It’s oftentimes hard for a movie to withstand that kind of hype, but I managed to maneuver around spoilers, trailers and art around the film. All I knew was that it was scary and good.

After screening the film, it was confirmed: The Witch is scary good, possessing otherworldly performances, astounding camera work and exquisite lived in sets and costume design.

It’s New England in 1630, and William (Ralph Ineson), under threat of banishment from the church, moves his wife and five children out of town and on a plantation on the precipice of the wrong forest.

When their baby disappears under the care of eldest daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), the family slowly turns on her, accusing her of witchcraft and setting the stage for what felt like the world’s creepiest Shakespearean production.

The Witch is marketed as a New England folk tale, and we learn that the uncomfortable events of the film come from actual accounts, with much of the dialogue lifted verbatim from the texts. Because of that and the unreal performances by every single one of the family members, from the kids on up to the parents, this film feels like more than just a hellish Puritan nightmare. It feels real.

I have no idea how the young actors, Ellie Grainger and Lucas Dawson, who played siblings Mercy and Jonas respectively, could handle the difficult Yorkshire accent and period dialogue. But they and everyone else did, perfectly. They each have standout moments, with the oldest son Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw) proving that possession still can feel fresh and disturbing.

Kate Dickie, who as any Game of Thrones fan will know, specializes in playing characters that hurt your soul, is chilling and monstrous as Katherine, the family’s crazed matriarch.

Ineson, who tries and fails to keep his family together, delivers a heartbreaking performance, digging great, untold depths to keep faith.

But this is Thomasin’s movie, and while this sentiment is likely repeated by every critic who sees this movie, it’s no less true: it’s a star-making turn by Anya Taylor-Joy, a Miami-born actress who grew up in Argentina, lived for a time in London, and whose first language was Spanish, making her performance even more astonishing. Her big eyes are mesmerizing, like Amanda Seyfried’s but with pain surrounding her hazel irises. Not to sensationalize and play Monday morning quarterback, but her performance was just as powerful as another young blonde’s star-making turn in Winter’s Bone, and she showcases Jennifer Lawrence level talent.

Yes, there is a witch, a terrifying creation, but much of the terror comes from the agonizing melodrama when this family turns on their daughter/sister. Increasingly nobody believes Thomasin, and of course, every event is timed to paint her as the culprit. While this is a lean movie, Eggers’ relishes these scenes precisely because they’re so difficult, and because we know another witch sighting is around the corner to make everything even worse.

The Witch isn’t one of those exploitive jump scare horror flicks, even if it will likely make you jump, gasp and swear. Eggers earns every grisly Brothers Grimm moment, and gets as dark as possible: there is no comfort to be found here, this is an unholy baptism of sinister shit that gives me continued faith in not just the indie horror genre but in movie-making in general.

The Witch arrives in theaters February 19 to ruin your sleep. Make it a success.

I got a late start to the horror game. When I was younger, I was derisive of the genre, which is code for being too chicken shit to explore it.

Sure, I grew up watching Universal horror with my father and Uncle, but it wasn’t until the past couple years when I first saw Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street and Night of the Living Dead, which so happened to coincide with securing a (blessedly short term) position at Famous Monsters magazine.

Luckily, this newfound love of horror has taken place during a revitalization of the genre, thanks to Blumhouse Productions, filmmakers like Adam Wingard, Simon Barrett, Ti West and Joe Begos who revere their 80’s roots, and a growing international scene that has included The Babadook, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and Housebound. This trend has continued in 2015 with films like It Follows, and will only grow as we enter Halloween season and the festival darlings arrive in theaters and on demand.

Outside of The Witch, no indie horror film has been met with more buzz than IFC Films’ Irish horror film The Hallow (originally known as The Woods).

And after watching writer-director Corin Hardy’s film in the worst possible fashion for a horror movie (during the day, with a screener link on an iPad), I can see why.

It has a classic (read: yawn) premise: new parents Adam (Ripper Street’s Joseph Mawle, AKA Benjen Stark) and Clare (Bojana Novakovic) have recently moved to the remote Irish countryside, bringing their baby boy and Border collie along for what turns out to be a dangerous ride. They live next to, or practically within, an ancient forest, one whose land and trees are being sold for lumber by the government because of Ireland’s sorry economic state. The woods aren’t too happy about this. Or more accurately, the creatures that inhabit it aren’t.

Adam, flippantly disregarded as a “tree doctor” by superstitious locals, is studying the trees before the lumberjacks arrive, making him a villain in the town, who all know that “the Hallow” should not be messed with. Hardy has fun with this, utilizing Game of Throne’s Michael McElhatton as the dangerous neighbor, trying to warn Adam and Clare of their impending doom in hilariously scary ways. The Hallow is a movie where Roose Bolton comes ‘round with the bloody Necronomicon (okay, so it’s a gnarled, creepy book of fairy tales, but same diff), and that’s about when it elevates beyond its stock premise and gets to the crazy (fiery scythes and Cronenbergian horror).

That crazy has a lot to do with parasitic fungus; it’s rare to find that as the vessel of horror, and even rarer to see “fungal research advisor” in the credits, as Hardy’s film delights in oozing, sticky, muddy sludge seeping through every nook and cranny. The Hallow is a homemaker’s nightmare before we even glimpse the awesome woodland zombie dead-eyed Gollum’s crawling about, baby hungry.

