Part alien abduction, part hero’s journey, and sprinkled with lots of drugs, Fried Barry is quite possibly the best wild ride you’ll take in horror this year. From its controversial storyline to its guerilla-style production, nothing about this film is predictable.
It all starts when Barry (Gary Green), is captured by aliens following yet another bender. They take over his body and embark on a drug, sex and violence-fueled tour through Cape Town.
South African screenwriter-director Ryan Kruger had an unconventional approach to writing the 99-minute horror film from the very beginning.
"In three days I wrote a breakdown of the movie so I could be open to the idea that anything could happen," he said.
"I wrote the scenes while we were shooting, so there was no major script outside of the breakdown and some dialogue. I wanted to be in the moment and if new ideas come along with improv then I would shoot it. Some of the best moments of the film came from that spontaneity."
Kruger purposely sought to keep the audience guessing while watching the movie and rebuffed following the normal structure of filmmaking.
"It has all the normal beats of a movie, but what the characters are doing is added on the day. To live in that moment and have those ideas is great because you don’t get to have those moments in film usually," he said.
This method opened up the possibility for the actors of the film to explore their improv skills, which is a surprising hurdle for most performers.
"A director’s work is half done just by casting good actors. Everyone I cast in this movie didn’t actually audition. I selected them because I knew they could pull off the role and then it’s just shaping it up on set," he said.
"When it came to Gary, it was interesting because he’s not a trained actor, but he was made for this role because of his presence and the way he looks. But at the same time, because he wasn’t trained, he was the only one that didn’t do improv so I knew what I needed to get from him."
The film, which also stars Chanelle de Jager, is heavily nostalgic and riddled with an Easter egg for the late '70s and '80s cinema.
"As a kid growing up in the '80s; the feel, the look, I’ve always been a huge fan. I really wanted to capture that in the look, tone and music. It’s just a big love letter to an '80s film. I want to see how many references the audiences can pick up on in the film. That’s the thing with Fried Barry, you can’t take it too seriously; it’s a fun movie."
Kruger offers this advice for aspiring filmmakers:
"It’s all about content. The proof is in the pudding of what you shoot," he said.
"Get experience yourself by shooting something because it’s the only way you’re going to learn. The more you shoot, the more you learn and at the end of the day, the content is what’s going to get you a job. I don’t believe in networking to an extent. You need something to show off. It’s not who you know, but more like who knows you. To walk into the room where someone knows of you, where you don’t need an introduction, is the point."
Fried Barry is available on DVD, Blu-ray, On Demand, and on Shudder.