Devon Sawa's life in horror: Final Destination, Chucky, Black Friday

Some actors with horror movie credits can be a little embarrassed about dabbling in the genre. Not Devon Sawa. When the Final Destination and Idle Hands star Zooms EW to talk about his horror roles, he is wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with artwork from the 1985 horror-comedy classic Return of the Living Dead.

"I went through my closet," says the actor. "I was going, 'I'm doing some horror stuff today.' First I had an Evil Dead shirt on, and I was like, 'Nah.' Then I put my Monster Squad T-shirt on. But I ended up with Return of the Living Dead. This poster was on my wall when I was a kid for many years. The film said, 'F--- you, it's a horror movie, but we're going to have fun.' It really is a great film."

Truth is, an Evil Dead tee might have been a little too on the nose given that Sawa's new film Black Friday (out Nov. 19) costars that franchise's lead actor, Bruce Campbell. In director Casey Tebo's movie, the pair play employees at a toy store whose sales season turns to bloody mayhem after its customers are infected by an alien parasite.

"I've been a fan of Bruce since I was a little kid," says Sawa. "When Army of Darkness came out, I was at the age when I was watching that video cassette over and over and over. I'd be lying if I said I didn't use a lot of Bruce Campbell in Idle Hands. I was just a gigantic fan. Also, he is a super-nice guy, there from the minute we start 'til the minute we end. What you'd think he'd be like is what he's like. He's just that guy."

The Canadian actor's Hollywood career began on the supernatural side of town, when he played the "human" version of the titular ghost in 1995's Steven Spielberg–produced Casper.

"It means a lot to me," he says of his breakout role. "I was working in Vancouver on Canadian stuff, and they did a nationwide casting call for Casper. Somehow my cassette was given to Spielberg. I remember my grandmother had to come with me, because my parents were away, and she's this little Polish woman. We walked onto this massive stage and met Spielberg. She could not care less about him because she was in this world where there was a roller coaster and a big house built in the stage. It was a magical time."

Here, Sawa looks back at a career fully stocked with ghouls, zombies, and killer dolls.

Idle Hands (1999)

"I remember it being like summer camp. I always tell people it's a tie between Seth Green [his Idle Hands costar] and Jason Schwartzman [with whom Sawa worked on 2002's Slackers], where you got to set and you didn't stop smiling. And [then with] the rest of the cast, Vivica A. Fox and Jessica Alba, it was a great time. I was fearless at that age. I didn't care what people thought."

Final Destination (2000)

"What I remember the most is just being blown away by the finished product. I think those filmmakers, James Wong and Glen Morgan, were geniuses. There were so many things they were doing that they didn't discuss. They had a vision. They did the bus sequence, and I didn't know what they were doing. When I saw the film, it was like, 'Oh my god, that's what they were doing!' For many years, I thought I couldn't [imagine being in another Final Destination film]. I thought that ship had sailed. But I think seeing how they rebooted Halloween, I would be interested. I love that they redo the premise at the beginning — it's always this one person having a premonition. I love to see these new cast members come and seeing their take on it. If I come back, I come back. If I don't, I don't. We'll see."

The Exorcism of Molly Hartley (2015)

"It was a little bit disappointing because it was made for video on demand and that was it. It didn't matter how good or bad it was, that's where it was going, and that's the thing I found frustrating. I liked doing the film. I'm actually talking to the director, Steven Monroe, about another script he's got."

Hunter Hunter (2020)

"I feel like I've had a lot of reboots in my career — as a child, as a teenager, as a young man. I think Shawn Linden [Hunter Hunter writer-director] reset me again by grounding me and demanding that I grow my beard out and let the gray hairs [be seen]. It was like, 'I'm not trying to be the young hotshot lawyer or hotshot cop. I'm in my next stage, and it's a great stage, and that's what I've got to lean into.' Hunter Hunter is really special to me. We had a crew go into the woods in Winnipeg. It was hard, and we got snowed out, and we were soaked and cold, and I don't think there was one crew member that didn't want to make a great film first. You felt that on set."

Death Rider in the House of Vampires (2021)

"I don't think I'm ever going to have an experience again like Death Rider. Glenn Danzig [Misfits singer and the film's writer-director] is a punk rocker first — an out-of-his-mind rock star. I mean, there was one point where we shut down because he didn't like the color of a wall, and they painted the wall, and then we had to let the wall dry. There was a couple of days we went out to the desert because he had to get this shot, and we sat there all night long, and, yeah, it's frickin' Glenn Danzig, you know what I mean? Thank god Eli Roth was there because at the beginning I was kind of scared. It was not the typical way of filmmaking. Eli was just like, 'We're going to be part of something. We've just got to enjoy this!' And that's what did it. We had fun."

Chucky (Syfy and USA, 2021)

"I absolutely love Chucky. I think my managers and agents were a little nervous bringing Chucky to me. They probably didn't know what I would think. But when it came through my emails I was like, 'Oh my god, Chucky!' Like Bruce Campbell, this is something that's nostalgic to me — it means a lot to me. I want to go to work and have fun, and that's why I do these things. Chucky really has been phenomenal."

Black Friday (2021)

"I hadn't done comedy in a long time. I did Idle Hands and then a few years later Slackers. To be quite honest, on Slackers I felt a little out of my element. It had Jason Segel and Jason Schwartzman, who are comedy geniuses and very much into improv. I felt a little bit out of my league with those two guys, and I kind of started veering away from comedy. But when I got the script for Black Friday, it felt a lot like Idle Hands — like we could play it straight, play it grounded, and let the craziness of the situation be the comedy. It just felt like a good fit, like a time to revisit comedy again. It's nostalgic for me, to have practical effects and someone like Robert Kurtzman [legendary makeup effects artist] doing them, because he's been around the block and done everything, from back in the day up to stuff with [filmmaker] Mike Flanagan. There's something about being on set and having buckets of different-colored bloods and people in prosthetic face masks. It just feels real. It feels good."

Black Friday is in theaters and on demand Nov. 19. The film's cast also includes Ivana Baquero, Ryan Lee, Stephen Peck, and Michael Jai White.

Watch the trailer for it above.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Related content: