As spring steadily transitions toward summer, nostalgia reigns supreme. The smell of burning wood evokes memories of campfires and, if lucky, attending camp during pivotal points of adolescence. In the horror genre, summer camp nostalgia takes a darker turn, with bloodshed, terror, and more twisting something pure into something traumatic. This familiar stomping ground in the genre is trickier to inject new life into. However, in director Daniel DelPurgatorio’s Marshmallow (2025), this latest summer camp horror has a few tricks up its sleeve.
After an unexpected tragedy rattles Morgan (Kue Lawrence), the shy and introverted 12-year-old is whisked away to a secluded summer camp with the hopes of having the summer of a lifetime. Rather than making happy, joyful memories, Morgan learns that maybe some anxiety is a good thing when a legendary campfire tale comes to life before his eyes. Accompanied by his newfound friends, they attempt to find answers to what’s actually going on and are forced to confront their fears. If they don’t, it could spell the end of everything they know.
For the upcoming release of Marshmallow, we talked to Kue Lawrence, who plays Morgan, and Giorgia Whigham, who plays Rachel, about the film. Throughout our conversation, we discussed what originally drew them to this fresh new take on summer camp horror, overcoming psychological challenges on set, and what their nightmare camping scenario would entail.
Marshmallow is such an interesting film. It starts off one way and then takes a completely different direction. Was that part of the appeal for you both when signing on to the project, or was it the characters?
Kue Lawrence: The appeal to Marshmallow is the fact that it’s a whole new story. It’s got completely different aspects. The only really relatively similar thing to another film is the camp part, like with Friday the 13th, and I feel like the fact that just being alone in the woods is scary enough. Well, not alone, but the [scenario of] cabins in the woods with nobody else. You can’t call the police or anything to help you. That’s what really makes camps scary, and I think the fact that it’s a new killer, on top of the fact that we are just naturally attracted to camps and stuff, is what mainly makes the appeal.
Giorgia Whigham: I was really into playing a different character than I’ve ever really played before. So, that was something that drew me to it. I normally don’t play the kind of type A, straight-edge kind of character, and so this was really fun for me to explore that avenue as an actor, but also, I am just such a fan of horror movies, and I loved the nostalgia feeling that it had. Like Kue was saying, it does kind of have that old ‘80s slasher feeling to it, but completely revamped with a new concept. Not to give anything away, but we’ve seen twists in these kinds of movies before, but this is one that was new to me in the way that it integrates [its] science fiction [elements].
You mentioned nostalgia. One of the things that I asked Kai [Cech] and Pierson [Fode] was if you guys did camp bonding before you guys started shooting to get into the headspace of campers and counselors. I wanted to pick your guys’ brains about your preparation process and whether or not you guys managed to replicate a campy atmosphere to get into character.
Kue Lawrence: Yeah, before we even started filming, we set up a dinner at a pizza place in the town we were at with all the counselors, the main group of kids, the producers and the director and all the people, just so we could meet each other. That was the real camp bonding moment, like [Giorgia] sat on our end of the table. She was sectioned out by like three kids on either side, which is quite funny, but we didn’t really need a lot of preparation. I feel like we were all kind of in the same headspace and on the same page on what we’re supposed to do.
Giorgia Whigham: We did have that night of bonding, which was good for me specifically because I knew that the kids were going to have a lot of time together on set, not as much as I would have time with them. So, I made an effort that night to just hang out with them and sit at the kids’ end of the table. That was really fun to kind of see all their personalities. And, okay, what can I kind of latch on to while we work? Who are these kids? What do they like? What do they think is funny? What can I draw them in with? And can we kind of improv?
That was really important for me, and I think for them, too. It ended up working out really well. We were filming on abandoned campgrounds during the summer in nature. We didn’t need a lot of external pushing to get to this headspace — we weren’t on a sound stage. We were literally there in the summertime, going through the motions. So, I think that was also really helpful.
I’m a little wary that it was an abandoned campground that you guys shot on. That’s its own horror movie waiting to happen.
Giorgia Whigham: I know! I think someone owned it. There was a house on the property somewhere, I think.
Kue Lawrence: Yeah, there was.
Okay, so that’s a little less concerning.
