Lara Vosburgh Of ‘Inner Demons’ Talks Female Stereotypes In Horror

“I went full demon.” We’re sitting at the Blue Bar of the Algonquin Hotel in Midtown, Manhattan and Lara Vosburgh is walking me through her audition process. She explains how she channeled dormant, evil entities within in her — she swears we all have them — to land the role of Carson Morris in Inner Demons.

Seth Grossman’s horror mockumentary follows Carson, a troubled teen that believes she’s been taken over by something wicked and copes by injecting heroin and popping pills. Her God-fearing parents are beside themselves and agree to let a camera crew into their home to document the routine of a young heroin addict. Unbeknownst to Carson, this is part of a larger scheme for a family intervention resulting with her being shipped off to rehab.

Grossman, who previously worked as a producer on the popular reality series Intervention, collaborated with screenwriter Glenn Gers to incorporate the rehabilitation process into Carson’s story, making this young woman’s struggle against smack and Satan feel all the more real.

“It was a very physical role,” Vosburgh explains. “My [mandatory] military training and dance background were both very useful.” The actress was born in Manhattan, raised in Israel, spent summers in Los Angeles, and recently moved back to the Big Apple to attend the Atlantic Acting School, a conservatory attached to the Atlantic Theater Company co-founded by David Mamet.

“In developing the demon, Seth and I studied hyenas, wolves, and other different kinds of beasts,” she explains. “Also, Jack Nicholson in The Shining was a huge inspiration.” Vosburgh, in her first lead role, had about two weeks to develop two starkly different characters: Carson the junkie and Carson the possessed.

From the first five minutes, it’s apparent that Inner Demons isn’t your average, tacky tale of demonic possession. In fact, the theme of religion is fairly minute compared to Carson’s fight against the worst parts of herself. Heroin keeps her safe by forcing those darn demons to stay submerged. Like the best films in the genre, Inner Demons explores demonic possession as a metaphor for something else — in this case, the physical effect of drugs on a body.

Heightening the tension on film was the fast-paced shoot; Grossman’s cast and crew had a mere thirteen days to shoot the entire film. “I was babysitting between shoots,” she tells me. “I would have to wipe all my makeup off beforehand so I wouldn’t scare the kid.” Yet Vosburgh’s fear of setting a bad example for the Los Angeles youth is something she needn’t worry about as she’s starred in one of the most progressive female roles in the horror genre, possibly ever.

Sure, there’s a touch of a love interest in the form of Jason (played by Morgan McClellan), a PA on the show-within-the-movie’s set, who seeks to help Carson cheat through rehab even if it costs him his job. Carson is a good-looking gal and Jason is obviously attracted to her — body and demonic soul in all — but, she’s never once overtly sexualized. Too often in American horror are women depicted as sexy and stupid. Even classic scream queens like Jamie Lee Curtis and Neve Campbell, women who were clever enough to trick their masked tormenters, were dolled up for the occasion. As for their co-stars: it’s become second nature to watch a conventionally hot teenage girl get hacked to death by a notoriously phallic weapon because she chose to run towards danger. Not Inner Demons‘ Carson: she’s a flawed and complicated female protagonist.

“The first time I heard that I was being sent out to do a horror film, I was like, ‘No thank you,'” Vosburgh confesses. “I was not open-minded in the beginning, which is my fault. You have to read the script first, no matter the genre. If it’s a good story, it’s a good story. I was scared about being sexualized and playing the victim, but when I saw Carson, I fell in love.'”

Horror, as a genre, might not be doing women any favors, but Vosburgh is stepping up to the plate and changing the game with Grossman’s film. “[Carson] has so many layers to her,” she says. “She has so much strength, so much vulnerability: there aren’t many roles like this out there for women my age. It was a treat.”

Vosburgh isn’t sure exactly what’s next; she’s just happy to be in school for the moment. She hosts a work-in-progress, trilingual (Hebrew, Arabic, and English) blog called Let’s Talk and is keeping her eye out for roles like Carson in the future.

[Where to stream Inner Demons]

 

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Photos/Gifs: Inner Demons/YouTube