Horror dives into dark corners other genres would never consider, forcing audiences to confront what society deems unspeakable. For filmmaker Ben Hohener, that willingness to explore taboo topics in horror makes it the ultimate medium for his work.
And that’s what his latest short film does. Some Like It Rotten is being screened at the Toronto Indie Horror Film Fest on Oct. 1.
The film follows Britches, a terrifying clown who traps his victim in a chilling “date” fuelled by twisted intimacy and humiliation. The premise is shocking. And that’s exactly the point.
Creepy Current editor, Ali Zafar, spoke with Hohener to talk about his latest work.
What first inspired you to turn your short story into a film, and why did you feel the timing was right?
Some Like It Rotten is about a necrophiliac clown named Britches, and his fervent conversation with a victim he plans to turn into his next blind date. I wrote the original short story as part of a writing challenge for myself in October 2024, four short stories in four weeks. It was the standout, and looking for something to create into my next film, I thought, ‘hey, why not adapt a work I made that I already love?
You’ve said you’re a writer first, director second. How did that perspective shape the script and overall direction of this project?
At heart, writing is my passion and first love. Directing, for me, is a way to execute my vision on a visual stage. I knew I was working on a micro-budget, without access to a plethora of actors, so I wanted to focus heavily on strong writing to carry a short film of just two people in a room.
Writing is the foundation of storytelling, and you could make a movie on a Ring doorbell if it had a good script.
Some Like It Rotten explores taboo themes like necrophilia, murder, torture, and sexual abuse. Why was it important to confront those topics?
Like the great John Waters said, “Get more out of life. See a f*cked up movie.” I wanted to make a character that would disturb people, make them uncomfortable, because that’s what movies should do. Here’s a clown, for your entertainment and his humiliation, and he’s awful. He’s an object for you to consider anything but human, but he’s just like you and me.
When you were writing, did you worry about how far you could push audiences with such disturbing subject matter?
Oh yeah. I was worried it wouldn’t get accepted anywhere. Actually, the final scene was originally much longer and more explicit, but I cut it down after family & friends test audience said it may be too much.
When you were writing, did you worry about how far you could push audiences with such disturbing subject matter?
Oh yeah. I was worried it wouldn’t get accepted anywhere. Actually, the final scene was originally much longer and more explicit, but I cut it down after family & friends test audience said it may be too much.
The film frames intimacy in a twisted, flawed way. What does intimacy mean to you in the context of horror?
I think horror is the only genre to allow and embrace experimenting in darker, quote-on-quote forbidden places, and that is my favourite place to explore human relationships.
The most bizarre, and most compelling are those that we usually don’t want to interact with.
What viewer reactions or feedback have stood out to you so far?
Most people I’ve shown the film to already had an idea of what it was about, besides one family friend. She sat in silence for a few moments afterwards, before turning to me with a scared (of me) look in her eyes and saying she needed a bath. I can’t wait to see the reaction at the festival!
Horror has always had a complicated relationship with queerness. Do you see your work as part of that lineage, or pushing against it?
Horror has always been a safe space for queer people. It will continue to be, and I hope I can contribute to that in some way. This movie has queer intimacy that is left open, not judged, and that’s the way it should be.
What drew you to cast Sina Tehrani as Logen and Eric MacMullin as Britches the clown? What qualities did they bring to the roles?
Sina and I are childhood best friends. He’s starred in everything I’ve made, and he was also the first person I told about Some Like It Rotten, because I knew he would 100% want to play a character. He’s down for anything. Eric joined the film through an audition he sent in on Backstage, and I remember being so shocked at how perfect he was I paused the tape, called Sina and we watched it together in awe. We knew he was perfect just based on his voice alone, and Eric later told me he knew he’d get the part before I even got back to him.
How did you prepare your actors to step into such unsettling, emotionally demanding territory?
Surprisingly, neither of them had much of a problem with it. Both of them knew upfront what they were in for, and Eric was more than willing to do more than what was needed. Sina on the other hand, when it came down to actually filming a certain scene (if you know you know) found it quite difficult. In the uncut version, there is a lot more that goes on for a long time, and there is a whole story about the crew needing to leave the room while we filmed. It was…something.
What got you interested in horror in the first place, and what keeps you committed to the genre?
I’ve been an obsessive horror fanatic since I was a teenager, but it began by reading Goosebumps books in third grade.
I’d get nightmares, and my parents actually told the teacher to not let me read them, but I’d sneak the books to the bathroom anyway. It’s a genre I always say has the highest highs and the lowest lows, but the horror community is so welcoming, inclusive and fun, I couldn’t imagine not wanting to be a part of it forever.
Do you see yourself continuing in horror for your next projects, or are you curious to explore other directions?
For me, horror movies are not just a window to the blatantly in-your-face scary, but a worthwhile exploration of unsettling and disturbing subjects, like Some Like It Rotten. I think I will definitely be exploring that zone again with my next project, a short feature film currently titled Zebras, Not Horses, so horror adjacent at worst and straight up crawl-under-your-skin nasty at best. Stay tuned on my Instagram @benhohener for updates. Entering pre-production soon!