The Hallow doesn’t tread any new ground (particularly when it comes to Clare, who isn’t given much to do beyond screaming, running and baby-holding until the end), but it’s a tremendously enjoyable throwback, with more than just jump scares. In addition to Bolton, Hardy employs Spaced and Luther star Michael Smiley as the unhelpful cop archetype, another self-aware wink to the monsters in the woods genre. But what really makes The Hallow memorable is the stellar (and practical) creature FX. The “hallows” are terrifically rendered, and the superlative sound design sells the whole thing.

It’s easy to judge horror movies, but right now, indie horror is some of the most fun you can have at the movies, and Hardy’s The Hallow is an exceptional example of that.

The Hallow arrives On Demand November 5, and in theaters starting November 6.

“I think there’s something weird going on with music at the moment,” Kit Harington muses, lowering his voice an octave, as if talking to himself and not a cadre of reporters recording his every word.

Jon Snow has just discovered Spotify.

He continues, leaning forward: “And I’m part of it. It’s great; it’s a revolution. But we’re not listening to albums anymore. We’re not listening to someone’s story from back to front. Some of my favorite albums [are by] Nick Cave. And it’s poetry; each song leads into the next song and the next song, and you have to listen to it in order. It’s great that technology is now providing us with suggestions. But it’s providing us with singular suggestions. I try to download albums as much as I can.”

It becomes clear, over the course of a roundtable interview promoting Testament of Youth at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA, that these moments of introspection are common for the 28 year old British actor.

These days, those moments rarely come in private for the Game of Thrones star, as the show nears its fifth season conclusion, coinciding with the U.S. release of his new film Testament of Youth, a tragic WWI-era romance that sees the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch play a (clean shaven!) soldier (with a haircut!) lost on the frontlines of The Great War in the sumptuous adaptation of Vera Brittain’s classic memoir.

In many ways, Kit feels like the perfect Hollywood heartthrob, as if created in a lab: the hair, the stubble, the accent, the soulful nature. Check. Check. Check and check. You also know he’s resistant to that characterization, but it’s hard not to come away swooning for the self-professed hopeless romantic. Perhaps feeling the skepticism in the room, he said it again: “I’m a hopeless romantic. No I am, and it’s to my downfall sometimes.”

Right now, it seems like he’s doing okay, one of the few moral compasses remaining on a show that takes pleasure in killing fan-favorites. His identification as Jon Snow in and outside of the industry is precisely why Harington pursued the role of Roland Leighton in Testament of Youth. “It was really important for me that I got to do this movie. Because the industry in general, I think, still sees me, which is something I never would have predicted, as an action hero, sort of very much in the Jon Snow mold. I have to find things for my own creative sanity to break out of that, and this was one of those pieces.”

Yet, as I myself thought, isn’t Jon Snow far from your traditional action hero? “But he’s more of a classic action hero in a way. He’s much more than that but in the world of Thrones that’s the role he fills. We sympathize with him. He’s a nice guy, he’s a hero. He’s got a brooding intensity, he lives very up in here,” Kit says, gesturing to his forehead. It’s clearly a place the London native lives, too.

“But Roland was not that. He was very different from that, in that he’s kind of an arrogant, cocksure young man. ‘You know, I can help you into Oxford. I’ve done the entrance exams. Why don’t you let the man tell you how this is done?’ Pat on the head. And we should feel slightly angry at him because of that. It was a delicate dance to play Roland, because he has to be arrogant, and full of himself. In real life, he was the top of the class, he was the guy at school, he was incredibly intelligent, he was picked for great things. But you have to like him at the same time. I was worried about that. I kept trying to push him more serious, and James [Kent, the film’s director] was like ‘No, you have to be light, or else people won’t like him.’ And he was right on that front, and I think we found it in the end.”

When asked what he has in common with Roland, Kit admits: “I was an arrogant sod when I was younger. I still am.” Again, sensing skeptics, he repeated his assertion. You get the sense that Kit Harington has to prove himself among skeptics often, and he’s gotten good at it.

“I related to [Roland] a lot actually. He’s one of those people who’s absolutely obsessed with heroism and writing, and the romance of art and literature. I kind of was that as well. In some ways, we were very similar, in that we had similar interests and we had a certain arrogance at a young age. In other ways, I was much more serious as a kid.”

Kit seems serious as an adult, loosening up only on a few topics, particularly when music is concerned. This should come as no surprise to fans who watched the hilarious Red Nose Day Game of Thrones musical spoof.

“When [Red Nose Day] was suggested, I said yes instantly, because it’s comic relief and it’s for a good cause and it would be wrong to say no and that went against every fiber of my being reading the script and knowing I had to sing in front of my peers. So part of me was like I really don’t want to do this. The other part of me was like I must do this, so if I have to make a fool of myself for a good cause, then I should. So I did, and it was very funny, serenading Rose [Leslie, interviewed in September]. Yeah, I enjoyed that. I did karaoke with Coldplay as my back up band, that goes down as a big ticket. I got up there and I was nervous, and then I was like, yeah this is fucking cool. You don’t get to do this very often, if ever.”

True to his romantic sensibilities, Harington gets excited when talking about the romance between his character and Vera (the luminous Alicia Vikander). “Sorry to bag on, but there’s one moment in [their courtship] you might miss with Joanna Scanlon, who plays their chaperone. There’s a brilliant moment in the art gallery, where she is looking at a painting and you can see she’s completely lost in the romance of it. This is a woman who’s probably the youngest of her family and therefore would never have had a chance to marry, and she’s caught up in this romantic idea of a painting, while the two kids are running off and actually living it. It’s a really beautiful moment that Joanna herself found [and said], ‘I’d like to be lost in it.’”

