The Restless Few - An Interview w/ James Watjen

James M. Watjen is an up-and-coming independent author and filmmaker out of Vincennes, Indiana. His works have appeared in such places as Rue Morgue Magazine, and his short film entitled The D Word won several awards, including the 2024 Chicago Horror Film Festival for Best New Director.

His latest book, The Restless Few, will be released on Friday, June 13th, 2025 through Anuci Press. Today we discuss his career, influences, and creative inspiration.

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MAD: James, thanks for spending some time with Horror To Culture. A fellow Indiana native myself, it’s always nice to be able to represent artistic talent from the state! Please give us a little insight into how your path led towards writing and independent filmmaking?

JMW: Thanks Michael! I really appreciate your time! My first exposure dates to around 1990-ish, when I had received a copy of Day of the Triffids film on VHS. It was a gift from my grandmother, who was a huge fan of horror movies and was definitely the catalyst for my love of horror. We would spend weekends watching Monster Vision, Ray Bradbury Theater, Tales From The Darkside, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. My fondest memories of my childhood were just seated in front of the old cabinet television and glued to it tightly. That was just the beginning. Flash forward decades later, I decided to put “pen to paper” and began writing short film scripts and filming it. The breakthrough came from my first short film I created as a summer project with our oldest son who was nine years old at the time. We shot the short film, Shoes, over a few days and eventually licensed it to Troma Entertainment as part of their video on demand service, Troma Now. After that, I was hooked back into the world of horror. I then decided to work towards writing my first book, The Vermin Sleep, which was later published by an awesome indie horror publisher, Nightmare Press.

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MAD: Your short film, THE D WORD (which appears in season 12, episode 2 of the BLOODY BITES television series), won an award at the 2024 Chicago Horror Film Festival. How much fun was that? I imagine that showing your film on the festival circuit must be a really cool experience (though perhaps a little stressful)?

JMW: I was completely surprised by the success of The D Word! We shot the short film on a Friday afternoon in January of 2024 and I began submitting it to a ton of film festivals. When we were selected for the Chicago Horror Film Festival, I felt like the work was validated. I really credit the success of The D Word to the lead actor, Chester Qualkenbush. He has a natural ability to make you believe in his character and his understanding of the film’s context made it a success. The film festival experience had been fantastic too! The feedback we’ve received was beyond what I was expecting. I wouldn’t say there was much stress, but it certainly spikes the anxiety while you wait for the acceptance and rejection notifications to come back. The crew at the Chicago Horror Film Festival were fantastic and you would be hard pressed to find a more professional indie horror film festival!

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MAD: You also wrote and directed the short film SHOES, which is available from TROMA Entertainment. How did that come about?

JMW: Shoes was a project that I worked on with my nine year old son. He shares a love of horror films and was curious what it took to create one, so we decided to come up with a concept that surrounded an inanimate object and he chose a pair of his little brother’s shoes. The idea was to teach him that a good story doesn’t always have to be an over-the-top action production, but instead, can utilize mood and tension to deliver an uncomfortable atmosphere. After we wrote, shot, and edited the film, I sent it off to various film festivals as a bonus for him to see some fruits of his labor. One a random chance, I asked Troma Entertainment if they could give us feedback and they were impressed and offered us a spot on their video on demand service. I would say that we were both surprised and overwhelmed that it was able to secure a spot on such an awesome platform.

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MAD: Your 1st book, The Vermin Sleep (NIGHTMARE PRESS 2024), was well received. Please give us a little background on the themes of this book.

JMW: The Vermin Sleep is a dark and uncomfortable story that serves as a cautionary tale for those that choose to exploit a certain age demographic. I had read a news article about a child that was assaulted by an adult and later chose to fatally retaliate against his aggressor. This idea was furthered after reading another article about the awful situations that child actors had dealt with during filming certain shows, and the mental health consequences of having been traumatized. Though the narrative is completely fictious, the reality behind it is very real.

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MAD: Your latest work, The Restless Few, is coming out in June and described as a religious-horror-thriller. Please give readers a short synopsis of what they might expect from this intriguing set-up.

