PopHorror Let's Get Scared
I’m going to start this with a trigger warning, which I hate to do because it limits who’s going to read this and learn more about this movie, but I feel that it’s important and the right thing to do given the plot and subject matter and also what happens in the film. So here it is: trigger warning for suicide. Suicide is also discussed in this interview.
Honestly, I was intrigued about House of Abraham, written by Lukas Hassel (Slapface) and directed by Lisa Belcher, because it stars Lin Shaye. I mean, come on. She’s horror royalty. But I’m also a big fan of Natasha Henstridge and according to IMDB, House of Abraham is a movie about a cult AND promised to be an isolation thriller/horror so my interest by piqued beyond what it’s been piqued in quite a long time. I don’t think that made sense but what I’m saying is, I had to see this movie.
A woman looking for an end to her suffering, checks in to the House of Abraham, home to a mysterious cult that promises a way out. She soon discovers all is not what it seems and must plan an escape before it’s too late.
To celebrate the release of the film, I chatted with Natasha about what drew her to this project, embracing the horror genre, murder shows, horror movies, and more!
PopHorror: I really enjoyed House of Abraham so I’m super excited to talk to you about it today.
Natasha Henstridge: Oh, thank you!
PopHorror: What intrigued you about the script and made you want to be a part of the project?
Natasha Henstridge: I thought the subject matter in this film is unlike most things that you see. You do not see films on this subject matter. People’s right to live or die, I think that’s a really interesting subject but also I didn’t know anything about it. I asked Lukas, the writer, not to tell me anything about the film before reading the script. Now I’ve given that away, right? It’s about a place to go for end-of-life choices and making that choice, but before I even knew that I did not know what the subject matter was and I’m reading it and there’s so much built-up tension. Why are all these people coming to this place, this house? There was so much tension in that. I didn’t know where it was going for like 40 pages! I was like, oh my God, what’s going to happen? What’s going to happen? So it had me with this elevated tension from the very get go and I thought that was a really cool place as well. What’s kind of happening here? Now, that can go on too long in certain shows or films that you’re like, “Okay, alright, come on.” But this one I felt like it was built up really well. I thought the writing was interesting. The subject matter was dark and interesting. That’s what brought me on board.
PopHorror: It’s too often when I’m watching a movie and I’m like, alright. I’m halfway through this and I still don’t know what this is about. Thankfully, this was not like that.
Natasha Hendstridge: Yeah, there’s a line, isn’t there? There’s a thin line where you’re engaged and you’re waiting to see what’s going to happen, waiting for the shoe to drop, but then if it’s too long, you’re like, oh God.
PopHorror: I did go into it completely blind, and I do like to do that. I don’t want to have too much information. But I really had no idea other than reading the synopsis on IMDB, which says it’s about a cult so when it came out that it’s actually about people joining at this house for suicide, that was not what I was expecting. You’re right, this is a very unique film. It’s not something you see very often. It is a very heavy theme. How do you prepare for a role like this, with such a personal subject matter?
Natasha Henstridge: Well, it’s complicated, isn’t it, to answer these questions for my character because there are some interesting twists along the way. I think just the initial prep of going in and thinking about one’s right to live or die is huge, and what gets somebody to that place. Is it illness? Is it mental illness? Is it you’re just done, you’ve given up? But the idea of having the agency to make these choices, I’ve always found it an interesting subject matter. I actually know a friend whose father went to Switzerland to the end of life clinic there and made that choice. I was so fascinated and interested in asking the questions like, they said goodbye in Canada before he left, but some of the family members went with him and the choice. He had a degenerative disease. People do these things for all sorts of reasons and why should one have to suffer if they don’t want to? There’s these things about religion and whether it’s right or wrong and all of these things. There’s so many things around that, and of course death is a complete unknown for most people that haven’t felt like they’ve died and come back to life, which are few and far between. It is that unknown, so what would make the unknown more precious, more interesting, than staying alive? What takes you over to the other edge? Takes you over the edge? I think that’s just always super, super interesting and for so many different reasons. Do you have to be sick to make that choice or can you just make that choice? And obviously, people make the choice everyday in life, but to do it in a dignified place is a whole other thing. This turns into something very different because the person who’s holding space for this place, who’s not judging, who’s saying… I love the tagline and I love Abraham’s point, “Life is not for everyone.” You get to make that choice. Obviously, this movie goes to some different places but that is definitely where it starts. That alone is interesting. What a way to delve into a film.
