In his own words, Filmmaker James DeMonaco says,
“The truth is you don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed.“
An honest, thoughtful statement, growing up in Staten Island, DeMonaco always had dreams of making movies, but never knew if it would ever be possible. Determined to see his dreams through, DeMonaco continued to work on writing scripts, and soon some of his stories became big feature films, such as 1996’s Jack, starring Robin Williams, and 1998’s Thriller The Negotiator.
Still driven by a burning desire to direct, DeMonaco finally did so a decade later. However, in 2013, his life changed dramatically when his written and directed film, The Purge, became a massive hit. Building into a modern-day Horror film franchise, four more Purge films followed, as well as a television series. With the potential for another Purge film in the future, DeMonaco wrote and directed the compelling Drama This Is the Night in 2021. Now in 2025, he delves deep into the world of Psychological Horror with his film The Home.
A project that delves into the roots of what inspired DeMonaco at a young age, he recently took time to chat about The Home, reflect on his journey in film, and more.
Cryptic Rock – You have been involved in film for quite some time now. You were first engaged as a writer, but went on to directing as well and had significant success with The Purge series. How would you describe your career in film to this point?
James DeMonaco – Oh, it’s tumultuous. (Laughs) No. Listen, I think on one hand, I can complain and get angry about all the movies I couldn’t make. I also feel incredibly privileged to have made any films at all. I think it’s an honor just to be a filmmaker. It’s been my dream.
I’m very honored to be able to do it. I think it’s an amazing thing to do for a living. There’s part of me that’s very much, “Yeah, wow, this has just been a dream come true.” Then there’s that incredibly frustrating half of the business where you can’t get your projects made, or you can’t get the financing, or the financing is not enough.
It’s a mixed bag. The positive side of me is like, “What a lucky man.” The negative side of me is, “Goddamn, I wish I could make more and you know have higher budgets and get my dream projects off the ground.” It is up and down, like anything in life.
Cryptic Rock – You have to take the good with the bad. As mentioned, you first began your career in film as a screenwriter in the 1990s, with notable films such as 1996’s Jack and 1998’s The Negotiator. Then you broke into directing around 2007. Was it always your dream to get into the director’s chair?
James DeMonaco – Yeah. Writing to direct. I knew no one in the business. I had quit film school because many of the students at NYU had a lot of money to make their senior thesis films. I thought, “Wow, I’m never going to have more than a grand from bartending.” Others had $50,000 to $100,000 to make a film. So, I was like, “Okay, this is not going to work making a short film because I’m competing with short films that were $75,000.”
Writing absolutely became the avenue to direct. All those years, I was writing studio stuff, and it wasn’t really getting me closer. It wasn’t until I met these French guys, who were big fans of the movie I wrote called The Negotiator, that I was approached to do the remake of Assault on Precinct 13 (released in 2005).
It was kind of a handshake deal. I said I’ll write the remake, but they would have to help me get my directorial debut off the ground. I had a script I gave them, and they liked it, and they helped finance it. It was always about writing to direct. I felt like that was my ticket into the game.
Cryptic Rock – The hard work paid off. You would go on to find massive success with The Purge in 2013, which has since become a series.
James DeMonaco – Yeah. It wasn’t designed that way. It was a complete surprise. I made it with my longtime producing partner, Sébastien K. Lemercier, and we teamed up with Jason Blum. When we conceived the project, we thought it would be this little Michael Haneke-like dark piece about a family on a home invasion evening in this strange holiday in the future. We didn’t envision it having the commercial potential that it had. I think Jason Blum is the one who saw the bigger vision for that. It was a surprise.
Cryptic Rock – A pleasant surprise! Since the original The Purge film in 2013, there have been four sequels and a television series, making it one of the more successful modern Horror franchises.
James DeMonaco – Yeah. Again, completely surprising. I’m happy; it’s great. We have done a lot of purging now. I believe we shot in 2011, and it was on hold because they were not sure when to release it.
When it came out that Friday night, we still couldn’t believe how much money it made. We have made five movies and two seasons of a TV show. I just finished writing another script for it. If Universal likes it, hopefully a sixth film can happen.
It’s been a hell of a journey. I’m very lucky. That’s where I look back and I see the alternate path. If The Purge doesn’t get made, I wonder what I’d be doing right now. I’d probably be bartending again. (Laughs)
Cryptic Rock – (Laughs) It’s interesting how things go in a direction you would never expect.
James DeMonaco – Exactly. Sébastien and I always say that. There was one point where we didn’t think The Purge would be released at all. Universal deemed it a little too dark at some point. They didn’t know what to do with it.
You have no idea which movie is going to take off or not take off. It’s a completely unpredictable business, on which one is going to be the one that kind of propels you forward and which one isn’t. It’s very strange. You can’t predict it.
Cryptic Rock – Right. Now, you have the latest film, The Home. This is also a Horror-themed film. How did it come about?
James DeMonaco – The Home I co-wrote, unlike The Purge films, which I all wrote alone. I wrote this one during COVID. It was with my best friend, Adam Cantor. His family has little boys, I have a daughter, and they played together. They’re like family. We were in what they call a pod during COVID, where we were only seeing each other’s families. Adam is a huge cinephile like I am. So, we were discussing movies, and he had written a couple of novels that he was trying to publish.
