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Horror Pride Month: Actress and Writer Erin Day

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Erin Day

Erin Day is an actress and budding screenwriter with a handful of credits to her name and her sights set on creating her first feature length film. She’s also a lifelong horror fan and pansexual woman who has found a place in her life where she’s finally comfortable.

Day sat down with me for an interview for Horror Pride Month and took me on a journey through her life, highlighting the moments and films that stuck out to her and her own personal intention to change the way the genre portrays queer women.

Growing up, she had a mom who was really open to letting her kids watch the movies they wanted to watch. Having a natural curiosity, Day absorbed everything that caught her eye but two films, in particular, were formative to her becoming a horror fan.

“The first was Killer Klowns from Outer Space,” Day explained. “That was when I knew that I liked being scared. I mean, I didn’t like it, but I liked it! It was such a weird, complex feeling for me. Then when I was about 11 or 12, I saw The Exorcist. Mom asked if I was sure and I told her I was so she sat down and we watched it together.”

From that moment on, Day was hooked, and despite a brief period in her mid-teens where she lost her taste for them, she’s remained a horror fan ever since.

As for her identity as a queer woman, that took a little more time.

“I knew I was different when I was probably eight or nine years old,” she told me. “There were lots of little things like I always wanted to wear boy bathing suits when I was a kid and didn’t understand why I couldn’t do that. I was totally different, but my mom never once made me feel different. I still fought it pretty hard, though. I didn’t come out until after I had been married to a man for a year and he was the first person I came out to.”

Her journey continued from there as many of ours do with counseling and acceptance of who she was as a person, and yet, her newly accepted personal identity began to chafe against her love for horror.

“About five years ago, I decided I wanted to make a difference in how queer people, and especially queer women, are portrayed in horror,” Day explained. “I feel like it borders on pornographic and it’s definitely fetishized and to an extent, I get that. It’s horror. It’s tits and ass and blood.”

Still, it didn’t sit well with her, especially a lot of the queer coding that has gone on in the past.

For those unaware, queer-coding is a term that describes giving certain traits to a character that may imply that they are queer without actually coming out and saying it directly. This is, unfortunately, most often used for villains in everything from horror films to Disney movies, and it has a direct effect on how queer audiences view films.

Day recalled one instance in particular when she was building a character backstory for a role that she was set to play. While in prep, she asked the director if her character was actually in a relationship with a woman.

“He responded by telling me it wasn’t that kind of movie,” Day said. “There was like this dirty sense to what he was saying. I wasn’t trying to make it pornographic. I was just figuring out my character!”

The actress says she’s run into the same kind of reaction from people when she’s talking about the film she’s written.

Dusso tells the story of a non-binary person in East London in the late nineteenth century. Forced into prostitution, Dusso begins a relationship with a woman named Rosalee. Rosalee’s father becomes enraged when he finds out who his daughter is spending time with, and things spiral out of control.

Day says the story has an almost Tim Burton-esque quality to it with larger than life characters and actions that place it somewhere between Sweeney Todd and Jack the Ripper.

“It’s kind of a body horror love story,” she said. “But when I tell people about it they assume it’s somehow going to be some dark, pornographic story and that’s not what it’s like at all. It makes me sad that people assume that.”

Fortunately she says that she has seen some change in the portrayal of queer women in the genre particularly with films like Stewart Thorndike’s Lyle, a film that feels a bit like Rosemary’s Baby but with a central lesbian couple, and the wonderful way that shows like The Chilling Tales of Sabrina has openly embraced the spectrum of sexual orientations and gender identities.

A particular favorite of Day’s is Ingrid Jungermann’s Women Who Kill.

“It a dark horror comedy and there are a lot of lesbian characters in it, but you hardly even think about it while you watch it,” she explained. “That’s how I feel like horror should be evolving. You’re not sitting there thinking, ‘Hey, I’m watching a lesbian movie!’ It’s more like you’re just watching a movie that happens to have lesbian characters in it.”

This kind of normalized representation is what many of us in the queer community are hoping for ultimately, and possibly what the larger studios who produce horror content don’t understand is that they don’t have to make a big deal out of a queer character being in their film.

Just write a normal, every day queer person who happens to find themselves in the midst of the horror like everyone else. If you do it, and you do it well, the queer community will surely provide all the hype you could ever want.

Check out the trailer for Erin Day’s Dusso below. While the film is still in the process of heading toward production, it never hurts to know what’s on the horizon from such a talented queer artist.

Dusso Trailer from Erin Day on Vimeo.

 

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New Poster Reveal For Nicolas Cage’s Survival Creature Feature ‘Arcadian’ [Trailer]

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Nicolas Cage Arcadian

In the latest cinematic venture featuring Nicolas Cage, Arcadian emerges as a compelling creature feature, teeming with suspense, horror, and emotional depth. RLJE Films has recently released a series of new images and a captivating poster, offering audiences a glimpse into the eerie and thrilling world of “Arcadian”. Scheduled to hit theaters on April 12, 2024, the film will later be available on Shudder and AMC+, ensuring a wide audience can experience its gripping narrative.

