SciFiNow - 06.2020

“I REALLY LIKE THE SCARY

MOVIE COMMUNITY. WE

DON’T TAKE OURSELVES

TOO SERIOUSLY. WE HAVE

A LOT OF FUN”

JASON BLUM

INTERVIEW

Jason Blum

030 | W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K

2007) and Insidious, his name has become

synonymous with the genre. Blum would go on

to produce box-office storming horror franchises

including all of the Paranormal Activity sequels

as well as The Purge movies, not to mention

Sinister, Happy Death Day (and Happy

Death Day 2 U), Ouija, Ma, Black Christmas,

Halloween (2018), Us and the Oscar-winning

horror, Get Out. Yep, Blum’s IMDB page makes

for a fascinating (and long) read (“I’m going for

longest IMDB of all time, I’m well on my way!”

he says).

Horror clearly holds a special place in

Blum’s heart but that wasn’t always the case: “I

wasn’t really a genre fan, but I was a big fan

of movies. What really got me into genre was

my experience on Paranormal Activity. And I

really learned about it. And I learned to love it.

I met all the film makers in genre and now by

far horror is my favourite kind of movie. That’s

not just because of the movies but because

of the people involved. I really like the scary

movie community. We don’t take ourselves too

seriously. We have a lot of fun and I’m very

comfortable in that world.”

The involved nature of horror films makes the

genre ideal for watching in cinemas, something

that Blum takes very seriously. “I feel like the

best way to impact culture is with the theatrical

experience and [genre movies] are the ones that

work theatrically. It’s almost impossible to [watch

them] any other way,” he says. “The really

difficult thing with horror in particular is that

you can’t be scared in a horror movie if you’re

looking at another little screen, even a little bit.

We’re all guilty. I put myself on the top of the list.

When I watch something at home, I’m looking

at my phone. There’s nothing wrong with that.

I have nothing against that. I do that myself but

it’s impossible to scare someone if your focus

isn’t on the movie. And the only way in today’s

world to keep someone focused on the screen

for 90 minutes is in a movie theatre.

“That’s the reason I’m interested in wide

theatrical releases. You can’t do that anymore

with dramas or much else. You can do it with

superheroes, you can do it with a known IP, or

you can do it with low budget genre...”

Indeed, that almost didn’t happen with Blum’s

latest movie, The Hunt, which was pulled from

theatres in 2019 after two mass shootings in the

US. “I really wanted people to see it and to see

it theatrically. I really wanted that. I didn’t want

it to go to streaming.” However, move forward a

year and the movie is finally in cinemas: “It was

a long road to get here. But I’m glad we did.”

The Hunt was a movie Blum liked from the

off: “It checked every box for Blumhouse! It was

subversive, visceral, unique, scary and exciting...

I loved the script. It’s an absolute roller coaster

Jason Blum is pleased with how

The Invisible Man turned out.

THE BLUMHOUSE

SECRET FORMULA

Blumhouse makes high-grossing movies

on a low budget without sacrificing the

quality of the movie. We ask Jason Blum

what his secret formula is...

“I can tell you really clearly. It’s directly

tied, in a not necessarily obvious way, to

‘low-budget’. When studios pick movies to

greenlight, they have to be similar to other

movies that have made a lot of money and if

I ran a movie studio I’d choose movies in the

same way. When you do low budget movies

you can kind of do the opposite. We have

to read and love a script. It has to be genre

but then it also has to try to feel different to

anything we’ve seen before. The problem with

big budgets is it pushes movies to feel the

same as movies that have come before. Low

budgets do the exact opposite.

“The biggest way we keep the budget low

is that we don’t take a fee ourselves, because

when the production company doesn’t take a

fee, everyone else follows suit; the director,

the actors, everyone works for scale and if

there’s profit, we share it and if there isn’t,

there isn’t, but that sets the tone for keeping

the budget low. That’s normal for independent

movies but not normal for studio movies.”