It’s easy to get lost in the sweeping, old-school romance between Kit and Alicia Vikander’s characters. To hear Kit tell it, acting opposite Vikander is just as formidable a task as taking on a White Walker. “I think having a scene with Alicia is almost a bit like doing battle in the best possible way. She’s so fierce and so determined and knows precisely, exactly what she wants in a scene. And you have to battle her to get what you want. [She’s] not ungenerous, she’s very clear. I found that quite exciting to work off. She’s fabulous.”

Kit Harington’s poetry skills, however, are not, quick to call them “abysmal.” He continues, “I actually like writing poetry, I’m just not very good at it.” Roland’s poems are integral to Testament of Youth and he’s clearly a scholar on the matter. “One of the most crushing things I found about doing this role…You know when she [Vera] says [his work is] derivative? They are. They’re like Robert Graves’ poems. He’s obviously a big fan of Robert Graves. He’s doing his impersonation of him. One of the saddest things I think is that he’s very good. He’s young. He’s 19. He’s working out his style. It’s one of the saddest things, is that he’s not quite there yet, he’s got so much room to progress as a writer and he’s killed before he gets the chance.”

He’s also killed before he gets a chance to consummate his relationship with Vera, forcing Kit Harington to grapple with a long-foreign concept: virginity. “I was the oldest out of the group of four of us, at 27, and playing a 19 year old. All through that courtship I had to keep reminding myself that I, Kit, would never have had sex to that point [and] would be very, very immature as far as that’s concerned, and this would be incredibly exciting. It was quite hard to sort of drag myself back to where handholding or tickling would send kind of a shiver up my spine.”

Considering his relative youth and that his most substantial work has come on TV, it may come as a surprise that Harington still feels at home on the stage. “I was taken to the theater a lot as a kid, maybe twice a week. I fell in love with the stage first and foremost and went to a stage school. Actually, considering that a good 15 of my years were spent going to theater, I’ve been in this industry of film and TV for maybe 6. It still feels a little alien to me at times.”

The first play he remembers attending was The Wind in the Willows at the National when he was 5 or 6 (“It was amazing”). His first performance came after seeing Waiting for Godot, taking that back to his school at 14. “We had someone come in and do Lucky’s speech absolutely fucking terribly. He forgot his lines halfway through and I kept whispering [the lines] to him.”

His first professional performance came playing Albert Narracott in War Horse, and Testament of Youth marks a return to World War One. “I was strangely enraptured by that war, like I think a lot of young people are, from the age of 15. I was taken to the war graves by my father, almost as a rite of passage. He took me and my brother on separate occasions. Not really as a father-son bonding trip, just that he felt it was important to see, not in a patriotic way, but to see the consequence of war. There’s no greater visual consequence of war than seeing the Northern French war graves where you can see the list of men on the walls and you can see the fields of graves. At that point, I took history, because in the syllabus there was a bit about the First World War, I took English literature because they were studying the war poets. I got anthology after anthology of war poems.”

You can’t fake the enthusiasm and reverence he has for the time period. “I don’t know why it struck such a chord with me, but I remember going on that trip, and another on a school trip, at 18, and you know [that’s] when your hormones are going crazy, and you just fancy women, you’re just discovering sex, and a school trip could just turn into a massive shag fest. But actually everyone was so sobered, that it really in a way took away from all that to [see] these people, these young men and women that were our young age.”

Testament of Youth is very much a love letter to classic wartime cinema, and has many influences, perhaps most strikingly to David Lean’s Brief Encounter. Like in Lean’s film, Testament of Youth features a take on the iconic train station farewell between lovers scene, a circumstance practically imprinted on our society. “I loved that scene. James [Kent] played hard house music [before the take], which was fucking hilarious. He said ‘We’re going to play some music now,’ and he was very serious about it. ‘I just want you to roll with it.’ I was expecting Wagner or something, some sort of sweeping romantic [music]. Then this hard house trance-y music came on. I think I laughed through the first take, but it was really useful, it upped the energy, it upped the urgency of that scene.”

The film was James Kent’s (The White Queen) first feature film and initially, that showed, according to Harington. “I think he was very nervous. I remember being on set the first day, and in all honesty when a director’s nervous, you’re nervous. For the first few days, I felt unsure because he was unsure. And then we found a rhythm.” Throughout the shoot, Harington “felt in very safe hands.”

When published, Testament of Youth was a landmark moment in the pacifism movement, as Vera Brittain became a prominent war protestor. Kit, always careful and considerate, well-practiced at junkets, is reticent to comment on the subject. “I don’t feel like I’m qualified to talk too much about pacifism. I don’t know enough about it. I feel like I consider myself a pacifist. I think I know I consider myself a pacifist. I don’t know. I don’t know how to answer that.”

But he knows what to listen to on a grumpy Monday morning: the Talking Heads. “You know that…what’s it called?” mirroring every conversation you’ve ever had when a friend tries to recommend you a song. Kit starts humming, vocalizing random words, banging his hands on the table, creating a beat, the writers in the room serving as a think tank to figure out the title: “Once in a Lifetime.” Now remembered, Kit brings it up on his phone instantaneously and enthusiastically, joking that it’ll play for the rest of the interview. “That’ll wake you up in the morning.”

This morning, Kit Harington hopes his fans will find Testament of Youth. “I think that in passing a poster you wouldn’t recognize me in this movie. I think the hardcore fan of Thrones will go and see this. I think one of the reasons, other than just playing the part, that I was important for this piece, was that you hoped it would bring a younger audience, the Thrones audience. I hope that Thrones fans do go and see this, because I want them to see me in a different role as well, just on a personal level.”

