It's really Tracie Thoms’ own fault that she’s not more fully associated with horror. With a career that traverses genres, mediums, stage and screen, a genre fan can’t be blamed for not immediately thinking “HORROR!” when they hear Thoms’ name. But the Juilliard-trained performer and star of Rent, The Devil Wears Prada, Cold Case and countless other titles wants you to know she’s been a horror fanatic since long before her genre debut in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, released in 2007 as half of Grindhouse.
“I’ve always loved horror movies,” Thoms says. “I love the visceral nature of them. There’s an adrenaline rush that comes from putting yourself in scary (but safe) situations.” Like most horror fans, she found them as a kid, and they fortified her. “I truly believe watching them at a young age made me a braver and more compassionate adult.” And like many Fango readers, Thoms was drawn to the craft behind the creepy. “I was lucky because my father, Donald Thoms, was in the business working for Maryland Public Television at the time, and he’d tell me how they did all the scary stuff in the movies. I just love the magic of building scares and moving audiences in new and unexpected ways.”
So it’s no small wonder that, in between a very busy career on the stage and screen, Thoms’ filmography is filled, in between higher-profile gigs, with projects in the horror space, a list of independents (Blood Relatives, Raze) and shorts that point to Thoms’ true love of the genre. One of those is her recent work in Paul Bickel’s Our Happy Place, a psychological thriller concerning a woman (Raya Miles) caring for her newly-disabled husband (Bickel) in a remote house. Thoms and Eugene Byrd play friends bearing witness to what might be Raya’s mental breakdown — or something more sinister.
Thoms, who has gone from Broadway to Death Proof and every size production in between, didn’t flinch at the challenges the indie film presented. “I loved the problem solving involved in telling this story. We shot during the pandemic, and there was literally a crew of two: Paul and Raya. How do we tell this psychologically horrifying story with such limited resources? Paul has a history of doing lots of different jobs on film sets, so he put all his experience to work on this. It’s amazing to me what he and Raya were able to accomplish out there alone in the woods of Big Bear!”
Bickel confirms. “We filmed through extreme weather conditions, including four-foot-deep snow. There were days when I had to set the camera on the side of a mountain, turn it on, run down through the snow to get into the scene, then run back up through the same deep snow to shut it off.”
With no other crew members, Bickel and Miles developed a system that sounds not unlike the work of Fango faves The Adams Family. “When both of us were in a shot,” Bickel explains, “there were multiple times when I had to keep one hand just out of frame to manually rack focus on the camera while performing in the scene.”
After quarantine ended, and Bickel and Miles came down from the mountain, Thoms got even more involved. “Once the world opened up, we were able to all come together to finish the movie. Together. I got to lend my help in providing locations and the casting of our other friends and several additional murder victims in the woods. And our other producer David Ho coordinated the musical tracks that we all sung to for all the Christmas music in the film.”
What kind of movie did they end up with? You can find out for yourself, as the film is now available to rent or buy on Amazon. But as a hint, Thoms suggests a triple feature to get you in the right headspace. “Rosemary’s Baby, The Shining and Jacob’s Ladder. The first two for the psychological warfare that isolation can have on a couple — and specifically on the women in those situations. And Jacob’s Ladder for the non-linear storytelling of a person losing their grip on reality.”
Our Happy Place has garnered strong reviews at various festivals the world over, recently winning Best Horror Feature at the Sherman Oaks Independent Film Festival. And Thoms is still buzzing about the whole experience. “The whole thing really felt like we were kids and found our dad’s camera in the basement and decided to make a movie. Except in this case, all of us had careers in the business and skills to bring to the table. I can’t tell you how exciting it is to see people respond to it in theatres the way they do. It’s truly a dream come true!”
So, in between her busy career on TV and in upcoming films like The Devil Wears Prada 2, what would this stealthy scream queen want to tackle next in horror? “Oh boy. My dream project would likely be in the haunted house/ haunted family genre,” Thoms shares. “Poltergeist, Conjuring, Haunting of Hill House, Hereditary. Those films just really cut to the core of character building and what happens when you aren’t safe in the place you should feel the MOST safe. I think those stories are the scariest, and would be the most fun for me at this point in my career.
“I used to always want to be in a slasher film, but I think my days of running and screaming for hours are likely in my rear view. The market wasn’t there for Black women when I was the right age for it. But now with the explosion of interest in horror films, I hope we can carve out a place for people of color to tell deeper, more involved stories of family, history, and survival. Thank you Get Out and Sinners. I look forward to what’s to come!”
Watch the trailer for Our Happy Place below:
