Actress Lucy Boynton on Netflix’s Artful Ghost Story, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House
Credit: Matthew Brookes
If you're looking for a scare this Hallo-weekend that's a little more nuanced than something with "chainsaw" or "massacre" in the title, Netflix has you covered. The streaming giant's latest original movie, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, is like an "artful ghost story" according to one of its leads, actress Lucy Boynton.
"Everyone had kind of labeled it as a horror film, but it's much more than that," says Boynton, who shares the screen with The Affair's Ruth Wilson. "It takes a look at the existence of ghosts in a deeper, more emotional way." Think spooky, rather than slasher (but still just as jumpy).
The film follows Lily, a nurse (Ruth Wilson) who moves into a remote country home to take care of Iris, an elderly woman that is also a best-selling author of ghost stories (Paula Prentiss). The twist? The house has a pretty scary story of its own--and that's where Boynton comes in. "I play Polly Parsons, a character from one of Iris' books," says Boyton. "But it turns out that Polly also once lived in the house that Iris and Lily are living in now. And without giving too much away, they realize that her spirit has never really left."
Credit: Netflix
Even though Boynton has logged her fair share of time on supernatural movie sets (she has another thriller called The Blackcoat's Daughter in the pipeline), she says she still scares easily when the cameras aren't rolling. "This was one of those eerie, dark sets," she says. "Sometimes it would feel completely normal and then sometimes you would come back from lunch and see a wall smeared with fake blood. I would be like, 'Guys, really?' I used to sort of avoid watching horror movies, but with this film and others like Rosemary's Baby or Don't Look Now, I've learned that it can be more about a human experience that turns horrific, rather than empty violence and slashes. I've definitely found the beauty in it."
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Stream I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House now on Netflix.
And watch the trailer above.
