There aren't many better ways to beat the summer heat (or dodge the wildfire smoke) than stepping into the air-conditioned bliss of a movie theater. On Sunday evening, that's exactly what I did—I snagged a couple of seats (row G, primo!) and let "Office Killer," a criminally underseen 1997 horror comedy about a copy editor who channels infamous serial killer Ed Gein after budget cuts at her B2B magazine force her to start working at home, wash over me.
It's prescient, it's gruesome, it's deliriously funny, and it stars Carol Kane, Molly Ringwald, Jean Tripplehorn and a swoony pre-"Sopranos" Michael Imperioli, all directed by the legendary photographer Cindy Sherman. If you weren't there, you missed out.
But luckily, the screening was the kickoff event for Metrograph's retrospective in honor of Killer Films, the NYC indie film production company founded thirty years ago, as of Thursday. When I spoke with co-presidents and prolific producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, Vachon noted that Killer Films is "a Leo"—although, she and Koffler joked, they'd need to ask their kids exactly what that means. Koffler and Vachon met while working on indie film sets in the early 90s—movies like Harmony Korine's "Kids," and Mary Harron's "I Shot Andy Warhol." Eventually, the two began developing scripts together, and formed a professional connection that's bloomed into a lifelong creative partnership, producing everything from cult classics to Oscar-winning hits. (Seriously, just look at their IMDb page.)
"It started to become clear to both of us that we had both had really good taste, but it wasn't identical, and that we were alike enough in ways that mattered and different enough in ways that mattered too, so it's just been that way ever since," Vachon said.
Now, New Yorkers are lucky enough to be able to enjoy the fruits of their partnership in theaters, with screenings from now until August 17, like Janicza Bravo's candy-colored stripper odyssey "Zola," Todd Solondz's holy fuck, you couldn't make this today dark comedy "Happiness," Todd Haynes's Technicolor love letter "Far From Heaven," and the effervescent "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," plus a handful Q&As with the filmmakers after the show.
I spoke with Koffler and Vachon about what's changed—and what's stayed the same—over the past three decades of indie filmmaking in New York City, what they're excited to see on the big screen, and who they'd like to work with next.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.