Aim to bring horror genre into mainstream in India, says Crypt TV co-founder Jack Davis

India, like the US in the past, looks down upon the horror genre as "B" grade content, says Crypt TV's Jack Davis, who is collaborating with the Mumbai-based production banner Abundantia Entertainment to help bring the genre in the top leagues.

Crypt TV, an American digital horror genre content creation company, was founded in 2015 by Jack Davis and "Inglourious Basterds" star Eli Roth. Roth has directed horror films like "Cabin Fever" and "Hostel".

"I know in India, scary is looked at as sort of 'B' level. That's how it's been looked at it in America at times. But the goal is to take it to 'A' level in this country," Davis told PTI in an interview.

The 28-year-old senior executive, who was on a business trip to India, said he is looking forward to his association with Abundantia, led by Vikram Malhotra.

"Taking scary to 'A' level here is very hard. We tell human stories and we do it across all mediums - movie, TV and digital. That has to be the goal," he added.

Besides increasing the fanbase in India, the core of the association with Abundantia is about co-developing ideas with homegrown talent in local language, Davis said.

What horror films like "Get Out" and "A Quiet Place" did for the US, he hopes to do something similar in India with his creative partnership with Abundantia.

"Movies like 'Get Out' and 'A Quiet Place' took scary to 'A' level in the US. How did 'A Quiet Place' do that? It's not a scary movie. It's a movie about two people, husband and wife trying to protect their family and the monsters accentuate that," Davis said.

Horror, as a genre, has seen a creative boom in Hollywood with director Jordan Peele reinterpreting the "scary" to tell stories such as "Get Out" and "Us" and actor-director John Krasinski coming up with a high-concept and well-loved horror survival drama "A Quiet Place". All the three films were critically and commercially acclaimed.

Davis dismissed the notion that horror is all about "kill or scare".

"We look at scary stories as a way to talk about very deep emotions... We're telling stories about humans and unifying emotions like grief, fear and your relationship with your dad or your mom, or coming of age.

"I think we won't run out of ideas because we're touching on human emotions and, human stories last forever. Scary is just a way to accentuate the human story."
"Or 'Miss Annity', one of our best new monsters, it is about conforming to society's expectations we all sometimes feel. Since we're focusing on emotions, I think we'll always have fresh stories to tell."
"The goal of our partnership is to both bring Crypt's monsters here and also create new stories together. We're going to co-develop both new ideas and bring our best monsters and develop them in local language with local filmmakers."