Podcast: Jenn Wexler on ‘Livid’

Who better to talk about a horror film that does everything than a horror filmmaker who has done everything? Jenn Wexler, the writer-director of movies like The Ranger and The Sacrifice Game, joins Certified Forgotten to discuss the many hats she's worn in her career as a filmmaker. But more importantly: she's here to spread the gospel of Livid, the ambitious second feature from filmmaking duo Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo.

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If you are going to start a career as an in-home caretaker, be careful who you take on as a mentor. That’s the lesson learned by Lucy, a young woman struggling to find her path in life after the loss of her mother. When Lucy’s rounds takes her to the home of Mrs. Jessel – a very rich and very comatose ballet instructor – she is persuaded by her boyfriend to break into the mansion after hours to locate the woman’s hidden treasure. But little does Lucy know that the only person about to give up something valuable is Lucy herself. Released in 2011, Livid is a unique twist on the vampire movie from the French duo behind Inside.

In this short excerpt from the episode, Jenn Wexler describes why the escalation of story and violence in Livid works particularly well:

I think it's kind of cool that it starts off feeling a little bit more like a drama that then just gets crazier and crazier. One of the things I love about this movie is that it just keeps building and building and building, especially in that second half, especially in that third act. And every time you think you know what this movie is, it just twists itself. At the end, when you look back, you're like, I see how we got here, but wow, I never expected to go on this journey.

The Livid episode of the Certified Forgotten podcast is now available to stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or the podcast platform of your choice.