Horror movies are the best date movies. There's no wondering, 'When do I put my arm around her?'

As a director, you have to know what actors are doing. You're the one telling them what to do. The actors' job is to come prepared to the set, but sometimes, if they're beginning actors or people who are non-actors, you have to teach them how to act.

I look at careers like Ben Stiller and think that's a great career to have where you're doing movies that you write and direct, and also act in films, although he's primarily an actor.

Horror is like comedy. Woody Allen's comedy is going to be very different from Ben Stiller's comedy which is going to be different from Adam Sandler's comedy which is going to be different from Judd Apatow's comedy. They're all comedy, but they're all very different types and you can enjoy all of them. Horror is the same way.

I have no tattoos. There's nothing I've even been that into to get a tattoo of it.

Natural disasters are terrifying - that loss of control, this feeling that something is just going to randomly end your life for absolutely no reason is terrifying. But, what scares me is the human reaction to it and how people behave when the rules of civility and society are obliterated.

Movie stars need to retain some of that mystique if you are a big movie star.

Everyone is so terrified of being labeled a racist.

I think filmmakers, in general... There are some awesome, really great filmmakers - but on the whole, filmmakers, actors, I think they are the biggest bunch of whiny, over-paid babies on the planet.

One of the great joys of life, now that you can afford a nice suit, is getting one for free. That's why I like to do press tours - I always say making movies is just an excuse to get free clothing.

Look at comic books. It used to be something that only geeks were into. And now it's everywhere.

I think characters are most terrifying when they're relatable. It's best when your most horrible characters make sense, and are believable. That's when a movie is most terrifying.

Believe it or not, but I was a camp councilor for three years. I love kids.

I have control issues. For sure, no question.

Even post-WWII, nobody talked about the Holocaust. It wasn't until the '50s that people started talking about it.

I would love to do a musical!

I love movies. I mean, I really, really love movies.

Las Vegas is a 24-hour city. It never stops.

Once I got over the fear of writing female characters, it actually came quite easily and I was really happy with it. I just thought about girls I knew really, really well and I'd just have conversations with them and tried to relay how they talk about certain things.

I want people to see my name on a movie, pay money and know they're going to be entertained for 90 minutes.

Creative writing and shooting are muscles that atrophy. But when you work them, you become a self-generator who can branch out.

What is important to me is that people know I respect the business of making movies.

I think that horror films have a very direct relationship to the time in which they're made. The films that really strike a film with the public are very often reflecting something that everyone, consciously or unconsciously feeling - atomic age, post 9-11, post Iraq war; it's hard to predict what people are going to be afraid of.

I generally follow my own compass and make films about what's scaring me.

You know, I'm from Boston, and in Boston, you are born with a baseball bat in your hand.

Well, anytime I make a movie, I like to load it up with more things than you could ever catch on the first viewing.

I never put out a vanilla edition of a DVD.

Anytime you're the first to speak out against something, there's going to be a backlash.

I've realized that I can't multitask in the writing department; I can only kind of do one thing at a time.

The best movies now are called 'thrillers.' Because if you use the word 'horror,' people's associations are straight-to-video crap.

If you are having fun on the set, you are not getting things done.

Chile could work as a double for L.A.; it's very production-friendly and there's terrific talent down there.

There's something very scary about exposing yourself on camera, knowing that you're going to be put on thousands of screens around the world for everyone to judge, but there's also something very thrilling and exciting about it.

I'm not interested in going after a part. I think if someone wants me for a part and approaches me then I'll take it on a case-by-case basis and see what that part is.

I think you should make movies as long as the story dictates.

What I've always thought I would do is make a bunch of movies and then stop to teach for awhile. And then just teach at film schools - you know, teach children.

I think in life we get very caught up in the minutia and, unfortunately, it generally takes some sort of tragedy in your life to put things in perspective.

Life is a series of avoiding horrible situations until ultimately you're dead. That's how I feel about things.

'Troll 2' is one of the rare sequels where you don't have to waste time watching the first one, since the films have absolutely nothing to do with one another.

I can think of endless horrible things to do to people!

The scariest people are usually the sweetest.

It's very flattering to feel like you actually helped create a sub-genre.

Twitter is wonderful. You can kill rumours instantly.

I think horror should never be safe, whether it's violent or non violent.

When you're making a television show, it's about the story and arc of the show rather than any particular episode or director.

The film, 'Aftershock,' for me is really about how the minor problems in life that we think are so major ultimately mean nothing when a tragedy happens, when a real problem happens.

A comedy can actually get funnier and funnier. Even though you know the joke, you enjoy it so much, it's the facial expression, you laugh. The laugh doesn't wear off. It could be with you for thirty years.

I have the infinite galaxy from '2001' as my screensaver - so if I space out while I'm writing and it goes to screensaver, I can just stare off into the stars.

When someone throws up while watching one of your movies, it's like a standing ovation.

I saw 'Alien' when I was 8 years old. To me, it was like a combination of Jaws and Star Wars, and that's the movie that made me want to be a director.