Ten films that influenced Louis Paxton’s ’The Incomer’

With Louis Paxton’s The Incomer in theaters on September 25, the director shares a list of 10 films that influenced his new comedy. Read more for his accompanying notes for each pick. Ravenous This is one of my favorite films. The tonal balance between comedy and horror is truly unique, as is Robert Carlyle’s performance as Colqhoun. I love how gnarly it is, too. The main influence on The Incomer, however, was the score—Damon Albarn and Michael Nyman’s work is beautiful, eccentric, and foreboding. Composer Tom Kingston and I referenced it early on, utilizing a similar mix of looped folk instruments and a classical orchestra, though we leaned exclusively into Scottish folk instruments and Gaelic vocals. Step Brothers I grew up on SNL comedies and particularly love the work of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. Step Brotherstypifies the Ferrell "manchild" trope and pairs him perfectly with John C. Reilly as adolescent stepbrothers. The siblings in The Incomer were always meant to be stuck in a state of arrested development after their parents left. Step Brothers perfected the "adults acting as childlike siblings" dynamic so brilliantly that I often referenced it comedically, even if not visually or tonally. Hunt for the Wilderpeople We referenced the early work of Taika Waititi a lot when pitching this film. To me, his early films proved that you can have a hyper-specific voice—in his case, a distinctly New Zealand, Māori perspective—and still create stories with universal appeal. I wanted to do that with The Incomer: to tell an authentically and uniquely Scottish story that wasn’t parochial or exclusive, but accessible no matter where you come from. Dogtooth I’m a huge fan of Yorgos Lanthimos’ work. Out of all the influences on The Incomer, Dogtooth might seem like the closest in terms of setup, with a pair of lead siblings being brainwashed by their parents and taught to fear the outside world. After having the initial idea for The Incomer, it was the obvious first film to watch for reference—but because the setups were so similar, it actually pushed me to think about what would make The Incomer unique. Yorgos’ films are entirely his own, which forced me to dig into what I could bring to The Incomer that was uniquely mine. Edward Scissorhands This is one of my all-time favorite films. The mix of off-beat comedy and dark fairytale is so special, striking a brilliant balance between a dark undertone and a tremendous amount of heart while still feeling like a family movie. When writing The Incomer, I thought a lot about the family films I grew up with—movies that felt special because they snuck emotionally challenging themes and risqué humor into an otherwise family-friendly frame. I wanted to channel that. The Incomer also shares a storybook framing device with Edward Scissorhands: the film unfolds as if we’re being told one of Isla’s tales, much like Winona Ryder’s character telling the story of Edward to her grandchild. There Will Be Blood This one may not seem obvious in its influence on The Incomer, but in our approach to cinematography, DOP Pat Golan and I referenced Paul Thomas Anderson more than any other filmmaker. While The Incomer is set in the present day, it functions in many ways like a period film—the isle has no electricity, relying entirely on oil and candlelight. Period cinema was our main visual touchstone, and I think There Will Be Blood is one of the most beautiful period films ever made. The main lesson we took from PTA was to let fewer shots work harder. We also resisted shooting it like a traditional comedy; though the film is overtly funny, we opted for a grounded, naturalistic color palette. We felt that pushing the visuals too far toward comedy would feel overwhelming and ultimately undercut the humor. Predator Possibly my favorite film (though it shifts regularly between this and about a dozen others). Watching a VHS copy of this taped off the telly was life-changing for me as a wee boy. There’s a Predator joke in The Incomer, beautifully delivered by comedian Neil Bratchpiece (who is also a major fan of the movie). You can also see its influence in the third act when the siblings start picking off Roz’s henchmen—even Sandy gets his own "over here" moment as a tiny man with bananas. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring We reference these films heavily in the script because Daniel is obsessed with them—so much so that he claims to have written them himself. I wanted to show how storytelling serves as a vital bridge for human connection. Isla and Sandy rely on oral storytelling for entertainment and to make sense of their history, so I wanted Daniel to bring a iconic mainland myth with him; LOTR was perfect because it’s so ubiquitous and beloved. (Plus, since Domhnall was in Star Wars and Harry Potter, referencing either of those franchises would have felt a bit too meta!) Pan's Labyrinth Guillermo del Toro is among my favorite filmmakers, and Pan’s Labyrinth is the gold standard for using a dark fairytale to explore deep psychological trauma. This was something I was keen to lean into in The Incomer, where Isla uses folktales to process the difficult aspects of her upbringing and heritage. I love monsters, and Del Toro does them better than anyone; I often drew on his creature design philosophy when conceiving the Fin Man. Monty Python and the Holy Grail One of my earliest memories of a comedy movie, this film completely shaped my taste for absurd, playful humor. It’s my favorite Monty Python project for its sheer anarchy and messiness. It’s also wonderfully British in the way it celebrates the uniquely rubbish and banal. Its influence on The Incomer is clearest during the bird attack scene, where I heavily referenced the infamous killer rabbit attack.