I am profoundly fascinated by cruelty, fear, horror and death. My films show my preoccupation with violence, the pathology of violence.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Some of my films are known for the depiction of violence. I don't have anything to prove with that any more.
I've always been fascinated by horror films and genre films. And horror films harbored a fascination for me and always have been something I've wanted to watch and wanted to make.
Violence can be very grotesque and also intensely attractive. What interests me is how the two - beauty and violence - live side by side, and how moments can be created and erased almost simultaneously. Destruction is painful, but at times it can be very cathartic.
I understand working-class culture, tribalism and the ethos of violence, so I make films about these things.
I love a good harsh horror movie, when it's done well. But there are times when it feels cynical. You can tell when a filmmaker loves the genre, and you can tell when someone's just cashing in a paycheck. Then it becomes a dumbing down - a fetishisation of violence that I react very strongly against.
I've had horror movies thrown at me and I just don't want to do any because violence isn't really good for society.
I've always been attracted to films which explore the qualities of courage.
I love movies. Movies have influenced me as a writer.
I've written films that are violent. I'm not big on sitting and watching violence.
I don't feel comfortable with violence, and I'm not sure that I film violent scenes properly, and it's something I'm reticent to do, and yet violence is sort of in all of my films.