JMW: The Restless Few takes readers on a horrific journey of a traumatic upbringing and the circumstances that follow the protagonist, Father Thomas Abner, throughout his life. The story serves to remind readers that an unstable and declining mental health condition isn’t bound by societal roles. Father Thomas Abner is a Catholic priest who is in a constant battle with his own mental health while also longing for an acceptance that he cannot seem to find. The book is a visceral and unsettling dive into the psyche of a fractured mind that isn’t apparent from the outside looking in.

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MAD: What are some of your biggest literary and cinematic influences? Also, what motivates you?

JMW: From a literary standpoint, I would definitely say that Stephen King has had an influence on my writing. His ability to make the most mundane situations seem like the most horrific, speaks volumes to his ability as a storyteller. I always admired how uneasy I felt reading books like Misery and Cujo. Both of them are stories that could easily play out in the real world. That realism is what speaks to me. From a cinematic influence, I’ve always enjoyed Hitchock’s ability to convey that same sense of horrific realism in a film format. William Lustig’s Maniac is a huge influence on how I approach my work. That is a film that brings the terror of reality to you in the story of a monster in our closest always induced fear when we were children, but as adults, the reality of these monsters hit much closer to home when you accompany that with newspaper headlines of atrocities committed in everyday life. Sometimes reality can be scarier than any monster movie or book.

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MAD: Does music play a part in your creative process? If so, who are some of your favorite bands and musicians?

JMW: I’ve been a musician for the past thirty years, and I would say music is a huge driving force in my creative process. The fact that there are composers and bands that are driven by horror themes, speaks to the power that music has in the horror culture. I absolutely HAVE to be listening to music while I am writing a book and even prepping to score my own short films. Recently, I’ve been listening to a bunch of assorted horror-synth playlists and it helps tremendously with getting the full feel for what I am working on. VHS Glitch, Carpenter Brut, Nightstop, Nightcrawler, and Dance With The Dead are a few artists that are on my constant rotation while I work. Also, I grew up heavily influenced by punk music so Alkaline Trio, The Damned, Misfits, and Murder City Devils get some play too.

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MAD: Aside from The Restless Few, are there any other projects that you’re currently, or soon to be working on? What are your creative goals for the next year or two?

JMW: This year has several projects that are slated. Two short films and one additional novella! The first film project is actually a short based on The Restless Few. We’re hoping to have this completed and ready to submit to film festivals in July 2025. The other short film, Dead Step, is an experimental horror short that we will use as a proof of concept when we submit to film festivals in the fall. The horror lit project is a novella, Take The Night Off, which completes my loose trilogy alongside The Vermin Sleep and The Restless Few. It’s an ambitious schedule given I work a full time job and have a busy family life, but I’m pretty disciplined when it comes to time management.

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MAD: What advice would you give to independent authors and filmmakers, particularly out of the state of Indiana, on a shoe-string budget?

JMW: Do it. Don’t be afraid of where you came from, how much money you have or make, or even how “silly” you think your idea is. There is literally an audience for every form of entertainment in this world. Never take yourself too seriously, but still be professional. Have fun with your projects and enjoy the process of seeing your creations come to life. Do not adhere to standards. Those standards are put in place as boundaries that are meant to be disrupted. No respected artist or creative ever stayed within the lines of what is considered “standard”. The most valuable piece of advice I received and I think has the most merit, is be yourself. Being genuine is one of the most respectable and appreciated traits.

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MAD: What is your one “guilty pleasure”?

JMW: Haha, I don’t know if I ever feel guilt about enjoying something. But, if I have to choose something to be considered a “guilty pleasure”, then I’d have to say the television show, “The Masked Singer”. Not sure what I enjoy so much about the show besides the mystery of who’s singing those songs behind the mask. It just intrigues me. Don’t tell me wife, though.

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 MAD: James, thanks again for taking time to relay some "behind the scenes" details into your creative process! In close, what would you like to leave readers with today?

JMW: Don’t loose faith in your art. One of my favorite bands of all time has a song called  “Art is Hard”. Listen to the lyrics. Always be creative in some form, even if it’s only for your eyes, ears, mouth, etc. Don’t ever stop doing art. Stay Weird. It’s OK.

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Michael A. Dyer is the host of the HORROR TO CULTURE podcast, vidcast, and website.