Copyright Variety
“Kombucha,” the new horror-comedy film from director and co-writer Jake Myers, has been in the works for years, but the office culture satire is hitting even harder during the current economic climate. “It really does feel like this hits at a cultural moment,” Myers says. “In a way that I think causes some people discomfort, but also they can laugh at it.” Myers, who wrote the film with Geoff Bakken, has delivered a uniquely modern take on corporate grind that does not shy away from body horror. In the film, an anonymous yet recognizable tech company offers new employees lucrative starting wages, doing something, as well as a potent kombucha that ends up making them work to death. After debuting at Dances with Films in June and playing at festivals like FrightFest and Grimmfest, “Kombucha” was cheered on by industry insiders and fellow filmmakers during the Friday feature slot at FilmQuest in Provo, Utah, on Oct. 24. “Kombucha” began life as an unlikely idea, given that Myers would need money to make it, and those purse strings are often held by the kind of businessmen the story satirizes. “Geoff gave me three different script ideas, and ‘Kombucha’ … it seemed like everyone is feeling corporate burnout,” Myers said. “I don’t think anyone dreams of one day creating value for shareholders, and I loved the idea. It was a feature script at first. I said, ‘I don’t think anybody’s going to fund this as is. I don’t think that there’s going to be a producer — instead of private equity investors — that is going to be able to imagine it.’ So we worked together, we wrote a seven-minute short, toured with the short and then talked with Take Care Productions in Chicago. We said, ‘Hey, tax incentive, keeping it at this budget range. I think it’s something that we can actually pull off in Chicago with the Second City talent here.'” Myers was ultimately able to play with fresh ideas of corporate culture, as he considered this film to be a satire of startups vs. standard cubical fare. “I found it really refreshing in this idea that we’re all going to be productive, and it felt a little ‘woo,'” Myers said. “Kombucha is on tap at so many startups in different places. That’s why that drink felt really important. This idea of corporate family and these rituals felt culty in a way that I enjoyed. I’ve worked at startups before, and all of those things happen. You do feel love bombed at first, but you also feel the fear that any day we could do a mass layoff. It’s a terrifying but relatable sentiment, and I really liked that hook.” Myers was also thrilled to successfully shoot the feature in Chicago, where he lives. “I think Chicago has so much talent,” he says. “I don’t think there are any divas in Chicago. I don’t think there’s that culture at all. Everyone has this attitude of, ‘We’re going to get this done. We are going to solve this problem together.’ And I think there’s a little bit of a chip on our shoulder to prove that we can make a movie that can hold its own with the bigger cities and markets. I just like Chicago people.” As for Myers’ future plans, he’s working on a tech slasher with a killer logline (“a woman with a mask uses a dating app to hunt down its developers”), but he sees real potential for another serving of “Kombucha.” “I think we’re going to do a ‘Kombucha 2,'” he says. “It’s going to be down the road a little bit. We have to iron out the script, but we have an outline, and I’m going to work with Geoff again. I’m thinking more wellness cult, a little bit of NXIVM and branding, and multi-level marketing in there.” Watch the “Kombucha” trailer below.
