s roadshow to theaters and drive-ins across the country?
J. Horton: It’s been wild—in the best way. When you make a movie like this, in the cold, with no time and no money, you’re mostly just hoping it works. You never really expect people to connect with it the way they have.
Taking it on the road, showing it in theaters and drive-ins, meeting real audiences—it’s been awesome. Folks laugh in places I didn’t expect. They jump in the right spots. And they actually care about the characters, which means a lot.
I’ve done a bunch of different projects, but this one’s hit differently. There’s something about sitting in the back of a theater and hearing people react—good or bad—that reminds you why you put yourself through the madness in the first place.
Ultimately, what do you hope viewers take away from A Hard Place?
J. Horton: First off, I just hope they have a good time. It’s a monster movie, yeah—but it’s also about people breaking under pressure, trying to survive something way bigger than themselves. If it keeps you on edge, makes you laugh a little, maybe even surprises you once or twice—mission accomplished.
But under all the blood and chaos, there’s something about being trapped—by choices, by your past, by stuff you can’t control. I think a lot of folks can relate to that. So if someone walks away thinking, “Damn, that hit harder than I expected,” I’m good with that.
With A Hard Place now on VOD, what other projects do you have coming up that you can tease for our readers?
J. Horton: The plan was The Apex Predators Club. We raised over $200,000 through crowdfunding and were deep into pre-production. It was shaping up to be our biggest project yet—monsters, blood, big ideas, the whole nine.
But then we lost Michael Mahal, our main producer and the driving force behind the campaign. He was a great filmmaker and a genuinely good person who believed in indie film with everything he had. He gave so much of himself to this project and to helping others in the community—just to be kind. Just to lift people up. I wouldn’t be doing half of what I’m doing now without him.
Right now, the fate of Apex Predators Club is uncertain. We’re still figuring things out, and it may take some time. But whatever happens, the work Michael put in won’t be forgotten. If and when we move forward, it’ll be with him in mind, and we’ll do everything we can to make it something worthy of his legacy.
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To learn more about A Hard Place, visit:
Synopsis: After a botched job leaves a trail of bodies behind, a gang of desperate criminals seeks refuge in a remote desert hideout. But their plans fall apart fast when they discover the area is home to something far worse than the law — an ancient war between monstrous predators of day and night. As tensions rise and the body count climbs, the crew must decide if survival is worth trusting each other — or the creatures hunting them.
A Hard Place features a cast of genre titans, including Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp, Terrifier 2), Lynn Lowry (Shivers, The Crazies), Sadie Katz (Wrong Turn 6, The Beast Inside), Rachel Amanda Bryant (Craving), Kevin Caliber ("Future Man"), Ashley Undercuffler (Craving, 16 Bits), and Bai Ling (The Crow).
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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