Recently, we talked with director Daniel Stamm (Fear the Walking Dead, The Last Exorcism) and star Jacqueline Byers (Bad Samaritan, Roadies) about their new horror film Prey for the Devil. The film follows a nun, Sister Ann, played by Jacqueline Byers, who “believes she is answering a calling to be the first female exorcist… but who, or what, called her?”
The synopsis continues, “In response to a global rise in demonic possessions, Ann seeks out a place at an exorcism school reopened by the Catholic Church. Until now these schools have only trained priests in the Rite of Exorcism – but a professor (Colin Salmon) recognizes Sister Ann’s gifts and agrees to train her. Thrust onto the spiritual frontline with fellow student Father Dante (Christian Navarro), Sister Ann finds herself in a battle for the soul of a young girl, who Sister Ann believes is possessed by the same demon that tormented her own mother years ago. Determined to root out the evil, Ann soon realizes the Devil has her right where he wants her.”
Prey for the Devil premiered at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival ahead of its Canadian release on October 28, 2022.
Horror Geek Life: Before we jump in and talk about Prey for the Devil, I wanted to ask what it is about the horror genre that interests you.
Daniel Stamm: Well, the way Hollywood works is, if you made one movie that had a moderate degree of success, that is what they will hire you for, again and again, and again, and with me, that happened to be horror. I wasn’t a horror guy, I just made this fake documentary, and then this production company was like, can you do that style with horror? By then, I had learned that in Hollywood, when someone asks you something like that, you say yes! (laughs)
So all of a sudden, I’m a horror director, and they did a great job of marketing it, and it was successful. I kind of had a feeling I’d spend my career in horror now, which is great because I love horror, but the thing I want to bring to it is the dramatic stuff I originally fell in love with, conflicts, characters, and story. It was about creating the basis of that and then layer the horror stuff on top of that because if the audience doesn’t care about the character to begin with, they aren’t going to be scared for the character, and the scares aren’t going to work.
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Jacqueline Byers: So horror for me growing up was just a way to make out with boys. (laughs) I kind of grew up in a bubble. I wasn’t exposed to great films, I was very much an athlete, and my love for cinema began when I was about twenty years old. That’s when I got introduced to the great horror films — Rosemary’s Baby, The Shining, and IT.
Then my friend wrote this article, and it really shined a light on what I was feeling at that moment. She wrote horror for anyone who experienced any kind of trauma in their lives, make the feelings that you are experiencing day to day that much more normalized, almost like a kind of therapy. I think great horror movies do that, kitschy horror movies do that, and it’s huge; you can go from Midsommar to Hocus Pocus. It’s such a vast genre with so many subgenres and such a great place for storytelling.
Horror Geek Life: Jacqueline, as Sister Ann, you were able to play in the worlds created by both the Devil and God and all the grey areas in between. Do you do any research to prepare for this role?
Jacqueline Byers: Yeah, I worked with a therapist to try and understand trauma, where it lies in the body, the idea of fight and flight. In those moments when most people would run away scared or decide to battle, she calms herself, focuses on the victim, and it’s like how do you still feel afraid for someone who is feeling calm?
Daniel pointed out you only feel as scared as the lead actress is feeling, but she’s not screaming. She doesn’t scream in the whole movie, so how do you layer that in this performance? That was definitely something I focused on in preparation for this movie.
Horror Geek Life: Daniel, as a director, what brought you back to this topic of exorcisms for Prey for the Devil?
Daniel Stamm: I really loved the script, and I think it’s a script I wouldn’t have gotten offered if I hadn’t done The Last Exorcism and it had done so well, so it was a chance to work on really great material. I have to say about that movie, with exorcisms, it’s a really narrow genre; it’s hard to do something new. You are basically inviting the audience to come and see an exorcism movie, so that means you owe them the spinning head, the contortions, all the classics, but you have to make the classics feel fresh, so how do you do that?
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When this script came, Prey for the Devil, it was easy; those are the best ones, where you basically turned the screw just once. What if it were a female protagonist, and suddenly there are all these fields of conflict, who is on her side, who is a mentor, who is an antagonist, all the classics? All these possibilities opened up. Also, we didn’t do the usual. We’re spending forty-five minutes to find out if this is a real possession. If it’s an exorcism movie, it’s probably a real possession, so I don’t need to spend a lot of time examining that.
In this film, right from the first minute, this is a real possession. Let’s deal with it, and now we have an hour and a half to do that, spend time with those set pieces, and open room to still tell an interesting story in between.
Horror Geek Life: Prey for the Devil carries a great sense of dread throughout. As both actor and director, how hard was it to take that idea from the page and make it something real on film?
Daniel Stamm: I’m so glad to hear you say that because when people say movie magic, it’s a part of so many layers and so many people’s work. There might be genius directors out there who can pre-conceive that, but I can’t; it either materializes or doesn’t. All we can do is, in the moment, go in there with every single detail, every piece of craft, to give it as much integrity as possible.
