PopHorror Let's Get Scared
If you’ve watched any horror films in the past few years, you’ve most likely seen at least one Blumhouse production. Founded in 2000 by Jason Blum, Blumhouse is known for bringing contemporary horror to the multiplex, including Paranormal Activity (2007 – read our retro review here), the Insidious franchise, Sinister (2012), The Purge franchise, The Visit (2015 – read our review here), and Martyrs (2015). I had the pleasure of speaking with Jason, and we discussed how it feels to head such a corporation, learning to love horror, what’s next for Blumhouse, and of course, horror movies.
PopHorror: Blumhouse has made non-horror fans watch horror. It’s helped bring the horror genre to a whole new level and has helped revitalize it, proving that fans will still flock to the theaters to see the genre. How does it feel to have created this horror empire?
Jason Blum: It feels good! I think that we’ve gotten the audience to look at horror from a different lens, maybe as a way to get people to talk about social issues or current issues of the day. And I think that’s great. I am very proud of it, and we’re going to keep doing it.
PopHorror: Were you a horror fan before you started your company?
Jason Blum: Not that much. I really liked all kinds of movies, but I’ve grown to be a wild horror fan. I’ve learned about horror from the great directors we have worked with like James Wan early on, and Oren [Peli] and Leigh Whannell, and now I can’t imagine not being a horror addict. I wasn’t like Quentin [Tarantino] or Eli Roth or whatever and only consuming horror movies when I was a kid. I really loved all kinds of movies.
PopHorror: So then… What is your favorite horror movie?
Jason Blum: Rosemary’s Baby is one of my favorite horror movies, for sure. I love Hitchcock movies. They’re horror adjacent. I think Rosemary’s Baby is my favorite horror movie. It changes. My wife just watched it recently, and I watched some of it, and it’s still so good.
PopHorror: It is a really great movie. I was telling my friend that I was going to be speaking with you, and I was showing her your very impressive resume, all of the films in your filmography…
Jason Blum: Oh, God!
PopHorror: Yeah, she was just in awe. You’ve really done so much, but if you could produce your dream project, what would it be?
Jason Blum: Well, the movies that I wish we made… The two movies that came out that I wished we made more than anything else were definitely A Quiet Place and The Conjuring. Those are the two that I wished we made. Was that your question?
PopHorror: What would be your dream project, like if you could put something together with all of your favorites, and have it be based on something of your own. What would be your dream? If you could get this one thing, what would it be?
Jason Blum: I don’t really have that. There have been projects that I haven’t been able to get done, so it would be my dream to make one of those. There’s not this idea I have of some movie that doesn’t exist. My dream… There’s this script I have, which is its own version of a horror movie about Steve Bannon. I’ve been trying to get it financed for like three years, so if I had a dream or a wish of what I could get done, that is the one I would wish could get done.
PopHorror: I just have one last question. What’s next for Blumhouse?
Jason Blum: We have obviously Welcome to the Blumhouse on Amazon, and then we have a PVOD release of The Craft for Halloween, which should be cool. In November, we have Freaky on Friday the 13th, which is this great body-switching movie that Chris Landon, who did Happy Death Day [read the PopHorror review here], made which feels like a cousin to that movie. And then we have on Showtime, this TV series we did called The Good Lord Bird where Ethan Hawke plays John Brown. So that’s the rest of our year for 2020.
Thank you so much, Jason, for taking the time to speak with us. Welcome to the Blumhouse premieres Tuesday, October 6 2020, on Amazon.
