Making her introduction to the genre in the remake of William Castle’s 1959 black and white classic House on Haunted Hill, Ali Larter has been a staple in the horror industry for nearly two decades now, appearing in a plethora of scary films, and even playing the lead in two of the most popular horror franchises to ever exist, including the sci-fi smash hit Resident Evil series, which is on the brink of releasing its final film.

She may be well known in Hollywood for her success at the box office with her big summer blockbusters, but this startled hasn’t lost sight of her love for indie filmmaking, and he joy that comes from making horror movies.

In her latest effort, The Diabolical, Larter plays Madison: widow and single mother of her two children, Haley and Jacob, girlfriend to Jacob’s science teacher, Nikolai, and wonder of a house that occasionally experiences paranormal activity. Madison would like to blame her children’s wild stories of spooky men crawling across their bedroom floors at night on childhood fantasies and overactive imaginations, but she knows better. The truth is, Madison has seen the bloody men creeping around in the dark with her own two eyes, and she knows they need to leave, but she can’t go.

Madison has just filed for bankruptcy, and between the legal fees of dealing with her hotheaded son Jacob’s indiscretions with the law, and the cost of feeding and clothing two kids, she can’t afford to leave. Stuck in a financial rut, Madison, Haley, and Jacob must stay in their home and uncover the source of this evil themselves, even if discovering the truth costs them their lives.

I was lucky enough to sit down and chat with star Ali Larter about her new film, which is set to be released on October 16th, 2015. In the interview, we discuss her approach to this modern day ghost story, her thoughts on tough women in cinema, and how she feels about reaching the end of the series and working on the final Resident Evil film.

“I always play fighters,” Larter relays confidently, arching up the corner of her mouth in a smirk. Larter’s quick to point out the fact that she usually plays tough ladies, and she’s not wrong. From Clear Rivers in the Final Destination series, to Sara Wolfe in the House on Haunted Hill remake, to Claire Redfield in the Resident Evil franchise, to Madison in The Diabolical, Ali Larter has often taken on the role of the strong female protagonist in horror movies. However, Larter herself doesn’t quite see it that way.

“It’s funny. Like, do they ever say that men play strong characters? But it’s always women playing strong characters, and it’s like, it’s a funny thing, because women are strong. We are fierce, you know? And I think for a long time it wasn’t shown in films and it wasn’t shown in television, and I feel really lucky in my career that I’ve always gotten the chance to play those kind of women, and that’s something that’s always appealed to me.”

To Larter, there’s always been strong women abound. It’s just that up until recently, they weren’t always portrayed as the resilient creatures that they naturally are. Luckily, horror fans have always had and continue to have Larter to look to for inspiration when it comes to the portrayal of females in film, and the way they should be seen.

In her newest incarnation as a powerful leading lady, Larter brings the character of Claire to life, in a supernatural film that’s firmly grounded in reality, and consists of multiple layers. “This was, for me, not only was it a horror film, but it was really the story of this mother overcoming these obstacles, and that’s what really drew me”. Larter and Diabolical director Alistair Legrand couldn’t be more on the same page. Their shared insight into the subtext of this suburban-set story is what convinced Larter that this director was someone she could see herself working with. “He is someone who is really interested in showing characters and emotion, and connection, and humanity, and so that’s what I think really sealed the deal for me”.

Of the deeper levels of The Diabolical, the lengths to which a mother would go to save her child is very prominent. “I was interested in what would you do? What level would you go to to protect your children?” Unlike most popular horror movies revolving around a home haunting, this family doesn’t test out their living situation and wait until the end of the film to decide that they have to move away in order to survive. Madison knows that to protect her children, they all have to leave their home, but her financial restraints prevent her from fulfilling her duties, and moving her kids to safer location. Set against the struggle of today’s economic strife, The Diabolical acts as a modern day ghost story, wherein the rules change, because although characters have grown wiser, monetary woes managed by single parents have declared themselves the new obstacle to overcome.

“It was always about that mother who just couldn’t get it together, she couldn’t make a better life for her children, and that’s all she cared about, and after the experience with the father, and you see this social worker coming in and there’s all these obstacles that she has to overcome, and I think that was just relevant, definitely on point, and a modern choice”.

Ali Larter has garnered fame through her wide variety of interesting roles over the roles, but perhaps the character that people have come to identify her with the most is that of Claire Redfield in the Resident Evil series. Set in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic world, the films are based on a popular video game franchise that tells the story of the T-Virus, which has escaped the underground confines of the hive in Raccoon City, and mutated everyone who has come into contact with the virus into terrifying flesh-eating zombies. It seems that these manufactured walking dead are nearly indestructible, but that’s where Alice comes in.

Alice has been leading the fight against the undead and the evil Umbrella Corporation since first waking up in the top of the hive, and she’s made a few friends along the way, including survivor-turned-activist Claire Redfield, played by Larter. Now on their sixth and final film, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, which is set to be released in January of 2017, the end is bittersweet for Larter, who has become very fond of her dream role as the fiery redheaded crusader for the continuous survival of mankind. Forever gracious for the role, Larter sweetly expressed her sentiment about filming the definite end to the franchise.

“I feel like my career has had many different incarnations, and you know, coming in and doing the last Resident Evil, I’m just, I’m really excited to give it closure. I love playing Claire Redfield, I love her fierceness, I love how soft spoken she is, I love that she is a quiet leader, I love her inner strength, and I love dying my hair bright red (laughs). I love learning the kickass stunts, and of course, working with Mila [Jovovich] and Paul [W.S. Anderson]. It’s going to be an emotional, incredible journey that we’re all about to go on in Africa together, so I can’t wait”.