Something seems wrong. Something unnerving that could be rooted in crime, mental illness or is a dark fantasy? Monster explores non-linear storytelling through association, gut feeling and an unsettling sound track.
The process…
We set out to make this film for another artist, who pulled out the last minute, leaving us with a ready to shoot script, a small crew lined up and a location on the ready but no budget to shoot. As it happens in film so often, the project was shelved.
However, it kept gnawing at me ‘cause I really wanted to try out some of the ideas and scenes so when the location called me to say they were closing indefinitely we decided to give it one last try. With the help of lots of goodwill of some very talented people we set out to shoot it on basically no budget.
At this point we didn’t have an artist on board anymore and it became more of a freestyle project, just to make sure we would have the material and figure out what to do with it later. Cut to a few months later. I’m editing the material with some random tracks found on the internet, some strange dialogues, some soundscapes, just to see what sticks, but everything is so so.
It’s also mid pandemic and I’ve had a lot of time to work on other projects, like my recycled and found material sculptures and I get a mail from Rutger Zuydervelt. He has seen my sculptures and wants to use it as album cover art for his next release as Machinefabriek.
I was really digging his work as well and we agreed that rather than use money we could exchange work. That’s how I found this great track and everything fell into place. The intensity that I was looking for in the edit and the story picked up from the unsettling sound, the police radio adding a layer of urgency. I did most things like VFX, edit and titles myself, so it took a long time from idea to finish, but the wait was worth it. – Henk Loorbach
Credits:
Starring: Nastassia Firestone
Written and Directed by Henk Loorbach
Director of Photography – Bas Andries
Music – Jean D.L. / Rutger Zuydervelt – Scrambling 4
Inexhaustible Editions, 2020
Gaffer – Martin Roozeboom
Make-up – Ibolya Fülöp
Production Assistant – Gino Wouters
Grading – Efraïm Gons
Edit & VFX – Superelectric
Camera Rentals – Camunit
Lighting Equipment – Lightunit