Leigh Janiak

Leigh Anne Janiak (born February 1, 1980) is an American filmmaker. She is best known for directing the horror films Honeymoon and the Fear Street trilogy (2021).

Early life and education Janiak was born and raised in Ohio, U.S. She graduated from Mentor High School in Mentor, Ohio, where she was heavily involved in theater.

Career Janiak moved to Los Angeles in 2005, where she worked for two production companies. Janiak was afraid that shadowing a veteran director would affect her career as a female filmmaker as she did not want to be stigmatized. and Janiak began writing the script together with Phil Graziadei in 2012. The film was shot in 2013 in North Carolina on a limited budget. It received positive reviews from critics, with review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes' critics' consensus stating that it "packs more slow-building horror than many bigger-budget productions."

In May 2015, Sony Pictures announced that Janiak would be writing and directing a remake of the 1996 horror film The Craft. In 2017, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Janiak was no longer attached to the project. Janiak directed some episodes of horror TV shows Scream and Outcast. and filming wrapped in September 2019. The three films were shot in succession throughout a 106 day shoot. The trilogy was released in July 2021 on Netflix. Natalia Winkelman described the trilogy as "Scream meets Stranger Things built on a supernatural premise sturdy enough to sustain interest and suspense over nearly six hours", in a review for The New York Times. Janiak plans to continue with the franchise and create a larger Fear Street Universe.

On July 19, 2021, it was announced that Janiak was set to direct two episodes of the upcoming crime drama miniseries The Staircase. Antonio Campos began developing the project in 2008, and it was announced in 2019 that Annapurna Television was bringing it into development. The series was shot in 2021 in Atlanta, GA, and Janiak was brought on to direct two episodes. She directed episode 5, "The Beating Heart", and episode 6, "Red in Tooth and Claw". On May 5, 2022, the series premiered on HBO Max. The series was well received by audiences and critics, earning nominations from the Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards, the Primetime Emmy Awards, and Television Critics Association Awards.

Style and tone Janiak's directing style differs from film to film. In Honeymoon, the film is steeped in sepia tones and all colors are desaturated. The idea and tone for the film were inspired by Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The film heavily relies on body horror and subverts traditional horror gender roles.

Fear Street: Part One - 1994 paid homage to 90s slasher films like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. The film mirrors the tone of these films with its sense of humor and cinematography, as the film is shot in a studio style similar to 90s slasher films. The murder of Maya Hawke as the character of Heather in Fear Street: Part One - 1994 is a nod to Drew Barrymore's death as Casey in the original Scream Film. There is also a recreation of a scene in Scream where students make jokes about the murder featured in Fear Street: Part One - 1994 where a student dons a skull-mask killer mask rather than a ghost-face killer mask. The film also employs some of the graphic violence that is portrayed in 90s slasher films, and adopts a 90s aesthetic in its settings through the use of the soft glow of neon lights in the Shadyside mall, as well as in its soundtrack. Janiak used Kate's death in the first film as a way of lulling the audience into a false sense of safety as she dies late in the film and has the most violent death in the entire trilogy. Kate and Simon's death allow the audience to experience "real loss" that allows the series to propel forward. The camp setting is a direct homage to Friday the 13th. Fear Street: Part Two - 1978 takes on a voyeuristic tone, similar to 70s slashers in its cinematography as the viewer often watches how the events of the film unfold from outside of a window or hidden in the trees through a handheld camera. Fear Street: Part Two - 1978 was the last movie to be filmed in the entire trilogy, which is why the tone varies so much from the first film and the second half of the last film. Because of this, Janiak decided to up the violence and blood.

The Fear Street Trilogy allowed Janiak to create a horror film that told the stories of outsiders. The film's main characters are a lesbian couple, allowing the film to discuss homophobia in a horror film as the queer characters are typically killed off early in horror films.

Personal life Janiak married fellow filmmaker Ross Duffer in Palm Springs, California, in December 2015. The couple met in 2006 at a production company in Los Angeles, where Janiak was an assistant to the producer and Duffer was an intern.

Filmography Film Year Title Director Writer ExecutiveProducer 2014 Honeymoon 2021 Fear Street Part One: 1994 Fear Street Part Two: 1978 Fear Street Part Three: 1666 2025 Fear Street: Prom Queen

Television