To regular attendees of the August edition of Arrow Video FrightFest the name Luna Wolf is a familiar one. For several years Luna spent her FrightFest out in the cinema foyer welcoming filmmakers as they walked the media wall as the FrightFest TV host. Outside of presenting Luna Wolf is an aspiring filmmaker herself. She has experience within the UK film industry making short films, has acted in several titles, and is a trained stunt performer. Wolf has also always been an admirer of the body of work created by Jen and Sylvia Soska.
In 2019, the Soska Sisters debuted their movie Rabid at FrightFest. They crossed paths with Luna on the media wall, and sensing kismet spirits, they connected immediately. After FrightFest ended, the three kept in touch and now, three years later, they have made a movie together: On the Edge. Written by Jen and Sylvia, On the Edge follows family man Peter (Aramis Sartorio) who gets more than he paid for when he books a 36-hour session with the sadistic Mistress Satana (Jen Soska) who seems more intent on making him suffer for his sins.
Getting the opportunity to make a film with your heroes is a pipe dream for many, but not for Wolf. Having befriended the directing duo at FrightFest, Wolf has had a massive hand in bringing On the Edge to life. Not only did she act as cinematographer, Wolf also edited and produced the film. Her jobs did not end there, as she helped with sound, stunts, and even undertook the position of production chef.
Everything will come full circle this Saturday (29th October) as Luna returns to FrightFest Halloween with On the Edge. The all-day marathon of genre movies is hosting the world premiere of On the Edge and it couldn’t be a more perfect venue. Ahead of the main event, THN spoke with Luna to find out more about her whirlwind movie making experience.
You first met Jen and Sylvia at FrightFest back in 2019, now you’re living in Canada making films with them. That’s quite the journey.
It’s crazy. I never thought anything like this could even be real, and yet, here it is. The Soskas have always been so good to me, so kind. When we met, we realised we had the same kind of interests. Jen and I became pen pals almost instantaneously and it just went from there. I was already looking to maybe move to Canada at some point, because I’d looked at America, I just wasn’t sure about the film industry over there. Then I was looking at schools and the VFS (Vancouver Film School) came up and it all kind of fit into place. They’ve been so supportive every step of the way; they’ve given me really great advice. It’s all just happened so fast. The one thing that I can say is that these girls are amazing.
It’s not very often you get female directors, let alone two of them. Knowing American Mary, the way that I already did, and now knowing American Mary, the way that I now know it and the rest of their movies and discussing with them, their art directly, it makes you realise just how much of a genius they are. With this new movie, they basically take a story and a message, and they turn it into something indescribable. It’s really hard to explain the magic that happens between the information, them, and their movies. But it is definitely magic.
On the Edge came together really quickly. You shot in August and now it’s already getting its premiere. How was that experience?
It was a ride. I don’t think I was prepared for quite how tight it was going to be. We’ve been talking about something like this since around January, and then suddenly a couple of things happened and we suddenly hit the budget goals. We made a couple of really cool connections and all of a sudden it was going. We were, “should we? Shouldn’t we?” Then we decided that the world needs this message. They go into focus mode and they write this script in absolutely no time at all. They write it with very little alterations. I remember I only gave like two or three ideas. I think it took them a week, maybe two weeks; that was crazy. I just remember them sitting there reading the script to me and I was just bawling and crying my eyes out because nobody has ever been able to represent the BDSM community and industry quite the way that they have. They’re not professionals in the industry. So for them to understand it, the way that they did, is incredible.
How do you think On the Edge differs from other films exploring similar topics?
It’s so hard to write a story that represents the BDSM industry correctly because there are so many variables. There are so many different people in this world and every person’s story, and every person’s kink, or way of living in it, is so different. I feel like they’re putting across a story that makes you think, don’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t automatically assume, because there’s always a reason behind things. I think this story is definitely going to change the way people look at BDSM. It’s one of those movies that’s a cornerstone for change in the film industry. You’ve got so many of these movies coming out that could be perceived as ‘woman down’. You’ve got all this torture porn and it’s always the woman being the one that’s the victim. This time we’re turning the tables.
The representation of the dominatrix character on film is very one note. They’re either the villain or the comic relief. On the Edge does something different, which is refreshing.
