STACK NZ Magazine November Issue 57

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DVD&BD FEATURE visit
NOVEMBER 2014 JB Hi-Fi
Olivia Munn considers
herself a big horror movie
fan, but even she was
creeped out by the real life
events that inspired her
newest flick, Deliver Us
from Evil.
In the film you play Jen, the wife of Ralph
Sarchie (Eric Bana). Did you have a chance
to meet with the real Jen Sarchie?
OLIVIA MUNN: I got to hang out with
Ralph Sarchie a lot on set, and Jen and I
have emailed. There are definitely normal
questions you’d ask anybody who’s been through
this. It’s so scary and you want to hear every
detail. That’s the fascinating thing about having
Ralph on set: it validated everything because his
memory of it is crystal clear. It’s not like a dream
or something that he’s made up. Sometimes
when you’ve made things up, after a while you
forget things here or there. There is no doubt that
this happened because it is crystal clear. He’s
like, “His neck went back even more.” We’re like,
“Really? That’s horrific.”
And having him on set just really helped
elevate everything we were doing.
After watching Deliver Us from Evil, you
wouldn’t want to walk at night by yourself…
It’s scary. Especially when you know it’s based
on the true accounts of an NYPD officer. Did you
hear about the actual footage? You should ask Eric
[Bana] about [it], because there was this actual
footage from the exorcism that took place that this
movie is based on. I heard that Eric had watched
it and that he couldn’t sleep for three weeks. So,
instantly, I said, I have to watch that. He found
It’s scary. Especially
when you know it’s based
on the true accounts of
an NYPD officer.
out that the director was going to let me watch
it so he came over and said: ”You’re not going to
watch it because you’re not going to be able to
sleep.” So I made a deal with Eric that, if I waited
until the end of the movie, he’d let me watch it.
He was afraid I wouldn’t be able to come to work
because I wouldn’t sleep. And he was right. It
was horrific. There’s a 30 minute collection of this
footage and this isn’t stuff you’re going to find on
YouTube. It’s like VHS tapes and scary stuff that is
so unexplainable that it shakes you to your core.
I only watched about four minutes of it because,
after one part, I turned it off.
What was it that freaked you out?
The way Eric explained it to me is, “You see this
guy on this tape and he’s sitting there in this
room and he’s in a straightjacket, and he’s got
this otherworldly look in his eyes.” And I said,
“Oh, like he’s crazy?” He said, “No, it’s not like
he’s crazy. It’s like he’s from another world.” And
you see it and the guy has this look in his eyes.
This is something you don’t even know how to
connect with and it’s so scary. So the guy is
sitting there in a straightjacket and he starts
to shake and out of nowhere, his forehead
just splits open. Then, at about minute four,
he starts drooling, and he’s shaking, and
when the drool comes off his chin and hits
his white straitjacket, it turns into blood.
After that, I turned it off.
Did Eric make it all the way
through the video?
That’s why he couldn’t sleep for three
weeks. I couldn’t sleep for a week. And the
thing that sticks with you more is not, “How
did the spit turn into blood?” or “How did
his forehead split open?” It’s the look in his eyes.
He was going through this and it didn’t affect him
at all. It was like watching a caterpillar shed its
skin. It’s very natural. It was like he was shedding.
It was horrific. And the exorcism that we see in
this movie – I think Scott [Derrickson, director]
just mirrored it because it’s exactly what I saw.
That scene is a classic horror scene but it’s also
a dramatic one…You feel so much. I thought the
actor who played that role [Sean Harris] had such
a challenge and executed it masterfully. It’s very
heartbreaking because, even though he’s a man
who’s possessed, he’s still a man and there’s that
feeling of wanting to see another human being be
able to fight back and win, especially when you
know they’re being possessed by something.
Do you remember the first scary movie
you saw that really stuck with you?
I think it might have been Chucky [Child’s Play].That
was a really scary one. And by the way, the Chucky
doll looked scary from the beginning. It’s not like
the cute doll that turned into the scary one. He was
always a creepy doll.
Horror isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but
would you describe this as a ‘horror’ film?
This movie feels more like a cop drama that has
a supernatural element to it because you see
Eric going to investigate these crimes just like
any other cop would investigate really horrific
crimes. But then it starts to get more intense
and then the unexplainable becomes even more
unexplainable and it just becomes so intense
that you have to ask other people for help,
and it just so happens that this is
something supernatural.That’s
why I think it’s a thriller with
a supernatural tone. It’s like a
buffet of movies.
Deliver Us
from Evil
is out Nov 26
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