Pam Grier is no stranger to the horror genre, having starred in films from the ’70s. Blacula Scream Scream and The Twilight Peopleand more recently, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines. But upon entering into his latest project, Them: the scarethe actor notes how the genre has changed.
“The genre is growing,” Grier told Jugo Mobile during a Zoom call ahead of the second season premiere of the Little Marvin horror anthology. “Seeing it now on a level executed with sci-fi, camera, lighting and imagination… Before we were just dreaming about it, but now we’re executing events like, ‘Is that real?’ How did you do that?'”
Them It premiered in 2021 after receiving a two-season order from Prime Video. The first season, titled Covenanttakes place in 1950s Compton and follows a black family who moves to an all-white neighborhood and discovers horrors in their home.
Season 2, Fright, transports the series to 1991 Los Angeles as an LAPD detective investigates the gruesome murder of a foster mother amid rising tensions in the community due to the assault of black activist Rodney King. Deborah Ayorinde returns to the show as Detective Dawn Reeve, the daughter of Grier’s Athena Reeve.
Grier was familiar with the show before accepting her role and said she is always looking for new platforms and directors to work with. “I had not seen [the show] in its entirety, because I moved with my family from Colorado to New Mexico during the pandemic, so I didn’t have the luxury of seeing everything,” he said. “But when little Marvin found me, he was looking for someone to play Athena and I was in his sights. He sought me out and wanted to talk to me about this role.”
Grier recalled that the show’s creator told him: “It’s a complex role, but I think you’ve lived long enough. “You have a lot of experiences under your belt and I think you will find the confidence in my voice to join me.”
The complexities of Athena’s character attracted Grier to the role: “The woman is from the Civil Rights Movement. She stands tall and takes care of her family, and now she is losing her health and her youth, how is she going to balance this? And she has a secret that she can make or break her family.”
Throughout the series, paranormal episodes occur, including one in which Grier’s character sees his washing machine turn into a monster and charges toward it.
Grier described filming these sequences as “exhausting” and said they tend to stick with it. While she is a veteran of the horror genre, she doesn’t like that unpredictability in her personal life. “If there is a dark room, I don’t go in. I’ll send someone else first, I want the lights on. I just grew up protecting myself,” she shared.
While on set, Grier thinks about the audience and wonders, “Will the audience be as afraid as I am? Will they be that audience we have trained to watch horror movies, to give up their securities and be vulnerable? She compared the work in Them to other moments in his career, such as starring foxy brown. “You have to form an audience. They had to train them to see me in martial arts. As a woman, they weren’t used to seeing a woman practicing martial arts on screen. It was traditionally a man’s thing. “We have been training our audience to accept horror.”
Grier continued: “From 50 years ago to six years ago, to today, the element is more direct. Now people have seen it and said, “Okay, what can you do?” Little Marvin has found a way to hit you over the head, saying, “Here it is.” I discovered that in his voice and his confidence I knew what was required of me.”
In addition to finding support in Little Marvin, Grier forged a genuine bond with Ayorinde. “I always imagined that she would have a daughter who would have the strength that I could teach her and that she would be independent, adventurous and curious. She has those qualities,” he shared. “In the scenes I was in with her, I was able to experience what she had developed, not only from the first installment but also from the second, when she plays an extension of her first character.”
ThemSeason 2 is now streaming on Prime Video.
