Jordan Downey Director of The Head Hunter and Thankskilling- Fitz of Horror Interview

Bryan Fitzgerald (Fitzofhorror.com) April 21, 2019

An instant classic!

Synopsis-A medieval warrior’s gruesome collection of heads is missing only one – the monster that killed his daughter years ago.

The Head Hunter is easily one of my top 5 favorite horror films of the past few years so when I was given the opportunity to interview writer/director Jordan Downey I was ecstatic. Jordan was also responsible for the cult favorite Thanksgiving horror/comedy “Thankskilling”, which is obviously, vastly different than The Head Hunter but with a huge range of film styles under his belt I had to know what his inspirations for these films were and how he made such a huge and serious leap from then to now.

Fitz of Horror-What movie(s) was your inspiration for this brutal monster movie?

Jordan Downey-I’m a huge fan of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre so that was a big influence on the production design and overall vibe of this movie. Solaris for sound design and score. The opening of Wall-E and Quest for Fire for purely visual storytelling. RoboCop and Boba Fett for suit design and suit performance. Black Christmas and The X-Files for camera movement, POVs and visual style. I was also very interested in The Head Hunter feeling like an episode of Tales From the Crypt or The Twilight Zone, so I thought a lot about the vibe of those shows. We watched a lot of medieval stuff like The 13th Warrior, Game of Thrones, Valhalla Rising, and Pathfinder but honestly, I got more inspiration from horror movies because tonally that was what we were making.

Are you surprised by the critical success of The Head Hunter?

I try not to read into it too much – the good or the bad. But honestly, this movie was SO small, I remember thinking at the beginning that if it turned out horrible we’d just throw it away and no one would ever know we made it. So to have that sort of nonchalant attitude really let us take risks and feel a sense of freedom while making it. We didn’t hold anything back… every idea we had is on screen. So yes, it does mean a lot to see that people are responding to all the little details we put in the movie. However, I’m much more interested in a movie living on for years to come than I am some short term success. I want to make movies that you watch time and time again, that have longevity to them.

Do you plan on expanding the story any time in the future with a sequel or will you just skip to part 3?

While making it, we were constantly getting ideas for how we could expand this into a television series, sequels, or other movies set in this world. So yes, we have ideas. Will they get made? Who knows. We essentially “willed” this movie into existence, so when you attack a project like that you have to be willing to dedicate some serious time to it. So it’s just a matter of what inspires me the most vs. does an opportunity come along where someone else wants to finance an idea like that. No skipping to part 3 though! I think we learned our lesson with that one.

Speaking of skipping to part 3, I think a lot of people may not know that you are the writer/director of the cult Thanksgiving horror hit ThanksKilling starring a murderous and vulgar killer turkey. Would you rather keep these films as a dark secret or do you wear them as a badge of honor (which you should)?

Definitely a badge of honor! I can still watch ThanksKilling and laugh to this day. Growing up I had such a soft spot for b-horror movies and I’m very proud to have contributed a little something to that genre. In many ways, ThanksKilling was so far off the beaten path of what I thought I would ever make that it allows me to enjoy it much more as an audience member.

A holiday cult favorite.

IMDB isn’t telling me anything so I’ll ask you, do you have any films in the works?

I’ve got a few scripts I’ve been writing that need a polish, then we’ll see. Nothing concrete in the works yet, but I get antsy quick so I’m sure I’ll hone in on what’s next sooner than later.

What is your favorite horror movie?

Critters. Not just horror, that’s my favorite movie of any genre.

What is your favorite non-horror movie?

Probably RoboCop or Terminator 2. Some honorable mentions are A Straight Story, The Shawshank Redemption, and A Perfect World.

And finally, Do you think that King Kong really stands a chance against Godzilla?

I LOVED King Kong vs. Godzilla as a kid and I always remember wishing there was a more clear cut winner. But no, I don’t think there’s any way Kong would stand a chance against Godzilla… unless both of their mothers are named Martha.

Do yourself a favor and go rent this on Amazon, Vudu, iTunes or Google Play for only $5.99 and up. It’s only 72 minutes so you can definitely fit it into your busy schedule!