Modernciné producer Andrew van den Houten is reteaming with THE GIRL NEXT DOOR director Gregory Wilson on GHOUL, an adaptation of the Brian Keene novel. Actress Catherine Mary Stewart, a fan favorite from NIGHT OF THE COMET and THE LAST STARFIGHTER who had a small part in GIRL, is taking a role in the project, and discussed it with Fango.

Speaking with us at the recent Monster Mania convention in New Jersey, Stewart reveals that she’ll be shooting the movie in April and May. “It’s a very creepy script,” she says. “It’s not about zombies or anything like that; it’s much more realistic. It’s about a bunch of kids who start disappearing for some reason, and another group of kids who are friends with the ones who are disappearing discover why. I play one of the kids’ mothers; that’s what I’m doing these days [laughs]. But it’s a great role, and I think it’s going to be a good project.

“We’ll be shooting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana,” Stewart continues. “It involves graveyards, and I don’t know why, but the thought of Baton Rouge and graveyards kinda scares me!”

The actress admits to also being nervous when first offered THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, which was based on a real-life case of a teenage girl being horribly abused by a woman she was living with and the latter’s own children. “They wanted me to play the lead role, the woman who tortures this poor girl, and that I couldn’t do,” she reveals. “It was one of the first films I did when I started getting back into acting, and I was just trying to get my foot in the door. I worked a few days, and I liked it because it was a ’50s period piece. The wardrobe guy made the dresses I wore for me, and they’re beautiful; I still have them! I love that part of it, and I also like doing period stories because there was a little shift in personalities back then. They had a different kind of mindset.

“This will actually be the third time Andrew and I have worked together,” Stewart notes. “We did a thing called RISING STARS, about these young musicians who enter a competition. Again, he really goes for the reality angle; he’s not a fantasy guy in terms of portraying horror. And I like that approach; I find it scarier. When I read the GHOUL script, it really grabbed me; these little kids are disappearing, and some adults too, and you don’t know why, and the buildup is terrifying until you finally figure out what’s going on.” And the fact that, unlike GIRL NEXT DOOR, the new project is fictional will make it easier for her to view the finished product. “THE GIRL NEXT DOOR was basically a true story, and oh my God, I can’t even watch it. It’s just too awful for me!” Look for a full feature on Stewart and her horror/fantasy work in an upcoming issue of Fango.

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