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iHorror Interviews ‘Hereditary’ Star, Alex Wolff

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Hereditary has opened to a massive success at the box office this past weekend and considerable buzz surrounding the scary genre hit. Recently, we spoke with Alex Wolff, who plays the eldest son caught in the madness striking his family. Discussing all things Hereditary, horror, and beyond with the actor.

iHorror: What is your name and the name of your character?

Alex Wolff: Alex Wolff, and Peter Graham is the name of the character.

IH: What was your reaction when you first read the script for Hereditary?

AW: I mean, you know… I was super upset by it. Super visceral. My mom walked in at the end of me reading the script and I screamed out loud and was like “Oh shit!” because it was really scary and I was freaked out because I thought I was alone.

IH: What attracted you to the project?

AW: I’m super into A24. I think that they’re amazing and that was the first thing. Then and I was very moved by the story, then I met Ari [Aster] and was very moved by him as a person and as a combination.

IH: What was it like working with Ari Aster, the director?

AW: Amazing. He’s the best. He’s a genius. He really is. He simultaneously knows exactly how to work with actors and talk to them in a way that’s super respectful and he’s super excited by you being free and being loose and all those things. While at the exact same time he’s an unbelievable person with a camera. I mean, he just moves in such an interesting, unique, disturbing way.

IH: How did you connect with the rest of the cast, acting as a family?

AW: Well, it’s a pretty dysfunctional family so I think we connected better than we do in the film!

IH: How would you define your character, Peter Graham?

AW: I think he is a young man who is trying his hardest to repress all the things that are going on with his family and his life. He’s been put in a situation where something extremely tragic happens and he’s doing his best to cope with it but slowly, his sense of reality and his sense of emotional comfort and stability deteriorates and just falls to pieces.

IH: And how did you prepare for this role?

AW: You know, I just read the script a bunch and I tried to get myself in that spot. In that place of… emotional anarchy and kind fo stayed there for as long as I could.

IH: What do you think is it that makes Hereditary so scary?

AW: Probably that the characters are so well drawn. So three-dimensional and so nuanced. I think it makes it so that when the horror finally does come, you can care about these characters enough that every single thing that happens to them, which happens to be the most disturbing shit in the whole world, every single thing that happens to them feels like it’s happening to your own family or it’s happening to characters you care about and so it really messes with your head.

IH: Personally, do you have any favorite horror movies?

AW: Yeah. Probably my favorite is Rosemary’s Baby. But I see every horror movie, I love European horror movies a lot and not to sound pretentious, but I think some of them are just better. But, like recently I love this movie Goodnight Mommy, and that movie’s amazing. I love The Babadook, The Witch, which A24 also did. It was amazing. I think the original Halloween is pretty amazing. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is great. I love Ti West, who does amazing movies. Like he did this one called The House Of The Devil which might be my favorite of all time and The Sacrament, one of his other movies that is also fantastic. That guy really knows what he’s doing.

IH: Do you have any upcoming projects you’d like to talk about?

AW: I wrote, directed, and starred in this movie, my first feature called The Cat And The Moon. That’ll, I think come out soon. I have some other movies, too that are coming out. And I had a movie just come out called The House Of Tomorrow. It’s in theaters. And a movie called Stella’s Last Weekend. Got a lot coming up, and Cat And The Moon is probably the one I’m most excited about.

IH: Is there anything you can tell us about the story?

AW: Cat And The Moon‘s about a young man who’s 17 who is forced to go live in New York while his mom is treated at a rehab facility because his dad died awhile ago. While he’s in New York he has to stay with the only person who can take care of him, who is his dad’s old bandmate. While he’s there he meets these kids who take him under their wing and it’s like basically watching a young man sort of be confronted with the reality of his dad’s pretty tragic death and dealing with that through all this stuff going on in his life.

IH: What do you think people’s reactions will be to Hereditary?

AW: Hopefully, they’ll be scared shitless and hopefully they’ll be deeply upset by it and hopefully they will never recover. And I hope they’re upset for the rest of their lives.

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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