‘The Terror’ Director Explains Why Season 3’s Monster Works Best When You Can’t See It

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for The Terror: Devil in Silver Episode 2.]

From showrunners Chris Cantwell (Halt and Catch Fire) and Victor LaValle (The Changeling), who wrote the novel the third season of the anthology series is based on, The Terror: Devil in Silver follows Pepper (Dan Stevens) as he finds himself committed to New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital. A working-class man with a temper who’s just trying to figure things out while struggling every step of the way, Pepper quickly realizes that something sinister is lurking that he may ultimately have to face if he’s ever going to get out of the institution and back to his life.

Collider recently got the opportunity to chat one-on-one with Karyn Kusama, who directed the first two episodes of the series, about her choices in blending fear and psychology horror for savvy audiences. During the interview, she discussed finding the vibe of the story, figuring out just how much gore to show, what made Stevens such a great collaborator as the star and executive producer, and figuring out just how much of the monster to show in Episode 2. She also reflected on her first film as a writer/director, Girlfight starring Michelle Rodriguez, what attracted her to the upcoming Amazon series Life Is Strange, based on the critically acclaimed video game, the love she still hears when it comes to Jennifer’s Body, and what she thinks of the sequel script that she hopes will get made.

Director Karyn Kusama Wanted To Create a Claustrophobic Vibe for the World of ‘The Terror: Devil in Silver’

“The sense of a lack of agency was the most important thing to set up and establish visually and emotionally for the characters.”

Collider: Because you directed the first two episodes, you really set up the vibe of this series, and this series really is very much a vibe. What sort of vibe did you want to bring to this, to set up the season and the story that’s being told, to really create that mood?

KARYN KUSAMA: Once our lead character, Pepper, lands at New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital, he really doesn’t see much daylight. With the exception of a few scenes, he really is like the rest of the community of patients around him. They’re pretty much stuck there. That sense of claustrophobia and the sense of a lack of agency was the most important thing to set up and establish visually and emotionally for the characters.

It’s very effective to go from the opening scene in the hospital, and then introduce us to Pepper outside, before you go back into the hospital. This starts off in the hospital with something that’s happened to one of the patients, and we only see glimpses of that body. How did you decide what to show us and what not to show us, in that moment?

KUSAMA: It’s such an interesting question because we really had to grapple with that. On the one hand, it could have been extremely gory, and we could have seen a lot of it. But the issue with that is that it’s also the opening of our show. And in fact, we’re not introducing our main character yet. And so, we really did have to strike a balance between presenting a series of questions for the audience like, what is this place? Why is this the beginning of a show that we think stars Dan Stevens versus setting up real peril or real mystery? We probably looked and relooked, and cut and recut that cold open almost more than anything else in the first two episodes because it really did require a lot of balancing of tones to get it right.

Showing us other people’s reactions without showing us the full body works so well. What did you tell the actors? What were they looking at to know how to react?

KUSAMA: Sometimes they were looking at a human who was in a contorted position. Sometimes they were looking, just for the sake of enacting the scene, at a really good prosthetic character. The horror of it was actually pretty apparent. Honestly, when we walked in the room, even if the prosthetic body was there, it was something we didn’t really want to look at very much. As I get older, I really want to look at bodies and violence to bodies responsibly. Just even being in the space with that was disturbing, to be honest.

Just entering that hospital room and seeing the contorted hands gives a sense of creepiness and unease that make you want to immediately get back out of that room.

KUSAMA: Totally. Oh, God, yeah. Part of it is setting up that this is an empty bed now and somebody else will land in that room. And then, we introduce Pepper to say, “Welcome to the next patient at New Hyde.”

This series definitely feels much more like a psychological build over each episode, which I always find more terrifying.

KUSAMA: We were definitely looking at the series as part of a tradition of horror, and even monster movies, where you actually see a lot less of a literal monster than you suggest it. In the case of this story, it was important that the audience feel like the monster was as much a part of our brain scape as it was in the outside world. Asking the question, do we create monsters or do monsters create us? was a little bit a question of the series.

Director Karyn Kusama Says Dan Stevens Was a Wonderful Creative Partner on ‘The Terror: Devil in Silver’

“He really is one of the most skillful, prepared, thoughtful actors I’ve gotten the great opportunity to work with.”

Image via AMC+

What do you think made Dan Stevens the right actor to not only bring Pepper to life, but to also be an executive producer on this?

KUSAMA: He was such a wonderful creative partner for us. First of all, he’s a great actor. He really is one of the most skillful, prepared, thoughtful actors I’ve gotten the great opportunity to work with. We had all known that about him. We had all done our research and heard only good things about him. It was also just nice to work with somebody who brought an incredible amount of intelligence to the character, but also just the world of the story. He really understood that once Pepper gets to New Hyde, he has to learn to bond and engage and empathize with all these people that he assumes are so different from him. That was a touchstone for the character, but also something I think Dan just really understood how to play.

In episode one, you have that moment in the long, dark hallway when the man’s face starts to droop around his eyes and mouth, and then he pushes it back into place, which made it all even creepier. Did you know how that was going to look and how you wanted that to look? Did you intentionally want that to be something that feels off and wrong, but isn’t full-on horrific yet?