PopHorror: Yes, definitely! Was there anything that you were adamant about bringing to your character?
Natasha Henstridge: I wouldn’t say there’s anything adamant. I came onto the film at the last minute and obviously Lukas and Lisa had been on the film for a long time so I wouldn’t say adamant. I would say because it was a multilayered role that I was playing, I did kind of defer at times to Lukas or ask questions to Lukas about trying to understand it, because he wrote it. He wrote the character and I would ask him some questions at times because my character is going into the house for a particular purpose but also there’s underlying things going on as well. It was interesting to play those multilayers. How much do you give away? How much you don’t give away. All of that kind of stuff. It’s so complicated to play those roles even though there’s such subtleties. It’s the kind of thing you want to go back and go, oh she knew that then! But you can’t see it at the time you’re watching it. It’s so interesting in that way. It’s so complicated to play in that way, in a very subtle kind of way. But no, nothing super particular that I requested. No, I can’t say so.
PopHorror: You are no stranger to the horror genre. Throughout the years, horror has become a box office powerhouse. I think it’s getting to be more and more popular, which is awesome. There’s more movies in theaters these days. Why do you feel that some people resonate with the genre more than others?
Natasha Henstridge: That’s a really good question. I find it really interesting. I’m not a big horror movie person, but boy do I love a psychological thriller with some horror aspects, which is what this film is. I love that combination because if I don’t care, and it’s slasher this and killer that and all of that kind of stuff, I’m not as invested. Now, my brother is a massive horror fan, so I am always interested to see what it is that drives people into this thing. I love to watch anything that’s psychology driven and I’m not quite sure what that’s about. I think, obviously there are dopamine rushes that we get when we watch certain things or the fear spikes hormones. Those can be addictive, so I think there’s something in that. I think it’s just those spikes in mood that people love. People do drugs for that reason, right? People love a spike, but also these weird fantasy things that you can have in your fantasy world that you can’t live in reality. These kinds of weird fantasies that people have. I say weird lovingly. People ask me all the time like, “Really, you watch… ?” and it’s way more common now and people talk about it more, but I watch murder shows all the time to go to sleep. Shows about death.
PopHorror: Me too!
Natasha Henstridge: Right?! And it’s not uncommon and it’s not just Keith Morrison’s voice on Dateline. There’s more to it. There’s got to be more to it than that. But, yeah, there’s something… I wish I could understand it because it settles me down and puts me to sleep in a weird way. People have that with horror movies too. It’s so interesting.
PopHorror: You call them murder shows, I call it murder TV.
Natasha Henstridge: Murder TV! Honestly, we’ll watch a really cool scripted show, but when it’s bedtime, my boyfriend’s like, “Should we just put on a murder show now and go to sleep?” Like that’s our sleepy time show to get us to sleep. Like what is that? It’s so weird!
PopHorror: I totally get it! I have just one last question for you today. What is your favorite scary movie?
Natasha Henstridge: Gosh. God, I should know that. I should have an answer for that. I don’t watch a ton of scary movies, that’s what’s so complicated about it. I love old school Hitchcock stuff. I love that stuff but there’s been so many good ones. The Birds I loved. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or some of the really out there… The stuff that scares me the most and I don’t have an actual title for you, but the stuff that scare me the most that I don’t watch a lot of because I’m always afraid it’s going to open some vortex and I’m opening myself up, is anything that has to do with spiritual, other life stuff. So anything ghost related. That stuff really does me in more than anything else because I’ve had experiences with that kind of stuff, so that’s the stuff that scares me the most.
Thank you so much to Natasha for taking the time to speak with us. House of Abraham is in select theaters today!
