Embarking on a meaningful search for identity is a powerful journey that many people take, but don’t often share with the world. The new horror short, ‘Faces,’ is one such genre project that fearlessly conquers that topic. The film delves into the things that people think will turn them into a more complete version of themselves, even if they’re forced to face their fears along the way.

Blake Simon wrote and directed ‘Faces.’ The drama stars Cailyn Rice, Ethan Daniel Corbett, Natalie de Vincentis, Emily Gateley, Hanna Eisenbath and Olivia Lee.

In ‘Faces,’ following the disappearance of a local girl on a dark October evening, Judy (Rice), a college student visiting for the weekend, is invited to a fraternity party. For Judy, what could have been a night of fun and drinking spirals out of control when she encounters a mysterious, deadly entity. As the night unfolds, the entity’s uncanny quest brings violent consequences to those who cross its path.

‘Faces’ will have its U.S. premiere in the SHORT FUSE block of this year’s Fantastic Fest. The film’s first festival screening will be held this Sunday, September 22 at 11:30pm CT in Theater 7 at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema South Lamar in Austin. The block will then have its second festival screening the next day on Monday, September 23 at 5:30pm CT in Theater 8 at Alamo South Lamar.

Simon generously took the time to talk about penning and helming ‘Faces’ during an exclusive interview over Zoom. Among other things, the filmmaker discussed his inspiration in scribing the screenplay and his approach to directing the short after creating the story.

Film Factual (FF): You wrote the script for the new horror short, ‘Faces.’ What was your inspiration in penning the screenplay for the film?

Blake Simon (BS): Whenever I’m writing, it’s not something that’s really planned. For me, it’s more just like an idea strikes, and then I run with it and try and keep up with it.

I had this idea that there is this dark side of the search for identity, until you get to where you’re trying to go. It can be really scary. People can often try things out that don’t work. The dissatisfaction that comes with that, and sometimes even the fake praise that comes with trying those things out, was really terrifying.

I wanted to see what would happen if we explored the embodiment of that fear, and that’s where the idea came from. I’ve experience certain things like that, which inspired me to start writing.

FF: In addition to scribing the script, you also directed the drama. What was your overall approach to helming once production began?

BS: Well, I had made another horror, short less than a year before ‘Faces.’ What was nice about that was we had just worked with the same crew on that film as we did on this one.

We all worked really well together, and the film turned out well. Half the battle of filmmaking is starting the momentum of getting your team together and getting a project set up.

So when that first project went well, I basically called the producers of the first film. I was like, “Get everyone back. I don’t want to lose this momentum.”

Upon finishing writing, we went into pre-production and filming very quickly, in about a few months. We spent a lot of time on casting. Casting the two pivotal roles was very challenging, and then beyond that, it’s kind of an ensemble cast. I really wanted it to feel real and lived in, like you’re really with people of this age in this environment, especially when those changes happen in the film.

So we spent a long time casting, and I was so thrilled with the people we put together, with Ethan and Kayla in particular.

Then as far as our approach for filming, stylistically, I really wanted it to feel like an homage to classical ’80s horror films. I didn’t want it to be too clean and perfect or feel too modern. I wanted it to have this older look to it that feels nostalgic, despite being told in the modern day. I think often times horror filmmakers, myself included, try to stray away from modern day, because technology can lead toward unmistifying things, and can often make things less scary.

So once we got the team together, I just really wanted it to feel like we were making an older film. I think everyone was on the same page. Our DP (Director of Photography,) Andrew (Fronczak), really leaned into that idea.

FF: Speaking of working with Andrew Fronczak as ‘Faces’ Director of Photography, what was your experience collaborating with him like to create the visual aesthetic for the project?

BS: Andy’s amazing. It was only our second time working together. But we had a great experience on the first film, which looked great.

So with this film, I was basically like, “Everything that we did well that time I want to do again, but I want to push it further.”

So I didn’t want a sharp, clean digital feel; instead, I wanted it to be kind of dirty.

One thing Andy and I talked about was really leaning into the imperfections and almost having it feel somewhat dreamlike. I also always wanted something to be visually compelling in every scene.

So there’s a lot of color in this movie. Even when you’re in a house, there’s a lot of stuff going on. That’s credit to Andy and his lighting team. So just leaning into that kind of dreamy, other worldly, ethereal feeling was what we really wanted to do.

Then in terms of the camera, we wanted to really stick to the POV of this character of Judy, especially in the party scene. We’re following her throughout as she walks through and figures out who she’s looking for.

FF: How did decide where you wanted to shoot the movie, and how did you create the look for the project’s locations?

BS: Finding the location is one of the most important and difficult parts of the process, in my mind. For instance, the opening scene – or, I guess, technically second scene – but ostensibly the opening of the film outside the doughnut shop is such a tone setter. I absolutely adore it. But it wasn’t at all where we thought we were going to be filming.

As what often happens in filmmaking, you lockdown a location, but days before you’re set to shoot, it changes on you. That’s what happened with that opening scene. We thought it was going to be set outside a gas station, which would have been fine and colorful. But it was a very typical gas station/convenience, store-type thing.

When we lost the gas station, we thought, what can we get that is similar that we like? The doughnut shop felt so much more unique and special for the film. So that was very much a happy accident.

In filmmaking, you often have to work with what you have, and you have to know what you have and what’s special about it. One of the producers on the film was able to provide the gorgeous, haunting location for the vanity room scenes. As soon as I stepped into that room, I was like, “I have to do something here,” even before writing the script.

I was also like, “I have to not hide how peculiar and compelling this room is, particularly the stained glass.” You want to feel all that. Since that location was something that we had, we had to find a story that would bring the best out of it.

The party scene was just blessing. We used almost every single room in that house. Judy walking through the party, in the bedroom scene, the bathroom scene and the hallway scene, are all in that same location.

Those scenes prove that when you find something that works, and you can make most of it, it’s amazing. With filmmaking schedules being so hectic, half the time, a sequence like that would have been shot in three different places. So we got very lucky with the locations on this one.

FF: ‘Faces’ is also in driven in part by the masks that the characters were once they arrive at the part later in the story. How did you create the masks and costumes for the short?

BS: For a long time I’d been wanting to make a masquerade sequence in a film. This was the first time it just really fit, both in terms of the story and thematically, for obvious reasons with identity.

But once we started envisioning the masks, I wanted to see our heroes faces – I didn’t want the masks to be so obscuring. But at the same time, I didn’t want to be so Robiny that you can see their entire faces. So I wanted to find the middle ground.

Once we got those masks, it was very interesting because they were all variations on each other. They were all slightly different, so we had to figure out what the hero one would be, which was oddly tricky. While they were only slightly different, some didn’t feel right, while others did.

But then once we picked hers, everyone else just got a mask. They were told to just show up like they were going to a nice party. Everyone ended up looking great!