To mark the release of
Satanic Panic, we recently had the opportunity to talk to director Chelsea Stardust. The filmmaker got her start with Blumhouse before being enlisted by Fangoria to take the helm of this hilarious horror movie starring Hayley Griffith, Ruby Modine, and Rebecca Romijn.
Based on a script by renowned author Grady Hendrix (
My Best Friend's Exorcism), Satanic Panic offers a unique take on the 1%, as a pizza delivery girl finds herself caught in the middle of a Satan-worshipping coven's schemes in what quickly proves to be the weirdest night of her life!
It's a fun ride and a project Chelsea is clearly passionate about. In our interview, we talk about what it's like for a female director in the horror genre, her biggest influences, Wal-Mart's decision to remove the word "Satanic" from the Blu-ray cover in its stores, and whether she would be interested in entering the world of superheroes should the opportunity to direct a CBM present itself one day.
Needless to say, we want to say a huge thank you to Chelsea for taking the time to talk to us!
Satanic Panic is available to digital download and on Blu-ray™ and DVD now from Arrow Video.
It seems like the majority of horror films treat women as the victims, so did you find it particularly challenging to get a movie that turns that idea on its head greenlit?
That's a great question. But...the movie was actually greenlit when I became attached to it [Laughs], so I would say, yes, I think that can be a challenge but, for me, what was appealing to me about Satanic Panic is the fact this movie is run by women. They're both "good" and "evil" and when Fangoria approached me to direct, they were already ready to go and they were just looking for a director. I read Grady [Hendrix]'s script and just fell in love with it as I'd never seen anything like that. I though, 'Oh my God, in this movie, all the men take a back seat, it's run by women, and I want to direct this.' The minute I attached myself to the film, we started casting, and I think that was July of last year and by September I was in Dallas, Texas, prepping the film and we were shooting in October. It happened very quickly!
I noticed a 1980s horror vibe from the movie. Who are some of your horror inspirations, whether it's a filmmaker or even character from a particular franchise?
Oh my goodness, so many! With Satanic Panic, Karyn Kusama's Jennifer's Body was a huge inspiration for it. Also, Ti West's House of the Devil, and also Race with the Devil, and Sam Raimi is a huge inspiration as there's obviously a lot of Evil Dead 2 and Drag Me to Hell and Deathgasm too here. Me, personally, in addition to all of those, I love John Carpenter and George Romero, and I'm a huge fan of Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark. Those are just a couple that come to mind but with Satanic Panic, there was a lot of Sam Raimi [Laughs] and a lot of Jennifer's Body. It's a love letter to a lot of those great movies from the 80s, you totally nailed it with that.
What have been some of the biggest challenges to you as a female filmmaker being able to break into the world of horror? Do you think it's more difficult than other genres?
I actually think horror is more welcoming to female directors because you think of so many great horror movies directed by women. From Mary Lambert to Mary Harron to Kathryn Bigelow and Antonia Bird. Right now is a great time to be a woman in horror and to be directing horror and I'm so happy to be doing it right now. I think I was very lucky in the sense that I worked at Blumhouse for four years and because I worked there, that helped me get my first directing gig which was one of the Into the Dark movies that are on Hulu and part of the Blumhouse/Hulu deal. They said 'Yes' because I worked there and they knew me and that helped so much. I think it's a great time to be a woman in genre right now.
I felt like Hayley Griffith delivered a real star making performance here, so can you talk about what it was like to direct her in perhaps her biggest role to date?
I love Hayley so much. When I came aboard the project, we immediately started casting and they'd done a round of casting before they had a director attached and Hayley's audition was one of those. It was self-taped because she's based in New York and I was going through all the auditions, watching them all, and saw hers and said, 'Who's this? She's amazing! I love her' and looking her up, she hadn't done a feature and had only done a few guest starring roles on television and I really liked her but we were so early in the process, I kept meeting with other talent and seeing auditions but we just kept coming back to Hayley. I said, 'No one has wowed me like this woman has wowed me.' I talked to the producers, everyone agreed, and because she hadn't done a feature before, I know she really wanted to prove herself, so she worked so hard and she...this is her movie. Her and Ruby [Modine] and Rebecca [Romijn] own this movie but this is her journey and this is her story. She absolutely crushes it and is such a joy to work with. She was so easy to direct and took direction so well and she is just so wonderful and absolutely did prove herself and showed the world what she can do.
