News

Interview: Lin Shaye has a Story to Tell in ‘Room for Rent’

Published

5 years ago

May 1, 2019

Talking to Lin Shaye is a bit like talking to pure sunshine, which is kind of funny when you consider the often dark journeys she’s invited her audiences to take with her in film. Her latest, Room for Rent, is no different.

In the film, written by Stuart Flack and directed by Tommy Stovall (Hate Crime), Shaye plays Joyce, a woman who finds herself rather lost and very alone after the death of her husband. In a bid to make ends meet, she decides to rent out rooms in her home.

When a young, handsome man named Bob (Oliver Rayon) moves in, however, her loneliness gives way to deadly obsession, and she’ll do anything to keep him in her life.

The actress spoke to iHorror in advance of the film’s release to discuss how the role changed from its first incarnation and why she was so compelled to take on Joyce’s life.

This interview contains some light spoilers. You have been warned!!

“What attracted me to the story as we began telling it was the thought that there are a lot of disenfranchised people in the world, and especially older women,” Shaye explained. “There are lot of women in the world like Joyce who have lived very subdued, subservient lives to their husbands and are suddenly left with nothing when those husbands die. It made me wonder what kind of unhinged germ lives in there that’s never been stimulated or allowed to come out.”

Unhinged may be exactly the right term, though the script’s final iteration is much different than where it began years ago when Stovall first sent it to Shaye. She was working on Abattoir at the time with Darren Lynn Bousman, and she admits she told Stovall she simply wasn’t interested.

“In the original script, she was just this psychotic woman who had killed her husband, and you basically knew the whole story from the beginning,” she said. “I told Tommy I felt like this story had been told a million times.”

Room for Rent Poster

She put the script away, and kept working on other projects. Almost two years later, Stovall called her and asked if she would take a look at the new version of the script.

She agreed, and after reading over the script again, she found herself asking why she’d hated it the first time around? Still, the story wasn’t quite there yet.

“I told him it’s not really about anything, yet,” she recalled. “This woman doesn’t seem like a psychotic killer to me. She’s a lonely woman who had bad things happen to her and she’s starting to unravel.”

Stovall, whom Shaye refers to as a “real listener,” got what she was saying and the script went through more rewriting and reworking until they finally both agreed they had a story worth telling.

Room for Rent emerged as a film that feels like a page-turning mystery.

“What I love most about the storytelling in the movie is that you find out slowly all the things that she had put up with over the years from her husband that finally tipped her over the edge,” Shaye said. “These are all elements that are hidden in our society that people don’t discuss, and that’s the toll that gets taken.”

Thankfully, not every disenfranchised person in the world takes a deadly turn like Joyce, but as the actress points out it does happen. In fact, we’ve seen all too often the way that lost, angry, embittered people have taken their rage out on innocent bystanders.

It seems every other day there is proof of this on the news, and because of that Room for Rent not only seems plausible but possible and the journey that Joyce takes becomes even more terrifying and sad.

“Being lost is something we can all relate to,” Shaye pointed out. “Life is fucking hard, even for those who, from the outside, it seems they have everything. Everything leads to something else, and that’s what I loved about this story.”

Lin Shaye as Joyce in Room for Rent (Photo by Mal Cooper)

Room for Rent also marks the first time Shaye has been listed as a co-producer on a film, which is remarkable considering she has over 200 acting credits to her name in an career that has spanned almost 48 years so far.

She says she owes that fact, once again, to Stovall’s collaborative nature.

“Tommy is a quiet genius, and I’ve really come to admire and adore him,” she said. “If I had movement ideas that came from the character and he thought they might work, he was always open to try. He hears suggestions and when they’re right he’s open to following them.”

This collaboration also led to Joe Bishara composing music for the film which also bolstered Shaye’s confidence in the final product. The actress is a huge fan of the composer and he’s written music for Inisidous, The Conjuring, Tales of Halloween, and a whole host of other genre favorites.

“I begged Joe Bishara to do this film,” she admitted. “He really got the movie and he loved it. That was a big thing for me because he can be pretty picky.”

Room for Rent opens in select theaters on May 3, 2019 and will be available on digital streaming platforms on May 7, 2019.

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Movies

‘The Strangers’ Invaded Coachella in Instagramable PR Stunt

Published

10 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Renny Harlin’s reboot of The Strangers isn’t coming out until May 17, but those murderous home invaders are making a pit stop at Coachella first.

In the latest Instagramable PR stunt, the studio behind the film decided to have the trio of masked intruders crash Coachella, a music festival that takes place for two weekends in Southern California.

