Two years after Shelley, a horror film based on a Norse mythology and folktale, Ali Abbasi premiered the buzz heavy Border at the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section. In some circles considered a front-runner as the fest’s cult horror classic; inspired by a short story by John Ajvide Lindqvist, Border is a smart genre-bending mix of romance, social realism, supernatural noir and Nordic noir that sees the filmmaker revisit again the horror genre, but here defies it and subverts the genre conventions. Utitlizing Lindqvist’s written work as a foundation, there is an echo the crumbing human civilization and the people who are not what they seem. I had the chance to sit with Abbasi and ask him about where his inspiration comes from, his working method with his actor set, and the story structure of horror films and his reflection upon it.