Wes Craven, Sylvester Stallone and The Shining!
 

PostED ON 20.10.2024

Ahead of hosting the ‘Trip to the Ends of Horror’ all-nighter at the Halle Tony Garnier, Alexandre Aja reexamined his greatest fears. 

© Olivier Chassignole

FIRST FRIGHTS

When you're a child, you have a big capacity for imagination, and suddenly you see an image you can't understand, and it's a shock. It traumatises us; it wakes us up. For me, it was a combination of the witch from Snow White, which is so visually radical. Then there's an image from Raiders of the Lost Ark, I was less than five years old when I happened to see the scene of the Nazis’ faces melting. It plagued my nightmares for years. Finally, when I was about 6 or 7, it was the shock of seeing The Shining instead of Superman 2. I'd put in the wrong tape by mistake, and I couldn't stop it.

HORROR CINEMA

Every time you come to see a horror film, you come with all the horror films you've seen before and all the familiar tricks. It's specific to this genre because there's a game to be played with the audience. You always have to use different tactics to surprise them. 

© Olivier Chassignole

SO…

After High Tension, we got a script for a ghost film from Wes Craven. We left for Los Angeles and had an initial meeting with Stallone, who pitched us a story about a cop with superpowers. Beforehand, our agents had told us repeatedly, “Whatever happens, whatever he says, don't say yes!” I love Stallone, that was in 2003, he's still very important, we’d like to work with him, but... 

Propos recueillis par Virginie Apiou