Dan Stevens is questioning his sanity in The Terror: Devil in Silver. An adaptation of Victor LaValle’s 2012 novel, the six-part anthology series follows Pepper (Stevens), a Queens moving man wrongfully committed to the New Hyde Psychiatry Hospital for a 72-hour stay. Within those doomy, gloomy walls, tensions begin to mount as Pepper butts heads with staff and becomes convinced an unspeakable evil dwells in the building. A patient rumored to be the Devil – locked behind a mysterious door at the end of a hallway – only intensifies his suspicions. But is Pepper losing his grip on reality? Is he experiencing his own mental health crisis? Or could a malevolent presence be lurking in the dilapidated facility?
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A genre staple in such memorable projects as The Guest, Legion, Beauty and the Beast, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Abigail and Cuckoo, Stevens recently spoke to ComicBook about his love of horror, mind trips and the insidious nature of asylums. Before we got into the new show, we asked Stevens what he could tell us about upcoming Monsterverse sequel Godzilla x Kong: Supernova: “I’m delighted to be back. Trapper is such a fun character and I really enjoyed bringing him back. This next one is gonna be out of this world. It’s everything you love and more.”
Our exclusive interview with Dan Stevens on new AMC show The Terror: Devil in Silver continues below.
What do you enjoy about horror? What kind of stories does this landscape allow you to tell that maybe other genres don’t?
Dan Stevens: It really enables any and all stories. That’s what I really liked about it. It’s a very playful space and it invites very playful filmmakers, who like to… for lack of a better phrase… fuck things up. I like that. They are not just looking to make a monster story. They are looking to make a monster story that actually has a social critique baked in. And it’s like, “How do we do that? How can we make this multi-layered cake that is going to really satisfy people, so that you are not beating someone over the head with an issue-lead drama?” We could have made a very heartfelt, dirge of a show about the American healthcare system and how we treat mental illness. But we decided to dress it up with this monster story, this story of this impulsive man who has been wrongfully incarcerated within this institution. So, we get to play on both levels. That’s what really excites me about the genre. You are playing two instruments at the same time and, hopefully, making a nice tune.
Location plays into it, as well. This isn’t your first stay in a mental institute, as a character,
And probably not my last.
What makes this setting a pressure cooker for supernatural activity?
Institutions are a great setting for stories of this kind. If you have a contained environment, whether it’s a hospital or school or a submarine… but particularly a psychiatric institution where somebody is like, “Wait. I can’t get out? I have to take these pills?” Stuff is going to get weird. A psychiatric institution is obviously dealing with the mind. What we are really looking to dive into Pepper’s mind and how much of this is real, how much of this is imagined and how much of the Devil that we are dealing with is in reality? How much of it is a metaphorical demon that he’s carrying with him? How much of the Devil is in the system? We are just looking at really critiquing the healthcare system and that sort of thing. It’s a fantastic setting and timeless, really. I think so many of our great stories are set in this kind of world.
Looking at your last horror, Abigail, once things get going, the pace becomes relentless. What makes Devil in Silver’s slow burn so effective?
It is unexpected in that way. It is not your typical horror. There are terrific characters that fill the holes and we have an amazing cast, some brilliant actors who came to play. So, you want to meet these people. You want to find out their stories. You get to dip into their stories and not just the inmates. It’s the staff, as well. That’s part of the critique. These criminally underfunded places, that are just trying to keep going… It’s as hell for them as it is for the inmates. We really get to dip into some of those stories and see them not just as inmates, but as fully-rounded characters. I think that adds to the heartbreak that we are able to push alongside the horror.
In Abigail, you get splattered with gallons of blood. What about the psychological horror spoke to you?
It was nice not to have so many gallons of blood on set for this one. There’s a little bit, but not as much as Abigail for sure. Those Radio Silence boys are brilliant. I just saw Ready or Not 2. I think they had more blood than for Abigail, which I thought was impossible.
Psychological horror… I’ve always found it gets me more. It’s not necessarily true for everyone. It’s more insidious. It haunts you more. It stays with you more. With this one, particularly, there was a haunting heartbreak to it that went hand-in-hand with the horror, that really snowballed into something that delivers quite a punch that I wasn’t necessarily expecting when I sat down to flick through it. It’s fun to do the big, silly, gory ones sometimes. I don’t think I would want to do them everyday of the week. I think Kathryn Newton is still getting the blood out of her hair. It’s definitely more of a challenge from an acting perspective, especially when you have such a talented cast around you to give people that kind of stuff to play with. It’s so fun to watch.
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