“I REALLY LIKE THE SCARY

MOVIE COMMUNITY. WE

DON’T TAKE OURSELVES

TOO SERIOUSLY. WE HAVE

A LOT OF FUN”

JASON BLUM

INTERVIEW

Jason Blum

030 | W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K

2007) and Insidious, his name has become

synonymous with the genre. Blum would go on

to produce box-office storming horror franchises

including all of the Paranormal Activity sequels

as well as The Purge movies, not to mention

Sinister, Happy Death Day (and Happy

Death Day 2 U), Ouija, Ma, Black Christmas,

Halloween (2018), Us and the Oscar-winning

horror, Get Out. Yep, Blum’s IMDB page makes

for a fascinating (and long) read (“I’m going for

longest IMDB of all time, I’m well on my way!”

he says).

Horror clearly holds a special place in

Blum’s heart but that wasn’t always the case: “I

wasn’t really a genre fan, but I was a big fan

of movies. What really got me into genre was

my experience on Paranormal Activity. And I

really learned about it. And I learned to love it.

I met all the film makers in genre and now by

far horror is my favourite kind of movie. That’s

not just because of the movies but because

of the people involved. I really like the scary

movie community. We don’t take ourselves too

seriously. We have a lot of fun and I’m very

comfortable in that world.”

The involved nature of horror films makes the

genre ideal for watching in cinemas, something

that Blum takes very seriously. “I feel like the

best way to impact culture is with the theatrical

experience and [genre movies] are the ones that

work theatrically. It’s almost impossible to [watch

them] any other way,” he says. “The really

difficult thing with horror in particular is that

you can’t be scared in a horror movie if you’re

looking at another little screen, even a little bit.

We’re all guilty. I put myself on the top of the list.

When I watch something at home, I’m looking

at my phone. There’s nothing wrong with that.

I have nothing against that. I do that myself but

it’s impossible to scare someone if your focus

isn’t on the movie. And the only way in today’s

world to keep someone focused on the screen

for 90 minutes is in a movie theatre.

“That’s the reason I’m interested in wide

theatrical releases. You can’t do that anymore

with dramas or much else. You can do it with

superheroes, you can do it with a known IP, or

you can do it with low budget genre...”

Indeed, that almost didn’t happen with Blum’s

latest movie, The Hunt, which was pulled from

theatres in 2019 after two mass shootings in the

US. “I really wanted people to see it and to see

it theatrically. I really wanted that. I didn’t want

it to go to streaming.” However, move forward a

year and the movie is finally in cinemas: “It was

a long road to get here. But I’m glad we did.”

The Hunt was a movie Blum liked from the

off: “It checked every box for Blumhouse! It was

subversive, visceral, unique, scary and exciting...

I loved the script. It’s an absolute roller coaster

Jason Blum is pleased with how

The Invisible Man turned out.

THE BLUMHOUSE

SECRET FORMULA

Blumhouse makes high-grossing movies

on a low budget without sacrificing the

quality of the movie. We ask Jason Blum

what his secret formula is...

“I can tell you really clearly. It’s directly

tied, in a not necessarily obvious way, to

‘low-budget’. When studios pick movies to

greenlight, they have to be similar to other

movies that have made a lot of money and if

I ran a movie studio I’d choose movies in the

same way. When you do low budget movies

you can kind of do the opposite. We have

to read and love a script. It has to be genre

but then it also has to try to feel different to

anything we’ve seen before. The problem with

big budgets is it pushes movies to feel the

same as movies that have come before. Low

budgets do the exact opposite.

“The biggest way we keep the budget low

is that we don’t take a fee ourselves, because

when the production company doesn’t take a

fee, everyone else follows suit; the director,

the actors, everyone works for scale and if

there’s profit, we share it and if there isn’t,

there isn’t, but that sets the tone for keeping

the budget low. That’s normal for independent

movies but not normal for studio movies.”