Alex Armbruster is a stunt performer and extreme sports enthusiast, who recently starred as the killer John Carver in the hit horror film, Thanksgiving. His work has included other horror movies like It Chapter Two, and superhero projects including The Boys, Shazam!, and Suicide Squad. Armbruster was recently a guest at Creature Feature Weekend horror convention and chatted with Scoop about Thanksgiving, how he became a stunt performer, and some of the stunts he’s done in the superhero genre.

Scoop: Good morning, Alex. How are you doing?
Alex Armbruster (AA): I’m doing great. How are you doing?

Scoop: I’m good. How’s the show going?
AA: The show is really good. We’re on day three and yeah, it’s still pretty busy. So I can’t complain. Having fun.

Scoop: In Thanksgiving, you played the killer, John Carver. What’s it like to join the pantheon of slasher movie killers?
AA: I’m very grateful. I didn’t expect for this opportunity to come up the way it did. I got hired to be Patrick Dempsey’s stunt double for the movie and I thought that was going to be a regular stunt doubling job for me, you know? And then it turned out that I started playing John Carver in the movie. They kept wanting me to play him scene after scene after scene and it’s just like morphed into this thing where I was just playing him most of the time. So yeah, it was just a grateful thing and it’s a unique opportunity and I’m just going to try to ride the wave while I can.

Scoop: Are you going to be in the sequel?
AA: There’s no confirmation yet. I know that they are planning to shoot it soon and using the same crew and same location most likely anyway. So there’s a good shot at it, but nothing confirmed yet, but I would do it if I could for sure.

Scoop: Which kills in the movie were the most fun to film?
AA: My favorite kill was when I had to behead the Manny character who Tim Dillon played. I thought that was the most fun kill for me and it was the most that I felt... kind of like an assassin. It was just really smooth, calculated movements. Then of course, with the comic relief of feeding the cat afterwards. I’m a cat person. I have a cat and that was really fun for me.

Scoop: Yeah, I remember seeing you walk towards the cat and thought “No, no! Aw…”
AA: Yeah, yeah, everyone in the theater was like kind of laughing after that. As long as the animal’s okay, everything’s going to be.

Scoop: It’s like a thing with the horror community. We’re okay watching people get murdered on screen but don’t touch the animals.
AA: Yeah, animals are innocent, right? It’s the people that are the problem. (laughs)

Scoop: Your stunt work in horror includes Poltergeist, The Strain, Jigsaw, and It. What’s it like doing stunts in the horror genre?
AA: It’s really fun. Lately in the film industry, especially in stunts, we’ve been really enveloped in the superhero genres and it’s really cool for me to take a step outside of that and play something a little bit different. It’s fun to put a mask on and act like a killer. You know, it’s like being in Halloween and you’re getting paid for it and it’s so much fun. Especially in this particular movie, you get to do so many creative kills and so many unique things that you wouldn’t get to do in other movies. So yeah, I’m really, really enjoying the horror genre for sure.

Scoop: Well, you mentioned the superhero stuff, so I know you’ve been in The Boys, Shazam, Dark Phoenix, and Suicide Squad, to name a few. How does working in superhero projects differ from other action movies or shows?
AA: Those movies are really fun to work on. The difference is you get to do a lot of wire work and a lot of things that normal characters wouldn’t be able to do just because they have superpowers. So you’d be able to fly around and pretend you’re Superman. When I got to work in the Shazam movie, we had to do a lot of the flying wire work and that was a lot like childhood wish fulfillment. I got to wear the suit with the cape and the muscles and all that stuff and my lightning bolt lit up. I remember there was a scene where I hold up this big Ferris wheel that was supposed to be falling over. I was holding it and I had to scream as if I’m really like holding it up and I thought that was really cool. I’m the only one in the shot on like a multi $1,000,000 movie and I’m like this is a pinch me moment, you know? So yeah, these superhero movies are really fun. Because I did watch a lot of them, a lot of the cartoons as a kid, and it’s so fun to be able to bring that into reality and get to wake up and do that every day.

Scoop: How did you get into stunt work?
AA: I started with extreme sports when I was a young kid and that kind of got me into the athleticism of it, of doing stunts and tricks. So I started getting to a point where I was getting pretty good and I got asked to do live shows around the world on a on a team called the Craze Crew Stunt team. So I went to different carnivals and did all these live shows with them and that got me into live performing. After that I met some guys at a skate park that happened to be in the film industry and they asked me if I would be interested in getting involved in that end of things and performing, and I said, yeah, sure. So they started training me in lots of different areas that a stunt performer would need to be, like fighting and falling, driving, stair falls, high falls, and wire work. So they gave me a shot on set and that kind of got me started. I did a little bit of background work just like as an extra as well, just to kind of get the set etiquette and kind of learn the industry a little bit more and meet other people, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to just make a living off of these people in this one family that was in the industry. I needed to get to know more people. So that’s how I got to meet other people. I always brought my résumé with me. That slowly built up into this career. After some other people decided to give me a shot.

Scoop: What are some of the more complicated stunts that you have performed?
AA: A lot of wire work is pretty complicated because when you’re on a wire, you’re kind of a piece of meat and you don’t have a lot of control where your body is going or how it’s going to hit, especially if it’s like a really long distance from where you’re taking off to where you’re landing. That’s how I broke my ankle on the movie Suicide Squad. Things can go wrong when you’re on a wire. So that’s some of the more complicated ones you can get into. Fire can be complicated in terms of your prep and what your action has to be while you’re on fire and how to safely mitigate those risks. Driving can be complicated. Every little bit of stuff can be complicated, like depending on what the action is required. And typically you’re always adapting to different situations. For example, if I’m driving and the scene is that I have to come in and do a 180 or something, like sometimes it’ll be wet, sometimes it will be dry, sometimes it’ll be a camera crew really close by. You have to adapt to different situations. Sometimes it’ll be a camera right on your car and you have low visibility. So you always have to adapt to different things, so yeah, there’s lots of complications.

Scoop: What have been some of your favorite stunts?
AA: Favorite stunts… I’d kind of revert back to the superhero flying stuff. That’s really fun. In the movie Thanksgiving I did a lot of the different kills that were really fun. They were super unique. Getting lit on fire is always fun. Yeah.

Scoop: That’s not a normal thing, people say. (laughs)
AA: No, no. (laughs) But it’s just so cool. It’s just so fun to be able to do it. In The Boys I got to light my crotch on fire. That was cool. That was the first. I don’t think anyone ever did that so, that was kind of fun.

Scoop: You need to be a daredevil to be a stuntman.
AA: Yeah, exactly. I would say you have to be a calculated daredevil. A lot of people think you have to be an adrenaline junkie to do this kind of thing, which I would say is false, if you’re a good stunt performer. Daredevils tend to throw all caution out the window and kind of like just send it. You know, there’s like some performers if you’re good you are calculating things in your head and pre-visualizing. You want to go home safely at the end of the night, and you want everyone else that’s around you too as well. So you’re really thinking carefully and being super calculated.

Scoop: What are you working on now?
AA: I just finished up a big scene on the movie Frankenstein, which is a Guillermo del Toro movie, and then I’m working on season three of Reacher, and Welcome to Derry, which is an It prequels TV series. There’s a bunch of things I’m jumping around to.

Scoop: It’s been so nice talking to you.
AA: Nice talking to you as well. Thank you for the interview.