What happens when an up-and-coming fashion designer riddled with low self-esteem suddenly discovers that her buried feelings sprout an ominous growth on her body? That appendage grows a creepy looking creature, in fact — sickly head, weird teeth, eerie eyes and all that — only to later be freed from the body host and exist in the real world?
Welcome toAppendage,a fascinating freak fest you don’t want to miss. In the new horror comedy thriller, which premieres October 2 on Hulu as part of the streamers Huluween celebration, we find Hannah (Hadley Robinson ofLittle Women) dealing with a kind of “other self,” a hideous appendage that happily feeds off of her insecurities.
Appendagemarks the feature directorial debut ofAnna Zlokovic. The film is based on Zlokovic’s 2021 short, which she also wrote, and it’s a promising first outing, loaded with metaphor, suspense, thrills, and even dashes of dark humor. The filmmaker opened up to MovieWeb about the film in this exclusive interview. Read on.
Grows On You. Literally.
“At the time the film came up, I was dealing with a lot of impostor syndrome and anxiety,”Anna Zlokovicsaid of the genesis of the project and, in particular, the idea of somebody having a disturbing appendage. “I was at a point in my career where I was like, ‘Should I just not do this anymore?’ It’s a tough job, and then I finally went, ‘Screw it! I’m going to write a movie about that, impostor syndrome and anxiety. I’m going to put my soul into it and just kind of do it." She added:
So, it started from there, combined with this exercise I did in therapy 10 years ago where my therapist was like, ‘Okay, make your anxiety a separate being. What does it look like and how does it sound? And let’s just have a conversation with it.’ That also influenced the film.
Great influence. InAppendage,Hannah and her pal, Esther (Kausar Mohammed), are jazzed about an apprenticeship they have with a chic fashion designer, Cristean (You’re The Worst). Hannah wants to rise to the top, but soon enough her sickly appendage convinces her otherwise, pulling her deeper into a web of deceit. Eventually, she finds help in a secret support group for people with a strange appendage and finds comfort in her new friend Claudia (Emily Hampshire ofSchitt’s Creek).
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“I always went back to, ‘Why am I doing this film to begin with?'” Zlokovic asked rhetorically. “I really wanted to communicate that with the actors, and obviously the movie is so much about mental health, and dealing with anxiety and depression, so that was always a point we returned to no matter what, especially with Hadley. We needed to portray her mental health struggle as genuinely as possible. We had this mental health metaphor/message going on and that dictated things.”
About That Freaky Appendage…
Appendagehas generated some buzz over the last few months. Anna Zlokovic was named one of IndieWire’s “28 Rising Female Filmmakers to Watch in 2023.” Whenthe film premiered at SXSW Festival,audiences were shocked by the monstrous creature that threatens to wreak havoc in Hannah’s life. That’s plenty to give audiences a jolt during Halloween movie season, but the underlying themes of mental health and self-esteem have touched a nerve with audiences, too.
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When asked how the actual appendage was created, Zlokovic said that she was lucky enough to do a test run on the short film version. But she and the special effects team wanted to make the appendage scarier and move through various stages of growth — from infant appendage to well, something beyond infant, and all of it tied to metaphor. Let’s face it, most humans’ inner critic can be a savage beast, eh?
We had like two weeks to figure it out and with 3D modeling software, we eventually settled on the second stage of the appendage, which, without giving too much away, is like a toddler-sized creature.
Other software tech was employed to create a sculpture and a figure that was very much inspired byThe Shining.“Various ones are made of foam and silicone, and we had twothat also had animatronics. So, they had like robotics inside of them. But it was a whole other thing that they achieved incredibly.”
Naturally, there’s a lot to play off of with Hannah’s anxieties in the film — from the loyalites of her boyfriend (Brandon Mychal Smith ofThe Flash) to her perception of her mother’s (Deborah Rennard) unavailability. Audiences are bound to be shocked by the film’s outlandish yet fun and creepy final 15 minutes.
“I hope the film is good at subverting your expectations,” the filmmaker mused. “You know, like you think it’s going to be one thing, story-wise and tonally, then it surprises people you, tonally and with the humor. I hope the plot surprises people.”
