READ MORE: Review: ‘The Boy’ is the Chilling Start to the Story of a Psychopath
When Indiewire spoke to filmmaker Craig William Macneill last week about his new psychological thriller “The Boy,” he talked about how he created a sense of mood and isolating atmosphere for the picture.
“I wanted to evoke the loneliness of an environment that, while physically beautiful, is infused with a real sense of unease and escalating dread,” he said. “The sound and score are both emotional triggers into this…[We also] established the visual tone by isolating the characters and abstracting the space with long lenses…Having the characters at the periphery helps add tension and allows the negative space around them to become very important.”
Macneill’s words are expressed pretty chillingly in the exclusive clip above, in which the titular young boy has a threatening swim with his friend. The shot distance provides an ambiguous look at what exactly is going on, while the off-kilter score ratchets up the ominous tension.
“The Boy” is now playing in select theaters.
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