The Scares That Shaped Us

Emily Hughes, Stoker-winning author of Horror for Weenies , joins the show this week! We talk about writing for new horror fans, her new horror site Darker Times , and dig deep into the formative horror experience that is Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg's Poltergeist ! - Subscribe to Darker Times ! - Pick up a copy of Horror for Weenies ! - Follow CJ on Instagram ! - Sign up for our newslette...

CJ Leede, author of Maeve Fly and American Rapture , joins the show this week! We talk about the writing of her new novel Headlights , digging into a mystery narrative, making Colorado a character, and of course, the influence of Stephen King's classic The Shining ! - Headlights is available now ! - Follow CJ on Instagram ! - Sign up for our newsletter for even more horror goodness. - Follow t...

Johanna van Veen, author of My Darling Dreadful Thing and Blood On Her Tongue , joins the show this week! We talk about her new novel, Bone of My Bone , historical horror, humanity's many ways of dealing with the dead, and of course we leap into the Gothic delights of 2012's The Woman in Black and its predecessors! - Bone of My Bone is available now ! - Check out Johanna's website for...

Cynthia Gomez, author of the wonderful new Gothic novel Muneca , joins the show this week! We talk about the real history behind the book, the Gothic themes, and Cynthia's own Gothic fiction touchstones, and then we dive into one of the biggest horror novels and films of the 20th century: Rosemary's Baby ! - Muneca is available now ! - Check out Cynthia's website for updates on everyth...

Sarah Gailey, the acclaimed author of books like Spread Me and Just Like Home , joins the show this week! We talk about their amazing new book Make Me Better , writing about grief, cult and wellness fiction, and much more, all wrapped up in a discussion of Clive Barker's all-ages classic, The Thief of Always ! - Make Me Better is available now ! - Check out Gailey's website for updates on...

This week, author, poet, editor, and teacher Leticia Urieta joins the show! We talk about her new collection The Remedy is the Disease , balancing writing and teaching, body horror, and much more, all wrapped up in our discussion of one of the greatest horror films of all time, John Carpenter's The Thing ! -  The Remedy is the Disease is available now ! - Check out  Leticia's website  for...

Daniel Kraus returns! The newly minted Pulitzer Prize Winner is back on the show to talk about his book Partially Devoured , a memoir and critical analysis of Night of the Living Dead , which we means we spend the whole conversation going deep on the most influential zombie film of all time! -  Partially Devoured is available now! - Check out  Daniel's website for updates on everything he'...

It's an Anne Rice episode! Author Lindy Ryan joins the show to talk about her latest novel, Dollface , writing about life as a horror author, crafting her own approach to slashers, and more, all while we dig into Rice's legendary debut novel, Interview with the Vampire ! - Dollface is available now! - Check out Lindy's website for updates on everything she's doing! -  Sign up for o...

This week on the show, Matthew's joined by Candice Bailey and Gavin Lees, editors of the new magazine Crossroads: Folk Horror in the United States! We talk about founding the magazine, their personal interest in folk horror, and of course, the folk horror film by which all others are measured, 1973's The Wicker Man ! - Pick up Issue One of Crossroads ! - Follow Crossroads on Instagram and...

Two great guests in one jam-packed episode! This week, Matthew's joined by authors Kailee Pedersen and Briana N. Cox to talk about their new books! We dig into Kailee's upcoming novel The Minimalist , Briana's new book Indigent , and then we dive deep into the emotional, haunting perfect of I Saw The TV Glow ! - Pick up Briana's book Indigent ! - Pre-order Kailee's second novel...

Max Booth is back! The author of We Need to Do Something , The Last Haunt and more joins us this week to talk about her work, her new Patreon, and much more, and we dig into one of the all-time great '80s horror films, The Hitcher ! - Check out Max's Patreon ! - Head over to Ghoulish Books and buy stuff! -  Sign up for our newsletter  for even more horror goodness. - Follow the show on  Bl...

Eric LaRocca returns! This week on the show, we're talking to Eric about his wonderful new novel Wretch , and digging deep into Priya Sharma's phenomenal "Fabulous Beasts." If you love body horror, transgressive family stories, and more, you won't want to miss this one! -  Wretch arrives March 24 from Saga Press. - Check out Eric's website for updates on everything he's...

