'Whistle' Creators Corin Hardy and Owen Egerton's Horror Watchlist
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- DirectorJoel SchumacherStarsJason PatricCorey HaimDianne WiestWhen a recently divorced mother and her two teenage boys move to a coastal town to stay with her father, it doesn't take long for the brothers to realize the area is a haven for something much more sinister than party-going surfers."The Lost Boys is one of my favorite films from when I was about 12 to 14 years old. When I read Owen's script, Whistle, that 14-year-old part of me came to life in a way that captured a certain teenage angst and heartbroken romance amid the horror. Lost Boys was such a potent movie for me at that age. The soundtrack, the levity and humor in it ... and it looks fantastic. So Lost Boys is definitely on my [inspiration] list for Whistle."
— Corin Hardy, director - DirectorWes CravenStarsHeather LangenkampJohnny DeppRobert EnglundTeenager Nancy Thompson must uncover the dark truth concealed by her parents after she and her friends become targets of the spirit of a serial killer with a bladed glove in their dreams, in which if they die, it kills them in real life."My first one is A Nightmare on Elm Street, the original. The reason being when I was thinking about this idea, I was thinking, "What are the horror movies that I love to watch?" And not just watch once, but rewatch and rewatch. They're movies that have a lot of death, but even more life. [Movies] that are actually fun, which sometimes is weird to explain to friends and neighbors. I think these movies are fun! They're a blast, although there's someone dying every 11 minutes. So that was a big one, A Nightmare on Elm Street. I love all those films. I love the wild images, the bizarre surreal-ness, and I just love being reminded we're all being chased down by death, one way or another. It's a good wake up call to make the most of your time."
— Owen Egerton, writer - DirectorRichard KellyStarsJake GyllenhaalJena MaloneMary McDonnellAfter narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes."Doing an interview with both of us, you're definitely gonna get a lot of similar choices. There are three main touchstone movies on my list. There's Lost Boys, Nightmare on Elm Street, and my third one would be Donnie Darko. Not so much horror, but again, it has that weirdness, teenage angst, the feelings of strangeness when you really haven't figured out who you are yet, whilst also death is coming for you. I wanted to capture a feeling of ... not existential youth, but like youth in crisis.
The character Dafne Keene plays in Whistle comes into the movie in a state of crisis ... and even though they're being hunted down by death, it's going to sort of help solve her crisis."
— Corin Hardy, director - DirectorJames WongStarsMary Elizabeth WinsteadRyan MerrimanKris LemcheWendy Christensen and a group of teens who escaped a fatal roller-coaster crash face a bloody date with Death."It has this great lore and a great energy to the lore, which is a real blast. But as Corin was saying, it forces these teenagers to move through their crises. I think Whistle — like a lot of horror movies — is a coming-of-age movie, and Corin nailed that with the romances, with the storylines, with each of these individual characters just going through something and becoming more, something more — or failing to."
— Owen Egerton, writer - DirectorJohn HughesStarsEmilio EstevezJudd NelsonMolly RingwaldFive high school students meet in Saturday detention and discover how they have a great deal more in common than they thought."Obviously not a horror movie, but it does very much capture a massive part of where Whistle begins, with this disparate group of school kids thrown together in detention. In horror movies, a lot of the movie is determined by the circumstances, whether it's people getting trapped in a house in a forest or, you know, what is the thing that leads to the group forming? And in this case, it's detention. So we pulled together these kids from different groups, and they start off as the sort of types that you see in The Breakfast Club. And then we've worked to sort of subvert those types. They aren't exactly who you thought they were going to be."
— Corin Hardy, director - DirectorGeorge MihalkaStarsPaul KelmanLori HallierNeil AffleckA decades-old folk tale surrounding a deranged murderer killing those who celebrate Valentine's Day turns out to be true to legend when a group defies the killer's order and people start turning up dead."One of the things I love about My Bloody Valentine and others, like The Fog, is how they capture the feeling of a town and a community that has something distinct about them. Like, there's an industry that keeps that this town alive. There's a certain way the church operates, or the school operates, and My Bloody Valentine does a great job of that. And also it's leading towards, like, a moment of celebration. I think Corin and I both love fairs, parks, and anything like that, especially if it's where the town's going to gather for a holiday. I mean, that's Halloween, right? We're like, we're gonna let it all loose for a holiday of some kind, even build a mini-world within our world. I love that."
— Owen Egerton, writer - DirectorChuck RussellStarsShawnee SmithKevin DillonDonovan Leitch Jr.A deadly entity from space crash-lands near a small town, and begins consuming anyone in its path. Panic ensues, as shady government scientists try to contain the horrific creature."I could also throw in Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, throw in The Blob. These are practical effects movies, and there's a series of imaginative, inventive deaths in this film. There was a real big attraction to creating them, and then trying to achieve them through a series of mixed styles, from prosthetics and animatronics and old school stuff, with visual effects. There's a mixture, and there's something for everyone."
— Corin Hardy, director
