AJT: It’s knowing how far to push it, letting it hang over the edge.
MA: Oh, we pushed it quite a lot, man. We actually pushed it way more than what’s in the film, we had to cut back because people got too disgusted with some of the details – I’m not even sure if I’m allowed to share them. Some scenes just went the extra mile and we got the call saying, “You need to reshoot this, it’s fucking disgusting.” [both laugh] I’d love to see a director’s cut of Eli’s version, unfiltered.

AJT: It’s interesting, slasher horror movies seem to be bigger than ever, but they also never really fall out of trend – there’s always an audience desire for these fun, gory stories. Especially that 80s influence.
MA: I feel like a lot now are the spawn of Stranger Things, it brought back the retro vibe people love, the synths, music, no cellphones, kids running away from monsters. It’s easy to put on camera because it’s so cinematically beautiful.

AJT: And teen slashers have such a place in US culture – you see a group of teens in a diner in varsity jackets and you know some of them aren’t making it out alive. [both laugh] Did you grow up on horror movies as a kid?
MA: That’s the thing, no, I’ve been terrified of them. However, I’ve shot so many of them this year that I’ve started to watch them to gain knowledge and have an understanding. When I was working on Thanksgiving I was like, “OK, I need to look into these films Eli is suggesting and try to get a sense of the world he’s building.”

AJT: You’ve got two other horrors coming up, Fresh Meat and Whistle. That’s three horrors in a row, It must be interesting to see the similarities and differences between them.
MA: They were all so different for so many reasons. In Thanksgiving, I felt like Lonnie was almost in his own movie. It didn’t feel like a horror movie for me because my death was so abrupt and I feel like a lot of the time he’s just bullying these teenagers and being a despicable human being. He’s so aloof to the plot. Then when I did Fresh Meat, there’s a lot of running and screaming because I’m stuck in a prison with this terrifying thing that’s ripping us all apart. It felt like the movie Barbarian. I actually struggled with that as an actor, it takes me a lot to get to that place. I find it, but I have to be in a dark corner, pace, and get my mind in a certain state. So that was much more challenging but very fulfilling to see the results.

Alexander McQueen Dragonfly Jacket: £1,795

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