3 Demons Film Spotlight

Today’s film spotlight focuses on the feature film 3 Demons directed by Matt Cunningham.

What is the title of your film and what inspired said title?

3 Demons. The title came from the central idea of the movie about a man dealing with his past. The loss of his wife, his daughter and himself and dealing with those dark energies.

Tell us a little bit about the story and origins of your film.

The story is about James Fisher, a deputy sheriff that is tasked with watching over a woman’s dead body until the family comes to claim her. As he sits with the body, he soon discovers that she was out there messing around with weird occult stuff and trying to conjure demons. He ends up triggering the ritual that she had started and these demons, spiritual and emotional, attach to him and start messing with him.  

We wanted to create a different way into a possession movie via the point of view of the person being possessed. Diving into James headspace of going through this ordeal seemed like an interesting way into telling this story.

Any films or filmmakers that inspired this film?

When Peter Tell, the lead actor and my writing partner on this film started talking about all the inspirations, I think the first few thoughts we had were, Evil Dead, The Witch, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Vastly different movies tonally of course. But there were elements to each of those that we wanted to try and capture. Making a movie that messes with time and space and sort of puts you through this roller coaster of emotions. Hopefully, we captured some of that.

What is the goal of the film for you?

I think, like any filmmaker might say, is for people to watch it (first) and then have some sort of visceral response to it. Good or bad. I often watch movies that I forgot I watched because they didn’t stick with me.

We knew going into this film it could be and most likely will be very polarizing. Our last film, The Spore, seems to have struck a dissonant chord with people. They love it or really hate it. It was not your typical spoon-fed horror film. I think people expect a film to be by the numbers most of the time and when that doesn’t happen it really gets their hackles up. They get so angry that we pushed them into a space that they didn’t want to be. As a moviemaker you have to be okay with pushing boundaries and also be okay with the reaction that comes with it as long as you are making the movie or telling the story you want to tell. This is so insanely hard at times and yet oddly fulfilling.

What has the journey been like getting the film into production?

This film was hard to make. We made it with a crew of five most of the time. We shot it during the pandemic and really did our best to keep everyone safe. We shut down a couple of times due to a few scares but thankfully no one got sick during the filming, and everyone really pulled their weight and powered through. Indy filmmaking with two nickels is a lot of work.

One thing you learned from this project?

I learned so many things on this movie. So many. This film was a bit of a spiritual awakening for me. Discovering who I am as a person and filmmaker and where I want to head in the future of my filmmaking and why. I would need several chapters in a book to describe all the frequencies in which I experienced during the process of making this movie. 

How can folks find you and your film online?

They can go to our website nightprowlervideo.com or Instagram @nightprowlervideo that will have to links and news about our features and short films.

3 Demons comes out on July 5^th on most all digital platforms and will also have physical media release that same day. iTunes, Amazon, etc.

Any last pieces of advice for fellow filmmakers?

Don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress. What I mean by that is, don’t spend three years trying to write the perfect script, wait for a million dollars, or have your first movie be a Sundance homerun. Those are so few and far between. Those stories all inspire us, but they also poison us to the idea that it all must be just right before we roll on a frame of a movie.

Don’t be afraid to fail. Put yourself out there. Stink the place up. Be okay with things not being perfect. Embrace the challenge of imperfection. That’s where you find inspiration. There are so many people out there ready to tear you down. But those are also the people sitting on the couch and criticizing. Anyone can do that. Any. One.

Your historical romantic drama about bee keeping may not be my kind of movie, but I respect the hell out of you for making it. Filmmakers know how hard it is to rise to the challenge and see it through. Only the ones in the arena, fighting the fight truly understand the effort and we should applaud that and cheer each other on.

Go out and fail. Fail a lot. Make that movie. Then make another one. Keep doing it until you find your voice. Others will find it to and celebrate it.

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