Halloween Haunts 2013: Laos’ First Horror Film, An Interview with Mattie Do by Bryan Thao Worra

Last year we discussed some of the supernatural traditions and beliefs of Laos, although the government officially denies the existence of the supernatural. A nation the size of Great Britain with over 600 years of tradition, much of the 20^th century was spent in conflict. Known by some as the “Land of a Thousand Smiles,” or a “Lost Eden,” barely a dozen films have ever been made in the country.

Mattie Do’s “Chanthaly” is a groundbreaking new horror film from Laos. It holds the distinction of being the first feature film ever directed by a woman in Laos, and even more significant as the very first horror picture from that country.

When her father immigrated back to Laos five years ago, Mattie Do and her husband decided to join him in the capital of Vientiane. They soon met Mr. Anousone Sirisackda of Lao Art Media, which led to them creating a film together. After two years of production, they released Lao’s first horror film, Chanthaly, in Spring 2013. Recently, she gave the U.S. premiere of her work at Fantastic Fest in Texas.

Currently Mattie, her husband, their two dogs and one cat reside permanently in Vientiane, Laos. We caught up with her to discuss her work.

What’s been the biggest surprise to you about how Chanthaly has been received?

I’m most surprised by how much attention Chanthaly has received internationally. Chanthaly was initially meant to be my first attempt at making a feature film; it would be shown here in Laos and however well (or poorly) that went, I figure it would be a learning experience and I could go on to making a better second film that would maybe get a chance to be shown at film festivals abroad. Having Chanthaly get noticed and played at various festivals around the world is still kinda surreal to me.

Who are three of your favorite directors? What influence would you say they had on your work?

My top three directors are, in order, Darren Arronofsky, Guillermo del Toro, and Brad Bird. The way del Toro crafts real world scenarios with supernatural elements bleeding into them is pretty influential to me, also I love the way his characters have an imperative to solve a problem against all odds and against all normal notions of reason and logic. I like the idea of people being stuck between a rock and a hard place and not necessarily coming up with a solution that any one of us in the audience might decide on, and both Arronofsky and del Toro characters very much share that element. As for Brad Bird, I just had to list him because Ratatouille is one of my all-time favorite films and so to not have him on my top three would seem an injustice.

What’s the first horror story you remember reading?

The first horror story I remember reading was actually Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat.” I don’t know if that counts, since my mother was helping me read it and I very fondly remember her saying derisively at the end of the reading, in Lao, “Well that was a crazy story.” Not a compliment. I loved it anyway.

In any case, we owned a large book with his works (sold to us by some door to door book salesmen—yeah those existed), and the other “first” horror story I remember reading on my own was also Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart.”

What’s an underappreciated horror classic to you?

I’m not sure if there’s any underappreciated horror classic to me—all the horror that terrifies me is pretty well-known and accepted as being horrific.

Horror films often challenge or reinforce the social mores of their time and culture. Which mores have you been most interested in addressing in Chanthaly and your future work?

Chanthaly has a lot of present day issues within the film; from familial hierarchy to cultural traditions and gender roles, Chanthaly addressed a lot of issues that rapid modernization has brought along with it to Laos. In my second film, I’m interested in touching on social hierarchy and relationships between people of different cultural and social/class backgrounds. I don’t intend on forcing my opinion on anyone through my films, but I like being able to present to audiences a slice of life in Laos—then throw in some ghosts to mix things up a bit and have people question just what’s more terrifying… human nature or specters?

What’s one of the more difficult Lao traditional beliefs to present to an international audience through film?

Pooping your problems and hauntings away. Yeah, not going into any of my films. I don’t know if Lao-Americans still have this belief, but seriously, in Laos there’s a belief that if something supernaturally traumatic happens to you, be it a haunting or a nightmare-visitation, that you can sit on the toilet and verbalize or mutter the shock you just had while crapping your distress away. Flush! All gone!

What next for you?

Of course, I want to make more films! I want to learn more from my peers and continue telling unique stories on screen. In the immediate future? I’m in the midst of finding funding for my second film and finishing the script for it as well. I’m really excited to implement new things I’ve learned and also to approach a second film with an arsenal of solutions I have from the mistakes I made in my first. Anyway, because I spend more than a year completely engulfed in one project, you can imagine how ready I am to move onto another film and another story only so I can get immersed in that as well!

What do you loathe in a bad horror film?

In a bad horror film? There’s always that moment in a horror film where the monster steps out of the shadows. I hate that moment. I hate getting a good look at a bad monster. I’m not talking about a campy monster, because I can suspend my disbelief for a guy in a rubber suit or thick makeup. A campy monster makes a campy horror film better. It’s more like, I don’t know, say Sinister, that movie creeped me out right up until the moment the monster popped out and I started laughing. I don’t really go for CGI monsters either. There’s something about them that never feel as threatening as, again, a guy in some sort of prosthetic makeup thing splashed with a bunch of fake blood. Maybe it’s easier to do ghosts. I loved the ghosts in The Innkeepers and the stereotypical Asian ghost with the long, black hair like The Ring… I love that. I’m not saying I’d know how to handle that moment better, you know? But there’s nothing worse than being disappointed by a bad monster stepping out of the shadows at the end of an otherwise great horror flick.

Best nachos you ever had.

7-11. Hands down. But they have to be prepared correctly. You can’t just open the chips and dump the nacho cheese over them. There needs to be a layering of the elements so that every chip has access to cheese and jalapeño. I typically start by filling the bottom of the plastic container with cheese, then adding a layer of chips, more cheese, peppers, another layer of chips, and so on. The chips come measured out already, but nobody really checks how much cheese you’re using. If you’ve got supplemental corn chips at home to scoop up the extra sauce, even better. So long as the chips aren’t stale, I love 7-11 nachos. Stale chips are the worst.

You can follow the further adventures of Mattie Do and Sleepy Whippet Productions on Twitter at @mangosodium or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ChanthalyMovie

Bryan Thao Worra is an award-winning Lao-American writer. An NEA Fellow in literature, he is a member of the Horror Writer Association and the Science Fiction Poetry Association. His work appears internationally, including Innsmouth Free Press, Tales of the Unanticipated, Illumen, Astropoetica, Outsiders Within, Dark Wisdom, and Mad Poets of Terra. He is the author of several books of speculative poetry On the Other Side of the Eye, Barrow, and the forthcoming Demonstra. Visit him online at http://thaoworra.blogspot.com