By day, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies Matthew Lawrence teaches digital filmmaking. By night, he puts his pedagogy to practice, writing and directing horror movies. Here, he talks about his latest film, “Bloody Axe Wound,” which was released in theaters in December, his process, and the filmmakers and movies he admires most — including a surprise pick for his all-time favorite.
Q: “Bloody Axe Wound” — sounds scary. What’s the movie about?
A: The film is about a young woman named Abbie Bladecut whose father is a killer along the lines of Jason from “Friday the 13th or Freddy Kruger from “Nightmare on Elm Street.” He magically records all of his killings and offers them up to rent to customers in the video store he owns.
Abbie wants to follow in her father’s footsteps but since she is a young woman, he thinks she is too small and weak and won’t be able to do it — so it plays on the sexist argument that women can’t do certain jobs.
She decides to strike out on her own and she infiltrates a high school where she realizes that the students there are not these one-dimensional archetypes she thought they were. She is torn between the “traditions” of her family and the newfound friendships and love found at the school.
Q: How long did it take to get this movie into production?
A: I started writing this script about 10 years ago and we tried to get it off the ground for a couple of years. We had some actresses attached and we were raising money, but it all fell through due to some bad luck.
But I really liked the script. And then after my last feature — “Uncle Peckerhead” — in 2020, some people started reaching out, asking what scripts I had. Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan and his wife, Hilarie Burton direct messaged me on Twitter! They shopped “Bloody Axe Wound” around and AMC really liked it. It was a good fit because AMC also has a horror-specific streaming platform.
It took another two years to get it officially greenlit, and in 2023 we were on our way.
Q: We understand that you also directed the film. How did you balance both writing and directing?
A: The biggest difference is that when you’re writing, you’re building a world. You create a vision in your head and hope it can be brought to life. As a director you have to actually figure out a way to manifest that to the screen knowing you have limited resources and tools at your disposal — whether that’s financial or deadlines or other limitations.
As a director you also have to communicate the vision to the actors and everyone on the crew.
I think it’s a little easier to do both in that, since I wrote it, I felt like I had even more authority to speak on behalf of the story and the characters.
Q: Tell us more about the production. Where was the movie shot? How many people worked on it? How long did the shoot take?
A: We shot for 18 days in June of 2023. We had a bunch of locations, most of them up near Saugerties, New York, near Woodstock, including the high school where a lot of scenes took place.
This was my first official union crew shoot so on any given day we had 50–75 cast and crew members on the set, which was crazy! It was the first time I worked with proper department heads, like a production designer and wardrobe department.
It allowed me to bring in some of my longtime collaborators and people I’ve worked with for 15 years, including my producing partner Wicky Mendoza, our makeup and practical FX wizard Jared Balog, a pair of really great cinematographers, Michael Sutter and Kyle Kelley, and others.
Q: As a filmmaker, who are some of your biggest influences?
A: John Carpenter is a big one. His films like “They Live” and “The Thing” are incredible as far as the sheer entertainment a horror movie can deliver. But if you want to go beneath the surface and ponder some of the deeper narrative elements, he is offering serious commentary on our culture, especially during the Reagan era of the 1980s.
Away from horror, I like all kind of genres. Believe it or not, “Wayne’s World” is probably my favorite movie. On the surface it’s a goofy movie developed from an SNL skit. But if you look beyond that, it also comments on the perils of when art mixes with commerce.
Kevin Smith was also a major influence on me. When I was a kid, I never thought I could actually make movies. It just seems like that was something that happened in a faraway land. But then he came along with “Clerks,” which just broke my brain. He was just a kid from New Jersey that made a movie with his friends. He made it seem more attainable.
NOTE: “Bloody Axe Wound” is now available to rent and buy on all major streaming platforms.
— Luke Sacks
