01x05 - A New Horror

[bunniefuu]

[suspenseful music plays]

♪

♪

[narrator] In the 2000's, the
pace of technological advances

seemed to accelerate.

The way we lived
and experienced our lives

was rapidly moving
from old to new,

from familiar to strange,
and from tape to digital.

The switch from landlines
to cell phones

was a revolutionary upgrade.

And a culture shock that,

in addition to
many other social upheavals,

would make filmmakers of us all.

We recorded the cataclysmic
events around us...

- [siren wailing]
- [horn blaring]

...the terror of 9/11,

national disasters,

and seemingly endless
civil unrest.

[chanting] I can't breathe!

[woman] We are fighting
for our lives, people.

And if events in the U.S.
were not bad enough,

a virus swept across the globe,
k*lling millions worldwide.

As COVID-19 spread,
pandemic exhaustion

and political opportunism
divided America

like no other time
since the Civil w*r.

[crowd shouting indistinctly]

These traumatizing events

have kept perpetually
threatened Americans

stuck in a perpetual
fight-or-flight mode.

[crowd shouting indistinctly]

And into that collective,
frightened American psyche,

horror films continue to deliver
their cathartic release.

♪

[roars]

[crowd shouting indistinctly]

[film reel clicking]

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

[zoom lens whirs]

[camera clicks, beeps]

[video camera whirring]

A lot of changes in art are
driven by changes in technology.

Looking back on the first decade
of the 2000's horror films,

they have to start using those
cameras that are everywhere.

They have to start using the way
you have no privacy,

the cameras in the phones, the
cameras in the public places,

the cameras on the houses.

[man] You're gonna take
the camera and just, you know,

go around the party and film
people wishing Rob good luck.

[man]
Aah! Oh! Oh, God! Oh!

Oh, my God.
What the hell was that?

Instead of just realistically,
what happens with those cameras,

but going into the paranormal
world with those cameras.

[woman screams]

'Cause that would break
through the technology,

give you something
you haven't seen before.

What's your take on the
Blair Witch at this point?

- Do you think she exists?
- I don't know.

There is sort of this
voyeuristic esthetic

that was developing
in those days.

The Internet-- that was
all free. You could do that.

As long as you could type it in
and hit upload,

you were good to go, and it was
accessible to the whole world--

whoever had
an Internet connection.

Video cameras have made
filmmaking so accessible,

and there's something wonderful

and something excruciating
about it.

People can post things

and get discovered
no matter where they were.

Anybody with a video camera
can make a horror film.

♪

[panting]

[screaming]

[laughter]

As technology changed
and became more accessible

and invasive,

filmmakers took advantage
of the intimacy

and flexibility
they could achieve

with more nimble cameras.

Horror films
like Blair Witch Project

and Paranormal Activity

took a new approach
to the craft,

incorporating the process
of filmmaking itself

as part of the narrative

and introducing a new subgenre--
the found-footage horror film.

I've always embraced technology.

The Internet was coming
into its own at the time.

You know, reality TV,


sensitizing audiences

to that sort of shaky cam,

you know, narrative
kind of storytelling.

Technology has always been
a driver of horror movies.

It's a bit like porn
in that respect.

By the late 1990's,
there was a shift into digital

and the democratization
of filmmaking,

so it became ever more possible
for people to grab a camera

and go out into the woods with
their friends and make a movie.

Hence The Blair Witch Project.

- This is my home.
- [man] Okay. Wow.

Which I am leaving
the comforts of for the weekend

to explore the Blair Witch.

America has held a long
fascination with witches,

none more famous than the purge
that started in 1692

in Salem, Massachusetts,

when 19 people
were hanged for witchcraft.

These stories of the occult
made an impression

on two young horror fans.

My directing partner,
Ed Sanchez, and I

were sort of, you know,
hanging out

at his apartment
at the time in Orlando,

and we had done
some collaborations

on some student films.

Daniel Myrick
and Ed Sanchez created

an entire Blair Witch universe

built around the premise
that they had discovered

this real footage left
by young documentary filmmakers

who had gone missing.

