‘You Can’t Leave’ Star Spencer Boldman Loves Horror More Than You Know [Digital Feature]
By Dread Central
6 min readWe chat with ‘You Can’t Leave’ star Spencer Boldman about the upcoming horror movie and his own deep-seated love for the genre.
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We chat with ‘You Can’t Leave’ star Spencer Boldman about the upcoming horror movie and his own deep-seated love for the genre.
“I’m a huge horror fan. It wasn’t the first horror movie I watched – I was born in ‘92, and I grew up with Leprechaun, Gremlins, and those types of movies. Classics.” This is Boldman’s first official foray into the genre, and we break the ice by talking about the movies that shaped us. “Chucky, that’s one of my favorites. But one that stood out as absolutely terrifying was The Blair Witch Project, which I think is a popular answer. And then the other one is The Strangers, just because it was so real- being in your house and people coming to your house. So those two movies really freaked me out.”
Boldman pivots to the “exciting changes” occurring within the genre, an ideal segue into You Can’t Leave, which Boldman both stars in and Executive Produces. “In horror, you can go really campy like Scream. You can go Gothic Horror like what [Robert] Eggers does, who I’m a huge fan of. Our movie, in my opinion, goes toward psychological thriller. There’s a really cool element about this group of friends searching for this girl, getting trapped in this supernatural forest that won’t let them go. And I thought that was a really cool thing to explore and also give it its own DNA, which I think when people see the film, they’ll recognize that. I think when you watch a trailer, you see clips, you’re like, ‘Oh, this looks like this,’ or ‘It’s going to be like that.’ But I’m really pumped for people to be able to watch it and come to their own conclusions about it.”
In You Can’t Leave, a search for a missing friend turns into a nightmare in the woods. I won’t spoil every reveal, but there’s a dynamite genre hybrid at play in Windhauser’s script, and Boldman is the keystone that keeps it all together. We’re both ‘90s babies, too, and we get almost giddy discussing how that decade of horror in particular influenced the film’s DNA. “I think our movie has a really cool ’90s element that I was really excited about. It doesn’t take place in the ’90s, but there’s that ’90s, maybe a little bit of Scream, but there are these things that are implemented that take, I think, a little bit of each of those subgenres that make it very suspenseful. It’s scary. There’s a love story element. You’re invested in the characters. It has a great vibe. It moves really quickly. It’s almost also like an action movie.”
That alone should sell you. If it doesn’t, the indominable spirit of indie filmmaking should. Obsession stunned earlier this year despite its comparatively modest budget, though You Can’t Leave was made in Texas with just about a quarter of that film’s budget. “To work with a group of young, passionate filmmakers to make something really cool and do that on an independent film budget felt really exciting. Everybody was just pouring so much of their talent into the film. And so I had that experience, and I was so grateful for it. And then all this Obsession, Backrooms stuff started happening, and I was like, ‘This transformed the industry.’ I really think those guys have paved the way for young filmmakers in this business, and I’m a huge fan of theirs. I love both of those movies, and I’m excited to be a part of that.”
And there is a future where Boldman isn’t just a keystone in his own movie, but in the horror genre as a whole. And he has ideas of where he’d like to go next. “I’m just a huge film buff in general. So, in this genre, I love Ari Aster. What he did with Hereditary was incredible; I’d love to work with him. I’m a huge Gothic horror fan, so Robert Eggers is one of my top guys. I love The Lighthouse. I love The Witch.” Apropos of Eggers in particular, Boldman teases a script he’s been working on for a Gothic horror movie set in the 1700s in Maine. I grinned. Wide. Period horror remains my favorite.
“I spent a lot of time in the Northeast, and it’s beautiful, but at night it gets kind of creepy, and I was like, ‘This would be a really great movie.’ So, I wrote something that I’m really excited about and would love to get made.” I don’t tell Boldman about all the Maryland-set scripts I wrote while living there, but I’m certain he can tell I respect the hell out of his passion – I know exactly where he’s coming from.
Of course, we had to capstone with the future of IP horror. Jessica Rothe wants to star in a Friday the 13th movie. Curry Barker is tackling The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. For Boldman, he’s been incredibly curious about the latter. “That would be something that I think would be really good. As an actor, it’s funny, I always focus… For some reason, I gravitate more toward filmmakers I want to work with or certain actors I want to work with, not necessarily something IP-related, unless it’s acquiring a book. I would also love to work with Eggers, and I’m assuming he’s doing a Gothic horror Romeo and Juliet.” Eggers, if you’re reading this, give Boldman a call. He’s got the kind of natural, Old Hollywood charisma that’s all too rare these days. In an industry awash in artifice and game-playing, Spencer Boldman is refreshingly, almost uniquely authentic. Quite simply, he’s a cool-as-hell guy who loves horror. You Can’t Leave promises a nightmare, but to me, it’s also a threat; sorry, Spencer, let’s keep you in horror forever.
You Can’t Leave is in theaters on October 16.
