(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE FLY")
GEENA DAVIS: (As Veronica Quaife) Be afraid. Be very afraid.
SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
That iconic line from the 1986 film "The Fly" gets at both the promise and peril of horror movies. We go see them to be frightened. We're let down when we're not, and sometimes we are haunted for years, maybe forever, when a movie really scares us to our core. So for this week's Cineplexity movie conversation, with Halloween around the corner, we have two NPR horror fans with us to explain the draw of these films and to tell us which horror movies scare the daylights out of them. Gabriel Sánchez and Brianna Scott are both producers for ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. Hi, Gabe. Hi, Bri.
GABRIEL SÁNCHEZ, BYLINE: (Imitating Jack Torrance) Here's Johnny.
BRIANNA SCOTT, BYLINE: Oh, my God. Of course, a "Shining" reference.
PFEIFFER: Oh, we're starting this way.
SCOTT: Starting strong (inaudible).
PFEIFFER: All right, this is so not my genre. I do not like to pay to be scared. I don't want to buy a movie ticket and then be frightened to death. So you guys tell me why you like this. Bri, you start off. What about these appeals to you?
SCOTT: I mean, I've watched horror movies from a very young age. I mean, my mom told me that she did watch them while I was in the womb. So, you know, what keeps me coming back from embryo to now (laughter) is chasing those tense, anxious, excited feelings that you get when you watch a horror movie. And for anyone who has seen the movie that came out earlier this year, "Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma," much like Hannah Einbinder's character in that movie, I am a bit of a freak who wants to be in the middle of a horror movie and viscerally feel what these characters are going through. And I want to be in all the movies (ph).
PFEIFFER: (Laughter) You get a good adrenaline rush from the heart palpitations...
SCOTT: Yeah.
PFEIFFER: ...Unlike me, who hates that.
SCOTT: Yes, I want to be in all of the movies, the classics like "Nightmare On Elm Street." I want to go up against Freddy Krueger. The original "Alien," I want to be on that spaceship with Sigourney Weaver. "The Shining," I want to swing an axe. Put me in them.
PFEIFFER: And Gabe, you?
SÁNCHEZ: I think also, we have to kind of break it down. I feel like a good horror film is both a good balance of drama - the terror, if you will - and comedy, lightness. You got to, like, have an equal balance. You can't just, like, scare people for two hours straight. Like, that's just kind of, you know, impossible.
PFEIFFER: (Laughter).
SÁNCHEZ: There's also some, like, you know, misdirection sometimes 'cause you have those jumpscares - right? - where something's happening and the tensity, it's happening, then, boom, right? But also, you have those, like, fake outs where, like in "Halloween" or in other horror films where something is building tension, and it's not what you think. There's the film "The Conjuring," where this house is just full of spirits in every room, and they're doing all kinds of things. And one of the characters is looking at this one tool.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC BOX PLAYING)
SÁNCHEZ: And boom. Oh, it's just her daughter, right? And just, hi, Mommy, you know?
(LAUGHTER)
SÁNCHEZ: And, you know, like, even those things are like, wow. Like, you know, you got to have those little bits of thrill in there. And sometimes it's not just the film in the entirety. Sometimes it's - like Bri said, "Nightmare On Elm Street," the dream girls, right?
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, chanting) One, two, Freddy's coming for you. Three, four, better lock your door.
SÁNCHEZ: And there's been, like, 11 different...
SCOTT: (Chanting) One, two, Freddy's coming for you.
It's creepy.
(LAUGHTER)
PFEIFFER: Oh, I - that bothers me, even to hear you say that in a certain way. Ugh.
SÁNCHEZ: (Chanting) Nine, 10, never sleep again.
PFEIFFER: Oh, horrible.
SÁNCHEZ: Right? Like, those things, they stay with you. And - how will they scare me next? - is, like, why you go back.
PFEIFFER: Even though each of you have mentioned some movies already, would you each name a few that keep scaring you when you rewatch them, even though you've watched them before and you know what's coming. Bri?
SCOTT: I mean, I just spoke about how I want to be in the middle of a horror movie, but there are a few that I absolutely do not want to experience. And one of them is "The Exorcist." What's happening to Regan, this 12-year-old girl that's being possessed by some demonic entity in hell, it's just so disturbing to watch.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE EXORCIST")
MERCEDES MCCAMBRIDGE: (As Demon) What an excellent day for an exorcism.
SCOTT: And I actually watched that as an adult. I did not watch that as a child. That was one that was, like, introduced to me, like, just a few years ago. And, you know, I remember being afraid to go to sleep after I watched it, not because I thought that I was going to, you know, be possessed by some sort of, you know, demon, but I was imagining the horror that it would be to feel your body and your mind being taken over, but, like, still deep down you're aware. And I was just like, ooh, that feels a little too real in some ways. That's a classic. I'll add one more. Still speaking about possession, I'm thinking about "Evil Dead," 2013, which I put on randomly in high school, not at all knowing what I was going to get into.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "EVIL DEAD")
ELLEN SANDWEISS AND JANE LEVY: (As Cheryl and Mia) You're all going to die tonight.
