There’s Someone Inside Your House interview with star Sydney Park

You probably recognize Sydney Park from her starring roles in Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists and Instant Mom. She also starred in The Walking Dead and Netflix’s comedy-drama Moxie. But her latest project is an entertaining teen slasher called There’s Someone Inside Your House, based on the novel of the same name by Stephanie Perkins.

Sydney spoke with 1428 Elm about her lead performance in the movie, where she plays the character Makani Young. Makani relocates to small-town Nebraska to live with her grandmother, but not long after living there, she and her friends find themselves in the crosshairs of a deadly killer who likes to wear the masks of their next victim.

Interview with There’s Someone Inside Your House star Sydney Park

1428 Elm: I was looking at your IMDb, and I know you’ve done Pretty Little Liars and The Walking Dead, but is this the first slasher film you’ve done? 

Sydney Park: I guess, technically. I did the film Wish Upon a few years ago with Joey King. We filmed that in Toronto, but that wasn’t—

1428 Elm: I remember that movie!

Sydney Park: Yeah! It wasn’t really a slasher, though, so I would say this was my first.

1428 Elm: What was that like for you? Going into this, did you have any specific expectations?

Sydney Park: I mean, I was just really excited! I am a fan of slashers and the horror genre in general, and obviously, knowing Patrick Brice’s work with Creep and his vision, I just felt super excited to delve into this world where we were really going to make it different and kind of have this underlying ’80s tone and the throwback vibes, too, so I was just really excited.

1428 Elm: One of the things that sets this movie apart is that the killer wears the masks of their next victim. Did you have that molded? How did they do that? 

Sydney Park: Yeah, so I remember they sent me to a studio in L.A. to get the 3D printing done, which was really, really fun. Fun fact: I was actually really hungover that day, and I went in, and they were like [Laughs] “Are you alright?” I was like, “Yeah, I’m okay, take the picture! It’s all good!” They had like a banana for me and everything. I’m in this big like special effects warehouse, and it’s all these like, costumes and—you name it, it was really a trip, so that was hilarious. I told my director that, and he was laughing. Yeah, we actually made at least five different types of masks per person.

1428 Elm: Your character Makani has a romance in the movie. How do you balance those scenes with the much darker, violent moments?

Sydney Park: Well, I was really fortunate to be paired with Théodore Pellerin, who is amazing, and we really bonded. Actually, before we did some of our intimate scenes, we had a lot of time not only to spend together just on set, but we were filming everything else, and then we got to the bulk of our romance toward the end, which kind of made it better because we were really able to bond and he’s just an amazing person. He’s so open and kind and funny, and we just felt really comfortable [being] in that space together, which I think is a great contrast in the film.

1428 Elm: Along those lines, are you one of those people that really likes to do the fake blood and stunts and all that or do you prefer the low-key moments?

Sydney Park: There is no chill in my bones, no no no. I love it all, like give me the blood, give me the knife! [Laughs] I’m crazy on set. I just, I love of all of it.

1428 Elm: Part of the draw of this movie is you guys feel like a real group of friends. What was the experience like on set? 

Sydney Park: Oh my gosh, it was so much fun because we all stayed in the same apartment building. We’re in Vancouver together, so we really bonded, and we became a family. Like truly, they are my homies. And I know that resonates on camera, but off-camera, like after a couple of years, now we really are super super tight.

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1428 Elm: One thing I really liked about this movie is the house itself and the visuals because it’s very midwestern with the cornfields and everything. Can you talk a little bit about what it was like to film? Especially in the cornfields because I loved those scenes.

Sydney Park: Me too. That was a never-ending shoot because we were working around weather, and it was always changing. It was raining sometimes, and then not, so it was an extended period of time filming in the cornfields, and I remember we were just like, “we are never going to get out of here!” [Laughs] “We’re never going to get out of this corn maze!” But it was just so fun.

I thought we did a great job with locations. I know production actually bought corn, so it got an opportunity to grow, and then we added on with special effects but, we bought that corn. And we grew that corn. Yeah, and then shooting at Gam’s house and weird woods in the middle of nowhere, it really [lent] to the story, and I do think production design did a great job with everything.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

There’s Someone Inside Your House starts streaming on Netflix this Wednesday, October 6.