Not every protagonist needs to be likable. Take the married couple at the heart of cosmically tinged relationship horror Imposters. “I wanted to tell a story that was only possible with characters this selfish,” said writer/director Caleb Phillips.
It all comes back to the idea that everyone loves a good mystery, but may not love the reveal. “When Severance or Lost comes on, I’m really dialed in to what the answer might be, but it’s really hard to land that plane sometimes. What I love about cosmic horror is that you get punished for getting closer to the answers.”
In his wild identity horror, he reverses the cosmic horror equation: When married couple Marie (Jessica Rothe, Happy Death Day) and Paul (Charlie Barnett, Disney+’s The Acolyte) undergo the trauma of having their baby abducted, high weirdness brings him back. However, Phillips noted that “[they’re] not so interested in the central core of the mystery, but what they can do with it.” As a result, the audience’s sympathy for them is supposed to be muted. “They both have very shitty moments,” Phillips said. “I was riding a line with how unlikable these characters could be and I feel like a missing baby in a horror movie helped massage connecting the audience to these characters.”
After all, under that cosmic weirdness, Phillips said, “It’s about two parents who didn’t love each other, stuck with a baby.” It’s a contradiction that he said was inspired by his own parents’ divorce later in life, “and the excuse always being that it’s for the children.” As Marie and Paul navigate the unnatural forces that bring their baby back, Imposters is increasingly about what grueling and gruesome steps people take to stay in a relationship. “They’ll change their bodies, they’ll change themselves,” said Phillips. “I really liked the parallel between maiming your body and contorting your personality to fit a relationship. Plus, I’ve always loved body horror.”
There’s a paradox underlying Imposters. On the one hand, it’s a tale of two people who stumble on a secret that could rewrite the universe but are utterly disinterested in how it works. On the other hand, the only way Phillips could get it made was by knowing the nuts-and-bolts mechanics of how to direct a film. “I once read that there’s only two entry positions on set – PA and director,” he joked. However, he took a slightly more circuitous route behind the camera, being that rare director who started off as a grip. “You move to L.A. and you do the thing to make money, and my thing was that I knew how to set up lights.”
In becoming a director, he took one important lesson from his days in crafts on low-budget features: Never take any department for granted. He said, “I’ve seen productions fall apart because a certain department wasn’t listened to. … It’s really important to know what goes into making a movie, so when you ask for something you know how long it’s going to take and what it’s gonna cost.”
Imposters
Midnighter, World Premiere
Sunday 15, 9pm, Alamo Lamar
Monday 16, 2:30pm, Alamo Lamar
Tuesday 17, 9:15pm, Alamo Lamar
This article appears in SXSW 2026 Festival Guide.