Seance Director Simon Barrett on Accessing the Fun Things in Horror Movies

Starting with 2010 A terrible way to die, Director Adam Wingard and screenwriter Simon Barrett have jointly made a number of horror films that have made them one of the most trusted duos in the genre. Projects like 2011 Auto-eroticism and You are the next one, along with their segments for V / H / S, The ABC of death, and V / H / S2He has earned them a reputation for being clever, confident horror creators who weren’t afraid of the nastier side of the genre. 2014 The host was something completely different: a 1980s horror movie patiche smart, creepy, and memorable enough to make Dan Stevens a big star.

Barrett also directed horror shorts for V / H / S2 and 2021 V / H / S / 94, and he made his feature film directorial debut in 2021 seance, another throwback horror feature set in a remote girls’ boarding school. When a student’s suicide leaves room for a new girl at the school, she immediately comes into conflict with the same tyrants who molested her dead predecessor. They lure the newcomer to a seance to summon the dead girl, and the events fall out of it.

seance is consistently surprising, and it is consistently an eye-catcher that lures viewers in different ways through the use of contradicting tropes. Is that a ghost story? A slasher story? A story of revenge? Or something completely different? It’s such a satisfying and unusual way of telling a familiar story that Polygon thought Barrett would be the perfect way to end our Trick or Tropes horror week, which explores the roots of horror films and why horror keeps being reinterpreted same pictures and ideas.

Seances are such a panic-satanic horror trope of the 1980s. Why did you want to start there?

Simon Barrett: I’ve always loved this type of ritualism, which resulted in a haunting feeling. I think these situations and devices have an inherent atmosphere that you can play with and ideally prepare for surprises. I’ve always loved this kind of narrative, especially Oujia movies and the seances of everything. I just always found them really cool. I’ve never done one before and have no real interest in the supernatural, but I love it in fiction.

You mentioned wanting to make your directorial debut a fun horror film as opposed to something heavy about current fears. Could resorting to an older trope be part of it?

I think that’s true. I don’t know if it was the right creative decision for me in the end, given the path seance has been received – it feels like people are a bit, “Why would you sincerely want to do this anachronistic thing?” But I had the idea that my first feature film should be a feel-good horror film. You are the next one was kind of a feel-good horror movie, but it’s a pretty cynical movie about relationships. certainly The host is like that, even though both are very silly films. I wanted to do something less cynical and something more hopeful about humanity.

I realized that I was naturally thinking in such a cheesy direction that the film had to be inherently old-fashioned and timeless. I’m trying to find some very cheesy kind of old-fashioned romance. I tried to do something that felt a lot like the young adult content I was consuming, which was mostly novels by Agatha Christie and Georgette Heyer, as well as the books from the Baby-Sitters Club and Sweet Valley High. I grew up with it. When I got interested in movies, I translated that into slasher. I tried to do something calmer and happier than what I was feeling in the current horror mood.

What makes a funny horror movie compared to a not funny horror movie?

Yes, it is important to check. It’s obviously very subjective. But for me it comes down to the movie’s relationship with its characters and how it treats them. I think it’s a “respect for the characters” issue. It’s easy for me to say that some horror films are sadistic about their characters, but it’s a very specific sensitivity.

For example, I think the movie Napoleon dynamite is sadistic for its characters, to the point where I am visibly uncomfortable watching the movie. I despise it. But that’s a very personal reaction. So some of it is very subjective. But overall, I think if you take your characters seriously enough as individuals, and their outcome matters to you. And you treat it with the respect it deserves, given the tone and themes of the narrative. With You are the next one, I liked some of the characters a lot, but they still had to die bloody on screen for the narrative and humor we were aiming for.

But with seance, I thought it was different. They were young women and I thought, “It’s a not fun way to do a slasher set among young women in a boarding school.” I wanted to go a different route where the only characters who die bloody are villains so you can take the narrative and enjoy the humor at that level. So I guess that’s just my definition of fun. Are the scenes designed in such a way that they cause discomfort or a negative feeling in the audience, the kind of Michael Haneke Funny Games Feeling? I got involved in some of my work. Or are you supposed to be like, “Oh, that was nice, and somehow I wanted to”? I wanted to like something House on Sorority Row was for me. I love the cozy slasher atmosphere.

