An Interview With Ben Young - Hounds of Love (2016) (Spoilers)
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Disturbing Cinema: Hounds of Love (2016) is based on the real-life Western Australian serial murderers David and Catherine Birnie, who were convicted and charged with murdering four people at their house in 1986 and attempted to murder a fifth. The newspapers referred to these events as the Moorhouse murders, after the Birnies' residence of 3 Moorhouse Street in Willagee, a Perth suburb. There have been numerous unsettling instances in your native nation of Australia that have been turned into great films, like The Boys, Snowtown Murders, Nitram, Wolf Creek, Animal Kingdom, and many others. I'm interested why this tale in particular spoke to you the most and compelled you to write and direct a film based on it.
Ben Young: Weirdly, despite the similarities to the real life crime, Hounds of Love is more of a work of fiction. My mum is a crime fiction writer (Felicity Young) and one day I was at her place and she had a whole bunch of true crime books on the table. I asked her what they were doing there and she said she was done with them so was going to give them away. I was allowed to help myself. The book that stood out to me was called Women Who Kill. It went into the real life story of many female serial killers (None from my home state) and what became apparent to me was that those women who do commit serial murder do it for very different reasons to men who do. Male serial killers tend to be motivated by sex, where as female ones motivated by a perversion of virtue, usually under the spell of a psychopathic man. This was a subject I knew very little about and had not seen in a movie, so it interested me to write about it. While set in Western Australia, the movie is made up from various bits and pieces inspired by various cases and the psychology I git an insight to in that book.
Disturbing Cinema: It's been nine years since Hounds of Love was released, and I'd want to know how your experience working with your lovely and brilliant cast mates Emma Booth, Ashleigh Cummings, and Stephen Curry was, as well as if you have any memorable experiences on set that you might share with us all.
Ben Young: Those three actors were a dream. It takes a lot of stars and a little bit of magic for any movie to get made, particularly an indie so I was very lucky to have such wonderful cast, all of whom are also lovely people. I’ve worked with Emma on two movies since then and Steve in a TV show. I’d love to do something with Ashleigh again. Susie Porter (who plays Ash’s mother in the movie) and I are working on something now which is a real treat. For me the most memorable experience on set was just how nice and supportive everyone was of each other. We were doing challenging scenes in brutally hot weather and everyone reminded calm and level headed. One memory from set was just how difficult the dog was to direct! It had been trained to do everything it needed to, and did a great job, but for the fact it kept wagging it’s tail throughout which kinda killed the vibe of what the scene was meant to be about. That’s why the dog is hardly in the edit.
Disturbing Cinema: Films based on true stories, particularly disturbing murder cases like this one, can be misunderstood and receive a lot of hate from many people who may be offended by the fact that a director may not have accurately represented the events, or it may still be deemed insensitive to the victims and families even if you show what really happened. Personally, I have no objections to this, and I believe that art is in jeopardy today as a result of Cancel Culture. I'd want to hear your perspectives on the subject, as well as any important advice you would provide to someone thinking about developing a film based on a true tale, notably a genuine murder case.
Ben Young: This is an important question and I’m on the fence about it. Personally, I think if a story is in the public sphere it is there for the taking. Obviously filmmakers need to do their best to respect the real life people. I have had numerous people from all over the world and tell me Hounds gave them the strength to leave an abusive relationship. That’s more than I ever could have hope for with the movie but I think is worth noting. Art has the ability to influence change and if it can be change for the better, we should be allowed to tell any stories we want. And if people like myself were not allowed to tell stories such as hounds, where do we draw the line? There have been countless movies made about wars which have literally destroyed millions more lives than any serial killer. I also found it strange that I did receive a lot of backlash for Hounds, however documentaries about true crimes don’t seem to be judged as harshly. I find this a little strange, because whether factual or reimagined fiction, documentaries both have a commercial objective. Censorship in art is a dangerous thing. No one is ever going to be able to make something that pleases everyone and in movies we have a classification system to try and steer people away from pictures that they might find offensive or upsetting. It’s really easy to find out what kind of experience you are likely to have when engaging with any art, so I say do your homework and stay away if you think it won’t be for you. It’s not your call to decide what is right for others so they should have the freedom of choice to make that decision for themselves.
