The horror genre isn’t what it once was. While there were boxes it may have needed to check before, when you walk into the theater for thrills, you can expect the unexpected. Get Out offered audiences frights about race relations and Happy Death Day 2U was a Back To the Future-esque ride.
Deon Taylor’s The Intruder may offer moviegoers more comedic beats then one might expect from a creepy tale about a couple who becomes entangled in the grip Dennis Quaid’s Charlie Peck has on his longtime home shortly after selling it to them. Audiences might be a shocked at how much humor can be found amidst the chills and jump-scares.
During a recent Los Angeles press day for The Intruder, I asked director Deon Taylor about how these comedic moments found a place in the movie. Here’s what he said:
I think it has a lot to do with my DNA as a filmmaker. I really like laughing, I love funny things, I love humor and I think a lot of times when there is a lot of pain, there’s also a lot of humor. When we were making the movie, I think the humanity of it: flawed characters, argumentative moments, playing the fun side of Charlie Peck in the first two acts. Because you don’t really take him serious until you start going ‘wait a minute, he’s actually really scary. He’s a creepy dude.’ It gives you a really good playing field for fun and (the cast) takes advantage of it.
The director has tackled a balance between comedy and horror before in his 2016 film Meet the Blacks, so it makes sense he’d want to move some of the fun over to his latest project. Warming up the film with humor in the beginning to break the tension before bringing on the intense chills is a smart move, and it looks like it came naturally for the filmmaker.
It also helped that he had Michael Ealy and Meagan Good on board, who had previously starred together in Think Like a Man. Ealy told CinemaBlend about how their ties infused some humor on set:
I think our relationship prior to this movie enabled me to actually feel comfortable to improvise certain jokes and throw out certain things and to be snarky, vulnerable and be the actual Scott character. That was key for me and Meagan was helpful because she’s silly and off camera we were constantly clowning each other.
Take a look at the exclusive interview below:
The Intruder premiered Thursday night in theaters alongside Long Shot and UglyDolls and topped numbers among the newcomers, per Variety. The title is a contender to fight for the top spot at the box office this weekend under the reigning success Avengers: Endgame will certainly find in its second weekend in theaters. Stay tuned with CinemaBlend to see how it all goes down.
