Spider One brings his horror vision to Shudder as writer and director of Allegoria, following artists whose lives intertwine as their insecurities manifest demons and death. It stars Krsy Fox, Adam Busch, Bryce Johnson, and Scout Compton.

Allegoria opens on an acting coach who appears to be teaching his students how to channel their inner monster and give a raw, real performance. He aristocratically indulges in what he considers a teaching moment before one of his students becomes a literal embodiment of what he’s trying to convey, revealing so in a hideously deadly way. Scenes continue to flow in, as more-or-less innocent but elitist indulgences are faced with the formula.

“It’s so well written… there aren’t a lot of roles that are written, like the characters' dialogue, like that. And to get to do that ending scene… I love to play the monster,” commented Fox who plays Brody.

Spider One noted that the writing is based on a lot of his personal experience with attempting to live a creative life. “We always feel compelled to describe it as the art controls the artists, the artist doesn’t control the art. So, it’s like these moments in life where you just wish you would’ve learnt a trade or gone to college for accounting, but you’re left with this need to write a song, paint a picture, or write a movie. And so, I wanted to examine that, in that creative brain, and of course, parallel it with the world of horror, and take these insecurities and the ego issues that artists have and amplify them.”

Blending Horror and Art

“I feel like it goes hand in hand,” explained Spider One when asked about blending horror and art. “I’ve said this before, but when we talk about artists, we describe them as suffering for their art. They sell their souls for success or whatever. And so, you know, these are all horror movie terms. Those two worlds didn’t seem that far apart… but it also hadn’t been, to my knowledge, explored in horror that often. I thought it was a situation really ripe for examining. It was almost like a logical thing to put together.”

“I agree with Spider,” added Fox, “I think that the struggles and obsessiveness, the tortures you can put yourself through really combines the two things, and I think it’s a really unique idea to shoot a film about all these different types of artists, and that their demons actually get them… I certainly connect a lot with the characters in the film.”

Spider One continued, referencing moments of real-life artists who experience what could be considered horror as well. People like Van Gogh, for instance, a guy who “literally chopped his own ear off,” or the endless stories of musicians who suffer overdoses or inflict self-harm. The logical connection behind this blending is certainly present.

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Capturing Gore and Appealing to Audiences

AllegoriaBrody
RLJE Films/Shudder

Allegoria includes some pretty gruesome looking monsters with the addition of copious gore to illustrate their abilities.

“We had an amazing effects team and makeup artists,” said Spider One, “we were doing everything practically, so we didn’t have to utilize digital effects. So, it’s really fun to design these monsters. Sometimes I would do a rough sketch, then have a meeting with the makeup people, and they would just create these fantastic creatures… It was such a great collaboration to be able to work with such talented people.”

Ironically enough, these nightmare inducing monsters, demons, and gore are what attracts many. Spider One said the same is true for him, and that at an early age he always loved horror comic books and that he thinks it’s an amazing outlet. “I grew up in kind of a small town, there wasn’t a heck of a lot to do. These worlds were just so fantastic to me; to be able to enter a space to scare yourself but also, you’re safe. I think it’s probably the same reason people like to ride roller coasters. It’s terrifying, but you’re going to be okay. But also, horror, it’s a close knit community. There’s no other genre of film where people care as much as they do, or obsess over it as much as they do… I think there’s something exciting about being a part of that, being in a scene that is so invested in the genre.”

“I’ve done music my whole life. So, I’m sort of used to that. I kind of know my audience… but this world of putting out a movie is so new to me, that I’m excited for the good, the bad, and the ugly… It’s been a lifelong dream since I was a kid to be involved in movies,” said Spider One, ending on the sentiment that he hopes people love what they’ve done.

Allegoria is available on Shudder.