Given that Vera Brittain is a strong character, how would she do on Game of Thrones, I asked, a purposefully ridiculous question that came close to breaching the mandated “no Game of Thrones questions” rule. Cautiously, Kit responds, “I think she’d do pretty well. She’s a hard woman and I think she’s very very…You have to be pretty fucking intelligent in the Thrones world not to get killed.”

After a momentary pause, he adds, “I don’t know how Jon Snow has gotten as far as he has.” Again, we’re skeptical: Jon Snow isn’t a dumby. “He’s not a dumby, but he’s not the cleverest.”

It’s clear that Kit Harington is no dumby himself, that unlike his once-in-a-lifetime TV character, he knows far more than nothing, a soulful, measured man yearning for creative freedom, fighting against type-casting and the stereotype of a Hollywood heartthrob. It’s an age-old problem. Indeed, in the immortal words of David Byrne, it’s the “same as it ever was.”

In the limited time I spent with Kit, I found myself rooting for him just as I root for Jon Snow, even as he inevitably tries to distance himself away from the character, hoping that whatever’s to come isn’t the same as it ever was.

Today is the LA and NY opening of the splendid World War I war romance Testament of Youth, a film expanding next week.

Aside from being one of the very best shows on television, Game of Thrones has helped launch the careers of many incredible actors and propelled others to stardom, introducing American audiences to a slew of them. One of my favorites is Rose Leslie, who played the stubborn badass archer kissed-by-fire, Ygritte, across three seasons of the HBO phenomenon. Rose is now in the midst of launching an American film career. That begins with Honeymoon, a horror movie from first-time director Leigh Janiak. She stars opposite Penny Dreadful star Harry Treadaway. The intimate psychological thriller chronicles a “soppy” gooey lovey-dovey relationship and its slow, painful disintegration, taking place on that singular marriage rite of passage: one’s honeymoon.

On the morning after the Emmy’s, I was lucky enough to find some time with Honeymoon star Rose Leslie and her bewitching Scottish accent, before she was whisked off to the set of the Vin Diesel blockbuster The Last Witch Hunter. In the following discussion, Rose reveals her opinions on the horror genre (can you believe that the woman who played Ygritte is a self-described “wimp”?), discusses the massive differences between shooting Game of Thrones and Honeymoon and proves that I know nothing about Scotland.

Andy: Not too hung over from the Emmy’s?

Leslie: Ohhhhh, see now that we’re getting into that territory…no, I’ve had lots of coffee, thank you. It wasn’t a particularly late night for me.

[commence communal giggling]

Andy: I wouldn’t tell anyone. I have to start by saying that Ygritte is my favorite character from Game of Thrones, and I’m going to miss you on the show.

Leslie: Aw, thank you so much, that’s a lovely thing to hear. Thank you.

Andy: I was wondering, what did you take away from Game of Thrones and how has that informed your career?

Leslie: I felt very touched, because on my last day, I was given Ygritte’s bow and arrow to keep. They had changed the handle, personalized it with a silver plaque that said “Kissed by fire,” along with an emblem of a rose, and it was really lovely, and very considerate and just charming. That kind of sums up the entire crew and my experience for three years, because I had a blast on Game of Thrones and truly, truly loved it. And having been a part of such a global phenomenon enabled me to knock on doors that I was never able to knock on before. It’s given me a chance to be represented out here in America, which is a wonderful, wonderful thing. So it’s been great.

Andy: What then, drew you to Honeymoon? On the surface, Honeymoon looks like another cabin in the woods horror movie, but really, it’s a psychological relationship thriller.

Leslie: Yes yes exactly. It’s an examination of a relationship. One that seemingly starts off with a strong relationship, well it is, it’s an incredibly strong relationship, where these two people are totally enamored by one another, and obviously, quite clearly, in that honeymoon phase. And then the cracks starts to appear and that was something that drew me to the project in the first place, because there is such a transformation within these two characters, who are so intimate from the top and have to be throughout the film. Never before had I worked on something where, I know it was on screen, but it felt like a theater piece, because it was so intimate. And you were leaning so much on the other person, and it was just really a fascinating experience.

Andy: You touched on the word I was going to use to describe the film: intimate. It’s almost even claustrophobic at times.

Leslie: Yeah, yeah.

Andy: A movie like this requires a lot of trust with the director [Leigh Janiak] and [costar] Harry Treadaway. Did you know them beforehand and how did that trust develop?

Leslie: I had never met Leigh prior to reading the script. We had a couple of Skype chats and then I read the script, and she’s a remarkably intelligent woman, and I trusted her in the sense of, even though, no not even though at all, I know it was her directorial debut, but she said such insightful things about one scene or another. There was a real depth there, and it wasn’t just going to be these two people within their own sickening bubble of love. It was actually gonna be more than that.

In regards to Harry Treadaway and myself…we knew each other very briefly prior to working together, because we happened to go to the same drama school [London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, or LAMDA]. So that’s how we knew one another before. So there was already, I hesitate to use the phrase, foundation of trust, already, but it was a lovely thing in knowing there was a link there.

Andy: I imagine making Honeymoon was almost the exact opposite experience from working on something as massive as Game of Thrones. There were only four actors in the entire movie, and primarily it was just you and Harry. How was that like, and was that one of the reasons why you jumped in?

Leslie: Yes, exactly. It was because I had never really ever come across a project where there was so much hanging on these two people to basically get it right. I think that there was a risk in casting, you know there’s always a risk in casting a movie, but particularly for this, because it had to work at the beginning of the film, to actually feel some real empathy for the characters throughout. To really want to fight for them by the end of the transition, and to be involved in their world. That was something that appealed to me greatly, because Game of Thrones is not such an intimate shoot, and obviously with it being the colossal machine that it is, there’s a huge crew, and amazing equipment, and the production value is so high, and it’s a real, real privilege, and yet Honeymoon was a very different entity, and that was incredibly insightful. And also, a lovely thing to be a part of just because I was able to experience two different seeming worlds, even though they’re both with a camera onscreen in one way or another. It was a great, kind of like, balancing of the scale.

Andy: Where was Honeymoon filmed and how long did it take?

Leslie: Because it’s an independent movie, it was so tight, there was such a strict deadline. We shot in North Carolina, and we literally had about four weeks’ worth of six day weeks, we only had one day off a week, and it was just so intense. As you say, it was like jumping into the deep end with the project, and only really coming up for air once we wrapped at the end of the four weeks. We completely submerged ourselves into this world and into the realms of Bea and Paul, and just wanted to focus on the crumbling and the dissolving of this relationship, slowly but surely, and using a microscope into that.

Andy: You’ve referenced, sort of the two halves of this movie: the honeymoon phase and the crumbling of Bea and Paul’s relationship when weird and creepy things happen. Did you have a preference as an actor? Did you like to play the light-hearted stuff or the descent into horror?

Leslie: I personally loved the middle ground, where we weren’t so soppy and in love, not that it was soppy, but we were all over each other. But there was a middle part that was very interesting to me to play the subtext and subtlety of the cracks beginning to appear, and the distrust and the walls beginning to crumble between them and kind of playing that. Where everything is okay on the surface but Bea is in real turmoil underneath. That was something I really enjoyed playing, far more so than the blood and gore at the end.

Andy: That was also my favorite part. Perhaps this is a better question for Leigh or Harry, but your character [Bea] is the one who gets body snatched or taken or something has happened to you. We’re all curious and skeptical, along with Paul, when you return. But I really liked, that, if anything, Paul was just as creepy in his response, that it kind of went both ways. Was that intentional?

Leslie: Yeah, do you feel that was because he didn’t run off and freak out, and take the car keys? Is it because he stayed; is that just as creepy?

Andy: That’s partially it, but it was more so due to the intensity with which Paul reacts to Bea’s changed presence, and the almost abrupt switch that goes off with his character, along with the riff on the jealous boyfriend/husband stereotype, when we’re introduced to Bea’s former summer fling Will, and taking that a different way. I thought maybe something was wrong with Paul as well, perhaps Bea’s disappearance was misdirection, and that Paul was the changed one.

Leslie: Yes, yes, when I was reading the script, I was wondering: was Paul the one going mad or was Bea the one going mad? Is it both of them, or…is there actually something out in the woods that attacks her? I thought that was very clever too. It’s a testament to Harry being able to complete all those separate emotions all at once, really, because you’re right: you get freaked out by him and his reasoning behind his actions, or the actions themselves, than just seeing him as the pathetically jealous husband.

Andy: Are you a fan of the horror genre in general, and the body-snatching subgenre that this is a play on?

Leslie: Yes, I am a fan. It’s very interesting to play the body snatching element. I feel, when it comes to the horror genre, I’m harking back to my sentiments before of me being far more of a wimp than I like to admit. I prefer, and am speaking to, the psychological thriller side, rather than the gore and blood of horror.

Andy: That’s the scarier stuff anyways.

Leslie: Exactly, it messes with your mind!

Andy: With Game of Thrones and Honeymoon, you’ve definitely been a part of some decidedly adult, dark and gruesome things on camera. Is that something you look for, or is that just how it’s worked out?

Leslie: With Game of Thrones I absolutely responded to the character, loved the character, and knew that the book series was incredible and was so happy to be able to play Ygritte. As an actor I look for roles that have a certain versatility, so that as an actor I don’t totally become stale, and I am displaying different ranges as it were. It definitely keeps me on my feet, and makes sure that I don’t slow down in any way. But for me, it’s really about the writing, first and foremost.

Andy: Honeymoon comes out in theaters and on demand on September 12th, so I’m assuming you have a few very busy weeks ahead to promote the film.

Leslie: You know what, it’s really today. I’m currently in Pittsburgh, so I’m flying back to Pittsburgh tomorrow, and so the premiere is this evening, so we have press all morning and afternoon and this is our day to promote it, prior to the 12^th.

Andy: Sounds like a crazy day. What’s next for you after Honeymoon? I know you’re shooting The Last Witch Hunter [starring Vin Diesel].

Leslie: Yes, that’s what I’m shooting in Pittsburgh, exactly. So that’s where we are shooting until December; it’s a lovely long shoot. I’ve already shot a couple days, and it’s been great fun, so that’s the next project. [She also stars in Sticky Notes, a drama starring Ray Liotta, arriving in theaters March 1^st, 2015]

Andy: Before we go, I have to ask a question about Scotland. It was probably my favorite place I visited when I went backpacking, and when I return [AND I WILL], where should I go…what treasures off the beaten path await?

Leslie: My home city is Aberdeen, so I highly recommend it. Did you go to Aberdeen?

Andy: I unfortunately did not. I went through the highlands but not up to Aberdeen.

