Introduction
First Word on Horror is a fifteen-part documentary series that profiles five of the finest horror writers working today. Across multiple episodes, each author discusses their life, inspirations, philosophies, and writing techniques while reading one of their short stories. As fact and fiction blend, secrets are revealed and the delicate alchemy that turns human experience into creative expression begins to emerge.
The series is a love letter to writers of all ilk, to the primacy of the human experience, and to the simple act of reading a good story. The authors profiled are New York Times bestsellers, multi-award winners, and cult favorites. In this first season, they are Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Elizabeth Hand, Laird Barron, and Mariana Enriquez.
Through the authors’ lives, the series takes viewers from a harrowing Iditarod dogsled race in Alaska to the lurking terror of growing up under the Argentinian dictatorship; from the unbridled energy of the early DC punk scene to an ill-fated hunting expedition on the Blackfeet reservation in Montana.
First Word on Horror is directed by Emmy and WGA-winning writer and filmmaker Philip Gelatt, whose credits include: The Spine Of Night, They Remain, The Bleeding House, and Love Death + Robots. The project is produced by Will Battersby (The Spine Of Night, Trumbo) and other key crew include Director of Photography Sean Kirby, Composer Peter Scartabello, Editor April Merl, and Sound Designer Ben Cheah.
Interview
Cinema Scholars’ own Glen Dower sat down with Philip Gelatt, director of the new horror docuseries First Word on Horror. They discuss how Philip first got introduced to the horror genre, why he felt each episode should be dedicated to one writer, and Philip’s thoughts on the current state of the horror genre, among other topics.
Glen Dower:
Philip Gelatt, how are you, Sir?
Philip Gelatt:
I’m very good. How are you?
Glen Dower:
I’m really good, thanks. So let’s talk about First Word On Horror. Now, our readers will be sick of me saying this, I’m like a broken record when I talk to horror creators like yourself, but I was a relative newbie to horror because I was a sensitive child. I had nightmares about having nightmares! And then just one day it clicked and that was when I saw The Thing. And now it’s my favorite horror, one of my perfect movies along with Predator, and it also led to more of John Carpenter’s work, more body horror like The Fly. I’ll just do anything and everything for horror now. What is your horror tale that got you into the genre?
Philip Gelatt:
Oh, my God. Okay, this is such a good question. I also was a sensitive child, I was terrified of horror and horror-adjacent things. Let me tell you the things that scared me…I’m gonna swear…the absolute shit out of me when I was a kid. So they include Large Marge from Peewee’s Big Adventure. I don’t know if you recall Large Marge, just the claymation face. And I was like, nope, never gonna watch that again. Nothing like that, thank you!
The library ghost in Ghostbusters scared the pants off of me. The cover of Ghoulies, the Gremlins knockoff. There’s a little ghoulie in a toilet. My friends rented the movie at a sleepover. And I was like, not watching that! Then I got into horror, probably in my teenage years, I saw Alien for the first time. And that was the movie, I was probably 14. And I, well, to be totally honest, I loved Aliens first, because it was like an action rock and roll good time. But then I went back and saw Alien. I was like, ‘Oh, look at this. Isn’t this interesting?’ I can handle this. And it is sort of science fiction, and it’s horror.
So around that time, I have to say, given what First Word In Horror is about, I also started to read a lot of horror. I read Stephen King, and I read Anne Rice, and I got into Clive Barker and a lot of other writers. So somewhere in between seeing Alien and starting to read horror really sort of opened that genre up for me.
Glen Dower:
It’s such a literacy-based genre, isn’t it? Because I discovered Frankenstein when I was at school. And I thought, well, this is one of the best books ever. Of course, that was around the time of Kenneth Branagh’s movie version, which is so-so, but the book’s incredible. And of course, you go back to Dracula, all of King’s work, and the list goes on. We’re dealing with writers, let’s talk about your series, of course.
With these feature writers, going into it, we have the misconception that there’s going to be some sort of talking heads, about a theme, and you’ll have this person, then this person, etc. But instead, each episode is dedicated to one writer and you get to spend time with these people. And that’s a special concept. How did you decide on one episode, one writer?
Philip Gelatt:
There are two entry points. One, there’s an author, he’s deceased now, his name is Peter Straub. And he was a contemporary of Stephen King’s. And I, for whatever reason, was righteously indignant that he was not as popular as Stephen King. So I was like, I’m going to make a documentary about Peter Straub. Then he went off and died. So I didn’t get a chance to do that. But then I’m good friends with a number of the authors who are in the series, one of them being Laird Baron, you’ll know him, he has the eyepatch. And he got very, very sick, and nearly died.
