Working With Mike Flanagan & Alien Theories

Kate Siegel is happy to get very real about extraterrestrial life very quickly. When asked if she believes in aliens, she offers a specific and chilling response.

“I’m a huge sci-fi reader…Ray Bradbury is one of my favorite authors of all time,” she says. “In the world right now there’s a lot of discourse about aliens being real. The needle is turning towards, ‘Yes, aliens exist.’ It’s a matter of when and where we will contact them, and not if they exist. I imagine that aliens are here on this planet and we’ll end up realizing it’s something obvious, like an octopus or a fungi structure is actually an alien that had been here forever. I think the most terrifying realization would be that they were under our noses all the time.”

This analysis makes Siegel the perfect contributor to “V/H/S/Beyond,” the seventh chapter in the horror anthology series, and the first solely devoted to sci-fi tales. Siegel, best known as a Scream Queen from films like “Oculus” and “Hush” and series like “The Haunting of Hill House” and “Midnight Mass,” handles directing duties for the short film “Stowaway,” a highlight of the film and the series overall. In it, a woman (Alanah Pearce) comes across a UFO and decides to hop on board, allowing for some creepy and creative imagery.

Despite her interest in the genre, Siegel, a first-time director, wasn’t actively hunting for a gig behind the camera.

“I hadn’t necessarily been looking for an opportunity to move into directing, but when all the stars came into alignment, I didn’t have a choice but to jump,” she says. “‘V/H/S’ has always been a springboard for new and up-and-coming filmmakers. It’s a unique situation where you are part of a team, but you’re also an individual, so you have the support of an established franchise, but their mission is to give new filmmakers creative control.”

“Stowaway” was written by Mike Flanagan, Siegel’s frequent collaborator who directed all of her projects mentioned above, and her husband of eight years. Siegel says the secret to harmony in their professional collaborations is “honesty and respect” throughout the process.

“When I ask him a question, he’s going to answer it honestly, which sounds simple, but it’s so important,” she says. “He’ll give me the constructive criticism I need, or I will give him the criticism he needs, that it might be hard to find in other places when it’s not covered in a sort of politeness. When you’re making millions and millions of choices, the stuff that gets through is the most honest and direct. I know he always respects me, and he’s always on my team.”

Siegel considers “Stowaway” to follow in the footsteps of poetic sci-fi like “Contact” as well as body horror like “The Fly,” and selected Pearce, most widely known as a video game journalist and writer, as her lead.

“Alanah’s been in my friend group for years and she’s a very enigmatic and charismatic person,” Siegel says. “You want to watch her in a room and ask her how she feels about things. She’s an incredible collaborator and a generous artist. When I was considering who I wanted to work with for my debut, those were all on the top of the list. I had seen some of her voiceover and video game work, performance capture stuff. I ended up thinking, ‘This woman’s an actress.’ I could just feel it in her. Helping Alana sculpt this part and allowing her to be more herself, bring more of her own natural insight and charisma to the role which was written for her was a really exciting journey.”

Looking at directing with an actor’s background, Siegel was able to add a unique style to the film.

“I think my camera moves in a very emotional way, as opposed to a technical way,” she says. “All of my camera moves seem motivated by emotion. I think that is something that is organically mine that came from being an actor first.”

What’s next now that “Stowaway” is out to the public? Siegel would enthusiastically revisit and expand this world, saying, “I would love to make this a feature. There is a huge feature-length story in it that I’d love to tell.”

Beyond that, she’s thrilled to have a fresh creative outlet.

“I have that new relationship energy with directing,” Siegel says. “It’s pulling my attention and drive right now. I find it very exciting to have a new way to tell a story. I’m not giving up acting — I’m just being a little more picky now because I have something that takes all of me that I feel like doing. I’ll always answer the call for a great story, whether that is as a director or a producer or an actress.”

“V/H/S/Beyond” is now available to stream on Shudder.