The Big Picture

David Bruckner talks V/H/S/85 spoilers and reveals the movie magic behind “Total Copy” creature, Rory. Bruckner goes into detail on what it took to create that epic and very bloody oner at the end of the movie. He also pinpoints the single most difficult part of Rory to bring to life on screen.

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for V/H/S/85.]If you made it passed that spoiler warning, you’ve met V/H/S/85’s Rory and know its true form.

Rory is the focus of David Bruckner’s wraparound story, “Total Copy.” Throughout V/H/S/85, we get snippets of a piece following Dr. Spratling (Jordan Belfi) and his team as they conduct experiments with a shapeshifting being they dub Rory. In an effort to connect, Spratling and co. attempt to teach Rory humankind’s ways by showing it VHS tapes of broadcasts, exercise videos, and more. Despite some alarm as Rory exhibits the ability to replicate human form, Spratling insists on forging forward, certain that they’re forming a bond. However, all hope for peaceful interaction goes out the window in the final segment of the film.

When Rory becomes unresponsive, Spratling insists on administering an adrenaline shot, but before they can do so, Rory stops them with its feeler and then proceeds to kill each scientist one by one in a wicked and very bloody oner.

With V/H/S/85 now available to stream on Shudder, it’s time to share the spoiler portion of my interview with Bruckner from Fantastic Fest 2023. Check out the video at the top of this article or the interview transcript below to learn more about the movie magic required to bring Rory to screen in its final form. And if you’re looking for more information on exactly what Rory is and where it came from, stay tuned! We’ll have a spoiler-filled interview with writer Evan Dickson for you soon.

Image via Shudder

Let’s talk about that last shot/sequence. For the reveal of what Rory truly is, what would you say is the biggest difference between version one of that design and what you wound up with in the finished film?

DAVID BRUCKNER: In the very beginning, it really was just a boy watching television, and somewhere along the way it derailed into something altogether. We really loved the idea of a metamorphosis, something that was changing. It also felt right for the wrap because every time you come back to the wrap, I hope you’re trying to figure out what the wrap is. So, Rory’s transforming, the piece is transforming. It starts as a kid watching a television, then you come back to it and it’s scientists watching a kid watching a television, and you’re going, “What is this thing?” It’s a documentary for a while and then it’s not, and then you get the raw footage of the entire thing. So yeah, we just wanted to keep the ball in the air, so to speak.

The final design, I will say, was the last thing that we came to. I called Keith Thompson, the great Keith Thompson who I’ve worked with probably five times now, and he always has a marvelous way of digging into whatever we’re up to and bringing something weird and new to the surface and really challenging us, too, because he’ll have a billion questions on how something works, and Rory was no exception.

Were there any particular monster movie inspirations that you applied to that design?

BRUCKNER: We did. Evan [Dickson] and I, we got a cabin for a night up in Big Bear, and we were just like, “Okay, what are we gonna do with this wraparound?” And we watched Dreamscape, From Beyond, and Videodrome that night. It wasn’t a conscious thing, those were just the movies we put on, and metabolized that in some way or another and on the drive back the next morning, this is what happened.

Image via Shudder

Earlier you emphasized how difficult this particular sequence was. Can you isolate the single toughest thing of the bunch? Something that might make a viewer say, “I can’t believe that’s what it looks like on set, but then that’s what it looks like on screen?”

BRUCKNER: Well, the tentacles might be the answer there. The Russell FX, which did a wonderful job on the piece, we always say when you’re working with practical stuff, two frames to the right and left of everything that’s on camera is just a total disaster. It’s always somebody in a rubber suit with a crab claw trying to make it look real. In this case, we just had puppeteers hidden in corners, behind doors, hanging. I mean, we had one puppeteer who was on a ladder leaning over a door who’s basically out of frame. It took a lot of strength, actually. Those tentacles are pretty heavy. And then the tentacles had a hose running through the center of them, so off camera, there’s also somebody with an air compressor just blowing air into it constantly so the thing has life to it and it’s expanding. It’s always a bit unpredictable when you have monsters on a wire. You don’t really know what’s gonna happen. You don’t really know where it’s gonna land, so you shoot a lot of takes.

Check out the non-spoiler portion of my interview with Bruckner below: