UK-based South African filmmaker, Henk Pretorius, is comfortable in front of and behind the camera.
No stranger to grabbing headlines for his accomplishments, the multi-award-winning Pretorius has written, executive produced and directed several offerings.
Some of his notable works include “Leading Lady”, the “Bakgat!” franchise and “Fanie Fourie’s Labola”.
And he’s back with the critically-acclaimed horror, “The Unfamiliar”, which he co-wrote with Jennifer Nicole Stang as well as directed.
The premise centres on Elizabeth (Izzy) Cormack (Jemima West), a British Army doctor, who returns home from the war. At first, she assumes she has PTSD only to learn that there are malevolent spirits present at home, making the life that she knew unfamiliar.
On what inspired “The Unfamiliar”, he revealed: “Horror films, at first, scared me.
“And I remember the nightmares that followed after watching them. But the deeper I delved into the genre, the more I realised that they are a parade of how society feels at a certain point in time.
“The actual monster in a horror film may or may not be 'real'; however, the thematic often reflects the political, social, and cultural anxieties of the specific period in time.
“What inspired me to make ‘The Unfamiliar’ was the thematic questions around gender roles and identity in general.
“I come from a house where gender roles didn't exist, and my father would often take over the role of a nurturer to my sister and me, while my mother would work late.
“My father also enjoyed making food and spoilt us with his continuous desire to make the perfect paella.
“At heart, ‘The Unfamiliar’ is also an anti-war film that shows the possible outcome of leaving your family to fight a war that you never had any real, or personal, stakes in.
“The consequences of where we focus our attention is always the neglect of where our attention is not focused.
“Specific to the story, when Elizabeth Izzy Cormack goes to war, she is physically not there to protect them against whatever, or whoever threatens them.”
This movie is told from Izzy’s perspective.
Before co-penning the screenplay, he conducted a fair amount of research on the genre.
Pretorius added: “However, you always need to bring your voice and 'taste' to creating a film, and a genre is just a guide of ‘audience expectations’ that was previously created by other filmmakers and bundled into a grouping.
“I used a lot of the horror tropes that you would find in horror films to guide and to sometimes misguide the audience in watching ‘The Unfamiliar’.”
On what he focused on in the movie, he explained: “The key aspects I wanted to come through in the film is a mother's incredible commitment to keeping her family safe.
“The lengths a mother will go to protect her family to me is heroic.
“From a plot point of view, I wanted to create a film that keeps an audience guessing and also keep building tension towards the film’s conclusion in the end.”
Unpacking the casting process for the film, Pretorius offered: “In casting ‘The Unfamiliar’, I looked for a strong female actor with the ability to draw an audience into her point of view.
“Jemima West, as an actress, can portray an incredibly rich inner life, and I was thrilled when she responded positively to the script.
“She immediately understood the character and was drawn to the challenge of doing her stunts and fully committed to what was a very taxing shoot.
“We approached Jemima's agent through British casting director: Sophie Holland and Jemima were my first choice to portray Izzy.
“Harry McMillan Hunt, who plays the young, Tommy Cormack and Rebecca Hanssen, who plays his sister Emma Cormack, were cast from ‘Spotlight’.
“I enjoyed both of their readings and offered them the part. So was Rachel Lin, who did a stellar audience as Auntie Mae and I knew about Christopher Dane’s skill as an actor due to his body of work.
“I contacted Chris, and he loved the screenplay and came on board to play Ethan Cormack.
“My goal with the cast was to cast great actors, that looked like they could be a family, with the ability to perform in an engaging, subtle and believable way in portraying their characters.
“Their commitment was incredible, and I think their performances speak for itself.”
As for what he has in the kitty, the director shared: “I am working on a comedic TV series that I created to vent while making audiences laugh.
“I think the world needs a good laugh and take ourselves a little less serious and I hope that our TV series will be used as a form of self-therapy.
“We are also in the final stages of packaging the biggest film of my career with A list talent, that will be shot with a majority of South African crew.
“Which I am incredibly excited about and can’t wait to make.
“The film will officially be announced soon, but I want to make it with a majority of South Africans to show the world what is possible when we have a clear vision and work as a team.”
“The Unfamiliar” is now available on DStv Box Office, iTunes and Google Play.