Behind the Scenes: SCARE ME - Interview with Josh Ruben

Alternate Ending - Movie Review Podcast

Here's the headline, in our interview with Josh Ruben writer/director/star of the new feature SCARE ME, Rob is 95% sure Josh tells him he's good looking. To be sure, you'll need to listen for yourself. For added hilarity, you can see the live reaction when Rob *thinks* that Josh tells him he's good looking. Imagine when Charlie sees that he's found the golden ticket.

So SCARE ME...

Two writers of varying success, end up holed up in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, after a power outage has thwarted their plans to spend the weekend writing in solitude. To pass the time, the pair decide to have a "scare off" of sorts, to see who reigns as the best storyteller. Tensions build as feelings of inferiority creep in, for one of the two.

What you'll love is the films clever weaving together of both horror and comedy tropes, that have your heart racing one minute and questioning why you're laughing the next.

Josh Ruben as Fred

SCARE ME is Josh Ruben's first feature film and he has a lot on the line. For some, that might mean searching for purpose or a sense of life's meaning. For others, it could be the one shot they're giving themselves before they decide to sell their soul to corporate America (like me). But no, I'm not talking about any of that. I'm talking about cold hard cash. Josh li-ter-ally cashed out his 401K to make this movie.... let's pause there for a second...

...I immediately internalized this information. "What if Rob had a big dream, would I support him cashing out our life savings, because I know it means everything in the world to him?" "Am I the kind of spouse that recognizes that life is short and that we should embrace the now, because we might save our whole lives and then fall off a bridge and never enjoy it?"

After carefully evaluating I decided that no, no I am definitely not that person.

So back to Josh Ruben. Josh plays Fred, who you will quickly find is the "lesser" writer. He's endearing enough, but has a short fuse that keeps his character edgy and unpredictable. After the interview, Rob and I have a really honest conversation about which character we were rooting for, and frankly I think our instinctual leanings end up being ironically part of the message the film is trying to send. I realize that this won't make sense until you go out and watch it, so go stream it on Shudder!

Aya Cash as Fanny

Aya Cash is outstanding. If you're a The Boys fan (which I am not, but Rob LOVES it), you'll recognize her as the evil and highly unlikeable villain, Stormfront. In Scare Me, she is playing Fanny, a successful horror writer who's confidence comes accross as both empowering and narcissistic. Fanny is in the driver seat as she pushes Fred to dig deeper to unearth a truly scary story.

Ugh, I just spent like a good 2 hours trying think of a concise way to summarize this movie and then I realized the trailer does it so much better. Check it out!

https://youtu.be/NeYWT7CnFK0

What we think you'll love about Josh Ruben

Well first, we're sure that you'll love hearing Josh talk about his passion for his film and some of the motivations behind how he structured the film. We also think you'll find the way he built character chemistry interesting. Most importantly, we think you'll love his hair. I realize that seems shallow, but he does in fact, have that Patrick Dempsey hair thing going on that seems effortless, but it just can't be.

You can find SCARE ME streaming on Shudder now and we highly recommend giving it a watch.