“This Isn’t Art, Babe”: A Director’s Statement on “Slice”

I started writing Slice in November of 2023. The original script was a 6 page, dialogue-light script about a pizza boy who does a home invasion. I brought the script to Adam Chimeo, who I had worked previously with on smaller competition film projects; as well as Marissa Marchant, who I have collaborated with creatively since we were children. Together we developed Slice into a 30-page script that brought a level of depth to the project I never would’ve initially tackled given my initial goal for the project: “Just making something to make something.”

Developing Slice just got out of hand in the best possible way: We went from this simple horror short to this politically aggressive piece, this weaving conspiracy dealing with sexual exploitation as a vessel for worker exploitation. Ultimately there was a lot cut from the film due to time and resources. After all, this was an unpaid passion project with a total budget of $2000. However what remained was the expression of intense angst for the late-stage capitalist hellscape we found ourselves barely surviving in as people, let alone as artists.

Creating this film was an opportunity to re-examine myself fundamentally, both as a lover of movies (“What do I enjoy?”) and who I am as an artist (“What fuels my persistence despite critical levels of burn out?”).

I’ve always been most disturbed by human induced horror in film: serial killers, necrophiliacs, home invasions, and torture were always themes that could induce the deep unnerving in me that sits heavy in your stomach for days on end.

I was and am deeply inspired by the work of Jörg Buttgereit, he is one of my all-time favorite directors. I was specifically inspired by the punk-rock, DIY approach to filmmaking: A film philosophy that felt entirely refreshing to someone who was feeling immense burn out from film school conditioning to fit into the traditional Hollywood studio system. For Slice, I was additionally very inspired by Michael Haneke’s 1997 film Funny Games and Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses.

I wanted Slice to feel performatively Americana—Highly theatrical, a little camp. At least until the murder scene. At that point, I wanted there to be a distinct shift towards realism that borders on mundanity. The goal was to showcase the idea/fantasy of “the American dream” and break it, exposing the harsh reality of Late-Stage Capitalist America—an uncaring regime that produces product to be consumed and discarded: rinse and repeat.

Above all else, Slice is my protest. It is a labor of love, and of hate: A love for filmmaking and how we can communicate through it; a love for my friends and family who keep me grounded through the dark times we find ourselves existing in spite of, and without whom this film would not have been made; and hatred for the administration that has brought out the ugliest aspects of a country I once loved that I can no longer be proud of.

I think the film speaks for itself, at least, I hope it does. We didn’t want to beat around the bush, or imply–We wanted this film to be exactly what it is. As time has passed in the filming and editing of this short, I think the film has only become more relevant. Which is fucking horrible. So, I hope our audience can get a little catharsis out of it. Enjoy.