In the last ten years, one brand has risen above the others in the horror genre, and that’s the Blumhouse brand. With a low-budget, high-return business model that allows for originality, creativity and also a hefty helping of franchisability, the studio that brought you Paranormal Activity, The Purge, Get Out, Happy Death Day and the new reboot of The Invisible Man has been at the forefront of the horror movie marketplace for a long time now, and the person in charge is Jason Blum.

Bloody-Disgusting recently sat down with Jason Blum, the founder and CEO of Blumhouse, to talk about some of the studio’s upcoming releases, recent disappointments, and the future of the horror movie genre. (A future that, Blum argues, might be a little glum for a while.)

Why Blumhouse is Scooping Up Intellectual Properties

As Blumhouse has expanded, they’ve started picking up one pre-existing intellectual property (IP) after another, sequelizing or rebooting multimedia franchises like Halloween, Black Christmas and most recently Fantasy Island. But according to Jason Blum, that’s just a gimmick the studio is using to trick people into seeing brand new films.

“It’s really hard to get people to the movie theater and one of the things that they clearly respond to are known IP, to a certain degree,” Blum explains. “So I like to use IP as a shell to tell original stories.”

But are there any IPs that Blum wouldn’t be interested in acquiring, or would the studio pick up practically anything that’s available?

“It’s a good question. I can’t think of anything that I wouldn’t,” Blum muses. “I mean there are obvious ones that happened too recently or have been super, super classics. But I think we use IP as a shell. It’s like a Trojan Horse. It’s like a shell to get audiences to come and see our movies.”

But that approach doesn’t necessarily apply to every property Blumhouse picked up. Halloween, for example, is very specifically a part of that franchise’s mythology, and caters to pre-existing fans.

“I love that movie [Halloween]. But I do love all the movies. I think Halloween is super specific to Halloween, I guess, but there are others that we’ve done,” Blum clarifies. “You could do our Fantasy Island movie, if you moved a couple of steps to the right it wouldn’t be [Fantasy Island], it would just be original. But if it was original people are less likely to go see it, which is silly, but it’s true.”

The Future of Paranormal Activity and Found Footage

One of the IPs that made Blumhouse a household name is Paranormal Activity, an ultra-low-budget supernatural thriller that spawned a series of hit sequels and helped popularize the found footage horror subgenre. Blumhouse hasn’t released a Paranormal Activity movie since 2015, but there’s a new one on the horizon, currently scheduled for March 2021.

The question is, with the subgenre on the wane, is the future of the franchise still in found footage, or does the Paranormal Activity franchise need to move on?

“The answer is, I don’t know. I guess we’re about to find out, but I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know,” Jason Blum admits. “It’s something that we’re talking about, but I don’t know what it’s going to wind up being.”

“We’re writing the treatment [right now],” Blum explains. “That’s it.”

Just don’t expect the franchise to go entirely back to basics. The original film was micro-budgeted, and although Blumhouse makes movies cheaply, it’s not going to be that cheap again.

“It’s not going to be ten thousand dollars. It might be ten million dollars. I don’t know how much it’s going to be but it’s not going to be ten thousand dollars,” Blum says.

The Uncertain Future of Happy Death Day 3

One of the cleverest and most unexpected original films to come out of Blumhouse in recent years was Happy Death Day, a film about a college student who gets killed by a slasher and is forced to relive the last day of her life over and over again, until she finds some way to not be murdered. The hit film yielded a sequel, Happy Death Day 2U, which ended on the promise of a third installment.

But Happy Death Day 2U was not a financial hit, and the future of the franchise has been uncertain ever since.

“Yeah, those are fun,” Jason Blum says. “I would say Happy Death Day is still on my radar in some shape or form. I haven’t put it to bed yet, so I don’t know how it’s going to manifest itself but it’s still in the front of my mind.”

“Never say never. Never say never. I got ideas,” Blum laughs. “I’m not going to say we’re doing Happy Death Day 3 right now but I’m not going to NOT say it either. I haven’t put it to bed yet, despite the fact that anyone else in Hollywood would have, because the second movie didn’t work.”

“It was an AMAZING movie,” Blum clarifies. “But it didn’t work financially.”

The Controversy Surrounding The Hunt

Blumhouse was at the center of an unexpected controversy in the fall of 2019, when their horror movie The Hunt became the center of a political firestorm. The marketing for the film, which revealed a plot about people hunting other people for sport, along dichotomous political divides, was accused of being offensive, particularly after a series of real-life shootings.

