You Should Have Left Director David Koepp Reveals Trippy Horror Movie Secrets

Horror movies are quite popular and common as a result which presents a constant challenge for filmmakers in the genre to flex creative muscles which have not been used on repeat in films before theirs. With the upcoming release of You Should Have Left, director David Koepp inherited a story from a book with the same title, ultimately being burdened with bringing some trippy key story elements to life. For example, time and space do not operate the same in the house which Kevin Bacon’s Theo and Amanda Seyfried’s Susanna visit in this film as they do in the rest of the world. This is shown in one instance, for exmaple, where a room on the inside of their getaway home is larger on the inside than it is on the outside, something which lent itself very well to movie magic.

“It’s pretty liberating, because, you know, you’re often doing your interiors and your exteriors at different places,” Koepp explained in an interview with ComicBook.com. “And so you’re trying to match, and in our case, we wanted to push it and have them walk through the door and have it be too big on the inside than it is on the outside, but not so far, not so ridiculous, that they run screaming outta the house.”

Of course, presenting the mythological elements of the house is not the only challenge which Koepp faced. He also battled common sense moments which would have audiences thinking the characters should use just that and call for help and get to a safer place. “You know, that’s always the challenge in this kind of movie, like the challenge in a thriller is why don’t they call the police?” Koepp explained. “And you better answer that question adequately. And I think the challenge in a scary house movie is why the hell don’t they get out of there? And you better answer it right. And you better answer it convincingly throughout, or the audience will desert you. So we wanted to make those changes, and have it be weird at the start, not so weird they leave, and then expand its weirdness as the movie goes on.”

While You Should Have Left may not have been made with a straight to home theater release in mind, producer Jason Blum does not think much would have changed in its production or will change with future productions should the release format become more common. “I don’t think so, in the process of making the movie, or what we look for creatively,” Blum said. “I think we’re trying to tell great, scary, intense, edge-of-your-seat stories. And I wouldn’t change what we’re trying to do based on the destination of where it would wind up.”

See the full interview with Koepp and Blum in the video above! You Should Have Left is available on demand on Friday, June 19.