Rebecca Romijn looks like she's having a blast in the movie. Can you tell us about how you went about getting her to join the project?
Working with her was so fun. It was very surreal having grown up with X-Men and things like that so getting to work with her was a total dream. When we were talking about who could play Danica, her name came up and I was like, 'I don't think she's done a horror movie, I wonder if she likes them? Let's reach out.' I got to Skype with her, she said she loves horror and 'I read Fangoria and watched everything on video as a kid as I'd rent all the horror videos I could get my hands on.' This was her first opportunity working in horror and gore. She's done special effects makeup with X-Men but she had never done gore specifically. Getting to do that with her was really awesome but she loved the genre and loves the part and, obviously, that comes through when you watch the movie. You can tell! [Laughs]
Why was it important for you to prioritise practical effects over visual effects with this movie?
That's part of the Fangoria brand so we knew all along it would be only practical effects as that's part of who Fangoria is. Also, we really wanted to lean into that 80s feel and I just almost always prefer practical effects. Visual effects just haven't quite gotten to a place where we don't know it's a visual effect and they haven't quite been able to trick the eye yet. I think we're very close and think they'll eventually do that but right now, you believe the effects because they're real and you know they're real and you know it's not a visual effect. So, I think it's more believable for the audience even though it's totally absurd and crazy and until we're in a place you can trick everyone with a visual effect, this is more real and a tangible thing which is good for the actors too as they're reacting and interacting with something that's actually there instead of a green tennis ball [Laughs].
The scene with the needles coming out of Judi's fingers and face as she's being cursed was a standout for me and makes for tough viewing. How did you go about creating that sequence?
The needles coming out of the hands came through a fake hand as there's a little mechanical device in there pushing them out. Then, she actually had real needles on her eyes, so, yeah, that's totally practical as is everything else you see in that sequence...including the puking!
Weirdly, it seems like Satanism in horror movies is something that still really gets under a lot of people's skin, and in some stores in America, the title has been changed/ What are your thoughts on that, and did you have any reservations about how to handle it here?
It wasn't really a concern for me. It's just a movie, it's not "real-life" [Laughs]. Wal-Mart is specifically the store that has the "Panic" title that everyone is talking about but when Fangoria told me that was going to happen, I actually thought it was really cool because I thought, 'Oh my God, we actually have a variant cover!' I love the fact that they'll keep an upside down Pentagram but will take out the word "Satanic." I thought it was really funny and I didn't mind it at all. Now, I'm trying to find a copy that just says "Panic!" It's kind of silly that they took off "Satanic" on the cover but I understand, like you said, that people are very sensitive to it and can't really separate what some people think Satanism is to what it really is when you're talking about Satanic temples. They're very different things and I just personally think Wal-Mart doing that to the cover is kind of silly but, who knows, maybe now it can be a collector's item [Laughs].
You've been working in the horror genre for a long time, but are superheroes something you would ever have any interest in working on?
Um, I don't know. The superhero movies I gravitate towards, I love anything in the Batman canon and I love Wonder Woman. In terms of directing one of them, I'm not sure...the verdict is still out and I'd have to think about it for a little bit whether I'd want to dive into that. But hey, if someone approached me and said we want you to direct Wonder Woman 5, I would probably say yes [Laughs].
Murder goes luxe in this hilarious horror romp produced by the top tome in terror, FANGORIA. From mind of renowned author Grady Hendrix (Horrorstör, My Best Friend’s Exorcism) and a cast led by Rebecca Romijn (X-Men, The Librarians), Jerry O’Connell (Billions, Piranha 3D) and Ruby Modine (Happy Death Day), SATANIC PANIC is a delightfully camp peek into the dastardly vice of the 1%.
When Sam’s first day slinging pizza is a total wash-out, she goes against her colleague’s advice and takes one last delivery in the wealthy enclave out of town. Stiffed for a tip, she breaks into an imposing mansion to make them pay up. Unfortunately, she’s gate-crashed the local Satan-worshipping, demon-summoning coven’s virgin sacrifice gala! These society sorcerers are down a maiden and now Sam must take on murderous babysitters, blood-crazed soccer mums and more than her fair share of lustful demons if she’s going to survive the night.
Welcome to the 1%, where the rich get richer and the poor get offered to Baphomet.