We were inspired a lot

by In Search
of Ancient Astronauts

and sort of these pseudo
documentaries, you know,

when we were growing up, and
we thought how cool it would be

to do sort of a documentary
style scene in the woods

where you're sort of
going through at night

through a kind of
first-person camera,

and you come upon this house,

this really creepy
kind of condemned house

and just how fundamentally
scary that felt.

[Heather] Josh?

We wanted Blair Witch
to come from a place

of that primal kind of
motivation that it really,

truly would get under your skin
and really scare you.

Oh, my God!

What the f*ck is that?!

The Blair Witch Project
is nothing short of brilliant,

'cause you want to talk about
f*cking less is more.

These kids had nothing--
nothing--

and they made
this spit-and-glue movie

that's truly f*cking terrifying.

I watched that movie
on a videocassette with my wife

while at Sundance.

I fell asleep,
not 'cause it was boring,

just 'cause I was tired
and sh*t.

[Mike] Tell me where you are,
Josh!

Mike,
please don't fall asleep.

All of a sudden,
I'm shaken awake.

She was like, "Get up! Get up!"

I'm like, "What the f*ck's
going on? What's happening?"

She's like,
"Why won't anyone help them?"

And I'm like,
"What are you talking about?"

She's like, "Nobody will help
them! They're right there!

Why won't anyone help them?
They got to find these kids!"

And I was like,
"What are you talking about?"

And she's like,
"These kids-- look!"

And she rewinds it, and I'm
like, "It's a f*cking movie."

She's like,
"No, it's documentary."

I was like,
"It's not a documentary.

None of this is real."

She bought it
a thousand f*cking percent.

Audiences were hooked.

They researched the website,

watched the news reports,
and read Heather's journals.

It was a fully
immersive experience.

Fans, many of whom believed
the story to be real,

were completely invested.

It was a viral campaign
before the term even existed.

[sobbing]
I'm gonna die out here.

♪

The guerrilla marketing
strategy even included fliers

claiming that the filmmakers
of the found-footage documentary

were still missing.

We don't have any money
to put ads in papers,

we didn't have any money
to put billboards up

or anything like that,
but we could do a web page.

We just decided to treat
the website as if, you know,

the information was real,

and we took the mythology
and Heather's journal

and all the time line,
everything has been going on

near Burkittsville
for 200 years,

and laid it out, you know,
and-- and used a lot of stuff

that we had already shot
to put in there.

And, you know,
it became pretty popular.

[Heather] Did you agree
to do this project?

[Mike] I did. I agreed
to a scouted-out project.

It is scouted out,
and I told you that you

that getting to the locations
wasn't gonna be easy.

[Josh] Guys! Guys, it's cool.

I got $1,500 worth
of equipment on me.

And it goes viral, so one person
gets a hold of your idea

and then they spread it.

I looked it up on the Internet
and found out more about it,

so it's more real to me,
and it was--

that's where the scariness
came from.

Jesus Christ.
That's f*cking creepy.

The Blair Witch Project
really was successful

beyond just being scary.

The reason that movie has had
the lasting power

that it's had, really, is
because, if you look at it,

that film is really
about gender dynamics.

You know, like, at the end
of the day,

it's like you can take
all the creepiness

and the horror of the film,

but the movie's
really not about that at all.

It's really about this woman

who's kind of
dealing with misogynistic guys

and-- and how that implodes
in this experience

that they're having,
getting lost in the woods.

Put the camera down.
This is not funny.

[Heather] I'm coming. Do I look
like I'm laughing at all?

No, but you're going around

doing your
documentary thing, man.

You're still
doing your f*cking thing.

- Don't f*cking--
- Turn the g*dd*mn thing off!

But it has
a very unnerving f*cking ending

with the one kid
just facing the wall.

And that ending-- it was
probably two or three days

before we needed to start
our first day of sh**ting,

and Ed and I still hadn't
come up with the ending yet.

We didn't want any big,

you know,
horror tropes in the way,

but then we didn't want it
to just sort of end either.

But there had to be
some kind of payoff.

Come on.

And then we just went back
to that primal place.

