Manila, Dec 15 (IANS): Director James Wan says there are shades of horror in the story of Jason Momoa-starrer "Aquaman".

"There are shades of little bit of horror in 'Aquaman'. There is a sequence of Trench which is really scary. So I dug deep into my love for genre of filmmaking," Wan said at an event here.

Wan is known for lending his creative insight to horror films like "Saw", "The Conjuring", "Insidious", "Annabelle" and "The Nun". "Aquaman" is his first superhero film.

Wan feels storytelling is "storytelling" -- it doesn't matter what genre it is in.

"I would say that every movie which I make, regardless of what genre it is in, I learn stuff from it and carry it on to next project."

What did he learn from all the horror films?

"What I learnt from big scary movie is that creating characters which people care about, is super important. If you are concerned about the characters then when I put them in some scary situation, the audience will also feel the same."

And that is why his focus is on "creating likable characters and finding best actors for them".

Wan was in Manila to promote "Aquaman" along with Jason Momoa and Amber Heard.

The Warner Bros project explores the origin story of half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry and takes him on the journey of his lifetime -- one that will not only force him to face who he really is, but to discover if he is worthy of who he was born to be -- a king.

The film released in India on December 14, a week ahead of the US release. It opened in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

For the film, Wan looked back at his roots and incorporated it in the story.

"I was born in Malaysia and grew up in Australia... You know culturally, I am from two separate worlds. I think while growing up (you tend to) push one aside as you embrace another. But as I got older, I found that I was embracing my other side just as much.

"And we brought that into the story. He is a hero who is from two separate worlds and doesn't quite feel that he belongs to both the worlds and what he discovers is that he is the best of both worlds and ends up embracing his identity."