Mary Laws alone with Infobae: discover the real terror behind “Monsterland”

For decades, countless horror stories have been told in film and television, but in recent years the vision of this genre has expanded, generating new narratives that are committed to exploring the true fears and fears of human beings. Such is the case of Monsterland, a mini series that invites you to discover what the true origin of monsters is.

The audiovisual production led by Mary Laws consists of 8 chilling chapters inspired by North-American Lake Monsters, the award-winning collection of horror stories written by Nathan Ballingrud. Each episode tells different stories, but they all promise to freeze the skin of viewers, keep them on the edge of the seat and make them reflect on the impact of their decisions.

Among the cast that participated in the mysterious stories are Kaitlyn Dever, Taylor Schilling, Adria Arjona, Kelly Marie Tran, Charlie Tahan, Hamish Linklater, Bill Camp and Mike Colter. Those who are willing to delve into the anthology of horror will be able to do so through Universal Premiere.

To learn a little more about the intriguing project Infobae Mexico, he talked to Mary Laws, producer and screenwriter of the mini series. To begin with, the American creator confessed that for the creation of each chapter it was not only based on stories, but also explored everyday situations of humanity that unfortunately become terrifying by the decisions made by those involved.

“I wanted to ask questions about why people behave badly and look at different stories, with different types of protagonists, in different sets of circumstances, perhaps dealing with things they regret or situations where they seem to be lost and where they have to behave. A way that others might perceive as monstrous to get out of those situations. I wanted people to look at those protagonists and really understand why they were making some of the decisions they were making,” he shared.

The screenwriter of The Neon Demon commented that it was also important to reflect on the concepts of good and evil for the construction of the episodes because they are part of human reasoning and undoubtedly have an impact on all the activities that take place in life.

“I think I wanted to explore the idea of [...] good and evil that exists in all of us and maybe convey a little more peace with the fact that we are all human and we do it in different ways, it points to things that we regret, things that seem monstrous to other people. But that doesn't necessarily make us monsters. So that's what I expected viewers to take away from them, that the monsters in each episode can sometimes be the real supernatural monsters or maybe sometimes it's humans. But to really question who the real villain is,” he continued.

Mary Laws confessed that she has always been attracted to terror, which is why she often includes it in her projects, and mentioned that for the creation of the mini series she investigated characteristics of each region where the stories were placed in order to build a more realistic scenario.

In this context, the screenwriter of Succession (2018) confessed that she would like to work with Guillermo del Toro, a renowned Mexican director who has made a mark on film thanks to her vision of fantasy and horror, and expressed her deep admiration for him.

“Oh, I love Guillermo Del Toro! I'd love to work with him. If you are reading this interview or if you watch “Monsterland”, please tell him to call me. I think he is a master in the genre of monsters, but also in combining genres and bringing a lot of beauty, magic and poetry to the genre of monsters, which is unique [...] I think there is beauty everywhere if you can find it or choose to look for it. And I think that's what he does in his world. And that's why his films are so moving,” he concluded.

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