Exclusive Interview: Stephen King Simmons (The Parker Sessions)

Who or what was your inspiration into getting into filmmaking?

My dad had a camera when I was in grade school. During the summer time, I would recruit my neighborhood friends and make basement horror movies. “MONSTER UNDER MY BED” was my first short film.

It’s pretty cringey. The plot is pretty much what you would expect from a sixth grader with braces that has nightmares.

After playing several film festivals including Frightfest in London in 2021, THE PARKER SESSIONS (2021) has now found a new audience at home with the new Blu-ray release from BayView Entertainment. What can you tell us about this film without giving the movie away?

THE PARKER SESSIONS is a dark and disturbing tale based on real experiences from night terrors to bad therapy sessions.

My brother passed away when I was 15 and there were a lot of dark times that followed. Saw a handful of health counselors and remembered all the bad advice. The clichés and horrible self help book recommends. Writing the script, I would think about those sessions and I found a lot of humor in them.

There is a scene where Parker talks about her first nightmare. Shot for shot was exactly how my first nightmare played out. Where, my mom got strangled with a telephone cord by a home intruder. The imagery was terrifying but made great material for a horror movie.

The story is about a mysterious woman with a dark past who goes to a series of therapy sessions. Split up into four acts, each act ending with a shocking twist and revealing more about Parker’s haunting past.

David Komatar (cinematographer) shot the film in high contrast black and white to bring the shadows out from the darkness. Huge inspiration was from Stephen Gammell’s original artwork in the SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK book series.

We had three cameras set up in every scene. To give the audience the feel of what it’s like to have high anxiety. Even though it was a pain in the ass to edit (600+ hours of film later), it did the trick.

As you both wrote and Directed THE PARKER SESSIONS (2021) how close was it from script–to–screen to its original vision?

Originally in the screenplay, I was going to play Parker. When I met Rachell, I knew she could bring layers into this character, I could not. She’s a brilliant actress. Lots of range.

She not only knocked that role out of the bloody park. But, won a handful of awards from various film festivals for best actress, including FilmQuest.

Everything that was in the script is in the final cut. From the awkward pauses/neurotic gestures down to the extreme gore.

What was your favourite day on set and why?

This was a hard movie to make because of the heavy themes. Not a lot of happy times to be had. People talk about method acting, this was method filmmaking. You could feel THE PARKER SESSIONS atmosphere in the air after each scene wrapped.

Like the presence of a ghost in a haunted house.

My favorite days were the gritty and bloody shoots. Except, I used my house for the set. Years after the shoot, I still find blood in random places.

Your previous film work was short films but then you took the leap from short films to make the feature film THE PARKER SESSIONS (2021). What for you is the biggest difference between working on a short film and feature film and what did you learn from the experience?

Short films are more fun and cheaper to make. You don’t need a huge production. You just need a small group of cool cats to collaborate with on the weekends. In terms of storytelling it is limiting.

Feature films are terribly expensive. The amount of stress and people crammed in one room to get that perfect shot is enough to make one’s head explode. SCANNERS style. But, it’s worth every second.

What would you do differently on THE PARKER SESSIONS (2021) if you could go back and do it again?

Better catering.
Filmed in an office building for the therapy sessions that had A/C.
Didn’t have to film a bloodbath at my house……three times (a charm)

For you personally, what do you think makes a great horror film?

Practical effects! CGI is garbage…
Plot and character development is key. Love a good plot twist.

What are your Top 3 horror films of all time?

-The Gate
-The Changeling
-Sleepaway Camp

Runner-ups: SALO: 120 DAYS OF SODOM, A SERBIAN FILM and NIGHT OF THE HUNTER

For any budding filmmakers out there, what is the best piece of advice that you could give them?

I would start filming shorts. Get some easy editing software to start out. Try to set aside time with your friends and people that you look up to. From there, it’s trial and error until you find your vision and expand on that. Like anything else, practice makes perfect. Once, you have something you’re proud of. Submit to film fests and see if the masses dig it too. Always strive for originality, everyone has a story to tell.

Finally, what projects do you have coming up that you can tell us about?

Just wrapped on my second horror feature LEAD BELLY. It’s in the same universe as THE PARKER SESSIONS. But, a new nightmare.

A coming of age horror story about two younger brothers who visit their recently divorced father during a summer vacation. Set in 1994.

Here is the insta for our film page:

https://www.instagram.com/leadbellymovie/

It’s a project that is both, bat shit crazy and insanely dark. Very proud of this film.