Do horror filmmakers believe in their subject matter? Is the supernatural a real thing to Mike Flanagan, writer-director of the haunted mirror flick Oculus? Talking to the Straight from Los Angeles, Karen Gillan says she never had that particular discussion with the filmmaker, but she can guarantee his passion for the genre.

“He loves to watch it, he loves to make it, and I love the fact that he’s from Salem—that’s very cool,” she says, her Scottish accent coming as something of a surprise so soon after viewing the film. (She does American beautifully.) All the same, it’s the clash of belief systems that provides the thriller, which opens Friday (April 11), with its most interesting angle.

Gillan plays Kaylie, who remains convinced as an adult that the night of violence that left her orphaned—and for which her younger brother Tim (Brenton Thwaites) was blamed—was actually caused by an old, soul-devouring mirror called the Lasser Glass. As the film opens, Tim is being released after years of psychiatric treatment. He’s been told repeatedly that his memories of possession and haunting are false; she’s bent on proving they were real.

Gillan says she falls somewhere in between, personally. “I would probably want to find a rational explanation for their experiences,” she says. “However, I do believe that there are things that we don’t understand yet because our brains aren’t developed enough. To rule out the supernatural I think is really silly because we don’t have wide enough perception to really know.”

Gillan adds that her own mother “one hundred percent believes in ghosts. She says they’re there all the time. She says she can just feel them.” If Gillan isn’t quite prepared to commit to the same view, her relative open-mindedness befits a nascent fantasy queen. The 26-year-old actor made her first real splash as Dr. Who’s assistant Amy Pond. In August, she’ll be going supernova with her role as Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy.

“Yeah, yeah, another genre film. That’s where the good parts are!” she says, with a laugh. “I can’t believe I’m part of the Marvel family. I don’t know what it’s going to be like when it comes out. I just don’t know how to prepare for that.” (“It’ll be nuts,” I offer. “I hope so,” she responds.)

But Gillan is also ready to export the range British TV viewers know her for. While she praises Oculus for giving her a character with a little more depth than average—“It’s not just a horror film, but actually just a really good film,” she says—it sounds like she needs to find herself something a little lighter, pronto.

“I was obsessed with Friends growing up,” she says. “So those actors were a huge influence on me.  That’s why I’d like to do a bit of comedy as well as these genre things, and I think actually that’s where I feel most natural.”

A rom-com with Jennifer Aniston and a comeback trail Matt LeBlanc, perhaps? “That would really be fun, “ she says, "but it would have to be good.”