It’s an antidote to … the horror movie with the expendable human beings in it. Because I don’t believe any human beings are.
It’s the story of a young woman’s journey that involves a great deal of horror and some heroics.
— Variety, September 22, 2005
It’s a completely new work that does take place in the modern world. Needless to say, slightly left of center. It’s a different adventure, and it’s kind of a horror film. It’s dark. It’s not nihilistic, but there’s a very ugly side to humanity going on in it. It takes place in the modern world, it’s just a part of the modern world most people don’t get to see.
— thefandom.com, September 26, 2005
Goners is a movie with a lot of beautiful inspirational human stuff but it’s also a horror movie. Ultimately it’s about a darker place in all of us.
— Rope of Silicon, September 27, 2005
It is a fantasy thriller, it is pretty dark and it’s all me. So people will pretty much know what that means if they look at my body of work. But it’s a new universe set in the present day with a new concept for me and a new bunch of characters.
— SuicideGirls, September 30, 2005
It’s called Goners, and it’s a fantasy thriller about a modern day girl who goes on a really strange ride.
— Philadelphia Daily News, September 30, 2005
It’s a horror fantasy.
— The Detroit News, October 2, 2005
It takes place now, so I don’t have to build a universe, but it’s not a movie without fantasy.
— ComingSoon, December 19, 2005
What I will say is that it ventures more into the horrific than I normally tend to.
— Empire, January 12, 2006
Loved the speculation on the character Mia’s name. Can’t wait to hear what you all say about Violet.
— WHEDONesque, February 13, 2006
More in the Buffy-mode of discovering strength than in the sense of, “I’ve had strength for so long that I’m losing my sense of people who don’t.”
— FilmFocus, February 22, 2006
I will give you this: there’s no Chinese, but some Japanese. And no llamas, but two dobermans. And that’s it. That’s all you get.
— San Diego Comic-Con, July 24, 2006
It’s about a girl named Mia, people know that, who sort of sees in a mystical way the underbelly of the city and of human society, and goes through a kind of extraordinary hell, and we all have a lot of fun in the process. … This is much more a story about — literally about human connection and whether or not it’s possible. … But it’s told on a very mystical scale and, in a way like everything I’ve tried to do including Buffy, it’s an antidote to that very kind of film, the horror movie with the expendable human beings in it. Because I don’t believe any human beings are.
— Fanboy Radio, November 26, 2006
You’re not going to understand where this is coming from, but there may be a young woman who gains some powers — not something I’ve written about before, but I’m excited to try some new territory. Got to stretch. It’s a horror fantasy. It’s a little darker than I’m used to. “Goners” is a very personal thing about human connection and questioning whether there is such a thing at all. It’s very dark emotionally as well as just creepy as I can make it, reclaiming some of that horror [from “Buffy”] without going into the torture-horror-porn fad that’s ruling nowadays.
— VH1, February 6, 2007
A ghastly tale of female empowerment — something new for me!
— Los Angeles Times, March 4, 2007
It’s the same brew that I tend to brew, which is a combination of horror, and heroes, and people crying, and female empowerment. … Obviously, Goners is about human connection, and loneliness, and responsibility, and power, and the things that I inevitably end up writing about, because they’re the only things that interest me. … [T]his movie is very much a journey. It’s not just a classic superhero movie — set up a premise, and here are some cool people, here are the rules, and let’s go. It’s very much this woman’s journey, and it’s a very painful, strange, hellish journey.
— The A.V. Club, August 8, 2007
It’s about a young woman with “special powers” and she gathers a group of people with “special powers”, they conflict, in the end they work together. … The lead character Mia is painfully shy and very much alone and it’s a movie that is all about being alone, which is ultimately the thing which I’m writing about all the time. And it’s also a horror/action/super awesome thing.
— WHEDONesque, August 29, 2010