Arcadian Movie Trailer

The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has given this film an “R” rating for its “bloody images,” hinting at the visceral and intense experience awaiting viewers. The film draws inspiration from acclaimed horror benchmarks like “A Quiet Place,” weaving a post-apocalyptic tale of a father and his two sons navigating a desolate world. Following a catastrophic event that depopulates the planet, the family faces the dual challenge of surviving their dystopian environment and eluding mysterious nocturnal creatures.

Joining Nicolas Cage in this harrowing journey are Jaeden Martell, known for his role in “IT” (2017), Maxwell Jenkins from “Lost in Space,” and Sadie Soverall, featured in “Fate: The Winx Saga.” Directed by Ben Brewer (“The Trust”) and penned by Mike Nilon (“Braven”), “Arcadian” promises a unique blend of poignant storytelling and electrifying survival horror.

Maxwell Jenkins, Nicolas Cage, and Jaeden Martell 

Critics have already begun to praise “Arcadian” for its imaginative monster designs and exhilarating action sequences, with one review from Bloody Disgusting highlighting the film’s balance between emotional coming-of-age elements and heart-pounding horror. Despite sharing thematic elements with similar genre films, “Arcadian” sets itself apart through its creative approach and action-driven plot, promising a cinematic experience filled with mystery, suspense, and relentless thrills.

Arcadian Official Movie Poster

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‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3’ Is a Go with Enhanced Budget and New Characters

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Winnie the Pooh 3

Wow, they’re churning things out fast! The upcoming sequel “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3” is officially moving forward, promising an expanded narrative with a larger budget and the introduction of beloved characters from A.A. Milne’s original tales. As confirmed by Variety, the third installment in the horror franchise will welcome Rabbit, the heffalumps, and the woozles into its dark and twisted narrative.

This sequel is a part of an ambitious cinematic universe that reimagines children’s stories as horror tales. Alongside “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” and its first sequel, the universe includes films such as “Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare”, “Bambi: The Reckoning,” and “Pinocchio Unstrung”. These movies are set to converge in the crossover event “Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble,” slated for a 2025 release.

Winnie the Pooh Poohniverse

The creation of these films was made possible when A.A. Milne’s 1926 children’s book “Winnie-the-Pooh” entered the public domain last year, allowing filmmakers to explore these cherished characters in unprecedented ways. Director Rhys Frake-Waterfield and producer Scott Jeffrey Chambers, of Jagged Edge Productions, have led the charge in this innovative endeavor.

The inclusion of Rabbit, heffalumps, and woozles in the upcoming sequel introduces a new layer to the franchise. In Milne’s original stories, heffalumps are imagined creatures resembling elephants, while woozles are known for their weasel-like characteristics and a penchant for stealing honey. Their roles in the narrative remain to be seen, but their addition promises to enrich the horror universe with deeper connections to the source material.

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How to Watch ‘Late Night with the Devil’ from Home: Dates and Platforms

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Late Night With The Devil

For fans eager to dive into one of this year’s most talked-about horror films from the comfort of their own home, “Late Night with the Devil” will be available for streaming exclusively on Shudder starting April 19, 2024. This announcement has been highly anticipated following the film’s successful theatrical release by IFC Films, which saw it earning rave reviews and a record-breaking opening weekend for the distributor.

“Late Night with the Devil” emerges as a standout horror film, captivating audiences and critics alike, with Stephen King himself offering high praise for the 1977-set film. Starring David Dastmalchian, the movie unfolds on Halloween night during a live late-night talk show broadcast that disastrously unleashes evil across the nation. This found footage-style film not only delivers scares but also authentically captures the aesthetic of the 1970s, drawing viewers into its nightmarish scenario.

David Dastmalchian in Late Night with the Devil

The film’s initial box office success, opening to $2.8 million in 1,034 theaters, underscores its wide appeal and marks the highest opening weekend for an IFC Films release. Critically acclaimed, “Late Night with the Devil” boasts a 96% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 135 reviews, with the consensus praising it for rejuvenating the possession horror genre and showcasing David Dastmalchian’s exceptional performance.

Rotten Tomatoes score as of 3/28/2024

Simon Rother of iHorror.com encapsulates the film’s allure, emphasizing its immersive quality that transports viewers back to the 1970s, making them feel as if they are part of the eerie “Night Owls” Halloween broadcast. Rother lauds the film for its meticulously crafted script and the emotional and shocking journey it takes viewers on, stating, “This whole experience will have viewers of the Cairnes brothers’ film glued to their screen… The script, from beginning to end, is neatly sewn together with an ending that’ll have jaws on the floor.” You can read the full review here.

Rother further encourages audiences to watch the film, highlighting its multifaceted appeal: “Whenever it is made available to you, you must attempt to view the Cairnes Brothers’ latest project as it will make you laugh, it will creep you out, it will amaze you, and it might even strike an emotional cord.”

Set to stream on Shudder on April 19, 2024, “Late Night with the Devil” offers a compelling blend of horror, history, and heart. This film is not just a must-watch for horror aficionados but for anyone looking to be thoroughly entertained and moved by a cinematic experience that redefines the boundaries of its genre.

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