Mercedes McNab

Slasher fans can rejoice at the arrival of the new horror movie HATCHET showing in theaters this year. The film, which stars Kane Hodder of FRIDAY THE 13TH fame, also stars BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and ANGEL alumnus Mercedes McNab. The bubbly and charming actress took time out from promoting HATCHET to talk with iF Magazine. Of course, dear readers, in true Mercedes style this interview was conducted while she was getting her nails done!

iF Magazine: How did the Tribeca Film festival go?

MERCEDES MCNAB: It was awesome. I was there for HATCHET. It was the first screening of our film. I went to two, and the first one was the first time the audience and I had seen it so it was interesting to see how they received it.

iF: What can you tell me about HATCHET?

MCNAB: It stars Kane Hodder, Robert Englund, and Tony Todd. Well Robert and Tony have cameos and then Kane is the villain in the film named Victor Crowley. The rest of us are a bunch of unsuspecting people on tour in the Louisiana bayou. It’s a nighttime tour to see ghosts and alligators and cemeteries and whatnot. Then drama and violence ensue when our boat gets stranded in the area that Victor Crowley haunts. One of the tag lines for the movie is “first there was Jason, then there was Freddy, now there’s Victor Crowley” and I hope we can live up to that and create a new series for a new generation of horror fans.

iF: How is Kane Hodder to work with?

MCNAB: He’s awesome. He’s got “kill” written on the inside of his lip, so if that’s not interesting enough I don’t know what is. He’s a method actor, and he was the stunt coordinator. If you were doing stunts he would have a big black cape on and he would talk to you normally, and you’d only be able to see his eyes, so that was a little weird! [Laughs] Also, he didn’t want to talk to you if he had his prosthetics on. We’d be getting ready and running and screaming, and it was really unnerving for the rest of the cast. He and the director worked really well together because they had decided, not to trick us, but to up the ante with the fear factor. The director would tell us he would be coming from one direction when in fact he’d really be coming from another. That would scare us and keep us on our toes. The first time we see him on camera is actually the first time any of our characters see him, so it was a very honest reaction. I remember, the director would play tricks on us saying Kane was there when he wasn’t. There was one time, when I started freaking out so bad in my mind that I was crying hysterically and they had to carry me to my mark. [Laughs] It was the first time I was going to see him and I was so scared!

iF: Did you film on location in New Orleans for the movie?

MCNAB: There was a small portion of it shot on location in New Orleans, and then the rest of it was shot in Palmdale actually. We had great set designers that made it look a lot like Louisiana.

iF: You have another movie coming out called MILES FROM HOME?

MCNAB: That’s a short film that my friend Joel Zigmore, directed it, and he also starred in HATCHET. He and I worked together for that for his directorial debut.