How?

An example is early vampires from Balkan and Slavic lore generally did not drink blood. They strangle their victims or sexually assault their victims to death. If they drink blood, it is usually from the chest. This is the story of obsession and love. It’s like, OK, well, it looks like a nice poetic motif.

But then I also wonder where that folklore comes from. These are people who experience sleep paralysis, where they have a waking dream of this vampiric visitation. They have this pressure on their chest. So it’s also based in some sort of reality, even if the sternum piercing with vampire teeth is funny. So it’s fun to explore the kinds of things that keep it fresh, but also feel like it can be integrated into the world.

Was most of this film made with practical effects?

I mean there’s a lot of CG effects in the movie, but you’re trying to do all the big crazy things that CG usually does. That way you can use CG to fix things and expand things, and you’re less aware of the sleight of hand because you’re not looking for what looks fake, because things that are usually fake true.

I ask because, working at WIRED, I think AI many. With filmmaking, there’s a lot of talk about “AI can do this, AI can do that,” but I’ve watched your films and I don’t think AI can do that. What do you think about these things?

Guillermo del Toro’s statement that the greatest achievement of AI is to create “semi-sticky screensavers” fair. AI, I think, is best used to inspire people to do more human things. So this is all I can say about that.

I know we’re running out of time, but I have to ask: What monsters are you going to face next?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I mean, I’d love to see a Robert Eggers Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.

I should probably ditch that joke, because it could go either way.

I mean, you got it SpongeBob has been getting a lot of press recently.