Leslie: I recommend traveling further north and going to Aberdeen, because it is a beautiful city, with a lovely beach, and some great cultural aspects, there really is. There’s beautiful countryside outside of it as well, the tracks up through the hills are absolutely beautiful.

PI: Scotland is unfairly beautiful. Thanks for the tip and for taking the time to talk with us!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrSh2CHmEW4]

As aforementioned, Honeymoon comes out on demand, and in theaters, this Friday September 12^th. Be sure to check it out, and read our review.

Honeymoon, as you might expect, is about a couple of newlyweds. Through their wedding video, intercut with a car driving up to a cabin in the woods, we’re in love with them as much as they are with each other. The two, Bea (Game of Thrones’ Rose Leslie) and Paul (Penny Dreadful’s Harry Treadaway), are so adorable it hurts. When Paul tells Bea he “just wants to be with you,” Bea faux-gags, just like the audience. Of course, when they pull up to Bea’s “famous family cottage,” we’re immediately on high alert (and ready to groan; what more can be done in this sub-genre?). Nothing good ever happens in dark, dank, old houses in the middle of nowhere. “It’s dark and scary outside,” Bea teases. “It’s dark and scary inside,” Paul retorts. There are several knowing winks of foreshadowing interspersed between their interactions, promising the carnage to come (who knew hollow ducks were so creepy?). Some feel more natural (it’s too cold to swim, let’s have shower sex instead!) than others (“Have you ever killed anything with your bare hands?”), but it all pays off.

I wanted the movie to end after the first night, when all is happy. Instead, baby tension, a former summer fling and worse, come calling.

Honeymoon isn’t going to blow your mind, or scare the crap out of you. It’s hard to do so with such a stock premise. But, Leigh Janiak is clever enough to bank on these young stars and their explosive chemistry instead. The affection was so real and electric between Bea and Paul in the opening moments that it’s really disturbing to see their relationship unravel over the next two acts. When Bea goes “sleepwalking” at night, and comes back changed, disoriented, off (she doesn’t remember how to make French toast, bless her heart), we know the descent into horror is coming. But perhaps what’s most eerie and unsettling is how disturbed, creepy and intense Paul gets in trying to uncover the truth. While Bea is clearly not the same Bea we met, neither is Paul, the events changing him just as irrevocably, except he doesn’t have some high-concept genre excuse (or does he?). This is why Honeymoon works; it’s simple, and is a disturbing snapshot of how a marriage can deteriorate, only in fast forward. Paul and Bea’s relationship is the nexus of the movie, not the monster inside Bea (though the “tentacle” scene, for lack of a better descriptor, is certainly the scene that’ll stay with you). It’s the monsters inside all of us, and thanks to Rose Leslie and Harry Treadaway, we’re closer to understanding them.

HONEYMOON arrives in theaters, on demand and on iTunes on September 12th, 2014. 

Right now you’d be in your arm chair, a mug of beer in tow, watching the newest installment of HBO’s GAME OF THRONES. Unfortunately, you won’t be doing that this Sunday night.

GAME OF THRONES’ fourth season was probably its best yet, which is an impressive statement, since the first three seasons were essentially a bad break (or a BREAKING BAD) away from being the best show on TV (though arguments can be made for FRINGE, COMMUNITY, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, JUSTIFIED, THE WALKING DEAD, PARKS AND RECREATION and LOUIE within that time).

But after last season’s incredible finale, “The Children,” which may have been its best yet (and it still elicits massive doses of controversy, because internet), we’re left without the sprawling clans of Westeros and beyond fighting for power and meaningless titles on our TV sets until next March. That’s a long damn time. What the hell are we supposed to do until then? I’m not going to suggest going outside or watching the World Cup or even reading George R. R. Martin’s A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE novels, because no shit. Of course, none of my other recommendations are going to be insightful or clever either.

More than ever, people want to be apart of the discussion, they don’t want to be the only one not watching a show. This year that show has been alternately TRUE DETECTIVE, GAME OF THRONES and ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. What’s the next obsession? Each of my following suggestions are ranked by their potential to be the next big thing.

Before I begin, I’ll offer the following advice: watch anything but CROSSBONES and DEFIANCE. I feel like this goes without saying. Watch BLACK SAILS instead if you crave pirates, because it’s STARZ’s replacement for SPARTACUS (though it’s not that good). Watch DOMINION instead of DEFIANCE if you want SyFy in your life, because that has Anthony Stewart Head in it.

10. Go see OBVIOUS CHILD

I haven’t seen the movie, but everyone I’ve talked to has said how amazing Jenny Slate is in it, and how powerful/funny/difficult a movie it is. You know Jenny Slate as Mona-Lisa in PARKS & RECREATION, also known as the worst (and simultaneously the best), and I’m tickled that this movie puts her on the dramatic map. There isn’t a movie out right now that I’m more intrigued to see. I’m guessing it’s worth the extra effort to find it.

Water Cooler Factor: 1/10. You’ll be the cool kid talking about a movie nobody’s seen, which is worth something. Unless you’re an LA hipster, I doubt OBVIOUS CHILD will make a dent in the theaters, unfortunately.

9. Catch up on ORPHAN BLACK

If you’re not watching BBC’s ORPHAN BLACK, you’re not doing it correctly. While the second season wasn’t as mindblowing or fresh as the first season, it was still the best show on TV that isn’t GAME OF THRONES (or HANNIBAL). Then last night’s season finale happened, and “Holy shit” was all I could utter after nearly every scene. It truly was a game changer; the finale changes EVERYTHING, and I’m not sure into what. Season 3 will be a complete mystery, but it promises to be no less compelling. It’s time to get onboard and learn why Tatiana Maslany really is everything.

