‘Cursed in Baja’: A Love Letter to B-Movies from Director Jeff Daniel Phillips [Interview]

The days of double features are long gone. Rarely anymore are movies made under the premise of being a follow-up to the main presentation. While the spirit of B-movies is alive and well in the advent of streaming, independent cinema often forgoes the grit and surrealness that used to be found in the smaller font on the marquee. Jeff Daniel Phillips’ Cursed in Baja toasts to those second screenings and takes audiences on an unpredictable journey.

Cursed in Baja follows Pirelli, an ex-lawman who is called back into a life left behind when he is asked to locate a missing heir to fortune. Accompanied by his own ghosts from the past, Pirelli’s search for the lost leads him to Baja, Mexico where he finds something he could have never imagined. 

Director (and star) Jeff Daniel Phillips (The Lords of Salem, The Munsters) tells us, “I think I was inspired by Race with the Devil and Point Blank. I realized how important that was for me with the crime aspect. I thought, if you were going to marry those two together, it kind of fits.”

Cursed in Baja came from a conversation Phillips had with producer Kent Isaacs, where he recalled a convention he had just attended where he spoke with young filmmakers about how to get movies made. Still invigorated from the discourse at Grand Rapids Comic-Con, Isaacs asked Phillips why the two weren’t doing the same things. The two took stock of everything they would have access to, and wrote a movie around that list. The resulting script blends crime, creature features, noir, and psychological horror.

“I like when you’re leading an audience down a certain way and then all of a sudden there’s a crazy twist or a crazy turn and it’s just like, wait. Nobody’s winking at the camera,” Phillips explains.

Given that the film was shot with a skeleton crew, there were breaks in shooting that gave Phillips time to rework the story. He learned more about the area’s folklore and incorporated it into the script, a script that already featured mythological elements. On the original list compiled of things that would be readily available to make a movie with, “chupacabra costume” was written. 

Phillips recalls, “So, Ted Haines, I met him fifteen years ago or more. I realized his love of classic horror and monsters, and I said ‘Hey, I’m actually thinking about doing this chupacabra film. Would you ever be interested in making that?’ and he just jumped at it. He built this thing and then COVID hit it and it just became too hard. So, I just had this thing ready to use and I didn’t know when I was going to use it.”

Most of Cursed in Baja was shot with just Phillips, Isaacs, and camera operator Keith Coleman. Phillips worked around these obstacles in ways such as setting scenes during daylight to accommodate for the absence of a gaffer. Ingenuity gave way to surprising additions to the film, including the ongoing narration that is heard throughout.

“While we were editing I go, hold on a second. I have an idea,” Phillips reveals. “I go into the closet in the other room and I do, you know …the way she looked at me… on my phone and send it to him and he puts it right in the movie.”

Despite not having key players that are usually needed for a production, Phillips found creative workarounds to get the movie finished. Luckily, when it came to practical effects, he was able to call upon an old friend to help. The writer/director had previously worked with special effects artist Jim Ojala on a commercial, during which he asked Ojala if he’d be interested in collaborating on a future project.

“We went to his studio and he just had shelves and shelves of all of these prosthetics and blood gags. I go, what’s that? That’s a stomach that was exploded. Can I use that? Put that on the list. We just went through it all.  I need someone’s head. I need this, I need that. So, we made a list and then that guy came in for three days to do all of the blood gags.”

Jeff Daniel Phillips proves that with enough passion, and a good list, you don’t need a big budget or a full crew to bring a movie to life.

“It was most rewarding to see it through to the end,” he tells us. “If you’re efficient and respectful with people’s time, people want to help you make a film.”

Cursed in Baja was picked up by Anchor Bay and premiered at FrightFest in 2024. The film was given a Blu-ray and DVD release. The Blu-ray features Jeff Daniel Phillips walking around the shooting location (before it burned in the 2025 wildfires of L.A.) and telling stories about how they pulled the movie off. 

Cursed in Baja is available to rent on Amazon, YouTube or stream on Tubi.

The DVD and Blu-ray are available on Amazon.

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