Horror Favourites – Steve Johnson

Starring Sophie Skelton (Outlander), BAFTA winner Stuart Brennan (Risen) and WWE legend Bret Hart, Stalker is directed by Steve Johnson who we sat down with for a chat about his favourite horror film.

In this tense psychological horror, Rose Hepburn, a young actress, returns to her empty hotel. Forced to use the old freight elevator, it jolts to a halt on the twelfth floor, leaving her trapped with an unusual stranger. Left with no phone signal as a storm approaches, tensions escalate and suspicions rise when Rose discovers the identity of the mysterious man is Daniel Reed, a camera operator who is seemingly obsessed with her.

Below Stalker director Steve Johnson talks about his two favourite scary movies:

“Asking about my favourite horror film is such a challenging question! I would have to say my all-time favourite is probably between ‘The Blair Witch Project’ and ‘Silence of the Lambs’, both for very different reasons.

I think with ‘The Blair Witch Project’ it was the timing when it came out and the internet being in its infancy, which made the film feel more terrifying to watch. The filmmakers used that marketing to an amazing degree which really helped with the believable factor that I think so many films these days lack. I think from a marketing perspective, it launched the found footage genre that we still experience today, just at that point, people believed it more because there wasn’t social media to debunk any of the story. I remember watching ‘Blair Witch’ for the first time with no knowledge of the ‘making of’ process and being scared with the visuals and especially the sound design that felt totally real. It was shocking and real, which is something that is harder to do nowadays with audiences being so tuned in because they are more educated on the process.

With ‘Silence of the Lambs’, it’s probably one of those horror films that I can watch more often and appreciate all the aspects of the filmmaking process with more admiration on each viewing. The execution of the story is brilliantly paced, together with the characterisation from both Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. For me, this plays on the psychological nature of films that I love, which probably informed me in an indirect way on the making of ‘Stalker’. I love how the character cat-and-mouse concept works because it makes each character want to better the other, which in turn, makes for more rounded and believable characters. After all, that’s what we do with human nature, we want to out-better others in the desire of advancement.”

Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment presents Stalker on DVD and Digital now. Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/Stalker-DVD-Sophie-Skelton/dp/B0B9Y18GFV