Growing Up in Horror and Joining a Doomsday Cult: Q&A with Junie Liv Thomasson

Grace of God, starring Junie Liv Thomasson, Dante B. Salazar, Juanito Blazquez and Daniel S. Carlan, will be released by BayView Entertainment on EST/VOD July 28, 2026, followed by an AVOD release on September 29, 2026.

Trailer:  https://youtu.be/qBbT9I3fq8c

At just 13 years old, turning 14 soon. Junie Liv Thomasson has already spent more than half her life appearing in independent films. She made her first horror movie at six and has since appeared in films including Ghosts of Amityville, Don’t Make a Sound, Ouija Clown, I Think We’re Alone Now and The Arkansas Pigman Massacre.

Her latest film, Grace of God, takes her into the world of religious folk horror. Released by BayView Entertainment on July 28, the 1970s-set film follows Grace, a 13-year-old girl raised inside the Children of Light, an isolated doomsday cult. As Grace begins questioning everything she has been taught, she discovers that escaping the only world she has ever known may be more difficult than she imagined.

We spoke with Junie Liv about growing up in horror, fake blood, murderous props, surviving the 1970s without a phone, learning Bible verses, and whether she would last five minutes inside the Children of Light.

You made your first horror movie when you were six. When you think about all the movies you’ve made since then, does it feel strange that horror sets have basically been a normal part of growing up for you?

Junie Liv Thomasson: A little bit. I don’t really think about it unless someone points it out. I’ve spent a lot of time around fake blood, weapons, people screaming and actors pretending to be dead, so none of that seems very unusual to me anymore. Then I’ll tell someone a story about filming something and realize it probably sounds completely insane to a normal person.

After appearing in several horror movies, are you difficult to scare in real life?

Junie Liv: Not really. I can still get scared, especially if I’m alone and hear something weird. But horror movies don’t scare me that much because I know how they’re made. If you’ve watched someone covered in blood eating snacks between takes, it ruins the illusion a little.

You’ve worked on The Arkansas Pigman Massacre, Ghosts of Amityville, Don’t Make a Sound, Ouija Clown and several other horror movies. What has been your favorite prop you’ve used in a scene, and which one was the worst?

Junie Liv: My favorite was probably the Ouija board. It was fun to use in the scenes. The worst was this really heavy sledgehammer I had to kill the psycho with in Don’t Make a Sound. We had to do it over and over again, and it got exhausting. The axe was fun though. I liked the axe.

At this point, do you have a favorite type of fake blood, or is all fake blood equally disgusting?

Junie Liv: I don’t think I have a favorite fake blood. A lot of the time it takes forever to wash it off, which is really annoying, especially when you think you’ve finally gotten rid of it and then find more somewhere. And it tastes bad.

Your character Grace has spent her entire life inside the Children of Light. How long do you think you personally would survive in a 1970s doomsday cult?

Junie Liv: Probably not very long. I ask too many questions, and I don’t like people telling me what to do without explaining why. I think they would get annoyed with me pretty quickly. Also, no phone and no internet would be a serious problem.

Grace is very different from some of the characters you’ve played before. What made her interesting to you?

Junie Liv: She’s intelligent, but she’s also very innocent because the cult is the only world she knows. I liked that she slowly realizes something is wrong instead of immediately becoming some action hero and fighting everyone. She has to figure things out for herself. I think that makes her strong in a more realistic way.

The Children of Light believe the end of the world is coming. If someone told you the world was ending tomorrow, what would you actually do?

Junie Liv: I would probably spend the first few hours checking online to see if it was true. Then I’d eat whatever I wanted, be with my family, friends and dog, and definitely not spend my last day learning lines.

You had to learn Bible verses for the role. Was that easier or harder than normal dialogue?

Junie Liv: Harder. Definitely harder. Normal dialogue feels like something a person would actually say in a conversation, so it’s easier to remember. Bible verses have a rhythm and certain words you have to get exactly right. I remember thinking, why couldn’t Grace just say this in her own words?

Religious folk horror depends a lot on atmosphere and things slowly becoming disturbing. Did filming Grace of God feel different from your more violent horror movies?

Junie Liv: Yes, because there wasn’t always something happening that tells you exactly how to react. Sometimes Grace is just watching people or listening and slowly realizing that something isn’t right. I had to trust the quieter scenes more. I liked that because it was different, but obviously running around covered in blood can be fun too.

Was it strange playing someone your own age who has grown up with a completely different understanding of the world?

Junie Liv: Yes, because Grace doesn’t know she’s in a cult. That’s just her family and her life. I couldn’t play her like she was constantly thinking, These people are crazy, because she wouldn’t think that. I had to try to understand why she believed them first and then let the doubts happen slowly.

What would get you in trouble first if you were actually a member of the Children of Light?

Junie Liv: Laughing at the wrong time. Definitely. If everyone was being extremely serious, that would probably make me want to laugh even more.

You’ve been chased, covered in fake blood, attacked by killers and put into some very strange situations in horror movies. Has anything ever looked so disgusting on set that even you thought, “No, I’m not touching that”?

Junie Liv: I don’t think I’ve refused to touch anything yet. Fake blood can be really gross, and sometimes you don’t want to know what something is made from. But once everyone is standing around waiting for you to do the scene, you just do it. I think horror movies have made me less easily disgusted. Or maybe I’ve just accepted that being gross is part of the job.

If you could give Grace one object from 2026 to secretly help her survive the Children of Light, what would you give her?

Junie Liv: A phone, obviously. With unlimited battery and internet because otherwise it would be useless. She could Google everything, call for help and find out that the world wasn’t actually ending. The movie would probably be about ten minutes long.