Water Cooler Factor: 4/10. The season is over, so a lot of the impetus is gone for people to talk about it. By next year it’ll be on SHERLOCK levels, however.

8. Finally check out Showtime’s PENNY DREADFUL

I wouldn’t say I was overwhelmed by the pilot, but since then John Logan and Sam Mendes’ highly stylized, quite screwed up and grotesque take on classic gothic horror has grown into something bewitching.

I wouldn’t say it’s great, though it’s filled with great performances. Namely, the show has given an excuse for Eva Green to go absolutely bonkers, and that’s something the world has wanted/needed/craved since CASINO ROYALE. She’s deserving of at least a nomination at all of the award shows for her alluring, batshit crazy portrayal of Vanessa Ives, one of the few characters on the show that isn’t lifted directly from literature (or if it is, it’s over my head). We’ve seen way too many seances in film and TV, but Eva Green’s possessed Vanessa is the moment that secured my viewership until the show ends.

Plus, Timothy Dalton further cements his scene crunching ability in a late career renaissance I adore, and you can see Josh Hartnett’s ass and Billie Piper’s boobs. I’m an episode behind going into tonight’s episode (“Possession”), so this is one on the list that I’ll definitely be doing.

Water Cooler Factor: 5/10. I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot more people would’ve been watching PENNY DREADFUL if not for GAME OF THRONES. Now that the latter is done, there’s still some time for PENNY DREADFUL to get into the national discussion. Unfortunately, after tonight’s episode, there’s only one week till the finale. Considering Showtime has already optioned a second season, it’s another good one to get ahead of the game for next year.

7. Get onboard BBC’s next buzzy show, INTRUDERS

All I know about BBC’s INTRUDERS, except that it’s premiering this summer and stars The Master himself, John Simm, is what I gleaned from this promo:

And that’s all I need/care to know to watch it.

Water Cooler Factor: 6/10. Looks great, but in a LUTHER/IN THE FLESH kind of way, where only the in BBC crowd watches and loves it.

5. Figure out what the hell RECTIFY is about

I’ll be honest, I don’t know. But this Sundance Channel show is apparently brilliant.

EW raves about it. It’s “mesmerizing.” “Stop Everything and Go Watch Rectify.”

It certainly doesn’t sound for everyone, considering it’s referred to as subtle and quiet drama, its whodunnit beside the point. Vulture calls it “christian art.” I don’t know what that means, but I’m tantalized, especially when it’s hailed as the successor to MAD MEN.

Water Cooler Factor: 7/10. Critics and outlets are going mad for RECTIFY. Will the people follow? I kind of doubt it, based on the themes at work in RECTIFY, but I’ve bumped several shows on my list in order to start season 1 and catch up on season 2 before it ends.

4. Check out STARZ’s OUTLANDER

OUTLANDER wants to be the next GAME OF THRONES, minus the dragons (as far as I know). It’s from a best selling book series, and is a time traveling romance to Scotland, being brought to the screen by Ronald D. Moore, who rules (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA). I think this one could be huge, judging by the eighth book’s firm place on top of the NYT Best Seller’s List, and its legion of fans.

OUTLANDER premieres August 9th.

Water Cooler Factor: 8/10. It might be too dreamy and historical to catch on like wildfire, but then again, we live in an age when DOWNTON ABBEY is one of the most talked about shows.

3. FX’s THE STRAIN is the next THE WALKING DEAD/AMERICAN HORROR STORY

Based on a popular book series, check. Awesome pedigree (Guillermo del Toro), check. A new, dark take on vampires, check.

From what little we’ve seen of THE STRAIN, it looks fucked up and cool. We might all be tired of vampires, but I’m pretty sure del Toro has something different up his sleeves with this.

It’s a coming July 13th.

Water Cooler Factor: 8.5/10. When horror shows find an audience, they explode, and with AHS and TWD off the air, The Strain should fill that void. It also helps that I expect it to be fairly excellent. Bonus half point because…IT HAS SEAN ASTIN IN IT!

2. Watch HBO’s Newest Show: THE LEFTOVERS

There’s little doubt in my mind that HBO will keep the hits coming, and dominate the national pop culture discussion again, after dominating this calendar year with TRUE DETECTIVE and GOT. I don’t think it’ll be the last season of TRUE BLOOD we’ll be talking about, however. That, like DEXTER before it, is ending too late, and is really just something we’re all watching out of due diligence more than anything else.

Next Sunday, June 29th we get to see THE LEFTOVERS, the show I believe will be the next buzzy show that will get spoiled for us minutes after its episodes air. What if 2% of the world’s population mysteriously disappeared? It certainly has LOST-like potential, which sounds like a dirty word these days, but I still cling to that as a compliment. It also could very well be like UNDER THE DOME, an inconsistent show I hate-watch. Either way, I’m quite curious to check it out.

Water Cooler Factor: 9/10. Pretty positive this is the one to take the mantle.

1. Watch these summer movies: DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and SNOWPIERCER.

Movies have a very low shelf life in terms of taking over the discussion, since every week there’s a new blockbuster to watch. So far 2014’s had a pretty good track record, though we’re about to hit a bit of a lull until DOTPOTA comes out, which is an acronym I’ll avoid using in the future.

DAWN and GUARDIANS are my two most anticipated films left this summer, and probably this year, though I’m not bothering to check that. They’re also the only two I’d predict that could even touch CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER in terms of quality.