Disturbing Cinema: I love the scene where Evelyn and John spike Vicki's drink and catch her. The buildup to that sequence is powerful and difficult to watch, and it's made even more distressing by the song Nights in White Satin playing while she's screaming and trying to get away from them. Speaking of music, how did you determine which songs to include in this film?
Ben Young: Originally for that sequence I wanted Everywhere BY Fleetwood Mack but we just couldn’t afford it. It was our music supervisor who found Nights in White Saturn. She was great. I had also wanted t
he Kate Bush song Hounds of Love to close the movie, for obvious reasons but that was two much for our budget. It was pretty soon after I learned we couldn’t use that song that I landed on Atmosphere which the film currently closes with. In fact every scene it is over in the movie I had it playing on set on the day so the actors and crew could get the tone/mood of the scene. Music is a big part of your writing process. It was important to me that we didn’t just have music from the 80’s when the movie is set, because given the ages of the characters, they likely listened to older stuff.
Disturbing Cinema: You are an award-winning writer and director who began acting at the age of twelve. You went on to work as a writer and director in commercials, music videos, fashion, series television, short films, and feature films. I'd love to hear what incident or period in time inspired you to pursue a career as an actor and filmmaker. What made you say to yourself, "I want to make a fucking film one day.
Ben Young: Haha I’ve wanted to make a movie for as long as I remember. In fact when I was in fifth grade, I wrote my first film and shot t on a VHS camera. It was terrible. Then in my teens I started experimenting with stop motion and animation. It’s just a medium I’ve always want to be a part of. I wrote my first full length script when I was 15 and wrote another 10 before I landed on Hounds. All up that’s 11 100ish page scripts I wrote before anyone thought one was worth making. It’s a hard slog. Still is. I’ve lost count of how many I’ve written since Hounds that for one reason or another I couldn’t get made. I grew up in a house where movies were a big part. I think I’d seen every Gary Cooper movie before I was 8. I can’t recall the exact moment I wanted to get into movies… it’s something that has always just been with me. That’s the whole reason I got into acting… it was the closest thing I could do to directing, and the only thing I could do as a kid, to get on film sets. It really has been a life long obsession for me.
Disturbing Cinema: Finally I would like to conclude this interview by asking you one of my signature questions which is what is the most disturbing film you have ever seen and why?
Ben Young: I love this question! What is the most disturbing film I ahem seen… Of recent times I would say Zone of Interest is right up there because it really shines a light on the danger of complacency. Closer disturbed me because it was a brutally honest look at the reality of a lot of relationships that we often don’t talk about. Irreversible was a hard watch because it portrayed brutal and real violence in such a realistic way. Snowtown and Nitram are also both right up there because they both show how such brutality can linger just around the corner. I’m sure as soon as I finish here, I’m going to remember plenty more.
Disturbing Cinema: Congratulations on the film, and thank you once again for taking your time answering my questions, Ben Young. It was a great pleasure interviewing you.
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Hounds of Love (2016) Plot Summary: In 1987, murderous couple John and Evelyn roam the streets of Perth, Australia, searching for their latest victim. Fate leads them to Vicki Maloney, a teen who snuck out of her house at night to go to a party. Now held captive in a room, Vicki must use her wits to try and drive a wedge between the crazed duo before they can finish her off.
You can buy or rent Hounds of Love (2016) here:
Umbrella Entertainment: https://shop.umbrellaent.com.au/products/hounds-of-love-2016-blu-ray-collectors-edition?srsltid=AfmBOorTXB4w-8-n3QCEBRyLd7iB8lChWw2impV46iNJklZAkHqJgv8B
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