Giorgia Whigham: Yeah, it wasn’t haunted or anything.
Kue Lawrence: It was [originally] a camp for disabled kids. So, people in wheelchairs, or just anybody that has more needs than the average human. It hadn’t been used in a really long time. It was abandoned, but somebody lived on the property to keep it up and stuff.
I was thinking it would be totally meta to shoot a horror camp film on an abandoned campsite. A story within a story there. Pivoting back to you, Kue, you have a lot of really physical scenes that involve water. Can you talk a bit about that? Because some of those scenes had me genuinely worried for you.
Kue Lawrence: Thank you. That means I did it well. I wouldn’t say any of them were really physically challenging for me. It was more mentally challenging. The fake drowning was mentally challenging, well, that was a little physically challenging trying to keep myself under the water.
The nightmare scenes were more mentally challenging because, I mean, it was warm, but all the creepiness tends to play with your mind after a certain time. So, they gave me breaks every now and then, which I was very thankful for.
Even jumping into the lake toward the end of the movie was still mentally challenging because I didn’t want to. I didn’t know what was in the lake. They made it clear that they made sure it was safe, but I didn’t know what was in there, and that scared me. So, it was more mentally challenging than anything.
That is fair because lakes are their own little mysterious habitat. Giorgia for you, was there any scene in particular that was like, physically challenging, logistically challenging, mentally challenging for you to tackle? Because there’s a ton of chaos happening.
Giorgia Whigham: Yeah, a lot of chaos. I guess the most difficult was the campfire scene where I told the story of the legend. That was challenging, mainly because of external factors. It was late. It was the last scene of the night, and everybody had had a day, and the kids were tired, so it was just me as Giorgia, but also me as [the character] Rachel was trying to kind of keep everybody engaged.
So, that was challenging, but it was also my audition scene. This was something that I thankfully had in my back pocket. It obviously worked in the audition. So, I was like, okay, we can figure out a way to make this work. But I think that that would probably be the most difficult for me. But besides that, it was just a blast every day, honestly.
That being the most difficult scene is also probably the most immersive, too, and just getting into the lead counselor headspace. Everything you described is what a day at camp is like, right?
Giorgia Whigham: Exactly. Everyone’s tired. Nobody wants to really listen, so you have to keep them engaged and remember that this isn’t just a monologue. This is you literally telling the story to these kids and trying to do it differently a little bit every time because you shoot different angles, and you have to say it over and over and over again, and just wanting to make sure that people were still there and listening actively.
Usually, I like to do something a little silly when I wrap up an interview. So, I asked Kai and Pierson what their nightmare summer camp or general nightmare camping scenario would be, and I want to pick your brains on what yours would be. Mine involves mutated mosquitoes that are giant and car-sized, chasing us.
Giorgia Whigham: Yeah, I don’t do flying bugs. Nuh-uh. Beetles are really misleading, or cockroaches, and then they just take off. That’s not my jam.
Kue Lawrence: I got stung by a hornet on one of my previous movies when I was really young. So I have a fear of anything that’s flying and is small. I can’t help it. It doesn’t matter if it’s a ladybug. I will cower in fear. [laughs]
Giorgia Whigham: During the summer, we have those—there’s a name for them—they’re mosquito eaters.
Kue Lawrence: You don’t like them?
Giorgia Whigham: No.
Kue Lawrence: Crazy.
They are kind of nightmarish because you think they’re going to get you, but they aren’t.
Giorgia Whigham: They’re great for helping us out. They eat mosquitoes, but their legs dangle. They’re just so big. I don’t know. It would be something involving that for me, even when they’re just out and about in general.
Kue Lawrence: Whenever me and my family go out camping, we usually get one of those things in the tent accidentally and leave it in there. It kills mosquitoes for us. Anyway, my nightmarish scenario would probably include a whole barrage of flying insects. I don’t care what it is. Anything that flies at me that’s not bigger than a bird.
That seems to be the general consensus with everyone I’ve talked to. Flying bugs equals nightmare.
Giorgia Whigham: At least if a serial killer is running around in the woods, I can at least see them and run. Bugs just appear behind you and [surprise you].
Marshmallow (2025) releases in theaters on April 11, 2025. Watch the trailer below.
Images courtesy of Amor Media.
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