Why is horror as a genre so tropical-driven, even when compared to other tropical-driven genres?

Unfortunately, I would say that the answer is probably usually creative bankruptcy, and finding a successful trope that can be monetized and mimicking it over and over as the horror genre has traditionally spread. I hope this is not the case with my own work. I tend to think that there is something funny about these iconic images that have an inherent vibe, like an ouija board. These things have a certain meaning that is an abbreviation for you. I don’t have to explain to people what happens when it’s reasonably noticeable. You can get to the fun things sooner. I think that’s part of it. I think horror is in the tropics, in those things that scare us.

Personally, I think I’ve probably finished making horror films for a while, not just because I’m stuck on some Adam Wingard projects that aren’t horror films, but as a director, I realize that I might be a little out of sync with the current mood. I am an older and older man. This is something that I am very sensitive to. From this point on, my brain begins to deteriorate because it seems inevitable to us. I think maybe I should take a little break before I get too repetitive and burned out because I realize what I especially like about horror is the old-fashioned atmosphere of telling scary stories to friends in the dark.

my V / H / S / 94 Segment takes place during a rain at night. I like rain storms at night and I know that is really cheesy. It’s so much a trope that it was literally a cliché in 1930s horror cinema. But if you can get a cliché across well, it gives you such a wonderful feeling of how these things scared us as children, how horror was a taboo genre for many young viewers. So, you may feel that these films are a little unsafe and safe for you to have a cathartic experience with them. I love this particular trip so much, but I think my sense of humor sometimes contrasts with this genuine abomination in a way that makes people think that I’m just very confused.

Her horror films seem to consciously re-contextualize the tropics and play around with them. Don’t you see it that way?

I see it that way, but I’m trying to do something else that delivers these tropes and then do something different beyond that. Horror fans are particularly sensitive to not getting what they wanted from a movie. You know when you name a movie. have seance, you have to give them at least one seance. I deliver three. Incredibly, that didn’t have a positive effect on my Rotten Tomatoes Score. You’d think statistically alone, I’d be over 50.

But it doesn’t matter, it’s true. With A terrible way to die In particular, this was a movie that people thought was going to be a certain type of movie and it was a different type of movie and so most of the time they didn’t like it. It wasn’t until later that some people said, “Oh, that’s interesting in itself.” I wouldn’t say I’m flipping the tropics, but I try to fulfill them and then narrative subvert them, and I don’t know it’s that much fun.

So much fun for you or for the audience?

For the viewer. I definitely enjoy it. Well, I mean, making movies isn’t fun. If you enjoy making movies, you are not trying enough. And I mean that sincerely. But I like what I do and I am very grateful.

Does the tropics matter to you when choosing a movie to watch? Do you watch horror movies and think, “Oh yeah, I really love a haunted house movie” or “I’ll never miss a werewolf movie”?

It’s more about who’s doing it and other things, but that’s because at this point in my adulthood I want to think that I’m a pretty demanding viewer. At the same time, yes, when a haunted house movie comes out, I get excited. That’s the funny thing, because I don’t really like making haunted house films myself because I have a hard time with their stakes and rules. But as a spectator, I love them. And if there’s a slasher or a mystery slasher, I can’t wait. So I love the tropics. And that’s probably the real answer to your question.

With seanceBecause it was my first feature film, I really wanted to work in a genre that I understood very well as a viewer, this kind of cozy slasher boarding school Suspiria Kind of thing. As a viewer, I felt an intimacy and comfort because I love these tropics. I felt like in that language I could tell a story that did some strange things and still somehow make it coherent. So yeah, tropes get me. But the horror itself catches me. There aren’t many horror films that I miss in the cinema.

seance is streamed on Shudder, Hoopla and AMC + and is available to rent or buy on Amazon, Vudu, and other digital platforms.