Satanic Panic has been unleashed on UK audiences via Arrow Video. Brad Hanson spoke with director Chelsea Stardust about how the project came to be, the “code of the Sam's” and that Walmart cover.
Evolution of Horror: So to begin, I'd like to ask how Satanic Panic came to be?
Chelsea Stardust: The script was sent to my agents for my consideration to direct, but I'd actually read the script beforehand; a friend had sent it to me because she knew I was a big Grady Hendrix fan. I love his books and she was like “you need to check this out” and I read it and I loved it. This movie is batshit crazy and I can't wait to see it made.
Cut to six month later and my reps reach out and say “Fangoria are interested in having you direct this” and I was like “I already know this script! Lemme re-read it and see if there are any changes” and sure enough it was the script I remembered.
We just started going immediately, I had to pitch my vision for the movie to Fangoria because I wasn't the only director they were looking at and I was just very clear with what I wanted the movie to be. I gave them a lot of tonal references like Jennifer's Body, Drag Me To Hell, Evil Dead 2, Society, Race With The Devil and House of The Devil and that this movie would sort of be a love letter to all of those great movies.
I also come from both a horror and a comedy background and not everyone that they were considering came from both of those worlds. So Fangoria said “Let's do it” and we were basically casting a month later and started shooting in Dallas, Texas in September of 2018. It hasn't even been a year since we wrapped this movie, which is crazy!
EoH: How did Jerry O'Connell and Rebecca Romijn involved in the project?
CS: When we were talking about the role of Danica, we had a list of people we were looking at and I saw Rebecca was on the list and felt that was a very interesting choice because I didn't think I'd ever seen her in a horror movie and sure enough she had not done horror. She's of course done sci-fi as I grew up with her in the X-Men movies and I thought let's reach out see if she'd be into the idea of doing horror. I skyped with her and she said that she loved horror, watched horror VHS's growing up and read Fangoria and loved the character of Danica; so she came aboard.
And then when we were talking about the Samuel role, we knew they'd acted together before but we didn't know if they'd be interested in doing a role this crazy together. Especially with Samuel, it's a tough role, because of the kind of human being he is. We thought about who could pull this off; being able to balance the horrible things that are happening in the scene but able to bring a sense of comedy to the commentary. Jerry comes from a horror background with Scream 2 and Piranha so he felt perfect for the role.
Watching those two do the scene together was insane and awesome to seem them working together.
EoH: He really nails the deplorable slimeball role but you can see that underneath this opulent lifestyle; there's still a human being under there.
CS: You can't help but keep watching him and seeing what he's going to do next.
EoH: The film has just been released in the UK through Arrow Video; the set they've released is as usual expansive and impressive. Were you involved in putting this all together?
CS: Fangoria and RLJ provided some of the content and I was of course involved with the featurettes. The reverse sleeve artwork of the slice of pizza was actually the design of our crew shirts, which was really cool.
I'm so honoured to have Arrow releasing the movie as I'm a huge fan of everything they've done.
EoH: Speaking of physical releases, Satanic Panic was released in the US in mid-October and I wanted to ask your opinion on Walmart's decision to censor the film's title with a slipcover?
CS: I actually knew that was going to be happening. For me this is really funny, it shows that the idea of Satanic Panic still being alive and well in America is very much there. It's also crazy that they've allowed an upside-down pentagram on the cover but not the word Satanic.
Underneath the slipcover it still says Satanic Panic, and I'm glad they didn't change the whole thing. To me now, it's like a variant, it's probably going to become a collectors item.
EoH: Movie memorabilia is big business, with A24 cornering the market which their ever-increasing tie-ins; like The Lighthouse bodywash set, or Midsommar's “Bear in a Cage”. I was wondering if you'd consider your own tie-in with “The Killdo”?
CS: [Laughs] Oh my god. If a great sex toy company were to approach me about that, I would definitely have a conversation with them about it.
EoH: Let's talk about the “Code of the Sam's”. If you could pick two famous Sam's to help each other out, who would it be and what would they be doing?
CS: I would say Sam Neill and Sam Elliott. I think they would be building in a cabin in the woods together.
EoH: So they could like raise sheep and do woodwork together?
CS: Uh-huh.
EoH: I would 100% watch that movie. Speaking of which; you've made a deal with the devil and he's granting you 3 people, alive or dead, to make the ultimate occult movie with. Who are you picking?
CS: Harry Dean Stanton, I love him. Bruce Campbell and Megan Fox. I'm a huge Jennifer's Body fan.
EoH: Amazing choices there. Thanks so much for speaking with me Chelsea.
CS: Pleasure!