This type of publicity began when Paramount did the same thing with their horror movie Smile in 2022. Their version had seemingly ordinary people in populated places look directly into a camera with an evil grin.

Harlin’s reboot is actually a trilogy with a more expansive world than that of the original.

“When setting out to remake The Strangers, we felt there was a bigger story to be told, which could be as powerful, chilling, and terrifying as the original and could really expand that world,” said producer Courtney Solomon. “Shooting this story as a trilogy allows us to create a hyperreal and terrifying character study. We’re fortunate to be joining forces with Madelaine Petsch, an amazing talent whose character is the driving force of this story.”

The movie follows a young couple (Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez) who “after their car breaks down in an eerie small town, are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive in The Strangers: Chapter 1 the chilling first entry of this upcoming horror feature film series.”

The Strangers: Chapter 1 opens in theaters on May 17.

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Movies

‘Alien’ Returning to Theaters For a Limited Time

Published

12 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Timothy Rawles

It’s been 45 years since Ridley Scott’s Alien hit theaters and in celebration of that milestone, it is headed back to the big screen for a limited time. And what better day to do that than Alien Day on April 26?

It also works as a primer for the upcoming Fede Alvarez sequel Alien: Romulus opening on August 16. A special feature in which both Alvarez and Scott discuss the original sci-fi classic will be shown as a part of your theater admission. Take a look at the preview of that conversation below.

^{Fede Alvarez and Ridley Scott}

Back in 1979, the original trailer for Alien was kind of terrifying. Imagine sitting in front of a CRT TV (Cathode Ray Tube) at night and suddenly Jerry Goldsmith’s haunting score begins to play as a giant chicken egg starts to crack with beams of light bursting through the shell and the word “Alien” slowly forms in slanted all caps across the screen. To a twelve-year-old, it was a scary pre-bedtime experience, especially Goldsmith’s screaming electronic musical flourishes playing over scenes of the actual movie. Let the “Is it horror or sci-fi?” debate begin.

Alien became a pop culture phenomenon, complete with kid’s toys, a graphic novel, and an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It also inspired dioramas in wax museums and even a frightening setpiece at Walt Disney World in the now-defunct Great Movie Ride attraction.

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The film stars Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, and John Hurt. It tells the tale of a futuristic crew of blue-collar workers suddenly awakened out of stasis to investigate an undecipherable distress signal coming from a nearby moon. They investigate the source of the signal and discover it’s a warning and not a cry for help. Unbeknownst to the crew, they have brought a giant space creature back on board which they find out in one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history.

It is said that Alvarez’s sequel will pay homage to the original film’s storytelling and set design.

_{Alien Romulus}

^{Alien (1979)}

The Alien theatrical re-release will take place on April 26. Pre-order your tickets and find out where Alien will screen at a theater near you.

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News

Home Depot’s 12-Foot Skeleton Returns with a New Friend, Plus New Life-Size Prop from Spirit Halloween

Published

14 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Cameron McFarland

Halloween is the greatest holiday of them all. However, every great holiday needs amazing props to go with it. Luckily for you, there are two new amazing props that have been released, which are sure to impress your neighbors and frighten any neighborhood children who are unfortunate enough to wander past your yard.

The first entry is the return of the Home Depot 12-foot skeleton prop. Home Depot has outdone themselves in the past. But this year the company is bringing bigger and better things to their Halloween prop lineup.

This year, the company unveiled its new and improved Skelly. But what is a giant skeleton without a loyal friend? Home Depot has also announced that they will release a five-foot tall skeleton dog prop to eternally keep Skelly company as he haunts your yard this spooky season.

This bony pooch will be five feet tall and seven feet long. The prop will also feature a posable mouth and LCD eyes with eight variable settings. Lance Allen, Home Depot’s merchant of decorative Holliday gear, had the following to say about this year’s lineup.

“This year we increased our realism within the animatronics category, created some impressive, licensed characters and even brought back some fan favorites. Overall, we are most proud of the quality and value we are able to bring to our customers with these pieces so they can continue to grow their collections.”

But what if giant skeletons just aren’t your thing? Well, Spirit Halloween has you covered with their giant life size Terror Dog replica. This massive prop has been ripped out of your nightmares to appear frighteningly on your lawn.

This prop weighs in at almost fifty pounds and features glowing red eyes that are sure to keep your yard safe from any toilet paper throwing hooligans. This iconic Ghostbusters nightmare is a must have for any fan of 80s horror. Or, anyone who loves all things spooky.