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Elisha Cuthbert on Her Return to Horror With ‘The Cellar’ [Interview]

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elisa cuthbert horror movie the cellar

Hitting theaters and Shudder this Friday is Brendan Muldowney‘s The Cellar (review), an expansion of his 2004 short film “The Ten Steps” (watch here). For the film’s lead actress Elisha Cuthbert (House of Wax), The Cellar marks her return to horror after a 15-year absence.

We had the opportunity to speak with Elisha Cuthbert about the large gap between her horror projects, as well as what drew her back into the genre.

2007’s critically-panned Captivity was the last time Cuthbert graced us with her presence in a genre film. She’s spent much of her time since then acting in television comedies like ABC’s Happy Endings and Netflix’s The Ranch, on top of raising her two children with husband and hockey player Dion Phaneuf.

After discussing how the also-critically-panned House of Wax has undergone a reappraisal in recent years, Cuthbert elaborated on why she had left the genre for so long: I needed to take substantial breaks in between [horror] films,” she said. “Sometimes you get a horror project and then you get offered a boatload of them. After House of Wax, there was a huge onslaught of material that was coming to me that was all genre-based and, frankly, I think the genre can be so great if it’s done really well” (see: House of Wax), “but it can get ugly too” (see: Captivity).

What was so bad about Captivity? Well, that film “went through a 45-page script rewrite after we filmed it,” Cuthbert said. “So the movie I signed on to do is not the one that got released.”

So what was it about The Cellar that drew her back in? Honestly I just got excited reading it,” she said. “I thought there was a maturity, or a sophistication, to the writing. But I had also had my own daughter and could relate to where my character was at her life with her children. I understood the feeling of wanting to go to the depths of the world to find your child, so that’s what connected me to the script.

In the film, Cuthbert plays a mother whose daughter mysteriously vanishes in the cellar of their new house. She soon discovers there is an ancient and powerful entity controlling their home that she will have to face or risk losing her family’s souls forever.

Eoin MackenAbby Fitz and Dylan Fitzmaurice-Brady also star.

The Cellar will be in theaters and will stream on Shudder April 15.

A journalist for Bloody Disgusting since 2015, Trace writes film reviews and editorials, as well as co-hosts Bloody Disgusting's Horror Queers podcast, which looks at horror films through a queer lens. He has since become dedicated to amplifying queer voices in the horror community, while also injecting his own personal flair into film discourse. Trace lives in Austin, TX with his husband and their two dogs. Find him on Twitter @TracedThurman

Interviews

‘Immaculate’ Director Michael Mohan on Religious Horror and Why You Can’t Pull Punches [Halloweenies Podcast]

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Immaculate SXSW Horror

This weekend, Neon is releasing its highly anticipated new slice of horror Immaculate. Directed by Michael Mohan, Sydney Sweeney stars as an American nun named Cecilia who joins a remote convent in the Italian countryside. What begins as a warm welcome quickly devolves into a living nightmare as Cecilia discovers her new home harbors a sinister secret and unspeakable horrors. You can see it with a crowd this Friday.

In anticipation, Halloweenies co-host/executive producer Michael Roffman sits down with director Michael Mohan to discuss how he approached making his first horror film. Together, the two chat about the effects of religious horror in 2024, Sweeney’s Scream Queen magic, the ending everyone’s going to be talking about, and why Horror needs zero rules. He also offers some choice Horror recommendations.

Stream the episode below or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS. New to the Halloweenies? Catch up with the gang by revisiting their essential episodes on past franchises such as Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Scream, The Evil Dead, and this past year’s Chucky! This year? The Alien franchise.

You can also become a member of their Patreon, The Rewind, for hilariously irreverent commentaries (e.g. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Gremlins, Jaws), one-off deep dives on your favorite rentals (e.g. Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Invasion of the Body Snatchers ), and even spinoffs like their recent run Fortune & Glory: An Indiana Jones Podcast.

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