One of the youngest actresses working in the indie scene, Jonni Shandor has moved quickly from making her own short films to appearing in several upcoming projects including The Embalmers, Parallels and several others soon to be released. Now, in honor of Women in Horror Month, I talk with her about her initial interest in the industry, the making of The Embalmers and her upcoming projects.
Me: Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this. First off, when did you get into horror in general?
Jonni Shandor: Wowzah, I haven’t told this story in a long time. Well, you better grab a snack and go pee quick this is a long one. It all started one day when I was I think five! I loved my brother very much, and I wanted to see what he was doing, so I went into his room I quickly ran out and cried. Why you may ask? Well, he was playing FNAF 3 (now my least favorite FNAF game, not because it started it all it just happens to be my least favorite) and there was a jump scare! Days later, I tell my brother “hey remember that game that scared me really badly?” He says yea then I say well maybe I should play it to face my fear and he says sure why don’t you try FNAF 4 because they have non-scary jump scares. so, I do I play it for about 2 minutes or so and a jump scare by nightmare cupcake! I didn’t get scared because FNAF 4 has non-scary jump scares. Then I tell him that it’s fun, so he shows me a trailer for FNAF 6 (sister location) and we really think it looks cool. Months later mommy lets me try horror movies and I loved them!!!
Me: Were you always into genre films growing up? What films specifically got you into watching horror movies?
JS: No, I was more into family-friendly films, and/or tv shows. The movie I used to love watching after school every day was Night of the Creeps, one of the horror movies Mommy let me watch. After that, Mommy started letting me watch Nightmare on Elm Street and Sleepaway Camp because I was getting less and less scared of stuff and I was going to meet Robert Englund at Scarefest and Felissa Rose at Days of the Dead so she always let me watch movies of the people I was going to meet and the more “killers” I met, the less scared of their movies I got.
Me: How did you become interested in acting? Was there any specific aspect that appealed to you?
JS: Another, long story but shorter. It all started when we went to see the play Princess and the Pea, Mommy was looking through the catalog of plays and saw there were auditioning for Annie, and she wanted to teach me how to accept rejection or handle acceptance so she let me audition turned out I got the role! So, I guess I kind of just took it from there. Meeting the movie stars I met, they were very encouraging, I have always loved to entertain and I go to conventions and perform in whatever aspect I can. I do karaoke and cosplay contests and host different events. So, I started getting interested in being in films and started taking a lot of notes! Then Indie film people from conventions started asking me to be in their movies once they saw me perform and met me and knew I was interested in scary movies.
Me: How close are you and your parents to the selection process for the roles you take?
JS: Mommy reads the scripts and decides, then she lets me read them if she is okay with them and usually, I like them too. I don’t think I have ever not liked something she approved but sometimes I hate doing self-taping auditions because they can be really tough especially if I have to memorize 7 pages and lots of speeches. It gets so tough, but I am getting a lot better at them. I have taken so many lessons and classes and workshops for self-tape and I am always taking acting lessons and different types of workshops just for acting.
Me: Are there any special considerations on-set about exposure to graphic violence and extreme content for you? Once the shot is over, how do you handle being around the other actors and actresses involved?
JS: The graphic violence and gore have never been a problem at all for me, I love gore!!! I do not like the sex scenes and if there is a lot of sex and stuff then mommy doesn’t let me do the movie. I mean if there are, like, naked people or implied stuff then as long as it’s not in my scene cause that’s gross. But if it’s something really bad she won’t let me read the script or do the movie. She has boundaries but not where the gore is concerned.
I love the other actors and actresses. I have done a few features now and a lot of shorts and I have always had a great time and a lot of fun. The other cast and crew have always been very nice to me and I do my best to respect everyone and treat everyone professionally but sometimes they can be a lot of fun and you forget you are working.
Me: Working on several personally shot shorts and videos, what have you learned from these efforts that kept you involved in the industry?
