Pierre Tsigaridis is the filmmaker behind such indie horror films as Two Witches and Traumatika. Pierre is a quadruple threat as he writes, directs, DPs, and edits his own movies, and in this episode he breaks down the making of Traumatika, a very brutal possession story and exploration of trauma and abuse. Fair warning, the movie is called Traumatika so you can expect that we dive into darker than usual subject matter in this episode.

So, without further ado, here is Pierre Tsigaridis.

Key Takeaways

Hook the audience up front.

Traumatika is a movie that goes for your throat at the jump. Not waiting to build up suspense or believability, this movie eventually goes to 11 but starts around 6 or 7. For newer and indie filmmakers you sometimes need to cater to the waning attention span of viewers by hooking them in the very beginning. You need to remember that you’re competing with a lot of other movies and if the viewer isn’t immediately hooked, sometimes they can move on. The implications of this may be unfortunate but doing this can make for a very impactful movie. So don’t ask permission to scare, just go for it. Foreign horror movies usually do this very well. Of course this depends on the type of movie you’re trying to make and sometimes you need a slow burn, but other times, you gotta just go for the jugular up front.

There’s no limits to the amount of hats you can wear.

Pierre wrote/produced/directed/shot/edited and even funded Traumatika. Doing this essentially makes him unstoppable as a filmmaker. His reasoning is practical: micro-budgets and fractured schedules mean you need to be able to pick up a camera and continue the movie even when people or days fall through. Being able to do all of this yourself simplifies scheduling, but can still be physically and mentally taxing, or as Pierre said, “the only thing that can stop me is my back.” Remember though, pain is temporary but cinema is forever.

Light sets allow for dark explorations.

Traumatika explores extremely dark subject matter, like REALLY DARK. Pierre was able to go there with his actors and get extremely gut-wrenching performances out of them because they trusted him and because he ran a supportive set. Pierre’s process included constant check-ins and letting actors shape choices. By setting up such an insulated and supportive set, the actors were actually able to go even deeper into the dark material as Pierre claimed that some of the most disturbing ideas were suggested by the actors. The big lesson: if you create a respectful and supportive environment and listen, actors will often take you further than you planned and they’ll feel ownership instead of pressure. Yes, we all know how Stanley Kubrick got the performance he did out of Shelly Duvall in The Shining, but despite how amazing that performance is, the method was abusive and should be forgotten. The real key to going super dark is creating a super safe space.

Show Notes

Movies and Shows Mentioned

1. Traumatika
2. The Grudge (Japanese version)
3. The Ring (Japanese and American versions referenced)
4. Scream
5. Halloween
6. The Exorcist
7. Evil Dead
8. Nosferatu
9. The Descent
10. The Lord of the Rings
11. Castle Freak
12. Pulse (also referenced by its original title Kairo)
13. A Tale of Two Sisters
14. Mulholland Drive
15. Lost Highway
16. Inland Empire
17. Twin Peaks
18. Twin Peaks: The Return
19. Maniac (1980)
20. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
21. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

Follow Pierre Tsigaridis at:

1. IMBd: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8705238/
2. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pierretsiga/
3. X (Twitter): https://x.com/PTsigaridis
4. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pierre.tsigaridis/