I’ve kind of been neglecting Movie Mondays lately. I haven’t come across many coming attraction trailers that have really gripped me. And I for sure have not come across any that have griped me as much as Phasma Ex Machina.
My enthusiasm for it hasn’t faded one iota since I discovered it via Twitter in December and first wrote about it. Ever since then I’ve been borderline online stalking the movie’s progress.
One thing I stumbled across when I went to check out their website and blog again last week was something I hadn’t paid attention to before: a post called “More Than a Ghost Story – Behind-the-Scenes Episode #2.”
As I was watching it, it dawned on me why this movie has captured my attention like it has.
While it is about ghosts to a large degree, it’s a very different kind of ghost story. It’s a much more psychological one than anything I think has ever been made to date. It goes somewhere I think we all strive to go as we seek our own encounters with ghosts –be that via Haunt Jaunting, ghost hunting, or even viewing paranormal activity from the safety of our boob tubes.
Phasma Ex Machina’s producer Jennifer Kramer, who’s interviewed in the clip, really sums it up best:
It’s about regret, remorse, if I coulda, woulda, shoulda. If I could do things over, well how would I do them differently? And what the consequences are of that. So it really delves deep into one’s own psychology of how you handle things that you did that you wish you hadn’t done, and also brings up the question maybe some things are best to be left alone.
I had to take care of my mom in the last months of her life. That was almost two years ago. I’m still reeling from the effects. I have a lot of regrets about how so many things went down during that time. First and foremost I’ll always regret not giving her the dying wish she wanted most, which was to just die in her own house.
And then, just five months after saying goodbye to her I was told I had that grapefruit-sized hitchhiker in my chest? I pretty much figured I was about to say adios too.
I’m not skilled enough to put into words the torment my heart felt at the thought of Death doing me part from my beloved husband Wayne way, way, WAY before I was ready. There was a lot of regret and remorse on my part for all the unspoken “I love yous” I’d withheld over the years for dumb reasons, and which I was painfully aware I might not get the chance to make up for.
And that, I have decided, is what the draw of Phasma Ex Machina is for me. It questions the “what if” and brings those answers to light in ways that only serve to emphasize how brief, fragile and precious our lives with our loved ones are –and why we should strive every chance we get to let them know how much we cherish them.
Here’s the “Behind the Scenes” clip if you’re interested in learning a little more about the movie.
Phasma Ex Machina – More than a Ghost Story from Phasma Ex Machina on Vimeo.
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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Jeez, I’m so looking forward to this one. I totally get why you’re fascinated with this one. I have to admit, I’ve escorted both parents, 2 siblings, and almost 2 dozen other loved ones from the earth and I have zero regrets about a single one of them, but I think it’s because I’ve always lived my life making each day stand on its own. As a writer, I understand each scene in a manuscript should be a story on its own and stand away from the collective and still make sense and I believe each day of your life should represent what’s really priority. I don’t doubt for one second everyone in my life gets how precious they are and I tell them and show them every single day. I have no regrets. That is why this movie fascinates me because most people around me have the issue of waiting too long to resolve issues or to admit to feelings. I’m fascinated by that and how hard saying goodbye must be for them. This movie is going to be a fav, I know it!
You are so very lucky to have no regrets, Autumnforest. And even luckier you had a chance to say goodbye to all your loved ones and be there with them. Even though I was with my mom, it sucked because I am a people pleaser. I could not please her ever in life. And if I could’ve just given her dying in her home, maybe she would’ve loved me more, told me that, said she was sorry for all the pain she caused me. I think that’s what sucks too. It’s not just my actions I regret, but not getting the fulfillment from her either that I so desperately craved –and now will never get. If you don’t know that and never have, I wish for you to stay that way the rest of your days.