Mason Mecartea is more than just a pretty face. His role as Cole Deveraux in Terrifier 3 introduced him to a world of horror fans, and now he is here to stay.
Not only is this young actor making himself known on the silver screen, but behind it as well. Mecartea’s production company THEDAY, works on projects from independent horror movies to music videos.
“From visionary short films and music videos to narrative features, THEDAY is continuing to push forward and create high quality films that elevate independent film in the Southeast.”
Read iHorror’s exclusive interview with the young star who put his ass on the line, or rather… the bathroom floor… in Terrifier 3.
How did you get interested in acting as a career?
Mason Mecartea: I really fell in love with acting because of my dad. He’s always been a movie lover, and a very creative person himself, so growing up he would shoot short films with me and teach me how to edit, write, and direct. Movies became such a big deal to me because of my dad.
Thankfully, both of my parents were super supportive of me trying out acting and getting involved with local theater productions where I was growing up in Tennessee. In middle school and high school, I started to take making short films and acting a lot more seriously.
Mason Mecartea.
Eventually, I signed with a great Southeast Agent, who brought me a lot of cool opportunities to audition for. The funny thing about growing up in Nashville as an actor is, you act in a lot of music videos. These music videos were such a great learning curve of learning how film sets run. I was just soaking everything in every chance I could. I was supposed to graduate high school in 2020, but because of Covid, it set so many things back.
Mason Mecartea.
It was really a dark period trying to figure out what my plan was, and that’s when I booked a small part on Stranger Things. It really was the first time I felt like I could make a career out of this dream. Also, Stranger Things was on the top of my list of dream projects to be a part of, so it was such a surreal moment. I’m incredibly thankful to my parents for all of their support throughout this journey, I wouldn’t be here without them.
Alongside Terrifier, fans know you for your role as Dan Shelter in Stranger Things and the 2023 horror short Smashing Pumpkins. Are you a fan of the horror genre?
Amybeth McNulty and Mason Mecartea in Stranger Things.
Mason Mecartea: Yes, I am! It took me a while to grow into it, but I had a lot of gateway horror movies and TV shows that really planted a lot of seeds for me. I grew up loving the X-Files, which scared the heck out of me, and then eventually that intrigue grew into discovering John Carpenter and Wes Craven films. I fell in love with the cozy atmospheric horror, but then I started to expand into slasher and supernatural films.
Growing up watching a lot of 80s movies had me falling in love with practical effects and all of the style of the genre too. One of my earliest horror movie memories was watching the ending of Jeepers Creepers 2 on TV with my dad. It scared me so bad I had nightmares for such a long time. Now Horror is one of my favorite genres, and I love learning about and watching new and old films I haven’t seen yet. Horror rules! Scream (1996) and John Carpenter’s The Thing are my all time favorites. The short film Smashing Pumpkins I co-directed with Hunter Romanillos is a total love letter to Carpenter.
Did you watch the first two Terrifier films before auditioning? Were you aware of the original’s gore and over the top death scenes before going in to audition?
Mason Mecartea: I hadn’t watched the movies before auditioning. I was familiar with Art the clown‘s face, and how creepy he was, but that was about it. One of my first memories of Terrifier was hanging out at a theme park with my buddies and the bedroom scene from Terrifier 2 popped up on Twitter. While waiting in line for a ride, we watched it in complete shock and horror. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. I have a photo of my buddy’s face watching the scene with such disgust, it’s hilarious. Little did I know that about four or five months later, I would receive an audition for Terrifier 3. I eventually taped my first audition with my best friend and we just had a lot of fun with it, not really confident that I would be the right guy for the movie.
Elliott Fullam and Mason Mecartea in Terrifier 3.
What was your audition process like for Cole?
Mason Mecartea: The first audition was a scene from Terrifier 2. It was Jeff’s scene inside the car with Brooke. I actually taped the scene in a car. We had a lot of fun with it and just threw it to the wind. A week later or so, I get a call from my manager that they want me to read another scene. This time, it was an actual scene from Terrifier 3 with Cole and Mia. I was in New York with my girlfriend at the time, and so we had to quickly whip together an audition set up and do the best we could.
Mason Mecartea and Alexa Blair on the set of Terrifier 3.
Surprisingly, I made it past that stage, and I had a chemistry read with Alexa Blair that went really awesome. She is amazing! I think after that, I had to wait a minute, and then Damien called me and offered the role which was such an awesome moment.
When you read through the script and got to your death scene, how in depth did it go? Were you prepared for the gruesomeness ahead? Or did it just say ‘ART enters the bathroom and kills MIA then COLE.’?
