GVN Interview With ‘Peppergrass’ Director Steven Garbas

The film industry continues to surprise and captivate audiences with innovative and gripping stories. One such film that has generated significant buzz is the revenge horror-thriller “Peppergrass,” directed by the talented duo Steven Garbas and Chantelle Han. Starring Chantelle Han, Charles Boylan, and Michel Copeman, this independent gem promises to be one of the most intriguing films of 2023. PEPPERGRASS will be available on digital platforms beginning today, June 16, 2023 from Terror Films.

During the pandemic, a pregnant restaurateur tries to rob a priceless truffle from a reclusive World War 2 veteran in a new revenge horror-thriller from award-winning filmmaking duo Steven Garbas and Chantelle Han, PEPPERGRASS.

We caught up with the lovely Steven Garbas for an honest, insightful and entertaining chat about what’s unarguably one of the best independent films of 2023.

GVN: Peppergrass made a real splash on the festival circuit. How important and vital was that festival bow in terms of getting a good distribution deal and further, getting that awareness right out of the gate?

Steven: We started getting offers as soon as we premiered, so that was entirely festival driven and the main advantage to doing a full festival run. Laurels are good, awards are good, they increase your odds of getting press and that helps your odds of getting someone at acquisitions to look at your film.

You have to do all your own legwork if you don’t show on the circuit and that’s annoying. A good festival is going to do more than just program your film. They will get you press.

But at the end of the day, you need a film people want to watch to make your money back. Distributors have to see something in it for them.

And have you found a lot of people have now been anxiously awaiting the national release of the film on digital?

People want it to be on a platform they use already. We probably would have cut the release time in half if it weren’t for covid (omicron happened mid-festival run for us.) But we had invitations to do good festivals in the south east and in Europe in the Fall so we decided to wait until they were done to make our deal and try to build back the momentum that covid cost us in the Spring.

So we did have interest all year but maybe now everyone is bored of waiting for us…

Tell us how you went about getting distribution? I imagine those favorable reviews that you got at Blood on the Snow, and so on, helped in getting a good deal?

Actually our worst review came out of Blood in the Snow and it follows us around the internet like Jacob Marley’s chains. It doesn’t matter how many great reviews we get, this thing shows up right beside them.

After your premiere is announced, you get a wave of distributors asking for screeners and making offers. There’s a whole industry of “churn and burn” companies that try to take the first 25k in sales through padded expenses and put out 300 films a year. We almost did a fatally bad deal with some distributor in the summer, so we decided to toss our offers out and go shopping for someone with a good reputation and experience with our kind of film.

So we cold called 3 or 4 distributors after we’d shown for a while and they came back with offers.

How important to you was it to make an entertaining horror film but also one that’s grounded?

I always favor a film that could happen. A demon with fangs and claws is nowhere near as scary as a breath on a telephone line.

I think Sean Penn once said something like, “If all you want is entertainment, get two hookers and an 8 ball.” I took that as, you should sneak some art in there too.

What films inspired Peppergrass?

Bresson’s A Man Escaped. Michael Mann’s Thief. Roeg’s Don’t Look Now.

But, horror versions.

Have you always had a love of horror?

I was really young at the height of Wes Craven and Clive Barker and the VHS revolution. So all of those films weren’t just scary, but like literally nightmare inducing. The cover of Argento’s Demons was the poster in my local video store window and it plagued me. I actively avoided horror until I was in my late teens.

And I went the wrong way, I started with Critters and Lurkers and worked my way back to the Craven and Barker films. Eventually hitting the Friedkin/Kubrick sweet spot in my 20s.

Which of them do you feel Peppergrass plays homage to?

The second act is a Robert Bresson horror homage. Eula is lost and following the distant sound of the train in the forest, but no one speaks for 20 minutes.

It’s the part of the film critics either love or hate.

Any ideas that you tossed out along the way, because they didn’t work for the screenplay?

In that second act, I almost chickened out and put a long monologue over it. Eula (the main character) is given a sealed letter in the first scene that she refuses to open. She uses the letter to start a fire to survive the cold later. I had a voiceover reading it while she burned each page.

It was just a failsafe in case I chickened out. We tried it in the edit and it was so cheeseball. The correct decision got made pretty quick.

Why should audiences watch the film?

The story is not predictable. It’s technically very strong. The construction is not for everyone, but very intentional and purposeful.

I think Peppergrass is different. For me, stepping out of the strict three-act was important. Sometimes I feel like, not only have I been watching the same film for 20 years, but the same actors. Certain summers I think Matt Damon has been in every film I’ve ever seen in my entire life. He’s fine, but it became distracting when he appeared in astronaut cameos for a while.

Matt Damon isn’t in Peppergrass.