I like movies that leave things in the hands of the audience.

We can't make a giant sprawling movie. We're going to make a small movie. And what we got is what I could get, performance-wise.

You're limited to one image, but you can have 50 audio tracks. It's something you'd be foolish not to experiment with. So I'm also very interested in sound that happens offscreen. I think that's a way to expand the scope of the movie. And it's all very planned out from the script stage. For me, sound design is a major part of the narrative. I think that's what makes working with certain people on the producer level difficult.

I don't go to see movies to see plots. I'm not interested in puzzles like an Agatha Christie story.

Tommy Nohilly, who plays Tubby [ Valley of Violence], he came down to see the movie for the first time and I was like, "You've got to come just to see people react to your [big scene]." I knew that would go well, but it's satisfying to me when he's sitting there and it actually does.

It's unreal. I mean, the dog backflips. It's amazing. Google Jumpy on YouTube - I had seen the dog first and I was like, "Y'all don't even know."

It's very important to me to find ways to relate the audience to the characters. This is the first thing to go in most mainstream horror films.