News

Horror Pride Month: Actor Michael James Daly

Published

5 years ago

June 18, 2019

Michael James Daly entered the world as an unexpected and happy addition to his family which, oddly enough, set him up as a horror fan from a very early age.

With much older brothers and sisters who were already established horror movie buffs, he ended up watching the movies they watched and at the ripe young age of six or seven, he was introduced to the movie that would, in many ways, change his life.

“I distinctly remember watching Friday the 13th Part 2 with my older sister and immediately being obsessed with horror movies,” the actor recalled in a recent interview for iHorror’s Horror Pride Month. “I was one of those guys who was just gay from the get-go, and there was something about those badass women like Amy Steel. They were my idols.”

It wasn’t a passing fad for the actor, and he admits that as he got older it was the lessons that he learned from those final girls that helped him navigate the bullying that is sadly almost inevitable for an overweight gay kid in as they grow into adulthood.

“In high school, I weighed 300 pounds and I was gay and even though I wasn’t out, I think it was pretty clear to everyone that I was gay,” he explained. “I would walk down the hall with this image of Nancy [from A Nightmare on Elm Street] in my head. That’s how I got through the hallways. I would imagine them and how they would handle it.”

He also recalls Lisa Wilcox’s Alice in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 and her mind-over-matter mantra in those difficult situations, and it carried him right into his acting career.

Along the way, he says he’s also come to understand and appreciate some of the films that he initially didn’t connect with when he saw them as a child. Films like The Exorcist and Carrie, for example, just took on more meaning because of the elevated level of acting.

Photo by Jenn Cady

“Watching Ellen Burstyn and seeing her method for bringing her character to life in The Exorcist is fascinating to me,” Daly said. “It’s one of my favorite movies, now. That’s also why I love watching Lili Taylor in The Conjuring. She’s amazing!”

Daly recently worked on a film with director Tommy Faircloth (Family Possessions) called A Nun’s Curse. On the set, he got to meet and work with Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp) which, he says, was a dream come true.

“It’s funny because I don’t think a lot of them realize the impact they had on young gay men,” he said, “and I was able to sort of pull her aside and tell her. They’ve gotten a lot of us through a lot of hard times.”

He also had the chance to play a role in Michelle Iannantuono’s Livescream, a film that’s been taking the indie festival circuit by storm for its inventiveness and the sort of claustrophobic terror it invokes.

In the film, a man by the name of Scott is a game streamer with a devoted following who finds his joy in the connections he’s made online. When a fan sends him a supposedly haunted game, he finds himself trapped in a web with his own life and the lives of his fans in peril.

“Michelle is incredible,” he said. “She designed all of those games in that film it was just amazing, but she’s also a really great director which is something every actor needs, regardless of how talented they are. I’ve seen films with Anthony Hopkins where I could tell there was no real direction behind the scenes. Michelle let me kind of play around in the role, but she knew what she needed and she got it.”

When it comes to queer representation in the horror genre, Daly, like so many I’ve spoken to in this series, laments the way that characters are being written when they’re included at all and he recalled a recent example.

“There was this movie I saw at a film festival recently,” he said. “About halfway through the film one of the characters was revealed to be gay, which was really cool. Then suddenly, even though he’d not been like this through the whole film, he was flamboyantly gay. They jumped right onto that stereotype.”

While this characterization is certainly not new–flamboyantly gay is about the only way many writers know how to handle a gay character–neither is the fact that it remains insulting, especially in an instance where just being outed suddenly changes a character completely.

Despite of and in some instances because of this, Daly continues to work, not only as an actor, but also writing scripts that better represent the queer community within the genre space.

“I’d like to get a script where I could be more myself,” he said. “In my daily life, I am somewhat more effeminate at times but I am also other things. And this script I’ve written expresses that.”

For more on Michael James Daly’s work, be sure to check out his IMDb page and stay tuned to iHorror for more Pride Month coverage.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Movies

‘The Strangers’ Invaded Coachella in Instagramable PR Stunt

Published

16 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Renny Harlin’s reboot of The Strangers isn’t coming out until May 17, but those murderous home invaders are making a pit stop at Coachella first.

In the latest Instagramable PR stunt, the studio behind the film decided to have the trio of masked intruders crash Coachella, a music festival that takes place for two weekends in Southern California.

This type of publicity began when Paramount did the same thing with their horror movie Smile in 2022. Their version had seemingly ordinary people in populated places look directly into a camera with an evil grin.

