“Thy eye ... cast it from thee!”

For those not in the know, climbing the corporate ladder is not for the weak. Do you have what it takes to survive?

CORPORATE RETREAT (2026) - starring Odeya Rush, Alan Ruck, Kirby Johnson, Zión Moreno, Tyler Alvarez, Benjamin Norris, Ashton Sanders, Sasha Lane, Ellen Toland, Elias Kacavas and Rosanna Arquette - is a savage horror–dark comedy that sends a group of ambitious young executives on a luxury team-building escape — only to strip it down into a brutal, blood-soaked fight for survival.

It’s both vicious satire and a survival nightmare where nobody’s performance review is safe.

I sat down with director Aaron Fisher and discussed everything about the movie, but began by asking when he began writing the script for Corporate Retreat, which is notably Saw-imbibed, was it always titled that and how much did it change to what you eventually began filming?

“The title was always Corporate Retreat. I think the idea of corporate retreats is funny and a little scary. Who wants to feign interest in their colleagues for several days straight?”

For sure. Now, did you purposely set out to cast a young, relatively unknown core of actors (outside of Ruck, Arquette and Rush) for the bulk of the cast, or did you have more known names possibly in mind?

“I tried to put together the best ensemble of actors possible. I got very lucky because I had such a great cast. Producer Uri Singer was especially helpful in this regard.”

With regard big names, the very early death of Rosanna was shocking, albeit in a Wait, WTF moment, so why did you need a big named actor for such a short amount of screen time?

“No comment!”

Okey dokey. Well, chock full of gratuitous gore, absurd dark humor and moments of absolutely sickening visuals, personally, I loved every second of it but has anyone you respect since said that certain elements of it were a little too much for even them to visually swallow?!

“I have a good friend who absolutely couldn’t watch parts of the film that were extremely gory. But he loved the film.”

And with that in mind, and just in case you don’t mention it (as the poster gives it away anyway), let’s talk about the whole eye removal scenes! Quite easily one of the top three most disturbing horror scenes that I have ever watched (and through my fingers held up to the screen, no less), did any of the actors have a harder time than the others in acting it out (given how absolutely brutal and grotesque it was?)

“The actors were all prepared to act it out. Working with our brilliant special effects make up person Gary, it was all done very safely and with the actors’ comfort in mind.”

Also, they all seemed to go straight to their left eyes. Was there a reason that you kept with that eye for everyone?

“Arthur wants it that way, as he says.”

And with those scenes in mind, we saw four (4) removals ... maybe two too many, no?!

“I set out to do something I’ve never seen before. I’ve never seen that with my own eyes, have you?”

I have not, no! But could you yourself, in real life, have ever done that to save your life at that time?

“It’s a good question. I’m really not sure. But the tone of the film is goofy and absurd. So it made sense in the story that most of the participants in this fake Corporate Retreat would try to save themselves.”

My favorite artistic scene was actually the one where Ginger is in the pool under Ruck’s body whilst the two girls fire bullets at her (Ruck’s body being her shield). It just looked so damn cinematically cool. So how was that filmed?

“We had an underwater camera operator filming the action. We had a stunt double floating face down in the pool with squibs attached to his back that blew up. We had fake blood shooting out into the water. The stunt coordinators also fired marbles into the water around the body to make it look like bullets were really raining down.”

OK, and aside from those scenes, which is your proudest written/filmed moment from the film that when you watched it back made you smile?

“Perhaps it’s when Arthur makes his triumphant return to the house to participate in the corporate retreat.”

Being that your brother was the cinematographer for the film, what was the hardest scene to film for you both (to get right, before you did and why?) and did you always agree on what angles to film at for some scenes?

“My brother and I work very well together. The only times we disagree about something is over silly things that only siblings would argue about.”

How much of what was filmed was practical effects and makeup vs. VFX after the fact?

“Ninety nine percent of the gore was done practically. Most of the VFX were used to hide or replace things on the screen. For example, we didn’t have an actual working fireplace, we just put a flashing light there. In post-production, we turned the flashing light into a real fire. Also every time Alan Ruck appears on the TV screen that’s added in post-production with VFX. The actors never actually spoke to Alan Ruck in those scenes. We just told the actors where Arthur’s face would be for their eyelines.”

How long did the shoot take from start to finish and did you film all the gateways in order?

“We shot the gateways mostly in order but not entirely. We filmed 20 days over a month. So five days a week were spent actually filming. But then there was a lot of prep beforehand and then of course shutting down after we finished filming.”

Indeed, were there always seven (7) Energy Gateways and how did you come up with them all? What research did you do?

“Seven is a magic number in storytelling, so I went with seven gateways.”

In reflection, now all the dust has settled, and obviously having watched it at some point by now, is there anything about it that if you had had more time/money you would have liked to have changed, perhaps?

“No comment!”

Okey dokey. If you had to describe the movie in just five (5) words or so, what would they be?

“Ridiculous in the best way possible!”

Have you ever been on a Corporate Retreat of any kind before this movie?

“I haven’t! The closest thing to it is summer camp growing up.”

Lastly, what’s next for you?

“I’m working on a psychological thriller/sci-fi film, but it’s too early to say anything about it yet!”

If you would like to win an AUTOGRAPHED Corporate Retreat movie poster signed by director Aaron Fisher, just answer this question about the movie itself: Which actor is the one who says “This is the worst corporate retreat that I’ve ever been on?”

Send us your answers (one entry per email address only) and if you’re correct you’ll be in the running to win an AUTOGRAPHED Corporate Retreat movie poster by director Aaron Fisher!

Just send us an email before December 1st, 2026 with your answer and the subject title CONTEST: CORPORATE RETREAT SIGNED POSTERs to: exclusivemagazine@flash.net

Corporate Retreat | Official Trailer