Allow me to introduce you to SCARED TO DEATH, the new horror comedy starring genre greats Bill Moseley and Lin Shaye and boasting creature creations by Legacy FX, the maestros best known for GODZILLA X KONG, AVATAR, THE SHAPE OF WATER and the upcoming ALIEN: ROMULUS.
The movie, which co-stars Rae Dawn Chong (new INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE), has been favorably compared to RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD and other classics that mix scares, laughs and offbeat characters.
SCARED TO DEATH was written and directed by Scottish music video vet Paul Boyd. It was produced (and co-stars) rising heavy metal performer Kurt Deimer.
Synopsis: Jasper is a young opportunistic filmmaker yearning to climb the Hollywood ladder. While working as a lowly production assistant, he seizes his chance to be a “real” director when he suggests to his cantankerous boss that the crew and actors from their upcoming horror film attend a real séance in an old haunted house for research. The place they choose is an abandoned children’s shelter that has been closed for 70 years since the mysterious murders of five children in 1942. Ominously, the orphans were discovered scared to death. Once the séance begins, the motley crew find themselves trapped inside the old house and haunted by the children … and something possibly worse.
“Years ago, I purchased an old house in Hollywood, somewhere with lots of space to raise my kids. After the sale, the former owner informed me that the house was in fact haunted. Being a non-believer, I never experienced anything supernatural in the house. I would walk around at night, in the dark, looking over my shoulder and into mirrors, waiting to be caught off guard. To see a ghost. It never happened. But … my wife and kids, on the other hand, that’s a different story. They had multiple terrifying experiences which to them felt absolutely real. This paradigm inspired me to make a film about “believing is seeing” and that’s where the story started.
My producer, Eric Barrett, helped me focus the creative, and we decided to put a group of non-believers, filmmakers like us, in a haunted house where they get forced to confront their fears and beliefs. I made the story a genre parody to feel the humor and the ridiculousness of the situation, to be silly. Where adults act like children, which is what we do when scared. The production kicked into gear when I met actor/musician Kurt Deimer, who I cast as The Grog, a brand-new horror character we created to add to the genre’s rich pantheon. Kurt had a strong vision for the role and believed in the film enough to finance production. It was a win-win when his music and naturalistic performance delivered the laughs and added to the story.
Kurt and I knew when casting the great Lin Shaye that she would translate the energy required to play the worst boss in history, someone who has all the characters Scared to Death.
Begging the question: which monsters are scarier … real or imagined?” – Director, Paul Boyd
