04/03/2015
Gene Simmons' 5 Favorite 'Elevated' Horror Movies
By Kory Grow /RollingStone.com
When Gene Simmons and WWE Studios announced they had teamed to make what they called "elevated" horror movies, the word "elevated" raised some eyebrows � and not in a Vincent Price kind of way. So Rolling Stone spoke with Kiss' resident Demon to find out just what he meant. "It's not gonna be slasher films and gore, because the easy way out is the cheap, stupid stuff," he says. "Texas Chainsaw? That's fine. Fine for some people. Not my style."
Although Simmons is a fan of A Nightmare on Elm Street, he thinks making "blood and guts" films is too easy. "Horror just means you get the bejesus scared out of you, and I think there are some good modern examples," he says. "Insidious was a great film."
The first movie to be made by Erebus Pictures, Simmons' new company with WWE Studios, is Temple. It centers around a commando team investigating a futuristic supercomputer that has begun behaving strangely. "It feels like Three Days of the Condor meets H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos," Simmons says. "'Temple' is what they call this kind of supercomputer that can do all kinds of things that we never thought of, except there are things that are happening there that no one can understand. Slowly find out, layer by layer, what the hell is going on."
The production company has two other scripts ready to be produced, though Simmons won't tease them ("You don't want to find out what you're getting for Christmas in July, right?"), and he has two he's specifically picked that are waiting in line. Currently, the singer-bassist has no plans to appear in Temple, but he's leaving the door open for cameos in the future movies.
CLICK HERE to see Simmons' five favorite "elevated" horror films.