Like, what would
really be creepy?

And we just saw, like, Heather
coming down into that basement,

and Mike is standing in the
corner, and you don't know why.

[Heather screaming]

[thud]

Ended up being really scary.

Thanks to the ingenious
marketing strategy,

harnessing the power of the
Internet for the Gen-X crowd,

characters that felt
incredibly authentic,

and its shoestring budget,

the original
Blair Witch Project

broke box-office records.

[indistinct shouting]

[Blum]
After The Blair Witch Project,

which was such
a massive phenomenon,

found-footage movies--
good ones--

were really special.

♪

Paranormal Activity really
helped me identify

the types of films I wanted
to work on as a producer.

According to director Oren Peli,

the premise
of Paranormal Activity

came from a feeling of isolation
he was experiencing

while living alone
in his first house.

In the dead of night,
the homemade spooky noises,

and Peli thought that a story
about a couple

using digital cameras
to record themselves

chasing down the origin
of the unexplained sounds

might make a good movie.

He was on to something.

[Micah] Doors and windows
all over the house are closed.

I just checked them.

The flowers are not moving,
but something else is.

[Katie gasps]

I was about to go
to music school,

and I had given up
on the whole acting thing.

Hey.

And the last casting-call notice
I ever got

was this weird project
that was like,

"You can't tell anybody
where you are.

You can't tell anybody
what you're doing.

We're gonna t*rture you
and film it,

and, you know, it's just--

that's the--
that's the project."

And I was like, "f*ck this.
This is crazy.

No way I'm doing this project."

I went to the audition--
not to get the part.

I just wanted to see
who these weirdos were

doing this wacky movie,

and I get there,
and the director says,

"Tell me why your house
is haunted."

So I was like, "Oh, dude, let me
tell you, it's f*cked up."

I've been hearing noises,
and my wife--

uh, my girlfriend-- she's
gonna be my wife, hopefully--

she, you know,
would go to the bathroom,

and then I'd open the door,
and she'd just be unconscious,

like, collapsed, and she doesn't
know what happened.

And I mean, I hear--
I hear screeching.

Like, when I'm turning on
the faucet,

I hear this whining wail,
you know?

And the shutters shatter,
but there's no wind.

I open the door--
the window, you know?

And the shutters are flapping,
but there's no wind.

That's creepy.

f*ck!

[Wilson]
Paranormal Activity was great,

in that the idea
of this couple sleeping

and not knowing that
all this demon activity

was happening in their home,

they put that
surveillance camera

in the corner of their bedroom

and see all the really weird,
messed-up stuff

that was happening overnight.

Oh, sh*t.

Sometimes we're better off
not knowing what's going on.

Paranormal Activity deals with
this, like, intimacy of horror.

Well, you're dealing
with a couple, right?

You're dealing in their home,
but you're also dealing with

where they're taping themselves, right?

And they're taping themselves
in their daily lives,

but also at night.

You are your most vulnerable

when you're sleeping
in your bed.

One of the most horrific
or scariest things about horror

is that it infiltrates
your safe spaces

and makes you either fight
for your life or kills you.

Micah! Micah!
Micah! Micah!

Katie!

[Sloat] In Paranormal Activity,
I am part of a nice couple,

and they love each other

and the things they're doing
are not in alignment.

It's very much like
I don't take it seriously

until it's happening to me.

I think this thing left
a message on the Ouija board.

[door opens]

I don't give a f*ck what that
thing says on the Ouija board.

What do you do if you actually
have proof

of a demon in your house?

Like, what would you do?

What the hell
are you doing, Micah?

A huge part of what horror
is about

is exploring the shadow--
the collective shadow

and the personal shadow
for the people

who are creating the film.

By making horror movies,
not only can we allow ourselves

to explore the shadow
in a safe and controlled way,

but we can actually
resonate with it

so that we feel like
we're not alone.

- [screaming]
- Katie!

[screaming continues]

The movie still scares me

because the way that the timing
and the scares work,

even though I know
that I've seen it, I'm in it,

it still works.

