Daily Inspiration Quote by Margot Kidder

Horror sells itself as fear, but Margot Kidder is quietly pointing out the real contract: community. “Fans expect a couple of inside jokes” isn’t a throwaway; it’s an admission that even the scariest genres run on familiarity and play. The “inside joke” is a wink that tells the audience, We know what you came for. We know the rules. It’s less about undercutting terror than seasoning it, giving viewers a pressure valve and a sense of belonging. Horror fandom, especially in the late-20th-century cult era Kidder moved through, wasn’t just passive consumption; it was a shared language of tropes, favorite kills, and knowing laughter at the right moment.

Her second pivot is even sharper: “Maybe I’m supposed to be saying how terrified I was.” That “supposed to” is a jab at the press-tour script, the expectation that actors authenticate horror by performing fear off-screen, as if the set must be a haunted house instead of a workplace. Kidder refuses that sanctimony. “It was really fun” re-centers the genre on craft and camaraderie: stunts, timing, effects, and the pleasure of building a ride that looks dangerous while being meticulously controlled.

The subtext is liberating, especially from an actress often framed through intensity or vulnerability: horror isn’t only about suffering; it’s about joy, mischief, and the audience’s complicity. The wink matters because the scream does.