Hulu recently premiered some great new horror movies, including Appendage, a creature feature that follows a woman whose insecurities and self-image begin manifesting as a despicable little monster growing out of her body. The film was written and directed by Anna Zlokovic, who recently sat down with PopCulture.com to talk about the film. During our chat, the filmmaker revealed which retro horror creatures inspired her own creation and shared how her personal experiences influenced the story.
“I don’t know how to write without coming from an emotional place, so it definitely came from a place of anxiety and depression and imposter syndrome, and where I was at in my life at the time. That was a big inspiration,” Zlokovic explained while discussing the emotional commentary of Appendage. “I had a session in therapy where my therapist had this really great exercise where she was like, ‘Why don’t you turn your anxiety into a character and have a chat? Let’s have a chat. Let’s describe her. Let’s figure her out.’ So that was just a really beautiful exercise that I also thought would be great narratively.” She also noted that the movie is meant to depict having “a codependent, toxic relationship” with yourself that causes “intrusive thoughts… it’s hard to untie yourself from.”
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In Appendage, a young fashion designer named Hannah (Hadley Robinson) “seems fine on the surface, but secretly struggles with debilitating self-doubt. Soon these buried feelings begin to make Hannah physically sick and sprout into a ferocious growth on her body: The Appendage,” reads a synopsis of the film. “As Hannah’s health declines, The Appendage begins to fuel her anxieties – her perceived lack of talent at work, her deteriorating relationships with her boyfriend and best friend, and her parents’ lack of love and understanding. At her breaking point, Hannah makes a shocking discovery-there are others out there like her.”
Notably, going against the grain of many modern horror flicks, Appendage uses practical SFX to capture its creature. “She is real. She was another actor on set,” Zlokovic revealed. “It was really crazy. The practical effects are so amazing because they are real and visceral. That was really important to the story because if it didn’t feel real, it ruins the movie. It’s like there’s no stakes. ‘Oh, it’s a movie and it’s fake and I can tell.’ We needed it to feel real.”
“That was a really interesting tonal balance to hit too,” Zlokovic continued, “where I worked with Amber Marie, our creature designer. We went back and forth a lot and we looked at movies like The Fly, which I think is also a really emotional horror film. We were like, ‘OK, how do they do that? How can we create sympathy for this creature ultimately, but also have it be really gross?’ So it was interesting. It’s like, ‘OK, she has to be kind of cute.’”
The pair asked themselves, “How do we make her cute and scary,” Zlokovic recalled, noting that the appendage is an extension of Hannah with “big eyes” and “sharp teeth.” She added, “We looked at animals and it was a really interesting back and forth, but I think having that amazing creative collaboration with Amber was key to all of that.
When it comes to her own favorite horror movie creatures, Zlokovic admitted that she’s a big fan of Gremlins and Belial from Basket Case, as well as Kuato from Total Recall, “who is definitely, obviously, an influence on” the appendage.
“I was like, ‘It’s like Kuato, but towards her,’” the filmmaker shared, later adding, “The Thing is another movie that we looked at, incredible movie, and it’s just amazing when these things are real and they’re talking to the actors, and I’m just blown away by stuff like that. I have a deep affection for practical effects and little creatures like that.” Appendage is now streaming on Hulu.
