Offseason Star Jocelin Donahue on Bringing the Nightmarish and Moody Horror Film to Life

Jocelin Donahue’s breakout horror role came in Ti West’s The House of the Devil back in 2009, which immediately made her a fan favorite in the world of indie horror. Starring as Samantha, a babysitter in the ’80s who is unknowingly the target of a Satanic cult, Donahue spent much of the film acting entirely by herself, with her talents evoking empathy and engagement from audiences. The actor would return to the horror world with projects like Insidious: Chapter 2, Dead Awake, and Doctor Sleep, with her latest effort, Offseason, serving as another throwback to classic entries in the horror genre. Offseason lands in select theaters, On Demand, and on Digital HD on March 11th.

In the new film, “Upon receiving a mysterious letter that her mother’s grave site has been vandalized, Marie (Jocelin Donahue) quickly returns to the isolated offshore island where her late mother is buried. When she arrives, she discovers that the island is closing for the offseason with the bridges raised until Spring, leaving her stranded. One strange interaction with the local townspeople after another, Marie soon realizes that something is not quite right in this small town. She must unveil the mystery behind her mother’s troubled past in order to make it out alive.”

ComicBook.com caught up with Donahue to talk about her interest in the genre, hopeful collaborations, and culinary interests at local eateries while growing up in Connecticut.

ComicBook.com: I recently spoke to your co-star Joe Swanberg and our discourse about Chicago pizza took up a good chunk of the interview. I don’t want you to be left out of the regional cuisine discussion, so when it comes to Friendly’s, what was your go-to order?

Jocelin Donahue: Oh, my God. Either a grilled cheese or a griddled blueberry muffin. Which, seriously, I can still taste, now that you say that. I did spend a lot of time at Friendly’s as a child. I love that question.

Sure, Mr. Swanberg has deep dish or whatever, but I think Friendly’s is the more important topic of conversation. I really appreciate the timeliness of your answer, your fans are clearly going to be super excited to find out what you think about the closing-by-the-minute Friendly’s locations.

Wait — Orange Julius, is that a separate business or was there also Orange Julius at Friendly’s?

That’s a separate thing.

Wasn’t there some kind of creamsicle thing at Friendly’s, too?

Oh, absolutely. It never got to be quite as popular as the Cone Head, of course.

Yeah. What’s your order from Friendly’s?

I would always go with the Munchie Mania, because you got the variety of appetizers. Also, the chicken strip basket, I was a big fan of.

Oh, yes.

And the Fribble, who could turn down a Fribble?

Maybe that’s what I’m thinking of. Yeah, the Fribble.

Well, I think that’s all the time we have. Thanks so much for chatting.

The hard-hitting questions.

You have amassed in your career quite a number of horror credits. I know you’re a fan of horror, but early in your career, did you see your career going this way, that you would become a “scream queen,” if you will? Or is that just a happy accident that you’re glad to embrace?

I think that I would say happy accident. It’s definitely not something I was expecting, but having my first lead role in Ti’s movie led to a lot of future opportunities and started my education in the classics.

In the last 15 years that I’ve been doing this, now I have such a deep appreciation for what can happen in horror because it encompasses all genres, all emotions. Very high stakes to very emotional, cerebral to slapstick and gore. There’s just so much in it. It’s really a fun genre to explore. 

I think what’s fun about Offseason is it’s channeling the ’70s and ’80s vibe like The Fog or Messiah of Evil or a Lucio Fulci movie. There’s just a lot of nightmare logic going on that doesn’t fully explain itself. As a performer, did you feel you needed to have conversations with [writer/director] Mickey [Keating] about, even though he’s not showing it, what’s really going on here? Or do you just stick with the script and, whatever the script gives you, that’s all you want to focus on bringing to life? 

It was fun to hear Mickey break down his mythology for everything because he did have answers for those things. But, ultimately, like you say, nightmare logic, dream logic, there’s no solid ground there. That was really fun to play, the moment we’re witnessing Marie realizing that the normal is devolving into the abnormal. What seemed beyond belief is now undeniable. Watching that transformation, that’s more of an ephemeral feeling that doesn’t necessarily have to correspond to, “Oh, she’s seeing this. She’s thinking about this.”

It is just this amorphous, surreal, uncanny, weird Lovecraftian thing. And, like you say, like the fog, there’s an analogy there, too. It’s like, everything’s coming into focus. She’s shrouded in this fog. And even the motif of walking into focus in a lot of shots, I think that really tells the story, which has a Lovecraftian thing going on, too.

The whole vibe of this movie — I’m sure you get questions about horror movies like, “Was it really scary to make this movie?” “Of course it’s not, because it’s a movie.” However, because of all of these foggy landscapes, these seaside, abandoned locations, were they more evocative than say, when you were filming House of the Devil and it’s just a house? Did that help bring out that atmospheric moodiness to your performance?

Oh, for sure. I mean, the locations were just so evocative. Where she comes upon, in the woods, where she sees this abandoned — I think it was a sugar refinery. It actually was, in the 1800s. Or the town, running through an empty town that’s built in the 1940s. Running through the fog and these tropical, lush landscapes, it certainly helps with the vibe, the performance, the feeling.

The only time I actually felt scared was running through the fog, where I couldn’t see where I was going. There were a few times, at night, where I was running on pavement, and I was like, “Oh, no. I hope I’m not going to hit a pothole or something.” And, of course, facing off against Richard Brake, that was pretty scary, for real. 

Speaking more to the genre, you’ve collaborated with so many cool directors and filmmakers and been part of the Stephen King world and the Insidious world, do you have a franchise or a genre filmmaker that you would still love to collaborate with or are you just excited for whatever opportunities come your way?

I mean, it’s a little bit of both. Of course, I’m grateful for every time I have a chance to make something with collaborative, creative people. I love Alex Garland’s work. I would love to work on some minimalist sci-fi thing with him. For genre stuff, there’s just so many great people working right now. [Tigers Are Not Afraid filmmaker] Issa López, I love her stuff. 

I’d love to do more sci-fi. I’d love to do more action stuff. I mean, I’d love to keep working.

We’ll get Alex Garland, he can take the nacho fries Taco Bell commercial you did, we can adapt that into a feature. Maybe cross it over with some Annihilation, and now we’re talking.

Well, to be honest, that Taco Bell commercial, James Gray directed that, and that was pretty amazing. And Hoyte Van Hoytema was the DP on that, so I also consider getting to work with some giants on that commercial. So, thanks for bringing that up.

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Offseason lands in select theaters, On Demand, and on Digital HD on March 11th.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You can contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter.