As someone who has been watching horror movies for the better part of his 28 years, I can’t believe I’m about to write this sentence: I found the ending of “Dread” to be so unsettling, shocking and upsetting that I nearly vomited because of the film’s last act.
Now, that will cause one of two reactions for you: either “Dread” will be bumped to the top of your NetFlix queue or removed completely. If it’s the latter, I understand, but feel bad since you will miss one of the more intriguing movies that’s ever been included in the AfterDark Horror Fest.
I recently caught up with “Dread” star Jackson Rathbone and found out that my visceral reaction is exactly why he signed up for the film in the first place. We also talked about more palatable subjects, like what “Twilight” fans can expect to see in this summer’s hotly anticipated installment “Eclipse”!
PopWrap: I’m not going to lie, this film actually made me physically ill at the end.
Jackson Rathbone: Oh, excellent. That’s what I was hoping for!
PW: When did you know “Dread” had the ability to evoke this kind of response?
Jackson: I gave the script to a friend and he said that almost made him wretch, and that’s when I knew I had to make this movie.
PW: The last 20 minutes are easily the hardest to watch, what was it like on set that day?
Jackson: Well, I like to be on set as much as possible, even if I’m not in that particular scene, I love watching. But I definitely wanted to be there that day. It was a gut-wrenching scene to watch and I thought Hanne Steen did a great job making that honest and real.
PW: What kind of affect on your performance does being on set that much have?
Jackson: I think when you enjoy the process of filmmaking, it makes the movie better because you love what you’re doing. There are a lot of dark scenes but we had such wonderful people around on set, that it created this amazing environment where we could just be honest.
PW: Any end of day rituals for releasing the tension?
Jackson: We’d always blare some crazy pop music in the makeup and hair trailers at the end of the day. Dancey, girly, Brit pop. We’d boogie down, and that would relieve some of the tension.
PW: Seems like music is a common theme on your sets — the “Twilight” cast is all pretty musical as well, right?
Jackson: Oh yeah, we have a lot of musicians in the cast – it’s fun, we’d have Cullen Family Jam Band Sessions in the hotel. Sit around, play harmonica and work on some songs. We’d help Rob [Pattinson] out with songs he was working on, they’d help with songs I was working on, Nikki [Reed] and I would write song together and Kristen [Stewart] would play a bit too.
PW: You seem to jump around with your films and characters — never sticking with one genre for too long. Is that kind of the plan?
Jackson: Absolutely. I want to spread my wings and play as many different characters as possible. Growing up, in the theater, I always played these out-there characters, I was never the leading man. Honestly, I find it a little more boring than playing the psycho or bad guy antagonist. It’s something I’ve always tried to go for. I try to change my look, my walk, my talk in every single person I play. It’s important to me as an actor not to get pigeonholed.
PW: So is it difficult then to play Jasper over the course of five films?
Jackson: The thing I like about Jasper’s arc is that it’s very developed — you don’t know much about him in the first film. He’s always in pain but don’t know why, until the second film, when you realize that he’s the newest to the family and he’s basically dying of hunger. It’s very difficult to live that vampryic lifestyle. So he’s having trouble adjusting. In the third film, we get to see Jasper’s backstory – see who he used to be and why he’s having such a hard time transitioning.
PW: So “Eclipse” will flashback to his time in The Civil War?
Jackson: Yeah. We do a little segue/backstory in “Eclipse”,when he was turned during the Civil War. We get to see his more aggressive tendencies. When you’re first turned into a vampire, that’s when you’re at your most ravenous, most vicious – so you see Jasper go through that. It was a lot of fun to bring out the darker side of Jasper that he’s been holding back.
“Dread” is now available on DVD. “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” hits theaters on June 30
Photo: WireImage