The horror movies that inspired Emerald Fennell’s ‘Saltburn’
It would appear that the cultural legacy of Saltburn has bedded in. Emerald Fennell’s newest gothic flick turned out to be undeniably divisive, given its shocking gore and twisted plot. But, thanks to Fennell’s homages, even people who didn’t enjoy the movie can still see its place in a lineage of psychological features.
Fennell spoke at length about the books that inspired the movie. For her own country house horror, she called upon the classics like Brideshead Revisited and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. However, the writer and director also considered some of her favourite films to influence the movie.
One of the key goals of Saltburn and the idea of setting a psychological movie in a vast mansion was to play with the concept of mental entrapment. Fennell wanted to capture “that feeling of cabin fever you get in a house like this”. Naturally, The Shining came up as a reference when considering cabin fever. With the film, Stanley Kubrick put perhaps the ultimate psychological thriller on screen, following a family as they move into a remote hotel as the only guests.
“Kubrick’s dedication to building a world to making a film is something that I have always kind of looked to,” Fennell said of the legendary director. Throughout Saltburn, eagle-eyed fans will spot cinematic nods towards The Shining, such as the use of mazes and sweeping camera work that pulls you from room to room with a notably dizzying effect.
The director also talked about another Kubrick film as a major source of inspiration. “We can thrill to the transgressive behaviour of the droogs in the way we can thrill to the transgressive behaviour of Saltburn‘s utterly entitled snobs,” Fennell said. Likening the behaviour of her characters to those in A Clockwork Orange, she was inspired by the way audiences can never seem to look away from wild, awful acts of violence or transgression.
Other major directors also inspired Fennell, describing Sofia Coppola as an influence, the filmmaker stated, “Sofia Coppola is a great example of the modern American Gothic”. British writer and director Peter Greenaway was an important influence as she drew reference to three of his films, saying, “The Cook, The Thief, The Wife, and His Lover and The Draftsman‘s Contract were huge.” Alfred Hitchcock was another, but more for his energy as a director as she said, “as a filmmaker, he loved doing it. He had such a fun time. We did too with this movie.”
A more specific source of inspiration came from The Servant, which helped Fennell shape the character of Duncan, the butler at Saltburn. “I think it’s one of the all-time great movies,” she said of the 1963 feature, which was an early commentary on class.
Another take on class that influenced Fennell was the British film Kind Hearts and Coronets. Just as Saltburn has been subject to criticism for its twisted and confusing class commentary, with some suggesting that any satire is sorely misplaced to the point of negligence, Fennell felt a similar way, sharing, “I think it’s really sort of perceptive about the British class system and kind of quite a dangerous satire,” she said.
Influence for the use of setting and the sheer scale of the Saltburn mansion came from one 1961 film, The Innocents, which stands as a classic haunted house story. “The use of space in the house itself is kind of unbelievably well used and is very much like a character in its own, which is kind of very important to me when thinking about something like Saltburn,” Fennell said of the film’s impact on her work. In fact, she said the film includes “one of the most brilliant horror shots ever made” as a woman is spotted amongst long grass, inspiring her own use of nature in Saltburn.
The movies that inspired Saltburn:
- The Shining (1980)
- A Clockwork Orange (1971)
- The Virgin Suicides (1999)
- The Cook, The Thief, The Wife, and His Lover (1989)
- The Draftsman’s Contract (1982)
- Psycho (1960)
- The Servant (1963)
- Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
- The Innocents (1961)