Harlin’s reboot is actually a trilogy with a more expansive world than that of the original.

“When setting out to remake The Strangers, we felt there was a bigger story to be told, which could be as powerful, chilling, and terrifying as the original and could really expand that world,” said producer Courtney Solomon. “Shooting this story as a trilogy allows us to create a hyperreal and terrifying character study. We’re fortunate to be joining forces with Madelaine Petsch, an amazing talent whose character is the driving force of this story.”

The movie follows a young couple (Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez) who “after their car breaks down in an eerie small town, are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive in The Strangers: Chapter 1 the chilling first entry of this upcoming horror feature film series.”

The Strangers: Chapter 1 opens in theaters on May 17.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Movies

‘Alien’ Returning to Theaters For a Limited Time

Published

17 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Timothy Rawles

It’s been 45 years since Ridley Scott’s Alien hit theaters and in celebration of that milestone, it is headed back to the big screen for a limited time. And what better day to do that than Alien Day on April 26?

It also works as a primer for the upcoming Fede Alvarez sequel Alien: Romulus opening on August 16. A special feature in which both Alvarez and Scott discuss the original sci-fi classic will be shown as a part of your theater admission. Take a look at the preview of that conversation below.

^{Fede Alvarez and Ridley Scott}

Back in 1979, the original trailer for Alien was kind of terrifying. Imagine sitting in front of a CRT TV (Cathode Ray Tube) at night and suddenly Jerry Goldsmith’s haunting score begins to play as a giant chicken egg starts to crack with beams of light bursting through the shell and the word “Alien” slowly forms in slanted all caps across the screen. To a twelve-year-old, it was a scary pre-bedtime experience, especially Goldsmith’s screaming electronic musical flourishes playing over scenes of the actual movie. Let the “Is it horror or sci-fi?” debate begin.

Alien became a pop culture phenomenon, complete with kid’s toys, a graphic novel, and an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It also inspired dioramas in wax museums and even a frightening setpiece at Walt Disney World in the now-defunct Great Movie Ride attraction.

_{Great Movie Ride}

The film stars Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, and John Hurt. It tells the tale of a futuristic crew of blue-collar workers suddenly awakened out of stasis to investigate an undecipherable distress signal coming from a nearby moon. They investigate the source of the signal and discover it’s a warning and not a cry for help. Unbeknownst to the crew, they have brought a giant space creature back on board which they find out in one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history.

It is said that Alvarez’s sequel will pay homage to the original film’s storytelling and set design.

_{Alien Romulus}

^{Alien (1979)}

The Alien theatrical re-release will take place on April 26. Pre-order your tickets and find out where Alien will screen at a theater near you.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

News

Home Depot’s 12-Foot Skeleton Returns with a New Friend, Plus New Life-Size Prop from Spirit Halloween

Published

19 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Cameron McFarland

Halloween is the greatest holiday of them all. However, every great holiday needs amazing props to go with it. Luckily for you, there are two new amazing props that have been released, which are sure to impress your neighbors and frighten any neighborhood children who are unfortunate enough to wander past your yard.

The first entry is the return of the Home Depot 12-foot skeleton prop. Home Depot has outdone themselves in the past. But this year the company is bringing bigger and better things to their Halloween prop lineup.

This year, the company unveiled its new and improved Skelly. But what is a giant skeleton without a loyal friend? Home Depot has also announced that they will release a five-foot tall skeleton dog prop to eternally keep Skelly company as he haunts your yard this spooky season.

This bony pooch will be five feet tall and seven feet long. The prop will also feature a posable mouth and LCD eyes with eight variable settings. Lance Allen, Home Depot’s merchant of decorative Holliday gear, had the following to say about this year’s lineup.

“This year we increased our realism within the animatronics category, created some impressive, licensed characters and even brought back some fan favorites. Overall, we are most proud of the quality and value we are able to bring to our customers with these pieces so they can continue to grow their collections.”

But what if giant skeletons just aren’t your thing? Well, Spirit Halloween has you covered with their giant life size Terror Dog replica. This massive prop has been ripped out of your nightmares to appear frighteningly on your lawn.

This prop weighs in at almost fifty pounds and features glowing red eyes that are sure to keep your yard safe from any toilet paper throwing hooligans. This iconic Ghostbusters nightmare is a must have for any fan of 80s horror. Or, anyone who loves all things spooky.