Old star Alex Wolff was “outwardly screaming” when he first read the script

And one of the film's stars, Alex Wolff, has said that his initial reaction to the script was so strong that it caused him to audibly scream.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com and other press ahead of the release, Hereditary and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle star Wolff said, "It was really funny because I had a time limit – I had like a two-and-a-half-hour window to read the script.

"So I was reading it kind of like as if it was a movie playing really fast in front of me, and I was outwardly screaming.

"I had these loud, external verbal responses to it because it was so intense and shocking, and I was kind of emotional at the end. So I had a pretty intense, loud reaction."

And he added, "I can't imagine what it's going to be like to be sitting in a theatre with people reacting to all this stuff that happens because it's really intense."

But even though he had such a visceral reaction to the film, Wolff said that he wouldn't necessarily classify the film as a horror movie – despite the presence of one or two instances of gory body horror during its runtime.

"I don't really see this movie as a horror movie, and I've certainly been a part of some horror movies," he said, before clarifying, "I think that it's a horror movie in that it'll, you know, really scare you later.

"But I believe it's more along the lines of Psycho or even like Three Women or something, you know, like one of these Altman movies I feel that it's... we said it was like a Bergman blockbuster. You know, it's like Persona or something where these concepts stick with you."

Shyamalan himself added that it was important for him to balance the mystery element of the script with the "tumbling effect" of the events that happen to the characters throughout, and said that finding the right rhythm was his biggest challenge in writing the film.

"There's a mystery section to the script," he said. "And then there's these kind of tumbling things that happens in my head. I wanted it to be relentless, and a sense of, you can't even internalise something and then the next thing happens... keeping that kind of weird off-kilter tone through the whole piece until the end."

Old is released in UK cinemas on Friday 23rd July 2021. Looking for something else to watch? Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.