[thud]

Paranormal Activity
utilized digital technology

to create a uniquely
intimate horror

and has been terrifying viewers
since it opened.

It has made
a staggering amount of money,

$200 million worldwide.

With a starting budget
of $15,000,

it was one of the best
investments in movie history

and the envy of Hollywood.

[screeches]

♪

[screeching]

[indistinct shouting]

[Wilson] One of the reasons
I love horror

is being able to kind of
express trauma and pain

and model worst-case scenarios.

[woman] Jason, watch out!

[crowd screaming]

So whether by accident
or design,

horror films form a conduit
between extreme ideas in society

and the mainstream
into the minds of the people

who enjoy just sitting at their
multiplex on a Saturday night,

munching popcorn
and being scared.

[crowd screams]

But on the morning
of September 11, 2001,

America woke up
to a completely new world.

September 11th was
the deadliest t*rror1st attack

in U.S. history.

Nearly 3,000 people were k*lled,

and tens of thousands
were left injured.

This devastating event
unfolded in real time

on cable news.

The visuals,

many of them recorded
by witnesses to the event,

were shocking...

and unforgettable.

America was living
a real-life horror film.

[man] Would you
make everyone aware

that we're gonna be
seeing some tape?

[man #2] Holy sh*t.

[man #3] Jesus!

♪

[indistinct shouting]

But what came down, though?
What came down?

It crashed. The other Trade
Center's down. It's down.

- It's down?
- It's down.

Some guys armed with box knives
had managed to strike

at the heart of the most
technologically superior nation

on earth.

They brought down a symbol of
America's pride, its dominance.

And the world
has never been the same,

because there was
an illusion shattered.

- Go! Move! Get going!
- Let's go!

Aah!

[Bress]


We're seeing more, you know,
horrible things on the news.

Like, we're watching
the towers falling,

watching the people
on the street reacting.

- [siren wailing]
- [horn blaring]

We're not gonna turn
the camera away from this stuff.

So after 9/11, man,

you just-- you're just getting
uglier and darker.

And, you know,
Jason coming at you with an ax,

you know, it just--
it just won't do it anymore.


generation of horror movies.

[indistinct shouting]

They were all impacted by 9/11.

[shouting continues]

After 9/11, we made changes
to our draft

of Final Destination 2
because the world had changed

and now we weren't living
in the world

where only teenagers go off
to get k*lled in horror movies.

We were like,
"No, this has got to be adults.

There's got to be people
you know-- mothers, fathers,

you know, police,
guys with jobs, teachers,

relatable people, the people
who were in the tower.

That's who is gonna die
in this movie.

I don't want to die!

[grunting]

Aah! Aah! Aah!

That angst that we all felt
that was too real--

we wanted our story
to reflect it.

We wanted to capture the
horrible sh*t that was going on.

[elevator dings]

You know, just after 9/11
was a crazy place to be.

And some of those fears

translated themselves
into horror movies.

We have the unfortunate
era of t*rture porn,

where hatred and violence
were really kind of,

like, worked through
on the screen.

I think, you know,
that what was going on

in Guantanamo and the U.S.
government's affirmation

that t*rture was
an acceptable response--

that kind of opened
the floodgates

for people's personal fantasies.

As America reeled
from the t*rror1st attacks

on September 11th,
people lined up in droves

to watch ultraviolent films
like Hostel and Saw.

The Saw movies are about
getting vengeance on the people

that you have decided don't fit
your vision of society.

And I don't think that would
have flown before 9/11,

but when you're in this context

where you're being asked
to kind of, like, you know,

watch your neighbor, judge--

are they being
a good American?--

that is a kind of precursor to
encouraging vigilante justice.

People ask me sometimes
how I feel

about the violence in Saw.

I'm much more concerned
about the real violence

in the world than I am about
fictional violence.

♪

When I think about it, the thing
that scares me the most

is our inability
to learn from our mistakes.

You will not replace us!

[indistinct shouting]

A mob is a mob.

- [dogs barking]
- [indistinct shouting]

And a mob can turn against you
as easily as someone else.

[screaming]

[woman vocalizing]

♪

Oh! Aah! Aah!

