Making a horror film about a sadistic child killer could be a challenge in and of itself, but The Black Phone co-writer and director Scott Derrickson said there was one scene that was particularly difficult to execute.

Hollywood Reporter said that in one upsetting moment, Terrence Blake (Jeremy Davies), the alcoholic father of missing child Finney (Mason Thames), whips his daughter, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw).

“That one was probably the one that I felt the most nervous about,” Derrickson tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I chose the kitchen that I chose because it had a long counter. I realized you could really go too far with a scene like that very easily, and an audience can turn on a movie. I wanted them to be disturbed and upset by it, but I didn’t want them to turn on it.”

So, Derrickson chose to soften the moment in the film.

“I thought, ‘I don’t want to see this kid actually getting hit.’ So the very first strike happens off-screen,” says Derrickson. “She’s below the counter, and it’s more his rage that’s upsetting. And then her really emotional performance, most of that occurs when she stands back up and has this long faceoff with him. He’s got the belt raised, but he never actually hits her again. And so that was all worked out very specifically in choreography.”