“What I really wanted to say was that a monster is not a such a terrible thing to be." - Ocean Vuong, On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous.
“What I really wanted to say was that a monster is not a such a terrible thing to be." - Ocean Vuong, On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous.
Renowned photographer Emma returns to Devonport, Aotearoa, after the vicious murder of her uncle Gregory. The household maid, Paula, confides her theory that a bird monster “Broken Beak” killed him. As more family winds up dead, Emma begins to see haunting visions of the monster Broken Beak, who beckons her to fulfill a destiny hitherto unknown to herself.
With a mix of suspense, horror, and cultural commentary, Ogress is a haunting and thought-provoking film that explores the consequences of unchecked greed and the power of the natural world to seek justice.
Early concept storyboards
Synopsis
Ogress is a murder mystery eco-horror film. It tells the story of Emma, a young photographer who has become famous in New York City for photographing women as birds. At the start of the film, her adoptive uncle Gregory is murdered, which prompts Emma and her affluent American girlfriend to return to Devonport, Auckland, to collect her inheritance. There they meet Paula, the lifelong household maid who raised Emma as a girl.
Paula confides her theory that the curse of the Broken Beak, killed Gregory, as Gregory had just completed a deal that would place a resort and golf course on protected land. Emma brushes this aside as fantasy but soon more members of her adoptive family wind up dead in mysterious ways. Through this, Emma begins to have haunting visions of and interactions with the mythical creature of Broken Beak the Birdwoman, who beckons Emma to fulfill an ultimate destiny. As the police start closing in on her as a suspect, Emma, with deteriorating sanity, searches for the true killer, all the while starting to believe she could herself be the monster.
DETAILS
Name: Ogress
Type: Narrative, Feature
Production Company: Left Alive Limited (NZ) & Without A Name LLC (US)
Anticipated Runtime: 105 minutes
Genre: Murder-Mystery, Horror, Thriller
Writer & Director: Christian Carroll
Vision and
Inspiration
Ogress is a genre-blending murder mystery horror film with a comedic bent that targets a socially-conscious audience but has a broad appeal to all thriller/horror fans.
We hope the film will find audiences similar to those who have been drawn to the following recent films: Parasite, Get Out, Knives Out, Nope, X, Candyman (2022).
Director’s Statement
Ever since reading “Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead” by Olga Tokarczuk, I have been interested in creating a film that seamlessly blends a philosophical idea with a narrative structure. As such, when the opportunity arose that Christie and I would be able to use the Devonport Power Station as a primary shoot location for a feature film, I began thinking about how I might try and make a narrative feature like this.
The idea came to me to write an ecological horror film in the guise of a murder mystery - the true heart of the film being about an Indigenous woman’s metamorphosis into a mythical monster that is a protector of natural resources. The film would be a synthesis of popcorn horror entertainment laced with a thought-provoking ecological fable.
I, like many of us, struggle with the fact that we are confronting planetary ecological collapse that has primarily been brought about by Western imperialistic thought and systemic capitalistic greed. This destruction has coincided with the erasure of indigenous ways that were more in harmony with the natural world and planet. As an Indigenous filmmaker (I am part Mississippi Choctaw and a member of the Choctaw Nation), and as the film would be set in New Zealand, I wanted the lead character to be indigenous.
I have always had an affinity for the horror genre and its ability to weave in piercing social commentary in pulpy ways. As I began thinking about Ogress, the original 1992 Candyman film by Bernard Rose resonated with me. Rose used a Boogeyman-type character in that film to capture a deeper truth about the horrors and history of racism in a Chicago slum. Thus, I began thinking about a story that might create a natural Boogeyman-type character.
Ogress opens with the following quote:
“What I really wanted to say was that a monster is not such a terrible thing to be. From the Latin root monstrum, a divine messenger of catastrophe, then adapted by the Old French to mean an animal of myriad origins: centaur, griffin, satyr. To be a monster is to be a hybrid signal: both shelter and warning at once.”
- Ocean Vuong, On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous
Telling a story in which the lead character eventually becomes the mythical monster herself communicates the message that we need these old monsters of folk stories and mythology, these ogres, to keep mankind in awe of the natural world and respect Mother Nature.
- Christian Carroll
Meet the Team
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Christian Carroll
WRITER, DIRECTOR & CINEMATOGRAPHER
Christian is a Chinese American and Native American (Choctaw) filmmaker from the USA, now based in Auckland, NZ. He is known for writing and directing the award-winning drama Out of Breath (2022) and the critically acclaimed sci-fi Suicide or Lulu and Me in a World Made for Two (2014). Inspired by the French New Wave and with a passion for Indie filmmaking, Christian’s artistic style is expressive, experimental, and character-driven, often revolving around underrepresented people and stories. Christian is also a commercial and artistic cinematographer known for his collaboration with Chinese-American video artist Kenneth Tam and whose work has been screened at the Guggenheim, and numerous renowned museums and galleries around the USA including a take-over of Times Square. Christian is the second half of production companies Without A Name (NYC) and Left Alive Films (NZ), which he runs with his wife, and producer, Christie O'Loughlin.
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Christie O'Loughlin
LEAD PRODUCER
Christie is a producer, designer and photographer. She is best known for leading production on the award-winning feature film “Out of Breath” (Narrative Jury Prize Sarasota Film Festival, Audience Award Bushwick Film Festival, Indie Spirit Award Boston International Film Festival, Best Crime Drama Manhattan Film Festival). “Out of Breath” received international digital distribution via Freestyle Releasing. She has also produced numerous short-form films, notably Hello Again Detective Chan, Anome, and The Interview. Christie was born in Tauranga, NZ, and splits her time between NYC and Auckland, NZ.
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Amelia Butler
CO-WRITER, TE AO MĀORI ADVISER
Amelia Butler is an indigenous Māori performer, dancer, choreographer and instructor from Aotearoa New Zealand. Amelia moved to Los Angeles in 2008 to pursue a career in dance and has worked as a professional dancer in the LA entertainment industry. She founded and leads the Los Angeles based traditional Māori performance group, Ngā Ānahera Māori, teaches te reo Māori online and teaches haka & poi workshops in the US. Amelia is the Māori Language Lecturer at the University of Hawaii, Mānoa. Her tribal affiliations are Ngātiwai, Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Awa.
CURRENT STATUS OF THE PROJECT
Pre-production and Fundraising Phase
Pre-production and Fundraising Phase
Interested in being a part of Ogress?
Ogress is currently in the final stages of fundraising and starting pre-production. All production is based out of Auckland, New Zealand, with 70% of the shoot taking place on location in Devonport, Auckland, and the remainder shooting in Raglan, Northland, and Central Otago.
If you are interested in being involved with the project as crew, talent, or investments, please get in touch; we would love to hear from you!