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‘THEM’ Creator Little Marvin Talks Terror in the American Dream

Published

3 years ago

April 6, 2021

THEM is set to debut in just a couple of days on Amazon Prime, and series creator Little Marvin will tell you he’s the luckiest man in the world.

Marvin sat down with iHorror to talk about the show’s conception, and his bold desire to instill terror in his audience. For the lifelong horror fan, that journey began by taking a long hard look at the history of terror in the world around him.

“Like everybody in this country, I think we’re experiencing some sort of terror for the past few years,” Little Marvin said as we connected via Zoom, “and it got me thinking a lot about my own experiences with terror but also a terror that stretches back to the dawn of this country and particularly the terror of navigating this country in black skin. I wanted to explore that but also explore that within a tale of the American dream.”

What the show’s creator could not anticipate is how well the idea would be received, nor the brilliantly talented people he would find himself working with when the project was picked up by Amazon.

“When I finished writing the pilot, I wrote a note to myself in my book,” he said. “I wrote ‘Executive Producer Lena Waithe.’ Cut to a year later, Miri Yoon who is an executive producer. She asked who I would like to bring on as an executive producer and so I asked, almost as a dare, for Lena Waithe, like just to see what she would do about it. She was like, hold please, and then three days later, she says, ‘You have brunch with Lena on Saturday.’ I sat down with Lena and within seconds it was just clear she’s a champion of new storytellers. She’s a champion of black filmmakers.”

Those little things lined up again and again for the writer as the series went into production. When he was writing the pilot, he listened to the music of Bernard Herrmann and other classic film composers, but he especially loved writing to the score of The Witch composed by Mark Korven. So, when the series went into production, no one was more surprised than Little Marvin when Korven was brought in to score the series.

Korven created a score that is creepy and compelling and fits well with the somewhat unexpected and incongruous song choices for the film.

“We all set out to make a show about the 50s that felt like it was shot in the 70s,” Marvin explained. “This allowed us a lot of leeway to play as far as the soundtrack and with the score. No offense to people making music in 1953, but that music sucked. It was the worst. The minute that we knew that we could actually have some fun here, it felt funky. That means we can have Isaac Hayes. Let’s throw in some Nina Simone. Let’s throw in some Roberta Flack. We just had fun with it. I think our soundtrack is pretty jamming.”

Marvin’s third blessing, and the one we all get to experience firsthand, came in the casting room where casting directors Junie Lowry-Johnson and Libby Goldstein managed to create a cast that the he could not believe.

“It was funny because we would see lots of folks and then they would sort of slip in a video like just check this out as if it was nothing,” he said laughing. “And it turns out it’d be Allison Pill, or it’s Deborah Ayorinde. I was like, oh my god.”

Pill and Ayorinde face off quite a bit in THEM, but they’re just the tip of this casting dream team. The two star opposite Ashley Thomas (The Night of), Shahadi Wright Joseph (Us), Melody Hurd (Trick), Ryan Kwanten (True Blood), Liam McIntyre (Spartacus), and Abbie Cobb (Who the F is Mike Young) to name just a few.

As the premiere date for THEM, Little Marvin was able to give us just a glimpse or an idea of what will come next for the series.

“The one thing about the show that I’m super excited about is that every season will be different people and a different time period,” he said. “The thing that remains the same is that folks that have been historically marginalized or shut out from these kinds of narratives are going to be front and center in their own tales of American Terror. That will be true every season.”

THEM will premiere on Amazon on April 9, 2021. Check out the latest trailer below!

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Movies

Trailer for ‘The Exorcism’ Has Russell Crowe Possessed

Published

4 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.

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News

Win a Stay at The Lizzie Borden House From Spirit Halloween

Published

6 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

8 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.