Get scared with The Hole

MANILA, Philippines - Director Joe Dante talks to us about the challenge of scaring audiences for his new movie The Hole 3D and how things have changed since the days of Gremlins. He also discusses the advent of 3D and the prospects of what “real” 3D movie is all about.

Were there scenes that had to be removed, that you were told was too scary?

The movie hinges on a very dark horror story. There was a question how explicit we should be about this. We’re essentially making a horror story that’s suitable for all ages, and the trick is to do it on a level where the audience understands the gravity of that subplot, and that it’s a bad thing, but they don’t know exactly what happened. It’s not like they’re going to be afraid to go home and see their basements. There were no cuts, but I’m sure there’s the hint that there might have been something even worse… something for the audience to take home with them.

What is it about killer clowns that make them so scary?

Frankly, I’m not sure moviegoers know what clowns are or what they represent. There are not a lot of circuses left for various reasons. I remember when I was a kid I saw Dumbo and there were these mean clowns who did bad things to Dumbo. You hated them. I went to the circus when I was a kid and I saw clowns, and I never found them funny. I found them odd and maybe even a little disturbing. The slapstick they do is basically violent, they’re dressed up in these bizarre faces. There’s a part of me that wonders how anybody could have ever found clowns funny. It was in the script and it was a Harlequin because that was the doll we found that was the easiest to manipulate. Basically we just said, it looks creepy, I wouldn’t want this in my bed.

Are moviegoers getting harder for a director to scare?

Probably. My niece tells me that she and her friends take out videos of horror movies, they go home, put on the TV, get some popcorn, and they laugh all the way through these movies. The more gruesome the deaths the more they laugh. I understand that’s the appeal of Piranha 3D, which is that it’s filled with horrible deaths that are very elaborate and everybody has a hilarious time watching it.