[choir vocalizing]

Aah!

[gasping]

Join us! Women, join us!

[screaming]

[laughs evilly]

[screaming continues]

Since the dawn of cinema,

horror movies
have always reflected

and sometimes
exploited societal trends.

Good shot.

Perhaps none more so than
the victimization of women.

Brother and sister.

The presence
of female filmmakers

crafting their own stories

is a trend
that's been long overdue.

♪

[Wilson]
By the mid-to-late 2010's,

a lot of people who had been
denied their voices for so long

really reached boiling point.

[woman chanting]
The White House resident...

[all]
...is not my president!

[all] We need a leader,
not a creepy Tweeter!

[Wilson]
So you have the MeToo movement

where women's anger
just erupted.

You know, years and years
and years of being put down,

mansplained to, groped,
denied a place, silenced--

we'd had enough.

[crowd chanting indistinctly]

The Women's March
in January 2017...

[crowd chanting indistinctly]

...you know, in one way,
it was a celebration of women.

But it was also a kind
of planting the flag

and saying,
"We are now concerned

that the rights
that we've worked so hard

to obtain over many, many years
could be pushed back."

[woman] We are fighting
for our lives, people.

Since we've had
the MeToo movement

within the past couple of years,
we've seen a lot of female films

coming out, directed by females,
about females,

telling the female experience.

We've had The Babadook,

touching
on a 40-year-old mother,

which was a demographic
that previously did not get

a lot of play in horror films.

We've had films
like The Relic.

We've had Revenge come out.

All of these films
are confronting female problems

that were previously
never discussed in horror films.

♪

[Brooks] Women make up 55%
of the horror audience.

Horror, particularly
slasher films,

plays upon the fears
of the woman alone

and how we're always taught
that we have to be ready

to defend ourselves
at any moment.

It plays upon the fears
of why we carry our keys

between our fingers
as we're walking to our car.

So I think it's this safe
removal that is very important

to the women who are
horror audience aficionados.

They get the opportunity to live
through the protagonists

of the film and all the anger
and all the pissed-off-ness

that is built up as all
her friends have been k*lled,

probably her boyfriend's
been k*lled,

and I think that women just have
a lot of pent-up anger.

And to get to let go like that,

to get the opportunity
to beat up the slasher,

to beat up the monster
and even to k*ll them...

is very appealing.

As a female in horror,
especially a female horror fan,

when I was a kid, there were
very few females in horror films

that I would identify with.

Some of those earlier
horror films are like,

"Really? Like, now you're gonna
take a shower?"

♪

But now what we're seeing
is real females on screen.

We're seeing movies
about being a female,

and she's not being put up
on a pedestal as "the" female.

She just happens to be a female.

And we see this really come
to a forefront with Halloween.

Happy Halloween, Michael.

[grunting]

♪

Laurie Strode
is the ultimate final girl

because she's lost her fear.

She's faced her fear,
and she's still facing it,

and now she is like mama bear.

She's very much trying
to protect her family.

All right,
pick your poison.

Halloween became
such a successful franchise

because of Jamie Lee Curtis.

I mean, she was a normal girl,

and that's
what terrified people.

The biggest rule to have any
type of a sustainable franchise

in any decade is your franchise
has to be able to evolve.

You have to be able to take
the original concept

and reapply it to different
generations of people.

You have to be willing to morph
it into where society is heading

if you want it to have
any type of longevity.

[Greer]
In the original Halloween,

Laurie Strode is being chased.

She's being stalked and hunted,
and in the 2018 Halloween,

she's very much, like,
preparing herself to fight.

[g*nshots]

She is raw, but she is focused.

[g*n c*ck]

She's misunderstood,
but she is focused.

You know, there's nothing worse
than being misunderstood.

People think your motives
are something when they're not.

It's-- that's--
that will drive you insane.

That's a recipe
for making you feel crazy.

And she's not crazy.

Say goodbye to Michael
and get over it.

If the way
I raised your mother

means that she hates me...

but that she's prepared
for the horrors of this world,

then...

I can live with that.

