Podcasts
[Podcasts] The Boo Crew is on the Clock With the Director and Star of ‘Countdown’
If you had the opportunity to find out the exact date of your death down to the second, would you? On episode 78 of The Boo Crew podcast, download our cursed convo with Writer/Director Justin Dec and star Elizabeth Lail (Netflix’s YOU, ABC’s Once Upon A Time) of the new horror flick Countdown, in theaters now!
“The whole thing started when I set a timer on my phone and I was just watching it tick down and I thought, what if that was ticking down to when I was gonna die?”, Justin explains the genesis of his first full length feature, “Totally normal thought, but that’s the writer in me and it just branched off from there.”
Elizabeth, who plays the role of a young nurse named Quinn, is no stranger to genre-tinged fair and finds creative freedoms that exist in these types of stories as a performer.
“I realized this watching the movie last night, I get to play so many different colors. There’s day-in-the-life Quinn and then there’s romantic interest and relationships and then there’s horror and suspense and just like..pure fear. So it allows a really broad spectrum of story arc, which ties right into character arc that I love so much!” Interacting with the practical FX including some great creature design lets Elizabeth push her characters’ limits both physically and emotionally. “You don’t actually know the truth of that moment. We’re really just trying to connect it to something real but you don’t know what you would do if all of a sudden there was a massive demon in front of you. That’s always fun to explore because nobody really knows what the truth of that is.”
The film also boasts the work of cinematographer Maxime Alexandre known for Alexandre Aja’s High Tension, Annabelle: Creation, Shazam! and The Nun, resulting in a very unsettling look and feel with palpable suspense.
As for a sequel? “I have a few ideas!”, Justin reveals. Elizabeth adds, “Everytime I see Justin he pitches me a new Countdown 2.0!” He continues, “We’ve got titles all day like Countdown Beta, The Final Countdown.”
For more with Justin and Elizabeth, grab The Boo Crew Episode 78 and check out Countdown in theaters now!
Follow Elizabeth Lail on:
Instagram: @elizaboon
Twitter: @elizabethdlail
Follow Justin Dec on:
Instagram: @justdec
Follow The Boo Crew on:
Instagram: @talesfromtheboocrew
Twitter: @talesfromtheboo
On the DL.
After spending June on explicitly queer texts like Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn (listen) and William Castle’s Homicidal (listen), it’s only appropriate that Horror Queers celebrate the American holiday with a blockbuster film with a not-so-secret gay connection.
In Independence Day, an unlikely group of people come together when the human race faces extinction from a threatening alien race. After spaceships destroy every major city, pilot Steven Hiller (Will Smith) must team up with secret tech genius David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), as well as the US President (Bill Pullman), to execute a daring plan to save the planet from annihilation.
Along for the ride are the two saviors’ romantic partners – WH Communications Director Constance (Margaret Colin) and stripper Jasmine (Vivica A. Fox) – plus eccentric scientist Dr. Okun (Brent Spiner), who is at the center of the film’s most horrific set piece.
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Episode 393: Independence Day (1996)
Today, we celebrate our Independence Day…courtesy of gay German director Roland Emmerich.
As the summer blockbuster celebrates its 30th anniversary, we’re looking back on an alien disaster film that scared young Trace (thanks to that alien autopsy scene) and turned Will Smith into a star.
Plus: the death that upsets the most; bemoaning Vivica A. Fox’s career; pondering what could have been with the casting; why Smith’s bravado and the film’s patriotism doesn’t always work for Joe; and plenty of riffing on the atrocious sequel.
Cross out Independence Day!
Coming Up Next: We’re retreating to the country for some questionable therapy courtesy of Joe Dante’s 1981 classic, The Howling!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 503 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Forbidden Fruits, Saccharine, Evil Dead Burn, an audio commentary on the utterly ridiculous sequel Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf (1985), and the conclusion of our Requel Tier coverage of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat.