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[Interview] TIFF ’11: ‘You’re Next’s Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett, Actress Sharni Vinson!

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The thought of being terrorized in the safety of your own home will always rank right up as one of people’s biggest fears. Filmmakers are very aware of this since they’ve been dwelling into this terrifying concept time and time again with the never passé, home invasion subgenre. It’s been the perfect avenue for directors to showcase/show-off their technical craft. Some of my favorites have been Straw Dogs (the Peckinpah original, of course) Black Christmas (don’t you dare ask which one), Funny Games (both versions actually), Panic Room, Inside and the criminally underseen, Them.

At this year’s TIFF, we got two…that I’m aware of; Joel Schumacher’s Trespass and Adam Wingard’s You’re Next. In the past, my biggest issue with home invasion films was how a great deal of them couldn’t quite manage to sustain the tension and my interest for their entire running time. Most fizzle out before they even enter the third act. Director, Adam Wingard and writer, Simon Barrett, the duo behind one of last year’s biggest gems, A Horrible Way To Die, have managed to take this subgenre into fresh and exciting new areas with You’re Next. This is the type of film that begs to be experienced with a large audience. Its bold attempt to mix up horror and comedy at any given moment, gives this thriller an unpredictability and sense of unease since the viewer has no idea where he or she will be hit next. I had the opportunity to chat with Adam, Simon and their badass leading lady, Sharni Vinson.

You're Next

BD: Simon, you mentioned the Midnight Madness screening of Insidious inspired you to write something more commercial.

Simon Barrett: It wasn’t just coming to Midnight Madness and seeing how audience reacted to the films that was there. Coming directly from A Horrible Way To Die, which was quite successful and got great reviews… it was like this awesome career peak but we made a drama. A Horrible Way To Die builds to a bit of a climax and we all saw how people would start to respond to that like laughing, you know. It just excited us; the idea of making an entire movie that gratifies the audience. Also, we have a lot of respect for entertainment and our viewers. We are fans ourselves and we don’t like to be condescended to so we thought we could make this movie really fun but still be original and do something interesting. All you have to do is watch the movie with an audience to see why I wanted to make a commercial movie. It’s insanely gratifying to hear people laughing, shouting, screaming and jumping in their seats. I’m worried if anything that Adam and I will get addicted to it.

Adam Wingard: I think this film really kind of tests a new philosophy that I have and I think, Simon shares with me that if this movie is something that would have appealed to me when I was like 17 years old, that’s kind of like the ideal situation for me. When I think back to when I was in High School and if a movie was going to keep my interest, maybe it’s because I have ADD or whatever, if it was going to keep my interest, it has to move and be paced correctly. It’s got to be doing things in a way that I’ve never seen before. Above all, it’s always got to be moving forward, being entertaining and unpredictable.

Simon Barrett: The Midnight Madness audience is a perfect kind of barameter for whether or not you’re being entertaining because they’re extremely onboard with any film that delivers and will turn in a second on any film that doesn’t. I’ve seen it happen. This is my fourth year in Toronto and I’ve always spent most of my time in Midnight Madness section because that’s where obviously the films I like generally are. I have seen audiences basically rise to their feet and clapping at the end of the films and I also have seen them immediately start mocking a movie. We did set out to have this film in the Midnight Madness program. That was our imaginary deadline throughout this process; Toronto Midnight Madness, next year, let’s have a movie and make it a good one. Also, it was a good thing to keep in mind in general; “What do Midnight Madness audiences like?” They’re fairly savy viewers too and the problem with a lot of horror movies these days is that most studio executives think that horror fans are idiots and they want the same old product. That’s completely not true with the Midnight Madness crowd. If you can deliver something commercial like Insidious to them, they’re thrilled but it better not be full of clichés or familiar tricks. So creatively, it was a good thing to keep in mind. It’s a good test.

BD: What made you guys settle on a home invasion film?

