"Unhuman" may be crawling with zombies, but they are simply there to play on their teen targets' insecurities and weaknesses. To ensure the characters stayed true to life, Dunstan not only reflected on his own high school experience for the film, but encouraged his cast and crew to do the same, turning the shoot into something of a group therapy session.
"Ultimately, I wanted to put my arms around the [high-school] experience and leave things that haunted me there," Dunstan explained of his approach to "Unhuman," adding, "I asked that of every cast member and crew as well, like, 'If something comes to mind, let's say we scratch the surface of a moment. Please share it. Let's put it in [the film].' And by God we did. It could be someone working with lights, camera, or whatnot. There was this, 'Let's use this opportunity to be a bit of a time machine. Does something still hurt? Does something still haunt you? Let's face it and leave it there.' By doing so, maybe we're going to help somebody [who's currently going through high school] get through a vulnerable, harrowing moment in their formation."
As a result of this directive, Dunstan indicated that "Unhuman" became a vessel for the formative memories of his filmmaking team, which makes it all the more meaningful for viewers. "There was a moment of everything in [the film] that had to come from someone who worked on this movie's actual life," Dunstan noted. "Somebody had to give something that we could donate to this experience, so it maybe hit you a little more in an unexpected, but really heartrending, way."
"Unhuman" is currently available on digital platforms.
