Australia has recently had a lot of interesting and scary horror movies come out. One that stands out is Freelance—a psychological thriller that goes into great detail about the risks of freelancing and how fragile the mind is. Freelance, directed by John Balazs and written by Mike Gerbino—looks at the genre from a new and unsettling angle by following the life of a freelance video editor whose job goes bad.
Katie, played by Nicole Pastor, is a video editor who is having a hard time making ends meet while working on low-budget, scary movies. Katie is desperate for better opportunities when she gets a strange offer to work on a series of scary student films in exchange for a lot of money. As she cuts the video, she starts to think that the movies might not be made up; they look like they show real-life violence. The difference between reality and fiction gets blurry as the job goes on—sending Katie into a scary spiral that tests her mental health and her ability to stay alive. Many people who watch Freelance want to know if it is based on a true story.
Is Freelance based on a true story?
The movie wasn’t directly based on a real event but its themes come from the darker sides of being a freelancer and how it can affect your mental health. People often think of freelancing as a sign of independence and flexibility, but Freelance shows it to be much darker. A lot of creative people can relate to the film’s main character, a freelancer who is desperate because they can’t make ends meet and has to do work that they don’t believe in.
The premise of the story—that disturbing, possibly snuff films are edited—is not based on a real event. Instead, it plays on people’s real fears about being taken advantage of online. People today are worried about the internet, social media and digital content, so the idea of seeing footage that might mix fact and fiction is a good one.
The lead actress who plays Katie, Nicole Pastor, talked about the role and the movie in an interview. Pastor stressed that the psychological depth of the story was a big part of why she did so well. “Her life just goes to shit… she starts seeing visions of people from these videos,” Pastor said, adding that Katie’s spiral into mental chaos was a sign of a larger problem with mental health that is becoming more common in today’s busy world.
Katie, played by Nicole Pastor, is a big part of how Freelance makes you feel. Pastor had dealt with anxiety and depression herself, which helped her portray Katie’s mental state as it was falling apart. Priest said, “I’ve lived with anxiety and depression for half my life,” Pastor shared. “This allowed me to bring a sense of real vulnerability to the character, which is key in a thriller like this.”
Pastor told Pario Magazine in an honest interview that he had to be emotionally strong to play such a serious psychological thriller. “I just go back to the hotel and cry at the end of days that are really hard,” she said. On the other hand, this process helped Pastor. She talked a lot about how acting, especially in roles that were hard for her, let her use her own feelings and experiences in her work.
Pastor is clearly dedicated to the jo and she talked about how her love of scary movies affected how she did Freelance. “I feel like I’ve seen everything,” she said, citing classic horror films like The Shining, Halloween, and Rosemary’s Baby as influences.
Freelance isn’t based on a real event but it does deal with some very real issues, like psychological trauma, the risks of working in the gig economy and how technology can make it hard to tell the difference between fact and fiction. The movie is a great addition to Australia’s horror genre because of its creepy atmosphere and tight, suspenseful plot.
You can check spikytv.com again soon for more Freelance news, previews, and summaries.
Is LAST DAYS Based on a True Story? The Tragic Fate of John Allen Chau