Adam Wingard: The way Simon and I work is usually like I’ll come to Simon with like: “What do you feel about doing this type of movie?” It’s usually really vague like that. In the case of this one, it was literally just a matter of like thinking; what types of horror movies excite me, and I have a relatable fear to? The only thing at the moment was home invasion movies. Some of my only favorite horror films in the last few years have been The Strangers, Inside and Them. So while I was editing A Horrible Way To Die, ontop of enjoying all these films, I was watching the opening scene to Scream. It was just incredible. I love how technical it was. It was fun and was doing something I’ve never done before. It made me think back to when I was a kid in high school. When I saw that film, I just thought that opening scene from Scream was like the pinnacle of perfect filmmaking. It was mysterious, scary, technically well-shot, the acting was great and most importantly, it was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I had no idea what was going to happen so that excited me. I told Simon that we should do a home invasion movie. I specifically told him: “I wanted to do a technical movie because everything I’ve done prior to this, I mean they’ve been genre stuff like Popskull and A Horrible Way To Die but they were also more dramas than anything else.” They were character studies and for once, I wanted to try to do something that’s less bogged down by drama and more about creating tension, creating a fun kind of movie.

BD: One thing I really admired about the movie was your ballsy attempt at juggling a horror and comedic tone. That’s really tricky to do without becoming a self-parody and I think you guys pulled that off brilliantly.

Adam Wingard: The trick to it was actually not just delving straight into the comedy. We wanted to setup a world that was real and we wanted you to take the characters seriously. There is still some funny dialogue early on but situationally, we tried to create a realistic environment. We wanted everything to be a subtle progression so that it didn’t just suddenly turn into a comedy or something like that. We wanted you take the violence, horror and suspense seriously…in a real world context. In doing that, we had to find a way to slowly evolve the film. Not necessarily winking or nudging at you and saying we’re in on the joke but we wanted to subtly let you know that it’s okay to laugh. The main key to that really was the score of the film. It starts off as one thing but by the end, its full-on Carpenter. We wanted the music to help push the movie in that direction until the end where it’s full-on crazy synthesizers. Even the music is saying; it’s okay to laugh and joke. That was the key to it.

Youre Next

BD: Sharni, your character is the only straight-laced one in this film plus keeping the film’s tone balanced. Everyone else is a little loopy.

Sharni Vinson: It was funny…there were moments when I turned to a few people: “Are we shooting a horror or a comedy because I’m confused.” There were so many moments that it was super funny. The actors that were brought in like Joe Swanberg. I’ve never laughed at someone so much in all my time shooting the dinner scene where he’s talking about the underground festivals. That scene went on for 2 days. We shot 9

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‘Late Night With the Devil’ – Exclusive Clip Begins the Supernatural Horror on Halloween 1977

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The upcoming Late Night With the Devil is one of the most buzzed about horror movies of the year, currently 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and earning rave reviews from both Stephen King and Kevin Smith. King raves that the film is “absolutely brilliant,” adding that he couldn’t take his eyes off it. Smith comments, “I love it. It’s Rosemary’s Baby meets Network.”

David Dastmalchian (Dune, The Suicide Squad) stars as the host of a late-night talk show that descends into a nightmare in the Ghostwatch and WNUF Halloween Special-inspired film.

IFC Films & Shudder will release the hotly anticipated Late Night with the Devil theatrically on March 22 before it heads to Shudder exclusively on April 19, 2024.

Begin the horror with a brand new EXCLUSIVE clip below…

David Dastmalchian stars as Jack Delroy, the charismatic host of “Night Owls,” and the film traces the ill-fated taping of a live Halloween special in 1977 plagued by a demonic presence.

The energetic and innovative feature hails from Australian writing-directing team Colin and Cameron Cairnes (100 Bloody Acres, Scare Campaign). 

The film premiered last year at SXSW. Meagan wrote in her review out of the fest, “Late Night with the Devil captures the chaotic energy of a late night show, embracing the irreverent comedy and stress of live television with a pastiche style. It’s a clever trojan horse for a surprising horror movie that goes full throttle on unhinged demonic mayhem.

“The ingenuity, the painstaking period recreation, a riveting performance by Dastmalchian, and a showstopper of a finale make for one Halloween event you won’t want to miss.”

Spooky Pictures founders Roy Lee (It, The Grudge, The Ring) and Steven Schneider (Pet Sematary, Paranormal Activity, Insidious), Derek Dauchy (“Al Kameen”) and Future Pictures’ Mat Govoni (“Lone Wolf”) and Adam White (“Lone Wolf”) and John Molloy are all producing.

Joel Anderson (Lake Mungo), Rami Yasin, and David Dastmalchian executive produce.

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