Creepshow Season 3, Episode 2 postmortem chat with James Remar

Veteran actor James Remar stars in the latest episode of Creepshow Season 3 as an avid collector of movie props named Bateman. You’ve likely seen Remar in any number of films and television shows over the years, including Dexter, Black Lightning, The Warriors, City on the Hill, and tons more. His latest appearance in Creepshow Season 3, Episode 2, reunited him with his long-time friend and frequent collaborator Greg Nicotero.

1428 Elm had the chance to chat with the actor about his role in Creepshow Season 3 and his overall love of the horror genre.

Creepshow Season 3, Episode 2 postmortem: 1428 Elm chats with guest star James Remar

1428 ELM: What attracted you to this role?

JAMES REMAR: Greg Nicotero. Greg said, “Hey, do you want to play this part?” And I said yes before I even read it. Greg and I go back a long, long way, we did Tales from the Darkside back in 1988, and I have been on Django Unchained and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I love Greg, and I loved the opportunity to work with him, and then the script turning out to be such a cool awesome neat little script and such a tight story that just sealed the deal big time.

1428 ELM: You’ve done a lot of horror projects over the years. What makes you keep coming back?

JAMES REMAR: The good horror is the raw horror emotion and the interplay between people because obviously, in horror, it’s all a projection of the human psyche. We know there aren’t any ghosts and monsters. But there are ghosts and monsters that dwell in our minds, between people.

The relationships are what attracts me and what happens to people, and really the emotional dynamics. When you think about drama, there’s a group of stories that really basically all stories come down to: man vs. man, man vs. woman, man vs. nature, man vs. machine, etc. These are a combination of things.

1428 ELM: What are some of the horror films that have impacted you the most, either ones you’ve been in or just in general?

JAMES REMAR: Tales of the Darkside I did with Greg I’m very proud of. I’m fond of it because it reflects a Japanese horror film called Yuki-Onna, which means “snow woman.” That’s based on a Japanese legend that follows the same story as Tales from the Darkside, where a ghost-like spirit meets a man who’s in the woods and her modus operandi is to take your breath and kill you, but she falls in love with this guy and says, “Promise me you’ll never tell and I’ll spare you.” And he goes back home, and he never tells.

Then this beautiful lady comes to his village, and they have this beautiful life together and then like ten years later he tells her the truth, as opposed to the movie that we did, the snow woman just abandons him. But in Tales from the Darkside, the gargoyle just tears his throat out. Horror movies that I’ve loved, I like crappy stuff, and I like really good stuff.

Like Hunchback of Notre Dame, both Anthony Quinn and the Charles Laughton version. In the Lon Chaney version, the makeup is amazing, but you don’t really see that much of it, but it’s amazing. I love those. The original Frankenstein, when I was a kid, it was terrifying. I love the creature ones. I loved King Kong, I loved the Japanese one, Rodan.

1428 ELM: Have you watched the newer Godzilla, or are they not as appealing?

JAMES REMAR: Yeah, I don’t think they’re very good. They get too reliant on the special effects, and they forget the fact, and I see this as a general trend in show business and movie-making and television, is they get too reliant on special effects and forget the human element, the core aspect of the story. Terminator is man vs. machine, it’s a very basic structure, and it’s very successful. That’s a really good horror movie, Terminator 2 and Terminator, they’re amazing. The special effects are not reliant on it, the liquid metal is very good. But yeah, when they get too reliant on special effects, they lose me.

1428 ELM: I think that’s one of the reasons people like Creepshow so much is that the practical effects are so great, and as you said, complement a very tight story condensed into something so simple like man vs. man like the episode you just did. 

JAMES REMAR: When the effects grow out of the story, it’s amazing. The original Night of the Living Dead is people in a house, and then you’ve got stumbling people blurred and coming out of the dark, and it’s terrifying!

1428 ELM: Your character in Creepshow is an avid collector. Have you ever taken any collectibles from the sets you’ve worked on?

JAMES REMAR: Well, the most classic one would be my vest from The Warriors. I kept that, and it’s in the collection of a good friend of mine now. He’s got it in his home museum because he’s like Bateman and Lampini—he’s a real collector.  I used to collect trinkets and that sort of thing, but I’ve let go. The Warriors vest is preserved very nicely in his home.

Check out James Remar in the latest episode of Creepshow Season 3, streaming right now on Shudder!