Anthology features have become incredibly popular and none has been as successful, and fun, as the V/H/S series. From that very same film the feature length SiREN emerges. SiREN is a feature-length spinoff based on the sequence titled “Amateur Night” and it expands on the idea of a group of young men, on a night out in search of thrills, encountering women who are not who they appear.
We are Indie Horror had a chance to chat with the star of the upcoming SiREN, Hannah Fierman, (who is also in “Amateur Night”) and plays a victim to the exploitation of men, but as we find out, she might be more than a mere casualty. We talk about her upcoming film, what scares her in horror films, and her upcoming work. Check out the full interview below.
We are Indie Horror: Tell us about your upcoming film SiREN.
Hannah Fierman: It’s a spinoff from a short film I did from the horror anthology V/H/S, called “Amateur Night” and it’s about a bunch of bros who go on the town and find a girl who is not exactly who she is.
WAIH: Did you ever expect to reprise your role from “Amateur Night?” Did you ever think, or know, you’d revisit that character?
HF: Yeah, I thought that there was a possibility ever since we first started thinking about doing the short. It was always a possibility of it being made into a feature instead. There were a lot of ideas being thrown around and it was difficult, we thought, to turn into a found footage feature. It worked really well as a short. That was one of the challenges that was stifling ideas. Then as soon as they decided not to make into a found footage film was when it really was able to do its own thing and be a good movie.
WAIH: Do you think it works better as a found footage movie?
HF: I think the found footage horror movie was a really tight little movie that really held on its own. Maybe because it was the first we did and it was all new and interesting.
WAIH: Do you enjoy working in horror? I know you’ve done a few others beside SiREN.
HF: I do. I think it’s a wonderful genre to work in because I think that it’s very flexible and basically they’ll accept any crazy shit. That gives you such creative freedom. That is one of the reasons I really like horror. And it’s such a vast genre it can go all the way from super gory to super psychological, it really is very flexible.
WAIH: Did you grow up watching horror?
HF: My dad is a huge horror fan, but I’m not, I get scared really easily.
WAIH: What scares you, or are there any particular movies that you find terrifying?
HF: Yeah, anything that is psychological messes with me. The Shining scared the shit out of me. I actually watched that for the first time when I was seven years old. Like I said, my dad loves horror movies, and he was like ‘come here, watch this movie with me.’ And I had nightmares about it, until I watched it again when I was 14, and then I realized where those nightmares would come from; that I had already seen this movie. I think that he was a little disappointed that I didn’t like it as much as he did.
WAIH: How do you feel about it now?
HF: The Shining?
WAIH: Yeah.
HF: It’s terrifying. It scares the shit out of me all over again. Zombies scare the shit out of me too. I know they’re so overdone now but there’s something realistic about a potential of some sort of outbreak and zombies actually occurring.
WAIH: I take it you don’t watch The Walking Dead?
HF: I watched the first two seasons. I have friends on that show so I had to watch them.
WAIH: Tell us a little about yourself. How did you get into acting?
HF: I’ve been performing in theater, musical theater and musical performances and singing since I was three, when I did my first performance. It was something that I never stopped doing. My first supporting role in a feature film was when I was 17. It’s just been a natural progression into that art form and I just never stopped.
WAIH: Are you working on anything right now?
HF: Yeah.. I just had a film, it’s not a horror film, but it’s just been released it’s called Hold Me, its on Itunes and Amazon. It’s about a woman who holds people while they’re wilfully being euthanized. It’s very heavy subject matter, it’s not a horror film, it’s a drama. I’m doing a feature in the next few weeks Haven’s End, it’s a horror thriller. After that I’m doing a short where I play a cyborg prison warden, which is going to be fun.
SiREN releases December 2 in a limited theatrical release, but will be available on VOD, Digital HD , and DVD December 6.