"One of my other favorite films is Don’t Look Now, which is kind of an antecedent or… something we were going for a similar vibe with our film, The Forest. I think, to date, it’s still one of the most disturbing movies that’s ever been made. I love how Venice is a very unique specific place in that movie. I’m a huge Donald Sutherland fan. I had an opportunity to work with him at one point and always loved that movie, and I was just gushing over that film. And I like its sense of stranger-in-a-strange-land, how it’s about a westerner that’s trapped in this very unique and specific environment, which is something we were trying to mimic in The Forest."

"Repo Man was one of the most important formative films of my teenage years. Later, when I moved to LA for a summer, I couldn’t stop thinking that I was actually living it out, because the city is such an extraordinarily strange place full of people who seem like their brains are being microwaved by the sun. Repo Man is a great movie about blue-collar weirdos in a wasteland of people living off defaulted loans, forming their identities through various “codes,” and searching for a sense of community in male fraternity, punk rock, religion, work, government, conspiracy theories, and/or outer space. And as time passes, the more jetting off the planet in a radioactive Chevy Malibu seems like a good idea."

"I’m going to go with To Kill a Mockingbird. Something about that film… Man, it’s hard to put in words, but there’s something very peaceful about that film. There’s something that is really… There’s such a strong sense of right and wrong in that film, but there’s something also that’s just reminiscent of childhood. I don’t know if that makes sense, but there’s just something very peaceful about that film that I love. Gregory Peck, his performance, he’s just so strong in that film. Also, seeing a young Robert Duvall is really strange. I love the overall message about the film. There’s just a strong sense of justice. I think that would be the best term I could use. I love that film."

"A Prophet is a film that I saw a few years back now. That completely blew my mind, and I thought that could have easily been quite… Not cheesy; cheesy is the wrong word. They have this sort of ghost and kind of have this supernatural element of it in places. I feel that it could easily kind of be done to a point that it takes me out of the story, but I think they handled it so beautifully and subtly. The madness of it being in the prison system. I thought it was a really gritty, real film. I thought that the performances, in fact, were just wonderful. Very gritty. A Prophet, it’s a strange film. Yeah, it’s really a great film."

"I heard the track 'Timing X' from that album when my friend played it at the 333 Club in Old Street. It was only a minute-and-a-half long, but it was just really funky and just very strange -sounding. That's why I bought the record. I found it at this little junk shop in Cambridge, and it was just very exciting to hear - it goes from this really aggressive mood to this disco tune. I liked how full-on it sounded. I remember watching videos of them live and admiring how confrontational they were, and they had so much energy - they'd always be right at the front of the stage. It was exhilarating music from an era where it just felt very adventurous."

"My current favorite Fassbinder film. A love story against all odds—the age difference is quite outrageous. Who would make a film like this now, about an older, somewhat stolid woman who finds unexpected happiness, for a time, with a handsome, younger Moroccan immigrant? Fassbinder walks a tightrope—it feels real and unsentimental, and he doesn’t shy away from cruelty, but he truly earns Emmi’s words to Ali: “Together we’re strong.” I admire the economy of the storytelling. The repetition of scenes (even camera angles)—when Emmi walks into the bar or sits on the stairwell eating her lunch—gives the film a fated quality. And I love the many strange moments when time stands still and everyone just stands there looking!"