FINDING THE MAGIC:
Jenn Wexler on her approach to filmmaking, The Ranger and The Sacrifice Game
by Paul Risker
After opening the 2018 edition of FrightFest with her début feature, The Ranger, filmmaker Jenn Wexler’s 2023 sophomore feature, The Sacrifice Game (2023), was chosen to close the festival. It’s a remarkable privilege to have opened and closed the UK’s most prestigious genre festival only two films into her directing career.
In August 2023, in London, I sat down with Wexler to discuss the Christmas-themed The Sacrifice Game — hours before she was due to walk on stage and introduce the film to the West End audience.
The striking thing about Wexler is her layered presence. While outgoing, you can sense an introverted side to her personality—her self-reflective nature, perhaps. Talking with her, you realise that there’s a piece of her folded into her films, which reminds me of something filmmaker Rebecca Miller told me: “…if they are made honestly, all pieces of art are self portraits of the person making them. Even though film is such a collaborative art, if there is a real auteur behind it, then that person imbues the film with who they are, and what their concerns are at that moment.”
As entertaining as The Ranger and The Sacrifice Game are, there’s something personal, even a vulnerability imbued in their souls. The two films share similar beats, namely a group of characters finding themselves in an unexpected situation. Beyond that, and other similar thematic beats that are revealed to interest Wexler, the director carefully ensures the two films have their own identity.
In conversation with Eye For Film, Wexler discussed her creative process, concerns about an AI apocalypse, her enduring interest in horror and why she doesn’t want to work outside the horror space.
Paul Risker: I remember speaking to a director who remarked that the term ‘filmmaker’ is a strange and slightly ambiguous one. I’ve spoken with others who say that it took a number of films before they felt they could call themselves a filmmaker. Do you feel that you can call yourself, if not a filmmaker, then a director?
Jenn Wexler: I feel like a filmmaker, and I proudly call myself one. Before I directed my first feature, The Ranger, I’d produced six features. I learned how to make movies as a producer, working for Larry Fessenden’s production company, Glass Eye Pix, out of New York.
I love the term filmmaking because there’s a connotation to it that you’re making something — and especially making indie movies at Glass Eye Pix, it felt like we were making a movie with our own hands. I loved that vibe and sense of community, where people come together to create something out of nothing.
Certainly now, I feel I can call myself a director after my second feature, and also before The Ranger and The Sacrifice Game, I had directed shorts. So, I feel confident calling myself a director, but I prefer the term filmmaker because, especially in the indie world, you’re doing a lot. You might not just be directing. There might be a little bit of producing in there too, and writing. Filmmaker is a great catch-all.
PR: Filmmakers I’ve spoken to have compared the experience of making a film to going to war or having a baby, and they frequently suggest making films is addictive. What are your thoughts on these chosen metaphors to describe the process?
JW: I don’t feel it’s like going to war. I find filmmaking so joyful. I’m so happy when I’m making a movie, and as soon as I receive the green-light, as soon as I know we’re doing this, from prep through post-production, I am so happy and fulfilled. It’s exciting to have the privilege to explore art and to create. I try not to take it for granted and I try to find the magic in every phase of the process
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PR: The problem with modern horror is it can be too message-orientated. Cinema can be a Trojan Horse, addressing themes and ideas in a less direct way. The outsider themes and finding one’s place in The Sacrifice Game don’t compromise it being a fun genre picture. Instead, the subtext is gently communicated to the audience.
JW: My favourite horror movies do that and what’s so wonderful about the horror genre is that you can tell a really entertaining story, and also talk about the world through metaphor or character. So, with The Ranger and with The Sacrifice Game, I think about that balance. You don’t want to be too heavy-handed, of course, because more important than anything else is telling an entertaining story, but yeah, I’m trying to pour myself into the movie. Instinctively, what comes along with that are the things that I have anxieties about.
PR: If as you say, you filter the film through your traumatic experiences, then The Sacrifice Game is an act of self-compassion. What’s so striking is how you’re able to create an entertaining genre picture, and beneath the surface, have so much more happening.
JW: What is so beautiful about art is that you’re doing something on the surface and while you’re doing this, your subconscious is doing other stuff, and it’s going to come out in surprising ways. You look at it after and think, ‘Oh, that’s something I am dealing with, okay.’ But not all of it is in the front of your mind when you’re actually making it, and it’s cool to hear you put it in those words. I find that process fascinating.
The Sacrifice Game and The Ranger are available on Shudder.
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