Episodes

Peter Hall and Paul Gandersman are the writer/directors behind Man Finds Tape, a faux documentary horror film that uses mixed media, curated “evidence,” and found footage logic to tell a cosmic horror story about a malevolent force that overtakes a small town. In this episode, Peter and Paul break down how the making of Man Finds Tape, including how they approached the cinematic language of using a multitude of different types of cameras and filmmaking styles to achieve their signature blend of ...

Ben Leonberg is the writer and director of Good Boy, the breakout indie horror film told entirely from the point of view of a dog. Shot over three years with a crew of three people and made for under seventy thousand dollars, Good Boy became a theatrical and streaming success, earning over $8 million at the box office, mostly due to its inventiveness, emotional depth, and commitment to a single, bold idea. In this episode, Ben tells us the whole story behind Good Boy, from humble beginnings to ...

Brandon Christensen is a Canadian filmmaker and VFX artist whose directorial work includes Night of the Reaper, Superhost, Puppet Man, and VFX work on multiple films with a particularly close collaboration with Joe Begos on VFW, Bliss, Jimmy and Stiggs, and Christmas Bloody Christmas. In this conversation, Brandon walks through the making of Night of the Reaper, his latest film, which is a nostalgic 80’s style slasher with very heavy Halloween vibes. Brandon also gets into how to consistently m...

Show Notes Movies Mentioned Get Out Psycho Carrie Friday the 13th (franchise) Sharknado The Exorcist Hereditary Contagion The Evil Dead An American Werewolf in London The Fly Weapons Books and Stories Grimm’s Fairy Tales (Brothers Grimm) Follow Marc Malmdorf Andersen at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-malmdorf-andersen-b2a67826a/ Website: https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/persons/mana%40cas.au.dk Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ndersen.bsky.social Follow Mathias Clasen at: Website:...

Jay Drakulic, Mallory Drumm, and Alex Lee Williams are the filmmakers behind Dream Eater, a Lovecraft-inspired found-footage horror film shot on a shoestring budget in a remote Quebec cottage. When their original project lost funding, they rebuilt it from scratch, turning their setbacks into a creative advantage and crafting an intimate, atmospheric story about dreams, dread, and an unraveling relationship. The movie may be called Dream Eater, but the filmmakers’ story is a dream come true; po...

William Earl is the Executive Digital Director at Variety and the lead organizer behind the first annual Variety Horror Impact Report. The report spotlights the filmmakers, producers, executives, festival directors, and creative leaders defining the horror today. In addition to overseeing all digital editorial functions for Variety, William is recognized as the publication’s resident horror expert, covering the business side of entertainment with a particular focus on how horror operates as both...

Joe Begos is a renegade indie filmmaker and a household name in horror. His body of work includes Bliss, VFW, The Mind’s Eye, Christmas Bloody Christmas, and his latest splatterfest Jimmy and Stiggs—which is easily one of my favorite horror films of the year. I love this movie, I love that it exists, and I love what it represents. Joe is one of the most adaptive and irrepressible filmmakers I’ve ever met—he’s worked across multiple budget tiers and has delivered a consistent stream of bold and ...

Clark Collis is a British author and journalist best known for his long career at Entertainment Weekly, where he spent 18 years as a senior writer. Clark is the author of two major books on horror: You’ve Got Red on You: How Shaun of the Dead Was Brought to Life (2021) and, most recently, Screaming and Conjuring: The Resurrection and Unstoppable Rise of the Modern Horror Movie (2025). Screaming and Conjuring is a must-read for horror fans. Spanning the era from Scream to The Conjuring—with a fi...

Scott Brown and Anthony King are the Tony-nominated writers behind Beetlejuice the Musical. Together they adapted Tim Burton’s cult classic into a Broadway hit that blends grief, special effects, and lots of laughs. I am an unabashedly huge fan of Beetlejuice the Musical, which first opened on Broadway in April 2019, closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic, returned for a second run in April 2022, and wrapped again in January 2023. Now the show is set for its third Broadway engagement at the Pa...

Hey everyone, back with another monthly episode of The Howl, where me and my cohost Adam Cruz break down the biggest horror news, share what we’ve been watching, and talk all things horror. This month we’re joined by screenwriter, producer, and director Joe Russo (Nightmare Cinema), who brings some serious insider perspective to the conversation. Our goal with The Howl is to catch listeners up with all of the horror news they might have missed from the past month in a fun, conversational format...

Joshua Lastine is an entertainment attorney and the founder of Lastine Entertainment Law, representing actors, directors, writers, producers and more. A former in-house lawyer at Lionsgate and ViacomCBS, he has worked on high-profile projects such as Halloween (2018) and The Blackening, as well as massive Netflix productions, indie films, and everything in between. Recognized by Variety as a Hollywood Deal Maker, Joshua also serves as an adjunct lecturer in Entertainment Business Law at The Los...

Boaz Yakin is a New York City–born filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer known for his versatile work across indie dramas, mainstream hits, genre films, and TV. He began his career young, selling his first screenplay (The Punisher) at 19, and quickly made a name for himself with gritty urban stories and emotionally resonant character work. Boaz directed Remember the Titans with Denzel Washington, Safe starring Jason Statham, Max, Uptown Girls, A Price Above Rubies, Death in Love and his indie h...