SCOTT: It's an entry in the larger "Evil Dead" franchise that is so gnarly gore-wise, and I covered my eyes with my hands throughout, like, the entire movie. And yeah, I mean, I'm not really superstitious too much, but I feel like if I come across a book that's called "The Book Of The Dead" and every word in it is clearly written with blood, I'm not going to say those words out loud. No, thank you.
PFEIFFER: And Gabe?
SÁNCHEZ: It's interesting that there's this relationship between a lot of slasher films and babysitters because I grew up in the era of 1980s VHS rentals and a babysitter and you on, you know, spooky night watching movies. And one that always...
PFEIFFER: And your parents wouldn't want you to be watching that movie.
SÁNCHEZ: Never in a million years.
PFEIFFER: And the babysitter lets you.
SCOTT: (Laughter).
SÁNCHEZ: Never in a million years, right? But the 1988 film "Child's Play" - I think most people just reference it as "Chucky." But it's that film where there's a doll that comes to life, and that doll comes to life to kill. And watching this rated R film at about, like, 8 years old, I was still convinced that most dolls are alive. Like, I don't trust anything with eyeballs, like, sitting anywhere.
SCOTT: (Laughter).
SÁNCHEZ: In "Chucky" there's, like, again, building the tension - right? - that great music, just getting to that point and where the mom looks at the back of Chucky and there's no batteries, and...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CHILD'S PLAY")
CATHERINE HICKS: (As Karen Barclay) Oh, my God.
BRAD DOURIF: (As Chucky) Hi. I'm Chucky. Want to play?
HICKS: (As Karen Barclay, screaming).
SÁNCHEZ: Right? And it was like, oh.
PFEIFFER: (Laughter).
SCOTT: I assume your son doesn't have any tall - dolls, then, in the house (laughter).
SÁNCHEZ: They're all looking...
PFEIFFER: Well (ph)...
SÁNCHEZ: They're all facing away and downstairs or something.
SCOTT: (Laughter).
PFEIFFER: But, you know, that's - it's interesting you mentioned Gabe's son, who you often share adorable pictures of him at work, and he's so cute. But as a father, do you feel like you need to protect him from these, unlike the babysitter with you? Or how do you decide, I'm going to share Dad's interest with my kid, or my kid's not ready for that yet?
SÁNCHEZ: Experiencing it as a person firsthand, seeing those kind of traumatic scenes, I feel like it gives me some of my creativity and ability to kind of, like, think, like, OK, yeah, maybe a human face can be a pizza, you know, melted into the pizza box. But do I want my 2-year-old or 6-year-old, 8-year-old - maybe I'd like to have - again, I think this is, like, a conversation that you should probably have with your children to know when they're ready for this kind of thing. Introduce something that's nice, like "Casper The Friendly Ghost," I think, you know? That's like a soft entryway.
(LAUGHTER)
SÁNCHEZ: It's breaking into that world but not to the extreme.
SCOTT: He's otherworldly, you're, you know, getting accustomed to death. I get it.
PFEIFFER: All right. Speaking of nice, what horror movie would each of you recommend for someone who - Halloween's coming. They want to stay with the theme. They want to be a little scared but not absolutely terrified. Any recommendations?
SCOTT: So actually, I know that, you know, Sacha you said, you know, maybe we should recommend something that isn't too much, but you know what? I'm going to recommend "Hellraiser."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "HELLRAISER")
DOUG BRADLEY: (As Lead Cenobite) The box - you opened it. We came.
SCOTT: It's this film about these creatures from hell that, when unleashed, basically want you to experience great pain and great pleasure at the same time. I have such a deep appreciation for that movie when it comes to the storytelling and the amazing, disgusting practical effects. I mean, and it's so creepy, intense and lustful. It's a very daring movie. And it has less traditional scares. Like, if you don't want, like, jumpscares, you're not going to get that with this, but I do think that you will be intrigued and that you will not be able to look away. And in the words of Pinhead, we have such sights to show you. And you will definitely see them in this movie.
PFEIFFER: And, Gabe, you mentioned "Casper," but, Gabe, any other recommendations by you?
SÁNCHEZ: I really think that, you know, you should take the time to watch "Psycho" and then "Halloween." You have the mother-daughter duo with Janet Leigh in the 1960 film "Psycho" and Jamie Lee Curtis in the 1978 film "Halloween."
PFEIFFER: You consider those horror-light for people who don't want to be too terrified?
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PSYCHO")
JANET LEIGH: (As Marion Crane, screaming).
SÁNCHEZ: I mean, unless you were alive watching it in the theaters in, like, 1960, yeah.
SCOTT: (Laughter).
SÁNCHEZ: "Psycho" is pretty light.
(LAUGHTER)
SÁNCHEZ: But, I mean, "Halloween" is the next step up.
PFEIFFER: Could all be relative, depending on people's tolerance for horror.
SÁNCHEZ: Your entry point, yeah.
PFEIFFER: That is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED producers Gabriel Sánchez and Brianna Scott. Thank you, guys.
SÁNCHEZ: Thank you.
SCOTT: Happy Halloween.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN CARPENTER'S "HALLOWEEN THEME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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