If you recall, during the early stages of COVID, there were a lot of problems in the New York elderly care facilities, and there was a lot of controversy on how Governor Cuomo was handling it. It was out there in the media. Adam and I were sharing stories about strange experiences we had with elder people in our own families when we were young boys, and memories we had. A lot of them got into the film.
I’m not a very healthy guy; I eat a lot of Italian food. My wife was like, “Okay, you got some time on your hands. Time to get healthy. Got to get limber.” And she’s like, “You should take up yoga.” I had some time, so I went on YouTube and typed in yoga for beginners. From that moment on, my algorithm and YouTube feed were inundated with longevity videos about how to extend one’s life, supplements, oils, and the like. I thought, “This is the strangest subculture. I didn’t know this existed, this kind of longevity craze,” which I believe has since blown up. That was four years ago, at least.
I think those two ideas, the elder care being in the news and us discussing it, coupled with longevity, etc., came together. That, also combined with my own feelings on climate change. To me, the whole movie is kind of a metaphor for climate change. Adam and I are quite paranoid, very neurotic people. It coalesced into the script that we wrote during COVID for The Home. I don’t want to give the twist away in the film.
Cryptic Rock – Very interesting. We do not want to give the film away, but a slow tension builds throughout The Home.
James DeMonaco – That was the intent. I’m a fan of 1970s Psychological Horror. So, the ’70s movies are my favorite films – Rosemary’s Baby (1968), The Sentinel (1977), Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971). They always have that slower, percolating tension that culminates in some cathartic events. Thank you for noticing that.
Cryptic Rock – It is very evident. It is fantastic to hear someone mention The Sentinel. That is perhaps one of the most underrated Horror films ever.
James DeMonaco – It’s rare to meet a fan of The Sentinel; it really affected my childhood. I’ve lived with nightmares my whole life. The image of Fred Stuthman (who played Alison’s Father in The Sentinel) walking down the dark hallways half-nude freaked me out as a kid. That actually inspired the fourth-floor residence in The Home and how it looked. I wanted them to resemble Fred Stuthman. We watched The Sentinel as visual inspiration for The Home.
Cryptic Rock – Exciting to learn. What a cast in The Sentinel, too! You had many names involved. Some who were known, others ready to become big names like Jeff Goldblum
James DeMonaco – Yes! You had Christopher Walken, a weird Burgess Meredith, Cristina Raines, Chris Sarandon, and Beverly D’Angelo! Hopefully, people will watch The Sentinel based on this interview.
Cryptic Rock – Hopefully, right? Speaking of casts, you have an interesting one for The Home as well. You have Pete Davidson, who is most recognized for his comic work. He delivers a nuanced performance in his role, which is truly impressive. What was it like working with Pete and the rest of the cast?
James DeMonaco – It was great. I wanted to shoot in the tri-state area of New York, which was actually in jeopardy at some point because we couldn’t find the home. Specifically, I wanted to stay here because I wanted to draw on the great theater community. So, I wanted to fill the home with seasoned actors who I knew could just fall into these roles.
We didn’t have a long shooting schedule, so I knew I wouldn’t have a great amount of time to nuance the performances. I need people to come in and just really nail it. We got lucky. We finally found the home, and I was able to draw from that great community.
We had John Glover, Mary Beth Peile, and Stuart Rudin (who plays the fourth-floor man inspired by Fred Stuthman). They’re all amazing theater actors. We also had Bruce Altman and Ethan Phillips.
Pete was an old friend of mine. We grew up about a half mile from each other here in New York. I’m older than Pete, but I knew his dad, etc. He was a busboy at a local restaurant, Nucci’s, where we used to all hang out. I was having a The Purge party there. He came over to me and said, “Hey, man. I’m a big fan of the film.” And he was just a busboy at the time. So, I knew Pete before Pete was Pete. He was a wonderful young man. I knew we had a different side to him other than being this funny man on SNL. I knew he was a very soulful man. He’d been through a lot in his life with his dad’s passing.
When Adam and I wrote the script, we knew there were some parallels between Max’s character and Pete and the way they process grief. They process grief through art. Pete, in his real life, has processed grief and experienced trauma too.
We just brought it to Pete, and I knew he could do it. Some people, I’m not going to lie, were skeptical on the money side. But I think when they saw it, they saw Pete was not forcing it, not over the top at all, and his performance was just really nuanced work.
Cryptic Rock – Yes, it is true. You have worked on an eclectic mix of films. You have worked in Thrillers, Crime Dramas, and, of course, Horror. Do you enjoy working in Horror?
James DeMonaco – Oh, I love it. I think as a child, it was probably the genre that affected me most. Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve been plagued my whole life with nightmares. In a weird way, I’ve welcomed them, because then they work themselves into my scripts.
Films we were discussing, such as The Sentinel, Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, and Rosemary’s Baby, I saw all of them when I was young. They used to have Thriller theater here in New York at midnight in the summers. And I would stay up to watch them. All of those old movies were really an inspiration, and my early inspiration.
I think Horror is my first love. Then I fell in love with Action and Drama, and so on. I think The Home is way more of a pure Psychological Horror than The Purge. I view The Purge as more Action-Oriented, Dystopian Action. It was great to do what inspired me as a child with The Home.
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