We got a great one today, someone I’ve wanted to have on the show since year 1. Jim  Mickle is in the house. Jim is a director and writer, known for his bold genre-blending style. After graduating from NYU’s film program he made his directorial debut with the micro‑budget horror Mulberry Street (2006), followed by the vampire western Stake Land (2010). In 2013, he released his unsettling family cannibal remake (that legit gave me nightmares) We Are What We Are. Jim then ventured into noir-thrill...

Natasha Kermani is a director whose work includes Imitation Girl, Lucky, and V/H/S/85. Her latest feature, Abraham’s Boys, is an atmospheric, emotionally grounded take on Dracula and Van Helsing, adapted from Joe Hill’s short story. The film explores the lives of Van Helsing’s sons, reframing familiar gothic mythologies through a new lens and examining the cost of obsession, legacy, and belief systems passed from parent to child. Abraham’s Boys blends Western aesthetics, intimate drama, and hor...

Jamie Harrison is a renowned illusion designer, visual effects creator, and theater artist, who, alongside collaborator Chris Fisher, is responsible for the jaw-dropping illusions in Stranger Things: The First Shadow, the stage play prequel to the Stranger Things series. Both Jamie and Chris earned a Special Tony Award for Illusions & Technical Effects earlier this year. In this conversation, Jamie walks through his background as a magician and theater artist and the deep historical roots of ma...

Josh Stolberg is a director, screenwriter, and photographer whose work spans comedy, horror, and thriller. Among the horror crowd, Josh is best known for his work as writer on movies like Sorority Row and Piranha 3D. Josh is well known for his contributions to the Saw franchise, penning scripts for Jigsaw (2017), Spiral (2021), and Saw X (2023). His latest project is Skillhouse, which he wrote and directed. Skillhouse is a critique on influencer culture with brutal, practical-effects-driven set...

Chris Fisher is one of the leading minds behind the groundbreaking illusions in Stranger Things: The First Shadow, the stunning stage prequel to the beloved Netflix series. As Co-Illusion and Visual Effects Designer, Fisher helped craft an unprecedented theatrical experience that combines practical magic, cutting-edge engineering, and emotional storytelling — all performed live, night after night. With a background in stage magic and major productions like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and ...

Kate Trefry is a key creative force behind Stranger Things. Joining the show as a writer in Season 2, she’s been with the series for over seven years, and her work has helped shape the mythology, tone, and lore of the town of Hawkins — and all of its beloved (and haunted) inhabitants. Her latest venture takes the franchise into uncharted territory: the stage. Kate wrote Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a theatrical prequel set in 1959 Hawkins that blends psychological horror with jaw-dropping...

Marc Schölermann is an acclaimed German director who made his feature debut with Pathology, a psychological thriller produced by MGM/Lakeshore and starring Alyssa Milano. His latest film, Bark, is a horror thriller about a man who wakes up tied to a tree with no memory of how he got there. Remarkably, the entire story unfolds within a single 10-by-10-foot space—making Bark not just a gripping watch, but a masterclass in single-location filmmaking. Marc shot the film in just nine days. In this e...

Today’s guests are the creative duo Shannon Eric Denton and David Hartman — two multi-hyphenate storytellers whose work spans the worlds of comics, animation, film, and beyond. Shannon Eric Denton is a veteran writer, artist, and transmedia creator with a career that cuts across comics, animation, television, and gaming. He’s worked with major studios including Cartoon Network, Warner Bros., Disney, Marvel, DC Comics, and Riot Games. Shannon is also the co-founder of Monster Forge Productions, ...

Intro Robin Block is rewriting the playbook for how genre stories get made. As the founder of CreatorVC, he’s behind the wildly successful In Search of Darkness documentary series, Aliens Expanded , and In Search of the Last Action Heroes —all funded and shaped by passionate fans. Now, with his new venture ScreamSeed, Robin is building the future of horror development: a platform that brings creators and fans together to incubate new IP and make bold, independent horror without waiting fo...

Kurt Sayenga is a writer, director, and showrunner who has become a leading force in horror documentary filmmaking. Kurt made a name for himself with series like Eli Roth’s History of Horror, The 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time, and Horror’s Greatest, where he brings a scholar’s eye and a fan’s passion to the genre’s most iconic moments. In this episode, we delve into Kurt’s journey from punk-rock zine publisher to award-winning documentarian, his approach to keeping horror history...

On this episode we dive deep into the making The Invisible Raptor with writer and star Mike Capes and producer Nic Neary. The film is a hilarious, Amblin-inspired horror-comedy that delivers big creature-feature thrills (without ever showing the creature itself). Mike and Nic share how the movie originated as a 3 AM idea, the journey from script to screen, and how they secured funding and distribution in a competitive indie film market. They also get into guerrilla filmmaking tactics, crafting ...

On this episode of The Nick Taylor Horror Show, we’re joined by journalist and horror scholar David Katznelson. Known for his meticulous exploration of the horror genre’s history, David shares details behind a fascinating project where he watches and analyzes every horror movie from the 1970’s. His most recent focus has been 1974—a pivotal and hauntingly transitional year in horror. From Texas Chainsaw Massacre to forgotten gems like Help Me, I’m Possessed, David’s work breaks down the evolutio...