A few weeks ago, we told you that The Nun director Corin Hardy was on a mission to carve a new horror-themed pumpkin for each day of October all the way up to Halloween.

With the full 31 pumpkins now revealed, Life of Agony’s Alan Robert spoke with Hardy about his mission to carve 31 pumpkins through this past Halloween.

Alan Robert: How did this mission to carve 31 pumpkins happen and what was the inspiration behind it?

Corin Hardy: I’ve always loved carving pumpkins, the beautiful flickering glow they emit, and the atmosphere surrounding Halloween; the smell in the Autumnal air (especially in the U.K. where it gets cold at night) and the connection to the darker evenings closing in, is my ideal time of year. This year I found myself in LA working on my next film The Nun, and was out buying groceries one morning on October 1st. There were stacks of pumpkins out in the front of Ralph’s and it got me suddenly excited, thinking I would be in LA for Halloween this year. I instinctively bought 3 and they sat there on my table at home, staring at me all day and I thought – “is it acceptable to carve a pumpkin 31 days before Halloween or is that blasphemous, like putting up a Xmas tree too early?” I asked my girlfriend who was back in the U.K. and she said I should carve one a day until Halloween, and I immediately thought yes I will do this. I did not consider the exact implications of obtaining 31 Pumpkins, gutting and preparing, designing and carving them every single night of October, but that is what I did… I should add that my wonderful Nun assistant Julie* has helped by going and getting the pumpkins each day and gutting them out. This has made it possible! *Julie is not an actual Nun.

AR: How do you choose your subject each time?

CH: I started to make a list of my favorite horror movies or specific characters and then I tried to figure out the most iconic images within that film – it is interesting how many of the final designs are the defining memorable moments from the given movie. As I began to carve, I have become more and more attuned to what design and form work best when rendered in the negative space, using just the illuminated areas and the solid pumpkin areas to create the final image and composition. Some work better than others. I wanted to try and capture indelible iconic images and I also thought it would be fun to throw in a few of my favourite band mascots like Eddie from Iron Maiden as well as tributes to people like Tom Petty who sadly passed away on October 2nd as well as the masters, George A. Romero, Wes Craven, and Tobe Hooper.

AR: Each one is unique in its own way, what is the design process? Is choosing the actual pumpkin part of it or anyone will work?

CH: Haha, getting pumpkin-specific now! I try to find a good mid-size pumpkin as it’s harder to work on a smaller canvas! Also, the pumpkins come in different consistencies, some are more brittle than others and harder to carve – I prefer the slightly paler orange ones that have a slightly more rubbery consistency and can take smaller detailed cuts. If a design works better to be longer and slimmer I’d try and find a pumpkin that is suited to the design. Essentially, it’s like undertaking a heavy black and white graphic novel frame, like a Frank Miller illustration, where you are constructing the form, the depth, the angle from extreme contrasting shadows and I have learned to really trust committing to the incisions I’m making, as when you light it up from the inside you finally get to see how every single cut counts. This has become a large part of the process and success of each pumpkin. I haven’t used a template, but I sketch some out in my sketchbook to try and get an understanding of how it will work and then I sketch it again quickly on the pumpkin. I use a thin serrated grapefruit knife to do the cutting.

AR: Do you keep all of them when you’re done? Is your apartment overflowing with them?

CH: I wish! That’s been a part of the challenge. In LA, the heat has meant that they don’t last more than about 3-4 days, which is sad. So after carving them, I have documented each one at night, in a setting as appropriate to the character as possible and sometimes shot a quick iPhone film of them accompanied by music. There is nothing better than finally sitting back, lighting the candles and finally seeing how the design works, flickering in the night. It’s almost therapeutic. I uploaded them all to Twitter/Instagram and made a public gallery on Facebook with all the designs here.

AR: Which is your favorite?

CH: I’m particularly proud of the Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth double bill in honor of Guillermo Del Toro’s movies. Devils Backbone is a little lesser known and was a challenge to get the kids cracked head to work – I wasn’t sure if I’d screwed it up until I lit the candles and he came to life. Also, the iconic simplicity of Frankenstein’s Monster reminded me of what a genius iconic design that original Jack Pierce makeup was. I love seeing these icons come to life; The Crow (from James O’Barr’s graphic novel illustration) Pumpkinhead, Evil Dead II, Carrie, Gremlins, Creature From the Black Lagoon… I just carved Jaws and photographed him in my hot tub for added effect!

AR: At what age did you start carving and what was it of?

CH: Can’t recall an exact age, but my parents encouraged anything creative. It was probably a ghost or ghoul of some sort, or a cat maybe. It may have been Godzilla or The Hulk.

AR: Tell us where you’re at with The Nun and how the shoot went…

CH: We had a ball, man, it was an intensive and atmospheric shoot in Romania during early summer, felt like making a classic horror movie! After which I moved to LA where I’ve been working on the post side of things. I can’t wait for everyone to see the next installment in the Conjuring universe, next year, on Friday 13th of July!

AR: Any news on The Crow?

CH: Keep your eyes peeled. Crow news coming soon… Crawwwwk!

Robert also recently released this amazing Halloween monster mashup illustration. A free black and white coloring download version is available here.

About Alan Robert:
For more than two decades, Alan Robert’s hard rock band Life of Agony has built a die-hard cult following, selling over one million albums worldwide. Their debut album River Runs Red was named “One of the Greatest Metal Albums of All Time” by Rolling Stone. In April 2017, Life of Agony released their 5th studio album A Place Where There’s No More Pain (Napalm Records) to critical acclaim and it debuted at #24 on Billboard’s Hard Rock Albums chart. Robert is also an award-winning, author/artist of several IDW Publishing titles. His best-selling coloring book series The Beauty of Horror was hailed by Nerdist as “The World’s Creepiest Adult Coloring Book” and his hit graphic novels include Crawl to Me, Killogy, The Shunned One and Wire Hangers. Crawl to Me and The Shunned One are currently in development to become a live-action feature film.