PopHorror Let's Get Scared
The upcoming horror-adventure film Do Not Enter arrives March 20, 2026, in theaters, on digital, and on demand. Directed by Marc Klasfeld, the film is based on the novel Creepers by David Morrell and follows a group of thrill-seeking urban explorers who livestream their descent into New Jersey’s abandoned Paragon Hotel. What begins as a stunt to grow their audience quickly spirals into something far more dangerous as rival explorers and supernatural forces begin to close in.
The film stars Jake Manley, Adeline Rudolph, Francesca Reale, Shane Paul McGhie, Kai Caster, Javier Botet, with Nicholas Hamilton and Laurence O’Fuarain. The screenplay is by Stephen Susco and Spencer Mandel & Dikega Hadnot, and the film is produced by Jordan Schur, p.g.a.
PopHorror spoke with Marc Klasfeld about adapting the material, the influence of urban exploration culture, and how his long career directing music videos helped shape the film’s style.
Do Not Enter: Finding the Paragon
PopHorror: All right, so this is for Pop Horror, as you may be aware.
Marc Klasfeld: So, I like the name.
PopHorror: I do have to ask you about the novel by David Morrell, Creepers. And that must have had a strong enough following because they made a movie out of it. So what were the biggest challenges you faced in translating the tension and atmosphere of the book into a cinematic experience?
Marc Klasfeld: Sure, well, when I got the script, it was already called Do Not Enter. And it’s different than the book. There are some similarities, but there are definitely differences. And hence, that’s why it has a different title. So it’s definitely not the same thing as the book.
But I guess the biggest challenge was getting the Paragon Hotel and being able to accomplish that. Quite honestly, we didn’t have a Tom Cruise-size budget. So it’s like really being able to accomplish that. And we were looking at a lot of places to shoot it and a lot of abandoned buildings, abandoned hotels. They’re just not safe to shoot in, right? You can’t really. They’re not.
You have an insurance. You would never get permission to shoot in them. It’s just not safe. But one of the producers on the movie has a lot of experience shooting in Bulgaria. And there’s this unique stone building there. It’s this giant thing. It’s so damn big. I spent like a month there and I still didn’t get to see all of it. But that place just felt like the Paragon. And that’s why we shot it there.
So I guess representing from the book, being able to represent the Paragon and making that a character and making that feel rich with our budget and everything. That was one of the biggest challenges.
PopHorror: Yeah. Location is often important in a horror movie or in music videos. You’re also a music video director and you’ve, right? I’m not misunderstanding.
Marc Klasfeld: No, I’ve directed quite a few music videos
From Music Videos to Horror
PopHorror:: From Ozzy Osbourne to all sorts of other more modern artists.
Marc Klasfeld: Yeah.
PopHorror: And so, did that experience of directing music videos at all help you stylistically when it comes to this film?
Marc Klasfeld: Oh yeah. No, definitely. I mean, I’ve shot so many videos in so many different genres. From Ozzy and Slipknot, as you say, to like Katy Perry and Jay-Z. And just everything up and down [According to YouTube, “His hit video for Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s ‘See You Again’… is currently the 2nd-most-viewed video on YouTube at 3 billion views.”]
And I have a DP that I work with. His name is Yon Thomas. And he shot quite a few of my best music videos. And we have a great relationship. And he’s since moved on to movies and Netflix shows and all kinds of stuff. And yeah, me and him definitely had a great shorthand to bring this movie alive.
PopHorror: And let’s see, when it comes to like the live streaming aspect of it with the abandoned Paragon Hotel. What attracted you to the idea of using urban exploration culture as a backbone to a horror film? Were there any other horror films that came to mind?
Marc Klasfeld: Oh yeah. Well, there’s this great… well, what attracted me to the script is the fact that it was… it’s a horror movie. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a horror movie. But there’s adventure also.
PopHorror: Sure.
Marc Klasfeld: I think it’s an equal… and there aren’t a lot of movies like that. And that just felt… it felt so entertaining to me. It felt quite honestly like a 1980s kind of a movie. It felt different to me.
There’s a great horror slash adventure movie called The Descent, which I love. Which I just love that movie. And it’s just so entertaining and so fun. So yeah, I mean…
The Pull of Urban Exploration
Marc Klasfeld: And as a kid, I have a distinct memory of this abandoned place that we went… we just called it going in. But I guess it’s called urban exploration. But it was so dark. It was so dark. Like with that, we had a flashlight. But if you turn the flashlight off, there was nothing. It was the darkest experience I’ve ever been in. And it was so scary and so cool.
