Tribeca Film Festival 2024: Director Marcus Dunstan and Star Jade Pettyjohn Talk ‘#AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead’

Director Marcus Dunstan and star Jade Pettyjohn are slashing their way into the spotlight at the Tribeca Film Festival with #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead, a blend of shocks, screams, and side-splitting laughs that serves as both a throwback to classic slasher films and a refreshing take on the genre.

The must-see film follows a group of college friends who rent an Airbnb for the biggest music festival of the year. A weekend of partying quickly takes a turn as the group is murdered one by one, according to their sins.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Marcus and Jade about #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead, their collaboration, and contributing to the slasher genre canon while bringing their unique take on the final girl.

PC: Marcus, #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead is making its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. It’s truly one of those projects that you have to see to believe. What was your initial reaction when you read co-writers Josh Sims and Jessica Sarah Flaum’s script? How quickly did you know you wanted to sign on to direct it and bring in longtime collaborators, Michaella [Russell] and Peter [Giles]?
Marcus: You just nailed it. I felt like I was in such a privileged position to protect this story and these voices. The biggest hurdle, which was made simple, easy, and delivered by a talented cast, was the wicked heart at the center. Everything else is mechanics, staging, and editing. But if you don’t connect with these characters, everything else flops. In this case, it soared.

PC: Jade, the final girl is such a staple of slasher films, and this is a version that we haven’t seen before. You brought so much depth and nuance to that contrast. How did you find your way into this character?
Jade: Thank you so much. That was definitely the thing that really drew me to the script originally. It was reading this character who is a final girl, but that concept is flipped on its head. That’s really the great writing that Jessica and Josh had done.

The way that I discovered that was through Marcus. He was such a true leader in every sense of the word. I really wanted to do this justice, and give an ode to all the final girls of the past, but also do something new because the writing demanded that. Marcus does such a great job at creating a real vision and tone that it was easy for all of us to fall back on while we’re making a film with all its beauty and chaos.

PC: Marcus, the use of comedy in this film is brilliant. That’s such a tricky thing to get right. As a director, how did you foster and create that space for your cast to improvise while also keeping it so rooted in truth and realism?
Marcus: I’m going to give that credit to Julian Haig. Before we touched down to film, and I confirmed this with him last night, he initiated this Zoom where the cast has a chance to interact and get to know each other. That moment is independent of a lot of other things, but what stayed is that strangers became old friends right away.

This is a group of people who are so supportive of each other. Although they played people with frayed connections, these are bonded, wonderful souls. That was such a gift. That really was the catalyst for everything else to work. That creates that environment. We can only react to the environment that we’re given, even when we were against the clock, we always made time to feel this moment. That’s a testament to shooting mostly in order. If something worked better on the day because we threw stones in the ripple that’s what we went with. We invented along the way so that these people felt like folks we could recognize from our own lives.

PC: Jade, there’s a hysterical moment when something is thrown at your character’s face, and your comedic timing had me laughing out loud. Can you talk a bit more about that collaboration with Marcus and finding that balance of how far you both could push this?
Jade: My character Sarah serves a very specific purpose in the first and second act. She’s very contained. She’s very logical and the voice of reason in this very heightened world of influences and friends that are over the top, and a bit loud with each other. Sarah’s a bit quieter. But when everything hits the fan and chaos ensues as it does with most slasher films, the absurdity could really come out. What I loved was that you see all these sides of Sarah that are more enhanced, and see this other side to her, but also finding the humor in that which disarms audiences. That’s such a great tool for horror. Yes, it’s bringing the shock, but it’s also hitting people with humor. That was really fun. I grew up doing Nickelodeon and School of Rock, where there is a lot of food throwing, so I was like, “This is my jam.” [laughs]

PC: Marcus, the horror/slasher genre is having such an exciting renaissance as another medium to tell cool stories. This is your first time having a film premiere at Tribeca. What does this milestone mean to you and what do you hope audiences take away?
Marcus: We hope it gives a chance to get people into the dark, come together and have this experience and taste of what it was like when they were kids. It’s like one of those films that you may have seen a little too early and almost got caught by your parents. We want to do that in a public forum and let them know that we poured our hearts, souls, and so much love into this project and give them an evening where they can come in the dark and be reminded how much closer together we can be.

PC: Jade, this film is such a testament to your talent as you play with the horror, comedy, and dramatic beats. When it makes its premiere at Tribeca, what scene are you most excited for audiences to see?
Jade: Thank you again. First of all, the thing that I really love about this story is when I originally read it, I couldn’t predict what was going to happen next. That was just at the first original stage. I was completely enamored and engaged with the script. I audibly gasped out loud, laughed, and was freaked out. It was such a visceral experience. It reminded me of what I love about the horror genre, specifically slasher films. With any great film in general, it’s being able to see it in theaters and being able to feel as much as I possibly can within the scope of the hour and a half, two hours, where you get lost in it.

All My Friends Are Dead is a wild ride. It has heart, comedy, shocks, and gore. You don’t know what’s happening next. I really look forward to people going on this crazy, chaotic journey and being able to feel something as visceral as possible.

Make sure to follow Marcus (X/Instagram) and Jade (X/Instagram). Screening details for #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead below:

• Village East by Angelika – Sat June 08 – 9:15 PM
• AMC 19th St. East 6 – Mon June 10 – 9:30 PM
• AMC 19th St. East 6 – Tue June 11 – 9:15 PM

#AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead will be released in select theaters, On Digital, and On Demand on August 2nd.