Young actress Haley Bennett was once quoted as saying she wasn’t planning to appear in horror movies, but in the last few years she has turned up in quite the eclectic assortment of fright/fantasy fare. Following her turn in the title role of the youth-oriented chiller THE HAUNTING OF MOLLY HARTLEY, she co-starred in Joe Dante’s 3D opus THE HOLE and appeared opposite Thomas Dekker in Gregg Araki’s genre-blending and -bending KABOOM, which hits DVD today from IFC Films and MPI Media. “I’m typically more interested in honesty and real-life scenarios,” Bennett tells Fango, “but if I can find something great and it’s a horror film, then I’ll do more of those.”

She was attracted to KABOOM, in which she plays college girl Stella—best friend of hero Smith (Dekker) and the girlfriend and then stalking target of witchy Lorelei (Roxane Mesquida)—by the chance to work with Araki. “Gregg’s just the coolest and super-easy to work with, and I was very excited to be a part of it,” she says. “Another reason I liked KABOOM so much was that all of the characters, Stella in particular, are ‘fresh meat,’ but they’re so sophisticated and intelligent and knowledgeable about things that most youngsters aren’t really these days. They’re very rebellious and they’re exploring their sexuality and independence in this very Gregg Arakian way, a way that hasn’t been done in most teen comedies. Most parts for young adults are really corny, and this one just got my blood pumping, and hopefully audiences will share the same reaction!”

If they do, it will be at least partially because of all the skin exposed by KABOOM’s good-looking cast, though Bennett says the film’s overt sexuality wasn’t a concern. “I was excited about it more than anything, because I love Gregg’s work, and I knew it would be done in the most tasteful way,” she says. “So it wasn’t something I was nervous about at all. It was exciting to work with a young, interesting cast; we shared the same interests in music and life in general, and we all got along great.” 

KABOOM careens from eroticism to humor to horror and back throughout its running time, as if anxious to try something new every few minutes, but Bennett notes that Araki kept tight control over the material at all times. “We had a few conversations before we began shooting, just about different nuances of the character, how he saw the role and I saw the role, and then when we were shooting, there really wasn’t much to discuss,” she recalls. “He’s very particular about his writing, and we couldn’t really improv or anything like that. Every single word had to be intact, and when it gets to be so particular—like you can’t say ‘as’ as an alternative to another word—it can be an interesting challenge. But I was up for it, and I love Gregg’s voice and his writing so much that I wanted everything to be perfectly the way he thought it should be said.”

THE HOLE, which Bennett filmed over two years ago but still has yet to nail down U.S. distribution, was a more physical but equally exacting experience, given the specific blocking required by the dimensional shooting. “Everything was very particular with how you stood, and you couldn’t even sway or move like a normal person,” she reveals. “I tried to be as normal and real and honest as possible without being able to move around a lot.”

Beyond those restrictions, she remembers THE HOLE as a fun experience. “Joe is a merry prankster,” she laughs. “I love him, and it was just a really laid-back set. I was excited to be a part of this kind of kids’ action/adventure/thriller; it was a whole other avenue I had never explored before.”

Currently attached to star in THE LIST, a horror-drama to be directed by Katt Shea about a group of teens who compose a vengeance list, Bennett will soon be seen in ARCADIA LOST, a Greece-set drama helmed by Phedon Papamichael (who, coincidentally, was the DP on Shea’s Roger Corman thrillers and POISON IVY). Having begun her entertainment career as a singer—she stole scenes in her big-screen debut as a young pop star in MUSIC AND LYRICS—she’s excited about her recent turn in THE PASSAGE, a short-film collaboration between ELIZABETH’s Shekhar Kapur and Oscar-winning SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE composer A.R. Rahman. “I played a French aria in that film,” says Bennett, who co-stars in THE PASSAGE with Julia Stiles and Lily Cole. “We shot that over a couple of weeks in Buenos Aires; it was truly beautiful, and you should check it out!”

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