The Flash Director Andy Muschietti Kept His Horror Experience Out Of The Movie
The old DC universe is dead and a new DC universe will rise from its ashes. But before "Superman: Legacy" kick-starts a new era of superhero movies, there are a few leftover movies to be released even if they all become dust in the wind. It's like with the last few issues of comics before the New 52 reboot — you knew it would most likely all go away, but might as well see it all go down.
One of those leftover movies, and arguably the biggest question mark for DC, is "The Flash." This is their most troubled and controversial movie outside of the Snyder Cut, a film plagued with creative changes, a parade of directors and writers that leave as soon as they enter the project, and a star with plenty of legal trouble. Now, it seems we're finally going to see this movie, even despite the Ezra Miller controversy. Andy Muschietti and writer Christina Hodson finally did crack the code, but it may surprise audiences that Muschietti, in his big superhero film debut, is not bringing any of his horror roots with him to "The Flash."
/Film writer Jenna Busch attended a screening of "The Flash," at CinemaCon 2023, and during a Q&A afterward, director Andy Muschietti and producer Barbara Muschietti had much to say about the lack of horror in the film.
Keeping the horror out of the hero
"You don't see much horror in this one because there was no place for it," Andy Muschietti said, before adding that he didn't really have to switch gears between working as a horror director and as a superhero director. "In every movie, I approach it first from an emotional angle, and if that core is powerful enough then it's worth telling a story around it. And I think that will happen for every genre that I do. I like many genres, I'm not married to horror."
It's not that Andy Muschietti absolutely has to bring horror into every single project he makes. Considering he's really mostly dealt with that genre, however, and with how much other horror filmmakers who transitioned into superhero movies also brought some horror flare to the genre (like James Wan), it's not that far-fetched to think he would find a way to marry the two genres with "The Flash."
Even outside of his feature film work on the two "It" movies and "Mama," Muschietti was also set to mix horror with drama and fantasy in his version of "Locke & Key" before it went in a different direction — though he stayed on as an executive producer. He was even supposed to do a live-action adaptation of the horror-fantasy-drama manga and anime juggernaut, "Attack on Titan" — which hasn't happened, and since we haven't heard a peep, is unlikely to.