‘825 Forest Road’ Director Stephen Cognetti Talks His New Haunted House Film
Since 2015, filmmaker Stephen Cognetti has been known for his terrifying found footage series Hell House LLC, which documents the hellish history of the Abaddon Hotel. After four films (with a fifth on the horizon), Cognetti is trying something different and stepping into the world of more traditional horror narratives with his latest work, 825 Forest Road.
In 825 Forest Road:
Chuck Wilson is starting a new life after a family tragedy when he moves to the town of Ashland Falls with his wife, Maria, and little sister, Elizabeth. But he quickly discovers that the town has a dark secret. The ghost of Helen Foster has terrorized residents for decades, since her own suicide back in the ‘40s. Finding Helen’s old home is key to ending the hauntings, but the address they have doesn’t match any of the town’s existing streets. When Chuck realizes his family might be in danger of Helen’s wrath, he takes it upon himself to locate 825 Forest Road before it’s too late.
We spoke with Cognetti about tackling a more traditional horror narrative, haunted locations, and creating his own small-town folklore.
Dread Central: Oh my gosh, you’ve made a non found footage movie. How does that feel?
Stephen Cognetti: It’s so funny because this film has been so long in the making. I wrote it in 2019, and we shot it in 2021.
DC: So this has been sitting for a bit, then.
SC: Exactly, yeah. So it’s not new. I mean, obviously, I made Hell House LLC Origins and Lineage all in the time since shooting 825 Forest Road. It’s been a process. So for me, talking about it now, it’s kind of like, “Oh yeah, I remember that film.” [Laughs]
It’s fun because it’s finally done, and then it’s gone to Shudder, which is great. I love being a part of Shudder with anything. I am also very excited for my actors because it’s been in post-production for so long. They pour their hearts and souls into this and ask, “Are we ever going to see it?” And I’m like, “I am with you guys. I know it’s taking a long time.” I’m used to these Hell House movies where I’m in control of every part of the process
DC: Post-production is the worst part of making a movie. I will stand by that.
SC: It’s because sometimes you see your major mistakes. You’re like, “Oh shit, what was I thinking on that take?” And you hope that you have all the coverage, and sometimes if you don’t, thankfully I’ve never really had to do reshoots for anything like that. But that’s always the fear that you’re not going to have something, and you’d have to schedule a reshoot. That, to me, is like a nightmare. Thankfully, it has never happened, but I’m always on edge thinking as I’m going through the edit. Is there something we missed?
DC: So how did this one start for you? Was this an idea you’ve had for a while, or was it something you were working on while doing Hell House?
SC: It was the first idea that came to me after Lake of Fire, the third Hell House movie. At the time, I thought I was done with Hell House. We burned down the hotel and everything. The hotel doesn’t exist, so there are no more Hell House films. And, of course, I would later regret telling people that. [Laughs]
But 825 Forest Road was just born out of a major move from New York City to the burbs of Pennsylvania. A lot of things happened during this move that really planted a seed in my head. Like small town lore, mythology, folklore and small town one. Every town has a weird story.
It doesn’t have to be a ghost, either. It could be, “Nobody goes down that road” or something like that. “Oh, have you been by the haunted tree?” So 825 Forest Road was me wanting to create my own small-town folklore. That was the seed that grew throughout 2019.
DC: You make really good haunted location movies. So, I have to know: Have you ever lived in a haunted location?
SC: Sadly, no. I think that the greatest thing in the world to ever happen would be to find out that hauntings and ghosts are real and that I could see them. I’m not just trusting some random TikTok video that a ghost is real. But no, I’ve never seen one. I don’t believe in ghosts, but I think if it was ever confirmed with my own eyes, that would be the greatest thing ever.
DC: That’s exactly how I feel. I’ve never seen one, but I feel like they have to be real.
SC: See, I don’t feel like they have to be real, and that’s what’s depressing. I hope that they’re real. It’s more a hope. With aliens, they have to be real, right?? But when it comes to ghosts, the only thing that depresses me is the fact that evidence shows that they probably don’t exist. It would be the greatest thing in the world if that were ever proven true. It just means when I die, I just don’t become warm food. I go somewhere else. I can actually haunt a building.
DC: You can choose your own hotel to haunt.