So many people are under the impression that dominatrices will take sessions from literally anyone. Actually, no they won’t. They have standards. So many people have no idea what a dominatrix does and that’s one thing that really irks me. If you walked up to somebody in the street and you asked them, “what is the dominatrix?” they’ll say, “it’s a sex worker”, they would automatically presume that they would get their kit off, they would have sex with them. It’s really not. It’s bigger than that, it’s more spiritual. It’s helping somebody through a trauma where conventional therapy has failed in the past. It’s seeing somebody at a spiritual level, even when they’re not 100% sure what they want. Sometimes they have to be taken to a place where they can heal, and they have to be confronted with something.
By featuring actors like Aramis Sartorio, known for his work with the adult entertainment industry, the Soskas seem to be giving some of these people even more of a voice.
I knew of Aramis, way before I knew of the Soskas, that was another serendipitous moment. One of my friends from the BDSM community, he got me in touch with Aramis actually because he suggested that maybe I have him in some of my other shoots. He also mentioned that he wanted to get out of the adult industry a little bit. That was about a year before I knew the Soskas and I’d already kind of spoken to him. So when they suggested that Aramis be the one to star in this, I was over the moon.
Upon meeting him, I wasn’t prepared for how awesome he actually was, even though everybody was like, “oh this guy’s cool, this guy’s cool.” He really brought it to the table because I know that his role is not the most comfortable role to play, even with his background. He brought to the table this very vulnerable character who really shows all of his battle wounds and his scars. He really delivered. I’m so proud of him. I know that actors nowadays wouldn’t even think twice about such a role. He was very, very brave to take that on and he really did a great job.
Most of the time it was just four of you on set, that’s a lot of work for so few people.
Absolutely. Because we were very concerned about Covid and the fact that it was a closed set, because Jen was wearing next to nothing and Aramis was also wearing next to nothing, we wanted to honour them and make them feel safe in terms of the set. At one point we had four people on set and that would be me, Sylv, Aramis, and Jen. We managed to get some really awesome moments. Just from the four of us. I think that was quite an achievement.
When we weren’t shooting, I was cooking. We all had family meals around the table. We all got to really know each other over the fourteen or fifteen days that we shot. It was a lot of gruelling nights. We would arrive, watch the sunset together, and then once we’ve finished shooting, we’d watch the sunrise together. It was really intimate and really magical. I couldn’t have asked for a better team.
You’ve worked on film sets before, but this time you had so much responsibility. The Soskas are obviously very well established, were there any nerves about taking on so much work?
I feel so honoured that they even trusted me with the camera, let alone anything else. They’ve got an awful amount of faith in me and my abilities. All I could think of during the shoot was, “don’t let them down, don’t let them down. I need to do a good job here.” They helped carry me through the entire shoot. Their professionalism, and their experience, and their genius thinking just helped carry us through every single day. There were a couple of stressful days where we had to get a certain amount of shots by sunrise. Sylvie especially was so on it with making sure everybody was okay, and making sure that everything was running smoothly. I don’t honestly know how either of them managed to get us through because there was much to do. But I guess with all the experience that they have, and all the other movies that they’ve done before, is just attributed to their genius.
A highlight watching the film is this super intense strobe sequence. Miss Santana is delivering this big monologue, her face seems to change. It’s a brilliant scene, how did that come together?
I designed that lighting. They gave me a couple of references of what they liked. They gave me a couple of shots from Legion. They gave me a couple of shots from other movies, and I wanted to adapt that feel. I knew how strobe would actually affect shape and I wanted to give it the effect that her face was changing shape as she was talking. So I designed the lighting with a couple of different colours and a couple of different timings. Thankfully, because of time restraints, I actually got it right the first time. I’m just so proud of that shot.
After some struggles with other projects, this is the Soskas back on their own terms, do you think that control has freed them creatively?
It was beautiful to watch. They created this story completely off of their own back. I had no input whatsoever in the write because they didn’t need it. What they have created is something so incredible that I don’t think it should have been edited in any way. I think them being able to have the freedom of voice completely over this project has been the best gift anybody could ever have in terms of watching a movie like this. I feel like if it was a bigger production, if other people were involved, I think the story and the overall message itself might have been tainted a little.
You and the Soskas met at FrightFest and now everything is coming full circle with On the Edge debuting at FrightFest, are you excited to be sharing with the FrightFest audience?
The FrightFest audience, out of all of the audiences that I’ve ever seen, have been so warm and welcoming. It really is like they say, they’re a family. They’re really die-hard. If there’s any audience in the world that’s going to get this, it’s going to be them. They’re going to love this – at least I hope so.
On the Edge will have its World Premiere at FrightFest Halloween on Saturday 29th October.