Then, once you put this mosaic together from five thousand different pieces, hopefully, you look at it and go, oh, there’s a feeling being created, you can’t quite put your finger on it, but it’s there. That’s why if it works, beautiful. It’s equivalent to me in acting, where there are moments where the actor is so deeply in the moment that things happen on their face, micro twitches that you can’t control, they aren’t connected to the brain, and those are so amazing to me.
Jacqueline Byers: It’s something I think I was aware of while playing Ann. It’s not just dealing with the demons as an outer source; it’s also her inner demons, so that’s with her throughout the whole movie. The guilt or shame she’s pushing down and not acknowledging is in every scene, and it’s in every action she’s doing.
I believe that adds to that sense of dread. There’s something intangible, something she doesn’t want to access, that’s playing in every scene in the movie.
Horror Geek Life: The topic of exorcisms has been covered heavily in entertainment. How hard was it to make Prey for the Devil fresh and unique?
Daniel Stamm: This was the number one mission statement of every department. You have to essentially give the audience all the set pieces they are hoping to get, and then you have to give each of these moments a spin and a reinterpretation for the people who have seen twenty horror movies.
For each department, that was the goal, find what is different about this; it can be very tiny. For example, with contortions, how are contortions different from other exorcism movies? We had the fight between the demon and soul, two pilots fighting for control, so now suddenly, our contortions are not just for show; they are showing the battle going on for control between two forces. That was our intention in terms of making it something different.
Jacqueline Byers: The female aspect doesn’t hurt (laughs). She’s battling demons and the church, but we didn’t want it simply to be a woman playing the same role a man would. Her approach is different, she approaches exorcisms differently, and this movie isn’t about what is happening to the person but why it is happening, and that’s really scary.
Horror Geek Life: Expanding on that a bit, Sister Ann is strong yet vulnerable and constantly battling inner demons. As an actor, how much fun was it to dig into all those nuances this character offered you?
Jacqueline Byers: Honestly, it’s all you can ask for as an actor. I read the script and thought, wow, this is so meaty, there are so many aspects to her with so many questions to answer and so many questions for myself to answer playing this character. It’s all in there; you have rage, deep sadness, and loss, and we talk a lot about guilt and shame.
I think being 24, there is a bit of ego involved in being that age, thinking you know everything, and it’s a learning lesson for her. Learning the hard way that she’s not perfect, which I think makes her more of a superhero in a way. I feel so close to her now after playing her. I really do.
Daniel Stamm: That question is really interesting; you were asking about fun. I imagine it as if you were asking an Olympian who just ran a record race, how much fun was it?
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Jacqueline Byers: Yeah, people ask me, and shooting that movie was a marathon like you were saying, Daniel, and really, the reward does come after, but it’s so exhausting. There’s so much going on, and I feel like a fraud half the time (laughs). The lead-up can be fascinating, the research can be fun, and learning is always a good thing, but shooting is grueling. It’s like a drug, and you love/hate it.
Daniel Stamm: To have fun in the moment would mean you are so confident that this is all even going to work, and I can only talk from the directorial point of view, but I walk on set every morning, and I’m nauseous. It’s so concentrated because everything depends on, for example, Jacqueline’s moment at that moment, and what tells you that you can pull it off?
There’s a huge multi-million dollar production staring at you, and everyone assumes you can pull it off because they are all very confident in their craft. They’ve done it before and are confident they can do it again. I don’t have that; it’s terrifying, so it’s exhilarating when it works but fun in the moment, it is not.
Horror Geek Life: There is an excellent use of shadows in Prey for the Devil. Was that a conscious effort, or did much of that happen organically during filming?
Daniel Stamm: I think a little bit of both. The great thing you can do with shadows is the audience does a head count and sees two people on screen, but with shadows, you can add a third person, so that’s how you can infuse a presence so you don’t feel alone, regardless if it’s demonic or angelic. These people battling between good and evil are never alone, so one way to give that an expression would be to do a shadow to suggest there is more in this room than you can see.
For example, shadows are a great way to throw things out of proportion, it’s a great tool, but as we talked about how grueling the filming is, everything has to happen so fast. A ten-hour day just flies by, and all of your great ideas change quickly. There is a great saying, Citizen Kane in the morning, Dukes of Hazzard in the afternoon. It summarizes things perfectly. It’s great you noticed that and saw it come through, though.
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Horror Geek Life: Now that film is finished and you’ve both had time to step back from it, what do you hope the audience takes away from it?
Jacqueline Byers: That they want a second one! (laughs)
Daniel Stamm: If someone walks away after seeing the film and then recommends it to their friends, that’s always the big thing. Even with test screenings, the first question is, would you recommend it to your friends? Because that’s such a high mark today, with all that content being out there. If someone can come out of our exorcism movie, where everyone assumes it’s all been done and there is nothing new to offer and can recommend it to others, that’s the biggest compliment.
Jacqueline Byers: I think there is a weird feeling that I have with this movie that it taught me that the only way out is through. With everything that we’ve had going on in society, you can’t hide from the bad things that are going to happen. It’s just go through it and be as strong as you can through those periods.
I want to thank Jacqueline and Daniel for speaking with us about Prey for the Devil.
