Exclusive Interview: Haylar Garcia Discusses An American Terror

Starring Jennifer Wilde (Halloween : The Night He Came Back), Graham Emmons (The Mission), and Kathryn Gould (The Highwayman), An American Terror tells of three teens, marginalized by their schoolmates, who decide to turn their gray existence around and be noticed. To do it they come up with a macabre plan, consisting of carrying out a massacre at school. But while they’re preparing the bloodbath, they’ll run into something much darker and more perverse than their own bloody ideas.

We spoke to director Haylar Garcia about the new film, now out on DVD and VOD.

BGG After Dark: It’s great to see a such strong female role in a film like this. Why did you decide to shake it up and not have the girl be a weak damsel-in-distress type? 

Haylar Garcia: We there are two reasons for that. The film seeks on some level to break stereotypes, to understand that different people might have common ground when in situations that are more grave than a high school pecking order, and that being said it would not ring true if the character who represents that transfer were herself a stereotype of her own gender. In the end, all the characters needed to feel real. Any redshirts would have ruined the film.

BGG After Dark: Where did you find these wonderful performers?

Haylar Garcia: We were so lucky. Denver Colorado has a TON of hidden talent both in front of and behind the camera. Our audition process was fairly painless, we only did two rounds. These kids popped out at us right away. I would go so far as to say that we didn't give anyone parts in this film, they all walked in and took them. 

BGG After Dark: Are you from Colorado yourself?

Haylar Garcia: Yes born and raised. The film is set in Colorado, and we shot it entirely in Colorado. It was important to keep it here especially considering the subject matter.

BGG After Dark: Was it ever a consideration to shoot the film anywhere other than Colorado?

Haylar Garcia: There are always conversations about how best to produce a film from a financial standpoint, and at the time there were states out there with attractive rebate programs, but in the end Colorado just had too many really amazing options for us to even consider looking elsewhere. In recent years Colorado has upped its game, with an incentive program that recently brought Tarantino's Hateful 8 here. We are very excited about the amazing things happening with film here. The emergence of this kind of industry and culture is creating fertile ground for big and small films alike. In fact if you are out there looking to make a film, check out Colorado for sure.

BGG After Dark: What makes Colorado the perfect place for the movie’s setting?

Haylar Garcia: From a Production standpoint: It's economically a great place to shoot, locations, awesome crew, great talent pool, all of this was available to us (plus a rebate) at prices you could not touch in LA or other respective hotspots.

From a creative standpoint: The film carries a very touchy and extremely controversial subject matter, and it was a tightrope to say the least through every stage for it never to feel exploitive. In the end, as sad as it is to say; this is the home of the Columbine Massacre, and there would be something insulting, at least from my point of view for the a project like this to be done elsewhere.

BGG After Dark: How much of the film’s story was directly influenced by Columbine?

Haylar Garcia: Well, even though the dynamic of boys is different, I think the mirror is obvious even at a glance. I was inspired and influenced heavily by Columbine. It was a hard subject matter to tackle given the fact that I grew up here and still live here, and it was a hard subject to pitch both locally and nationally. But in the end if it's a powerful and important subject matter. I look at this film almost like fable. It what I wish would have happened the day before Columbine.


BGG After Dark: What kind of feedback has the movie received?

Haylar Garcia: We have had some backlash due to the subject  matter, however those seem to be people who are judging the film from afar based on a snippet or the trailer. But response from fans, especially people the age of our characters has been overwhelming positive. Many feel that the film speaks for them, maybe even empowers them and assures them that the option to be stronger than a bully is viable without the help of a machine gun. Of that, we are VERY proud.

BGG After Dark: The film is also hitting VOD. Have you switched from disc to streaming yet yourself? Do you believe VOD is the way of the future?

Haylar Garcia: Well of course as people's collection of media becomes cloud based the writing is on the wall. VOD is an important stream because it reaches right out to us, our pads, our phones... wherever we are our content is available. I have not personally made the switch. My DVD collection looks like the warehouse scene at the end of Raiders, so I'm holding on due to replacement costs. But certainly physical media is going away all together in our lifetime. Right now we just have to make sure we have all bases covered.

BGG After Dark: Do you think the horror genre is healthy at the moment?

Haylar Garcia: Yes, I think it is maybe the most flooded market out there, but the creme always rises to the top. That being said, I can't claim not to love a "good" troma film once in a while. I believe horror is healthy and always will be... It never seems to stop. Romero I think would be proud.