Gigi Saul Guerrero on ‘Bingo Hell’: ‘Only we can understand what scares us’

The director says a good horror movie should have relatable characters and themes

The first horror movie Gigi Saul Guerrero watched was Child’s Play 2. Speaking from San Diego, the 31-year-old Mexican-Canadian filmmaker says, “My mom did not allow me to watch anything scary so I would watch plastic surgeries on TV. I was a strange and dark child (laughs).

There was something about being kept away from horror that attracted Guerrero. “Once I watched Child’s Play 2, after secretly disobeying my mom, I was convinced Chucky was in the room with me. Horror is the only genre that follows you home. Every horror movie I would watch after that, I felt that those villains, those characters were with me.”

Horror films deal with social commentary and topical themes, even as it is kept entertaining, says Guerrero. “This is the only genre where you laugh, squirm, scream and have something to talk about.”