Greetings, Baatar Batsukh, I’m Baron Craze, Editor of The Horror Times, first thank you for this opportunity to interview you.

BARON CRAZE (BC): I enjoyed your film ABERRANCE, which is touted as the first Mongolian horror feature however I consider it more of a psychological thriller than a straightforward horror film, as it also sets forth terrors and thrilling dynamics with a hint of arthouse horror themes. Is that assessment correct, why, or why not?

Baatar Batsukh (BB): Hello Baron, it’s nice to talk to you as well. I also agree with you, from the beginning, I started making this as a psychological thriller rather than a horror film. Also, in terms of narrative design, it was intended to prevent showing exciting dynamics in the arthouse style.

(L-R) Director Baatar Batsukh and Assistant Camera Operator Lkhagvatsend Tsetseg behind the scenes of the thriller/horror film, ABERRANCE, a Freestyle Digital Media Release. Photo courtesy of Baigaltu.

BC: Was the casting difficult to achieve and what made you decide on those three primary lead actors and actresses, for example, the qualities that made them appealing?

BB: We had relatively little difficulty in choosing actors. Most of the actors were chosen in the script-writing phase. But the difficult thing is that our female lead actress, who we had chosen, refused to play this role immediately after reading the script. For that, she thought that acting in this movie would ruin her acting career. Then we made offers to several actresses and they were also skeptical.

So, after searching and searching, at the last minute, two days before the start of filming, I found Selenge, the main actor, and made an offer, and of course she accepted.

There was no major influence on the choice of actors. I chose to imagine Selenge and Erkhembayar as the prince and princess, my neighbor Yalalt is a very good friend of mine and we all know what a good actor he is, so I decided he is the one for this role.

BC: When dealing with aspects of psychological trauma, mental illness, and rational versus irrational anxieties how did you convey that to the actors for they portray that clearer in the film?

BB: I wanted to showcase the unhealthy state of society explained through the characters.

BC: Were there any scenes that appeared in the script that needed to be dropped or reworked once on location?

BB: Of course, along with the good, there are bad things. My first directorial work was also doubled as I was the director of cinematography. The filming of the part where the neighbor enters the house with Yalalt, Erkhembayar, and Selenge took a whole evening and the scene just didn’t work so the filming was stopped immediately. And after thinking about how to convey that scene I finally found a solution for how to show it. If the viewer notices, they can easily figure out who was who by the time the scene is over.

BC: Why did you dedicate your film to Darren Aronofsky? Is he the only filmmaker who influenced you in the creation of your movie?

BB: I can’t say that he influenced the making of this film. But Darren Aronofsky is a director I admire and respect, that’s why an homage was made to Darren Aronofsky in this film. There is a movie called Mother by him. All the events take place in one house. A whole life of humanity is shown in that one house, the people, the good, the bad, and all the ugly. We had a small budget and had to think of creative and innovative ways to tell this story so we decided to set it in that house.

BC: What was the reason to set your film during the winter backdrop rather than spring? (Often winter refers to death and spring as rebirth since one character deals with inner personal turmoil)

BB: The script process started in the winter and we were ready to film rather quickly. Then we connected with the possibility of events and circumstances for our characters within the season.

BC: (Follow-up question to the previous question) Was the reason influenced by the decision to offset against stunning visuals to convey undertones of anger/rage versus hopelessness?

BB: The answer to this will be clearly shown in the sequel that will be out in the not-too-distant future.

BC: Aside from liking your film what do you hope audiences take away from the film?

BB: The eccentric actors who will lead the plot of our film, as well as the filming that will make it look more realistic and interesting, as well as the sudden and surprising twists and turns, are not subject to any rules.

BC: What were the cultural dynamics, if any that one might be unaware of when it came to the mental illness versus the personal growth or destruction that plays out between the two primary leads?

BB: In Mongolian culture, mental illness is a conversation that’s very taboo. In this film, the characters are meant to show that.

BC: Could you explain the ending, including the tossing of the white cat and the unusually long cinema shot at the end? Was it in reference or paying homage to another movie?

BB: Thanks for catching that but there is no homage to any other film. But the actor’s gaze on that long scene is my vision of a director to shed light on our society and how we are victims of what the government does to us, and we have to sit there and take it and it came out from my frustrations.

BC: What is your next film project?

BB: Three Flames Pictures and Team Hero are in discussions for their next joint projects, and some of them are in the writing stage. Also, last May, we shot another feature film that will serve as the prequel to Aberrance, while introducing audiences to the wider genre-bending cinematic universe, Three Flames Pictures and Team Hero are currently creating, we are in the post-production phase on this prequel project but it will likely be ready before our sequel.

BC: What are your social media links?

FB: Team.hero , Baatar Batsukh

Insta; baatar batsukh, @threeflamespictures

Thanks, again for this interview.