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Matthew Lillard has worked with a murderer’s row of incredible directors. From James Gunn, to Wes Craven, to David Lynch, and to Mike Flanagan, Lillard has starred in projects that look into the very depths of human experience. 

So what’s it like working with so many horror directors? It turns out, for Matthew Lillard, Wes Craven and Mike Flanagan have quite a bit in common. Speaking at a Q&A at GalaxyCon 2025 with other members of the Scream cast, Lillard said, “They have this kindness about them that allows them to dance in darkness… I think that both of those men have this incredible lightness of humanity that plays out in these films.”

In case you forgot, Lillard worked with Mike Flanagan for his Stephen King adaptation, The Life of Chuck. Flanagan also directed the movie adaptation of Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining, but unlike The Life of Chuck, that was legitimately a horror movie. But I think that the genre of The Life of Chuck goes back to the “incredible lightness of humanity” that Lillard said that Flanagan possesses. In other words, both directors have an immense creative range. 

In the immortal words of Danny Elfman, "Life's no fun without a good scare." Join Popverse's weekly explorations of the best opening moments of horror cinema in The Coldest Open, and then check out:

• The best horror movies of all time, according to horror aficionado Greg Silber
• The most underrated horror movies from the past couple years
• All the new and upcoming horror movies for 2025 and beyond

And much gore. Er, more. Much more.