JASON BLUM
Welcome To The House Of BlumW W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K |^031
- one minute you’re laughing and then you’re
cringing with gore. It pulls on every emotion!”
Based on the 1924 short story The Most
Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, The Hunt
is about a group of so-called ‘deplorables’ who
wake up to find they are being hunted in a
game devised by a group of elites. The film also
caused political criticism with some believing
the film to be a slight on President Trump and
his supporters. Although definitely a satire, The
Hunt was never intended to focus on a political
element. “[Horror films] lend themselves to
satire but usually we don’t make that part of
the marketing. However, on [The Hunt] we were
kind of forced to which turns off a lot of genre
audiences, but I’m hoping they’ll still discover
the movie.” This controversy hasn’t put Blum off
making a politically-charged movie, though, in
fact it’s “the opposite. Everyone telling me to
shut up just makes me louder!”.
The Hunt fits nice and squarely into Blum’s
bailiwick (“it’s a cross between The Purge and
Get Out!”), and there are more Blumhouse films
to look forward to: “I’m super excited about the
new Purge,” he says, which is due to be released
this year. “It’s timely and very subversive and
political and I’m psyched about that. And I’m
excited about the next Halloween m ovie.”
Blum doesn’t only produce films. He also
has his name stamped on The Purge TV series
as well as the 2018 show, Into The Dark, and
there’s one particular TV release he’s looking
forward to everyone seeing, which is due out
this year: “I’m really excited about The Good
Lord Bird which is this show our television
company did with showtime with Ethan Hawke
based on a James McBride book.”
Indeed, Blum believes in fitting the platform
to the project: “My preference is having multiple
platforms to play with when someone comes in
with a story... So really my preference is having
multiple places I can put things. I’m really glad I
don’t just do movies, I don’t just do TV or just do
one script. I like having a big pallet to work with
an artist so that whatever they have, [we can]
give it the right shit. I love turning stories into
something you can watch.”
But is there a film or artist he hasn’t got on
his slate that he would want? “I’d love to do
Friday The 13th,” he tells us, “and I always say
[I’d like to work with], Edgar Wright I’m always
hoping one day. I live in hope.” When we
suggest a possible Friday The 13th with Edgar
Wright directing? “[laughs] Edgar Wright doing
a Blumhouse version of Friday The 13th! I think
we’ve got to do that!” So do we!The Hunt is due to be available on-demand.The Halloween remake
was a huge success.Betty Gilpin has received a lot
of praise for her performance.THE BLUMHOUSE
SECRET TO REMAKES
With Blumhouse’s successful 2018
Halloween remake, and other remakes
in the pipeline, we talk to Jason Blum
about reinventing a well-known film...
“I’m definitely a fan of Halloween. My take on
remakes is similar to my take on genre which
is that you need a delivery system for these
stories to have to get into multiple cinemas.
And the audience is trickier and trickier to pull
away from their flatscreen TVs by the month.
It used to be horror was enough. If you had
a good, original horror movie you could. It
would work. That’s not enough anymore. They
occasionally work. But more often than not
they don’t.
“So people respond to (I don’t know why,
there’s so many choices) a title they’re familiar
with and it’s scary, it just makes the path from
their driveway to the cinema clearer and
shorter. I look at a doing a remake the same
as doing a sequel and what I’m really trying
to make is independent dramas. Compelling
dramatic stories. And whether I use the skin
of horror or the skin of a remake, or the skin
of a sequel to tell those stories, I want people
to see that movie in movie theatres. I don’t
distinguish that much between the three.
“If you look at our Halloween movie it has
a lot to say about the world we live in now,
it’s very timely. The Halloween part is the
marketing part. But the movie is so different
from any other Halloween movies and that’s
how I look at remakes.”JASON BLUM
Welcome To The House Of BlumW W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K |^031
- one minute you’re laughing and then you’re
cringing with gore. It pulls on every emotion!”
Based on the 1924 short story The Most
Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, The Hunt
is about a group of so-called ‘deplorables’ who
wake up to find they are being hunted in a
game devised by a group of elites. The film also
caused political criticism with some believing
the film to be a slight on President Trump and
his supporters. Although definitely a satire, The
Hunt was never intended to focus on a political
element. “[Horror films] lend themselves to
satire but usually we don’t make that part of
the marketing. However, on [The Hunt] we were
kind of forced to which turns off a lot of genre
audiences, but I’m hoping they’ll still discover
the movie.” This controversy hasn’t put Blum off
making a politically-charged movie, though, in
fact it’s “the opposite. Everyone telling me to
shut up just makes me louder!”.
The Hunt fits nice and squarely into Blum’s
bailiwick (“it’s a cross between The Purge and
Get Out!”), and there are more Blumhouse films
to look forward to: “I’m super excited about the
new Purge,” he says, which is due to be released
this year. “It’s timely and very subversive and
political and I’m psyched about that. And I’m
excited about the next Halloween m ovie.”
Blum doesn’t only produce films. He also
has his name stamped on The Purge TV series
as well as the 2018 show, Into The Dark, and
there’s one particular TV release he’s looking
forward to everyone seeing, which is due out
this year: “I’m really excited about The Good
Lord Bird which is this show our television
company did with showtime with Ethan Hawke
based on a James McBride book.”
Indeed, Blum believes in fitting the platform
to the project: “My preference is having multiple
platforms to play with when someone comes in
with a story... So really my preference is having
multiple places I can put things. I’m really glad I
don’t just do movies, I don’t just do TV or just do
one script. I like having a big pallet to work with
an artist so that whatever they have, [we can]
give it the right shit. I love turning stories into
something you can watch.”
But is there a film or artist he hasn’t got on
his slate that he would want? “I’d love to do
Friday The 13th,” he tells us, “and I always say
[I’d like to work with], Edgar Wright I’m always
hoping one day. I live in hope.” When we
suggest a possible Friday The 13th with Edgar
Wright directing? “[laughs] Edgar Wright doing
a Blumhouse version of Friday The 13th! I think
we’ve got to do that!” So do we!The Hunt is due to be available on-demand.The Halloween remake
was a huge success.Betty Gilpin has received a lot
of praise for her performance.THE BLUMHOUSE
SECRET TO REMAKES
With Blumhouse’s successful 2018
Halloween remake, and other remakes
in the pipeline, we talk to Jason Blum
about reinventing a well-known film...
“I’m definitely a fan of Halloween. My take on
remakes is similar to my take on genre which
is that you need a delivery system for these
stories to have to get into multiple cinemas.
And the audience is trickier and trickier to pull
away from their flatscreen TVs by the month.
It used to be horror was enough. If you had
a good, original horror movie you could. It
would work. That’s not enough anymore. They
occasionally work. But more often than not
they don’t.
“So people respond to (I don’t know why,
there’s so many choices) a title they’re familiar
with and it’s scary, it just makes the path from
their driveway to the cinema clearer and
shorter. I look at a doing a remake the same
as doing a sequel and what I’m really trying
to make is independent dramas. Compelling
dramatic stories. And whether I use the skin
of horror or the skin of a remake, or the skin
of a sequel to tell those stories, I want people
to see that movie in movie theatres. I don’t
distinguish that much between the three.
“If you look at our Halloween movie it has
a lot to say about the world we live in now,
it’s very timely. The Halloween part is the
marketing part. But the movie is so different
from any other Halloween movies and that’s
how I look at remakes.”