Packed with memorable scenes, mind-numbing horror, and unnerving possession, A Banquet is an arthouse horror movie that'll never go out of style. The psychodrama follows a single mother and her two daughters, Betsey (Jessica Alexander) and Isabelle (Ruby Stokes), through a nightmare-ish experience. After a close brush with death at a young age, years later, Betsey finds herself being summoned towards the woods during a blood moon. She immediately falls ill and after countless visits to the hospital along with her standoffish, yet caring mother, she surrenders herself to her body — refusing to eat and driving away her loved ones with her unusual comments about the afterlife.
Scottish director Ruth Paxton brings this warm-blooded movie to life, drawing inspirations from horror movie greats Ari Aster and Darren Aronofsky, and contemporary artwork. While A Banquet is her debut feature film, she has created many award-winning shorts, including PULSE which led her to winning Best Woman Director at the 12th London Short Film Festival. In a conversation with Game Rant, Paxton shared her inspirations behind A Banquet, her experience directing Jessica Alexander through her possession scenes, and the movie's apocalyptic ending.
Game Rant: What were some of your inspirations behind A Banquet?
Ruth Paxton: The film was originally pitched to me as a cross between Rosemary's Baby and Hereditary. Those were movies that I was a huge fan of, so my interest really piqued. That's what made me want to read it. There's obviously a lot of more contemporary transcendental horror that's been an influence on me and the film, including other work by Ari Aster, and Robert Eggers, and [Darren] Aronofsky. Melancholia and Antichrist are hugely significant to me in terms of what they're doing visually, and how they've influenced me and work I've made. But this film, in particular, has a lot of painterly references. Specifically, the work of a Scottish artist called Ken Currie, who is a painter I adore. His stuff was really, really integral in the planning of the visuals of this film.
GR: What was the distribution process following the movie's TIFF Festival premiere?
Paxton: It was kind of weird, actually. Because we finished the film at the start of 2021. And just prior to that, it had been bought by IFC. They bought it at the American Film Market. We were hopeful for a North American premiere, so TIFF was kind of the goal. We're also hoping for a physical premiere because that year, so many of the festivals were virtual. The fact that we got into TIFF and were able to attend was really special, really significant. This is all brand new to me, this is my first feature. I'm learning the distribution and exhibition side of it as I go. So far, it seems great. And certainly IFC, and Signature in the UK, have been really, really great support.
GR: What scene or performance are you most looking forward to viewers witnessing for the first time?
Paxton: That's a good question. There are so many. It seems a bit self-congratulatory because there are a lot of things I'm very proud of. But the scene that made me want to direct the film was the dinner scene. There's two major dinner scenes. And the first one involves Betsy refusing to eat peas. The minute I read that, I knew I wanted to direct that scene. So, I love people seeing that. But I've also noticed when I've been in an audience watching it with people, that one of the moments that elicits the strongest response is later in the film, when the younger sister vomits, and she's sick on to a pane of glass. And she puts her hand in it to steady herself because she's drunk. It gets the loudest reaction from an audience. People are grossed out basically, because it's absolutely disgusting. And I love it. There's so many moments in the film that are deliberately gross, that are heightened moments of realism, or just like balls-out gore and horror bits. Yet, it's the bit where somebody is just sick hat gets such a powerful response. I'm quite proud of that part of it.
GR: Yeah, that's fascinating. As a director, what was that scene intentional or did it develop naturally?
Paxton: No, I knew I wanted her to be sick on the glass. And I knew that after we found a location because it has this incredibly panoramic, cinematic window that connects them to the outside world. So, it seemed obvious that she would be sick on that. But it was the actor that put her hand in it, it was genius. I mean, it was a b***h to reset. I remember, we shot that scene at the end of the day and we were pushing the wrap time. So, there are photos of us behind the scenes frantically cleaning this window to be able to reshoot it, but the take that we have is the first take that she did. I think it's great.
GR: What was it like directing the physical bits with Jessica Alexander?
Paxton: She just threw herself at it. Basically, some of the more physical scenes towards the end of the film, it was a combination of me being in the room and shouting instructions at her and her just reacting very organically and impulsively to that. I love working with actors who will go there, and you don't know that they will go there until you're in the moment. You can only hope for that and read them when you're in an auditioning process. But Jess, I mean, I don't know if she'll do it again, this is this was her first feature at the time, and she put herself through it. She lost her voice.
She hurt herself for the movie. I mean, I would never ask her to do that. But if she's going to go there, I'm going to gladly take it. We were always looking after her but no, there was no choreography. It was just like, go wild go, absolutely wild. And I think she and I were on the same wavelength. She knew what I expected and met me there. It was amazing. She's an incredible performer. And she really had us all very on edge when we were shooting as well, so I knew that was going to translate well for the final thing.
GR: What was your initial reaction to reading the final scene?
Paxton: The film leaves some ambiguity for a reason. There are a number of possible answers for what happens at the end. But for me, it had to read as though everything was worth it for Holly and that ultimately, Betsy was telling the truth. And that everything that Holly, and the whole family, have gone through was somehow worth it. That's that was I needed that for the characters. I don't want to spoil it, but I'll just say there's definitely an apocalypse at the end of the film. It's just whether or not that's an internal one or an external one. It's really up to the audience to decide.
Ultimately, you're at the end of the film, and you just need it to be over. It's so arduous. It's such an intense experience, that I wanted the ending to feel like a positive release, I wanted it to feel like euphoria. For me, the ending feels uplifting. I know that sounds really, really f***ed up. But this is the only ending there could possibly be.
A Banquet opens in select theaters, on digital platforms and VOD on February 18.