And then I went to college in New York City. I went to NYU. And I remember at NYU, I was really infatuated with riding the subway… I heard about this Second Avenue subway tunnel that was never built. It was never completed. But there were all these people who would urban explore it and go in and take videos and photos. So, all that stuff drew me to this script.
PopHorror: Oh, sure. And have you ever been on a mine tour or anything like that? Like exploring a mine or any…
Marc Klasfeld: I think I was on something like that in Colorado.
PopHorror: Yeah. Because where I live, they give mine tours because it’s an area with a huge mining history. So I’ve been on a mine tour or two. And there’s a part where they turn the lights completely off. And what you said just reminded me of that. It’s just so dark in there and so scary compared to how it was previously.
Marc Klasfeld: Sure, sure.
PopHorror: And you get the sense of what it would be like if you were just stranded in an area like that or location like that.
Marc Klasfeld: Yeah, yeah. Well, our film definitely has darker aspects to it, for sure.
Social Media and Risk in Do Not Enter
PopHorror: And let’s see. So the Creepers, they’re motivated by drawing their audience and enjoying online fame. So was it an aim of the film to comment on social media and risk taking for attention? Or did those just emerge more naturally from the story?
Marc Klasfeld: Yeah, that was another sort of aspect of it. You know, there is a little bit of social commentary there. Thank you for noticing that.
PopHorror: Yeah. And when it comes to locations, I’m reminded of the music video to a song by the Sisters of Mercy [either “Lucretia My Reflection” or “This Corrosion” might fit]. In this abandoned looking industrial setting. And it seems like abandoned locations are very good for horror movies. And they can create a lot of styles. So, in the location, was it automatically abandoned looking? Or did you have to dress up the location to make it look older or anything like that?
Marc Klasfeld: Great question. It definitely… well, I think the location was built in the 70s. So it had the right architectural birthday, kind of. So nothing looked too new. It definitely had an old look, but not too old. But on top of that, yes, we had to age it and light it to make it look more abandoned. Of course, it’s not an abandoned location. But it didn’t need a lot of help.
Building the Cast of Do Not Enter
PopHorror: So, when it comes to the cast, what qualities were you looking for in the actors to capture the adrenaline and the recklessness of what they’re doing?
Marc Klasfeld: Yeah. Each character within the group has their own skills, their own personality. So we had to find actors that filled each of those personalities for the group. And we had a great group. We had to bring them all the way over to Bulgaria. And we did a lot of rehearsals.
We did so many rehearsals that we actually all got COVID together. It was fun, but we all grew closer. And everybody got really into the details of their character.
PopHorror: People who get sick together stick together, maybe.
Marc Klasfeld: Oh, yeah. True.
PopHorror: And when it comes to the writing here, how collaborative was the process between you and the writers when shaping the tone and the pacing of the film?
Marc Klasfeld: Very collaborative. I was highly involved in the writing. The actors, when we did rehearsals, I mean, we’re all sitting around for days. When we all got COVID and breathing on each other. But we were all really tweaking the dialogue and tweaking things all together. So it was a very collaborative process.
A Marathon, Not a Sprint
PopHorror: When it comes to your background in music videos, did that background influence how you approach the visual style? I might have asked this already.
Marc Klasfeld: Yeah. I’ve shot so many music videos in so many different ways that transitioning into a movie it wasn’t this thing like, oh, what’s it like to be on set? I mean, I have a lot of experience doing that.
For me, it was more just… and I knew this was going to happen. But it just takes so goddamn long to get the movie done. I mean, to get the script right and everybody to agree to get the money to get the shoot. And then the post-production, everything just takes so long. Whereas with a music video, it’s a sprint. And this is much more of a marathon, right? You just have to kind of keep this even pace throughout it. So that’s been challenging. But I’m getting used to it.
PopHorror: So without giving away any spoilers that you don’t want to give away, what sort of horror experiences are you hoping that your audience will get from this movie?
Marc Klasfeld: Well, it’s definitely an eerie movie. Definitely some very scary parts. But there’s also a lot of adventure in it. And I think more… I just think they’re going to be very entertained. For an hour and a half, two hours, whatnot.
With all the bad things going on in the world, it’s like there’s nothing better than to kind of just sink into a world, sink into a piece of entertainment, a movie like this, and really enjoy it. And that’s my hope.
