[Interview] Sandy King for SUBURBAN SCREAMS

In JOHN CARPENTER’S SUBURBAN SCREAMS, the series explores the dark secrets and unspeakable evil that sometimes lurks beneath the surface of the sun-drenched streets, manicured lawns, and friendly neighbors of suburbia. Each episode focuses on one true tale of terror, told by the real people who lived through it. Their firsthand accounts are brought to life through premium cinematic scene work, news clips, home photos, and archival footage, combining the visual language of horror films with the tools and techniques of documentaries, creating a uniquely frightening experience for viewers.

Leading up to the series premiere, Nightmarish Conjurings’ Shannon McGrew spoke with executive producer Sandy King. During their chat, they discussed everything from crafting the cinematic approach to telling these stories, the interview process for each subject, and why it is people are drawn to these kinds of shows.

Hello Sandy! Thank you so much for speaking with me today. I have to be honest. I could only get through 2 episodes of the series before I was so scared and disturbed that I had to shut it off. That being said, what inspired the creation of this series, and why take such a cinematic approach to telling these stories?

Sandy King: The production company DEGA approached us with this notion, and we figured that the reason they’re coming to us is for the cinematic approach. Otherwise, why are we there? The reason to do it was this hybrid combination of reality, unscripted and scripted, and I felt like if we were going to please our audience, we needed to make it a more immersive experience than the normal true crime series.

The idea was to really make the reality part, the interviews, and those things, touchstones and make the scripted part immersive of what these people went through. Not to make it fantasy, not to make that part fiction but to make the viewer feel what these people went through. So nothing is fiction in the scripted part. It’s just to make it more immersive and then to have the interviews remind you throughout it, yes, this really happened in their own words. We took their interview pieces and had them essentially come in and narrate the more cinematic pieces.

How did you go about selecting which stories to feature? Were there certain criteria you were looking to meet?

Sandy King: It started out with a big slate that the network and production company and showrunner had liked. John and I chose the ones we thought worked the best by essentially getting rid of a lot of supernatural and ghost stories to make it more real so that the audience could feel like this could happen on their street. This could happen next door. The idea is for a viewer to come away wondering what they would do if this happened to them, and how they would feel if this were around them.

When I was looking at these [stories] the common thread [was] the victims, not the crime because all these other shows are about the murderer, the stalker, the this, the that and they focus on the event. What’s really important and what you really realize even more the more we were interviewing people was these people lived the event forever. You are never free no matter what closure they say they give to the victims. There is no closure for them. They’re forever changed by it. The town is forever changed. That became overwhelmingly clear the more interviews we did, and that became the heart of the series.

When it came to interviewing the subjects who had experienced these horrific crimes, how did you approach that to make sure that these people knew the series was coming from a respectable lens?

Sandy King: The interviews were not short. They had pre-interviews first and there were conversations in the parking lot when they got nervous before they would come in. There was one incident where an escape serial killer who escaped twice kept coming back and victimizing the town and killing people and burning things down.

It was interesting because the owner of the newspaper and the editor of the newspaper were both interviewed, and they hadn’t spoken to each other in decades. They had a falling out big time. The owner of the newspaper’s house was burned down, and his wife left him. The editor kind of relished being the center of attention and wrote a book on the crimes. They had two different views of the aftermath, the editor felt that these things pass – you put it in a shoe box and put it on a shelf and it’s over. The owner was very much not of that opinion and said that these things are never over.

So, he shows up, this crusty old guy who I loved, and everybody was like, watch out, he’s really pissed off. I sat down outside with him, and he said he wasn’t going to come in and do this interview. And I said, well, talk to me. And he said all of this glorifies the murderers. And I said, wait, this is about you. This is about how you feel about what happened in your town and what happened to you. It took about half an hour to let him understand that this really wasn’t about the murderer. And he said, okay, and came inside. But he and the other guy were still circling each other [Laughs]. There was a certain massaging of things to get trust.

With John Carpenter as one of the directors, how were the other directors and creative team members selected for the series?

Sandy King: There was a production company in the Czech Republic, and they actually brought on our two cinematographers in those crews who were exceptional and our two first ADs were really sharp. We had one I would have brought back in a suitcase with me if I could have and had him do all of our shows [Laughs]. We had these layers of production based on the fact that we were doing interviews in the United States with real people and shooting in the Czech Republic for American suburbia, which was insane. There were some challenges [Laughs]. Then we did post-production back in the United States so if you ever asked for a more complicated set of criteria, you couldn’t get it [Laughs].

Lastly, what do you believe is the appeal of true crime horror for audiences, whether it’s general audiences or horror fans?

Sandy King: I think some people are just voyeuristic. These are safe ways to vicariously watch other things and you’re at a distance. When you watch horror, you’re being asked to ride the roller coaster and because we’re more immersive, we’re making your heart race. The other shows are letting you keep more emotional distance. When we create a hybrid for you, I’m saying, come here, little girl. Ride the roller coaster but experience what these people have gone through which makes them who they are today. That’s what I want people to understand when we make this more cinematic presentation. I want people to feel what these people have gone through that makes them who they are today.

JOHN CARPENTER’S SUBURBAN SCREAMS is now available to stream on Peacock.

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Shannon McGrew

Founder/Co-Owner at Nightmarish Conjurings

Shannon is the Founder of Nightmarish Conjurings and a lover of all things horror and haunt related. When she's not obsessively collecting all things "Trick 'R Treat" related, or trying to convince everyone that "Hereditary" is one of the greatest horror films ever made, you can find her designing interiors for commercial restaurants. An avid haunt fan, Shannon spends the entire year visiting haunts and immersive experiences throughout the Southern California area and hopes to one day design her own haunted attraction.

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