In Defense of a "Killer Actress"
A scene in “From the Dark” with me (left) and Wyn/Tucker Reed (right)
Update, June 10, 2021. I wrote the article below in November of 2020. The Dateline NBC episode and accompanying podcast “Killer Role” did not air until May of 2021, so I had not seen the episode or listened to the podcast at the time of writing this. Now that “Killer Role” is out, a lot of people ask me why this blog post doesn’t address some of the elements that Dateline covered (like the police interviews).
That’s because, as someone very much on the periphery of this story, I had no idea about any of that prior to Killer Role. I’ll write a follow-up at some point now that I’ve seen/listened to it, but that said, I still stand by a lot of what I say below. It’s different when you know someone in real life versus just seeing them on a true crime show. It just is.
“From the Dark,” an independent horror movie in which I played a fun supporting role, is now available to stream on Amazon.
The film has received a fair amount of national media attention due to a manslaughter case involving the lead actress, Wyn Reed, better known as Tucker Reed. It has so far been the subject of clips and trailers for a yet-to-be-aired episode of Dateline NBC and has been written about in various magazines, blogs, and news articles.
In my opinion, most of the media coverage on this has been inaccurate, sensationalized, and unfairly biased toward painting my co-star as a villain. Headlines that refer to her as a “killer actress” who “played a killer in a horror movie” have more or less perpetuated a game of telephone.
This is kind of ironic, given that the plot of “From the Dark” involves the power of urban legends, scary stories, rumors, and just plain suspicions—all of which directly impact one or more of the characters in some way over the course of the film.
As far as the media coverage and even word on the street has been regarding this film, the stories point to one moment in the movie (in which her character shoots someone with a gun in self-defense) and compare it to the shooting death of her uncle, for which she eventually pled guilty to manslaughter after years of awaiting trial in jail.
Here is what I know about Tucker Reed that I feel it is appropriate to share:
She and I knew each other in high school, where we acted in a handful of plays. Her mother, Kelly, would often come help with hair, makeup, and costumes. Both of them were a pleasure to be around. We had great conversations at the makeup station and we never ran out of bobby pins.
Tucker was very talented, and I was convinced that she would make it big someday in the acting scene, and/or the writing scene, since she was also a prolific writer.
She stood up for me when I was being bullied in high school, and I did the same for her.
Tucker and I remained Facebook friends, but fell out of touch after high school when she went off to college in California, especially since she was not a fan of the platform and did not post frequently.
I was happy to see that she had written a book, along with her sister and Kelly, called “Amber House,” and a sequel called “Neverwas.” If you’re a fan of paranormal thrillers and YA fiction, they are definitely worth checking out, especially the audiobook versions which Tucker narrates.
Through posts on social media, I learned that her college campus and the police had refused to believe her when she told them that she had been raped by her then-boyfriend. Tucker recounted her story of the incident on her blog, and wrote articles about it for major publications, including Cosmopolitan. This gained her some media attention and she was able to start a group at her college advocating for victims of gendered violence.
In 2016, she was arrested on charges of manslaughter for the shooting death of her uncle, who had a history of meth usage and violent behavior toward her and her mother.
Two years later, an actress with a similar appearance, named Wyn Reed, started auditioning for various projects in Southern Oregon, including “From the Dark.” She did not appear to recognize me in the audition room, and out of respect for her privacy, I neither asked her about whether or not she was Tucker Reed, nor did I tell anyone anything about the story at all.
Wyn Reed was cast as the lead (Valerie) in the movie. I was cast in the supporting role of Diane. We had a few scenes together. She was a professional and very gracious scene partner, and a good conversationalist, though we never discussed high school or the possibility that we had known each other in the past.
A woman she introduced only as her “relative” showed up to help with costumes, hair, and makeup. Being in the same room as the pair of them made me feel like I was in high school again, and it was hard for me to not refer to them as “Tucker and Kelly.” They were, again, great to work and converse with.
Some time after filming was complete, I learned definitively that Wyn and Tucker Reed were one and the same. I learned this when one of the producers of the film wrote to the cast and crew to let us know that Tucker had been out on bail this whole time, and that “new evidence” had been found, which had led to her being re-arrested on murder charges.
At this point, most of the cast and crew rallied behind her to support her as she attempted to plead self-defense. It was only then that I felt comfortable talking to others about how I had recognized her during filming. I feel it’s important to note that, because some sources claim that I was the one to bring it to the producers’ attention.
Tucker’s bail hearing did not go well. The new evidence found was a cell phone video that she herself had taken of the incident involving her uncle’s death, and the judge deemed it incriminating enough to deny her bail. (In my opinion, while very unsettling and hard to watch, the video actually seems more like proof that she was not planning to shoot him, and that she was recording with the expectation of him perpetrating violence. I am not a lawyer and have not even played one on TV, so my opinion doesn’t hold much weight, but if you want to know it, there it is.)
Tucker spent the next two years or so behind bars, and barely saw the sky during that time. My mother and I wrote her letters, and heard back from her every once in a while. In one of my letters, I finally felt that it was the right time to thank her for standing up to me against bullies in high school, and say that I was so glad that, after all that time, we finally got to act together again.
In May of 2020, after many postponements of her trial, a possession of heroin charge (which I personally find suspicious given similar stories I’ve heard of people being set up for such things), and various bad circumstances, Tucker agreed to a plea deal. She pled guilty to 2nd degree manslaughter and had the other more serious charges dropped. She is currently serving a 6-year prison sentence.
I feel bad for not writing to her since learning of that. It’s always hard to know what to say. I hope she is doing okay in there, that she is being treated a little better, and that she at least gets to see the sky.
Her character in the movie, Valerie, at one point shoots another character in self-defense. Based solely on that, her character has been referred to as the movie’s “killer.”
Tucker shot someone who had attacked her in the past, in what was arguably self-defense. Based solely on that, she herself has been referred to as a “killer.”
When you hear “killer” and “horror movie” close together, it conjures up images of a slasher going around on a killing spree, like Freddy, or Jason, or Ghostface.
Instead, I’d argue that her character is a lot more like the “Final Girl” in a horror film—a woman we’re rooting for to survive the night, to escape the attacker, and not to kill unless she is truly in fear for her life and the lives of others.
Articles pushing the “killer actress” narrative were already being published long before she accepted her plea deal. There were already people out there viewing her as a “killer” and even using her acting skills to paint her in a sinister light.
I am biased, and I recognize that I am biased, so I’m not demanding you to accept my opinion at face value either. But at the end of the day, I do encourage you to take the information you receive with a grain of salt.
I should point out that I am happy for the filmmakers and that they were able to finish and distribute the film. That’s huge for an indie movie, let alone a small budget one. I do wish that it was receiving attention for different reasons, obviously.
And as for claims about how “the whole “killer actress” thing is the only reason anybody would have ever heard of this movie,” sure, I get why that probably seems like the case. But on the other hand, how do you know that? How do you know that this wouldn’t have been that rare, lucky indie film that gets seen by the right person at the right time?
Even if I hadn’t been cast in the movie, I still would be rooting for it. I would be rooting for its excellent script, its hard-working production team, its cast of dedicated local actors, and the fact that hey, this is an indie horror film that was made entirely in my region of Southern Oregon. What’s more, it happens to be a movie that reunited me with an old friend.
In closing, I just want to add that as a longtime fan of the horror genre, I understand the appeal of finding out that something happened “in real life.” But as I usually do when I’m calming my friends down while they’re covering their eyes during a horror flick, I’m here to tell you one thing:
And that’s that it’s okay. You can open your eyes. The “monster” on the screen that you’re afraid of? That’s a person.