Janelle Monáe Talks AMC Fear Fest And Her Favorite Halloween Costumes
Janelle Monáe has made a career out of incredible music, iconic style, and marching to the beat of her own drum. She has blazed trails for queer and non-binary people with her work and she’s showing no signs of slowing down, especially as she’s taking up the mantle of AMC’s FearFest host. This October, she’s programmed her favorite horror films and will be making sure you’re keeping it freaky all month long.
We spoke with the music icon about sleeping in her Chucky costume, designing her first haunted attraction, and why she loves Halloween so damn much!
Dread Central: You love horror, you love Halloween. Can you remember the first horror movie you ever saw?
Janelle Monáe: The first horror movie I ever saw? That’s a really great question. I think let’s start with the first horror movie that scared the shit out of me. It has to be A Nightmare On Elm Street, Freddy Krueger.
DC: How old were you?
JM: I’m timeless. So I probably was two feet tall. We’ll just deal in feet. [Laughs]
But I remember watching it with my cousins over the summer and just being terrified. Terrified of going to sleep and having the “One, two Freddy’s coming for you” theme song, like the song in my head, and the kids jump roping, and my aunt had a water bed at that time, and I just remember the water bed being in the movie, and I just remember not sleeping. I really did not sleep because I thought Freddy was coming to get me. So just for fun, we would just watch that movie and I was both terrified and intrigued. I wanted more.
DC: And isn’t that wild how that happens? You get terrified and you’re like, “Actually, I would like more of this. I’m not going to stay away from it. I’m going to watch it for the rest of my life.” The same thing happened to me, so I get it.
JM: Yeah, yeah, yeah! It’s in my DNA, in my blood, I was made like this. I live for the Thrills, I live for the Frights. And I love to watch with other people and to share these movies. I can’t wait to have kids and show them Freddy Krueger.
DC: Oh my God. OK, so you’re hosting Fear Fest and you’ve curated some of your favorites. Can you tell me some of the favorites that you included?
JM: Sure. So I curated Child’s Play. That’s also one that I remember watching for the first time and being so intrigued and wanting a Good Guy doll, and also thinking all my dolls were going to come alive and kill me and my entire family.
There’s also A Nightmare On Elm Street. I did Halloween, the original. There’s Carrie, I want to say I even put Gremlins on there. I mean, we’re curating over 700 hours of movies, so you guys have to watch AMC+. I’m just so honored that they would want me to play such an iconic role as the Fear Fest host of the 700 Hours.
DC: There’s such a legendary history of horror hosts, so it’s got to be so cool to enter that pantheon. It’s great to see you stepping into that space.
JM: Yeah, thank you. It’s such a natural progression. Honestly, when you look at my Halloween costumes and sort of the roles that I have—I have a TV and film production company, Wonderland, and I have a horror film that I’m developing called Don’t Look, and I’m writing it with Akela Cooper, and we’re doing it through Universal. It’s about the Medusa story. I love that all my worlds [are colliding]. I don’t ever have to get paid to talk about Halloween or talk about horror or talk about just iconic horror movies. This is something that I do all year round. It’s a lifestyle for me.
DC: You also have a bunch of other stuff going on this Halloween. You have Monae Manor, you’re also having a massive Halloween party. I mean, you are a Hallo-queen, and I’m kind of obsessed with that.
JM: I’m so happy you mentioned Monae Manor. Please go to the LA Haunted Hayride and check out my first haunted house maze, Monae Manor. It is definitely going to have you screaming. It’s at least shoot 10 to 12 rooms of pure mayhem and madness. It’s a scream come true. I can’t believe that it’s even happening this year, and I have to give a big shout-out to the entire team, Mel specifically, who is another Hallo-queen. She and I worked on this maze together, so I’m just honored to have that. And we do have Halloween coming up, and I’m excited to premiere my new costume that I worked on for two years. I knew what I was going to be for Halloween over two years ago.
DC: Why this Halloween specifically that you had the plan for? Can you not reveal it? Does it give it away?
JM: Well, I can’t give it away, but I will say it’s a movie character. I’ll say that much. I saved it because last year I was going to be it, but we were on strike in the film and TV industry. So I wanted to make sure that I was standing in solidarity with SAG and not dressing up as any movie characters. So what I was going to be last year, I saved for this year.
DC: Oh, I’m so excited. But what are some of your favorite Halloween costumes you did as a kid? Because I always feel like kids’ Halloween costumes are the funniest and the best.
JM: I was Chucky. Yeah. I had the mask, I had the overalls. And I slept in my mask. My mom was like, “I think something’s wrong with you, but I love you.” And then I lost the mask! Something happened to the mask and everything had to go, and I was so upset. I love that mask. And I would have to say that, I mean, if I slept in it, it had to be my favorite.
DC: I was going to say, that’s incredible. So you were one of those kids who slept in a Halloween costume, and that brings me so much joy.
JM: Oh, I had to sleep in my costume last year when I was a chameleon. I slept in my chameleon costume because I shot all my content the day before my party, and it took eight hours to get into that costume and I wanted to wear it for my party. And they were like, “It’s going to take you another eight hours to get into this costume, and it’s also going to cost you a lot of money. You might be better off sleeping in it.” It was a joke and I was like, “Oh, no, no, no, you’re right. I’m going to sleep in it.” So I slept in my chameleon costume so that I could wear it to my party the next day.
DC: The dedication to the Halloween bit is just everything I needed to hear today.
JM: Thank you. And I think what I want to say, I want to make sure it’s clear, is Halloween is just an opportunity, in my opinion, for everybody to get out of their comfort zone, to travel to their imaginations, to their darkest of imaginations and their lightest of imaginations, and be whoever it is that you want to be. And I love that. I think as an artist, as a creative who does this for a living, I love when the world gives itself permission to transform.
Categorized:Interviews
