Happy Friday Weenies and Horror Nerds alike! If you haven’t heard by now, Emily C. Hughes (queen of the horror book lists that keep my literary life organized) has written a STELLAR nonfiction book titled, Horror for Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You’re Too Scared to Watch. This book was such a treat to read for numerous reasons, but most of all for the sheer amount of attention to detail and care Emily places in her writing. Of course, I was dying to talk to her about the process of writing such a book, and I am incredibly thankful for this conversation in which we cover:
– how Emily picked the movies she did for this book
– her love of “weird shit” (we briefly touch on our love of The X-Files and it’s my hope and dream that one day I can have an unhinged fangirl ep about with this Emily)
– the differences between horror on the page and screen
– how the idea of control in horror affects our fear levels
– jump scares, both written and on the screen
– why the human silhouette is so frightening
– the continuation of Horror for Weenies in “The Weenie Report”
– Emily’s process for writing this book
– horror movies – lots and lots of horror movies (see list below)
Now as a bit of house-keeping, two things:
1.) We talk about jump scares on the page and on the screen at various points in this conversation with some light spoilers so if you have not read Jeff Vandermeer’s Authority or seen Oddity yet, I would recommend skipping over the following time sections: 17:13 – 18:00 for Authority, 21:00 – 21:41 for Oddity
2.) Emily and I briefly discuss Scream at the end of this conversation and why meta horror works so well in that film. I bring up a point about comedy and balance, but instead of referencing the parody movie of Scream titled Scary Movie, I say Horror Movie (which I blame Paul Tremblay for given that damn book won’t leave my brain). So please, excuse my slip-up.
Here’s a list of all (I think) of the movies/TV series we mention in this convo:
– Poltergeist
– Oddity
– Haunting of Hill House (Mike Flanagan)
– Longlegs
– The Ring
– Hereditary
– Pearl
– Night of the Demon
– Event Horizon
– The Wicker Man
– Midsommar
– The Witch (or VVitch if you want to be fancy)
– Alien/Alien: Romulus
– Friday the 13th franchise
– The Omen
– The Exorcist
– Halloween
– Nightmare on Elm Street
– Carrie
– Talk to Me
– Scream
Here’s a list of all the books we mention:
– Bird Box and Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
– Horror Movie, A Head Full of Ghosts, and Disappearance at Devil’s Rock by Paul Tremblay
– Authority by Jeff Vandermeer
– The Family Plot by Cherie Priest
– Sacrificial Animals by Kailee Pedersen
– So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison
– Smothermoss by Alisa Alering
All of the thanks to Emily for her time and this wonderful conversation! Horror for Weenies releases on Sept 3rd from Quirk Books!
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