SNOWPIERCER should be incredible as long as the Weinstein’s don’t ruin it. It’s based on an acclaimed French graphic novel, it stars Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris, Octavia Spencer, Alison Pill and comes from visionary director Joon-ho Bong. Peep it:

It’s a smaller film, but it shouldn’t be, based on that trailer and who’s involved. We will get to see a director’s cut, but the film will no longer get a wide release. The world sucks sometimes.

Water Cooler Factor: 10/10. Maybe not for SNOWPIERCER, but DAWN and GUARDIANS are the two biggest movies yet to come out so far, mark my words. Fuck Transformers.

OTHERS: Halt and Catch Fire, AMC. The Knick, STARZ. The Last Ship & Legends, TNT. The Quest, CBS.

For many, the LARP subplot in ROLE MODELS was their first exposure to Live Action Role Playing, a “real life” version of Dungeons & Dragons, getting dice rolling fanatics out into the fresh air. And it not only was rife with hilarity, but made us all want to play it.

Unfortunately, the 20 minutes of ROLE MODELS is miles beyond anything found in KNIGHTS OF BADASSDOM. A LARP movie, with a brilliant, nerd friendly cast had tons of potential. It’s unfortunate to see it mostly wasted here.

For hundreds of years, an evil, Necronomicon-like book created by John Dee was thought to be lost forever. Unfortunately for the world, it’s been found, and put into the hands of Level 26 perpetually going on 27 wizard Eric (TREME’s Steve Zahn), who treats it like the gag gift that he thinks it is.

Instead, he summons pure evil into the world during a faux sacrifice with his Live Action Role Playing buddies. Oops.

Speaking of pure evil, girls are the worst. Especially long time H.S. girlfriends unimpressed with the direction, or lack thereof, in your life. Enter “doom” metal rocker Joe (TRUE BLOOD’s Ryan Kwanten), flashing his wares at a mechanic shop, clearly out of his preferred element. It’s the night of the big date with Beth (REVENGE’s Margarita Levieva), and fearing that Joe is planning a proposal (he has penned a song instead), cuts the cord, and dumps him.

Apparently, Joe’s been living a meandering life in a castle, with his “accidental millionaire” brother, the aforementioned Eric.

It’s so jarring and weird to see GAME OF THRONE extraordinaire Peter Dinklage as a character named “Hung” who would say “It’s a sativa, dude,” and acting like one of the idiots, rather than being the cleverest person in the room we’re so accustomed to seeing. This isn’t to say that Dinklage doesn’t pull it off, but it’s unfortunate that he’s not given much material, since he’s clearly brought in to be comic relief and awesome.

When Joe gets home, all mopey from Beth’s probably justified dumping, the pair get him life-threateningly drunk and stoned, and Joe wakes up the next day in the back of Eric’s van, in full armor, on the eve of the Battle of Evermore. He’s resistant to jumping into LARP, but apparently has legendary D&D skills from back in the day (it’s hard to believe Ryan Kwanten has ever not spent a night sleeping with women), and now single with nothing better to do, ultimately relents. From there, we learn the rules, etiquette and point system of LARP, meet the over-bearing game master Ronnie (IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA’s Jimmi Simpson, having more fun than most people in this movie) and in order to make Joe eligible to play, Eric must whip up a spell of transference or something.

Instead, Eric gives the demon a body, in the form of Beth, Joe’s ex-girlfriend who now likes to kill people:

This certainly puts a damper on the Battle of Evermore, as Eric, Joe and company attempt to fend off the villainous Beth with little more than foam swords and fake spells.

Oh, and SUMMER GLAU (FIREFLY, not that you needed this parenthetical). In a movie that has Peter Dinklage, Steve Zahn, Ryan Kwanten, Jimmi Simpson and friggin’ Danny Pudi (who is somehow unlikable as “Lando”), we’re all here to see THE sexy nerd Summer Glau be a badass. She gets that chance too infrequently, even with a +3 endowment (her butt).

What was successful was her reason for playing: her younger brother Gunther (Brett Gipson) has trouble separating LARP from reality, and after a disastrous outing to Medieval Times, Gwen has jumped into his world to protect him. It’s adorable, while a hulking brute who’s never off book is great comedy.

I’ll give KOB this: it certainly establishes the world and its characters quickly, and wasting even less time to escalate. KOB doesn’t tread lightly on his presence, racking up a body count quickly. In fact, it kills off the characters you want to see more of, which is unfortunate.

There are practically limitless opportunities for quirky characters, cameos, speeches and scenes within a fake-but-not-really fake Battle filled with LARP’ers, and blessed with such an awesome cast, it makes KNIGHTS OF BADASSDOM a frustrating viewing experience. It certainly has funny moments (it’s impossible to ruin the concept), and a satisfying climax, but mostly, it just left me wanting a do-over.

The Blu-Ray features a “Summer Glau Hottie Montage,” which sounded like it could break the internet should it ever get out. Instead, it was a boring interview inter-cut with scenes from the movie that were sexier the first time. There’s also a Peter Dinklage interview, a Steve Zahn interview and two “Horr-o-medy” featurettes, but like the Glau Montage, clock in at 1-2 minutes a piece. Director Joe Lynch has a 7 minute interview, but the cream of the crop is the San Diego Comic-Con panel, clocking in at 48 minutes, featuring everyone in the cast you’d want to see, save Steve Zahn.

KNIGHTS OF BADASSDOM is on Blu-Ray today, April 1st, and is just $19.99 on Amazon.