He talks about it in the course of the series. And so I thought, well, I don’t want him to go off and Peter Straub on me before I have a chance to get him to sit down and talk about his life. And so that’s where it started was me wanting to sit there down and talk to him about both his, he has a unique life, he grew up in rural Alaska, he’s missing an eye, he ran the Iditarod dogsled race many, many, many times when he was in his 20s.
So that idea that that an author might write incredible things, but might also have interesting biographical insights, really was the starting point. And what I tried to do in the interviews was show sort of this interplay between biography and work. I mean, I think it’s dangerous to say you have to have a unique biography to write unique works of fiction, I don’t think that’s true.
But I do think that considering an author’s biography, and, you know, where they’re coming from when you’re considering their work does enrich the work in a certain way. So it was really my, and I just, love authors and personalities. And each of these authors has a real, they’ve got a real perspective and a real personality that comes through in the interviews.
Glen Dower:
Absolutely. First up, we have Stephen Graham Jones, I love his piece which he reads in his episode: Dear Final Girls. I want that as a podcast or on Spotify. It’s spellbinding! That’s just an amazing piece of work. Then we have Elizabeth Hand, of course, with her story, The Bacchae, really creepy, and just gets under your skin. Definitely. Paul Tremblay, Marianne Eniques. Wow, she has a story to tell. And of course, your friend, Laird Barron. How did you approach them about the whole project in general?
Philip Gelatt:
When we started with Laird, as I said, I sort of tricked him, to be honest, and was like, oh, we’re gonna, I tricked him by saying what we ended up doing. Because originally, I was just like, I’m just gonna do something about him. So I said to him, I’m gonna make this thing about a bunch of different authors, and you’re going to be one of them. And Laird’s a very gracious guy. So he’s like, oh, as long as it’s not just me. Then, once I’d done the Laird interview, and had cut it together and understood how it was going to work, it was then easier to go and ask the other authors to come and participate.
So, I knew Stephen Graham Jones a little bit. So he was an easy one to ask. Paul, I’m quite good friends with. Marianne and Elizabeth, I didn’t know at all before approaching them, but I got introduced to them via the other authors, because they all sort of know each other, right? So I was able to, you know, use one to get to the other. And I mean, I just sort of explained exactly what it is.
I would give them a list of questions. And I, you know, do biographical research first. So I knew what to ask. and to send them a list of biographical questions, but then also about, you know, their thoughts on the horror genre, their thoughts on the writing process, and all these kinds of things.
And I tried to ask them, you can’t detect it in the episodes, I don’t think, but I tried to ask them always a series of questions that were the same, so that we could get different, you know, different answers to the same question and see how different writers might respond to different, or respond differently to the same question if that makes sense. And they were all pretty game. I mean, it’s, it was, I mean, nobody turned us down, and they were all very excited to do it, which is nice. It was so much fun.
Glen Dower:
You walk that fine line between the autobiography and the work itself. And at times you do forget, oh, this is about horror movie writers, because they’ve been through so many different experiences. You think, are these true crime survivors in a documentary, instead of a horror writing documentary?! Let’s talk about the genre at the moment. So, like I said, I’m still easing my way into some areas of horror. I have two ways of doing it. I either watch reaction videos, like on ‘Reel Rejects’.
And that’s how I knew, for example, the Terrifier franchise wasn’t for me. Or I’ll watch a horror movie in the middle of broad daylight by an open window on my iPad. So if I get too scared, I just chuck it out the window…
So what is your feeling about the horror genre at the moment? Because this is a really exciting time because we have the pendulum swinging from the Terrifier, which is polished torture porn, perhaps. And we also have the more character-driven, really well-written films that live under your skin, as well. What do you think has been the highlight of the last few years?
Philip Gelatt:
Horror at the moment is almost considered the savior of moviemaking, financially, at least, which is great. It’s great for the genre. And it’s great that there are so many different flavors of it, as you say, Glen, out there. I mean, I love every type of horror. So I’m in from Terrifier to Nosferatu to Red Rooms. I am an equal-opportunity consumer of all types of the genre. So for a person like me, I’m a kid in a candy store, there’s just so very much to watch. I will say that there are these ‘horror tourists’ now, ‘oh, NOW it’s popular. I’ve been here for years damn it!’ It’s good.
Glen Dower:
Horror tourists. I love that!
Philip Gelatt:
Yeah! But I mostly mean that jokingly. So it is, it’s super exciting, you know, and I, I, I guess have very strong opinions on almost every horror movie that I see, but I always try to couch them in the terms of like, I’m just happy that these movies are getting made. Like I’m so excited that Edgar’s got to make that version of Nosferatu. Like if you look at Jordan Peele’s work, I’m so excited that he’s gotten to make those movies in the way that he’s made them, you know, and seemingly with an incredible amount of creative control, like that’s all incredibly exciting.