The Hunt was taken off of the release schedule for 2019, but is finally coming out next month, with a new ad campaign emphasizing the film’s controversial nature, and the fact that the controversy emerged from people who hadn’t even seen it yet.

“I definitely could have lived without the unpleasantness of last year. But I’m really, really pleased the movie’s coming out,” Blum says.

But was the film’s future genuinely uncertain this whole time?

“No, it was never certain but I’ve been working on it since we pulled it off the schedule, trying to figure it out, trying to get it back on the schedule, just so it could be understood what it was like,” Blum explains.

“It was just, the frustrating part was that everyone was talking about a movie they hadn’t seen. So I was really, this time we decided to launch it in a very different way, and it went much better because people see it, saw it, and understood it’s a satire and it pokes fun at both sides, and it wasn’t as advertised the first time around,” Blum adds.

And no, in case you were worrying, The Hunt hasn’t changed in the months since it was pulled.

“It’s exactly the same film,” Blum confirms. “Frame for frame, every single thing is the same.”

The Lessons Learned from Black Christmas

Another of the big IPs that Blumhouse worked on recently was Black Christmas, the classic holiday-themed horror movie which is often credited for helping to spawn the whole slasher genre. The remake of Black Christmas opened last December and performed below expectations, and its contemporary, politicized take on the original material was met with a mixed-reception from critics and fans.

But how does Jason Blum feel about the film’s reception? And has he learned anything from its release?

“It wasn’t a success,” Jason Blum says, looking back on the film. “Creatively it was a success. I was happy with the movie. Financially it wasn’t a success.

“And to answer your question, if you learned anything? It reminded me that as a producer of content you must just try and drown out the noise and make what you think is good,” Blum says. “Because for a while it’s not woke enough, and then it’s too woke, and if you try and please – whether it’s this or that – you won’t win. The only way you win is to make things that are great.”

Just don’t expect Blumhouse to release another Christmas horror movie any time soon.

“I think I ruined it,” Jason Blum laughs. “For at least five years.”

And not just from Blumhouse either. Blum thinks other studios will be wary of the subgenre too.

“I don’t think you’ll see another Christmas horror movie in a wide release for five years,” Blum adds. “Five years. Someone will try it in five years.”

The Future of the Get Out Universe

Jason Blum produced the Oscar-winning horror blockbuster Get Out, which was Jordan Peele’s first foray into the genre. Initially, there was some talk of a possible sequel, but those conversations seem to have died down once Peele picked up a variety of new projects, including the hit thriller Us, and his reboot of The Twilight Zone.

Still, if Jason Blum has his way, he’d love to make more.

“The Get Out Universe. I’m telling you! Get Out Universe!” Blum jokes.

“I would do it in a second,” Blum confirms. “But it’s totally up to Jordan [Peele]. I don’t think he has any plans for it. I would love to make more Get Out movies but he… let me say that really specifically: I would love to make more Get Out movies with Jordan.”

“If anyone else wanted to make a Get Out movie I would not be interested. And Jordan right now is not doing any more Get Out movies. So there will not be another Get Out of anything, any kind,” Blum says.

The Future of the Horror Movie Genre

Blumhouse Productions has been at the forefront of the horror movie genre for about a decade now, so Jason Blum is in a particularly good position to opine about the future of the genre. But although horror will always have a place in the pop culture firmament, Blum doesn’t think it’s currently on the upswing.

“I think the market right now is flooded,” Blum says. “I think the next step in horror is this year there’s 20 releases, and I think next year there will be 18 and the year after that there’ll be 12. I think it’s going to go down.”

But, Blum is quick to remind us, that’s nothing new.

“It’s what always happens. Horror starts working, it’s commercial, everyone’s making a horror movie. Now no one’s seeing horror movies because there’s a horror movie every week, so there’s too much, the market’s flooded,” Blum explains.

“I think the number of theatrical horror movies you’re going to see is going to go down over the next two or three years,” Blum says, but that doesn’t mean Blumhouse is in trouble.

“It’s good for us,” Blum explains. “Yeah, because the quality rises. So I like to think we make better horror movies than most people do, and so when the market is less cluttered our movies will do better.”

So what’s Blumhouse’s plan… just staying the course?

“Staying the course and making great [movies],” Blum says. “Our movies are very different now than they were four years ago, and four years ago they were very different than they were eight years ago. So I don’t believe in staying the course creatively, but from a genre perspective, making edgy, cool, great, scary stuff will be more appreciated in two years rather than less, because there will be less of it.”