Elijah Wood's having a dreadful day

BY DONNA FREYDKIN

Ask Elijah Wood who he'd invite over for the ultimate fright night of debauchery, and he immediately reels off a list of names.

"John Carpenter would be great for a yarn. I'd throw William Friedkin in there too because he's hilarious. I've met him and he is incredibly present and vital as a human being. So much energy. He'll just run with a conversation," says Wood.

The actors knows of what he speaks. He's starring in the zombie comedy Cooties, about kids who turn into the undead after eating contaminated chicken nuggets – yes, really. The movie was co-written by fellow horror buff Leigh Whannell, who penned Saw and Insidious. Their film opens Friday, and is available for download on VOD and iTunes.

Wood's Clint is a floundering writer, who returns home after failing as a novelist in New York City; he's forced to teach summer school and winds up, through a food malfunction, dealing with pre-pubescent monsters.

"He's really awkward. He's got this thing where he has these aspirations and he doesn't quite get the world around him and how he might be observed," says Wood of Clint. "But he's got a good heart and means well, so I relate to that."

Both Whannell and Wood are well-versed in dramas of dread. Their recommendation to really get under your skin: the 1972 Wes Craven chiller The Last House on the Left. "It's such an unpleasant film," says Wood.

And even though both are industry veterans – Wood has starred in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as The Good Son and The Ice Storm – they both geek out when their meet their fellow architects of cinematic doom.

"I went to a dinner last night for Wes Craven. There's a little club of horror directors in LA, the Masters of Horror they call themselves," says Whannell. "It was insane to walk into this restaurant in Burbank and all these people I grew up with – Stuart Gordon, Bill Lustig, Robert Rodriguez, Eli Roth. It was so fun. They're such fun characters."

So are Wood and Whannell, who play off each other – especially when it comes to their mutual affection for a genre that's often the ignored bastard stepchild of Hollywood, much to their mutual frustration.

"What surprised me was how much of a horror fan and horror geek Elijah was. He was telling me about films. Elijah is the guy who'll tell you about the Bulgarian horror film that was released in one print in 1971 and 12 people have seen it. That was really cool, to find that out. Horror is such a marginalized genre in a lot of ways. It used to be my pet peeve when people make a horror film and call it a supernatural thriller," says Whannell.

Wood nods in agreement.

"That drives me (expletive) crazy," says Wood. "They think it means B movie."

Ask Elijah Wood who he'd invite over for the ultimate fright night of debauchery, and he immediately reels off a list of names.

"John Carpenter would be great for a yarn. I'd throw William Friedkin in there too because he's hilarious. I've met him and he is incredibly present and vital as a human being. So much energy. He'll just run with a conversation," says Wood.

He's starring in the zombie comedy Cooties, about kids who turn into the undead after eating contaminated chicken nuggets – yes, really. The movie was co-written by fellow horror buff Leigh Whannell, who penned Saw and Insidious. Their film opens Friday, and is available for download on VOD and iTunes.

Wood's Clint is a floundering writer, who returns home after failing as a novelist in New York City; he's forced to teach summer school and winds up, through a food malfunction, dealing with pre-pubescent zombies.

"He's really awkward. He's got this thing where he has these aspirations and he doesn't quite get the world around him and how he might be observed," says Wood of Clint. "But he's got a good heart and means well, so I relate to that."

Both Whannell and Wood are well-versed in dramas of dread. Their recommendation to really get under your skin: the 1972 Wes Craven chiller The Last House on the Left. "It's such an unpleasant film," says Wood.

And even though both are industry veterans – Wood has starred in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as The Good Son and The Ice Storm – they both geek out when their meet their fellow developers of doom.

"I went to a dinner last night for Wes Craven. There's a little club of horror directors in LA, the Masters of Horror they call themselves," says Whannell. "It was insane to walk into this restaurant in Burbank and all these people I grew up with – Stuart Gordon, Bill Lustig, Robert Rodriguez, Eli Roth. It was so fun. They're such fun characters."

So are Wood and Whannell, who play off each other – especially when it comes to their mutual affection for a genre that's often the ignored bastard stepchild of Hollywood.

"What surprised me was how much of a horror fan and horror geek Elijah was. He was telling me about films. Elijah is the guy who'll tell you about the Bulgarian horror film that was released in one print in 1971 and 12 people have seen it. That was really cool, to find that out. Horror is such a marginalized genre in a lot of ways. It used to be my pet peeve when people make a horror film and call it a supernatural thriller," says Whallen.

Wood nods in agreement.

"That drives me (expletive) crazy," says Wood. "They think it means B movie."