Mason Mecartea: What’s really funny is that when Damien called and offered the role to me, he said, “the role is yours if you feel comfortable with this material.” And then he texted me a super confidential, one page, PDF of just the death scene. Even just auditioning for Terrifier initially, I was pretty certain that this character was going to have a death scene, but nothing prepared me for how INSANE this scene was gonna be.
Mason Mecartea as Cole in Terrifier 3.
It was really detailed. Damien is a really amazing writer, so not a lot was left up to the imagination which was cool cause you could absolutely see it while reading it. I had to sit and think about it for a second, but having spoken with Damien on the phone, I knew that he was an amazing dude and that he was going to do this really well and take care of us, so I knew it was an absolute yes. I really wanted to be a part of something crazy and cool like this.
What was the makeup process like to get you ready for Cole’s death scene?
Mason Mecartea: That was one of my favorite aspects of the filmmaking process. The team flew me out to LA to meet with Christien Tinsley and his team at their studio (Tinsley Studio) in Burbank. I had to sit in the makeup chair for about 40 minutes, or so, as they dumped this green goo all over me. As a lover of practical effects in movies, it was really cool to have grown up watching behind the scenes special effects stuff just like this, and then to be in that makeup chair myself. Also, Christien Tinsley is a legend!
Christien Tinsley, special fx master.
They had to do the goo process on my upper half and my lower half, and while it was very claustrophobic, it was very exfoliating afterwards, funny enough. It wasn’t until I was on set months later, that I got to see my dummy body on set. It looked absolutely real and was pretty surreal. I loved it.
Terrifier is such a grotesque film, were there any pranks played on set to lighten the atmosphere? Do you have any memorable set stories to share with us?
Mason Mecartea: What was really cool about working on this film was how light the energy was on set. Although filmmaking can be such a grueling process, the attitudes and energy remained high. My first week of Terrifier was just fun dialogue sequences with the cast so it felt pretty normal. Then the following week of production was just a full week in the shower. Filming the shower sequence was like running a marathon, but working with David, and having Alexa by my side, made for really awesome energy.
Alexa Blair, Terrifier 3, shower scene.
I remember the three of us would go to lunch in all of our bloody prosthetics and just laugh at how insane we all looked. David, in all of his Santa Art the Clown costume, was full of jokes throughout the shooting of the sequence. I’ll never forget David’s improv bits as they shot Art’s coverage of him wreaking havoc on Cole. They got so many different variations of him reacting to Cole and Mia’s terror. David is so talented and it was a joy to watch him work.
You have been busy traveling the horror convention circuit. What has that experience been like?
Mason Mecartea: The convention circuit has been so incredible! My first one was “For the Love of Horror” in Manchester, England. It was just Margaret Anne Florence and I and we were blown away by the incredible experience. One thing I was not prepared for was how amazing the Terrifier fan base is. It has been such a gift to travel around with the cast and meet all of these fans and talk about horror movies. Each and every convention has been such an adventure, and I’ve made so many new friends because of it. I look forward to doing a lot more next year as well!
In addition to the acting world, you direct, produce, and edit music videos. Are there similarities in the music industry to making a movie?
Mason Mecartea: Growing up, making short films with my dad and friends, led into also pursuing work behind the scenes in between acting. Depending on what kind of product you and the artist are looking to produce, music videos can totally feel like mini movies. One of my best friends growing up is an artist named Ryman, and the two of us really prioritized trying to tell really cool stories within the short window of the song. Ryman was my first go at producing music videos and I really got to cut my teeth on some cool projects with him. I love when music videos can tell a story, visually, that handshakes with the lyrics and the vibe of the song.
What projects are you working on now, both in the movie and music worlds? And how can we keep up to date with you and your ongoing projects?
Mason Mecartea: I’ve got a lot coming up and I’m very excited about. Just this year, I officially launched my production company THEDAY Productions, which has been doing a lot of music videos and short films, but is finally going to start diving into independent features. My team and I are hard at work getting some things moving while I’m bouncing between acting projects. If you wanna learn more about that, you can go to www.thedayproductions.com to keep up! I’m also sharing a lot of updates on my personal Instagram @masonmecartea and @thedayfilmsco.
Thank you so much for talking to us at iHorror! Your death scene in Terrifier 3 has certainly given many of us nightmares, and will go down as one of the best in the franchise!
Mason Mecartea: Thank you so much for having me, and for the kind words. It’s truly been a blessed journey so far.
I can’t wait to do more horror in the future hopefully! A huge thank you to Damien, and the entire cast and crew, for letting me join in the Terrifiam.
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