So this is now a woman who's
been a pinball her whole life,

banging around
a pinball machine,

banging into people,
literally banging into men

and institutions with no care,
no love, no attention,

no mental health support, nothing.

And it yields a warrior.

It yields the woman we meet
in the 2018 movie,

which is why it's so good.

She has spent her whole
adult life preparing for this

so that she is ready
when he comes back.

And she's the only one
who thinks he will come back.

She's the only one who really,
truly knows Michael.

[Laurie breathing raggedly]

[gasping]

[grunting]

[screaming]

The thing about Jamie Lee Curtis
that's so inspiring

is just how she throws her
entire self into something.

[coughing]

She's been kind of telling
this story her whole life.

[groaning]

[both grunting]

When we saw the premiere,
people f*cking lost their minds,

and I was like...

It was so cool.

[Curtis] Halloween 2018
was released on October 21st,

and if I'm not mistaken,

those first women who went
on the record for Ronan Farrow

happened at the beginning
of October.

So the collision between women
all around the world,

as soon as that first woman
said "yes"--

boom,
it was now a tidal wave.

And it sort of catapulted
our little slasher film

about female trauma
into a much bigger conversation.

New York magazine
did a cover story,

and Entertainment Weekly did
a cover story on Halloween.

The development of Laurie's
character over the years

reflects the development
of feminism over the years.

Laurie was always
an action hero,

but she was a little bit more
of a victim back in those days.

Now she's playing
the character years later.

There's a depth to her character
now that I'm impressed with.

[breathing heavily]

[grunting]

Aah! Aah! Aah!

[grunts]

Laurie Strode has definitely
changed throughout the years.

She's found herself,
she's found her voice,

she's found her power, and she
takes no f*cking bullshit,

hundred percent.

She's kicking a*s now
and taking names.

Come on, Michael.

♪

♪

American culture and
Hollywood have too slowly come

to recognize and value
the power and importance

of diverse voices.

[doll cries]

But as more and more
inexcusable acts

of racially motivated violence
have been captured on video,

the cries to recognize
the real-life horrors of racism

have only grown,

and the film industry
has been challenged

to be a part of that reckoning.

♪

[all] I can't breathe!
I can't breathe!

[reporter]
George Floyd's death

at the hands of Minneapolis
police officers

has sparked angry protests
all across the country.

[man]
We will get justice.

[reporter] Protesters and police
are clashing

in Louisville, Kentucky.

The National Guard is on alert,

and the city
is under a mandatory curfew

after a grand jury decided not
to indict three police officers

in the sh**ting death
of Breonna Taylor.

[indistinct shouting]

[sirens wailing]

[man]
Run! Run! Run! Run!

[indistinct shouting]


really difficult year

for a lot of reasons.

You know, we had the pandemic,

We had this very
problematic presidency,

and we also had the summer
of George Floyd.

And not just George Floyd.

I mean, there were
other police killings.

George Floyd
took the center stage.

And this-- this...

It's hard to explain
what it's like

when one of these
police killings happens.

It could have been us, right?
It could be your son.

It could be your father,
your brother,

your uncle, your mother.

If you read the reports, there's
no rhyme or reason sometimes

to who gets brutalized
or m*rder*d by police.

[g*nsh*t]

So when you're doing a horror
set out of a Black experience,

there's a very special
relationship with violence

that I think Black creators
and Black audiences

have to be aware of.

Holy sh*t.

One of the things
I always wanted to do

with The First Purge,

I wanted to give it authenticity

and give it
a real, real groundedness,

but also feel scary.

The Charlottesville thing
that happened in Virginia,

those guys came out
with the tiki torches

and Confederate flags.

[all]
You will not replace us!

People that have any type
of hatred or evilness

would come out during that time,

so I kind of put that
into the film.

This is real,
and it was super important

to display what was happening.

♪

Purge night-- to get out
all of your violence,

to completely solve
the world of crime.

One night a year,
you can do whatever you want.

All crime becomes legal, but you
don't have to partake in it.

If you want to go
hole yourself up in your house

and just let it ride out,
that's fine.

But that does not mean that
it's not gonna come to you.

