In the upcoming horror film, The Bye Bye Man, Douglas Smith plays college student Elliot. He’s a guy with a bright future who moves into a large house just off campus with his girl and best friend. Everything is going smoothly until Elliot uncovers a legend that summons a malevolent spectre who’s sole desire is to collect souls. With the film coming out tomorrow in theaters nationwide on Friday the 13th, HorrorBuzz had a chance to sit down with Smith to discuss his role in the film, his love of cinema, and why attracted him to the film.

HorrorBuzz: How did you get involved in the project?

Douglas Smith: I was handed the script by my agent and loved it. So I told my agent, “YES! Confirm me for that appointment.” I get to the audition and it just worked. It ended up being one of those marathon auditions that you wait, you go in, and then you end up staying in there for like, an hour, and everyone outside hates you. I mean, I’ve been the guy outside too but it was one of those cool things. You know, we read the scene, then they started giving direction, and everything just jibed. I think she had me do a few scenes, like, six different times, just trying new things and then we talked about our own lives and connected like that. I left the audition really confident. When my agent called and told me they wanted me to do it, I don’t want to say I wasn’t surprised, but I was already pretty sure I got the part.

HB: Do you like horror films?

DS: I like good films and some of them are horror. I’m not obsessed with horror movies, but a lot of the movies I like are horror. I am more of a movie nerd. It’s so funny, I actually called and changed my whole cable setup up so I could get TCM. I love TCM.

I love foreign cinema too. In fact, to get into the kind of vibe we were looking for we (The principal cast and crew) got together and watched Eyes Without a Face, which then Almodóvar made The Skin I Live In based on that, so we all watched that, we all watched Rosemary’s Baby…

HB:  But how does that tie?

DS: That’s funny because Lucien (his co-star) was asking the same thing, like ‘Why are we watching this?’ and I think it was just to like, just watching really great films in the genre so that we could all be on the same page in regards to great achievements in the genre so we could give the material the respect that it deserves. 

HB: Have you seen the original The Haunting?

DS: NO!

HB: You gotta see it. It’s rated G, it’s black and white, and it’s terrifying.

DS: D’You ever see Bunny Lake is Missing? The Otto Preminger film? 

HB: No.

DS: Yeah that was really good. I saw it on TCM. It was actually on during a marathon of movies where people disappear and you think the protagonist is crazy. It had Keir Dullea in it and Laurence Olivier was in it as an inspector. Incidentally Carrie Anne Moss plays the Laurence Olivier roll in our movie. But it’s about this toddler that goes missing and you begin to wonder if the woman ever even had a daughter.

HB: I will look that up.

DS: We also watched It Follows, which is another great horror film.

HB: Yeah that was good.

DS: We just really got into the good films of the genre. Me personally I also like Scream because I was in 6th grade when that came out and I was the perfect age for it. It was self reflective of the genre. I could just talk and talk and talk movies.

HB: What drew you to the material?

DS: When I was reading the script I was staying at a friend’s house in Los Feliz. I’m reading it at night and I am thinking, ‘man this is really detailed and realistic.’ Then I got thirsty and thought, ‘fuck I don’t want to go to the kitchen!’ and I thought, ‘okay this is pretty cool that I am freaked out enough that I am just gonna drink from the sink in the bathroom.’ That was a good response I thought.

HB: That was a great response, but did you go to the kitchen?

DS: NO! I just drank from the faucet in the bathroom. (we laugh) I was interested because the part of Elliot, he has a great character arch that presented a challenge and I thought, ‘Hmm, alright, let me see if I can do this.” I was also really wanting to do another horror movie after finishing up on HBO’s VINYL where I plated a piano player. It all came together though. I wanted to do something very different, I loved Stacy, I wanted to take the trip out to Cleveland, it just all felt right.

HB: Were there any scary things that happened on the set?

DS: Something scary happened, well tragic, something tragic happened a week before filming at the train tracks location, with that exact train. A deaf woman was walking and didn’t hear the train and was run over.

HB: Oh my god! 

DS: Yeah we got there to film and we learned that just the weekend before that had happened. Aside from that there was just the standard creepy stuff that happened at an old house at night on a shoot, you know. 

HB: How do you feel the movie turned out?

DS: It scared me a lot! But I think that, for me, I saw the R-rated version. I think when it hits theaters they are releasing the PG-13 version. When it comes out on DVD they will be releasing the unrated version then, but Stacy (The director) says that the movie tested just as well either way.  

Aside from that though, I love the stillness of the movie.  There are some very long, quiet shots, there are is a slow burn that is very effective.

HB: What sets this movie apart from the other January releases?

DS: It’s just very different from all of the searing Oscar dramas and the blockbusters like Star Wars and I really think that people will want to see something scary.  We aren’t reonvenint the drama but I think it’s effective. It’s a worthy addition to the genre.

We had a great time talking with Douglas as well as director Stacy Title and Producer Trevor Macy and want to thank them for their time. They were great to talk to and surprisingly warm and approachable.

We know the people behind the camera but is the movie any good? Tomorrow we will let you know what we think of The Bye Bye Man, but until then don’t think it and don’t say it.