One of the hardest genres to get right is the comedy-horror genre. Sure there have been so monumental failures in the genre over the years but when a filmmaker gets it right the films have the potential to become cult favourites amongst horror fans.
That is certainly the case for Satanic Panic the new film from director Chelsea Stardust which is screening at Fangoria x Monster Fest 2019. When HEAVY Cinema caught up with Chelsea before the festival it was obvious to see just how excited she was about it screening at this year’s festival.
“I am so proud of the movie,” she says when I ask her whether she gets nervous when her film is about to screen at a festival. “I mean every film is a miracle so just the fact that I was able to create something that I am so proud of is very helpful. I actually like to sit in the audience and watch the reactions to the film. I know that some directors are over it and can’t sit and watch but I love to be able to sit and watch what jokes the audience interacts to and I think that is really cool. But it is exhausting both physically and emotionally because you have to constantly be ‘on’ for your movie and there is an energy that you have to bring and you are talking to a lot of people and I think it is really important to interact with the fans and so I always want to have good energy and that can be exhausting.”
I ask her how she became involved with Satanic Panic which came from the pen of Mohawk writer Grady Hendrix and she says, “My agent sent me the script and I saw that it was written by Grady Hendrix and I am a huge fan of his work, I loved My Best Friend’s Exorcism and Horrorstor so the moment I saw his name on it I wanted to be involved. Also I knew that Fangoria was producing and so I read the script and loved it. I thought this movie is bat-shit crazy and then I basically just pitched my vision of the movie to Fangoria. I had a phone call with the producers and I told them the tone that I wanted for the movie and how I wanted to create it.”
“ I came from a comedy and a horror background, from my employment since moving to Los Angeles I have worked with producers and directors like Ivan Reitman and Judd Apatow and then I also worked with Jason Blum at Blumhouse and I was really the only person they were looking at that had that kind of background,” she says as she continues. “I also had a really clear vision of what I wanted to do with the film. I wanted to make something that was akin to Jennifer’s Body, Drag Me To Hell, Deathgasm, Race With The Devil and House Of The Devil and Evil Dead 2 even, the balance of horror and comedy is very difficult but I was using those movies as the kind of structure I wanted and what I was looking for. They knew my vision was clear so they gave me the job!”
You can listen to our full interview with Chelsea Stardust above and make sure you check out Satanic Panic screening at Fangoria x Monster Fest 2019. You can grab tickets at www.monsterfest.com.au
