Fede Alvarez Quotations

A good story will keep you wondering about what's happening, what's going on, where does this go? Now it's going to go that way, now it's going to go that way. It has to do that. If it's predictable, it's just boring.

In 'Clockwork Orange,' you're there with your eyes, watching all those things, your brain goes off, ahh, exposes you to so many things, and at the end of the day, it's just like a roller coaster. Why do you jump in a roller coaster? You want a thrill.

I always say that I am a big fan of films but I am an even bigger fan of the filmmaking craft.

'Evil Dead' was such a big movie in my life. It's one of the few that I really remember when I watched it for the first time. I mean, I don't remember when I first saw 'The Empire Strikes Back,' and it's one of my favourite movies.

Every day I spend in Hollywood, I start to realize how many films are made with no heart and no love. They just do it for the paycheck, and I cannot imagine making a film that way.

A good horror movie - it doesn't matter how many comedy horror films there have been before. Doesn't matter how much you think it's going to be funny. A good horror movie will scare the hell out of you... the moment you sit down and you start being exposed to that story, it's going to freeze your blood.

As a director, there is nothing more fun than seeing an audience screaming and jumping. You are the ultimate puppet master, controlling the emotions of the audience.

Only really good comedies and really good horror movies get a verbal response out of the audience. People will scream. People will laugh.

I'm a big fan of movies, but I'm a bigger fan of filmmaking itself. I fell in love with it when I was very young, and I have always loved to learn the craft, every aspect of it.

I have my pride. I'm a director. I'm not going to go and recreate some other director's vision.

I love just about every aspect of the filmmaking except acting. I would never be able to do that, but the rest I really enjoy.

I'm pretty demanding with myself and my work, and I always put a lot of pressure on myself. I try to do the best job I can every time.

In another life, I would love to be the art guy - a production designer or a maybe even a composer.

'The Omen,' 'The Exorcist,' those movies for me are the quintessential horror movies that still scare me as an adult.

There's a reason people use CGI: it's cheaper and faster. I hate that.

As a storyteller, when you're writing a movie and when you're directing, you want to keep people entertained. That's the whole point, right? It has to be entertaining.

I thought that Hollywood was just for geniuses and that directors come from three generations of directors. I was worried that I was not up to the challenge of making a movie. Then realized that all a director has to do is know what he wants to do.

I watched 'Evil Dead' when I was 12. I was going through all the horror I could grab. I remember going to the video store and asking for something 'real.' And the guy gave me the 'Evil Dead' VHS. When you're 12, you're not supposed to see that.

I'm inspired when I find out about something that I didn't know was a remake. An example is, of course, stuff like 'The Fly,' or 'The Thing,' or even 'The Blob.' For our generation, all those things, whether it was 'The Blob' or 'The Fly' or something else, we had no idea they were remakes.

If you think about it, a lot of great horror films have bad sequels just because the market demands you to make the other one right away.

If you think about it, you can have the best CGI, but you can always tell that it is CGI. Your brain can spot that is not real even though you think it looks cool. Your brain knows the truth, so you don't jump and you don't scream. It was very important for me to expose the audience to real elements.

It doesn't matter the amount of gore, the amount of shocks that you can have in a movie if the movie's not entertaining, if the story's not entertaining.

Maybe because I'm a child of the '80s, but for me, a sequel is a story that follows the previous one, and sometimes if you haven't seen the original, then you don't understand the second one. Like 'Back to the Future 2.' If you haven't seen the first one, you're not going to get anything out of 'Back to the Future 2.'

There are the horror fans that love the 'Evil Dead' because of the humor, but I'm sure it's not all of them. Not all horror fans love 'Evil Dead' because of the humor, at least not me.

When you're a director you always feel weird with another director watching over your shoulder.

You can make a film with a phone and a computer if you want, if you have the time. So it's a world that is saturated with films and all kind of stuff, so it's such a blessing to be able to make a film and people care, and even if they say that it's a bad idea, at least they care and they're talking about it.

Most filmmakers go out with the first feature and nobody cares.

Definitely my favorite cut is the one that got put out. That's my favorite version of the film, the one that I put in theaters. That's my directors cut, there's no question about it.

Usually you always see first cut is an extended version, because it's basically everything you shot, and you have that version and then you start cutting stuff out.

That's kind of my ideal sequel - a movie that continues the story, takes one character and moves on, and moves forward with that character that survived with the first one.

Maybe because I'm a child of the 80's, but for me a sequel is a story that follows the previous one, and sometimes if you haven't seen the original then you don't understand the second one.

There's so much stuff going on behind the cameras. Sometimes people think these things are done certain ways and when you watch that you see how hard and down and dirty it was.

In general I think the inspiration was to think about all those movies that I saw as a kid and never knew they were remakes, because I know there's probably another kid going to watch Evil Dead who has no idea.

I'm inspired when I find out about something that I didn't know was a remake.

Every day I spend in Hollywood I start to realize how many films are made with no heart and no love. They just do it for the paycheck and I cannot imagine making a film that way.

For me it sounds weird saying that the filmmakers respect the film. I don't imagine that there's other ways to make a film, but unfortunately there is.

Sci-fi is definitely something that I've been wanting to do again since Panic Attack and I want to do it on a feature scale.

Not all horror fans love Evil Dead because of the humor, at least not me.

There's always a tone that you have to hit right in horror. With the blood, you want to make sure that it makes sense all along.

Honestly, when you're writing you try to stay on the story, on the character's mind, trying to throw stuff at them. There is danger, and the scares have to kick in the right places with the drama. And you try not to do too much to try to create those moments. Those moments create themselves.

It's a convention, but in horror movies the female characters usually tend to believe easier in a supernatural event.

I think a good actor will always know the character better than anybody.

I try not to be spectacular with the camera. I try to be a witness of what's going on.

I like to get the audiences cozy in their seats, feeling safe, and suddenly they'll be shocked out of their minds.

In my everyday life, I can be as square as I want. But when it comes to movies and telling stories, I can't. I've got to be radical, and on some level, that's what I like to do.

I take things from everywhere, and I still haven't figured out where I took [some things] from.

I need to create a whole cinematic experience. I think that's what it takes to get the audience to the theater and justify seeing [a movie] on a big screen. You have to give them a cinematic experience.

I've seen a lot of movies that were great and scary, but not particularly fancy in their filmmaking or performance. And they're still scary, and I think a good horror movie should be scary above all things.

Comedy is all about the joke. Comedies usually don't do anything fancy with the camera [or] the lighting. It doesn't matter. It should never be fancy.

You don't see a wonderful shot in a comedy. Why? Because they don't want to distract you from what matters, which is the joke. It has to be funny, so usually all the things in the background don't matter.

I think the more honest you are with the storytelling, the better it works.

I don't want to spoon-feed the audience, like, "This is the funny guy, this is one you hate, this is the one you like." A lot of movies do that. They don't really give you a choice. They show you the jock, and he's an idiot, and everybody has to hate him. You have no choice.

I really don't like to go for the stereotypes. I try to give you characters that you don't know until you get to know them, and [decide] how you should feel about them.

I think violence in movies, for it to work, you have to use it smartly. People get numb very fast. If you have too much violence in the beginning, it gets to a point where you don't feel it.

What some of the early horror genre masters knew, and what I know, is that the audience are perverts, but in the best possible way.