That does not mean somebody's
not going to bust down your door

and try to k*ll you.

♪

I love The Purge series,
and The First Purge,

which is really sort of the
Black horror take on The Purge,

it's about anger
toward marginalized communities

and trying to keep people out...

and trying to keep America pure.

Some of the scenes
are hard to watch.

You know, it's--
it's-- it's-- those--

when those neo-Nazis are
marching in the neighborhood,

that's a scary sight,
especially because it felt like

it could break out
at any minute.

It does look like prophecy.

You know, 2020 could be
easily predicted

by the years leading up to 2020, right?

So, yes, there was this sense
of unease

when you have open marches,
neo-n*zi marches

that are not immediately
denounced by the White House.

The First Purge definitely
felt like they were broadcasting

what was to come in 2020.

Do not purge!

[man] This is the Minnesota
State Patrol.

You are in violation...

The Purge-- the story
that stuck with me most,

I would say, is Dmitri being
the hero for his community.

You know, it was a Black man
standing up for his neighborhood

despite what you thought of him.

So telling that story really
was, like, important to me.

[all grunting]

And I wanted to bring
a whole new perspective

to the first franchise because
I felt like it was needed,

and, like, I think Brown
and Black people

have always been
a fan of the franchise,

and they've had two characters
in the movies,

but in terms of Black characters
leading the way

in fighting against the Purge,
we had never seen that.

This is our home.

So let's show these white-haired
m*therf*ckers

never to f*ck
with our island again.

Horror has such a fan base
among Black

and, really,
a lot of marginalized viewers.

That image on the screen touches
something very deeply in us

that represents rage,
fear, trauma.

The monsters on the screen

represent the real-life
boogeyman in your life,

but from a safe distance

and gives us an opportunity
to at least fight back

and sometimes gives us
a chance to win.

[both grunting]

I think if you want
to find a cinema

that really reflects
what America is all about,

you got to look
at its horror films.

'Cause that's what really
digs deep.

[sighs]

[both grunting]

Get Out was--
it was a breath of fresh air.

It is the perfect
Black horror film.

Actor, comedian,
and filmmaker Jordan Peele

was inspired to write a horror
film with comic undertones,

with similar pacing
and unexpected scares

reminiscent of the 1975 classic
The Stepford Wives.

For Peele, the sunken place

represents
the suppression of minorities

and the silencing
of their voices.

You know,
as an African American,

the opening of that, you know,
there have been times

when I got off
at the wrong bus stop

and I'm walking through
a white neighborhood

and every car that drives by,
you know,

I'm a little worried by.

It's happened to me
many times in my life.

[inhales sharply, exhales]

You know, working with Jordan
was, like, hands down,

one of the best experiences
of my life.

I've never worked with somebody
so confident

in what it is
that they had to present.

I kind of felt stuck in the idea
that, like, I'm playing Roman,

but I'm Walter.

I'm Roman playing Walter.

So, you know, he-- he really
gave me, like, great advice

about keeping the secret.

I know who you are.

She is lovely, isn't she?

Rose?

Yes, she is.

One of a kind.

Top of the line.

A real doggone keeper.

[chuckles]

Right.

One of the best moments
that I had on set

was where Chris wakes up,

and he goes downstairs,
and he passes by the kitchen.

Betty wasn't part of that scene,
but she passed by,

and Jordan jumped up like,
"Oh, my God. Go get Betty."

He saw the-- the-- the vision
to be able to see the granny

go right behind him,

and-- and, like-- oh, man,
like, I felt, like,

oh, man, I got bumps
thinking about it right now.

[gasping]

My favorite scene in Get Out

is where he's asking
for the keys.

Said, "Give me the keys, Rose.
Where are the keys?"

Rose, the keys.

[Rose] Looking.

I'm like, "Rose ain't giving you
them damn keys."

Where are those keys, Rose?

You know I can't give you
the keys, right, babe?

I mean, the Black man
literally says, "Get out."

- Get out.
- You okay?

Sorry, man.

- Okay.
- Get out!

- Yo!
- Go!

- Yo, chill, man. Chill!
- Get out!

