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I think for really good-hearted people, that idea of putting yourself in the shoes of a monster to figure out why they acted that way, that's a really frightening idea.

Unfortunately, we have a tendency to see figures from the past as caricatures - either all good or all bad - when the truth is always much more complex.

Monsters almost always are culture's way of working out their fears and are thus inherently incredibly interesting and powerful.

Making 'bad people' seem human is the key to making them really scary.

It's easy to show terrible people's behavior on screen, and we all just kind of nod and go, 'Isn't that terrible.' It's more interesting when you can show terrible behavior in the interest of something good.

There are very few people who are going to look into the mirror and say, 'That person I see is a savage monster;' instead, they make up some construction that justifies what they do.

When you first think of making a monster movie you have to realize that a lot of people may be down on you because there is a big prejudice against such films.

Everything you see on screen is real. By doing what we do, there's naturally going to be a lot of grimacing. And whimpering.

So many people witness atrocities and can't take their eyes away from them, but that doesn't mean they're good.

As an actor, I've given up judgement of evil, as long as it's human evil - we have to see ourselves for what we really are, and we're capable of horrific things.