Interview: Jay Cheel Talks CURSED FILMS Season 1 Blu-ray & Teases Season 2
Shudder’s Cursed Films series is out on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital August 18th with brand new commentaries for every episode from director Jay Cheel. If you didn’t catch the deep-dive explorations of classics like The Exorcist, The Omen and Poltergeist when they bowed on the streaming service back in April, now’s your chance to learn more about the behind the scenes conspiracy theories tied to these franchises. The on-set tragedies of Twilight Zone: The Movie and The Crow are also covered, but the talking heads involved from critics to filmmakers make sure it’s not just morbid entertainment.
Dread Central spoke with director Jay Cheel about the new Blu-ray, the continuing legacy surrounding these films, and how season 2 is planning on going international and will also focus on some projects you probably won’t see coming.
Synopsis: Cursed Films is a five-part documentary series which explores the myths and legends behind some of Hollywood’s notoriously “cursed” horror film productions.From plane accidents and bombings during the making of The Omen, to the rumored use of real human skeletons on the set of Poltergeist, these stories are legendary amongst film fans and filmmakers alike. Were these films really cursed, as many believe, or just the victims of bad luck and bizarre circumstances?
Dread Central: Were you ever getting different accounts from cast and crew when you conducted interviews for Cursed?
Jay Cheel: Not from cast or crew. Everyone seemed to be really keyed into what went down. But definitely from the people I was talking to about, generally, what they remember hearing about in terms of these cursed legends. Even myself, there were some things that I carried along with me, remembering having read this or that, that was clarified for me in the process of making the show. I think sometimes the stories just get all mixed up and perpetuated. That was kind of the idea with this series was getting some of these people who were directly involved with these incidents to be able to talk very openly and honestly about them and not have some agenda that we’re applying to their interview. It was just truly getting them to speak about their experiences and if they think if the idea of a curse is bullshit then that’s what I want them to say.
I think everyone watching The Omen episode thinks that there are just one too many weird coincidences that took place that took place during that production. Even Richard Donner and Mace Neufeld acknowledged that.
DC: I could see how it could be more troubling in the edit if you’ve got some accounts that are a little bit off and trying to match those up when you’re talking about a specific scene or something that happened.
JC: I would probably have leaned into that to breast how the stories change and can be different. The only thing in the edit, Mace Neufeld talked about in The Omen when the car is attacked by baboons and he said orangutans and I had to correct him by creating the word baboons from like five different other words (laughs).
DC: Is it important for you to have a Blu-ray coming out of your work? Is that a milestone you still get excited about?
JC: Yeah, I’m a big physical media collector. I still get excited by Blu-rays…there’s still a great group of collectors out there that, I think, value a physical release. I got to do a commentary track for all the episodes which is great. For me personally, it’s cool to have something but I don’t know if I’ll put it on my shelf. If I do, it’s certainly going to go in the TV section and not with the movies. I’ll have to organize it properly.
DC: I know you guys are developing a second season. Is there an overall arc for those episodes that you’ve thought of? Are you finding that it’s harder to find newer films that fit the bill of a cursed film?
JC: It certainly challenges the idea of a cursed film. The first season really looks at how believable the concept of a supernaturally cursed film might be and analyzes that. This idea of looking for patterns and magical thinking. It feels like that’s something I don’t want to repeat in the second season. We’re in pre-production but I would say going into it, what’s attractive to me right now is just the idea of making five documentaries. The episodes are going to be longer this season. They’re going to be 45 minutes like a TV hour. So, five hour-long documentaries that are as close as we can get to the definitive telling of the productions of those films. I would say, even the arc in the first season, even though we knew we were leading up to The Twilight Zone, there are things that come up during production that effect the order of the episodes or effect how much you lean into another in the edit. So that could happen in this second season.
DC: Can you tease any of the films or anyone you guys are looking at? I’m sure with everything that’s going on, it’s gotta be tough with scheduling to keep all of these interviews on the calendar.
JC: Yeah, I’m not allowed to tease the films but I can say that we’re going to be traveling outside of North America for this season. So, the traveling will be a unique challenge, obviously. The list is going to be a diverse collection of films that will have some hits in there that people will love and be familiar with; and then a couple that might be new to people, especially horror fans. I’m excited to present a definitive telling of some infamously challenged film productions but also introduce one or two films, at least one film I can say, that might not be as familiar for some people watching.
Cursed Films arrives on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital on August 18th. Be sure to add it to your shelf and organize it the way you best see fit.
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