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Interview: Milly Shapiro on Her Breakout Role in ‘Hereditary’

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Milly Shapiro has been having the time of her life since she landed the role of Charlie in Hereditary.

Though she’s had a serious background in theater and stage work, the film was her first, and she sat down with iHorror recently to chat about her experiences making the film and the doors that are opening in the wake of its success.

**Author’s Note: The following interview contains spoilers for Hereditary. You have been warned!

“I didn’t think I would actually make the transition from stage to film until much later,” the actress explained. “because it’s very hard for theater actors to transition to film. When it happened I was so excited. It’s always been my dream to be in a horror film.”

The actress, who recalled telling her mother she’d do whatever it took to be in the film including cutting her head off for real if she needed to, was overjoyed when she got the call to let her know she’d been cast.

Her character, Charlie, was different than anyone she’d ever played before, but the young actress had other worries as well, as she approached the film. Those worries were named Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, and Alex Wolff.

“I was really excited because I was getting to work with all of these amazing actors but I was also really nervous because I was a noob so I didn’t really know what to expect or think,” Shapiro laughed. “They were all really nice and welcoming, though, and that took the nerves away.”

And then there was the character of Charlie, herself, to consider. Of all the characters in the film, Charlie was perhaps the most enigmatic, and Shapiro was eager to discuss her method of building Charlie in her mind and how she came to understand her throughout filming.

“I use the Stella Adler method of acting which means that I create the character outside of myself and when the director calls action, I could step into character and when he says ‘cut’ I can flip the switch and step right back out,” Shapiro explained. “[Charlie] doesn’t think the same way everyone else does. She works a lot on natural instinct so really, creating the character was much harder than letting her go.”

Director Ari Aster pulled off a bit of a coup in the advertising campaign for Hereditary using misdirection so that people watching the trailers thought Charlie was the central focus of the film when in fact, she dies barely halfway into its run time. It was a move worthy of Hitchcock, himself, and Shapiro says watching audience reactions to her untimely death has been some of the most fun she’s had in the process.

“My best screening experience was the second screening at Sundance,” she said. “We were all in these sort of bleachers watching the film and I could hear people dropping things and jumping in their seats and it was so much fun! That was part of Ari’s brilliance, though, because you think that Charlie is the focus and then when she dies you’re not sure where to look.”

Still, experiencing the audience reactions hasn’t quite gotten the actress over her reluctance to watch herself on the big screen.

“I hate watching myself,” she laughed. “I love the acting part, but when it comes to the watching part I’m like, ‘No, thank you!'”

People have begun recognizing her when she’s out and about with family, now, and that’s added a whole new layer of excitement and admitted awkwardness on the actress’ part when fans approach her. She says it’s a bit of a shock, but mostly because the film wasn’t, in the beginning, meant to be a big release.

“When I first signed on it was a small indie film, and no one knew if many people would see it at all or how big it would end up being,” Shapiro said. “So it’s always a bit funny now that people approach me about it and some will say ‘Aren’t you the girl in that horror movie’ but others are like ‘You look like that girl in that horror movie’ and I just sort of laugh and reply, ‘Yeah I do look like her!'”

She loves the experience, though, and she wants everyone to know that it’s perfectly safe to approach!

“I promise they won’t have a pigeon head thrown at them or anything like that,” she said, once again sharing her exuberant and infectious laugh with me.

Hereditary releases on Blu Ray and DVD today, and is also available on digital and Video on Demand! Check out the trailer below and keep your eyes peeled for Shapiro in the future. The actress says she has other offers rolling in and she’s ready for the next big move.

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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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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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