News

Horror Pride Month: Writer/Actor Ava Davis

Published

5 years ago

June 28, 2019

The first time I saw Ava Davis act was in Melissa Kunnap’s short film Feast, and I was completely taken in by her performance. She had a quality that I could not quite describe but I knew I was seeing something real in her every gesture.

Little did I know when I wrote that review that I would have the privilege of sitting down to chat with Ava for Horror Pride Month this year. As it turns out, Davis is even more gracious and emotionally open than I could have imagined.

“Horror movies terrify me,” she began on a Friday afternoon in May. It’s not the typical response one expects when chatting with someone with genre work under their belt, but she went on. “Being in them is one thing but watching them gives me so much anxiety. I think I’ve become more of a fan recently in working with Melissa and realizing that horror is a way to confront issues in kind of a safe way to neutralize them. If you give a demon a name, then you take away its power and I love that about horror.”

Davis and Kunnap are working on another short film together at the moment called Torn Together, something equally as terrifying as Feast in a completely different way, and this time Morgan is helping pen the script which dives deep into highly personal subject matter.

For Davis this means facing identity and what it means to be herself.

“It’s taking a lot of personal issues and giving them faces and names,” she explained. “It’s been therapeutic but at some point, Melissa and I realized that other people were going to see this! This is a conversation I’ve only had with my mirror before and now I’m putting it out there for everyone to see.”

That inner conversation has centered, in part, on her personal transition journey. Part of which has involved looking for images in the media with which she can identify.

“When I first started this journey with my therapist I told them there was nothing and no one out there that I could really identify with,” she explained. “What’s crazy is that in the last four years we suddenly have Pose and Star which has a trans woman in the lead. Then Laverne Cox was on Orange is the New Black! I don’t know quite where my transition journey will lead me but it’s been amazing to see these examples in the media.”

Davis points out that many of the roles she’s been sent out for on auditions have either been prostitutes or roles that were tied up in just being trans rather than being a person. Furthermore, she says what she’s grown to love about the genre is that it empowers its protagonists which could be a boon for trans portrayals in media.

This is why Torn Together and her other project Duchess of Grand Park has meant so much to her.

“I’ve been thinking of this as my year of empowerment,” she said. “If I’m not finding the roles that I want to play, I’m going to write them myself.”

It’s the kind of attitude I’ve seen from a lot of LGBTQ filmmakers during Pride Month, and honestly it gives me hope.

As our time was coming to a close, I circled back around to the beginning and asked her what type of horror she really loved and she surprised me once again when, with a sheepish tone she said the one thing I wasn’t expecting.

“I really kind of like the first two parts of the Scary Movie franchise.”

Turns out Ava Davis has a thing for horror comedies and as I quickly dropped a few suggestions and we prepared to end the interview, I couldn’t help feeling that she’s well on her way to becoming a horror fan in every sense of the word.

If there’s one thing I’m absolutely certain of, it’s that Ava Davis can and will provide the kind of representation for others that she’s looked for herself. And that is exactly what the world needs.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

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Movies

Trailer for ‘The Exorcism’ Has Russell Crowe Possessed

Published

9 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

The latest exorcism movie is about to drop this summer. It’s aptly titled The Exorcism and it stars Academy Award winner turned B-movie savant Russell Crowe. The trailer dropped today and by the looks of it, we are getting a possession movie that takes place on a movie set.

Just like this year’s recent demon-in-media-space film Late Night With the Devil, The Exorcism happens during a production. Although the former takes place on a live network talk show, the latter is on an active sound stage. Hopefully, it won’t be entirely serious and we’ll get some meta chuckles out of it.

The film will open in theaters on June 7, but since Shudder also acquired it, it probably won’t be long after that until it finds a home on the streaming service.

Crowe plays, “Anthony Miller, a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play. The film also stars Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg and David Hyde Pierce.”

Crowe did see some success in last year’s The Pope’s Exorcist mostly because his character was so over-the-top and infused with such comical hubris it bordered on parody. We will see if that is the route actor-turned-director Joshua John Miller takes with The Exorcism.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

News

Win a Stay at The Lizzie Borden House From Spirit Halloween

Published

11 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Spirit Halloween has declared that this week marks the start of spooky season and to celebrate they are offering fans a chance to stay at the Lizzie Borden House with so many perks Lizzie herself would approve.

The Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, MA is claimed to be one of the most haunted houses in America. Of course one lucky winner and up to 12 of their friends will find out if the rumors are true if they win the grand prize: A private stay in the notorious house.

“We are delighted to work with Spirit Halloween to roll out the red carpet and offer the public a chance to win a one-of-a-kind experience at the infamous Lizzie Borden House, which also includes additional haunted experiences and merchandise,” said Lance Zaal, President & Founder of US Ghost Adventures.

Fans can enter to win by following Spirit Halloween‘s Instagram and leaving a comment on the contest post from now through April 28.

The prize also includes:

An exclusive guided house tour, including insider insight around the murder, the trial, and commonly reported hauntings

A late-night ghost tour, complete with professional ghost-hunting gear

A private breakfast in the Borden family dining room

A ghost hunting starter kit with two pieces of Ghost Daddy Ghost Hunting Gear and a lesson for two at US Ghost Adventures Ghost Hunting Course

The ultimate Lizzie Borden gift package, featuring an official hatchet, the Lizzie Borden board game, Lily the Haunted Doll, and America’s Most Haunted Volume II

Winner’s choice of a Ghost Tour experience in Salem or a True Crime experience in Boston for two

“Our Halfway to Halloween celebration provides fans an exhilarating taste of what’s to come this fall and empowers them to start planning for their favorite season as early as they please,” said Steven Silverstein, CEO of Spirit Halloween. “We have cultivated an incredible following of enthusiasts who embody the Halloween lifestyle, and we’re thrilled to bring the fun back to life.”

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Spirit Halloween is also preparing for their retail haunted houses. On Thursday, August 1 their flagship store in Egg Harbor Township, NJ. will officially open to start off the season. That event usually draws in hordes of people eager to see what new merch, animatronics, and exclusive IP goods will be trending this year.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Movies

’28 Years Later’ Trilogy Taking Shape With Serious Star Power

Published

13 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Danny Boyle is revisiting his 28 Days Later universe with three new films. He will direct the first, 28 Years Later, with two more to follow. Deadline is reporting that sources say Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes have been cast for the first entry, a sequel to the original. Details are being kept under wraps so we don’t know how or if the first original sequel 28 Weeks Later fits into the project.

**Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes**

Boyle will direct the first movie but it’s unclear which role he will take on in the subsequent films. What is known is Candyman (2021) director Nia DaCosta is scheduled to direct the second film in this trilogy and that the third will be filmed immediately afterward. Whether DaCosta will direct both is still unclear.

Alex Garland is writing the scripts. Garland is having a successful time at the box office right now. He wrote and directed the current action/thriller Civil War which was just knocked out of the theatrical top spot by Radio Silence’s Abigail.

There is no word yet on when, or where, 28 Years Later will start production.