KUSAMA: The idea that in our world there are real ghouls was what we played with. As far as I’m concerned, if you just open a paper today, there’s no shortage of ghouls to choose from. I often wonder, when is this person in high office just going to pull their face off and reveal whatever machinery is underneath that confirms their lack of humanity? I actually felt like that was something that I really responded to in the script right away, this concept of the mask falling. We had a lot of interesting visual references, but we played quite a bit with the wonderful actor, John Benjamin Hickey, actually putting his face in as many grotesque positions as possible so we could work with all of that to create that effect. I think we got to a pretty good place that was very scary and gross, but then strangely real when he puts his face back in place. It’s also kind of funny. There’s a grim humor to it, that he just pushes it back in place.

In episode two, you strap down Dan Stevens and muzzle his mouth? Is there a time limit for how long you can strap down and gag the star of your show? How long did you keep him like that?

KUSAMA: Oh, yeah, we really had to be mindful of what was physically happening to him. He does a great job of playing terrified by that entrapment and by being bound like that. We definitely had to be mindful of how uncomfortable it was for him. So, the answer is a few minutes at a time. We had to check in with him frequently.

‘The Terror: Devil in Silver’ Takes a Less Is More Approach to Showing the Monster

“I don’t feel as excited anymore by seeing monsters in horror films because I’m a little bit desensitized.”

Image via AMC+

At the end of episode two, you also have that moment where we see glimpses of what this thing in the hospital might be, but we get a feel for it really through the physicality and the reactions that Pepper has to it. What was it like to figure out the balance of how much to show in that moment and how much to show the reaction of it?

KUSAMA: All of us on the team, like I hope a lot of our audience, have seen a lot of horror, we’ve seen a lot of great monsters, and we’ve seen a lot of incredible effects already. And so, with that in mind, we knew that we were the kind of show that had to approach it differently. We were modestly budgeted. We didn’t have the resources to see everything. But the fact is that I don’t feel as excited anymore by seeing monsters in horror films because I’m a little bit desensitized. It was an interesting challenge, but an exciting challenge to think about, how do we invoke the horror of these moments with the least amount of monster possible? Thematically, it was also important that we not over-literalize the monster. The fact is that everyone sees a different monster in this hospital. We really had to be mindful of how, when we say psychological horror, we really mean it with this particular hospital and the monster that haunts it.

I have been a fan of your work since Girlfight. I love that movie, and I love the work you did with Michelle Rodriguez in that movie. How do you feel about that movie, 26 years after it came out? It was the first movie you directed, and you also wrote it. Do you think about it any differently now or appreciate it more, after all this time and all these projects that you’ve done since then?

KUSAMA: First of all, thank you so much for that question. I appreciate it so much. I do think about it a little differently. I was really trying to make a pure statement about a complicated young woman struggling to find a place in the world and honestly find herself in her own physical body, and I feel like that arc for that character mirrors my own. I’m really just trying to find meaning for myself, but within my larger world and with my community and, very simply, in my physical self, day to day. Now that I’m older and very solidly in middle age, I ask myself that question about what it means to be alive here on Earth quite regularly. In a funny way, I think that movie, consciously or not, was a distillation of a lot of the kinds of work I’ve been interested in doing since then.

You’ve signed on to direct the Amazon series Life Is Strange, and I read an article that said if anyone can understand showcasing the horror of being a teenage girl, it’s you. Having seen so many of your previous projects, I can see why they might think that. What attracted you to that project and that story, and what’s it been like to approach that material?

KUSAMA: I’m still approaching it. I’m prepping it now. I just loved the grim humor that comes from being a young woman, and the sense of feeling both endless possibilities ahead of you and narrowing possibilities ahead of you, as a young woman. I think that’s the question a lot of young people face. I just happen to feel like I know the female perspective of that quite well. And I just loved what (creator) Charlie Covell did with the show. They’re an incredible writer and thinker and creator. I’m really honored to get to work on it, and I’m really excited for it.

Director Karyn Kusama Calls the ‘Jennifer’s Body’ Sequel Script “Dazzling” and “Fresh”

“I’m just knocking on wood to hope that it hapepns.”

Image via 20th Century Studios

Last year, you said that Diablo Cody was writing a Jennifer’s Body sequel. Do you know if she’s finished it? Have you read it? What’s happening with that?

KUSAMA: Yeah. We’re talking about making it. I’m just knocking on wood to hope that it happens because it exists, and it’s a truly fresh, dazzling continuation of the story. I’m really excited by it.

Obviously, there’s no way you could have known the life that movie would have taken on since it came out.

KUSAMA: No, I could not have predicted it.

Are you surprised fans are still holding onto it? It’s not something that lasted a couple of years and then they moved on. They’re still hanging onto it.

KUSAMA: That’s so nice to hear. I have so many movies and television shows that I hang onto still with the sense of, “Wow, that thing sort of saved my life in that moment.” I knew when I made that movie that I wanted to make something I would have wanted to see when I was 17 or 18. The fact that it took some time to find some of its most rabid fans, but that it also has stayed relevant for the people who watched it when it first came out in the theaters, I just feel so gratified because I always knew the movie was better than the way it was being received when it came out. I always understood that about it, which is maybe naivete or denial or some kind of insane ego on my part. I was always just confident in the work. And so, the fact that it got discovered and rediscovered over the years gives me a sense of so much joy and hope in audiences.

I feel like there might not have been a project like Yellowjackets, which you’ve also directed, if there hadn’t been something like Jennifer’s Body before it. It feels like the existence of one opened a pathway for the other.

KUSAMA: Oh, cool. I’m happy to hear that. I don’t disagree.

The Terror: Devil in Silver airs is available on AMC+ and Shudder.

Release Date

2018 – 2025-00-00

Network

AMC, Shudder, AMC+

Showrunner

David Kajganich, Soo Hugh, Christopher Cantwell