Horror Favourites – Sonja O’Hara

Doomsday follows the daily lives of the residents of a millennial cult, where youthful idealism evolves into deadly extremism and documents the eerie final months leading up to a horrific Jim Jones-style massacre. We grabbed the hugely talented writer, director and star Sonja O’Hara for a chat about horror and more.

Doomsday was nominated for the 2021 Daytime Emmy in the Outstanding Daytime Fiction Program category, the series was additionally honored at the Webby Awards, and nominated for a Streamy Award. It also won awards at The New York Television Festival, ITV Fest, HollyWeb Fest, and many more. As a creator, Sonja O’Hara was chosen as one of the “10 Filmmakers To Watch” by Independent Magazine, selected by a jury from MovieMaker Magazine, the Sundance Institute and Austin Film Festival.

Entertainment Squad’s genre label, The Horror Collective, will release the series on-demand and digital simultaneously in the United States, Canada and UK. Other territories will be sold at this month’s virtual European Film Market.

Creator Sonja O’hara was inspired by being cast in Scientology instructional videos: “I became intrigued by the polarity between the public and private facades of secretive religious groups.” Berenson added: “drawing from her unique experience, Sonja explores topics of sexuality, identity and gender in the most authentic and personal way.”

Below Sonja O’Hara the writer,director and lead actor in Doomsday talks about her favourite horror film:

“My favorite horror/genre film of all time is probably “Mulholland Drive.” I watched it the night before moving to LA at twenty years old and as a young actress it just evoked this brutal, visceral, awe inducing fear in me. I remember arriving at LAX and seeing palm trees for the first time (I’m Canadian!) and having Lynch’s world just stuck in my head, stumbling around as if I were Betty. Seeing everything in this macabre way.

The scene between the two women in the apartment, when they meet, just had this feral quality to me. It was so loaded and intoxicating and definitely was one of the first moments where I knew I was into women. I could just feel Laura Harring’s utter confusion and dread and it felt like it was infecting me. I’ve been a diehard Lynch fan ever since and it certainly influenced me when I was making “Doomsday.”

The 2021 Daytime Emmy nominated limited series DOOMSDAY will premiere on March 1.