It's Episode 66! Just 600 more to go until we hit horror's favorite number! This week, Matthew welcomes celebrated author Annie Neugebauer to talk about her amazing new collection, You Have to Let Them Bleed , and we dig deep into the many tales of misunderstood horror master Edgar Allan Poe. We cover everything from "The Raven" to "The Fall of the House of Usher" to "T...

Johnny Compton returns! The author of The Spite House and Devils Kill Devils joins the pod for the second time to talk about his new novel, Dead First ! We get into writing horror noir, Johnny's favorite crime writers, and much more, all in the middle of a terrific discussion on Saki's chilling short story "The Penance." - Check out Johnny's website for updates on everything he...

This week, we're joined by Alex Woodroe, author and editor-in-chief of Tenebrous Press! We chat about her new book, The Night Ship , how she views "New Weird Horror" at this stage in her career, and much more. And of course, we dive into the dark fantastic of Return to Oz ! - Check out the Tenebrous Press website ! - Head to Alex's website for updates on everything she's got go...

We're back! For our first regular episode of 2026, we're talking to two of my favorite horror filmmakers, John Adams and Toby Poser of Adams Family Films! We dig into the making of their new film Mother of Flies , discuss the process of writing and directing as a family, and much more, and then we dive deep into 1976's The Omen and its sequels! - Mother of Flies hits Shudder January 23...

Happy New Year! For our first episode of 2026, we're finishing up our Best of 2025 wrap-up with a discussion on the best horror movies of the past year. We're joined by Matt Donato, one of the finest horror critics on the web, and while we touch on a lot of the expected hits, you'll also hear about some horror films that deserve more attention. It's a great chat! -  Sign up for our...

It's our final show of 2025, and we're using it to look back on the best horror books we read this year. Joining us this week we've got Mother Horror herself, Sadie Hartmann! We talk with Sadie about her latest book, Feral and Hysterical , and we dig into the best horror books of the year. You'll get a lot of cool book recommendations in this episode! -  Sign up for our newsletter...

It's Christmas time! C. Robert Cargill returns! Based on a brief conversation we had back during Fantastic Fest, Cargill was kind enough to stop by for the second time this year to talk Black Phone 2 spoilers and to unpack a fascinating take he has on 1980's Christmas Evil ! It's killer Santa time on The Scares That Shaped Us! -  Sign up for our newsletter  for even more horror goodnes...

It's Clay McLeod Chapman time once again! Our friend of the show returns for his fourth (!!!) visit to talk about his new book Shiny Happy People , everything he's got coming up in 2026, and of course, we dig deep into 1978's amazing Invasion of the Body Snatchers ! -  Sign up for our newsletter  for even more horror goodness. -  Shiny Happy People is available now wherever books are s...

It's our first two-story episode! Peter Hall and Paul Gandersman, writers and directors behind the new horror film Man Finds Tape , join the show this week. We talk about making a fake documentary horror film, Texas inspirations, playing with found footage, and much more. Plus, we dig into Rob Reiner's Stand By Me and James Cameron's Aliens ! -  Sign up for our newsletter  for even mor...

Chris Panatier, author of The Redemption of Morgan Bright , joins the show this week to talk about his new book, Shitshow , and we dig into the festive madness that is Gremlin s , as well as the stealth masterpiece that is Gremlins 2: The New Batch . We also talk about Dublin Dr. Pepper, because Central Texas boys know. -  Sign up for our newsletter  for even more horror goodness. - Pick up  Shits...

Jess Hagemann, who wrote one of the best horror novels of the year with Mother-Eating: A Documentary , joins the show this week to talk about her book and the historical deep dive that inspired it. Then we dig deep into the surreal, often disturbing short films of the great Jan Svankmajer! -  Sign up for our newsletter  for even more horror goodness. - Pick up Mother-Eating from Ghoulish Books ! -...

Bram Stoker-winning writer and editor Jonathan Maberry joins the show this week! We talk about his NecroTek and Joe Ledger series, blending genres, editing Weird Tales , and more as we dive into a discussion of Richard Matheson's post-apocalyptic classic I Am Legend . -  Sign up for our newsletter  for even more horror goodness. - Visit Jonathan's website for updates on everything he's...

Nathan Ballingrud, author of North American Lake Monsters and The Lunar Gothic Trilogy , joins the show this week! We talk about Nathan's latest book, Cathedral of the Drowned , the importance of taking notes in his writing process, taking inspiration from classic pulp artists, and much more while we dive into one of Clive Barker's best short stories, "Dread." -  Sign up for our ne...