Don’t Kill the Messenger welcomes writer, director, and producer, Chris Landon

Film Producer Chris Landon on Growing Up in Hollywood and Creating “Feel-Good Horror”

In a captivating episode of “Don’t Kill the Messenger,” host Kevin Goetz sits down with Chris Landon, the creative force behind films like Happy Death Day, Freaky, Disturbia, and most recently, Heart Eyes. As the son of television legend Michael Landon, Chris has carved his own path in Hollywood, specializing in what he calls “feel-good horror” – a unique blend of scares and laughs that has become his signature style.

From Hollywood Royalty to Finding His Own Voice

Growing up as Michael Landon’s son provided Chris with an insider’s view of the entertainment industry, though he emphasizes that his childhood felt normal from his perspective. It was only when venturing out in public that the reality of his father’s fame became apparent:

“There was sort of the private life that to us felt very normal because it’s all you know when you’re sort of born into that situation… But the difference being when we went out, it changed. That’s when you became painfully aware of how different things were for us. And to be honest, I didn’t like it. I didn’t love it.”

Despite his father’s success in family-friendly television, Chris was drawn to horror films from an early age. This fascination was partly enabled by his father’s parenting style:

“My dad kind of like wanted to be the cool dad and the no rules dad because he had us on the weekends and I think he wanted to win the cool parent game. And so he made my mom be the heavy. I kind of at a young age just sort of got dropped down a well of darkness in terms of watching stuff that was wildly inappropriate for me to watch. But my dad, he just started letting my sister and I rent. This is back in the day when we had video stores. He let us just rent what we wanted.”

The Balance of Horror and Heart

What makes Chris Landon’s films unique is his ability to balance horror with genuine emotion and humor. When discussing his approach to the horror-comedy Heart Eyes, he explains:

“This could be like the most scary and violent romcom ever made. And I loved that idea because I also, apart from having a love of horror, have grown up with sisters and have grown up watching romcoms and both an appreciation and also like, I hate them at the same time.”

He emphasizes that even in genre mashups, emotional authenticity is crucial:

“It’s fine to sort of exist in these very heightened mashup kinds of movies, but I always try to ground the characters, at least the central character… These two people, their love story, while we’re poking fun at romcoms, this love story still has to be genuine. It has to be real. Or this won’t work. It can’t be too, it can’t be cynical.”

Chris’s newest film, Drop, releasing April 11, represents what he calls his “grown-up movie” – a modern-day Hitchcock thriller starring Meagan Fahy:

“It’s about a single mother who’s sort of stepping back out into the world for the first time. Goes on a date and she starts getting weird airdrops from somebody in the room and they’re kind of playful at first. And she and her date make a game of it. But then she gets one that says, check your security cameras. She goes on her phone and she finds that there’s a gunman in her house holding her son hostage.”

From growing up in the shadow of a television icon to forging his own path as a filmmaker with a unique voice, Chris Landon’s journey reflects the power of persistence, authenticity, and finding one’s unique creative perspective. His ability to blend horror with heart has established him as one of Hollywood’s most innovative genre filmmakers, with a clear philosophy that resonates both on and off-screen.