Director Jaume Collet-Serra knew his feature film debut, 2005’s “House of Wax,” came with, shall we say, restrictions.

“In certain stories you can’t develop the characters. In ‘House of Wax,’ there‘s no room to develop them. Who cares? They‘re going to die in 10 seconds anyway.”

That isn’t the case with “Orphan,” Collet-Serra’s second film which hits theaters July 24.

The movie follows a sweet-faced young girl (newcomer Isabelle Fuhrman) who turns her adopted family upside down.

And then some.

“You have a kid, a new element that comes into a family. She breaks it down little by little. That exploration was satisfying to me,” says Collet-Serra, who spoke to WWTW last month between events at StarFest ‘09 in Denver.

Collet-Serra directed television stars like Chad Michael Murray and Jared Padalecki as well as hotel heiress Paris Hilton during his major film debut

With “Orphan,” the director steps up to the big leagues. The film stars Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard as the parents of sweet little Esther.

The director originally worried Farmiga would pass on the role since she recently played the mom of another twisted child in the underappreciated gem “Joshua.”

But Farmiga quickly signed on, he reports.

Collet-Serra hails from Spain, but he says his countrymen don’t consider him part of the current wave of Spanish horror (“Rec,“ “The Orphanage”) since he moved to Hollywood years ago.

He still respects the work coming from his home land.

“Spain is a great country, but one that has a bit of a dark side. People are able to explore that,” he says.

It’s just another example of how the better horror movies come from outside the studio system.

“When you’re not dealing with big studios, the chances of success are actually better for horror,” he says. “Sometimes you need to be really basic for what you’re trying to do, not try to cater to what you think people want. In Spain, they’ve really got that down.”

(Photo: Director Jaume Collet-Serra on the set of “Orphan.”)

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Gather a gaggle of horror film actors in a room and you’re bound to discuss classics like “The Shining” and “The Exorcist.”

It’s still a blast to hear industry veterans at this year’s StarFest convention in Denver tell tales of what scares them silly.

And, yes, all those stories about actors sitting for hours on end while makeup techs administer fangs/fins/blood/etc … it’s all true, they swear.

The panel? – actors Ethan Phillips (“The Island,” “Star Trek: Voyager,” the upcoming “Dahmer vs. Gacy”), Jed Rowen (“Driller,” “Zombie Farm”), Robert Picardo (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “The Howling”), Pal Tallman (1990’s “Night of the Living Dead” and “Army of Darkness”)  and director  Jaume Collet-Serra (“House of Wax,” the upcoming “Orphan”).

Phillips recalled seeing his favorite horror film, “The Exorcist,” for the first time, an event which made him a die-hard genre junkie.

“I was stoned out of my mind,” the actor said. and the film’s transgressive shocks shook him to the core.

“I’ve been chasing that one experience ever since,” Phillips said.

Horror films, Phillips says, “take me out of my everyday life.”

“It’s like being awake during a nightmare, but safe,” he added.

Tallman said “The Haunting” with Julie Harris, a black and white chiller, still gives her the creeps oh, so many years later. Picardo cited “Alien’s” chest bursting sequence – “the biggest mind blowing experience I’ve had in a theater.”

Collet-Serra summed up why he thinks the horror genre exists in the first place.

“It’s human nature. You stop when you see an accident. Some of that [urge] needs to be satisfied,” he said.

(Photos: Top, right – Pat Tallman (“Army of Darkness”). Bottom left, Ethan Phillips of “Star Trek: Voyager”)

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