And I think it’s, you know, just the other thing to say about the genre, my, my favorite version of it is, you know, if it is made relatively cheaply, you can get away with things because people, you know, money people aren’t necessarily 100% paying attention to what you’re doing. And I think that’s incredibly exciting. It makes it potentially a genre that’s very creatively free in the best versions of it. And that’s, I think we’re sort of in that place right now, more or less, and that’s, it’s great. I love it.
Glen Dower:
And do you ever see a day that horror will be truly recognized at say the Golden Globes? Do you think there might be a category for Best Horror, or Best Horror Performance, because there’s some recognition sometimes for a very specific performance, but you think there will be a category one day alongside Musical/Comedy or maybe Best Musical/Comedy/Horror?
Philip Gelatt:
I’ve never thought about that question before in my life! Probably because of the aforementioned contrarian view that I like horror as the dirty genre that people don’t want to talk about. (The film’s PR, Emma enthusiastically points out Demi Moore winning for The Substance). Yes of course. But I think that’s like, it’s an outlier, certainly. It’s insane that movie. I mean, her performance is great. But it’s so I don’t know, I think I’ll say this, to my bifurcated opinion on things, I would be excited for horror if it got in some category.
But part of me would also be annoyed. It should be like the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, it’s not, not the Golden Globes. But I don’t know. I think there are moments, just by way of an anecdote, like there, I’ve had arguments in the past with people, about what is the definition of the horror genre. So I’m thinking about that because of Silence of the Lambs, which, in my view, is a horror film, and of course, nominated and won several Oscars. But I’ve had people tell me that, no, no, no, that’s, that’s a thriller.
It’s just like that if they can’t/won’t let it be a horror, they won’t give it that. But…it’s about a man who cuts women’s skin off. And we’re like, what more do you want from a horror film? It’s obvious, quite obviously horror. It’s an interesting question. I’d love to think about the genre in general. And it’s sort of the way it’s perceived, and also the way it gets created. It’s a good question. To answer your question, no, I don’t think Golden Globes will ever make a horror-only category, but we’ll see. We’ll see.
Glen Dower:
Yeah, I mean, there’s an open goal there, the Cate-Gory. But let’s see, indeed. Let’s get back to the classics of the genre. I was just thinking recently of the big three slashers, who deserves a sequel, who deserves a reboot…who should be laid to rest forever? Between Freddie, Jason, and Mike, what do you think?
Philip Gelatt:
Oh my god! Okay. Michael Myers should be laid to rest forever. Halloween’s done. We’ve digested it enough times. We’re through with that. I think that Freddie deserves…damn, this is a hard question! Freddie deserves a remake. He had a middling remake. I think that it’s time to do something more interesting with him. And like, because his realm is the realm of dreams, you know, that dreams change, teenagers change. Like we could do a great new Freddie.
And I think Jason deserves a sequel because I love to think about Jason as I already have this pet theory. I love to think about the Jason movies as if they had all been conceived like Game of Thrones or something as if it was all planned out in advance. So I love this idea that it would be so that we would do a sequel of the Jason movies now and say that it was in continuity with the previous ones. I think that’s a lot of fun. So that’s a great question. And those are my answers.
Glen Dower:
Great answers too. So, First Word in Horror, when can we expect a sequel: The Next Word in Horror and expect down the line The Last Word in Horror?
Philip Gelatt:
Oh, so there are so many, there’s so many authors that I want to talk to and do episodes on. So my hope is, you know, our first season runs starts the first week in February and runs through May. I hope that we will start to do more interviews later this year. I want to go, there are several UK writers that I want to talk to. So I hope that we can do a First Word On Horror…International and start to get writers in other countries. I don’t exactly know when, but we will make more at some point for sure.
Glen Dower:
That’s awesome. Finally, the floor is yours, Philip, for the last few moments of our time together. Why should people watch your excellent series; First Word On Horror?
Philip Gelatt:
If you are a fan of the horror genre, in print or on screen, you should watch the show because it is important to think about the artists that make the genre that we love. If you’re not a fan of horror at all, that also applies. I think, you know, not to get into dicey AI territory, but I think at this moment, there are these questions about what does it mean? What does human creativity mean? Where does it come from and what’s the point of it?
And I, you know, that is a subtext to this series. I think watching, you know, the human beings who are at the core of the creative process, talk about their lives and talk about the process of creating is just, it’s something that we should all think about whether we love horror or whether we just love stories or whether we just love being human. I think it’s for everybody. That’s my broad pitch.
Glen Dower:
It’s for everybody for sure. And I can’t wait to promote it on Cinema Scholars and our YouTube channel. Philip, it’s been a real pleasure, thank you so much for your time. I enjoyed it.
Philip Gelatt:
Thank you, Glen. This was awesome. Thank you so much.
ETCH is releasing First Word On Horror exclusively via Substack on February 7, 2025.
