The Five Fingers of a Dog
A depraved killer, a deadly cycle, a possessed detective, and a perverse world merge to form the most disreputable piece of horror. The Five Fingers of a Dog is a neo-giallo horror thriller Written and Directed by Heather Landsman and Charlie Compton, and Produced by Mason Grammer, Cory McCullough, and Alessandro Rios. The film screened at the 2023 Salem Horror Film Festival and the 10th Annual Chattanooga Film Festival. I served as the Cinematographer, Editor, and Sound Designer/Mixer.
As the Cinematographer,
I came in with the goal of taking the already established Giallo cinematography style and applying it in a contemporary horror context. Taking elements such as colorful lighting and mixing it with lots of shadows and contrast. We used both static and handheld shots to give an elusive presence to the killer. For the handheld shots, we would carefully use a mix of both POV angles and action coverage to deceive the audience. My main references were the films of Dario Argento (Suspiria, Deep Red, and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage).
I wanted to create a sense of uneasiness throughout the film. I wanted every scene to feel off-kilter in some way to highlight the strangeness of the world. I achieved this by carefully choosing the length of time we held on a shot to give an awkwardness to the dialogue and action happening in front of us. We were extremely careful to make sure this toed the line between being funny and scary. Like my cinematography, my editing references were the films of Dario Argento.
As the Editor,
I was in charge of creating all of the sound for the film. We wanted to commit fully to the idea that this film was an Italian movie imported to America so I conducted ADR for all lines of dialogue and mixed them into the film. I wanted the film to have a dense soundscape throughout, putting as many natural sounds in each scene without it becoming distracting. For the sounds of each death and the final transformation, I wanted to create the most realistic and sickening sounds I possibly could to give real weight to what was happening. My main reference for the sound was the film Messiah of Evil.
