Q&A: Maritte Lee Go Discusses Directing VEHOPHOBIA for the New Horror Anthology Film PHOBIAS

A government testing facility is home to eerie experiments on people with extreme fears in Phobias, and with the new horror anthology film out now on Digital and On Demand via Vertical Entertainment, we caught up with filmmaker Maritte Lee Go to discuss her segment for the movie, Vehophobia (which she co-wrote with Broderick Engelhard), including the chilling real-life experience that inspired the story, working with Radio Silence (who executive produced the film), and she also discussed her upcoming "Welcome to the Blumhouse" movie, Black as Night.

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions for us, Maritte, and congratulations on your work in the new movie Phobias! How did you initially get involved with this anthology? Were you originally going to direct Vehophobia as a separate short film?

Maritte Lee Go: Thank you so much! I’m very excited for this to finally be released. Eric Fleischman (the producer) and I have been working together for years. We went to USC and we’ve produced several movies together that have gone to Sundance and Tribeca, but it’s always been a goal of mine to do something more. After years of producing with him, I finally revealed to him that it was my dream to write and direct.

So after watching some horror shorts I had directed, he thought we should collaborate in creating an anthology series with Jessica Varley (director/producer). It was an easy "yes," as when I was 14 years old, I wrote in my journal that it was a life goal to write and direct an anthology series like The Twilight Zone or Tales From the Crypt.

Eric came up with the concept of phobias being the main theme of the series. I thought back to one of the scariest moments in my life and it was when I almost died in a car crash.

How and when did you and co-writer Broderick Engelhard first come up with the idea for Vehophobia, which focuses on the fear of driving?

Maritte Lee Go: Years ago, I was driving my ex-boyfriend to the LAX airport. It was a red eye and I ended up taking him to the airport very late at night. As soon as he left my car, I felt a very cold air behind me, and then pricks like needles going into the back of my neck. I looked behind me and nothing was there, but everything in my body told me something was inside the car, with me, and sitting in the back seat. I tried to ignore it and hopped on the 405 to head back home.

I had just bought a brand new car and was blasting the radio. As I was driving about 70mph, I felt that cold air behind me again. I kept looking into my back seat, but no one was there. Suddenly, the radio started changing stations. The car was speeding faster and then slowing down, then faster, then slower. On its own. I was terrified. The headlights were flashing. It was as if the thing that was in my back seat was controlling my car. I thought I was going to die. I was crying and screaming, terrified out of my mind. I finally got control and pulled the car over on the side of the highway and prayed to God to make the thing that was in my car leave. After hours of praying, I didn’t feel it in my car anymore. I made it home safely. My car NEVER did that again. I can’t explain what happened that night, but it inspired this story. Brody and I have been working together for years, so it was very simple to collaborate writing on a real-life experience, but tricky trying to incorporate it with the rest of the other stories.

How long did it take you and Broderick to write the first draft of the screenplay for Vehophobia, and how many drafts did you go through before it was time to film?

Maritte Lee Go: We probably wrote five drafts, which is the least amount of drafts I’ve ever had to write for anything I’ve ever written. It started off very simple like the story I just told you, but we needed to create a way to bridge our story with everyone else’s story. That was the difficult part. Having to find a common thread between all the stories was really hard.

Where did filming for Vehophobia take place, and how many days did you have in your shooting schedule?’

Maritte Lee Go: We shot a majority of it in downtown Los Angeles. We were very lucky enough to shut down the Sixth Street Bridge to shoot the ending. It’s pretty epic to be able to shut down a very busy bridge in Los Angeles so that we could spin a car. We had three days to shoot the whole thing and that was very challenging. We had a lot of makeup, FX, stunts, and shooting in a car is just extremely difficult because of the limited space. We had a giant caravan of police escorts and production cars following us at all times and so it’s extremely difficult communicating to everyone what you need and when you need it, but we got it done. Hana Mae Lee is a true pro and even within all those constraints we’re proud of what we were able to make.

Looking back at your time on set, is there a favorite or memorable moment that stands out?

Maritte Lee Go: My favorite moment was hitting the “old man” with the car. It was actually a stunt double of course, but I got to sit in the car when we did the stunt and I almost had a heart attack. We had the most amazing stunt coordinator named Sam Situmorang. He has worked on the craziest movies like Fast and Furious and Baby Driver, so I knew we were in good hands for the car stunts. We had a specialized car with a driving pod installed on top of the roof. We were able to control the car from that pod on top, so that Hana Mae Lee could just act. But when I asked about how they hit people with cars… they just hit people with cars!!!! There’s a little trick to it in that you have to jump up on the hood in a certain way, but you are literally just getting hit with a car. I have so much respect for stunt people after doing that. They really are super heroes.

While working on your segment for Phobias, were you influenced or inspired by any other movies, TV shows, or books about vehophobia or fears in general?

Maritte Lee Go: It was very much influenced by Stephen King’s Christine. It’s a horror film based on his novel about a man who is obsessed with this car who comes to life and kills people. But above all it was influenced by my real-life experience of my car being controlled by a supernatural entity.

Phobias is executive produced by Radio Silence, the filmmakers behind Ready or Not and the new Scream. What was it like collaborating with them on this anthology?

Maritte Lee Go: Radio Silence taught us through all of their experiences on making V/H/S and Southbound. They had such great advice on how to tie all of our stories together visually and thematically. Sharing all their difficulties and successes, it really taught us to push for a sense of unity across the board. They are super humble, self-made, and extremely inspiring. I felt very lucky to work with them.

Ultimately, what do you hope viewers take away from Vehophobia and this anthology as a whole?

Maritte Lee Go: Like I said, I wrote this goal of mine in my journal when I was 14 years old. We made this movie on a shoestring budget and passion. For the horror lovers, I hope they can watch this series and have a good time. For those who dream of making movies, I hope they can be inspired and see that if you have a dream and you put it into action, then you can attain it.

With Phobias now on Digital and On Demand from Vertical Entertainment, what other projects do you have coming up that you’re excited about, and what can you tell us about your upcoming movie, Black As Night? Also, where can our readers go online to keep up to date on your work?

Maritte Lee Go: I just finished shooting Black as Night through the pandemic and finished post in December. It will be released as part of the “Welcome to the Blumhouse” series on Amazon Prime and will air in October for Blum Fest. Look out for that. It’s an exciting film about a young Black woman whose mother is murdered by vampires and with the help of her friends, she seeks vengeance. It was shot in my favorite city in the world: New Orleans.

I am also writing and developing a horror series starring all Asian-American protagonists that will take place here in the United States. Through the pandemic, there has been a giant uptick of violence against Asians. And with this horror series, I hope to tie us humans together through empathy. I’d like to use horror as a vehicle to talk about something all of us as humans share, and that’s fear.

You can follow me on @martygo on Instagram for my latest podcast talks, project announcements, and food postings.