Chris Sun, known for horror films such as Boar, Charlie’s Farm, Daddy’s Little Girl, and Come and Get Me, has a new addition to his credit, the supernatural horror, The Possessed staring Wolf Creek actor John Jarratt. We sat down with Chris to discuss The Possessed and the true story inspiration behind it.
In the film, Jacob Chandler (Jarratt) is just an ordinary man with an extraordinary gift. The Possessed is a terrifying story of accidental exorcist Jacob and his nephew Liam (Lincoln Lewis). The two have forged a career clearing demons from the bodies of their clients. Of late, something has changed and demonic possessions are increasing, and in order to keep those he loves safe from the wrath of unspeakable evil, Jacob must fight for them to survive.
When meeting Liam’s new girlfriend, Atalie Carlisle (Lauren Grimson), he recognizes something in her dark, broken gaze – she too can see the damned. Jacob never expected to meet anyone else like himself, nor did he anticipate needing her help. When summoned to a hauntingly beautiful homestead with a tragic past, Jacob must call upon all his experience and Atalie’s untrained powers, to uncover the layers of demonic deception at play. Death is here, and it will do anything to be free.
Kelli McNeely: I have to admit, I still think about Boar every time I pass a hog on the side of the road.”
Chris Sun: “I love Boar, such a fun film, Can’t wait to punch out Boar 2.”
Kelli McNeely: “I’m happy to hear there will be a sequel. That movie was brutal.
A lot of your films are pretty violent. What made you want to so do something in the supernatural subgenre?”
Chris Sun: “About two years ago I met the real-life exorcist Mark Gardener and after hearing some of his stories and witnessing him perform an exorcism I was hooked. We talked about making a film about some of his clearings and before you knew it I was writing and creating The Possessed. As most know I love practical FX and 80’s style gore and kills, but I had to take a different path with this film, so it was very important to me to have full practical FX demons and makeup so it had that traditional Chris Sun film vibe to it.”
Kelli McNeely: “Wait, you witnessed a real exorcism?” That sounds scary as hell.”
Chris Sun: “I did yes, I was really excited to see him perform a real exorcism, I mean let’s be honest we’ve all seen the exorcist so I went in there thinking heads spinning, etc. But when it happened at first I was like WTF man, where is all the crazy shit. I mean don’t get me wrong it was intense, Mark was losing his shit in there, he was screaming, talking in different languages, gagging, choking it was fucking hectic. Then before I knew it it was over and we were heading outside, that’s when I knew I had just witnessed something special because he was now about to perform the second part of his clearing process and that was sending the demon back into the earth.
He was barefoot and started reciting some sort of prayer and without warning he went all sorts of demonic himself, again gagging close to vomiting as he pushed something out of his body and into the ground. I was blown away by the whole ordeal and being a lover of horror and the paranormal of course I wanted more hahaha I would like to see him perform more of these, in fact, I would now love to one day travel the world and see exorcisms performed in all the different cultures, that would be scary but really exciting at the same time.”
Kelli McNeely: “Wow! That had to be an amazing experience. After watching thousands of horror films, supernatural ones are the only ones that actually get under my skin. The fact that the movie is inspired by real events, takes it to a whole new level. So, what can fans of the supernatural expect?”
Chris Sun: “They can expect something new and different. Like my previous films although there are serious moments and there are funny moments. I never take myself too seriously, I’m a horror fan as well so I make movies I would enjoy watching. The Possessed is the same as my past films, it has the creepy moments, the silly moments, the WTF just happened moments and most important it has real practical FX in there for the lovers of the ’80s and 90s genre films.
I think if people go to the movies to let go for an hour and a half and have fun they will enjoy the film very much. This isn’t trying to be The exorcist or the Possession of Emily Rose, this is about an Aussie guy who wears Hawaiian-style t-shirts performing exorcisms on everyday people, It gets pretty crazy in the 3rd act. I think in total we have around 6 different demons/possessions in the film, so there is always something evil happening throughout the film, we keep them on their toes until the end.”
Kelli McNeely: “It sounds fantastic! In ‘The Possessed’ will we see some of the things you saw while watching the real exorcism?”
Chris Sun: “ Absolutely, the main clearings we see in the film are based on Stories from Mark himself, obviously I have added the Chris Sun flare to them to keep the fans entertained but yes all the clearings in the film are inspired by Marks stories.
Kelli McNeely: “I noticed that there’s an all-Australian cast that includes John Jarratt. He’s a great actor. It will be nice to see him play a role that isn’t a psychopath, even though he plays that well. Can you please tell us a little about his character?”
Chris Sun: “I am so blessed with the cast for this film, what a great Aussie lineup of the old and new. We all love John Jarratt, he is one of Australia’s most loved actors, as you know I got to work with John on BOAR and now The Possessed. What was important to both of us was showing John to the world as Jacob the exorcist. We wanted this to be as far away from his crazy Mick Taylor character as possible and we succeeded in this for sure. This was a very demanding role for John and he took it in his stride, some days he was really pushed physically and emotionally but being the true professional he is he just kept rolling forward. We also had Lincoln Lewis playing his nephew, Lincoln is known for an Australian soap TV show called “home and away” and acted in the feature films “Tomorrow When the war begun” and ‘BAIT”.
I absolutely loved the dynamic between Lincoln and John and they worked well on screen together. Huge props goes to Angie Kent (Nadine), this was her first film, Lauren Grimson (Atalie) and Romy Poulier who plays Nancy, I’m not going to spoil the film guys but when you see Nancy in action you will see what I mean. I would also like to Shout out the other cast Melissa Tkautz, Simone Buchanan, Jade Kevin Foster, Ebon Grayman, Melissa Bell, Savannah Sun, and Illana Collins. Lastly, I have to say, Actor and Stunt man Chris Bridgwater was amazing, he played all the demons in the film and I couldn’t be happier with his performance and the final result, these guys went through hell literally wearing these suits, sometimes up to 8 hours a day only to be on set for less than an hour, he couldn’t see, his hands and arms went numb many times, it was scary a few times for him but he nailed it and we got the shots. overall I am very very proud of ALL my cast in this film.
Kelli McNeely: “If you had to describe The Possessed in four words, what would they be?”
Chris Sun: ” A lot of the feedback I get for the film is it’s intense, so I guess the four words for the film would be “That was fucking intense”
Kelli McNeely: “I love it! So, what’s next for you?”
Chris Sun: “I’m already deep into my next film script called ‘Dark Moon’ which we are shooting in early 2022 and there are talks of a sequel to ‘The Possessed’. We are looking into that in 2022 as well but they may not happen until 2023 as we want to see how it’s received with the fans before we commit to another one. But I think we will.”
Kelli McNeely: “I look forward to seeing it.”
Don’t miss The Possessed, which is now out in Australia. It will be released in the states at a later date. As soon as it’s announced, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, you can now watch Boar, starring John Jarratt, on Shudder, Prime, Apple TV, and Vudu.
In Boar, set in the harsh Australian outback lives a beast, of staggering size and a taste for blood. As the beast ventures closer to civilization the body count rises. The locals believe the beast is only a legend dreamed up by a local drunk, but soon they will soon realize it is all too real.
Be sure to follow Chris Sun on Facebook, Instagram, and visit his official website for updates on his projects and more. He’s a filmmaker you are going to definitely want to keep an eye on.
