Connect with us

News

Tate Taylor Talks ‘Ma’ and the Joy of Working with Octavia Spencer

Published

on

Tate Taylor Ma

Tate Taylor isn’t exactly the guy you’d expect to direct a psychological horror thriller like Ma, which makes its debut on digital streaming and VOD platforms today.

The director is probably most associated with films like The Help starring Emma Stone (Zombieland) and for which Octavia Spencer won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Honestly, though, that’s exactly why he wanted to take on the challenge of Ma, and he sat down with iHorror to chat about the journey from script to screen.

***This interview contains some spoilers for the film. You have been warned!***

Taylor had been hearing from Spencer that she was being offered the same type of roles over and over again, and he admits he was feeling a bit boxed in himself when he found himself chatting with Jason Blum aka the man who built Blumhouse.

“Jason and I are friends and we were talking about what we could possibly work on together,” the director recalled. “He likes to dip his toes into dramatic waters from time to time and he was trying to get a feel for what I wanted to do. So I told him I wanted to do something really, really fucked up. I want to play in that sandbox with all that craziness.”

Blum was surprised but immediately thought of script he had just gotten from Scotty Landes (Workaholics) and he gave it to Taylor to read.

By the time the director had finished reading the script, he was on the phone with his old friend Octavia.

“I told her I’ve got a script and you would be the lead,” he said. “I told her it needed work and then I told her about the story. She said she didn’t even need to read the script. She would do it. So I called Jason and told him I would do it and Octavia was on board.”

Taylor admitted he was ready to “let the wheels come off” and play within the space of the film. He also said that having known Spencer for so long made creating her character so much easier when it came time to roll cameras.

“We were roommates for six years so to call what we have a shorthand is really an understatement,” he said. “What is really comes down to is trust. An actor, even though they have that script, they have to trust the director. We have that.”

What he loved most about Ma was the emotional connection he found with the material, an element that he was grateful did not end up in the trailers for the film.

In Ma, Spencer’s character Sue Ann was mercilessly bullied as a child and in high school and those emotional scars never quite healed. When she makes a connection with some of her bullies’ children years later, something inside her snaps, and she begins doing terrible things.

“This couldn’t just be a slasher with a crazy lady and I decided to really lean into that bullying and the marginalization of certain people and certain cultures,” Taylor explained. “I think a fun tagline for this film would be ‘Be careful who you bully.’ Sadly that’s reflected in society today…Ma is a cautionary tale.”

Taylor also says it was important to him to infuse some humor into the film. The director spent time in the famous Groundlings in Los Angeles when he was first forging his career and he wanted nothing more than to become a cast regular on Saturday Night Live.

It was during this time that he really learned how laughter and humor can amplify even the horror space and as we talked I mentioned that John Carpenter himself had said something the effect of “No wants to laugh more than a horror audience. They need that break in tension to breathe.”

“I think bringing laughter into anything heightens the drama,” he said. “It makes it real and accessible to the audience. Not only was he [Carpenter] right about people needing to laugh, but that laughter becomes an emotion that can heighten the horror.”

Ultimately, Tate Taylor had a great time directing Ma and after seeing the film, I can’t help but hope that he makes his way into the genre more often.

Ma is available today, August 20, 2019, on digital streaming platforms and VOD. Check it out and see if you don’t agree.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

News

Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

Published

on

Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Continue Reading

Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

Published

on

The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Continue Reading

Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

Published

on

Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Continue Reading