actually met Dreama Walker while I was covering the Television Critics Association press tour last month, at a party for her show “Don’t Trust the B—- In Apt. 23.” She was so nice, she remembered me by name and said hi at another ABC party later in the week. Now we got to talk about her movie Compliance, which I’d followed since the Sundance Film Festival this year, where it became legendary for angry Q&As with hostile, shocked audiences. Walker plays Becky, a fast food employee who is forced to undergo an invasive search by a man impersonating a police officer on the phone. It is based on true incidents that happened multiple times in different fast food restaurants. Walker spoiled one of the more shocking elements [SPOILER WARNING], but I’m leaving it in because it’s so shocking and an important discussion (and you can read the real case files, it’s all in there and more).

CraveOnline: Were you able to shoot Compliance in chronological order?

Dreama Walker: No, we did not shoot this in chronological order. We did the scenes that actually took place outside in the restaurant in an actual restaurant, and then we had a studio for the scenes that took place inside the office

For the office scenes, were you able to go in order of escalation?

Not too much, but a little bit.

Continue reading the complete interview at the source

I have compiled a list of Compliance reviews with excerpts below. There are more reviews out there so be sure to check them out and go watch Compliance in select theatres!

But on an intimate level these ideas can still prove shocking or unacceptable, as they do in “Compliance,” a nail-biting thriller from indie writer-director Craig Zobel that has been dividing, energizing and alienating audiences since its Sundance premiere earlier this year.

On one level “Compliance” dramatizes a Milgram-like scenario, but more importantly it acts out a psychological experiment of its own, right there in the theater.

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The story inevitably goes down a darker, downward spiral. Without knowing the real events, it would be hard to take it seriously. There are a few moments when the caller makes requests that are blatantly wacky. Sure, you probably would assume you would act differently in that situation. But, Zobel is calling attention to those who act with unwavering respect to authority.

If someone would have told me that a movie which centers on a prank call that leads to sexual abuse could be thrilling, I would be first in line to call bullshit. However, Zobel has delivered a tale that is truly unique and will surely lead to several post-film conversations.

Compliance may be a one-trick story, but this is a film that you have to watch – just to appreciate the solid acting performances and Zobel’s plain, pragmatic direction.

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Compliance’s underlying humanism and political conscience lift it beyond being a macho endurance test.

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An uncomfortable, fascinating film about the corruptive power of suggestion, Compliance is set within the unlikely cinematographic confines of a fast-food joint — and will make you pause for thought the next time you ask for extra pickles with your burger. Inspired by a true story, it caused a minor uproar when it premiered at Sundance earlier this year.

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Beyond that, Zobel has created a tale that will leave audiences angry if not downright nauseated by journey’s end. His message — that if we aren’t prepared to question authority, we risk losing our dignity as human beings — could not be more timely.

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Then she receives a fateful phone call. It is the police, she is told, and they have received a complaint about one of her cashiers stealing money from a woman’s purse. Becky (Dreama Walker, equally great) is summoned into her office, but swears she didn’t do anything wrong.

The police have been following Becky as part of a larger investigation, Sandra is informed, and “Officer Daniels” (Pat Healy) has her manager on the other line. He also speaks to Becky, pushing her to “just be straight with me,” despite her protests. He asks Sandra to go through Becky’s pockets, then to search her purse.

Zobel does an impressive job of capturing the tension of the situation. Filmed in close range, with lots of reaction shots, the scene becomes a three-way tug of war, with the voice on the other end of the line pulling the most weight.

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Compliance (Craig Zobel) is a tightly wound thriller that explores the banality of evil – complete with a drive-thru. Inspired by true events, the film is set in a fast food restaurant that becomes a panopticon-like prison when a mystery caller claiming to be a cop gets the manager (Ann Dowd) to detain Becky (Dreama Walker), a young female employee. The film soon takes us into the dark corners of the psyche, raising questions of obedience and free will. It’s genius is its focus on the crime rather than the investigation, forcing us to sit through (and become implicated in) Becky’s detention and eventual sexual assault. While the conclusion feels rushed, failing to delve into a deeper critique of contemporary American society, Walker and Dowd’s performances ground the film in a complex moral ambiguity that’s wisely left unresolved.

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With a slow, relentless buildup focused on sexual humiliation, Compliance intensifies the “requests” put on Sandra, and eventually other employees, to behave immorally in the name of cooperation. And the viewer too is complicit in the exploitation, awash in mixed emotions of titillation, shame, and outrage as we’re invited to ogle a pretty young woman who is powerless and (literally) naked for much of the ordeal. (Dowd and Walker are terrific.) Zobel shoots his queasy little psych test with I’m-just-the-messenger documentary neutrality, challenging as he goes: Do you want to look away now? How about now? Will you walk out?

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Perhaps no horror-movie heroine has gone through as grueling an experience as Becky, the fast-food counter girl played by Dreama Walker in the new psychological thriller COMPLIANCE. Best known for her part in this year’s well-receive sitcom DON’T TRUST THE B—- IN APARTMENT 23, Walker gives a brave and heart-wrenching performance in the fact-based film.

Beginning its platform release today from Magnolia Pictures (see a list of playdates here and our review here), COMPLIANCE is set in an Ohio ChickWich restaurant where the supervisor, Sandra (Ann Dowd), receives a phone call from a man (THE INNKEEPERS’ Pat Healy) claiming to be a police officer, and that Becky has been accused of stealing from a customer’s purse. “Officer Daniels” asks Sandra to take Becky to a back room and search her for the allegedly pilfered money—just the first in a series of increasingly humiliating and shocking acts performed by Sandra and others at the behest of the authoritative-sounding voice on the phone. The result is the year’s most disturbing film, and a breakout role for Walker, who discussed it with FANGORIA.

FANGORIA: What were your first impressions when you read the COMPLIANCE script?

DREAMA WALKER: I was really excited that it was addressing an issue that happened in the news that I found to be very interesting, and I was glad somebody was tackling the subject, because the story had struck me as odd and fascinating and intriguing when it happened in 2004. I remember exactly when it happened; I was a senior in high school, and at the time I had never worked in a fast-food restaurant but I’d worked in retail, and I was particularly struck by the fact that as an employee, you could be taken advantage of like that in your workplace by your boss. I was also very happy that somebody like Craig Zobel was attached to it, and would do the story justice and not try to sensationalize it in any way.

Continue reading the complete interview at the source

Dreama Walker made a big impression on audiences this year in ABC’s “Don’t Trust the B—- In Apt. 23” as the fresh-faced ingénue new to the big city, bedeviled by her hedonistic, morals-free roommate (Krysten Ritter). But just before her big comedic break, the 26-year-old took on a harrowing role in writer-director Craig Zobel’s film “Compliance.”

Inspired by the disturbing real-life psychological hoaxes that plagued fast food chain restaurants and grocery stores in 2004, “Compliance” depicts a fictionalized but intensely realistic version of the chilling tableau that played out each time: a caller claiming to be a police detective calls the business and tells the supervisor that one of the female employees is suspected of theft and needs to be detained until the authorities arrive, instructing the manager and others present to perform a humiliating strip search that ultimately leads to even darker instruction.

Walker plays the teenage server targeted in the film’s increasingly harrowing scenario. It was a demanding role that required her to push herself in ways she never had before.

How did you get your head in the place it needed to be for this dark and taxing material?

Being there everyday in the small confines of this set that was constructed to look like an office and being in an apron and being naked every day and raising those stakes to myself. Allowing myself to really be frightened and to really be afraid for my freedom and life, essentially, was very taxing – every day. Coming home and decompressing and kind of letting all that out was a lot more difficult than it normally is.

Continue reading the complete interview at the source

On August 8th Dreama attended the 11th Annual InStyle Summer Soirée with her boyfriend in Los Angeles. Her Apartment 23 co-star James van der Beek was in attendance as well.

For now I have added 4 MQ pictures to the gallery. Enjoy!

If you are lucky enough to live in the UK or Germany you will be able to buy Vamperifica on DVD and Blu-Ray very soon! The film will be released in Germany on August 7th and on August 20th in the UK. I haven’t been able to find any information regarding bonus features so far but I will edit this post if or once I know. You can check out the DVD cover in the gallery.

I will add screencaptures of the film (and possible bonus features) as soon as possible. Make sure to pick up your own copy of Vamperifica through retailers such as Amazon!!

My apologies for the lack of updates in the recent weeks. I have been insanely busy with university and have just taken on a job for the summer so updates will most likely be slow for the next month as well but I will try my best to get the site up to date as soon as possible!

For now I have added 35 MQ pictures of Dreama attending the Disney ABC Television Group cocktail reception at the Summer TCAs on July 27. Dreama was wearing a gorgeous Lela Rose dress accessorized with Liv Haley earrings.