- Chill! Chill, man! Chill!
- Get out of here!

- Get the f*ck out of here!
- Chill!

[screaming]

You're all right now.

[screaming continues]

You're all right.
You're all right.

When all the Black people
are weird as f*ck,

you got to get out of Dodge.

♪

[Due] It's the picture
of what it feels like to be,

as Jordan Peele calls it,
the only one in the room.

Chris was just telling me how he
felt much more comfortable

with my being here.

And also, it speaks to the--
the natural sort of distrust

and unease that sometimes
Black people feel

when they enter
all-white spaces.

It's not that everybody's
carrying a tiki torch

or wearing a Klan hood
or anything like that,

but you just don't know how
people feel about your presence

on your street,
in your neighborhood.

Sir, can I see
your license, please?

Wait. Why?

Yeah, I have state I.D.

No, no, no.
He wasn't driving.

I didn't ask who was driving.
I asked to see his I.D.

So Get Out really highlights
that fear

of isolation within whiteness,
and then, if it turns out

they really are
plotting against you...

like, maybe, deep down, you
were always worried they were...

[laughs]
...that makes for a scary movie.

Sink into the floor.

- Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
- Sink.

[Dickerson] The main character
and his sense of finding out

how betrayed he is-- it's about
the ultimate appropriation

of not just your culture,
but of you.

It was just brilliantly done.

Racism is the monster,
so you not only have

a Black protagonist, but
you have an anti-r*cist theme.

That is the most

easily recognizable
kind of Black horror,

because in some ways
it's more about blackness.

I really thought he was gonna
buy it at the end...

[siren wails]

[tires screech]

♪

...because you could see
that happening.

You can see the police coming
and sh**ting him.

Oh, sh*t!

The fact that his friend
showed up,

that was like, "Okay."

That-- That made it all right.

[breathing raggedly]

Chris!

[Dickerson]
It was very effective.

The most exciting thing
about Jordan Peele in horror

is that he loves it.

You can tell he's a fan.
You can tell he's studied it.

The landscape for Black
filmmakers has been changed

because of Get Out.

[Due]
Get Out is the perfect example

of an idea
meeting the perfect time.

Consider this situation
f*cking handled.

[Blum] Movies like Get Out
and The Purge

struck a chord with audiences

because it spoke to something
in our culture.

That's the fascinating
part about working in films.

It's all a reflection of what we
are experiencing at the moment,

and those can be really
scary places.

- Aah!
- Aah.

♪

[Blum] Horror movies
can help us deal

with the real-life horror
around us.

Good times, bad times--
people need entertainment,

and in the bad times
they'll go see horror movies

'cause they go, "Well, I lost
Uncle Joe to a pandemic,

but at least I'm not getting
chased around with a chainsaw

by that crazy guy
with a leather face."

That's the cathartic nature sometimes.

Give them horror where you go,
"Is it this bad?

They go, "No.
No, my life isn't that bad.

I guess everything's okay.
Where's the car parked?"

[Heather] I know exactly
where we're going.

It's interesting to think about,
like, how horror will

reshape itself post-pandemic.

[Smith] You know, you get the
horror that your time produces.

The country's in a weird place

and probably will be there
for some time,

which will make for some really
interesting horror movies.

[man] Oh, my God!

There are no rules anymore.

I think one of the things
that we've learned

in these last ten years
is that, if you break the rules,

you're probably gonna end up
with something special.

I really feel like horror
can have an important role

in shaping the future
of Hollywood

by diversifying our stories.

Giving more voices opportunity
is something

that's, like, gonna
make movies better.

Fear is a very specific thing
to a person's experience.

So if you can make me
really feel that character,

doesn't matter if that character
is Black, white, Asian,

you're gonna feel the horror.

[screaming]

For nearly a century,
horror films have helped us

process the unthinkable,
giving us imaginary monsters

to deal with the real threats
that grip us.

[man] Oh, God! Oh, God!

The next generation
of filmmakers will no doubt

continue to elevate the genre

and give us
all more nightmares.

[woman] Aah! Aah! Aah!

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