Suspense, scares and more abound in NO FACE, a new Japanese horror short written, directed and edited by JR Lipartito. Starring Masahito Kawahata and Lisa Sumiyoshi, NO FACE plays out as a first-person survival video game within a movie.
“I’m not only a fan of horror films, but also of horror games, especially since the first SILENT HILL game,” director Lipartito recently told SciFi JAPAN TV. “I wanted to get the same kind of immersive feeling in a movie.”
NO FACE was filmed at YouTube Space Tokyo as part of their “House of Horrors” competition. A collaboration between YouTube Spaces, Legendary Entertainment (producers of GODZILLA and THE DARK KNIGHT trilogy) and master filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (director of PACIFIC RIM and PAN’S LABYRINTH), the “House of Horrors” contest was designed to find for new creative voices for the horror genre. YouTube Spaces around the world built unique haunted house sets which qualifying creators were able to access to shoot their original horror shorts.
With only one day on set however, and one long, unbroken scene to film, there were many challenges for the crew of NO FACE to overcome. “Micky Montoya’s a fantastic director of photography,” Lipartito says. “He really contributed a lot just trying to figure out the logistics of how to block out this long scene that appears like there are no cuts.”
NO FACE was one of only two films produced at the YouTube Space in Tokyo to have its rough edit reviewed by Guillermo del Toro himself. “The director of PACIFIC RIM was telling me that he liked my film, and I’m really still kind of speechless about that,” Lipartito enthused. “He did of course also have a couple of points of criticism of how we could make the film a little bit better, and fortunately there were actually things that we could address and did. So I’m really excited for him to see the film in its final form, and hopefully he notices that we took his advice to heart.”
NO FACE, along with several other finalists from around the world, will now be considered for a series or feature development deal with Legendary Entertainment. “If you like NO FACE and want to see more,” Lipartito adds, “I need everybody to like, comment on and share the fear with all your friends and family!”
Cast / Crew:
Written, Directed, and Edited by: JR Lipartito
The Gamer/No Face: Masahito Kawahata
Detectives: Lisa Sumiyoshi, Masahito Kawahata
Victims: Lilu Augier, Jim M. Ballard, Satomi Honjiyo, Micky Montoya
Assistant Director: Jim M. Ballard
Director of Photography: Micky Montoya
Production Manager/Audio Technician: Lilou Auguire
Hair-Make/Special Make-up Effects: Satomi Honjiyo
Production Assistants: Donald Gray, James Cane
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Absolute pleasure to be a part of this creative process!