SC: That’s when people start making preparations. They start getting wills and all that. I’m going to start going through Zillow. Where can I haunt after I die?
DC: That’s a funny movie idea in and of itself. But going back to the film, I love how you split the story into the different perspectives of the three people in the house and the way that you reveal information. I wanted to hear about approaching that kind of format and if that was always your plan or if that’s something that came out while you were filming or writing.
SC: That was the plan from the writing process. I was going through it in the early drafts of the script. I wasn’t liking how the story played out through three acts if it was all together on one timeline. So the second draft was, “This has to be broken up and told nonlinearly.” And I love a nonlinear story. I think it’s fun to write. I also think it’s fun to watch.
From a writing perspective, actually, it was a lot of fun because once you tell the story from three different perspectives, it’s fun to see how those perspectives affect each other. One person’s perspective makes no sense, but when you see it from the other person’s perspective, it’s just revelatory.
I find it fun for that kind of Easter egg effect. You can pick things out in people’s stories and see how they make sense in other people’s stories when you see it from a completely different perspective. Putting that into the shooting process was its own challenge because then you have to shoot these things from different perspectives but make sure everything matches up.
DC: That seems like a nightmare from a scheduling perspective.
SC: It was a big challenge for everybody involved in the project, especially wardrobe, costume design, and production design. Sophie Schneider was our costume and production designer, and I met her for the first time on 825 Forest Road. She’s subsequently been the wardrobe and production designer on Hell House Origins and Lineage, as well. And she’s so good. She had her work cut out for her in 825 Forest Road, keeping everything consistent.
She did a great job keeping everything together. Thankfully for me, that’s not something I had to worry about. I was able to put my trust in someone else that the schedule is right. What part in the timeline are we? What perspective are we in? Is everybody wearing the right clothes? Everyone did a great job, from ADs down to cinematography, making sure we were always doing the right thing.
DC: That’s awesome. And performance-wise wise too, with the actors, I feel that’s got to be so interesting for them as performers.
SC: It was tough. I usually like to schedule some light scenes first to get everybody acclimated, both the crew and actors, nothing too challenging. But the way we had to do our schedule was really tough because we had to shoot out rooms and shoot out floors. So we had to shoot everything on the second floor first. Everything that happened in Maria’s studio throughout the whole film was shot in the first few days.
DC: Oh, God.
SC: You’re completely out of order. You’re all over the place. And that was the best way to do it, schedule-wise. So I felt really bad for Elizabeth, who plays Maria, who you might recognize from Hell House III. Obviously she and I know each other really well, but she had to go big very early because everything that happens in that video was on her. And that’s how we started to shoot.
Then we shot out that room, then moved to the next room, shot that room out, then moved to the next room. Sophie would follow us around and she would then take down that room. Then she’d make up the next room. You just reminded me how tough it was on everybody involved, from the actors to the crew to keep everything going. It was the challenge of 825 Forest Road being so non-linear. The task of every department head was to do their job so well, to keep everybody in line, and to keep track of where we were in the schedule.
DC: And you don’t have found footage techniques to hide some things.
SC: I can’t just be like, “Well, we screwed up something. Just put a glitch in it.” That’s not going to work here. Everything’s got to be a lot more of an exact science when you’re filming traditional non-POV footage.
DC: You do have a cool found footage sequence, I will say, which I’m glad you included!
SC: I can’t not have a found footage sequence. I mean, come on. [Laughs]
DC: Before we wrap up, Hell House LLC: Lineage is also a traditional narrative. Can you tease anything at all?
SC: I can say that right now, it’s almost wrapped up. We are in the final stages. I deliver it to the final product of Shudder within a few weeks. And it’s so scary. I personally think, and I know I’m the most biased person, but I personally think it’s the best one. The fifth will be the best of all. And I know that’s an unpopular thing to say. I know. I’ve seen the comments from people saying that they hate it.
DC: I can only imagine what people have said about it not being found footage.
SC: Yeah, I actually get it. Everything that people have said about how they’re mad that it’s not found footage is not something that offends me at all. I completely understand. I would say that they’re right to feel that way. And I totally understand. But what I’m trying to explain to people is that I think you will still have a good time watching this film. It’s the same kind of scares, just shot a little differently, which I think breathes fresh air into the franchise.
825 Forest Road is now streaming on Shudder.
Categorized:Interviews
