The Strange Dark: Indie Sci-Fi At It’s Best
A Interview with Writer/Director Chris Messineo
Interview by Julia Schnarr
The Strange Dark is the best new sci-fi feature to hit streaming from New Jersey director Chris Messineo as he champions his first feature film releasing on Amazon Prime and Apple TV this January 16th.
What does it feel like to have your first feature film shared with the world?
Honestly, and I don’t mean this comically at all, it’s overwhelming fear. So, sort of waiting with baited breath to see what happens on the 16th.
What can people expect from your film who are similarly fans of things like Stranger Things, Poltergeist, other classic sci-fi 80’s films?
They can expect twists and turns at every corner. You’ll love all the characters, even if you hate them, you’ll love hating them. I grew up in the late 70’s and early 80’s and on TV I was always watching the Twilight Zone, Spielberg, Carpenter and those old sci-fi movies were thrilling to me. The Strange Dark is really me making a movie that I wanted to see.
Who were some of the outstanding cast and crew members that you happened to work with?
On the crew, Teodoro Maniaci. He is this incredibly experienced talented cinematographer who shot Fallout for Amazon, he shot Westworld, and he’s worked on these really big budget films. I was a little bit nervous working with him because he had so much experience, but he was so generous with his knowledge and he made me better because of it. Actor wise, my whole cast was phenomenal. Bates Wilder who plays Frank is the most experienced of the actors. He’s been doing it for a long time and most recently was in American Fiction. He would be on our little indie set in the middle of shooting something at one o'clock in the morning and he would be sitting there going ‘Isn’t this great! We’re making a film! This is the best, where else would you rather be?’ and he just had that attitude the whole time, and so when the most experienced actor on your set is embracing all the challenges of making an indie film, it helps set the tone for everybody.
From script to screen, what was the most challenging thing that you had to do to complete your film?
There’s seven characters in this film and the three strongest characters are all women. And I love strong female characters, and I've always prided myself on trying to write strong female characters and that was really important to me. I think that comes from having strong women in my life, and my mom who got me into the arts in the first place, my wife who is also very strong and talented, but the other thing that was really interesting was when we had our first screening of the film, I had a good friend who was at the film. Afterwards he sent me an email telling how interesting it was that the main family in the husband, this wife and this daughter were clearly based on myself, my wife and my daughter, and I had never thought of that before. And now every time I think about it, I can’t help but not see the parallels between myself, my wife and my daughter, Susan, Edgar and Taylor.
For new viewers, and soon to be streamer audiences, what do you hope their takeaway is from your film when they first watch it on January 16th?
It’s 84 minutes, you couldn't possibly cut 30 seconds out of it without ruining the film, it is just a fun ride and I want people to enjoy it and be surprised by it and by the time they get to the end to just be happy they went on the trip. I want them to have fun, I want them to be excited that all the loose ends are tied up at the end and I want them to recommend it to a friend.
