Jason Blum still will celebrate Halloween despite pandemic
The busy horror master offers a sequel to “The Craft,” and virtual fan event BlumFest.
COVID-19 is disrupting most people’s Halloween plans, but nothing – not even a pandemic – can keep Jason Blum from celebrating his favorite holiday.
If you’re familiar with the works of Hollywood’s horror superproducer (“Get Out,” “Paranormal Activity”), it’s not a shock that he has two skeletons chilling and drinking wine outside his house as part of his seasonal decor. But there are some changes this year.
“We always have a Halloween party, (but) our party’s canceled,” says Blum, 51.
“The kids aren’t going to be able to trick-or-treat in the same way, so it’s very sad.”
Luckily, Blum doles out his tricks and treats all year-round.
Just in time for Halloween, the 1996 cult hit “The Craft” is getting a sequel with director Zoe Lister-Jones’ “The Craft: Legacy” (now streaming via ondemand platforms), in which another four teen girls form a tight-knit coven.
Next month brings Christopher Landon’s “Freaky” (in theaters Nov. 13), a body-swap horror comedy in which Vince Vaughn plays both a serial killer and a teen girl.
“It’s like the old Vince Vaughn that we all fell in love with,” Blum teases.
That’s not all. The first four entries of Amazon Prime’s “Welcome to the Blumhouse” anthology – “Black Box,” “The Lie,” “Nocturne” and “Evil Eye,” all focusing on diverse storytellers and creators – are currently streaming, with three of the next four already filmed.
And “The Invisible Man” was such a hit this year, more updates of classic Universal monsters are in development, including Karyn Kusama’s take on Dracula and a Wolfman movie starring Ryan Gosling.
Blum himself is taking part in the virtual fan event BlumFest on YouTube and Facebook (Thursday, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT), with guests including “Halloween Kills” star Jamie Lee Curtis and news about coming Blumhouse projects.
USA TODAY spoke with Blum about his busy slate, the state of horror and his Halloween costume options.
Question: As a producer, have you found any silver linings amid COVID-19?
Jason Blum: It’s hard to say when you’re in the middle of it. Artists always get affected by tragedy. We’ll have compelling stories, not necessarily about the pandemic, come out of this time when artists have been forced to be at home and think about the world in a different way.
Q: With “The Craft” and “Welcome to the Blumhouse,” is centering women and people of color onscreen and telling their stories paramount for you?
Blum: I’ve always focused on our filmmakers representing our diverse audience. It’s important that the stories that we tell are told from different kinds of people with different points of
view. It makes business sense. It also happens to be the right thing to do.
Q: You’ve been bullish about video on demand and streaming with theaters being a huge question mark. Is VOD here to stay?
Blum: Long-term, if you want to maximize the earnings potential of a movie, (premium video on demand) has to be combined with a theatrical release. That’s the future of most of the movie business.
Q: “The Invisible Man” is still my favorite horror movie of 2020. Do you feel you’ve cracked the code on the Universal monsters again by having them embrace what’s happening in the world?
Blum: The monsters are a great Trojan horse for a message about our time.
Clearly, “Invisible Man” was about abuse, and the next ones we work on are going to be really fun, super-scary, taut genre movies, but there’ll be an underlying theme, which will have more to say than just making you jump.
Q: Do you feel the genre is in a golden age?
Blum: I do. People go to horror movies when the world around them is scary. What Jordan (Peele) did with “Get Out” was show that you could do horror and also get recognized by awards. It made filmmakers who never considered horror think about doing scary movies, too. Jordan brought everybody’s game up.
Q: So the Halloween party’s canceled. Are you dressing up anyway?
Blum: My daughter wants me to be a Troll, so that’s what I’m going to be for Halloween. Usually I’m a woman, but it’s not really fun to get dressed in drag if there’s nowhere to show off.
Q: Like the Trolls with the big hair?
Blum: Yeah, “Trolls World Tour.” It’s my nightmare, believe me.