Rian Johnson Claims He'll Never Make A Horror Film Due To His Childhood Experiences

Source: TheVerge.com

While Rian Johnson has practiced his movie-making chops in a number of genres since the start of his career, one style he refuses to touch is horror, but not because he doesn’t like them. Indie Wire picked up on comments from the director during a webinar this week in which Johnson spoke to Karyn Kusama about his choice in movies.

Johnson said to the podcast host that he grew up very religious, and because of that, he was rarely permitted to watch scary movies considering much of the subject matter is dark and opposed to religious conventions.

“I wasn’t allowed to see a lot of intense stuff,” Rian explained, before going on to say that he just doesn’t have the same passion and love for horror as he does other styles. According to Indie Wire, Rian Johnson got his film degree from the University of Southern California after being raised Christian in Orange County.

Rian said that many of his friends, Karyn included, are able to make incredible movies in the horror genre that amaze him, however, he doesn’t plan on moving in such a direction anytime soon. Currently, Johnson is getting ready to work on the recently revealed sequel to Knives Out,Knives Out 2. 

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With all that said, Rian admitted there are some films out there that inspired him, including Alien and Under the Skin. While the movie isn’t technically a horror, a fact Johnson addressed, he adored the film and thought it had many elements similar to a horror movie.

Kusama, on the other hand, is totally opposite to Rian. She has made many critically acclaimed horror films including 2015’s The Invitation in addition to The Outsider, based on a Stephen King novel. She also directed the 2018 film, Destroyer, which had horror elements.

Karyn said during the conversation with Rian that nearly every movie she has created has some horror influence.

The director went on to say that she would continue making horror films and has the drive to make them. “There’s a lot to be scared of these days,” she remarked.