PopHorror Let's Get Scared
After watching the movie Dementia Part II, I was pumped when I found out I was going to get the chance to chat with two of the film’s stars, Graham Skipper and Najarra Townsend (Contracted franchise). Getting a look into what made this movie so much fun and finding out how the people who made it feel about it is the icing on the Dementia Part II cake.
PopHorror: I just finished watching the screening of Dementia Part II last night and have looked into your career a little bit. I definitely recognized your name from the Contracted movies. What attracts you to the horror genre in particular? I notice you work with that genre a lot.
Najarra Townsend: I do. I, myself, am just a horror fan. I love watching horror movies. And I also love doing them because I feel like everything’s so heightened in horror. In one horror movie, either there could be some comedy in it, I could be crying hysterically, I could be screaming, I could be angry. There’s so many. So, it really is such a roller coaster to be in horror movies, and I personally just really like being able to play that, and I’ve been fortunate enough to play some pretty intense and cool characters. And, yeah, horror just has always been really fascinating to me. I just I love special effects. I like I love doing them. I just I think they’re so cool. So yeah, horror has always been a genre that I love.
PopHorror: Sweet. On that note, what’s your favorite effect in a horror movie?
Najarra Townsend: Oh, just in general?
PopHorror: Yeah, just in general… a monster, a gore shot. Any special effect that you really think stood out to you.
Najarra Townsend: It’s sort of generalized. It’s weird. I’m a sucker for jump scares. I don’t know if that would count, but the one when you have anticipation, when you think something’s about to happen. And then it either doesn’t or it does, but you get that adrenaline rush. I guess it’s fear really. I always I that’s one of the things I’m addicted to in horror movies.
PopHorror: Yeah, jump scares are classic for getting the adrenaline running.
Najarra Townsend: Yeah.
PopHorror: What was your favorite part of working on Dementia Part II?
Najarra Townsend: Definitely working with Matt Mercer, Mike Preston, Graham Skipper, and Suzanne Voss. I like it. I’ve worked with Matt and Mike more times than I can count over the past decade, and it’s always the best time. I always know that the final product is going to be great. I feel really fortunate to be able to call this my job and to be able to work with my friends and have this amazing time every day. So I just feel really lucky in that aspect. And so my favorite thing on this project was definitely again collaborating with friends. And it didn’t feel like we were shooting a movie because we were hanging out. And that is so nice.
PopHorror: Yeah, I’ve worked on a couple of projects with friends and longtime collaborators, and that’s such a wonderful feeling.
Najarra Townsend: Yeah, yeah. With Matt and Mike, I don’t usually do comedies. It’s usually always very serious. To be able to work on a film that had Graham [Skipper]. The day that he shot, I was in stitches. Matt would call, “Cut!” and we were all be dying of laughter. That was so fun to be able to experience that. So now I have two favorite things with that movie, two favorite reasons.
PopHorror: I was actually going to ask you about that next. Seeing a lot of your prior filmography, you’ve done a lot more serious work. I wanted to ask how it felt to work on something that certainly had more of a dark comedy element to it?
Najarra Townsend: Yeah, it was great. I really enjoyed it. I definitely I think I’ve always been more drawn to the more dramatic side of stuff. I’ve always used films as therapy, as a way to get stuff out, as a way to like work through things. So I’ve always just gravitated towards dramas. To be able to do a dark comedy and experience that… it was really refreshing and fun, and it makes me want to do more of them.
PopHorror: So you say it’s a therapeutic in its own way to do a comedy over kind of purging those inner demons in a dramatic role?
Najarra Townsend: Yeah, yeah actually, I don’t think I would have necessarily thought about it in the same way, but in reflection… laughter is a form of medicine, right? And I could see how that could also be like my form of therapy.
PopHorror: I could definitely tell you we’re having a lot of fun with the role, and I could see just by reading body language that there was probably going to be a lot of laughing off camera, especially with the Graham lines, so I’m glad to hear that. On a horror note, what’s your favorite scene in a horror movie? It can be one of yours.
Najarra Townsend: One scene? Holy moly! I’m absolutely awful at favorites, and I know that I should be better at them, because I get asked what my favorite things are all the time, so I really should pick some stuff. This is so random, and I don’t know if you ever heard of the movie Teeth?
PopHorror: Yeah, the one with the vagina dentata?
Najarra Townsend: Yes! Oh my God, yes! I don’t know why this popped into my head. But when she goes to the gynecologist and he looks at her and he screams, “Vagina dentata!” I don’t know why, but I died laughing. I’ve seen that movie far too many times. It is 100% not my favorite scene, but it’s the scene that I’m saying is my favorite right now.
https://youtu.be/qR05iWt2WtM?t=80
PopHorror: Favorites are fluid and that performance is amazing. He’s just screaming it! So good.
Najarra Townsend: So good. Would you consider that a horror movie?
PopHorror: Oh yes! As a straight man, I would definitely say that’s a horror movie.
Najarra Townsend: (laughs) Okay, okay! Good.
PopHorror: What’s your elevator pitch to see Dementia Part II?
Najarra Townsend: Well, I explain what it’s about first. I do a very brief synopsis. I’d say that it’s about an ex-con who takes a job under pressure from his parole officer to work as a handyman at an older woman’s house, and as the day goes on, he comes to realize that something is not right with this old woman [Suzanne]. And if you want to have a good time, sit down with some drinks, maybe make a drinking game out of it, every time you hear the name, “Suzanne,” drink. Just have fun and get ready to laugh. Enjoy yourself.
PopHorror: I agree. I definitely got some Reanimator or Evil Dead 2 vibes from it. I think that sort of horror fun will definitely bring audiences in.
Najarra Townsend: Yeah, and I would recommend watching it with people like if that’s possible. Maybe on Zoom to get your family together. Not anyone too young, though. And yeah, watch it with people because dark comedies are always better when you can hear people’s reactions,
PopHorror : 100% agree. That’s it for my questions. Thank you so much for speaking with me today!
Najarra Townsend: Yeah, thank you!
DEMENTIA PART II hit select theaters on May 21, 2021, and will be on VOD, Digital HD, and DVD on June 1, 2021 from Dark Star Pictures and Bloody Disgusting.
