Mike Flanagan Quotes

The key to a good horror movie is what happens between the scares. The scares aren't the tricky part. If you're involved in what's going on in between, the scare is going to trick you. If you're not, the best scare in the world will not be scary.

I think people like to be scared. I think people like tension and suspense in a movie.

Number one is that it just scares people! Your hair is standing up on your arms, or at least that there's a few moments when you're jumping. That's what makes it a good horror movie.

I feel that in horror movies, especially, if you don't care about the characters, you've lost the audience. No one cares, and it becomes a process of watching people get killed.

I think that the joke and the ghost story both have a similar set up in that you kind of set something up and pay it off with a laugh or a scare.

Suspense is very important. Even though this is humor and they're short stories, that theory of building suspense is still there.

If you can actually get someone to sit on the edge of their seat and feel nervous if there's a knock at the door, then you've done something pretty terrific as a writer.

When you create those characters that people love and care about and put them in a dark hallway, already the audience is on edge, and they feel empathy for that character. Then it's up to me to decide what jumps out in that hallway. So I think laying that foundation of strong characters and strong story is the most important thing in a horror film.

As a little kid watching horror movies, if you only got to see the monster for the last two minutes of the movie, I thought that movie pretty much sucked.

For me, suspense is always harder and better than going for the quick, outright scare.

I personally love a cliffhanger - I think it just extends the pleasure of viewing.

It's what you don't see that keeps you on the edge of your seat in any kind of film - leave it to the imagination of the viewer.

I love watching scary movies because you always wonder what happens next, and that's what's going to happen on 'The Haunting Hour:' you're always going to want to know what happens next.

Horror movies are all about getting your attention; you always have to be on guard. People love to be on the edge - there's nothing like a surprise.

I think one of the appeals of suspense is to safely explore our innermost fears.

I think most of my films all have a certain tone or intensity in them. They are tense, and you kind of anticipate some kind of catastrophe, but you're not quite sure.

Why, for example, do the great writers use anticipation instead of surprise? Because surprise is merely an instrument of the unusual, whereas anticipation of a consequence enlarges our understanding of what is happening.

When I watch 'Breaking Bad,' my stomach is in knots.

I'm always jumping in my seat or gasping during a good horror movie.

With a horror movie, you don't want to anticipate where things are going to go.

Nothing bores me more than books where you read two pages and you know exactly how it's going to come out. I want twists and turns that surprise me, characters that have a difficult time and that I don't know if they're going to live or die.

Think about scary movies: There's a fine line between horror and humor.

In films of terror, it's often not about being graphic. Or if there is a graphic image, it's extremely swift. Everyone talks about the shower scene in 'Psycho,' but that's the only graphic scene in the entire film.

In TV, you always feel you are standing on the tracks of an oncoming train.

I love the first hour of a horror movie, the fear and anticipation. Then, when it gets bloody, I lose interest.