Why Karen Gillan Is Scared Of Her Own Movie

Karen Gillan

How do you judge a horror movie’s scare-factor? One place to start is finding out if the movie’s star was affected by the film.

The fact that actress Karen Gillan (“Doctor Who”) was scared to be in her hotel room alone after seeing her new horror-thriller “Oculus" for the first time, then, is a good sign.

"Oculus" is the story of a family torn apart by evil. More specifically, something evil that lurks in an antique mirror and resulted in a young boy being convicted of the murder of his parents. Ten years later, teenager Tim (Brendon Thwaites) is all grown up and released from protective custody to his sister Kaylie (Gillan), who sets out to prove her brother’s innocence by tracking down the mirror and documenting its supernatural abilities. As these stories often go, Kaylie’s experiment does not go as planned.

Yahoo Movies caught up with the lively Scottish actress at SXSW, the day after the film’s midnight premiere scared the bejesus out of Gillan.

What do you think is wrong with the mirror?

Karen Gillan: I feel like it’s just a vessel, that something much worse has taken over and it just so happens that it’s a mirror, a really creepy-looking mirror. I feel like it could be a person, it could be anything.

It is creepy. After watching the film last night, I avoided all the mirrors I saw afterward.

KG: I did that too! And it’s really sad because I was in the film. I got back into my hotel room and I was really scared, I had to turn on all the lights.

This movie has the same long-term effect as “Candyman,” you don’t want to look into the mirrors.

KG: Yes, oh my God. That’s my problem because I’m OCD about these types of films, I say to myself, “Don’t think ‘Candyman’ five times!” It’s the worst.

When you read the role, what notes were you happy to see Kaylie hit? Because she’s not a typical female character here.

KG: I thought it was a really original female character in a horror film because normally we’re used to seeing a girl, they’re often strong in horror films, but running around scared or running away. This girl is running towards the enemy. The more bad stuff that happens to them, the more excited she gets because it’s verifying what she’s been saying for years. So it’s an opposing angle which I thought was really sick, actually. The worse it gets, the more happy she is.

You have a particularly cringe-worthy scene that involves biting into a light bulb. What did they use to shoot it?

KG: I think it was actually a light bulb they used that was broken. We don’t see me bite into it, it’s from behind. I just held it and I’m not sure exactly what it was, it must have been plastic that was in my mouth that I pulled out and then just a lot of fake blood. While we were shooting that we all thought, “Oh this is going to be cool.”

[Related: SXSW Film Fest ‘14: The Buzziest Moments]

The sound effects and the background music add to the discomfort of that scene…

KG: We had no idea what the sound was going to be but the variation of music I thought was so good. They didn’t plan on having [background music] but it ended up giving the effect of my character swooning in love with this mirror, like this weird crazy affair she has with it. She’s totally obsessed.

What do you like about the scare factor?

KG: I think that it’s a slow burn. We really earn the scares … I’m sure there are all sorts of rules and regulations about making a horror film like getting a scare in in the first 10 minutes, keeping the audience satisfied, but there are no rules to it at all. “Oculus” really takes the risk and we build up to it, that’s just so much better because by the time it happens it’s so disturbing. I love the scares because it’s a shared experience, it’s like going on a roller coaster.

You filmed the movie in Alabama, what did you like about being in the south for the first time?

KG: Cornbread.

[Laughs] So you experienced all of the classic southern stereotypes?

KG: It lived up to every stereotype. There were alligators, cornbread, people were really friendly, there was sweet tea, it was all of the things I wanted and it was perfect.

"Oculus" is now in theaters.