Is there a darkness lurking in the family? We don’t know much about Caitlin Cronenberg, but in her new horror drama Humane, she’s about to earn her place in the halls of the macabre, like her father David and her brother Brandon before her. There is. The film, starring Jay Baruchel, Emily Hampshire, and Peter Gallagher, is set in a post-ecological-disaster future where the patriarch decides to participate in a new euthanasia program aimed at depleting Earth’s population. The focus is on families.
“I enjoyed the fact that it was a family drama set in this strange, chaotic world,” Cronenberg said in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I thought this was an interesting way to tell a family story, and that’s what struck me most, especially in such a unique setting. I had never come across anything even close to this premise. The characters were also very detailed and despicable, yet somehow likable.
Although a taste for the sleazy seems to be common to the Cronenberg family, Caitlin feels it’s not necessarily something she was born with. “If I’m drawn to this level of darkness, I’d probably need to get a therapist’s opinion, because that’s what I was brought up with,” she said. “But I didn’t grow up watching those movies either. I didn’t watch horror movies as a kid because I was a total scary cat. Did people’s art give them permission to do something, to take a step further? Maybe.” Caitlin later added: “Do we have an unspoken heart connection with darkness? Maybe. I mean, I used to be a goth, so I don’t know.”
In addition to the contributions of her lineage, Cronenberg took great comfort in her fellow collaborators, saying, “I have a certain amount of trust in the cinematographer.” [Douglas Koch] Talking to your photographer beforehand can be very helpful to make sure you’re on the same page regarding composition. Thankfully I had a great crew that understood what I was trying to achieve and it was a very collaborative experience lensing each shot and deciding together what we wanted. ”
“Humane” is currently showing in select theaters.
