Shudder’s newest film Push creates the ultimate cat-and-mouse chase when a pregnant real estate agent (Alicia Sanz) finds herself hunted by a killer (Raul Castillo) during an open house that goes horribly wrong. What follows is a super-tense, deadly game of hide and seek that’s perfect for fans of scary, suspenseful films.
To celebrate the movie’s Shudder premiere, 1428 Elm was lucky enough to chat with directors David Charbonier and Justin Douglas Powell. The duo is already well-known in the indie horror scene thanks to their films The Boy Behind the Door (2020) and The Djinn (2021), but their latest movie is easily their most suspenseful yet. Read on to find out more about the film’s surprisingly funny and friendly directors.
1428 Elm: One of the first things that stood out to me in this movie was that it stars a pregnant woman. I feel like there’s always been this sorta unspoken rule in horror where you don’t f*** with kids, animals, or pregnant women. So what inspired you to challenge that notion and use a pregnant woman as the protagonist?
David Charbonier: Well, I don’t know if you’ve seen our other movies The Djinn and The Boy Behind the Door, but we broke that rule too (laughs). Next, we’ll have to do a movie where we f*** with some kind of animal.
Justin Douglas Powell: That’s what I was just thinking! We’ll have to break the third rule now (laughs)!
David: To me, it was just a really interesting character to explore, especially in a horror setting. When you have a limited amount of time to set things up, sometimes it helps to lean into a character that has a little more natural sympathy and empathy from viewers. Plus, there were so many interesting layers to it, because she really has something to fight for beyond just herself. And like you said, it’s something you don’t get to see in horror very often, which made it fun to explore.
Justin: I think we tend to come at stories from a thematic standpoint, and we really wanted to lean into the notion of loss and pushing yourself beyond all the trauma and grief. That just naturally led us to the character of Natalie, and we thought having her pregnant would really up the amount of suspense. Plus, there was power to it, showing that she could still be a fighter despite being very, very pregnant.
Do you feel you had to come at the character from a different perspective? For example, I feel like audiences watching a character get punched is one thing…but watching a pregnant woman get punched carries tons more emotional weight behind it. Do you feel like you had to pay different attention to this character because of that?
Justin: I feel like one of the things we do in our movies is that we don’t hold back on anything. I think it’s important not to. Just like we did in the first two movies with kids…we don’t hold back on them going through it. We had the same approach in this movie because we really like it when our characters have to earn their survival and earn their arcs. Even if they’re in the most vulnerable state, that’s just how life is sometimes. In real life, lots of very vulnerable people are put through the wringer, so we like to hold true to that.
This film also has a great cat-and-mouse chase scenario, but instead of feeling more like a thriller, it very much feels like horror. How were you able to balance that and keep it feeling more like horror instead of drifting into the suspense genre?
David: I definitely feel there’s some overlap between the two genres, especially in the type of horror that we really love. I feel like as filmmakers we also love both types. We love both the cat-and-mouse hiding, where they try not to be found, but we also love the more fun I Know What You Did Last Summer-style chase scenes too.
Justin: I think it has to do with tone. You keep it more horror when you have sustained tension, as opposed to having breaks in the tension. I think more traditional thrillers have scenes of tension, but then a break where we get some exposition or a reprieve. But when the tension is sustained, like in a movie like Don’t Breathe, it becomes horror. And that’s the type of vibe we like to lean into with our films.