Director Leigh Whannell, left, and actress Lin Shaye pose while promoting the horror film "Insidious: Chapter 3" in Toronto on Thursday, May 21, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese
June 04, 2015 - 5:00 AM
TORONTO - "Insidious: Chapter 3" writer-director Leigh Whannell employed some rather unique methods to get his cast into terror mode.
On set, he used an air horn to scare the actors, and with star Stefanie Scott, he cranked up some screechy music to "prod her into this darker place."
"I would lock her in a closet and make her listen to death metal," Whannell said in an interview.
"I'm not talking about Metallica here. I was making her listen to Norwegian stuff. It's just like one note. These songs go for like 13 minutes.... I kept her locked in there for a good hour.
"I did spot checks, like a prison guard coming in to do random cell checks. I'd rip her headphones off and made sure she hadn't turned the volume down, and she was a trouper."
Whannell wrote the first two films in the hit supernatural horror franchise and decided to make his directorial debut on the third, which opens Friday, because it was something he'd always wanted to do.
Plus, as he started writing this one, he "started getting very possessive of it" and eventually talked himself into directing, he said.
"I started thinking, 'Well, it would be foolish to turn down this opportunity to make a film that's guaranteed to be released in theatres, that already has an in-built fanbase, and I really cared about it," said the Melbourne native, who also wrote the first three "Saw" films.
"So in hindsight, I would have been crazy not to do it."
"Insidious: Chapter 3" is a standalone prequel to the previous films and focuses on psychic Elise (Lin Shaye).
When aspiring actress Quinn (Scott) asks Elise to help her get in touch with her dead mother, we learn of the medium's past with an otherworldly realm known as The Further.
Shaye has played many memorable characters throughout her career, including overly tanned neighbour Magda in "There's Something About Mary" and the vile landlady in "Kingpin."
With "Insidious," she was happy to play a character who was "very buildable" rather than it "being broadstrokes to start," Shaye said.
"When I died in the first one, I had a little bit of sadness about the opportunity of not knowing what was going to happen if there was a second one. But it's just evolved into this wonderful evolution of a character. So I'm happy to be a part of it, for sure."
News from © The Canadian Press, 2015