It’s a spooky October afternoon at AGBO studios in Los Angeles. The wind howls, shadows stretch, and today we’re with Ari Costa, who made his directorial debut last year with All Fun and Games — co-written/co-directed by Costa and Eren Celeboglu. The film gives new meaning to "play at your own risk."

Ari Costa, currently Senior VP of Physical Production at AGBO, has shaped memorable projects for over a decade. He’s worked with the Russo Brothers since 2010, contributing as Associate Producer on Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. Costa also co-produced Mosul and was Executive Producer for Netflix's Extraction films.

In this interview, Ari Costa shares his journey into horror, making his directorial debut, and his passion for supporting emerging filmmakers.

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Let’s jump into it. What is your favorite “classic” horror movie?
Costa: Classic- Rosemary’s Baby, love the visuals, the NYC vibe, and it feels very current in the way Rosemary is totally gaslit (overly used term, sorry) not only by her husband, but her whole apartment building. I remember growing up, my mother telling me it was the scariest movie she had ever seen. The experience as a woman watching that film is something I can only imagine, but I still felt hopeless, angry, and out of control experiencing that film through Rosemary’s POV.

‍How about favorite “contemporary” horror movie?
Costa: I love Hereditary. Most recently I really liked Talk to Me, and Woman of The Hour, which is more thriller than horror film, but I thought the structure was really smart and tone and tension were masterful. It was also shot by a really talented young DP, Zach Kuperstein.  

Regarding crafting the perfect scare scene for your audience — what elements are needed?
Costa: A lot of it is looking inside yourself and thinking about your darkest secrets, what makes you scared. Most of the time that is going to be relatable. I’m also a fan of restricted POV, sometimes the tension of not being able to see something is worse than being able to see it.

Its definitely a marriage between great acting, cinematography, and sound design.

Sound is hugely underrated in crafting scares. Then once you’re in the edit, look at your natural inclination for the cut point, then shave or add a few frames, what makes you jump in the room.

‍What do you think is more important in horror: atmosphere or shock value?
Costa: I don’t look down at any type of horror, ideally a combination of atmosphere and shock can be utilized.

Atmosphere is setting the table, and shock is ripping the tablecloth off it.

If you think about movies like Mandy, those are very atmospheric, the shock is in the imagery, but there aren’t really jump scares, and its super effective. However I don’t discredit shock horror, its part of the toolbox, one isn’t more valuable than the other.

How do you go about developing a villain or a terrifying character? How much is of human element vs the unknown?
Costa: This is a question my writing and directing partner and I talk about often, we believe a well crafted villain should have some level of relatability.  You may not agree with their POV, but at least you can understand how they came to it. Though as of late, I’ve been thinking more about the unknown. It seems Hollywood and audiences want everything explained, as Guillermo Del Toro says, paraphrasing here “there can be no unexplained magic,”

but if you think about Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men, you really don’t know anything about him as a character, and its his unpredictability… his cold demeanor that makes him terrifying.

‍As far as we know he’s an alien, a killing machine that keeps coming. He’s one of the scariest villains in film history.

‍Are there any horror tropes that you try to avoid or subvert in your movies?
Costa: Ask me in a couple years after I’ve tried them all 😊. I find setting out to intentionally subvert tropes can backfire, you end up at some audience testing where someone doesn’t understand something and you reshoot half your movie and betray your original intention. You explain the subversion, and then nothing has been subverted.

At the end of the day all you can do is make a movie that you want to see and hope others want to see it too, hopefully it resonates.

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How do you decide what to show versus what to leave to the audience's imagination?
Costa: I’m a big subscriber in the less is more mentality, however that less has to be correct. If what you do show is planned, calculated, and terrifying it makes that which you don’t show so much worse.

Let’s get personal and dig into the inner Ari. Do you have any personal fears that influence the themes of your movies?
Costa: I hate the sight of things crawling under skin, have not managed to put that in a movie yet. What is that? The fear of something taking over your body or mind?


Do you believe that horror films should carry a deeper message or social commentary?
Costa: No, I think some movies can be made for pure entertainment. I think as long as the characters and world is somewhat relatable the audience is going to want to go along for the ride. But if you want to make a film with a deeper message, genre is a great way to get people to take their medicine.


Why do you feel that horror movies don’t get as much attention (as they should) during award season? What needs to change?
Costa: It’s a good question. I think a lot of critics look down upon them, see them as cheap or easy, but as someone who has both directed and produced films, I can tell you filmmaking is not easy. Horror seems to be a crowd pleasing genre rather than one that is thought of for awards. Perhaps if more mainstream or prestige type directors tackled the genre, it may be looked at in a different way.

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Final and most important question. If you could chose one of the games in All Fun and Games you are 100% positive you will win (and survive), which game would it be and why?
Costa: Hide and Seek, my two year old daughter never can find me.

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This interview was edited for concision and clarity.