Jordan Roberts, showrunner of “John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams,” explains why the Peacock horror series is a genre-busting experience.
1. The horror is real: The mix of documentary with premium horror film-making, creates an experience like none other. The episode I directed, “A Killer Comes Home,” is about a real life serial killer, told by the local newspaper editor and publisher, who were also on the killers agenda. “Phone Stalker,” the episode John Carpenter directed, explores a mysterious stalker who drives a woman mad by hacking into her electronics. The episodes mix real news footage, interview and horror film making, to create a brand new terrifying and sometimes profound experience.
John Carpenter
2. The John Carpenter factor: I worked closely with John and the other directors, Michelle Latimer and Jan Pavlacky to incorporate Carpenter style film-making DNA into every episode. The audience will feel the magic of John Carpenter’s style in the cinematography, acting, suspense, scares, and overall story-telling. This infusion of John’s aesthetic creates a one of a kind experience.
3. Suburbia: The series is centered around the suburbs. All of these stories ask the audience to wonder what evil goes on in your neighborhoods. The suburbs have been explored in films and TV, but never as the focal point of an anthology horror series.
4. True crime meets paranormal: Evil manifests in many ways and “Suburban Screams” does not shy away. No other television series has explored true crime such as murder and stalking and also paranormal events through a lens of truth.
5. Real people equals real emotion: Our interview subjects have experienced trauma at the hands evil forces. The emotion is real. They are not actors, so the audience gets to see and feel their emotions across each episode. This is something we have experienced in documentaries, but never like this in a horror context, which mixes documentary and stylized horror scene-work to create a terrifying emotional experience, that is real.