JS: So, all of the shorts that I made, the way they changed me and made me stay in the community is that they were fun! I learned that it was my passion to write and direct and act. It’s something I was really good at and wanted to have for my career and I guess that changed it all for me. Having the quarantine happen all of the film projects I had going for me got postponed or canceled, I was so sad about it but I got myself up and started looking at film festival contests, and being a huge fan of Blumhouse movies, it inspired me to write my very first short, Should We Be Doing This? I was so happy that some of my Embalmers castmates went along and helped and we created a movie via Zoom. I got the idea from two of Blumhouses movies I liked a lot, Truth or Dare and Unfriended.
Having the quarantine, it was really hard making movies and shorts and I liked making them so it was worth the effort and I very much enjoyed it and I couldn’t get enough. I made another movie where mommy and daddy played different characters as well as Rebecca Rinehart, Diane Fraker, and Cameron Scott all filmed their own scenes and sent them to me and I directed mommy on the editing process.
Me: Your first feature film, 'The Embalmers,' features you playing the character Kali. What about the role that appealed to you to want to play the character?
JS: The character of Kali was written for me and based loosely on me and my cosplays that I do. I didn’t have to do much acting for it except I had to say a couple of bad words what mommy calls cursing words. Mommy lets me only say bad words if it is written in the script, I am not even allowed to rehearse with the bad words I have to change them to words I would say. Like the B-word, I would say Witch.
Me: What are some of your fondest memories about being on a film set for the first time?
JS: Working with Rob Mello was soooo much fun!! He was very nice and even signed my Baby Face Killer mask! I loved working with so many people from the Days of the Dead convention and I even got to work with Mommy!! Everyone was so fun, the cast and crew all treated me so good!
Me: As well, you're also involved in several upcoming efforts like He Knows and Parallels. What are you most looking forward to in these projects?
JS: Well, I already filmed all of my scenes for He Knows and I had a GREAT time on set!!! It was another night shoot (My first night-shoot was Vampire Santa and it was HARD WORK! But so much fun!) and so to prepare, Mommy had me stay up starting a week prior and slowly increased my bedtime until I reached about 2:30 in the morning. This was great preparation because I usually go to bed at about 8:00 pm. Daddy got to come too and we got to stay at a nice hotel nearby. I loved working with the cast I worked with and I got to meet Seth Hacker who played my older brother and he is such a professional actor, he was so good!!
Parallels I can’t wait to do! That was the first movie I ever did where I sent in a self-tape audition before I had even known how to, Mommy watched a lot of YouTube videos but it was before Covid so there wasn’t much information out there on it. I am excited to see Constance and Daniel again!! Also meeting new cast and crew people that are new to me.
Me: What else are you working on that you'd like to share with our readers?
JS: I am working on the Sal Lizard movie, Vampire Santa. I already filmed my scene as the young protagonist of the movie, and it was the hardest I have ever worked in my life!!! I loved every moment of it except when we were lost in pitch-black woods in the storm and I kept falling in what I thought was quicksand, but it was a lot of deep mud. I had my theater shoes on and ran for a solid two or three hours being chased by a vampire. It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am currently working on two things from writer/director Chris Gatrost. One is a feature film called Live, Laugh, Die and it will be filmed in Radcliff, Kentucky!! It is a comedy-horror and it is a great story! The other one from Chris is a web series called Parental Guidance. We shoot the first episode next month and let me tell you, it is HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!
One thing I am working on that is very special to me is my Scary Haggis. I have completed the first season of Scary Haggis which consists of 4 episodes and a Christmas special. The Christmas special has been released but the first season won’t be released until WOMEN IN HORROR month!!!!! The first season consists of 4 episodes and they will be released every two weeks.
Scary Haggis is a one-woman variety show and it is aimed at a younger audience who is like me and loves horror but it’s not too scary. And it’s mostly just funny!
Me: Lastly, being that this is Women in Horror Month, what special message do you have for any women out there looking to join in the industry in any capacity as you are one yourself? Thank you again for your time!
JS: Stay strong, do your best, be kind to one another, and keep happy and everyone will like you! Don’t compete with anyone but yourself!
This interview ran as part of our Women in Horror Month celebrations. Click the banner below to check out all of our reviews and interviews about the occasion:
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